Theology in the Raw

Aimee Byrd is a speaker, author, blogger, wife, and mom. She’s the author of several books including Why Can’t We Be Friends , No Little Women , her most recent book Recovering from Biblical Manhood and Womanhood , and the forthcoming The Sexual Reformation . Learn more about Aimee on her website: https://aimeebyrd.com Theology in the Raw Conference - Exiles in Babylon At the Theology in the Raw c...

Len is a true Renaissance man. Author of more than seventy books and 1500+ published sermons, Leonard Sweet’s recent publications include groundbreaking textbooks on preaching (Giving Blood), evangelism (Nudge), ecclesiology (So Beautiful) and discipleship (I Am A Follower). The second volume in his Christmas trilogy with Lisa Samson is just out ( St. As ). Len and co-author Lisa Samson are workin...

Peter McGowan is one of the founders of PlainJoe and Storyland Studios. He is a champion of bringing clients’ unique stories to life by broadening their visual vocabulary beyond words and helping shape the cultural influence of their organizations. Having worked with large-scale corporate clients such as Infinity, Nissan, IBM and Johnson & Johnson, as well as creative pioneers including Disney...

Happy new year! In this episode, I talk about the analytics of the podcast, which has grown like crazy over the years, my heart behind the podcast, its history and future, how I handle criticism, some of the most popular episodes, and I walk through the TITR mission, which is: “To help believers think Christianly about theological and cultural issues by engaging in curious conversations with a div...

Jeremy is the founding pastor of Commons Church in Calgary, BC--a rather unique church that prioritizes intellectual honesty and the centrality of Jesus above tight-knit doctrinal statements. I found Jeremy on Twitter and was fascinated by his ecclesiology, so I invited him to come talk about it on the show. We ended up talking quite a bit about belonging, sexual ethics, polyamory, LGBTQ inclusion...

Dr. Russell Moore is Public Theologian at Christianity Today and Director of Christianity Today’s Public Theology Project. Dr. Moore is the author of several books, including The Courage to Stand: Facing Your Fear Without Losing Your Soul , Onward: Engaging the Culture without Losing the Gospel and The Storm-Tossed Family: How the Cross Reshapes the Home . A native Mississippian, he and his wife M...

In this fourth and final episode in our “scandal of Christmas” series, New Testament scholar Dr. Joey Dodosn walks us through parallel birth narratives in the Greco-Roman and Jewish environment of the New Testament. Reading the biblical birth narratives in these contexts helps us read the story in HD, or through a 3D lens, so that we can better understand the author’s intention in how he’s telling...

In this third part of our four part series, New Testament scholar Dr. Lynn Cohick walks us through the significance of women in the birth narratives. We talk a lot about Mary, Elizabeth, Jesus’s genealogy (which contains 5 women), how the appearance of women in the genealogy has been misunderstood, and we also discuss the woman at the well in John 4 and how she was not a sexually promiscuous woman...

We often think of Luke 1-2 and Matthew 1-2 when we think about the Christmas story. But what about Revelation 12? Is this angle a strange, fringe way of looking at the birth of Jesus, or is a primarily lens? In this episode, Dr. Bird and I look at this less-than-familar way of reading the Christmas story. It’s an angle where the bird of a peasant-King is a battle against the socio-political powers...

I’ve invited 4 different New Testament scholars on the podcast to talk about the Christmas story. In this opening episode, I talk with world renown NT scholar Dr. Craig Keener about Luke 1-2, the politics and sociological scandal of Christ’s birth, his earthly vocation (as a tekton ...woodworker? mason? None of the above?), the location of Christ’s birth, Matthew 1-2 (and the differences between L...

Aaron is gay and so is Liz. They’ve been married for over 15 years and have had an interesting journey. Both are solid Jesus followers and have done a fantastic job helping the church engage LGBTQ related issues with truth and grace. In this podcast conversation, Liz and Aaron share their story and talk about what it’s like being in a queer marriage--a term they prefer over “mixed orientation marr...

Okay, so if you’re easily offended (and white), then you might want to change the channel. Dr. Tim Gombis is a no-holds-barred honest scholar, who’s not afraid to go to the hard places and challenge the status quo. And that’s exactly what we do in this episode. We discuss the undiscussables; say the quiet things out loud, and push over sacred cows as we seek to get to know Jesus all over again. Th...

Jay Stringer is is a therapist, author, and speaker who guides men and women to outgrow unwanted sexual behaviors. He’s the author of Unwanted: How Sexual Brokenness Reveals Our Way to Healing , a book that is based on Stringer’s groundbreaking research on over 3,800 men and women addressing the key drivers of unwanted sexual behavior, be that the use of pornography, infidelity, or buying sex. If...

In the midst of polarized conversations about race, Dr. George Yancey is a breath of fresh air. He’s a huge proponent of active listening--being genuinely curious about another another person’s perspective and getting outside your echo chamber to consider other points of view. In this podcast episode, we talk a lot about his forthcoming book: Beyond Racial Division: A Unifying Alternative to Color...

Greg gave a killer talk at this year’s Revoice conference. If you missed it--here it is! Here’s the blurb: What does it mean to adore Jesus in a world that sees our adoration as scandalous? Taking our cues from a few of the Bible’s most notorious worshippers, we’ll celebrate together the stabilizing power of worship — a power no one can take from us. Greg is the author of Single, Gay, Christian (I...

Strap on your seatbelts, folks. We’re going for a wild ride through Josh Proctor’s beautifully complex and honest journey. He’s been through more ex-gay therapy sessionss than anyone I’ve ever met. He then fell into sex work. He then fell into Jesus’ arms and maintained an affirming theology. And then he changed this theological view to one that holds to a traditional sexual ethic. Josh is a beaut...

This podcast is a recording of a talk I gave at this year’s Revoice conference in Plano, TX. In it, I talk about why LGBTQ people are not just needy but needed in the church. Specifically, there are four major things I’ve learned about Jesus and the Christian way of life from my LGBTQ friends: 1) friendship, 2) marriage, 3) faithfulness, and 4) masculinity. Interested in designing the conference T...

Constantine Campbell's doctorate is in ancient Greek language and linguistics (Macquarie University, 2006). He was a professor of New Testament studies for 14 years, having taught at Moore College in Sydney and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago. Campbell is the author of 15 books, with focus on biblical Greek, New Testament interpretation, and the apostle Paul. His book Paul and Union...

Cameron reached out to me a few weeks ago thanking me for my ministry and he told me a bit of his story. He’s a male to female back to male formerly trans-identified SSA Christian who has been a pastor/chaplain, and he’s married to a female to male back to female formerly trans-identified bisexual Christian. Let’s just say, I was beyond curious to hear more! This podcast episode is me “hearing mor...

Jarvis is a friend and an incredible scholar. He has written and spoken extensively on issues related to race, ethnic reconciliation, and the gospel--which is the focus of our conversation.  Jarvis is Associate Professor of New Testament Interpretation at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he’s taught since 2013. He has published numerous books, including Christ Redeemed ‘Us’ from th...

Is it a sin to be gay? Would you attend a church that has a gay pastor? What does it mean to be gay? There is still a lot of misunderstanding surrounding the term gay and what it means to be a gay Christian. I discuss these issues at length, which leads into Misty Irons’ incredible talk she gave at this year’s Revoice Conference.  Misty Irons is a graduate of Westminster Seminary California (M.A.,...

Martin Kulldorff was born in 1962 in Lund, Sweden. He received his Ph. D. from Cornell University and is a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a biostatistician at the Brigham and Women's Hospital. He serves on scientific advisory committees to the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control.  In this podcast, we talk about the efficacy of the vaccine, the conc...

Elyse holds a certificate in biblical counseling from CCEF (San Diego) and an M.A. in Biblical Counseling from Trinity Theological Seminary. She has authored 23 books on daily living and the Christian life including the recently released Worthy: Celebrating the Value of Women and the forthcoming Jesus and Gender . In this conversation, we talk about her (or our) journey into a fuller understanding...

John Mark Comer is the founding pastor of Bridgetown Church , right in the center of the city (by Powell's Books if you've ever been to Portland) and is the author of six books: The Ruthless Elimination of Hurr y , God has a Name , Garden City , Loveology , My Name is Hope , and the recently released Live No Lies , which is the topic of our conversation. He’s also currently starting a non-profit c...

Yup, we go there. Vaccines. I didn’t even intend to go here, but our conversation sort of spilled over into a conversations about the efficacy of vaccines, why there’s “vaccine hesitancy,” and how the unvaccinated are potentially enabling the creation of new variants that could be more deadly. We also talk about what the advent of the Covid pandemic means for the future world. Basically, our futur...