Jurgen Moltmann is on the podcast!
Moltmann is the most influential theologian from the 2nd half of the 20th century. In this episode, you will get to hear Moltmann answer our questions like a theological champ. His one-liners are inappropriately zesty!
This is the first half of the live HBC podcast from the American Academy of Religion. You will get to hear Tony Jones and I interview the zesty German one – Moltmann! During the podcast, we celebrate the 40th anniversary of Moltmann’s ground-breaking text The Crucified God.

We were also joined by Jennifer McBride and Philip Clayton. Get ready for the excitement!!
Don’t forget to join Tripp & Diana this Lent for an open online class – Jesus De/constructed! Details here.
 Follow the podcast, drop a review, or become a member of the HBC Community.

I just saw Tom Oord’s tweet that Terence Fretheim passed away while I was reading his new book God So Enters into Relationship That… It is always shocking to hear how a live conversation partner you deeply value must shift to the page and these recordings. I can’t exaggerate Frethiem’s role in my own intellectual development. While at Wake Forest University’s Divinity School I took a Biblical Theology seminar with Phyllis Trible (a legend) and she had us each write 25 pg papers and present on a different Biblical theologian. I choose Fretheim and sent him the paper I wrote. He replied with a kind, encouraging, and detailed response, suggesting I consider PhD work given my ability to connect threads in his writing he hadn’t noticed. Dr, Trible gave me a B-, my worst grade in grad school. When I mentioned that Fretheim responded so positively to the paper and encouraged my work she said, “Terry takes the relational nature of love so seriously it may cloud his judgement.” What a compliment!
You can check out all his books here.
Dr. Terence E. Fretheim was the Elva B. Lovell Professor Emeritus of Old Testament at Luther Seminary, Saint Paul, Minn., where he taught for over forty years.

It is getting near the most epic of the HBC online classes. As part of the celebration – and the emails I got saying MORE PODCASTS BECAUSE I AM SELF-DISTANCING – I combined two of my favorite previous visits into this episode. First you hear John Cobb give a theo-philosophical sermon on the materializing trajectory of Christianity. Then liberal Reformed Theologian, Paul Capetz, joins me for the conversation in which we discuss the trinity, Religious Pluralism, The importance of the Incarnation, Discuss fall of the Mainline Churches, Liberalism? Progressive?, and the Mission of the Church. 
Enjoy this episode? Then checkout this book.
Don’t forget to check out Cobb’s recent visit to answer the question “Why Whitehead?”
John Cobb taught theology at the Claremont School of Theology from 1958 to 1990. In 2014 he became the first theologian elected to the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences for his interdisciplinary work in ecology, economics, and biology. He has published over 30 books including the first full length text in eco-philosophy.
In 1973, with David Griffin, he established the Center for Process Studies. In retirement he lives at Pilgrim Place in Claremont, California. Throughout his career he has contributed to Whitehead scholarship and promoted process-relational programs and organizations. Most recently, he helped found the Claremont Institute for Process Studies, and has been heavily involved in supporting work toward the goal of China becoming an ecological civilization.

I lost a very dear mentor and friend – Elgin Frank Tupper. I tried recording the intro over 10 times and just started crying, so I decided to save my thoughts for later and share this gem of an episode.
This also happens to be the most downloaded episode in HBC history.
Frank was a legendary Baptist theologian and the first American student of Wolfhart Pannenberg. He was a founding faculty member of the Wake Forest University School of Divinity where he retired in 2016 as Distinguished Professor of Divinity Emeritus.  You can read Frank’s Obituary here.

A Scandalous Providence is framed in a type of narrative theology, but not just the narrative of Jesus, or his own personal narrative, but the narratives of other people. It was born out of a desire to develop an understanding of providence on the basis of the key and crucial narratives in the synoptic portrayals of the story of Jesus – not just for seminarians or scholars, but for the problems of providence in the life of everyone in the church.

A number of Homebrewed Community Members asked for this episode to come out of the Barrel and back into the world, so here it is. In this episode I am joined by one of my dissertation advisors for a fun conversation.
Ingolf U. Dalferth (DrTheol, University of Tübingen) is Danforth Professor of Philosophy of Religion at Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California. He is also professor emeritus in the faculty of theology at the University of Zurich, where he served as director of the Institute of Hermeneutics and Philosophy of Religion for many years. He has held academic positions at the universities of Durham, Tübingen, Frankfurt, Fribourg, and Copenhagen. Dalferth is the author or editor of over forty books
Dr. Dalferth’s Recent Books

Transcendence and the Secular World: Life in Orientation to Ultimate Presence
Creatures of Possibility: The Theological Basis of Human Freedom
Radical Theology: An Essay on Faith and Theology in the Twenty-First Century
Crucified and Resurrected: Restructuring the Grammar of Christology

This is a super special conversation between two preeminent scholars and dear friends. Two friends of the podcast gathered in Claremont a few years back as part of the Emergent Village Theological Conversation on Process Theology and this gem of a conversation happened! John Cobb and Tom Oord discuss Jesus and a number of other goodies.
This barrel aged edition of the podcast is here so I can share episodes from the last 12 years no longer available in the podcast feed for your nerdy listening pleasure.
Also if you enjoy the conversation then you should totally come join the upcoming reading group with John Cobb on Alfred North Whitehead’s Process and Reality. In this series of lectures John Cobb will provide an introduction to one of the most compelling and challenging philosophical texts of the Twentieth Century. Process and Reality is a notoriously difficult text, but the goal of this course is to enable students to not only skim the surface but probe its deeper dimensions. With his decades of experience as a scholar and teacher of Whitehead, Cobb will elucidate the major themes and illuminate the major concepts in a way that is accessible to anyone.

Douglas John Hall is Canada’s greatest living theologian & emeritus professor of theology at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. He is a theologian of the cross, a contextual theologian, and a wonderfully articulate one as well.  In this conversation we discuss his latest two books What Christianity is Not & Waiting for the Gospel, his love of music, personal interactions with Moltmann, Billy Graham, Tillich & company, and a number of intense theological topics.  It was a complete joy to chat with him.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did… and of course share the brew!

Ian McFarland has recently returned to Candler School of Theology after a few years at Cambridge. Since Candler sponsored the podcast this week I figured it was a good time to bring Ian’s first visit to the podcast out of the barrel for your listening pleasure.
Dr. McFarland is the Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Theology and author of a number of books. In this interview we discuss From Nothing: A Theology of Creation and recently he just released The Word Made Flesh: A Theology of the Incarnation.
This episode is sponsored by Candler School of Theology at Emory University.
Candler offers 16 graduate degrees, including a Master of Divinity with a focus on Justice, Peacebuilding, and Conflict Transformation, plus a new program in Chaplaincy Ministries. 100% of Mdiv students get a 50% scholarship and all certified candidates for ordination in the United Methodist Church get their full tuition covered. So go check it out.

 
 

Dr. Sallie McFague is a theological legend, a pioneer feminist theologian, and one of the most powerful thinkers in my own theological development. We learned that she passed away this weekend. Over the course of the podcast I have had the honor of interviewing her twice and since hearing the news of her passing I have received a bunch of messages asking for the interviews themselves. After I found them I started listening and remembering how powerful they were. I knew that if anyone was interested in hearing the voice of this powerful theologian for themselves it should be as easy as possible. That is the main reason I started HBC years ago!!
While going back through the two episodes I decided to edit them together to make access easy. The biggest surprise I found was this amazing selection in which Dr. McFague reads the end of her last text. It is was moving then, but even more so now. I knew it needed to be shared on its own, so Elgin (11 year old son) created this little video.
Dr. McFague was the Distinguished Theologian in Residence at the Vancouver School of Theology in British Columbia, Canada. Prior she taught for thirty years at Vanderbilt University Divinity School. In the podcast we cover a lot of ground, including how Sallie became a theologian (which includes a kindergarten revelation), her focus on religious language, radical love, kenosis, panentheism, and even some member submitted questions, including:

* How does her concept of wild spaces address privilege
* In the revival of radical theology recently, how do you understand the reality of God?
* Where should one start with feminist theology?
* What do you think about the increased usage of the term Anthropocene?

And don’t forget to check out Sallie’s books, Blessed Are The Consumers and Models Of God. These two texts changed my mind in significant ways.

Who is Jesus Christ for us today?  Is there a way to even attempt to answer the question with intellectual credibility?  One of Germany’s greatest theologians, Michael Welker, is on the podcast discussing his new book God the Revealed: Christology.  In the book and on the podcast we discuss the quest for the historical, theological engagement with the natural sciences, the cultural shifts in the church, atonement theories, our shared love of Whitehead, and a bunch of other nerdy bits of goodness.
Welker & Tripp skyping
Professor Michael Welker is a Senior Professor at the University of Heidelberg (since 2013) and Director of the Research Center International and Interdisciplinary Theology (FIIT, since 2005) and an Honorary Professor at Seoul Theological University.
He is a member of the Heidelberg Academy and Corresponding Member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters and received the Medal of the University of Heidelberg. Karl-Barth-Preis award in 2016.
For lots of info on Dr. Welker check out his website HERE.
Want to check out Dr. Welker’s Gifford Lectures? Head over here and you can find the videos, audio, and written responses.

Was Saint Nick white? Did Saint Nick really slap Arius at the Council of Nicea? Whose side would Saint Nick take in the war on Christmas?
This is an all Saint Nick barrel-aged episode with Adam English. Learn about the historical St. Nick, the person behind the myths and legends and the confusion surrounding him, how he challenged systems of oppression, a brief history of Catholic social teachings, and how St. Nick provides the best model for the Christmas season.
Adam talks about the types of practical questions the christological heart of St. Nick poses to the church in the Christmas season, the ways we edit not just the historical person of St. Nick, but also the incarnation and birth narratives of Jesus to make them more palatable for our contemporary society, and he asks: do we need to get rid of Christmas to save it? or do we just give in and remove any vestige of Christ from Christmas? Plus, Tripp and Adam talk about how to negotiate (especially for parents) the history and myth of St. Nick while also preserving the mystery.
If you’re interested in reading more (and some excellent stocking stuffers) check out these books by Adam:
The Saint Who Would Be Santa Claus, and Christmas: Theological Anticipations
It’s not too late to get your tickets for the LIVE podcast in DC with Diana Butler Bass and the folks from Crackers and Grape Juice in on December 16th. You can get tickets and learn more here.

This is a #BarrelAged Podcast: nerdy audio with an oaky flavor.
This is one of Tripp’s favorite interviews from the early days. This was John Thatamanil‘s first visit, before he started teaching at Union theological seminary, where he teaches now. John and Tripp talk about:

* polydoxy
* divine immanence
* the relationship between Whitehead and Tillich
* nonduality and the Christian tradition
* and religious pluralism

You can check out some of John’s articles on Huffpost, a recent video he recorded with Robert Wright, or his book The Immanent Divine.

Adam English, professor of religion and philosophy at Campbell University, and Tripp’s undergrad prof, remixing theology. In his first podcast visit, Him and Tripp discuss his book, Theology Remixed, and how Christianity is like:
a story, a game, a language, a culture.
Also check out the most recent episode with Adam English, where he grills Tripp about his book in Raleigh, and his book on St. Nicholas, The Saint Who Would Be Santa Claus. 
 

As we come close to our 1,000 episode, lets go back all the way back to episode 76.
Eastern University professor Phillip Cary talks about Christian anxiety and how the traditional Catholic, Lutheran, and Calvinist notions of Christianity settle certain human anxieties.

* am I in a state of mortal sin?
* how can I be sure that I’m in a state of grace?
* do I have true faith?
* how do I know it’s God’s voice?

You can check out some of Phillip’s classes on the Teaching Company website here, or his books Good News for Anxious Christians, Augustine’s Invention of the Inner Self, and his commentary on Jonah.
 

This #BarrelAged episode was NT Wright’s first visit to the podcast. You can watch NT Wright’s latest visit to the podcast, the live Devilpalooza, here.
Chad and Tripp begin by playing a theological name game, where Bishop Tom talks about:

* Bart Ehrman
* John Sheldy Spong
* Luke Timothy Johnson
* Marcus Borg
* John Dominic Crossan
* Jurgen Moltmann
* E.P. Sanders
* Richard Hays
* Stanley Hauerwas

Plus: the important choice he made not to decide between being an academic or priest, and golf as an eccumenical exercise.
You can check out After You Believe and Surprised By Hope plus much, much more on his Amazon page.
 

This guy is really into Paul.
One of Tripp’s favorite NT scholars is featured in this Barrel Aged episode: Neil Elliott is on talking about his book, The Arrogance of Nations, plus how we can re-frame the Roman Road. It’s not about Christian identity, but about issues of justice and power.
Get an orientation about the world Paul existed in, and what role Paul played in that world. And make sure you around to the end, because Neil gives advice to ministers who are wrestling with these texts in the American imperial context:

* What does it mean to live faithfully a robust Pauline Christianity in today’s political landscape?
* Does Romans 1 really condemn homosexuality?
* How is God’s justice different from the empire’s justice?

Other books mentioned in the episode: Liberating Paul, and God Mystery Diversity

I loved talking to Merold Westphal and I’m pretty sure all the HBC Deacons and theology nerds across the
inter-webs are gonna dig this conversation coming out of the barrel.  Westphal is a long time philosophy prof from Fordham University and has now reached the status of emeritus. Merold is a top notch philosopher and committed evangelical who thinks deep and wrestles faithfully.  He publishes regularly and also has an awesome book for a general audience.
In the episode we discuss…

* Heidegger & The Onto-theological Critique
* Evangelicalism
* Growing up a dispensationalist and ending up a Christian philosopher
* Hegel, the social constitution of the self, & the located nature of ‘reason’
* Necessary Conditions for Christian Theism…God is personal
& speaks
* Pseudo Dionysius, Augustine, Aquinas, Feuerbach & negative theology
* Revelation, the Word of God, and Human Receptivity
* the Rapture
* Rob Bell
* He also introduces us to the ‘Gang of Four’- the Desert Father, the Geneva Calvinists, the American Slaves, and the modern Amish.

 
–

Do you know what time it is? Tool time? Process time.
Robert Mesle (you can call him Bob) joined the podcast to give an introduction to Alfred North Whitehead based on his book, Process-Relational Philosophy: an Introduction to Alfred North Whitehead. This must-read intro clearly articulates Whitehead’s philosophy without a lot of technical language or headaches.
What would Bob say if you were riding in an elevator and he had 90 seconds to explain process-relational philosophy???

* broad vision of the nature of the world and reality
* helps people address issues of evil
* applies to other fields, not just Christianity or religion (e.g. why did the stock market crash?)
* a way to say we are all in this together
* we should be concerned with the common good, not just what’s best for us.

Learn about what motivated Whitehead, God’s work in the world, why God loves the world, and what makes freedom possible. Plus, denominational light bulb jokes and Jonathan Taylor Thomas tells us what he’s been up to.

Don’t miss
5 Extremely Zesty Reasons You Should Go #ProcessCurious with Tripp and Monica A. Coleman on May 10th. Click here to learn more and here to signup for the webinar. 

Roger Haight is a prolific theologian, American Jesuit, and an excellent example of the Chicago School of
theology.  Standing in the tradition of greats like Paul Tillich and David Tracy, Roger seeks to articulate Christian theology for and to the cultural context.  In his career he has focused his attention on the postmodern context of the West, those who wrestle permanently with doubt and stand on the boundary of the church with their questions.  In addressing these people Dr. Haight reveals what is possible when the beauty of the Christian tradition is correlated with the questions and anxieties of people today.  In this conversation we discuss his work in Christology but end up touching on a whole number of other issues including religious pluralism, ecclesiology, the nature of Orthodoxy, and the application of the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises for the entire church.
As you may know, Roger Haight has had a quarrel with the Vatican over his Christology.  As we begin a series here at the podcast on Christology, I imagine you will begin to notice through comparison and increased understanding of the theological context and questions present today, that Roger is a faithful Christian theologian attempting to contribute constructively to the thought and practice of a church he loves.  Of course you can decide yourself!

This barrel aged episode is one of my favorites from 2009. Not only am I a Robert Wright fan but his book we discuss, The Evolution of God, is one of my favorites. I hope you enjoy this throw back episode and my thicker southern accent.
Robert Wright is Visiting Professor of Science and Religion at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York.  He is the author, most recently, of The Evolution of God,which was a New York Times bestseller and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. His other books include The Moral Animal: Evolutionary Psychology and Everyday Life, which The New York Times Book Review named one of the ten best books of 1994, and Nonzero, which Bill Clinton called “astonishing” and instructed White House staff members to read. In 2009 Wright was named by Foreign Policy magazine as one of the top 100 global thinkers. Wright has written for The Atlantic, The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Foreign Policy, and the op-ed pages of The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Financial Times. His books have been translated into more than a dozen languages, and his awards include the National Magazine Award for Essay and Criticism. Wright is editor-in-chief of the websites Bloggingheads.tv and Meaningoflife.tv.
** November 4-7th in Springfield, MO Get your Tickets for Subverting the Norm III with the discount code HBCSTN & the Theology Nerd Bootcamp with Jack Caputo **