Things Not Seen Podcast

We welcome back Diana Butler Bass to discuss her powerful recent book, Freeing Jesus: Rediscovering Jesus as Friend, Teacher, Savior, Lord, Way, and Presence. The project builds on several of her recent books, to offer a connected vision of the many ways that Jesus upsets the tables of our comfortable identities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rev. Emily Scott is a pastor and church planter. She talks to us about her work, and her recent book For All Who Hunger: Searching for Communion in a Shattered World Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jay Wexler returns to talk about his recent book, Our Non-Christian Nation: How Atheists, Satanists, Pagans, and Others Are Demanding Their Rightful Place in Public Life Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In her recent book, The Gravity of Joy, our guest Angela Williams Gorrell invites readers on a hope-filled journey into the heart of unimaginable grief and back again. Her work invites readers to see the complex relationship between despair and joy.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rev. Jennifer Butler loved the Bible and her Christian faith, but then was disillusioned when it was used against her as a woman. Instead of leaving religion, she found a fresh approach to faith as liberation, and would go on to become an ordained minister and founder of Faith in Public Life, an advocacy organization. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Rev. Dr. Michael Battle has been a student and friend of Archbishop Desmond Tutu for a good deal of his life. In his recent book, Battle offers what he calls "A Spiritual Biography of South Africa's Confessor" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Looking through the lens of the biblical narrative of Esther, our guest Brenda Salter McNeil challenges Christians to recognize the pain in our world so they can work together to repair what is broken. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a world overwhelmed by smart devices, Amy Crouch and her father Andy explore the wisdom of Sabbath in their recent book, My Tech-Wise Life Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Historian and theologian Dr. Massimo Faggioli provides an insightful overview of Catholicism in US politics, and its place as an anchor in the life of Joe Biden, the man elected to lead the country at a decisive crossroads, an unprecedented moment in US history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In his recent book, Rural Rebellion, author and journalist Ross Benes takes a multi-decade look at the complex story of how Nebraska went from being a progressive state to a conservative stronghold. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former NSA analyst Reality Leigh Winner was convicted in 2018 of leaking information about Russian hacking into the 2016 American elections. She received the harshest sentence ever for such a crime. We speak with her mother and an advocate for the Winner family about the case, and what might be done to help the case for Winner's release. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoic...

Our guest Daniel White Hodge returns to Things Not Seen to discuss his recent book, Baptized in Dirty Water: Reimagining the Gospel According to Tupac Amaru Shakur Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We speak with Fr. John E. Crean, Jr. about his recent book, Recovering Benedict: Twelve-Step Living and the Rule of Benedict Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We discuss a recent book by philosopher and theologian Adam Kotsko, The Prince of This World, which is a political and genealogical account of the concept of the Devil in the Abrahamic traditions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guests, Leah Payne and Brian Doak, are both professors, authors, and pop culture aficionados. They are the creators and co-hosts of the amazing podcast, Weird Religion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In his recent book, Making Peace with the Universe, our guest Michael Scott Alexander takes readers through a multi-millennium journey across continents and religious traditions to explore how faith helped form a kind of "therapy before therapy." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This conversation with David Bentley Hart was our most-downloaded episode of 2020, and we are glad to return to its vital message of hope as the year draws to a close. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chris Stedman returns to Things Not Seen to talk about his recent book, IRL: Finding Realness, Meaning, and Belonging in Our Digital Lives Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We revisit our conversation with Thomas Frank from earlier this year, to discuss his recent book, The People, No. Frank offers a long-term view of populism as a political force in American politics, and brings some fresh light on our own national situation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Looking through the lens of the biblical narrative of Esther, our guest Brenda Salter McNeil challenges Christians to recognize the pain in our world so they can work together to repair what is broken.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We revisit our conversation with Kaitlin Curtice from earlier this year, and talk about the dualities of being an enrolled citizen of the Potawatomi Nation and someone who has grown up in the Christian faith. Her recent book, Native, explores these complexities with wit, honesty, and grace. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the weekend before the 2020 election, we revisit a conversation about Jack Jenkins's recent book, American Prophets, which maps the complex interplay of progressive political movements and religious communities in America over the past three decades. The result is both wide-ranging and fascinating. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guest Drew G. I. Hart discusses his recent book, Who Will Be A Witness, which calls Christians adrift in "the love of politics" back to an ethics of love and solidarity Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a powerful new book, called The Dark Years?, our guest Jacob Goodson explores the possibilities and dangers when a philosopher tries to make prophesies about the future  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As a young woman, Sarah Hurwitz left Judaism behind. Then circumstances brought her back, and she explores the richness of the heritage and faith of Judaism in her book, Here All Along: Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices