Love Rinse Repeat

Ep32. The Bible in Australia, Meredith Lake

I sat down with Meredith Lake to talk about the Bible in Australia. We bust myths about the history of the Bible in this country, talk about where one goes looking to find the cultural history of a book so contested, the way the Bible shows up in almost every major national conversation and debate (often on both sides), the role of the Bible in colonisation, its use by immigrants, and the way Indigenous Christians – from early on through today – have reappropriated the Bible, turning it back on the worst of White Australia.Meredith is an historian, broadcaster and award-winning writer interested in how Australians understand the big questions of faith and meaning. In 2019, she hosts Soul Search - a weekly show about the lived experience of religion and spirituality - on ABC Radio National. She is also an Honorary Associate of the Department of History, Sydney University, where she did her PhD on religious ideas about the environment in Australian colonial history. She tweets at @meredithlake1The Bible in Australia is shortlisted for the 2019 NSW Premier's History awards, and was named 2018 Australian Christian Book of the Year. She is also the author of a major study of faith-based charity since the Great Depression, Faith in Action: HammondCare (UNSW Press, 2013).Follow the show: @RinseRepeatPod // Follow me: @liammiller87Find more: www.loverinserepeat.com/podcast https://www.youtube.com/user/LiamMQUT/videos

Ep31. In His Own Strange Way, Geoff Thompson

"These words remind us that God loves the world by doing something concrete for it..."I sat down with Geoff Thompson to talk about his new book "In His Own Strange Way: a Post-Christendom, Sort-of Commentary on the Basis of Union." We talk about Jesus, the way the BoU wraps the story of the church in the much bigger story of Christ and cosmos, the importance of going 'back to basics' when asking questions of the Bible, and the purpose of Ordained ministers as ensuring "the church keeps its witness to Christ and participation in his mission at heart of why it exists”.Geoff Thompson is Coordinator of Studies: Systematic Theology at Pilgrim Theological College part of the University of Divinity. His writings include Disturbing Much Disturbing Many: Theology Provoked by the Basis of Union, A Genuinely Theological Church, Jesus Christ According to the Basis of Union, and the forthcoming Doctrine: a guide for the Perplexed. He blogs at http://xenizonta.blogspot.com/ (go here for excerpts of the book)Buy the Book: http://www.mediacom.org.au/shopping/shops/shop/ShowPageBuy.php?ProdCode=MC2211Twitter: @gtsystheolFollow the show: @RinseRepeatPodFollow me: @liammiller87More: http://www.loverinserepeat.com/podcast/

Ep30. Queer Theology, Linn Marie Tonstad

“Humans are not fixed or static, and neither is God’s storyline with human beings”I sat down with Linn Marie Tonstad. Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at Yale Divinity School, author of God and Difference, and the Cascade Companion Queer Theology. We talk about how Queer Theology isn’t about apologetics, Linn’s own apologetic for not doing apologetics, a church without judgment, why rights based approaches to justice – which seek to graft LGBTIQ people onto existing structures – fall into dangerous traps, how identities are never fixed, Queer Theologies critical engagement with capitalism, the problem with the Christianity is Queer line, and the shared concern for a proper attitude to finitude.You can buy the book here: https://www.bookdepository.com/Queer-Theology/9781498218795Professor Tonstad is a constructive theologian working at the intersection of systematic theology with feminist and queer theory. Her first book, God and Difference: The Trinity, Sexuality, and the Transformation of Finitude, was published by Routledge in 2016 and was named both as a best new book in ethics and a best new book in theology in Christian Century in the spring of 2017. She joined the Yale Divinity School faculty in 2012 after teaching for a year at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University. From 2009 to 2011, she was a Lilly Fellow in the humanities and theology at Valparaiso University. Her teaching interests include systematic theology, feminist and queer theory, philosophy of religion, and theological method. Professor Tonstad has made contributions to various journals, including Modern Theology, International Journal of Systematic Theology, and Theology & Sexuality. She serves on the steering committee of the Theology and Religious Reflection unit and the Queer Studies in Religion unit of the American Academy of Religion, and as an associate editor at Political Theology.Follow Linn: @PennamirielFollow the show: @RinseRepeatPod

Ep29. The God Who Sees, Karen Gonzalez

I sat down with Karen Gonzalez to talk about The God Who Sees: Immigrants, the Bible, and the Journey to Belong. We talk about the process of writing the book and what its like to include so much of one’s own story, We discuss how basing her story on the sacraments deepened her thinking on the practices, the complicated stories of migrants in the Bible, speaking to churches about immigration, taking action, and which Biblical story of migration needs its own Hamilton inspired rap musical!Karen Gonzalez is a speaker, writer, immigrant advocate, and taco enthusiast. She is an immigrant from Guatemala, now living in Baltimore, Maryland, where she enjoys writing, cooking Latin food, traveling, and watching baseball (in that order). Karen is a former public school teacher and attended Fuller Theological Seminary, where she studied theology and missiology. For the last 10 years, she has been a non-profit professional, currently working for an organization that serves immigrants and refugees.You can find her on Twitter and Instagram musing about theology: @_karenjgonzalez. Her writing can be found on the communal blogs: The Mudroom and The Salt Collective, where she has written about spiritual formation, Latinx identity, race, gender, the Enneagram and immigration. She also has bylines in Sojourners, Faithfully Magazine, Mutuality Magazine, Christ and Pop Culture, and others.Buy the Book: https://www.bookdepository.com/God-Who-Sees-Karen-Gonzalez/9781513804125?ref=grid-view&qid=1556008613495&sr=1-3Find out more about Karen: https://www.karen-gonzalez.com/Follow the show: @RinseRepeatPod // Follow me: @liammiller87

Ep28. Parenting, Cindy Wang Brandt

“How do we build a better world? One key way is by learning to raise our children with justice, mercy, and kindness.”I sat down with Cindy Wang Brandt to talk about her progressive Christian approach to parenting. We discuss what its like to write about parenting while parenting, talking with kids about the tough issues (like racism, climate change, gender inequality), extending autonomy to children and asking what it means to really listen to them. We also touch on her own faith journey, and how she thinks about sharing faith with children.“By becoming aware of the complex ways we participate in systems of inequality or hierarchy, we begin to resist systemic injustice ourselves, empower our children, and change our communities.”This is a special episode of Love Rinse Repeat, co-presented with Insights, the magazine of the Uniting Church in Australia, Synod of NSW/ACT.Cindy Wang Brandt is a writer, podcaster, consultants, and altogether awesome progressive voice living and working in Taiwan. You can check out her podcast by subscribing to Parenting Forward. You can read her articles here and you can join the Facebook community of Raising Children Unfundamentalist.Buy the BookFollow Cindy on Twitter: @cindy_w_brandtRead a sample chapter of book and access free study guide.Follow the Show: @RinseRepeatPod // Follow me: @liammiller87More interviews and writing

Ep27. One Coin Found, Emmy Kegler

“I did not have a plan for how I would accomplish falling in love with scripture. I simply decided that I had to and went from there.”I sat down with Rev Emmy Kegler to talk about her new book One Coin Found: How God’s Love Stretches to the Margins. We discuss her personal journey with Scripture and how it led to this book, what its like to write a book on God and the Bible while showing up each week to minister, the vitality and significance of Jacob wrestling and being wounded by a mysterious man, what it means to be blessed, what it means to carry wounds and scars even after finding wholeness. We also cover Emmy’s artistic style of sermon prep, needing God (or a particular version of God to shut up), and the Queer Grace Community. This episode also contains the debut of an exciting new segment – pairings – which I think went very well.Emmy Kegler is the pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Northeast Minneapolis and the founder and editor of Queer Grace, an encyclopaedia of online resources around LGBTQ life and faith. Emmy has a Master’s in Divinity from Luther Seminary in Saint Paul, Minn., and is an ordained pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. She was raised in the Episcopal Church and spent some time in evangelical and non-denominational traditions before finding her home in the ELCA. She pastors a small servant-hearted neighbourhood congregation in Northeast Minneapolis focused on feeding the hungry and community outreach, and is co-leader of the Queer Grace Community, a group of LGBTQ+ Christians in the Twin Cities who meet for worship, Bible study, and fellowship. She lives in Saint Paul and enjoys biking, board games, books, and spending time with her wife Michelle and their two dogs and cat.Buy the book.Read an excerpt. Visit Emmy’s site.Follow her on Twitter @EmmyKeglerFollow the show: @RinseRepeatPodFollow Me: @liammiller87Visit Love Rinse Repeat

Ep25. Fire By Night, Melissa Florer-Bixler

“From page to page, chapter to chapter, book to book, we encounter the human and divine in the same verse, the same ink, as one bleeds into the other.”I sat down with Melissa Florer-Bixler to talk her new book Fire By Night: finding God in the pages of the Old Testament. This is an exceptional, exciting, and accessible work, drawing us into the nuance, beauty, and challenge of the OT in order to draw us deeper into the life of God. We talk about reading slowly, how difficult texts often reveal parts of ourselves we’d rather turn away from, holiness, justice, Sodom and Gomorrah, and how the Mennonite practice of testimony fits well with the nature of debate and conversation within the pages of the OT. Also, we recorded this a day after the Oscars, so we talk about our desire for a Jael movie.This is a special episode, co-presented with Insights, the magazine of the Uniting Church in Australia Synod of NSW/ACT.Melissa is is the pastor of Raleigh Mennonite Church, and a graduate of Duke University and Princeton Theological Seminary. She studied in Kenya, worked on an archaeological dig in Israel, worked as a barmaid in East Oxford, and lived with the L'Arche community in the Pacific Northwest. Now she prefers the Eno River and her raised beds in the Piedmont. She writes as a feminist working to dismantle whiteness, a disposition that emerged from sticking near to Jesus Christ for almost four decades. She is the chair of L'Arche North Carolina. She and her spouse parent their three children in Raleigh, NC.About the Book: Page after page, in stories and poems and prophecies, the Hebrew Scripture introduces us to a God who is unwieldy and uncontrollable, common and extraordinary, and who brings both life and death. The same passages that confuse and horrify and baffle us can, if we are paying attention, lure us closer toward God.Read an excerpt here.Connect with Melissa: Website, Twitter: @MelissaFloBixBuy the BookFollow the show: @RinseRepeatPod Follow Me: @liammiller87See more: www.loverinserepeat.com

Ep24. Gondwana Theology, Garry Worete Deverell

“The God made known in the stories of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures is a God who was sojourning with our people, here in this country, long before the calling of Abraham, or Moses, or St Paul. Our dreaming can be ‘read’ as a legitimate witness to that sojourning and should therefore be engaged as an equally rich source of revelation and guidance regarding the living of a human life that is good, beautiful and true”I sat down with Gary Worete Deverell to talk about his book, Gondwana Theology: A Trawloolway man reflects on Christian Faith. We talk about the material, fleshy nature of First People’s Spirituality and the building blocks of country, kin, and dreaming. We engage the Dreaming and Genesis 1 – the present power of Creation narratives to shape the identity of those colonised; we also cover reconciliation, racism, what to preach on Trinity Sunday, and his letter to his First Nations sisters and brothers navigating the white church… plus, a bunch of liturgy talk!Garry is a Trawloolway man from northern Tasmania, an Anglican of Holy Orders who has ministered for 25 years. He has a PhD in liturgy and philosophical theology from Monash University. Garry is currently the vicar at St Agnes’ Anglican Church in Black Rock and a Turner Fellow at Trinity College Theological School, part of the University of Divinity.“The message of God’s love that is at the heart of the Christian evangel is often the only thing that is able to rescue my Trawloolway self from the overwhelming racist power of the church and society alike.”Buy the bookRead more from GarryMusic by FyzexFollow the show: @RinseRepeatPodFollow me: @liammiller87loverinserepeat.com