Crackers And Grape Juice Podcast

New York Times bestseller Fr. James Martin joins the pod again to talk about his latest book Come Forth: The Promise of Jesus's Greatest Miracle.In this wise and compassionate book, Father James Martin, SJ explores the story of Jesus’s greatest miracle—the raising of Lazarus from the dead—and what Jesus means when he calls each of us to “come forth.” Meditatively and carefully, Martin leads us verse by verse, offering profound reflections on Jesus’s lessons on love, family, sadness, frustration, fear, anger, freedom, and joy. Come Forth combines:Compelling analysis of the biblical textInsights about the historical setting of the storySpiritual lessons for today’s readersMeditations on Lazarus in art and the larger cultureStories from Martin’s travels through the Holy LandAs he explores these strands in depth, Martin helps us let go of the limiting beliefs that prevent us from experiencing God’s presence in our lives. We need only to open ourselves to the transformative story of Lazarus and trust that God can

Dr. Tobias Cremer joins us on the pod this week to talk about his new book The Godless Crusade: Religion, Populism, and Right-Wing Idenity Politics in the West. Dr. Cremer is a Junior Research Fellow in Religion and the Frontier Challenges at Pembroke College Oxford. His research focuses on the relationship between religion, secularisation and the rise of right-wing identity politics throughout western societies. In his doctoral research (University of Cambridge, funded by the ESRC) Tobias explored how right-wing populist movements in Germany, France and the United States employ Christianity as a cultural identity marker, and how believers and church authorities are reacting to such references.

Today Jack is back! We have Jack Levison on to talk about his new book Seven Secrets of the Spirit-Filled Life: Daily Renewal, Purpose and Joy When You Partner with the Holy Spirit.

Better late than never! This week Teer talks with Godfather of the pod, Will Willimon, about Jason's new book, A Quid Without Any Quo: A Gospel Freedom According to Galatians Go grab you a copy!

This week our guest is Karen Marsh! Karen's new book, Wake Up to Wonder came out July 11th. It's 22 invitations to amazement in the everyday.

This week we are sharing an epsidoe from ReThinking Faith, a podcast hosted by our friend Josh Patterson! Hope ya'll enjoy!

Our guest for #414 is Isaac Sharp, author of The Other Evangelicals: A Story of Liberal, Black, Progressive, Feminist, and Gay Christians―and the Movement That Pushed Them Out. Isaac B. Sharp is director of online and part-time programs and visiting assistant professor at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. He is the coeditor of Evangelical Ethics: A Reader in the Library of Theological Ethics series (Westminster John Knox, 2015) as well as Christian Ethics in Conversation (Wipf & Stock, 2020). About the book: What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear “evangelical”?For many, the answer is “white,” “patriarchal,” “conservative,” or “fundamentalist”—but as Isaac B. Sharp reveals, the “big tent” of evangelicalism has historically been much bigger than we’ve been led to believe. In The Other Evangelicals, Sharp brings to light the stories of those twentieth-century evangelicals who didn’t fit the mold, including Black, feminist, progressive, and gay Christians.Though the binary o

In honor of the Annual Conference begginning we are sharing a special interview where Jason and Teer interview Bishop Sue Haupert. Bishop Sue was assigned to the Virginia Conference at the 2022 SEJ Conference. A Florida native, Bishop Haupert-Johnson (or “Bishop Sue”) is a graduate of the University of Florida (B.S. in Business Administration), University of Florida College of Law (J.D.), and Candler School of Theology at Emory University (M.Div.). She was a federal law clerk and a litigator with the Tampa law firm of Carlton, Fields before she answered her call to ministry. Enjoy this episode!

On the cusp of Pride month, Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni signed one of the world's toughest anti-LGBTQ laws, including the death penalty for "aggravated homosexuality", drawing Western condemnation and risking sanctions from aid donors. Same-sex relations were already illegal in Uganda, as in more than 30 African countries, but the new law goes further. It stipulates capital punishment for "serial offenders" against the law and transmission of a terminal illness like HIV/AIDS through gay sex. It also decrees a 20-year sentence for "promoting" homosexuality. Given the news, our episode this week is a re-release of a conversation we had with Samson Turinawe. Samson is the Executive Director of the Universal Love Alliance, a grassroots organization in Uganda which advocates for LGBTQ people.A Ugandan humanitarian, educator and human rights defender. He believes that "every human being should be respected simply for being who they are, a part of Life's creation." Tolerance, inclusiveness, love, compassion,

Our guests this week are Joshua Chatraw and Mark Allen, coauthors of the new book, The Augustine Way: Retrieving a Vision for the Church’s Apologetic Witness. Chatraw and Allen are the authors as well of the award-winning Apologetics at the Cross (an Outreach magazine and Gospel Coalition Resource of the Year). In this new book, they recover Augustine's mature apologetic voice to address the challenges facing today's church. The Augustine Way offers a compelling argument for Christian witness that is rooted in tradition and engaged with contemporary culture. It focuses on Augustine's best-known works, Confessions and The City of God, to retrieve his scriptural and ecclesial approach for a holistic apologetic witness. Joshua is a professor at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama and Mark is professor biblical and theological studies at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Our guest this week is fellow Mockingbird writer Duo Dickinson. Duo is an American architect who has built over 500 projects in 10 states over 30 years. His work has received more than 30 awards. His design work has appeared in over 70 publications including The New York Times, Architectural Record and House Beautiful. He has written six books, including Small Houses for the Next Century and Expressive Details for McGraw-Hill and The House You Build, published by Taunton Press and as a paperback entitled House On A Budget. His book, Staying Put, received positive reviews in The Washington Post and The New York Times, among other publications. Dickinson is a contributing writer for Mockingbird, Common Edge, and Hearst Publications. He is a contributing writer on home design for Money Magazine. He blogs at Saved By Design: https://savedbydesign.wordpress.com The post he reads and discusses in the episode: https://savedbydesign.wordpress.com/2023/05/10/when-god-was-not-there/ His professional website: http://www

Our guest today is Sarah Hinlicky Wilson. Sarah is the Founder of Thornbush Press, launched in 2020, and author of a number of books under its imprint: I Am a Brave Bridge, Sermon on the Mount: A Poetic Paraphrase, Small Catechism: Memorizing Edition, Pearly Gates: Parables from the Final Threshold, To Baptize or Not to Baptize: A Practical Guide for Clergy, and A-Tumblin’ Down.Since August 2018 she has lived in Mitaka, Japan, on the campus of Japan Lutheran College and Theological Seminary, where her husband Andrew L. Wilson is Professor of Church History. She serves as one of the pastors at Tokyo Lutheran Church near the Shin-Ōkubo station in central Tokyo. She is also an Affiliated Faculty Member at the Johannelund School of Theology in Uppsala, Sweden.From July 2016 to July 2018 she lived in St. Paul, Minnesota, getting reacquainted with her home territory in between international sojourns. During that period she wrote a memoir about the year she spent in the newborn Republic of Slovakia when she was 17.F

For our episdoe today, we have a panel discussion that Jason moderated at St. Louis University for Dr. Ruben Rosario Rodriguez’s new book, Theological Fragments: Confessing What We Know and Cannot Know about an Infinite God.The interlocutors were:Nichole Flores, Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia and author of The Aesthetics of Solidarity: Our Lady of Guadalupe and American Democracy.Scott Paeth, Professor of Religious Studies and Peace, Justice, and Conflict Studies at DePaul University and coeditor of Shaping Public Theology: Selections from the Writings of Max L. StackhouseAristotle Papanikolaou, Archbishop Demetrios Chair in Orthodox Theology and Culture at Fordham University and author of The Mystical as Political

Our guest today is Trevin Wax.Trevin is vice president of research and resource development at the North American Mission Board and a visiting professor at Cedarville University. A former missionary to Romania, Trevin is a regular columnist at The Gospel Coalition and has contributed to The Washington Post, Religion News Service, World, and Christianity Today, which named him one of 33 millennials shaping the next generation of evangelicals. He has taught courses on mission and ministry at Wheaton College and has lectured on Christianity and culture at Oxford University. He is a founding editor of The Gospel Project, and the author of multiple books, including The Thrill of Orthodoxy, Rethink Your Self, This Is Our Time, and Gospel Centered Teaching.Every generation faces the temptation to wander from orthodoxy―to seek out the jolt that comes with false teaching, and to drift with cultural currents. And so every generation must be awakened again to the thrill of orthodoxy, and experience the astonishment that

This week we are talking with Zac Hics. He is the pastor of Church of the Cross in Birmingham, Alambama, adjunct lecturer in musc and worship at Samford University, and author of The Worship Pastor: A Call to Ministry for Worship Leaders and Teams. Zac in on to talk about his book Worship by Faith Alone: Thomas Cranmer, The Book of Common Prayer and the Reformation of Liturgy.

Cornelius Plantinga is an American theologian and most recently a seminary president. His new book Under the Wings of God shows us how to read scripture devotionally. About the book: Longing. Hope. Love. Fear.These are just some of the experiences embodied in the infinitely rich Christian life. In Under the Wings of God, seasoned author Cornelius Plantinga explores these facets and more, reflecting on the joys and challenges of a life following God.Rooted in Scripture, this book offers wisdom about topics including the problem of suffering, the nature of Christian virtue, love of God and our neighbor, longing for redemption and reconciliation, humility, and hospitality. Plantinga delves into hard questions with a calm and pastoral authority that offers the perfect antidote for the unrest in the world and the church right now. Each reflection is presented with a Bible text and a brief prayer, useful for personal devotions or small group discussions. Listeners will emerge with a deeper understanding of and appr

Our friend, Dr. Ken Jones, the Gerharde Forde Professor of Theology at Grandview University, joins Jason, Johanna, and Teer to reflect on the crucifixion.

Our guest this week is my friend Sarah S. Scherschligt, pastor of Peace Lutheran Church in Alexandria, Virginia. She comes on the pod to talk about climate change, despair and hope, and her new book chronicling her work to pastor during the pandemic. In March 2020, when COVID-19 changed our world, Washington D.C.-based pastor and writer Sarah Scherschligt posted a brief, thoughtful reflection on social media to comfort her reeling community. The next night, she did it again.For thirteen months, during the exceptional stretch of days from March 2020 to April 2021, Scherschligt published her reflections daily, offering deep spiritual insights as a progressive Lutheran pastor and mother. For the members of her community and congregation who read them in real time, Scherschligt’s reflections were an anchor and balm—a nightly benediction, offering comfort, wisdom, and hope.Her reflections are now compiled into a book, God Holds You: A Pandemic Chronicle. Part memoir, part social commentary, part Biblical interpret

Here is the latest session of our online study of Chris Green’s new book, Being Transfigured, in which we talked about doubt.Here are some of the quotes from the chapter that we cited and discussed:• Grace cannot save us without first losing us, which means grace always makes things awkward.• Not all questions are faithless. And sometimes, in fact, the only faithful response to truth is confusion.• If we’re honest, we’ll have to admit that much of what passes for doubt is nothing but honest hesitation, the inevitable upshot of generations of poor or bad teaching, teaching which trades in simplicities and cheap certainties, often eschewing pain at all costs, leaving us to feel that our salvation depends not on the mystery of faith, sustained by God’s devotion to us, but on our own grasp of our own beliefs or on the intensity of our desire for religious experiences.• We have to be saved from “simple faith.” But not so that we might have “great faith.” That, too, always proves false. We need, instead, “the faith