Crackers And Grape Juice Podcast

Taylor talks with his youngest sister, Laura Paige Mertins, about her works as a ceramicist, what it means to be a faithful millennial, and how art can help the church.You can find LP's work here - https://www.etsy.com/shop/LPMpottery and connect with her on Instagram at @lpmpottery

Pastor Alice Connor and her book 'Fierce: Women of the Bible and Their Stories of Violence, Mercy, Bravery, Wisdom, Sex, and Salvation'.

Author & professor John Nugent speaks to Donald Trump's Executive Order regarding immigrants and refugees from the perspective of his terrific new book Endangered Gospel: How Fixing the World is Killing the Church.

Our guest, Mona, discusses the consequences President Trump's Muslim travel ban has had and will have on her and our fellow Muslim American brothers and sisters. With all the talk of travel and immigration bans there have been real consequences. American citizens who are Muslim have been forced to have tough conversations with their neighbors and children. Xenophobia is creating fear throughout our nation rather than embracing the diversity we have in our country.

Jeffrey Pugh, Professor of Religion at Elon University, is a vulgar, profane, urgent son of a bitch. In other words, he’s quickly becoming a friend of the podcast. In addition to his recent book, the Home-Brewed Christianity Guide to the End Times, Jeffery is the author of Religionless Christianity: Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Troubled Times. For these troubled times when our culture is torn into polarities and our politics are in chaos, Bonhoeffer is a helpful guide for Christians to discern how to survey the landscape of their nation, determine what is nonnegotiable, and stand up as a confessing community.

James Younger, executive producer of National Geographic’s The Story of God with Morgan Freeman, joins the show to discuss faith, religion, and all things Story of God.You can watch The Story of God with Morgan Freeman on Monday evenings at 9 PM EST on the National Geographic Channel.

At the Theology Beer Camp hosted by Tripp Fuller and Homebrewed Christianity Teer and Jason caught up with pastor, professor, and former AC/DC sound roadie Barry Taylor. Barry is currently an Adjunct Professor at Fuller Theological Seminary and a co-host on 'The Story of God-Cast' which is the official after show of the hit NatGeo series 'The Story of God'.

Morgan and Teer had a chance to catch up with Pastor Amy Butler the week prior to President Trump's inauguration. Amy explains why she is seeking to use the pulpit as a place for a faithful response to what so far has been a tremulous first few days of the Trump presidency.

Taylor and Teer caught up with Duke Divinity professor and retired UMC Bishop Will Willimon to talk about racism, the Donald, and how we can look forward as America's dirty little secret surfaces again. "Who Lynched Willie Earle?: Preaching to Confront Racism" is available February 2017.

Taylor and Jason sat down for a conversation with Rev. Alex Joyner, author and a District Superintendent in the Virginia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church.Joyner was ordained a deacon in 1989 and elder in 1993. He has served appointments in Dallas, Texas; York, England; Unionville and Charlottesville. Joyner served as campus minister at the Wesley Foundation at the University of Virginia. He was appointed to Franktown UMC in 2005.Prior to entering the ordained ministry, Joyner was a radio news director and on-air personality in the Charlottesville area.Joyner holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia, a Master of Divinity degree from Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in Texas, and an additional Masters in Religious Studies while at UVA.He’s the author of several publications including Where Do I Go Now, God?, a vocational discernment curriculum and DVD for young adults published by Abingdon Press. He is a regular contributor to the FaithLink adult c

A recent study released by the Review of Religious Research titled "Theology Matters: Comparing the Traits of Growing and Declining Mainline Protestant Church Attendees and Clergy", argues that across Canada theologically conservative churches are growing while their liberal counterparts are experiencing decline. This study was brought to our attention by way of a Washington Post article.In the latest episode of Crackers & Grape Juice we tackle this topic from the context of local UMC congregations and campus ministry. At one point we are even able to correlate the decline of liberal churches with the decline of Duke basketball.

Original sin, as descried by Danielle Shroyer is the 'red sock' in our theological laundry. In her new book, 'Original Blessing, Putting Sin in Its Place', Shroyer explores how we are not born separated from God as God has chosen fidelity over separation. We are not separate from God, and if we are, it's on our end.

Actually, that's not a good title. Thomas Jay Oord didn't say that about Jesus' breastmilk; however, it does come up when Taylor and Jason talk with him about his new book The Uncontrolling Love of God.

Morgan & Teer were able to catch up with Melissa Greene at the OPEN Faith conference. Melissa is the co-pastor of GracePointe Church in Franklin, TN, a former member of the Grammy-nominate group Avalon, and Hope Curator at Timothy's Gift.

Taylor and Jason speak with William Cavanaugh, author of The Myth of Religious Violence, Torture and the Eucharist, and Being Consumed.

Jason talks with Fleming Rutledge about the message of Advent and preaching the word of Truth in a post-truth culture.

He's got the best head of hair in Progressive Christianity and we've got him to talk about his new book, 'Unclobber: Rethinking our Misuse of the Bible on Homosexuality'. Endorsed by Brian McLaren, Rob Bell, and Glennon Doyle Melton, Colby Martin works his way through the 'clobber' passages often used to denounce and dehumanize our LGBT brothers and sisters. He talks with the voice of a theologian while using a pastoral tone.

Teer & Morgan caught up with Brian McLaren to discuss Brian's latest book, "The Great Spiritual Migration: How the World's Largest Religion is Seeking a Better Way to be Christian." Is it time for a migration within Christianity? Author and pastor Brian McLaren believes so. He calls for three migrations: spiritual, theological, and missional.

You probably know him from the Colbert Catechism and his many appearances on the Colbert Report.Here in Episode 62, Teer and I talk with Father James Martin is a Jesuit who serves as the Editor of America Magazine, My Life with the Saints, and The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything. Not only did James give me an idea for my All Saints sermon and not only is he a friend of UVA’s own Father Fogarty (my old undergrad advisor), he shares a bit with us about his own prayer life.

AnaYelsi Velasco-Sanchez and Alicia Crosby share stories from the Standing Rock gathering as Christian women of color decolonizing their faith.