Exvangelical

This week's episode includes a wonderful conversation with Ryan Johnson, a friend from college. We met up in Chicago to talk about his upbringing, our shared experience in the social sciences department at the Mystery College, and the fraught marriage of evangelicalism and Republican politics in the United States. Follow the show on Twitter: @exvangelicalpod Like the show on FB: facebook.com/exvangelicalpod Follow on Instagram: @exvangelicalpod Follow me on Twitter: @brchastain Support the show on Patreon: patreon.com/exvangelicalpod Rate and review the show on iTunes! Please! This week's hashtag is #americanjesus Intro Music: "American Jesus" by Bad Religion https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/american-jesus/id345095806?i=345096226 Outro Music: "Personal Jesus" by Johnny Cash https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/personal-jesus/id591290676?i=591290683

Shorter show notes for this one, everybody. Kyle Parton, Director of Epiphany Publishing, talks with me about teenage adventures in Wal-Mart evangelism, key markers of evangelicalism, war, other faith traditions, and alternate models of salvation (the more serious show title was "Finding a Substitute for Penal Substitution"). Check out Epiphany Publishing: http://epiphanypublishing.us Follow Kyle on Twitter: https://twitter.com/kylecparton Follow Exvangelical on Twitter/Like Us on Facebook: @exvangelicalpod facebook.com/exvangelicalpod Follow Blake on Twitter: @brchastain Intro Music: "Corpus Christi Carol" by Jeff Buckley https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/corpus-christi-carol/id385560474?i=385560483 Outro Music: "Eternal Life" by Jeff Buckley https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/eternal-life/id385560474?i=385560485

In this week's episode, I talk to Brandon Whitmore about his journey from Christianity to agnosticism. The conversation covers all sorts of topics, from the historical record of Jesus & science's relationship w/ religion to a qualitative ranking of The Muppets television shows. It's great. Follow Blake on Twitter @brchastain. Follow the show on Twitter @exvangelicalpod. Like the show on Facebook at facebook.com/exvangelicalpod. Support the show on Patreon at patreon.com/exvangelicalpod. The hashtag for this episode is #skepticalmuppet. Intro Music: "The Fleecing" by Pedro the Lion: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-fleecing/id572010959?i=572010962 Outro Music: "Follow the Light" by Travis: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/follow-the-light/id1139315700?i=1139316723

This episode features a conversation with Rev. Kevin Wright from the Riverside Church in NYC. We talk about his journey, LGBTQ affirmation, and more. Follow Blake on Twitter @brchastain. Follow the show on Twitter @exvangelicalpod Like the show on Facebook at facebook.com/exvangelicalpod Follow Rev. Kevin Wright on Twitter @kevinkwright. Read Kevin's blog at kevinkwright.com Read Kevin's posts on the Huffington Post at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/kwright-488 Show Notes: Harry Emerson Fosdick: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Emerson_Fosdick Martin Luther King, Jr. Gospel of Freedom: Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Letter from Birmingham Jail and the Struggle That Changed a Nation: http://amzn.to/2buQsu4 Reinhold Niebuhr https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinhold_Niebuhr Moral Man & Immoral Society: http://amzn.to/2bZN6hO Dietrich Bonhoeffer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietrich_Bonhoeffer The Cost of Discipleship: http://amzn.to/2bu3g6P Karl Barth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Barth The Epistle to the Romans: http://amzn.to/2bubsnm Saint Augustine of Hippo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustine_of_Hippo The Confessions: http://amzn.to/2bubmfJ Thomas Merton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Merton Seven Storey Mountain: http://amzn.to/2bxG1mG Dorothy Day https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Day Selected Writing: http://amzn.to/2bLEkoZ Richard Hays https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_B._Hays The Moral Vision of the New Testament: http://amzn.to/2bxJ7qq Allen Verhey Remembering Jesus: Christian Community, Scripture, and the Moral Life http://amzn.to/2bM085t Saint Maybe by Anne Tyler: http://amzn.to/2bxHyJs Love Wins by Rob Bell: http://amzn.to/2bucGPl God and the Gay Christian by Matthew Vines: http://amzn.to/2bxI4qE Interlude Music: Troparion of Kassiani: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCRGQwf5XmY "They Will Know We Are Christians by Our Love" by Peter Scholtes available at http://folkmass.us.

On this week's episode, I talk to Sean Reed, a friend of mine from high school. We talk about youth group, working in Christian bookstores, Christian music festivals, 90s Christian rock, and more. It's a fun conversation. Join the conversation on Twitter and share your CCM nostalgia by using the hashtag #CCMemories. Follow Blake on Twitter @brchastain. Follow the show on Twitter @exvangelicalpod. Like Exvangelical on Facebook at facebook.com/exvangelicalpod.

Today's episode features a conversation with Nate Crawford, director of Here/Hear, a nonprofit advocacy group focused on mental health. Nate shares his story, including his experience with bipolar disorder. Trigger warning: this episode contains frank discussions of mental health issues, so if that is triggering, please keep that in mind. Follow Blake on Twitter: @brchastain Follow Exvangelical on Twitter: @exvangelicalpod Follow Exvangelical on Facebook: facebook.com/exvangelicalpod Here/Hear's website: herehear.org - Show Notes: Here/Hear blog: http://www.herehear.org/blog The Mighty: https://themighty.com/ National Alliance on Mental Illness: http://www.nami.org/ Boy Meets Depression: Or Life Sucks and Then You Live: https://www.amazon.com/Boy-Meets-Depression-Life-Sucks/dp/0553418378 Intro and Outro Music: "The Fleecing" by Pedro the Lion itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-fle…0959?i=572010962

This week, we feature a conversation with author, religious scholar and PhD candidate Greg Coates. We discuss his evangelical youth, his time in China, his book, and of course, Donald Trump. Follow Exvangelical on Twitter @exvangelicalpod. Like us on Facebook facebook.com/exvangelicalpod. Follow Blake on Twitter @brchastain. Show Notes: Greg's book, Politics Strangely Warmed: Political Theology in the Wesleyan Spirit https://www.amazon.com/Politics-Strangely-Warmed-Political-Theology/dp/1498201563 Bookmark Greg's blog: http://gregcoates.blogspot.com/ Follow Greg on Twitter: @GregoryRCoates. John Howard Yoder's book, The Politics of Jesus: https://www.amazon.com/Politics-Jesus-John-Howard-Yoder/dp/0802807348 Wikipedia entry on Stanley Hauerwas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Hauerwas Pew Research Study on white evangelical support of Trump: http://www.pewforum.org/2016/07/13/evangelicals-rally-to-trump-religious-nones-back-clinton/ Randall Ballmer's article, "The Real Origins of the Religious Right:" http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/05/religious-right-real-origins-107133 Randall Ballmer's book, The Making of Evangelicalism: https://www.amazon.com/Making-Evangelicalism-Revivalism-Politics-Beyond/dp/1602582432/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1470671642&sr=1-5 Intro Music: "The Fleecing" by Pedro the Lion https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-fleecing/id572010959?i=572010962 Outro Music: "Hard to Be" by David Bazan https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/hard-to-be/id718735084?i=718735089

Hey there - this is just a quick note that we'll be moving new episodes to Mondays. The next full episode hits Monday, 8/8/16.

In Episode 2 of Exvangelical, I speak to Steven Jones. Steven Jones shares his story of growing up within evangelicalism and attending Christian college, facing family struggles, and--at the risk of being too reductive--losing and finding belief. He also shares about his engagement with the mystical tradition, including a series of experiences he had that are worthy of the word "revelation." Steven's story is redemptive and full of hope. It clocks in at close to two hours, and is absolutely worth a listen.

This first episode of Exvangelical features a long, free-form with American religious historian Dr. Jonathan Dodrill, who is a longtime friend of mine. We discuss how we met at Christian college, our experiences there, as well as how our viewpoints have changed since then. We also spend a good amount of time talking about modern evangelical politics, the current election cycle, and the baffling case of Donald Trump. This conversation was originally recorded on 6/28/16 and has been edited. Frank language is occasionally used, so be wary of young ears.

Introducing Exvangelical: a podcast exploring the world inside and outside of American evangelicalism. This episode explains the purpose behind this project. Give it a listen.