The Unorthodox Gatherings

We are all theologians whether we know it or not. We're meaning-making creatures and we go to many sources to make that meaning. For many of us, we left either conservative Christianity or Christianity in general b/c the classical doctrines of God no longer held up to the pain and suffering we saw. Today marks the start of a new series, lead by Erik Winn, on Process Theology, or the idea that...

It's hard to wrap up everything this series has explored, especially as it asks us to genuinely reflect on and make changes to ourselves. As we wrap this series, there's one question that I believe helps us get to the core in a unique way to each of us: If you had 24 hours left to live, how would you spend that time? I hope as you listen to this episode, you answer this question for yourse...

In this episode we talk about something that might be the most important aspect for an individual: How do we find resolve in the midst of despair and loss. Whether it's personal grief in our lives our it's facing an uncertain future with the climate, how do we find the resolve to not just curl up in a ball? The truth is, no matter what, beauty is everywhere and there's plenty to connec...

This episode really has two distinct parts. The first part rejoins the perspective of the Bible as texts written by indigenous people called to live in relationship with creator and land, and the consequences of straying from those paths. The second part moves into the emotions of the heart and calls us to face the death of the planet and/or life around us with the hope that the time we have becom...

It's easy enough to look at people who stand on the other side of the spectrum of climate data and say they need to remove their rose-colored glasses, but do we notice our own rose-colored glasses. Most of us still live in a world where we may intellectually know we live in an interconnected web, but are we truly in relationship with life around us? One of the best things we can do is read the...

Last Episode we talked about some pretty heavy stuff as we confronted the four scenarios to which data points the direction of our world. This episode we look at how our brains are wired to deal with crises like those scenarios, for better or worse, and then we move to the place that grief can play in all this, if we allow it. NOTE: There is a clip of the ending scene from Adam McKay's film, D...

Almost all of us have spent the last few decades coming to terms with scientific data around climate change and what the future holds. This series is not about convincing people with data, or looking at a plan of action for us not in national leadership positions, but how do we, as the every day person, find our community, find courage, find compassion to move forward, whatever that may be. This s...

We are lucky to have Alexis Donkin leading us in a series on World Religions. This week covers Christianity, the largest religion in the world. ***Unfortunately, we have not been able to record every episode in this series. We've missed Judaism and Islam. We will do our best to record the rest***

Honestly, the mark of the beast in Revelation 13 is just silly, and the way people have utilized this text to point to contemporary figures is even sillier. But this intensely misinterpreted part of Revelation has a significant enough effect on people today that it's important to use this as a great example of Biblical ignorance allied with power can lead to great harm.

Virtually no one in a heterosexual relationship in America practices the sexual ethics of the Bible. Heterosexual couples have allowed a massive departure from what the Bible says about hetero relationships because they are archaic and oppressive. Yet, when it comes to same-sex relationships, the Bible is utilized as the "end-all, be-all" of what a relationship should be. In today's...

There is a great assumption that because Jews, Christians, and Muslims today are monotheistic that ancient Jews were monotheistic. However, from the beginning of the Bible to the end it becomes clear that ancient Jews believed in a plethora of gods, but the supremacy of their god. In today's episode we not only go over the scriptural references to these other gods, but we even look at a time w...

The Devil is as consistent as God if you ask a large swath of Christians. However, while God is clearly a part of the Biblical narrative from beginning to end, the same cannot be said about the Devil. Most of what our culture believes about the devil doesn't come from scripture, but has been spun from legends and misinterpretations long after scripture was completed. Today we look at the evolu...

Abortion is not just a hot-button topic in society, it's a single-issue area for a lot of Christians who vote. But does the Bible condemn abortion? In this episode we look at what the Bible says about the practice. I will share an important disclaimer: this episode is not about a moral stance on abortion. It is explicitly about what the Bible says on abortion. What becomes clear in this episod...

This episode is a bit of a controversial one as it starts off quickly the well established assertion that in the Fall story of Genesis, God absolutely lies to the first people. We go through the implications of this story as well as a story of deception in 2 Kings and what this means for us today.

This may seem like a pretty benign topic, but overlapping the long held assumption that God created the universe from nothing is the justification that people have maintained throughout time that since their God is all-powerful, they can do to outsiders whatever they want. We will be looking historically at the creation story and the origin of the doctrin creatio ex nihili in an attempt to create...

Just the creation of what we know today as the Bible is full of assumptions informed by dogma and doctrine. And the truth is, scholars know quite a bit about how the Bible not only came to be compiled, but how it's been edited and revised over the last 1700 years. Today's episode gives a brief overview of how the Bible came to be and it's enough to help us realize how human this book t...

In this episode we lay the groundwork for the start of our new series on scholar Dan McClellan's new book, The Bible Says So. Today we go through the dilemmas of Christianity being so dogmatic, even in the face of contradicting scholastic data. Throughout this series we'll be tackling some big misunderstandings that have come from a more dogmatic approach in a the hopes that Christianity c...

We've all grown up hearing the Bible used as a moral authority for various arguments. Some of the big ones in our society revolve around sexuality, status of women in society and household, and homosexuality. However, the people that wield this moral authority are rarely versed in the context of the bible, and all of them conveniently rely on moral changes our society has made to the Bible wit...

We conclude our series on Liberation Theology with Hope and Politics. Hope is a seemingly innocuous concept, but when considered in light of developed and developing areas, hope becomes a radical beacon that shines a light on the shortcomings of the present. However, to those whose present is just fine, hope becomes something to guard against. Hope is the cornerstone for Jesus, who uses this beaco...

We have gone through a ton of material and not had as much time to reflect and respond, so this episode is a recap of everything so far, with some space to respond to what we've been talking about.

One might not consider history a theological concept, but when a substantial group's theological belief is that the only purpose of their religion is to convince people to adopt beliefs in order to go to an afterlife destination, than history becomes irrelevant and it becomes excusable to not teach or remember history. And then the lessons of history are forgotten and horrendous acts are repea...

Today we talk about the concept of Salvation. A term that most people grew up with having to do with where one's soul goes after they die. However, the Biblical narrative throughout scripture has far less to do with an after-life definition and far more with the life one works towards today. With massive implications on how people have understood the role of the Church, we delve into this conc...

In all relationships a dependence develops between both parties, and ideally this dependence is both mutual and equitable. However, in the course of relationships with minority communities and oppressed communities the level of dependence is not only one sided, but a mechanism to keep marginalized communities in unjust environments so that resources and/or labor can continue to be exploited. Depen...

For some people, church is only meant to be a place one goes to worship. Caring for the least of these becomes a suggestion more than a mandate. For others, it's hard to understand how the Church can be a space that ignores liberation when it claims to follow a man who said, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me and has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom fo...

Development seems like an innocuous term, but when one group owns the means of development, such as when a country gains independence, but enters a process of development that is monopolized by the country from which it gained its independence, then development becomes another form of slavery. In today's conversation we look at the process of development in the Western World and how this is an...