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Dr. Michael L. Budde is Professor of Catholic Studies and Political Science at DePaul University, where he also serves as Senior Research Scholar in the Center for World Catholicism and Intercultural Theology (CWCIT). His research explores the intersections of ecclesiology, political economy, and culture. Much of his contemporary research flows from the work of DePaul’s Center for World Catholicism and Intercultural Theology, a research center focusing on Catholicism in the so-called global South and as a worldwide religious community. Mike serves the Center as a senior research professor, and, with his colleagues, hosts visiting scholars from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and elsewhere in exploring important questions in theology, politics, history, and culture.

Mike is the author or editor of ten books, including The Borders of Baptism: Identities, Allegiances and the Church, The (Magic) Kingdom of God: Christianity and Global Culture Industries, Christianity Incorporated: How Big Business is Buying the Church, and The Two Churches: Catholicism and Capitalism in the World System. His work has appeared in journals including Modern Theology, Concilium, Journal of Scriptural Reasoning, and Studies in Christian Ethics. He received his Ph.D. in Political Economy from Northwestern University. His upcoming book is Foolishness to the Gentiles.

Mike is one of the founders and was the first coordinator of the Ekklesia Project and has contributed significantly to the resources it offers.

In this episode we talk broadly about Mike’s thought and about how both the political and economic agendas of the United States have formative influences on Christians and churches that compromise the capacity of Christians and churches to live faithfully the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Mike has an exceptionally prophetic ability to hold a mirror up to us so that we as Christians and churches are able to see ourselves and our compromises more fully and truthfully. At the same time, he also has a wonderfully pastoral way of providing us the wisdom and guidance in knowing how to move forward as more authentic witnesses to the Gospel.

The music for this episode is from a clip of a song called ‘Father Let Your Kingdom Come’ which is found on The Porter’s Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter’s Gate Worship Project. You can learn more about the album and the Worship Project at theportersgate.com.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 53:42 — 74.5MB) | Embed

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With the significant decline in the numbers of people calling themselves ‘Christian,’ and the closing of thousands of churches each year in the United States, a lot of us who are Christians across the theological spectrum are asking the questions, “What is God doing? How and where is God moving, especially in God’s church?”

In Amos 3:7-8, the prophet Amos declares, “Surely the Lord God does nothing, without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets. The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken; who can but prophesy?” I like the way the American Bible Society’s Contemporary English Version translates this passage. It reads, ” Whatever the Lord God plans to do, he tells his servants, the prophets. Everyone is terrified when a lion roars–and ordinary people become prophets when the Lord God speaks.”

My guest for this episode, Guy Sayles, may not follow Amos’s example of proclaiming, “Thus says the Lord!,” but for those of us who know Guy, we know he is one who deeply loves God and who, with every fiber of his being, seeks to be opened to and learn the lessons God has to teach. We know that when Guy speaks, what he says arises from long, prayerful, contemplative discernment that is the fruit of spending continuous time in communion and fellowship with and in the presence of God. Thus, we know his voice to be prophetic.

As you can learn from his website, fromtheintersection.org, Guy is a writer, speaker, guide, coach, and consultant who focuses on the intersections of faith and life, of meaning and culture, of love and fear. He explores healing and reconciling spirituality, ethical and effective leadership, and purposeful and empowering organizations. He also draws on his ongoing struggle with an incurable, but presently manageable, illness which has forced him to come to terms with limits and the illusion of control, to seek meaningful responses to suffering and the questions it raises, and to reflect on the ethics of healthcare and end-of-life-issues. If you’re interested in some of his reflections on his experience with cancer, you can find them at www.caringbridge.org/visit/guysayles.

Since he was in college and until recently, Guy has been the pastor of churches. He has also been a university teacher. So Guy brings to us a depth and breadth of experience that provides a guiding voice for us and for churches in these times.

In light of seeking to know what God is doing and what lessons God is teaching and wanting us to learn for the Church, Guy is here to share with us what he has learned, especially about both the lessons and opportunities for the Church brought about from the global Covid-19 pandemic.

The music for this episode is from a clip of a song called ‘Father Let Your Kingdom Come’ which is found on The Porter’s Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter’s Gate Worship Project. You can learn more about the album and the Worship Project at theportersgate.com.