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This episode is the first in my series, ‘Christian Music not Played on Christian Radio.’ Since the series was inspired in part by my guest, I thought it appropriate to have him begin the series.

My guest is Adam Whipple. I learned about and was able to connect with Adam through his pastor and my former board chair, Dr. Wade Bibb. Wade is presently pastor of Central Baptist Bearden, in Knoxville, TN. As so many churches are doing, Central Baptist Bearden is seeking to navigate the challenges that have come about with the rise of ‘contemporary’ Christian music and its ‘conflict’ with ‘traditional’ Christian music. Because Central Baptist Bearden is large enough and has the resources, it has services devoted to each style. Consequently, Wade is in conversation with musicians from each style.

Wade and I were discussing this challenge and he told of an occasion when he asked one of the ‘contemporary’ musicians where the laments and the contemplative/reflective songs were in ‘contemporary’ Christian music. The answer given was that those songs are there, but they are not heard on Christian radio. The musician/composer Wade was speaking to and talking about was Adam.

As you will hear in this episode, Adam offers important insights into the nature and breadth of ‘contemporary’ Christian music and into a Christian perspective on the interpretation of all art.

As you will also hear, Adam blends an eclectic, highly literate brand of folk rock with a more traditional Appalachian sound. His music has been described as equal parts Rich Mullins and Garrison Keillor and compared to Andrew Peterson, Paul Simon, and Counting Crows.

Adam’s latest record is The Broken Season, released in 2018 to critical acclaim.

In addition to being a musician and composer, Adam is also an artist, photographer, poet, and writer. He has written for The Rabbit Room, Analogue, and Curator magazine.

Adam is one of the editors for the arts journal and growing creative community, Foundling House, base in Knoxville, TN.

You can learn more about Adam, how to book a performance, and how to purchase his albums at his website:  adamwhipple.com

You can learn more about Foundling House and experience the art provided there by going to its website:  foundlinghouse.com

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.

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My guest for this episode is The Reverend Doctor Mae Elise Cannon. Dr. Cannon is an author of six books, a speaker, advocate, and the Executive Director of Churches for Middle East Peace.

Dr.Cannon is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC). Her ministry and professional background includes serving as the Senior Director of Advocacy and Outreach for World Vision-US, the executive pastor of Hillside Covenant Church (Walnut Creek, California), Director of Development and Transformation for Extension Ministries at Willow Creek Community Church (Barrington, Illinois), and as a consultant to the Middle East for child advocacy issues for Compassion International.

She earned doctorates in History (Ph.D) and Spiritual Formation (D. Min). Her Ph.D focused on American History with the minor in Middle Eastern studies from the University of California – Davis, focusing her dissertation on the history of the American Protestant church in Israel and Palestine. Cannon’s Doctorate of Ministry in Spiritual Formation is from Northern Theological Seminary. Cannon holds an M.Div. From North Park Theological Seminary, an M.B.A. from North Park University’s School of Business and Nonprofit Management, and an M.A. in bioethics from Trinity International University. Cannon completed her Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Chicago in History, Philosophy, Social Studies, of Science and Medicine.

I will have more interviews with Dr. Cannon about some of her books and her work with peacebuilding, especially in the Middle East. However, I wanted to begin with a conversation about her first book, Social Justice Handbook: Small Steps for a Better World.

Most of us who are caring people want to live our lives is ways that help make our world a better place. We want to participate in and advance the causes of justice, compassion, and caring so that there are less of such things as poverty, homelessness, hunger, injustice, crime, violence, and war. Often, however, the daily demands of life absorb our energies and hinder us from being involved. In addition, so many of the issues that we care about are so complex we are uncertain about how we can be involved and whether our efforts will matter.

What Dr. Cannon does in Social Justice Handbook: Small Steps for a Better World is to provide us with a resource so that we can know how to become involved in something that matters to us which we believe will help make the world more just, compassionate, and caring. As the subtitle indicates, small steps do matter and make a difference. Even though this work is now ten years old, I wanted you, as my audience, to know of this resource because of its continued usefulness in helping us learn about issues that concern us and becoming aware of specific initial steps we can take to get involved.

In the first part of the book, Dr. Cannon gives us an orientation about what social justice is and involves. My interview with her focuses on this part.

In the second part of the book (which is especially why I wanted you to know of this resource), she provides an encyclopedic list of social issues. For each issue she gives an introduction to the issue; resources, such as books and websites, for learning more about the issue; and then specific steps one can take to become involved with that issue.

You can learn more about Dr. Cannon, her books, how to contact her, and how to arrange for her come and speak for your organization from her website:

maecannon.com

You can learn more about the work of Churches for Middle East Peace from its website:

cmep.org

Other books by Dr. Cannon on to which she contributed are:

Forgive Us: Confessions of a Complicated Faith

A Land Full of God: Christian Perspectives on The Holy Land

Just Spirituality: How Faith Practices Fuel Social Action

Evangelical Theologies of Liberation and Justice

Beyond Hashtag Activism: Comprehensive Justice in a Complicated Age

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.

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You may notice that I have changed the title of this series slightly. Formerly, I called it Peacemaking. However, I have learned from Rabbi Amy Eilberg‘s wonderful book, From Enemy to Friend: Jewish Wisdom and the Pursuit of Peace, that many extensively involved in peace efforts make a distinction in those efforts between three terms. ‘Peacekeeping’ is used to refer to military intervention for the purpose of ending violence and keeping it in check. ‘Peacemaking’ is used primarily to refer to large-group, national, and international efforts at diplomacy. ‘Peacebuilding’ however, refers to efforts on any level, but especially on the personal level of developing habits, relationship skills, and relationships that work to prevent violence coming about. This last definition fits more closely what I am seeking to explore in the conversations I am having with peace activists from the different world religions and humanist perspectives. I am wanting to enable you to be aware that there are peace activists in all of the world’s different faiths and worldviews. I am also wanting us all to become aware of the peacebuilding resources that come from each of the world’s faiths and worldviews.

In this episode I look at peacebuilding resources from Judaism. On the day this episode was recorded it was Holocaust Remembrance Day. If there ever is a reason for us to be urgently working at peacebuilding, it is the memory of the Holocaust! The wisdom and resources from Judaism that have come in response to that experience are profound and vital for us all in peacebuilding.

My guest for this episode is Rabbi Nancy Fuchs Kreimer. Rabbi Kreimer has been involved in interfaith communication and peacebuilding efforts for nearly four decades. She has been so creative, innovative, and extensively involved in so many important peacebuilding conversations and projects, one simply can Google her name and vast information and resources are available.

Rabbi Kreimer is a part of Reconstructionist Judaism. She received her rabbinical training at Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and is now Associate Professor Emeritus at that College. She earned her Ph.D. in Religious Studies at Temple University.

I drew my questions for Rabbi Kreimer from three sources: The book she co-authored with Kelly James Clark and Aziz Abu Sarah, titled, Strangers, Neighbors, Friends: Muslim-Christian-Jewish Reflections on Compassion and Peace; Her delightful book, Parenting as a Spiritual Journey: Deepening Ordinary and Extraordinary Events into Sacred Occasions; and the Reconstructing Judaism website ( reconstructingjudaism.org ) where you can learn more about Rabbi Kreimer, the projects in which she is involved, and the resource from Judaism that are vital for peacebuilding.

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.

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This episode is the second part of a conversation I have with Dr. Marc Mullinax, who is Professor of Religion at Mars Hill University in Mars Hill, North Carolina and who is also a charter member of the creative and progressive church, Circle of Mercy.

In Part I Marc and I explored and discussed our awareness that Christians across the theological spectrum in the United States are experiencing a deep sense of anxiety. Marc proposed that we each have a worldview that gives order and guidance to our experiences, even to what we anticipate for the future. It is when our worldview is interrupted for by something significant that we experience anxiety. In my mind this worldview interruption comes with the awareness that Christianity is losing its place as the dominant culture of our nation. For progressive Christians, our anxiety was heightened by the election of President Trump and has the possibility of continuing to increase with the possibility of his re-election.

In response, Marc offers a second kind of interruption–an intentional interruption provided by the spiritual resources in all religions and faiths. This second, intentional interruption comes in the form of prayer, meditation, and practices. For the Christian, these practices arise out of our beliefs in the resurrection and are ways of practicing that resurrection in our lives and congregations. As Marc says, progressive churches have a golden moment to develop the kind of intentional interruption and resilience helpful for addressing our anxiety and the situation of our times.

Marc provides sixteen insights and practices to guide our actions and thoughts and uses the congregation he attends, Circle of Mercy . These sixteen insights and practices can be reviewed on YouTube by searching for the title, ‘Being the Church in Anxious Times.’  youtu.be/UNR804DIG-s

To have a conversation with Marc, you can reach him at mmullinax@mhu.edu.

Again, on a separate note, to repeat the promo given in Part 1, Marc has a new book coming out entitled,Tao te Ching: Power for the Peaceful to be published by Fortress Press. In The Atlantic’s September 2018 issue, editors reported out results of “The Big Question” they had asked a couple months earlier on Twitter: “What book or article would you make required reading for everyone on Earth?” Tao te Ching was the fourth most-popular text of the responses, after Fahrenheit 451, Silent Spring and The Brothers Karamazov. About the book, Marc says, ‘This English translation of Tao te Ching is for modern readers, one that poses questions and answers about how to live in peace and intentionally in chaotic times. I have made it my quest to provide a scholarly translation, but to render it in a vernacular that can also surprise as it liberates the intents of the Chinese text.’ You can anticipate a future conversation with Marc about this work!

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.

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This episode is the first of a two part conversation I have with Dr. Marc Mullinax who is Professor of Religion at Mars Hill University in Mars Hill, North Carolina and who is also a charter member of the creative and progressive church, Circle of Mercy, in Asheville, North Carolina.

Even before, but now enhanced by, the experiences with the Coronavirus, Christians across the theological spectrum have been experiencing a deep sense of anxiety. In this episode, we explore and discuss the reasons for that anxiety. Marc roots the anxiety in the interruption of our worldview.

In Part 2, Marc offers sixteen insights and practices, that are ways of practicing the resurrection in which we believe, to address that anxiety, especially for progressive churches. He draws on his own experiences with the congregation he attends, Circle of Mercy.

For those who wish to have further conversation with Marc, he can be reached at mmullinax@mhu.edu.

On a separate note, Marc has a new book coming out entitledTao te Ching: Power for the Peaceful to be published by Fortress Press late this year or early next year. As the title shows, the book relates to my series on peacemaking/peacebuilding, so expect a future conversation with Marc about his new work.

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.

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The Coronavirus has played havoc with my interviewing schedule. Melissa Rogers was to be my next episode, and she may be my next guest, but I had to cancel her interview due to the travel restrictions caused by the virus. So, while I am regrouping and rescheduling and had the ideas in this episode on my mind, I decided to present them now.

Solving the pandemic and ending the deaths of people caused by the coronavirus is the major problem facing our globe at the present, but this problem has created a second dire problem, which is the threat of the collapse of national economies. These two problems have created a division within the United States over which is the primary problem to solve. Some fear that the collapse of the economy could be worse than the effects of the virus.

We need a way forward that helps us solve both problems. In this episode I offer my thoughts on two sets of resources that I believe can help us more forward more productively. They are Glen Stassen’s seven steps to peacemaking in his book, Just Peacemaking: A New Paradigm for the Ethics of Peace and War, and the creative thinking tools of such people as Edward de Bono, Michael Michalko, and the ideas of William McDonough and Michael Braungart.

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.

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This episode begins a series on peacemaking. I learned of the book, Peacemaking and the Challenge of Violence in World Religions by Drs. Irfan Omar and Michael Duffey. The authors are professors in the Department of Theology at Marquette University. In conjunction with the book, the authors held a one-day symposium by the same title. The book (and symposium) consists of seven scholars representing seven of the world’s religions. Each scholar is also a practitioner of the religion she or he represents. What each scholar/practitioner provided was an essay/presentation on resources for peacemaking from her or his religion. This essay/presentation was followed by a response from two of the other participants.

I thought this book provided an excellent model for developing my series. I will be seeking to have conversations with scholar/practitioners of peacemaking from different world religions, discussing the resources from my guest’s faith that contribute to peacemaking and her or his own peacemaking efforts/experiences.

My guest today is one of the contributors from the book. Dr. Tink Tinker is Emeritus Professor in the Iliff School of Theology, a Methodist graduate school in Denver Colorado. Dr. Tinker is a member of the wazhazhe, Osage Nation. He teaches courses in American Indian cultures, history, and religious traditions; cross-cultural and Third-World theologies; and justice and peace studies and is a frequent speaker on these topics both in the U.S. and internationally. His publications include American Indian Liberation: A Theology of Sovereignty (2008); Spirit and Resistance: Political Theology and American Indian Liberation (2004); and Missionary Conquest: The Gospel and Native American Genocide (1993). He co-authored A Native American Theology (2001); and he is co-editor of Native Voices: American Indian Identity and Resistance (2003), and Fortress Press’ The Peoples’ Companion to the Bible (2008).

The Tink Tinker Program Endowment Fund was launched following the celebration of Tink’s career. Donations can be make to this fund here.

The title of his contribution to Peacemaking and the Challenge of Violence in World Religions is, ‘The Irrelevance of euro-christian Dichotomies for Indigenous Peoples: Beyond Nonviolence to a Vision of Comic Balance (Chapter 7).’

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.

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In this episode I begin a series of conversations with other-than-Christian folks. As the dominant religion in the United States, Christianity has often acted oppressively  and hostilely to non-Christian groups. The Christian Left has contributed to those actions with its tendency toward moral and academic elitism and with its complicity in supporting oppressive and hostile structures. Some confessing and repenting on our part as Christians needs to occur as well as some efforts at taking steps to bring healing and reconciliation. Initiating such steps in its on modest way is, in part, what this on-going series is intended to begin.

As I said in the trailer for this episode at the end of the last episode, doing this series connects two values of my own experience that overlap. The first value is my heritage as the type of Baptist I was raised to be. In that Baptist tradition, cooperation on what one has in common with another is more important and useful than breaking or excluding relationships due to differences. A lot can be accomplished with others, despite significant differences, that cannot be achieved alone which makes the things better locally, nationally, and globally when such cooperation is undertaken. That desire for cooperation has not always been extended, but can and should be extended beyond fellow Baptists or Christians to all people of good will seeking to increase the common good. The second value is my own patriotism. Among the many things about my nation about which I am thankful and value deeply is its vision of creating a place where people of radically differing faiths/world views/values/perspectives/interests/etc. can live together in peace and even harmony without resorting to violence and war. However, to be a citizen of such a nation requires certain habits and people skills to realize that cultural environment and goal. Included among these habits and people skills are behaviors such as respect, tolerance, and peacemaking. Such actions help contribute to the declared purpose of our nation stated in our Constitution to establish a more perfect union. The values of my kind of Baptists and that of our nation have worked hand in hand in seeking to realize these goals. Having conversations with others of significant difference that seek understanding, respect, and areas of commonality and cooperation is one way to help realize both faith and national goals.

A group with whom Christians have had especially tragic and terrible experiences are those from Pagan communities. Witch trials are among the more notable examples. Large groups of Christians assume that paganism is synonymous with satanism. To help bring some clarity, dispel misunderstanding, and to begin to build bridges of reconciliation and respect, I want to introduce to you the gracious and delightful Byron Ballard, Wiccan High Priestess.

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.

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In this episode I have a conversation with the Reverend Robert Randolph. He was a pastor who, in his early 30s had two strokes. He discusses his experience of surviving and of continuing in ministry as a chaplain. He also gives us a clearer understanding about strokes and insight into the experiences of stroke survivors. In doing this Robert equips us and enables us more fully, in both a caring and encouraging way, to relate to and journey along side of stroke survivors.

Robert has written an article that gives the details he discusses in the interview: ‘Out of Exile: A Spiritual View of Stroke Recovery,’ Nurturing Faith, Vol. 39, Issue 2, March/April 2020, pp. 40-41.

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.

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In this episode I begin the first of what will be a series of conversations with Steady State economists. Steady State Economics is an alternative to both Neoclassical free-market capitalism and socialism, which, if I understand Steady State economists correctly, they classify as being growth-oriented economies. I have been persuaded by Steady State economists description of the limitations of existing approaches to the economy, particularly in light of climate change, pollution, and global poverty, and by what they have to offer as solutions. Many people do not know of this alternative, so I hope to help bring about greater awareness of this type of economy through an on-going dialogue over time with various Steady State economists and advocates.

My guest is Rob Dietz, who was the Executive Director for Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy (CASSE) and is presently Program Director at Post Carbon Institute. You can learn more about CASSE at steadystate.org and Post Carbon Institute at postcarbon.org.

I am interviewing Rob about the book he co-authored with Dan O’Neill called Enough Is Enough: Building a Sustainable Economy in a World of Finite Resources.

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.