Love Rinse Repeat

Ep118. Hey Jude, Ali Robinson

I spoke to Ali Robinson about teaching the New Testament, that little book of Jude, harsh language, conflict, and struggling to stick to a topic of research.
Dr Ali Robinson hold a PhD from Macquarie University, a BTh with Honours from Charles Sturt University. She has a strong interest in the General Epistles, Greco-Roman Rhetoric, Invective, Second Temple Judaism and Biblical Greek. Ali is the author of Jude on the Attack: A Comparative Analysis of the Epistle of Jude, Jewish Judgment Oracles and Greco-Roman Invective (T&T Clark, 2018).
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Follow the show on Twitter: @RinseRepeatPod // follow me: @liammiller87

Ep117. Indigenous Theologies, Anne Pattel-Gray

This is a portion of the most recent Black Lives Matter and the Church in Australia panel discussion where Dr Anne Pattel-Gray joined the group to talk about Indigenous Theologies. She offers insight into the cost of developing a theology based in sovereignty and anti-colonialism, the work that remains, and what she's working on now. The monthly panels are hosted by Rev. Tau’alofa Anga’aelangi of the Uniting Church Chaplaincy at Charles Sturt University in Port Macquarie and Rev Dr Katalina Tahaafe-Williams of the Social Justice Pilgrim Presbytery NT. The panel is also comprised of me and Emma Jackson (a PhD candidate at Macquarie University. These panels happen on the final Sunday of the month at 3pm EST. To find out more contact Rev. Tau’alofa Anga’aelangi at ucc.csu[@]gmail.com (The next one will be January 2022). Dr. Anne Pattel-Gray is an Aboriginal woman who is a descendant of the Bidjara/ Kari Kari people in Queensland and she is a recognised Aboriginal leader within Australia – nationally and internationally. She has dedicated her life to the struggle of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and she is a strong campaigner and lobbyist and deeply committed to seeking justice, equity and equal representation for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people. She is very proud of her Aboriginal culture and heritage and is a strong advocate for Aboriginal women, children, families and community regarding our Cultural and basic Human Rights. She has developed a leadership quality that promotes and builds a deeper sense of community and participation that brings a greater Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage and cultural identity and cohesion with the broader community that leads to beneficial partnerships, engagement and reconciliation. Dr. Anne Pattel-Gray has an earned Ph.D. from the University of Sydney awarded in 1995 in the Studies of Religion with the major focus on Aboriginal Religion and Spirituality (she was the first Aboriginal person to graduate with a Ph.D. from the University of Sydney). And a Doctor of Divinity from India awarded in 1997 (the first Aboriginal person to be awarded the D.D.). Dr. Pattel-Gray has achieved many firsts in her prestigious life and she is known as a trail blazer and she has opened many doors for her people. She is a recognised scholar, theologian, activist and prolific writer with several publications – chapters, articles, edited works and authored books. Dr. Anne Pattel-Gray is deeply committed to the advancement of Aboriginal people and to reconciliation between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians. She has over thirty years in senior management as a CEO and she possesses a wealth of experience and she has developed enormous expertise. Buy the Great White FloodFind more episodes Follow the show on twitter: @RinseRepeatPod // Follow me: @liammiller87

Ep116. All Who Are Weary, Emmy Kegler

I sat down with Emmy Kegler to discuss easing the burden on the walk with mental illness. We discuss how this book emerged out fo a deep need for compassionate Christian talk about mental illness, something that critiqued harmful Christian approaches but still had something to offer. I ask about her chapter on sin, which helps us rethink where the 'sin' in conversations about mental health should be located. We then discuss prayer - especially the urge to pray it away even if that's not how we really believe prayer works. (and Emmy shares about what Dawson's Creek taught her about prayer). We then discuss trauma and the ecclesial gaslighting of waving away suffering as God's will. We end with a chat about what Emmy would like to see next in terms of Christian reflection on mental health. Buy the book Emmy Kegler is a pastor, speaker, and author of One Coin Found: How God's Love Stretches to the Margins. As both pastor and patient, Kegler has an intimate relationship with mental illness and its complex connections to faith. She works to normalize the experiences of depression, anxiety, and a host of other diagnoses and symptoms, treating them not as proof of exclusion from God's grace but rather a common and expansive experience of the human condition in which God remains present and compassionate. She lives in Saint Paul with her wife Michelle and their two dogs and cat. Website: emmykegler.com Find more episodes Follow the show on Twitter: @RinseRepeatPod // Follow me: @liammiller87

Ep115. The Church as Salt, Sally Douglas

I spoke with Sally Douglas about becoming the community Jesus speaks about. We discuss the versatility and surprise of the image of salt when thinking about the church, her engagement with early church writings, salty wombs, and the importance of being a place where people can cry in times such as these. Buy the Book Sally Douglas is a Uniting Church minister, who works in the mode of ‘scholar pastor’. She ministers with an inner-city parish, lectures at Pilgrim Theological College and is an Honorary Research Associate within the University of Divinity. Her interdisciplinary doctoral research, spanning biblical studies and theology, was completed through the United Faculty of Theology in Melbourne and published to critical acclaim as Early Church Understandings of Jesus as the Female Divine: The Scandal of the Scandal of Particularity (T & T Clark Bloomsbury, 2016). As a theologian, biblical scholar, author and minister, the question that continues to infuse Sally’s work is ‘so what?’. To find out more about Sally check out her website. Find more episodes Follow the show on twitter: @RinseRepeatPod // follow me: @liammiller87

Ep114. The Straight Mind in Corinth, Gillian Townsley

I spoke with Gillian Townsley about queer reading across 1 Corinthians 11:2-16. We talk about attending to the ideology of reception and how reading across helps us move beyond the 'tired old debates'. I ask about how the work of Monique Wittig shapes her project (specifically about bringing men/masculinity back into focus). We also discuss her analysis of the Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood and Christians for Biblical Equality and how supposedly oppositional movements are bound by heteronormativity. We end by discussing the unique form/formatting of chapter 6 which involves two distinct thinkers battling for page space. Buy the Book Gillian Townsley is a Secondary School Teacher and Chaplain, and a Teaching Fellow at The University of Otago in New Zealand. Townsley has contributed essays to Bible Trouble: Queer Reading at the Boundaries of Biblical Scholarship (Society of Biblical Literature), Pieces of Ease and Grace (ATF), and Sexuality, Ideology, and the Bible: Antipodean Engagements (Sheffield Phoenix). Find more episodes Follow the show on twitter: @RinseRepeatPod // follow me: @liammiller87

Ep113. a very Karl Barth episode, Christiane Tietz

I sat down with Christiane Tietz to discuss the challenges and rewards of writing a biography of Karl Barth, and what theology gains from biography. We discuss Barth's time as a pastor in Safenwil and his siding with factory workers in a local labour dispute, and I ask how this event influenced (or was shaped by) his understanding of the kingdom of God and whether she feels this commitment to the vision of heaven come to us as an impetus to support socialism lasts throughout Barth's life or was more of a youthful passion. We then discuss Barth's relationship with Charlotte von Kirschbaum, the tensions between Karl and Nelly, and the various pulls and pushes that led to all three under one roof. In particular I ask what responsibility did she feel in approaching this material. Finally, we talk about Barth's feelings toward the CD toward the end of his days, and, (perhaps relatedly) how he might have felt about the modest publishing industry the CD still sustains.Buy the Book Christiane Tietz studied Mathematics and Protestant Theology in Frankfurt/Main and Tübingen. She worked as assistant of Eberhard Jüngel and did her PhD with him on Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Her PostDoc thesis was on a Christian concept of self-acceptance. She was awarded a Heisenberg Stipend by the German Research Foundation. From 2008 until 2013 she worked as Full Professor for Systematic Theology and Social Ethics at the University of Mainz/Germany. Since 2013 she has been Full Professor for Systematic Theology at the Institute of Hermeneutics and Philosophy of Religion at the University of Zurich/Switzerland. She has been a visiting lecturer or research scholar in Cambridge, Chicago, Heidelberg, Jerusalem, New York, and Princeton. She is a member of the editorial board of numerous journals and book series, and a judge for the Karl Barth-Prize and a member of the Advisory Board of the Karl Barth-Foundation, Basel. Find more episodesFollow the show on twitter: @RinseRepeatPod // follow me: @liammiller87

Ep112. a very Kierkegaard episode, Aaron Simmons

I sat down with president of the Søren Kierkegaard Society (USA), Aaron Simmons to talk all about the existential Dane. We discuss who Kierkegaard was, what drew Aaron to his work (including the surprising points of resonance between Søren and pentecostalism). I also ask about Kierkegaard's work on Abraham and faith, how one can be led through existentialism to corporate struggles for liberation , and what theologians who study Kierkegaard can learn from those who utilise his work in other disciplines. We also talk about the free Homebrewed Christianity online pop-up learning community that Aaron is co-teaching with Tripp Fuller : Getting Lost & Finding Faith - Walking with Kierkegaard. Find out more. J. Aaron Simmons holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from Vanderbilt University and is currently a Professor of philosophy at Furman University in Greenville, SC (USA). He is the President of the Søren Kierkegaard Society (USA) and has published widely in philosophy of religion, phenomenology, and existentialism. Among his authored and edited books are God and the Other: Ethics and Politics After the Theological Turn; The New Phenomenology: A Philosophical Introduction; Kierkegaard’s God and the Good Life; and Kierkegaard and Levinas: Ethics, Politics, and Religion. He and his wife, Vanessa, have been married 20 years and have an 11 year old son, Atticus. Although Aaron loves doing philosophy, he would almost always rather be fishing. Check out Aaron’s youtube channel: “Philosophy for Where We Find Ourselves” Find more episodes: loverinserepeat.com/podcast Follow the show on twitter: @RinseRepeatPod // follow me: @liammiller87

Ep111. Theologising with the Sacred ‘Prostitutes‘ of South India, Eve Rebecca Parker

I sat down with Eve Rebecca Parker to discuss an Indecent Dalit Theology. We talk about her book where she theologises with the Dalit women who from childhood have been dedicated to village goddesses and used as ‘sacred’ sex workers. We talk about how she came to this project, and what theology and the reading of Scripture gains through engagement with the lived religiosity and daily struggles of these dedicated women, known as devadāsīs. Parker shows that it is through this engagement that an Indecent Dalit Liberation Theology that challenges systems of oppression and cultures of impunity, including casteism, sexism, classism and a history of socio-political and religious marginalisation can emerge. We end by discussing how it this engagement shapes her ongoing work - especially on trust in theological education. Buy the book Eve Rebecca Parker, Ph.D. (2016), University of St Andrews, is Postdoctoral Research Associate in Theological Education at Durham University. Her recent publications include The Virgin and the Whore – An Interreligious Challenge for Our Times, The Ecumenical Review (2019). Find more episodesFollow the show on twitter: @RinseRepeatPod // follow me: @liammiller87

Ep110. Decolonisation and the Preamble to the UCA Constitution, Garry Deverell and Chris Budden

Rev Dr Garry Deverell and Rev Dr Chris Budden join Rev. Tau’alofa Anga’aelangi, Rev Dr Katalina Tahaafe-Williams, and myself to discuss the preamble to the Uniting Church in Australia's constitution. Garry opens by discussing his critique of the document from an Indigenous perspective as one which rein-scribes colonial narratives, Chris then offers some insights into the motivation and process behind the production of the document, after which we all enter into a discussion on the lineage and impact of the document and ask where to from here for a church seeking to continue to engage in decolonisation, repair, and justice. This episode is a re-post of most recent of the monthly Black Lives Matter and the Church in Australia panels hosted by the Uniting Church Chaplaincy at Charles Sturt University in Port Macquarie and the Social Justice Pilgrim Presbytery NT. This episode is a re-post of most recent of the monthly Black Lives Matter and the Church in Australia panels hosted by the Uniting Church Chaplaincy at Charles Sturt University in Port Macquarie and the Social Justice Pilgrim Presbytery NT. These panels happen on the final Sunday of the month at 3pm EST. To find out more contact Rev. Tau’alofa Anga’aelangi at ucc.csu[@]gmail.com Dr Garry Deverell is a Trawloolway man, connected to the north east of Tasmania. He is the inaugural Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow in Indigenous Theologies at the University of Divinity in Melbourne, and the author of Gondwana theology: A Trawloolway man reflects on Christian faith and The Bonds of Freedom: vows, sacraments and the formation of the Christian self . Rev Dr Chris Budden is a ‘retired’ Minister of the UCA and a former General Secretary of the NSW/ACT Synod, who spent his last two placements working as a support person for the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress. He was chairperson of the working group that developed the Preamble. Chris is author of ‘Following Jesus in Invaded Space: Doing Theology on Aboriginal Land’ (2009), and ‘Why Indigenous Sovereignty Should Matter to Christians’ (2018). He teaches 'Theology and Politics in Reconciliation' at United Theological College and 'Living as a Christian on Aboriginal Land' at Broken Bay Institute. He is an adjunct faculty member at UTC and Assoc. Researcher (PACT) at Charles Sturt University. Find more episodes: www.loverinserepeat.com/podcast Follow the show on Twitter: @RinseRepeatPod // Follow me: @liammiller87

Ep109. Teaching Global Theology, Sathianathan Clarke

I sat down with Sathi Clarke to discuss his calling as a theologian, how his theological development was shaped by living with communities of untouchables in India, why a theologian needs to have concrete commitments to communities in their struggles for justice, how to teach global/world Christianity, responding to religious fundamentalism, and being passionately Christian and compassionately interreligious. In the interview we discuss the class Sathi is teaching as the United Theological College scholar in residence: Contemporary Theology in a Global Context. The class runs from 15 to 19 November 2021, from 9:30 to 4:30pm. The course is offered in person at UTC (in North Parramatta) or via Zoom. Find more here (Auditing welcome!) Sathianathan (“Sathi”) Clarke holds the Bishop Sundo Kim Chair in World Christianity and is Professor of Theology, Culture and Mission at Wesley Theological Seminary. He is a presbyter of the Church of South India. Dr. Clarke bridges the world between establishment and the marginalized, the global and the local, and academy and the congregation. For several years (1996-2004), he was on the faculty at United Theological College, Bangalore, India. He was also a visiting professor at Harvard Divinity School. For the last twenty years, he has taught and lectured on global Christianity, contextual theology, postcolonial mission, and interreligious dialogue in India, U.S.A., United Kingdom, Germany, Sri Lanka, Korea, South Africa, and Liberia. In his research and teaching, Dr. Clarke has cultivated specialties in contextual theology, constructive global theology, and theology of religions. Find more episodes: www.loverinserepeat.com/podcast Follow the show on Twitter: @RinseRepeatPod // Follow me: @liammiller87