The Unorthodox Gatherings

Liberation Theology came out of Latin America in the 60s, 70s, and 80s and it defined a moment in Christian Theology. It's been criticized heavily by conservative Christianity, especially American Evangelicalism. What many of these perspectives miss is that Liberation Theology is both immensely well versed in the philosophy that undergirds all theology, and because of this, reaches to the core...

The truth is as both a pastor and a student of the Bible I can make the text say whatever I want. My community trusts that I'm approaching the text authentically and scholastically. And I do try. However, Christianity in America has departed so far from a scholastic understanding of the Bible that churches, pastors, leaders, etc. have created interpretations of the text that no way reflect the...

We are given visions about the world all the time. From politics, news organizations, social media, and churches. These visions usually portray the world in both a current negative light and moving in a negative direction, primarily to create fear. Yet, Jesus cast overwhelmingly hopeful visions for people. Jesus promised the kingdom of heaven was here, and through loving action would reach fulfill...

How were you raised to deal with failure? Perhaps in a positive way by your parents, but was it ridiculed by your peers. For most people we were raised to think of failures as not only things to avoid, but things to hide. The Jesus movement dealt with failure in a counter-cultural way: it embraced it and simply asked people to learn and try again with a new beginning. While seemingly simple, this...

Sometimes we get caught up with the end of the story. We think Christianity is about the growth in numbers, the size of the building, the large successes, etc. Not only does this detract from the goal, it can create an overwhelming sense of powerlessness. But when we look at the story of Jesus, we see a person from a small, impoverished tribe, simply responding to the needs in front of him with lo...

There might not be a greater antithesis to the American value system than Radical Generosity. This value was deeply imbedded into the person and ministry of Jesus, yet, much of the American Church misses this value. Today we talk about Radical Generosity and the obstacles we, and The Church, face in adopting this value of Jesus.

To say the Church today misses the incarnational place that Jesus has with marginalized people is a vast understatement. The Bible is so explicit about Christ being of the marginalized and not of the rich or powerful, yet the Church grossly ignores this point. Today we look at the value of downward mobility, or the intentionality of the divine power being present, first and foremost, among the mar...

Modern Christianity has been raised with doctrines and dogmas, not values. Doctrines and dogmas tend to be lines in the sand placing people on one side or another. However, values can be an open invitation. Today we start a new series exploring the values of Jesus as evident in the words and actions of his ministry rather than going straight to dogmas and doctrines that have come solely from his d...

An explicit claim needs to be made about Purity Culture's ignorance when it comes to utilizing biblical texts: In antiquity, women were property, and all texts about sexuality and women's place in relationships start from this point. Our society, rightfully so, no longer affirms this cultural tenet, yet Purity Culture insists on biblical reliance. This selective and ignorance needs to be called ou...

Most Christians are unaware that their understanding of Christian Theology is more influenced by Augustine than Jesus, or any other person in history. Augustine's influence cannot be overstated and one area is he created an overtly negative perception of sexuality, the body, and women that is still highly effective today. And here's the kicker: Augustine wasn't remotely biblically literate enough...

Many in our group don't know what Purity Culture is. And many know it far too well. Today's conversation is more of an introduction to Purity Culture and where this series is going. While it's easy enough for us to dismiss Purity Culture as an unhealthy and ignorant expression within some forms of Christianity, it's reach is not only extensive, but deeply layered and psychologically still affectin...

One of the most accepted doctrines of Christianity is that Jesus and God are one and the same. It's attested to in some of the earliest creeds of the Church. But does the Bible support it? In today's conversation we talk about the text of the gospel of John, Jewish beliefs around images of God, and the history of one of our creeds in order to traverse this question, Is Jesus God? What we find is t...

A Western-Medieval/Modern thought on Christianity is that we are born with a hole, as sinners, and when we "accept" Christ, that hole is filled. It's a poor thought because it cuts us off from growth once that "acceptance" happens. Today we talk about the experience when we encounter the divine as we are rather than filling a hole, it creates a God-Shaped Hole, one that bea...

This episode will be a little Unorthodox. There are two things to be aware of. First, we did a Bible Gift presentation for two of our kids at the beginning of the episode, so bear with us. Second, this is not a normal presentation and conversation like our normal episodes; it is a liturgy, a service. It moves through different points to a conclusion and we've recorded the whole thing raw. It&#...

Doubt has been one of the primary enemies of the Church for a long time. However, an authentic exploration of faith and connection with the divine will ultimately lead one to the need of doubt in this journey. In today's episode, we discuss the virtue of doubt.

Last episode we talked about the limits behind this old way of thinking of religion as offering objective truth, either through doctrine and dogma, or through historical criticism. This episode we start to seek out language that can help us approach the divine in humility, with the understanding that we can never fully know God, but also with curiosity, so that we never stop trying to know God.

We start a new series inspired by the work of Peter Rollins that explores the advent of language used to speak of God, how this language has become idolatrous, all in the hope of being open to the never fully understood revelation of God that requires both curiosity and humility.

We've spent some time with the book and sociological studies about The Religion of Whiteness, which is dense and disheartening. But not without response and hope, which is where we end today. We hope this gives insight into language that can help detect both Rows and Rowers, both outside and within ourselves and continue work towards equitable change.

Utilizing the work of sociologists Michael O. Emerson and Glenn E. Bracey II, The Religion of Whiteness explores the question: How is racism still so prominent in American churches when Christian Theology is explicitly antithetical to such behavior? The central argument in their book and our new series is because racism is such a driving force behind American Christianity. We embark on a new serie...

In antiquity, people were naturally able to understand the meaning behind all of Jesus' miracles, while believing in the miracles themselves. We've robbed ourselves of that ability because we've moved into a literalist mindset. Today we look at several of the miracle stories in Mark from the perspective of actions occurring, but miracles not taking place and perhaps reclaim the ability...

It should be shocking and frightening to learn how many people rely on poor biblical interpretation to create bad biblical prophecy, that then dictates a stance on foreign policy. Non-conservative Christians might typically discard this kind of thinking as fantastical and silly, but we're watching real time effects today.

In a complete about-face, John the Revelatory takes everything Jesus fundamentally teaches about wealth (it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle) and domination (love your enemy, bless those who persecute you), and not only repudiates it, but ultimately gives wealth and domination the divine endorsement they need for Christian kingdoms and nations to live contrary to Jesus&#39...

Revelation is nothing if not tremendously violent. A massive, but seemingly inconspicuous departure from Jesus in the gospels, it's weird how accepting we've become of violence while also claiming to be followers of the prince of peace. Today we talk about this obsession we have with violence and the approval society has received from the Book of Revelation in utilizing it.

In our path to Deconstruct the Book of Revelation, it's important to do two things: summarize the plot of Revelation and point out explicitly why this is a commentary about Roman persecution at the end of the 1st century. Once we layout this baseline of understanding, we can see that treating it any other way is a creation of later generations with nefarious intentions.

The Book of Revelation was disliked vehemently first the first 300 years of Christianity and its first primary usage came at the hands of pettiness. John of Patmos wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed. Contextually, it's a commentary on the Roman Empire. And yet, today, it's thought of as the premier source of the Bible predicting future events. Today we look at the framework for how R...