The UpWords Podcast

Join us in welcoming our newest staff member, Brian Beatty! We're excited to introduce Brian, our Director of Marketing, to the Upper House community in this conversation with Dan.   Before joining Upper House, Brian served at evangelical churches and schools as a communications or creative arts director and has also been a production director and audio producer for advertising agencies and p...

We welcome Aubrey Buster , Associate Professor of Old Testament at Wheaton College. As a passionate teacher and scholar, she brings us her love of understanding God's story shared in scripture, its complexities, and exploring the challenging concepts and narratives we sometimes face in the text. Aubrey earned her Ph. D. from Emory University, where she was a recipient of the George W. Woodruf...

We welcome Daniel Sillman , news editor at Christianity Today, who is known for obituaries and breaking major news stories. He also occasionally edits our own Dan Hummel's articles for Christianity Today.  Daniel Silliman has been the news editor for Christianity Today since 2019 and is the author of “Reading Evangelicals: How Christian Fiction Shaped a Culture and a Faith.” Before starting a...

Finding a faith community on campus can be difficult, especially at the start of a new academic year. Today’s guest has helped generations of faculty and graduate students to do just that the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Jon Dahl , an InterVarsity campus minister and a board member of the Stephen and Laurel Brown Foundation, has been working on campus for 30 years to foster Christian community...

Dan talks with Dr. Chris Ganski , pastor of City Reformed Church in Milwaukee, about the Reformed tradition and its contributions to Christian thought and practice. This is the second conversation in our series on Christian traditions, with the aim of growing in understanding and shared vision for the Christian presence on the UW campus and in Madison. We launched a few months ago with “Anglicanis...

At Upper House we are fans of Annie Heathcote , a graphic designer who designs most of our promotional work and imagery. She also happens to be Ms. Wheelchair Wisconsin 2023 and a significant advocate for disability awareness and accessibility in the state. Our Senior Writer, Susan Smetzer-Anderson, sits down with Annie to talk about her life, advocacy work, and Upper House’s upcoming event on Aug...

We are very excited to share a new podcast from Upper House that we have gotten rave reviews on. We hope you'll check out With Faith In Mind, an issues-based podcast running now in its first season, "Christian Education at the Crossroads." Please give it a listen and subscribe today! Send us Fan Mail CONNECT WITH US Subscribe to The UpWords Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts an...

In Upper House’s newest podcast, called With Faith in Mind (and please check it out and subscribe if you haven’t already), Dan sat down with the Executive Director of the American Scientific Affiliation , Janel Curry to talk about her work in the context of our series, “Christian Education at the Crossroads.”   In our conversation off-mic, Janel shared about a passion project she’s been working on...

At our Let The Art Speak conference we welcomed a poet and a visual artist to talk about, “The Land.” This is a topic that today’s guest, poet & teacher Kissy Kludt has a profound passion for. She recently joined Upper Houses’ senior writer, Susan Smetzer-Anderson, for a conversation about the unique way she writes about the land and what it means to her.   Krissy Kludt is a poet, author, and...

We recently interviewed Rodney Hood , Chairman of the ⁠National Credit Union Administration⁠ , on his views and hopes for inclusion and belonging in the workplace and the church.  Rodney E. Hood is the Chairman of the National Credit Union Administration. He’s held that role since 2019. He’s also on the Board of Directors of NeighborWorks America, one of the nation’s largest affordable housing and...

Our own Director of University Engagement, Dan Hummel, joins Director of Continuing Education, Tony Bolos, for a conversation about one the main topics of Dan's recent book: eschatology, or the the study of "last things." We explore some of the history of eschatology in the church and some of the ways to examine this part of Christian theology.   Dan earned a B.A. and M.A. from Colo...

Christine Jeske , our first three time guest, join our producer Jesse to talk  about her recent anthropological study on race and racism in the American church.   Christine is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Wheaton College. Before joining Wheaton, she spent a decade in microfinance, refugee resettlement, community development, and teaching. She earned all of her degrees, including her P...

Jesse speaks with artist Joel Sheesly about Joel’s approach to and passion for art, especially art that depicts the everyday things and places we often take for granted. Joel Sheesley is a painter and professor emeritus at Wheaton College and has had his landscape paintings displayed in galleries across the United States. He recently published a collection of his works in book form entitled A Fox...

Dan sits down with Father Scott Cunningham of ⁠Christ Church Madison⁠ to learn about the Anglican tradition. Scott is a graduate of Wheaton College (Wheaton, IL) and studied music, literature, and theology. He has served in the Anglican communion in America and England for almost two decades. This conversation begins a new, intermittent series on UpWords where we explore different faith traditions...

Join us in welcoming our newest staff member, Anthony Bolos ! We're excited to introduce Tony, our Director of Continuing Education, to the Upper House community in this conversation with Dan.   Before joining Upper House, Tony served as the Executive Director of New Hope Peru, an organization that serves vulnerable children and families in southern Peru. Prior to that, he was a professor of...

In this episode, we listen to noted historian Kyle Harper as he speaks to an Upper House audience during our recent Geneva Forum on what life was like in the Roman Empire in the time of Christ. Kyle Harper is the G.T. and Libby Blankenship Chair in the History of Liberty, Professor of Classics and Letters, and Senior Advisor to the President, all at the University of Oklahoma. Harper has been a Gu...

We recently welcomed Chandra Mallampalli , historian of religion and India, to Upper House. In this conversation we hear about his vocation as a historian and the dynamic history of religion in India, including the growth of Pentecostal Christianity in recent decades. Chandra talks with longtime friend and Upper House’s Fellows Program Director (and fellow historian) Eric Carlsson. Chandra Mallamp...

Upper House's Associate Director, Cam Anderson, sits down with his good friend and noted art historian and artist, Wayne Roosa, to have a conversation about what drives them to make art. They offer insights, concepts, and language that help all of us to rethink our own work in new and interesting ways. Wayne Roosa is a University Professor of Art History Emeritus at Bethel University, as well...

Conversations are happening everywhere! Even so, we often struggle to understand the person sitting across from us or to feel understood by them. We exist in a culture where everyone desires conversations and deep relationships, but they’re getting harder and harder to find. Our guest today, English professor, author, and speaker Heather Holleman , offers a winsome entryway into practicing deeper...

It's a flipped episode! Our producer, Jesse Koopman, while normally on the other end of the production desk, sits down with our normal host, Dan Hummel . As one of our two resident historians and Director of University Engagement at Upper House, Dan has been researching UW’s Spiritual History. In this episode, he shares about the rich narratives and compelling figures that he's uncovered...

Dan talks to journalist Ian Johnson about his background, education, and growth into a world-class journalist and observer of modern China. Ian's reporting on China, captured in many articles and books including The Souls of China , offers nuanced insights on the evolution of spirituality in China, including the growth of Christianity, Buddhism, Daoism, and folk religions. We were fortunate e...

We welcome artist Ned Bustard to the podcast. He sits down with Upper House Associate Director Cam Anderson for an in-depth conversation. They discuss how they both grew up as artists in the church, and about their struggles to discover how their callings fit into their faith commitments and communities. Ned Bustard is a graphic designer, children’s book illustrator, author, and printmaker. He is...

Upper House's Senior Writer, Susan Smetzer-Anderson, sits down with Dr. Joy Qualls to talk about Joy’s journey as a university professor, wife, and mother. Susan and Joy  share how the roles they play in their families and at work require them to be attentive to Christ’s call on their lives.  Joy currently serves as an Associate Professor of Communication Studies and Associate Dean in the Div...

Here at Upper House, we read our fair share of news on religion. Recently, Dan Hummel got the opportunity to sit down for a conversation with Bob Smietana , one of the most insightful and distinguished reporters on religion in the country. Bob discusses how he got into the small, tight knit field of religion reporting and what makes it endlessly fascinating for him. Bob was a guest at Upper House...

Merry Christmas! In this episode, we explore some of the less discussed sides of the Advent story. Too often we abstract the Incarnation and forget that Christ was born into a time and place with major political, economic, and social strife. Mary and Joseph had to navigate a lot more than an unplanned pregnancy. Practical theologian, author, and speaker Kelley Nikondeha joins our Director of Techn...