The Two Cities

Dr. Tim Middleton is Tutorial Fellow in Theology & Director of the Centre for Baptist Studies at Regent’s Park College at Oxford University.  In this episode, we talk about ecological trauma—the trauma experienced by the earth and as a result of climate change and other ecological conditions. Dr. Middleton explains how his work intersects with trauma theologies and brings Christology into...

CW: microaggressions, institutional trauma, intergenerational trauma Pastor Juliet Liu is a co-pastor of Life on the Vine in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, and she serves as Chair of the Board for Missio Alliance. In this episode, we talk about what constitutes racial trauma, how this occurs differently in different environments, how intergenerational trauma affects the children of those who ha...

CW: suicidal ideations, obsessive compulsive disorder In this episode we’re talking about trauma and mental illness with John Andrew Bryant. John Andrew Bryant is a caregiver, writer, and part-time street pastor in a small steel town outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and he is the author of A Quiet Mind to Suffer With , published in 2023 with Lexham Press. He defines and then shares his own experi...

CW: Domestic and Family Violence Erica Mandi Manga (née Hamence), who is Associate Minister of Formation and Training at St Barnabas Broadway in Australia, joins us to talk about the trauma caused by Domestic and Family Violence. In this episode, we talk about Erica's work in resourcing churches, define "domestic and family violence," which encompasses far more than intimate partner violence, char...

CW: Sexual Harassment, Gender-Based Discrimination Tiffany Bluhm is an author and speaker who serves at the intersection of justice and faith. In the book we feature her book Prey Tell . In this episode, she explains how women often experience abuses of power and portions of her story where she experienced sexual harassment and retaliation. She also offers a really helpful approach to bystander in...

CW: gender-based discrimination, religious trauma Aimee Byrd is the author of several books, including Recovering from Biblical Manhood and Womanhood and The Sexual Reformation . In this episode we hear Aimee recount her experiences of trauma in conjunction with her ministry as an author and speaker. She shares about her gender-based discrimination and the harm caused by her denomination, how she...

CW: gender-based violence, sexual assault, religious trauma, intimate partner violence Dr. Katie Cross is Lecturer in Practical Theology at Christ’s College at the University of Aberdeen. She is the author of The Sunday Assembly and Theologies of Suffering and the co-editor of Feminist Trauma Theologies and Bearing Witness . (Bonus note: Her co-editor is last week’s guest Karen O’Donnell!) In this...

CW: generational trauma, genocide Dr. Karen O’Donnell is Academic Dean and Lecturer in Worship and Human Community at Westcott House at the Cambridge Theological Federation. She is the author of Broken Bodies and The Dark Womb , and the co-editor of Feminist Trauma Theologies and Bearing Witness . (Bonus note: Her co-editor is next week’s guest Katie Cross.) In this episode we explore trauma theol...

CW: domestic and family violence In this episode we explore an important source of trauma for many: family and insecure attachment. For this conversation we're joined by Aundi Kolber is a licensed professional counselor, and the author of ⁠⁠ Strong Like Water ⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠ Try Softer ⁠⁠ . Aundi defines attachment and we explore some typical attachment “styles.” We also talk about how secure attachment...

Revd Dr. Chuck Degroat is a licensed therapist, as well as a Professor of Pastoral Care and Christian Spirituality, and Executive Director and Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program at Western Theological Seminary . He is the author of many books, including When Narcissism Comes to Church , Leaving Egypt , and Toughest People to Love . In this episode we begin our series on “trauma” with an int...

In this episode we’re joined by Dr. Jeremiah Coogan, who is Assistant Professor of New Testament at the Jesuit School of Theology at Santa Clara University, and he’s a co-author of Encountering AI: Ethical and Anthropological Investigations which is a book-length special issue of the Journal of Moral Theology , which we discuss in this episode. Our conversation focuses on the contemporary matters...

In this episode we debrief our experiences in San Antonio for the 2023 annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL). In the first half of the episode we talk about the papers that our team members presented, and then we shift to reflect on some of our major highlights from the conference. After our own comments and reflections conclude, we shift to our live recordings in the book sta...

Celebrating our 200th episode, we engage listener feedback with a variety of content, including: answers to your theological and practical questions, Logan singing in Hebrew, bloopers, and the new music that we will be using for the next 100 episodes. Cheers to you, and thanks for listening! Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. Amber Bowen, Dr. Josh Carroll, Dr. John Anthon...

In this episode we are joined by Dr. Fellipe do Vale, who is Department Chair & Assistant Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois, and he’s the author of Gender as Love: A Theological Account of Human Identity, Embodied Desire, and Our Social Worlds (published by Baker Academic). Over the course of our conversation, Dr. do Val...

CW: References to self-harm. In this episode we’re joined by Dr. Isaac T. Soon, who is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Crandall University in New Brunswick, and the author of A Disabled Apostle: Impairment and Disability in the Letters of Paul (published by Oxford University Press). Drawing upon the cultural model of disability, Dr. Soon explains that Paul likely had three kinds of dis...

In this episode we’re joined by Dr. Matthew Thiessen, who is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, and he’s the author of the new book that we discuss in this episode, A Jewish Paul: The Messiah’s Herald to the Gentiles (published by Baker). Over the course of our discussion we talk about where the Paul within Judaism reading fits within other readin...

In this episode we’re joined by Dr. J. Christopher Edwards, who is Professor of Religious Studies at St. Francis College in Brooklyn, New York, to talk about his new book, Crucified: The Christian Invention of the Jewish Executioners of Jesus (published by Fortress Press). The present conversation addresses a very difficult topic, but an important one, about how early Christians came to blame the...

In this episode we are joined by Dr. Sean McGever, who is Area Director for Young Life in Arizona and an adjunct professor in theology at Grand Canyon University, to talk about his new book, Evangelism: For the Care of Souls (published by Lexham Press). Over the course of our conversation we talk about what is unique in a “care for souls” approach to evangelism over against other evangelistic meth...

In this episode we are joined by Dr. Tomas Bokedal, who is Lecturer in New Testament at University of Aberdeen (Scotland) and Associate Professor in New Testament at NLA University College (Bergen, Norway), and the author of the book that we discuss in this episode, Christ the Center: How the Rule of Faith, the Nomina Sacra, and Numerical Patterns Shape the Canon (published by Lexham Press). Over...

In this episode we’re talking about Artemis of the Ephesians with Dr. Sandra Glahn, who is Professor of Media Arts and Worship at Dallas Theological Seminary, and the author of the book that we’re excited to discuss on this episode, Nobody’s Mother: Artemis of the Ephesians in Antiquity and the New Testament (published by IVP). Over the course of our conversation, Dr. Glahn talks with us about how...

In this episode we’re joined by Dr. Bryan Dyer, who is senior acquisitions editor at Baker Academic and the co-author with Stanley Porter of the book that we’re excited to discuss today— Origins of New TestamentChristology: An Introduction to the Traditions and Titles Applied to Jesus (published with Baker Academic). Over the course of our conversation, we discuss where this book fits within broad...

In this episode we’re joined by Professor Joshua Jipp to talk about PaulineTheology as a Way of Life. Professor Jipp is Professor of New Testament and Director of the Carl F. H. Henry Center for Theological Understanding at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Deerfield, IL), and the author of the book that we’re excited to talk about in this episode, Pauline Theology as a Way of Life: A Vision of...

In this episode we are joined by Professor Kevin Hector, who is Naomi Shenstone Donnelley Professor of Theology and of the Philosophy of Religions at the University of Chicago Divinity School, to talk about his new book, Christianity as a Way of Life: A Systematic Theology (published by Yale University Press). Over the course of our conversation, Prof. Hector explains how his systematic theology i...

In this episode we are joined by Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Warne, who is priest-in-charge at St. Paul Episcopal Church in Mishawaka, Indiana, to talk about his new book, Josef Pieper on the Spiritual Life: Creation, Contemplation, and Human Flourishing (published by Notre Dame University Press). Rev. Dr. Warne explains that he came to the work of Pieper, a scholar of Thomas Aquinas, by way of his own res...

In this episode we give a joint review of the two Summer movies, Barbie and Oppenheimer. Over the course of our conversation we talk about the themes that emerge when the two ostensibly different films are juxtaposed and interpreted together, including: death, existential angst, technology, feminism, and power, and we have a lot of fun along the way. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities...