Activist Theology Diaries

After a 2-week hiatus, Dr. Robyn and Rev. Anna share the reason for their absence and how they've been affected. COVID-19 is ravaging the country in ways that continue to be largely ignored by a majority of Americans and it is evident that the people of this country is not getting it. When will people begin to care for one another? When will we put away our narcissistic attitudes and listen to medical professionals? This disease struck right after the presidential election, so Robyn and Anna take some time to chat about president-elect Biden and his administration. To support this podcast, please visit www.kindful.activistheology.com. To follow Activist Theology on Twitter: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Instagram: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic Join our community by texting (615) 436-5948

Robyn and Anna welcome therapist, researcher, speaker and writer, Hillary McBride to continue their conversation on mental health. McBride earned her PhD in counseling psychology from the University of British Columbia. As a therapist, she specializes in trauma, eating disorders, body image, and relationship therapy. She is a co-host of the popular podcast “The Liturgists” and "Other People's Problems." She is the the author of the book Mothers, Daughters, and Body Image: Learning to Love Ourselves as We Are, in which she challenges the notion that it is normal and expected for women to hate their bodies. She has been widely recognized for her research on women’s sexual and postpartum health, healthy body image, and eating disorder prevention. You can follow Hillary at @hillarylmcbride or her website https://hillarylmcbride.com/. To support this podcast, please visit www.kindful.activistheology.com. To follow Activist Theology on Twitter: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Instagram: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic Join our community by texting (615) 436-5948

Rev. Dr. Rubén Rosario Rodríguez, a graduate of Union Theological Seminary and Princeton Theological Seminary, is an associate professor of systematic theology in the Department of Theological Studies at Saint Louis University. An ordained Presbyterian minister, he has contributed chapters to two recent collections on Latino/a theology in the United States, The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Latino/a Theology (2015) and Immigrant Neighbors among Us: Immigration across Theological Traditions (2015). His first book, Racism and God-Talk: A Latino/a Perspective (NYU Press, 2008) won the 2011 Alpha Sigma Nu Book Award for Theology. Cambridge University Press published his most recent book, Christian Martyrdom and Political Violence: A Conversation with Judaism and Islam (2017), and his next book is forthcoming from Westminster John Knox Press, entitled Dogmatics After Babel: Beyond the Theologies of Word and Culture (2018). He is director of the Mev Puleo Scholarship in Latin American Theology, Politics, and Culture, a ten-week immersion experience with an emphasis on liberation theology and social justice. To support this podcast, please visit www.kindful.activistheology.com. To follow Activist Theology on Twitter: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Instagram: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic Join our community by texting (615) 436-5948

Tristan Taormino is an award-winning sex educator, media maker, and speaker. She is the author of eight books and editor or co-editor of 25 anthologies. She keynotes, lectures, and teaches workshops around the world on sexual pleasure and health, relationships, and social justice. She is the host of the podcast Sex Out Loud. She is the creator of Sex Educator Boot Camp, a professional training program, and she runs a coaching and consulting business for sexuality professionals. Tristan Taormino / Twitter / Facebook To support this podcast, please visit www.kindful.activistheology.com. To follow Activist Theology on Twitter: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Instagram: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic Join our community by texting (615) 436-5948

As Season One draws to a close, Dr. Robyn and Rev. Anna think back on some of their favorite moments from this year. Join them for the serious and the silly, as we wrap up the year. See y'all in 2021! To support this podcast, please visit www.kindful.activistheology.com. To follow Activist Theology on Twitter: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Instagram: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic Join our community by texting (615) 436-5948

To support this podcast, please visit www.kindful.activistheology.com. To follow Activist Theology on Twitter: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Instagram: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic Join our community by texting (615) 436-5948

This episode of the Activist Theology Podcast was recorded live on Friday, January 8, 2021, at the digital Q Christian Fellowship Conference. The Q Christian Fellowship Conference is an annual gathering where hundreds of LGBTQ+ Christians and Allies: gather for worship, fellowship, workshops, and keynote speakers; make lifelong friendships or reunite with those friends; experience healing, transformation, and hope; witness the thrill of God's love and affirmation through each other. Dr. Robyn and Rev. Anna recorded two days after a violent insurrection occurred at the Capitol Building in Washington D.C. They critically reflect on the events of the week, the role that supremacy culture played in the action and how their faith and ethics convicted them to respond. To support this podcast, please visit www.kindful.activistheology.com. To follow Activist Theology on Twitter: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Instagram: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic

Rev. Jeannie Alexander is the Executive Director of No Exceptions Prison Collective, an abolitionist collaboration with and on behalf of prisoners and their families, individuals committed to ending mass incarceration, and other like-minded organizations. No Exceptions works through a combination of litigation, legislation, education, media and grassroots movement building. Primary focus areas include the repeal of Tennessee's 51-year life sentences, internal prison conditions, and the abolition of private prisons. She served as the chaplain at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution for five years. As chaplain, she facilitated the creation of an unprecedented number of programs for prisoners based upon models of liberation theology and transformative justice. She is interviewed, lectures, and preaches frequently on the topics of carceral enslavement, alternatives to prison, the morality of abolition, transformative justice, and the connections between land justice and abolition. To support this podcast, please visit www.kindful.activistheology.com. To follow Activist Theology on Twitter: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Instagram: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic

Lindsey Krinks is Co-founder and Interim Co-Director of Open Table Nashville. For over a decade, she has worked on the underside of Nashville—the streets, encampments, jails, slums, and underpasses—while also working with faith leaders, community organizers, and public officials to make the city more hospitable and just. Lindsey is passionate about education and evidence-based practices that affirm the dignity, agency, and humanity of all people. She was ordained in 2013 and serves as an interfaith street chaplain. She graduated from Vanderbilt Divinity School in 2013 with a Masters of Theological Studies degree and is on the Alumni Council and is on the board of the Nashville Coalition for the Homeless. Her first book, Praying With Our Feet, is forthcoming though Brazos Press, a division of Baker Publishing, and is set for release in February of 2021. On any given day, Lindsey can be found in tent cities, washing feet on the streets, marching for change, or foraging for native herbs and plants. To learn more about Lindsey’s work, visit her blog. To support this podcast, please visit www.kindful.activistheology.com. To follow Activist Theology on Twitter: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Instagram: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic

Dean Spade has been working to build queer and trans liberation based in racial and economic justice for the past two decades. He works as an Associate Professor at Seattle University School of Law. Dean’s book, Normal Life: Administrative Violence, Critical Trans Politics and the Limits of Law was published by South End Press in 2011. A second edition with new writing was published in 2015 by Duke University Press. Bella Terra Press published a Spanish edition in 2016. In 2015, Dean released a one-hour video documentary, Pinkwashing Exposed: Seattle Fights Back!, which can be watched free online with English captions or subtitles in several languages. Dean’s new book, Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the next) is forthcoming from Verso Press in October, 2020. To support this podcast, please visit www.kindful.activistheology.com. To follow Activist Theology on Twitter: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Instagram: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic

On February 7, 2021, the biggest yearly sporting event in America took place. While the Superbowl is known as the championship for the NFL, it is also an advertising frenzy, as new commercials are anticipated. One of the most talked-about offerings was from Chrysler. After decades of him refusing, they were able to get Bruce Springsteen to say "yes." The result was a Jeep ad that was centered on a little country church in the heart of Kansas. Its theme? The Middle. Dr. Robyn and Rev. Anna dig into the reason this commercial was resonant with some and problematic for others. To support this podcast, please visit www.kindful.activistheology.com. To follow Activist Theology on Twitter: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Instagram: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic

Acknowledged by Andrew Yang in his book The War on Normal People as one of those who helped shape his thinking, and described by historian Rutger Bregman as "by far, the most effective basic income activist out there," Scott Santens has lived with a crowdfunded basic income since 2016 and has been researching and advocating for UBI around the world since 2013. He is currently serving on the board of directors of the Gerald Huff Fund for Humanity and is the editor of Basic Income Today, a daily UBI news hub. In 2020, he served as Senior Policy Advisor to Mike Broihier in his campaign for US Senate against Mitch McConnell and is now advising mayors around the US on their cities' guaranteed income pilots, including in his home city of New Orleans. https://www.scottsantens.com Lego Video referenced in episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kL5sMK1OhnU&feature=emb_logo To support this podcast, please visit www.kindful.activistheology.com. To follow Activist Theology on Twitter: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Instagram: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic

What we watched transpire in Texas last week was not just a fluke. The systems that were designed to so-call protect the state's residents failed in ways that proved catastrophic. Between power and grid issues, climate change, greed and racism, humans showed once again that we are not set up to care for one another in meaningful ways. This week Dr. Robyn and Rev. Anna take a hard look at how Texas (Dr. Robyn's home state) got into this situation and they construct a vision for how Texas might find its way to a more community- and conjunto-centric ethic of care. To support this podcast, please visit www.kindful.activistheology.com. To follow Activist Theology on Twitter: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Instagram: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic

This episode is a bit of a continuation from last week's conversation on Texas. We are thrilled to have Texas State Legislator James Talarico join us to chat about Texas, his theology, and how he's called to govern during these times. Representative James Talarico is a former education non-profit leader and public school teacher elected to serve House District 52 in the Texas House of Representatives. He was born in Williamson County, where he attended Round Rock ISD schools and graduated from McNeil High School. Rep. Talarico earned his bachelor’s degree in Government from The University of Texas at Austin and his master’s degree in Education Policy from Harvard University. Upon graduation, Rep. Talarico taught 6th grade at Rhodes Middle School on the Westside of San Antonio. He later became the Central Texas Executive Director of a nonprofit dedicated to equipping classrooms with innovative technology. He currently serves as the youngest member of the Texas Legislature, sitting on the Calendars Committee, the Public Education Committee, and the Juvenile Justice and Family Issues Committee. In his first term, Rep. Talarico helped write historic school finance reform legislation that infused Texas schools with $11.6 billion in new education funding. Outside of his role as a legislator, Rep. Talarico is an education consultant, crafting and implementing education solutions across Texas. To support this podcast, please visit www.kindful.activistheology.com. To follow Activist Theology on Twitter: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Instagram: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic

Only a day after the horrific shootings in greater Atlanta, we begin our series on anti-Asian racism. When a gunman violently assaulted and killed eight humans, six of whom were Asian women, in a matter of an hour, wounding countless others, we must look critically at the interlocking realities of sexism, misogyny, harmful sexual stereotypes, and supremacy cultures. These realities continue to accelerate manifold harm against communities of color resulting in not only material consequences but also the devastating loss of jobs, housing, livelihoods, the literal lives of our loved ones, and the spaces and places that should be safe for each of us. Alex Wong is a Latin GRAMMY-nominated artist/producer who makes music to help people remember who they are and show themselves to the world. He has produced records with Delta Rae (Big Machine), Ari Hest (Columbia), Vienna Teng (Universal), and Morgxn (Hollywood), among others. His music has been featured in movies The Last Song and The Lincoln Lawyer, TV shows True Blood, Ray Donovan, and One Tree Hill, and commercials for Google and Aquafina. Alex has performed at festivals like Coachella and Outside Lands, and NPR’s Mountain Stage. He was a songwriting finalist in the NewSong competition and Kerrville Newfolk competition. In 2020 he released an EP Kivalina inspired by stories of climate change, and his second solo album The Elephant and the Seahorse on Tone Tree records. In 2021 Alex created The Quiet Voice Fund around the belief that our voice does not need to be loud to be strong. The fund supports organizations working to redefine power in our culture toward authenticity, empathy and actualization and away from aggression, selfishness and domination. You can find Alex at AlexWongSounds.com Support the tour at Show Yourself: A Virtual Tour. 100% of ticket sales go to: Sunrise Movement, Black Emotional & Mental Health Collective, and Hate Is A Virus. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit www.kindful.activistheology.com. To follow Activist Theology on Twitter: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Instagram: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic

Sahar Alsahlani is an interfaith peace activist with a background in television and radio broadcast media and entertainment. Amplifying the voices, and sharing the stories of, individuals and communities who champion for justice inspired by their moral or religious convictions is her passion. This Iraqi-American Muslim has always been active in pursuing the studies and correlations of communications as it relates to engagement in faith-based advocacy, inter-religious dialogue, peace-building, and the theory and practice of nonviolence.  Determined to pursue a path for social good, Sahar made a life-changing decision to move to New York City and leave behind a successful career in Los Angeles. Having worked for many years as a television writer, producer and editor, her various projects included productions for USA Broadcasting, Warner Bros. Entertainment, FOX, Paramount, the American Forces Network, and Discovery ID.  Sahar’s constant quest for social justice has led her to become active with Islamic and interfaith advocacy organizations. Intersectional, faith and moral based, movement and coalition building for peace, conflict resolution, reconciliation, and justice, is where Sahar feels most at home. Relaying this work, through the media, to the masses and inspiring others to join in her goal. Sahar’s field work has taken to her various parts of the country with regards to various rapid response initiatives in solidarity with other US faith leaders. Along with serving on the board of the North American Interfaith Network, Sahar is a member of the Executive Council of Religions for Peace, USA; the Board of the Council on American-Islamic Relations-NY; and has contributed to the faith-based outreach of the revived Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. Sahar is a Fellow at GreenFaith, and serves on the Steering Committee for the Interfaith Moral Action on Climate Change, both interfaith organizations dedicated to climate justice. Sahar has also served as a former Co-Chair of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, USA. Sahar is currently part of an international multifaith community, the Community of Living Traditions, which is geared towards the study of, practice and principles of peacebuilding and nonviolence. A sought-after speaker and media commenter, Sahar has appeared on MSNBC, “The Today Show”, National Public Radio among other platforms, To have Sahar come speak, lead a workshop, or consult for your project or media event, please contact us at bookings@saharalsahlani.com –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit www.kindful.activistheology.com. To follow Activist Theology on Twitter: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Instagram: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic

Jackie Shao is a life coach for creative entrepreneurs and impact-driven creatives. Through coaching, she helps people fully express themselves so that they can be the creative, innovative, brilliant people they are in all aspects of their lives. In 2020, she founded a community for creatives to reimagine their work and lives through the lens of coaching called The Reimaginary. Jackie supports visionaries in moving through their challenges and having clarity to create thoughtful work and build confident, innovative brands. She also supports people in creating healthier, more meaningful lifestyles so that they can do the work they do with ease and passion.  Most of her experience in the last decade has been working as a graphic designer, where she strategized, art directed, and designed for more than 50 brands, including The Advertising Council, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Poppin and Moët Hennessy. After experiencing burnout and navigating her way through difficult personal transitions, she built and ran Social Tea House, a program for social entrepreneurs centered around tea and conversations on pain points in life and work, in various co-working spaces. This became the blueprint for The Reimaginary. Since June 2020, Jackie has created and hosted monthly "Being Asian American" events, a gathering for Asian Americans to talk about race and bring a richer dimension to the national and global conversation on race. Jackie is a native New Yorker and is always dreaming up ways to positively impact this vibrant city. jackieshao.com linkedin.com/in/jshao IG: @_jackieshao_ Being Asian American To be placed on the newsletter: jacqueline.shao@gmail.com IG: @beingaapi –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit www.kindful.activistheology.com. To follow Activist Theology on Twitter: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Instagram: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic

Sarah Bouse is a skilled anti-racism facilitator, strategist, trainer. She has developed organizational equity policies/practices, facilitated anti-racism initiatives, and led authentic community engagement strategies to best serve those most harmed by systemic racism and oppression. Having worked alongside large and small organizations, nonprofits and businesses throughout Middle Tennessee, she have taught systemic racism and racial equity workshops, facilitated strategic and action planning processes rooted in racial equity, and provided coaching support in anti-racism efforts for these organizations. Her work primarily focuses on internal efforts to institutionalize and operationalize racial equity and anti-racism efforts within institutions. She volunteers as the co-lead for the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum’s Nashville chapter and as a member on Metro Nashville Arts Commission’s Committee for Anti-Racism and Equity. You can find more about Sarah at www.sarahbounse.com. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit www.kindful.activistheology.com. To follow Activist Theology on Twitter: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Instagram: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic

Dr. Laura Emiko Soltis serves as the Executive Director at Freedom University, an underground school for undocumented students in Atlanta. Born in rural Minnesota, Emiko was raised in a biracial Japanese/Slovak household and developed passions for working-class politics and music performance in equal measure. Emiko's early work experiences in low-wage industries alongside diverse immigrants in restaurant work, janitorial services, and farm labor inspired her to study interracial labor movements and human rights. Emiko graduated from the University of Georgia in 2006 and received her Ph.D. in 2012 from Emory University, where she wrote her dissertation on an interracial migrant farmworker movement led by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers in South Florida. After the closing of Freedom University in Athens by its founding faculty, Emiko re-opened Freedom University in Atlanta in September 2014. As the organization's first Executive Director, Emiko introduced the human rights framework to the center of its mission, expanded the curriculum to include the arts and social justice leadership training, and began connecting undocumented youth to veterans of the Black Freedom Movement. Emiko works to advance the undocumented student movement by educating and mentoring a new generation of undocumented freedom fighters and advocating for fair admissions policies in higher education across the United States. At Freedom University, Emiko continues to serve as the Professor of Human Rights, teaching classes in international human rights, social movement theory, and immigration history. As an organizer, Emiko has engaged in numerous direct actions for workers’ rights and immigrant justice, and has been arrested four times in the Kingian tradition of nonviolent civil disobedience. Emiko is also an accomplished violinist, photographer, and sings with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chamber Chorus. Follow Emiko on Twitter. Follow the work of Freedom University. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit www.kindful.activistheology.com. To follow Activist Theology on Twitter: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Instagram: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic

Yuki (she/they) Schwartz is a Louisville Postdoctoral Fellowship Scholar serving as the assistant professor of constructive and political theologies at Claremont School of Theology at Willamette University, and an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. Their research interests are the politics of shame within systems of colonization and imperialism, effects of resistance, and theological deimperial world-building.  Follow Dr. Schwartz on Twitter: FOLLOW –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit www.kindful.activistheology.com. To follow Activist Theology on Twitter: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Instagram: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic

It's been a few weeks since Dr. Robyn and Rev. Anna have bantered about the state of the country and our role in cleaning up the mess. This week we will take about the Derek Chauvin verdict, trans rights, the military industrial complex, gun control, and sex workers. Don't miss this robust conversation. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit www.kindful.activistheology.com. To follow Activist Theology on Twitter: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Instagram: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic

Dr. Robyn is heading off on sabbatical for the month so it's a great episode to talk about the politics of rest and spaciousness. Some of us are really good at creating time in our day to rest (er, Robyn). Some of us are absolute shit (uh, Anna). We are part of a society that prioritizes production over people, money over self-care. How do we make rest a practice that is both fulfilling and possible? Dr. Robyn and Rev. Anna explore that very question. And, not to worry, their sabbatical won't keep us from still posting weekly episodes! –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit www.kindful.activistheology.com. To follow Activist Theology on Twitter: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Instagram: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic

Having just passed the Sunday where the U.S. celebrates mothers (birth and chosen), the understanding many have about family can be conflicting. As kin and chosen family, Nikki Young and Dr. Robyn have a relationship that is beautiful to watch. This episode is full of heart, laughter, and a little bit of tea-spilling. Thelathia "Nikki" Young, Ph.D. research focuses on the intersectionality of gender, sexuality and race, and the ways in which various identities are connected to larger systems of power and privilege. She is currently working on two manuscripts: “Home Free: A Transnational Ethics of Black Queer Liberation” and “In Tongues of Mortals and Angels: A De-Constructive Theology of God-Talk in Acts and Paul” in collaboration with Jake Myers and Eric Barreto. Young’s focus on narratives of injustice and inequality has equipped her with the knowledge to launch an anti-racism task force that will identify opportunities for systemic change. You can reach out to Dr. Young via email or find her on Instagram. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit www.kindful.activistheology.com. To follow Activist Theology on Twitter: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Instagram: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic

Marcie Alvis-Walker is an author, creator, mother, partner in the work. Her important blog and Instagram accounts, @blackcoffeewithwhitefriends and @mockingbirdhistroylessons (History Lessons for Adults) are followed by hundreds of thousands of folx and tell the story of blackness that Marcie wishes her daughter to learn. Having grown up knowing only a part of her mother's story, Marcie uses her voice to educate and engage. You can read more of Marcie's writings on her website and support her via Patreon. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit www.kindful.activistheology.com. To follow Activist Theology on Twitter: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Instagram: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic

Dove Kent has two decades of experience in grassroots organizing, political education, and movement building. Dove currently serves as the Senior Strategy Officer at Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice. She served as the Executive Director of Jews for Racial & Economic Justice from 2011 through 2016, supporting the organization to triple in size and win game-changing legislative victories for police accountability and worker’s rights through powerful local coalitions. Under Dove’s tenure, JFREJ grew into one of the strongest and most effective progressive Jewish organizations in the country, creating significant culture shifts within the Jewish community, New York and nationally. She has been published in What We Do Now: Standing Up for Your Values in Trump’s America (2017), Towards the “Other America”: Anti-racist Resources for White People Taking Action for Black Lives Matter (2015), Understanding Antisemitism: An Offering To Our Movement (2017), and in the Guardian, Ha'aretz, +972 Magazine, and other media outlets. Dove teaches nationally and is the co-founder of Tzedek Lab, a national network of Jewish political education trainers, organizers, and spiritual leaders established to build collective competency to politicize, transform, and inspire the Jewish community into collective action against racism, antisemitism, and white supremacy. She lives in Durham, North Carolina. Email: m.dovekent@gmail.com –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit www.kindful.activistheology.com. To follow Activist Theology on Twitter: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Instagram: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic

What makes white folx so angry? How do they deal with a disappearing hold on privilege and power? Why is it difficult to acknowledge their pain in ways that aren't physically harmful to others? In this important episode, Dr. Robyn and Rev. Anna tackle a topic on the minds of many – white rage. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit www.kindful.activistheology.com. To follow Activist Theology on Twitter: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Instagram: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic

Sara is a spiritual leader, facilitator, and teacher. She was educated at Earlham College, University of Denver, Iliff School of Theology, and holds a PhD in Theology and Women and Gender Studies from Drew University.  Sara identifies as a queer cis woman, a Quaker, and is ordained and leads a congregation in the tradition of the United Church of Christ. Sara is a champion of coffee conversations, passionate about leftist politics and intersectional social justice, and thrives on diverse forms of spiritual practice. Sara is currently exploring liberative practice at the intersections of sex positivity, anti-racism, plant medicine, somatics, and the divine feminine. Sara mothers three amazing kids, is blessed with wonderful lovers and friends, and is in lifelong pursuit of the perfect scone. You can connect with Sara through Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @SaraRosenau –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. To follow Activist Theology on Twitter: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Instagram: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic

We are thrilled to host Rev. Dr. Nikia Roberts on Juneteenth, the day she launches Abolitionist Sanctuary. Abolitionist Sanctuary's mission is to help Black churches connect emancipatory religious values and abolitionist principles to public policies and transformative justice strategies that center the communal flourishing of poor Black mothers and their families beyond prisons, policing, and punishment. Rev. Dr. Robert is the Founder and Executive Director of Abolitionist Sanctuary. She is a public scholar in religious studies, social activist, and ordained clergy in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Raised in abject poverty in Harlem (New York) to a single Black mother, Rev. Dr. Robert and her family struggled to overcome the War on Drugs and interlocking= systems of oppression that ravaged her community. Abolitionist Sanctuary emerges from Rev. Dr. Robert's lived realities and expands upon her dissertation research titled, “Breaking The Law When The Law Breaks Us: A Womanist Theo-Ethical Approach to Public Policy and Criminal Justice Advocacy for the Black Church.” Learn more about the project here: https://nikiasrobert.com/services/abolitionist-sanctuary/ Connect with Dr. Robert here: drnikiasrobert –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. To follow Activist Theology on Twitter: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Instagram: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic

Blake Chastain, a member of the new podcast collective, Irreverent Media, joins Dr. Robyn and Rev. Anna for a big announcement. We are thrilled to share that the Activist Theology Podcast is the newest addition to IMG (Irreverent Media Group). Blake Chastain is the host of the Exvangelical and Powers & Principalities podcasts, and writer of The Post-Evangelical Post newsletter. Blake coined the #exvangelical hashtag alongside the launch of the Exvangelical podcast in July 2016. Since then, the podcast has been downloaded over 500,000 times, and exvangelical conversations and communities have proliferated online. "Exvangelical" functions as both a way to find others who have left white evangelical beliefs and communities behind, as well as a helpful frame for criticizing white evangelical institutions and practices. It is not a wholesale replacement of evangelicalism, but a shared starting point--it acknowledges that we are rooted in similar experiences, and celebrates the new and diverse ways people find to flourish. To listen to Exvangelical: Click here. To listen to Powers & Principalities: Click here. To learn more about Irreverent Media, click here. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. To follow Activist Theology on Twitter: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Instagram: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic

Danté Stewart is a speaker and a writer whose work in the areas of race, religion, and politics has been featured on CNN and in The Washington Post, Christianity Today, Sojourners, The Witness: A Black Christian Collective, Comment, and elsewhere. He received his BA in sociology from Clemson University and is currently studying at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. To connect with Danté on Twitter: Click here. Visit https://www.dantecstewart.com/ –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. To follow Activist Theology on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic The Activist Theology Podcast is an Irreverent Media Podcast.

Dr. Robyn and Rev. Anna talk often about how disconnected we are from one another during these times. This has created distrust and a lack of honesty as it relates to vaccinations, infections and mask-wearing. As the Delta variant is wreaking havoc around the country, we find ourselves in a position of opportunity. Do we care for one another in ways that foster honesty or are we too invested in individualism? In an honest conversation, Robyn and Anna dig into our disconnects and offer opportunities for a shift in our thinking. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. To follow Activist Theology on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic The Activist Theology Podcast is an Irreverent Media Podcast.

We are in the thick of the 2021 Summer Olympic Games and we are watching racism, sexism, queerphobia and mental health criticism unfold before our eyes. While these games can bring humans together, they are highly problematic. Dr. Robyn and Rev. Anna navigate the challenges surrounding these Olympic games and the challenges that they present. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. To follow Activist Theology on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic The Activist Theology Podcast is an Irreverent Media Podcast.

Dr. Bayo Akomolafe considers his most sacred work to be learning how to be with his daughter and son, Alethea Aanya and Kyah Jayden – and their mother, his wife and “life-nectar”, Ijeoma. “To learn the importance of insignificance” is the way he frames a desire to reacquaint himself with a world that is irretrievably entangled, preposterously alive and completely partial. He is the Executive Director and Chief Curator for The Emergence Network (A Post-Activist Project] and host of the online writing course, ‘We will dance with Mountains: Writing as a Tool for Emergence'. As Coordinating Curator of The Emergence Network, Bayo hopes to inspire a diffractive network of sharing – a slowing down, an ethics of entanglement, an activism of inquiry, a ‘politics of surprise'…one that does not treat the crises of our times as exterior to ‘us' or the ‘solutions' that conventional activism offers as discrete or separate from the problems that we seek to nullify. Bayo is author and editor of ‘We will tell our own story!' with Professors Molefi Kete Asante and Augustine Nwoye, and ‘These Wilds Beyond our Fences: Letters to my Daughter on Humanity's Search for Home‘ (North Atlantic Books, 2017). Ej and Bayo are ecstatic parents of Alethea Aanya and Kyah Jayden Abayomi. His most fervent passions are Ej, drawing, singing, writing, designing, speaking, and traveling. Visit Bayo's website and learn more. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. To follow Activist Theology on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic The Activist Theology Podcast is an Irreverent Media Podcast.

The Rev. Dr. Megan Rohrer (they/he) is Bishop of the Sierra Pacific Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Bishop Megan, the first openly transgender pastor ordained in the Lutheran church, was ordained Extraordinarily in 2006. One of 18 pastors ordained during the time when the ELCA did not allow LGBT pastors to serve openly. In 2010, Bishop Megan was one of the first seven pastors received into the ELCA after their policies changed. On May 8, 2021 they were elected as the first openly transgender Bishop in a mainline Christian denomination. Before serving as Bishop, they served as Pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in San Francisco, Community Chaplain Coordinator for the San Francisco Police Department and Executive Director of Welcome with the LGBTQ+ Homeless Community in San Francisco. Bishop Megan is an award-winning filmmaker, musician and historian and has been featured on Queer Eye, Cosmo, People and in Wittenberg, Germany for the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation. Bishop Megan lives near Golden Gate Park with their wife Laurel, two children and two cats. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. To follow Activist Theology on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic The Activist Theology Podcast is an Irreverent Media Podcast.

Relationships are hard. Showing up and being present for the great stuff and the tough stuff is what being in relationship is all about. And that's really easy to say and often harder to do. Some of us communicate through words while others are empathic and do most of their work using their feeling senses. Some of us are conflict-confident while others are conflict-averse, On the anniversary of the event that solidified the kinship between Robyn and Anna, they chat about their last four years of love, laughter, growth and challenges. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. To follow Activist Theology on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic The Activist Theology Podcast is an Irreverent Media Podcast.

Some of us come from an evangelical upbringing that asked us to understand hell as a literal place, abstinence as law and sin as avoidable. Others of us grew up in mainline denominational systems that put on a face of moderate polity but still found ways to complicate our spiritual journeys. Still others have walked a path that looks different from these. Regardless of where you have come from, you have likely not arrived free from trauma – spiritual trauma. Dr. Robyn and Rev. Anna navigate their own trauma and posit some ways that each of us can reclaim our rightful path in this thing called faith. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. To follow Activist Theology on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic The Activist Theology Podcast is an Irreverent Media Podcast.

Dr. Jerome Lubbe had his first debilitating migraine when he was 17. Since then, he has averaged about 100 migraines per year. His life has been a journey of victory and defeat, despair and hope, faith and doubt. As a complex neurological patient, he lived in a medical purgatory. He saw the best of traditional practitioners to no avail. He explored innovative, alternative healthcare models that also fell short. Ultimately, he became a doctor because he couldn't find a good one. Dr. Lubbe is the author of The Brain-Based Enneagram: you are not A number. It is the very FIRST book on the neuroscience of the Enneagram. Join in this amazing conversation that Dr. Robyn and Rev. Anna had with Jerome live at the 2021 Wild Goose Festival in Hot Springs, NC. Learn more about Jerome at https://www.drjerome.com/ –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. To follow Activist Theology on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic The Activist Theology Podcast is an Irreverent Media Podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is that changes that felt like a slow burn over the last decade accelerated in ways we didn't expect over the last eighteen months. Once of things we are curious about it just that – what happens to Sunday morning church in the wake of the online community? Will gathering together on Sunday be something we continue to do? Why or why not might that matter? Join Rev. Anna and Dr. Robyn and they dive into the questions around this very topic. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. To follow Activist Theology on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic The Activist Theology Podcast is an Irreverent Media Podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Monday, October 4, 2021, the world watched as Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp went down for hours. This was only a day after a whistle-blower shared documents and truths with the world about the tech giants and the way that their algorithms are taunting us to anger. What did the time away from these apps do for us? What did they expose about our tendencies and our addictions? Most importantly, what does it tell us about community? –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. To follow Activist Theology on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic The Activist Theology Podcast is an Irreverent Media Podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Robyn and Rev. Anna record this episode live from the border of Reynosa, Mexico. They spent the weekend with We the People Ride and were introduced to the amazing folx from Practice Mercy. Hear our stories and this wonderful conversation with Practice Mercy's lead, Alma Rose. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. To follow Activist Theology on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic The Activist Theology Podcast is an Irreverent Media Podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rev. Dr. Cari Jackson is director of spiritual care and activism for the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, leading RCRC's mission to equip, galvanize and collaborate with faith and community leaders advocating for reproductive dignity and freedom. An ordained minister in the United Church of Christ (UCC), Dr. Cari has served as pastor of congregations in UCC, United Methodist Church and Presbyterian Church-USA, incorporating spirituality and social justice. As a social healer, she has developed the Taking Back My LifeTM program for the healing and empowerment of survivors of sexual assault. She has served as adjunct faculty at Union Theological Seminary and One Spirit Interfaith Seminary. Dr. Cari holds a Ph.D. in Christian Social Ethics, Master of Divinity, Juris Doctor, and Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Sociology. She is the author of five books including Love Like You've Never Been Hurt and For the Souls of Black Folks: Reimagining Black Preaching for 21st-Century Liberation. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. To follow Activist Theology on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic The Activist Theology Podcast is an Irreverent Media Podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Obery M. Hendricks Jr. is a best-selling author, an activist, a religious scholar, a former theological seminary president, and an ordained elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. His books include The Politics of Jesus: Rediscovering the True Revolutionary Nature of Jesus' Teachings and How They Have Been Corrupted, The Universe Bends Toward Justice: Radical Reflections on the Bible, the Church, and the Body Politic, and Christians Against Christianity: How Right-Wing Evangelicals Are Destroying Our Nation and Our Faith. He currently teaches religion and African American studies at Columbia University and is also a Visiting Professor of Bible and Ethics at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. You can purchase his book here. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. To follow Activist Theology on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic The Activist Theology Podcast is an Irreverent Media Podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Kyle Rittenhouse was found not guilty, the nation further affirmed its divide regarding self defense, gun control, protesting, and how just our justice system really is. The violent nature of our community, specifically of white men within our community, gives Robyn and Anna pause. Join them as they navigate this conversation. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. Join us on the Activist Theology app To follow Activist Theology on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic The Activist Theology Podcast is an Irreverent Media Podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For some of us, the Big Lie was first named a part of our vocabulary after November of 2020. For others of us, we'v watched lies around supremacy, Christianity, patriarchy and heteronormativity blanket the earth for decades. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. Join us on the Activist Theology app To follow Activist Theology on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic The Activist Theology Podcast is an Irreverent Media Podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join Dr. Robyn and Rev. Anna as they dive into the recent release, Judas & the Black Messiah. To support the Save the Hampton House GoFundMe, click here: To support this podcast, please visit www.kindful.activistheology.com. To follow Activist Theology on Twitter: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Instagram: @activistheology To follow Activist Theology on Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic

Season three! It's hard to believe. Join Dr. Robyn and Rev, Anna as they check in after the holidays, share some funny stories about their gifts and evaluate the state of the world. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. Join us on the Activist Theology app To follow Activist Theology on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic The Activist Theology Podcast is an Irreverent Media Podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When a pastor is caught spitting in his hand and then rubbing that spit on the face of a parishioner, all in the attempt to prove that faith trumps science, we are in serious trouble as a body. We've all seen gimmicks used from the pulpit – and some have stuck with us because they were memorable. The question is, does memorable equal impactful? How far are we willing to go to prove a point? And at what point is the message lost, simply because we won't stop being clever and start being real? –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. Join us on the Activist Theology app To follow Activist Theology on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic The Activist Theology Podcast is an Irreverent Media Podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Drawing on her lifelong journey to know her family's history, leading Christian activist Lisa Sharon Harper recovers the beauty of her heritage, exposes the brokenness that race has wrought in America, and casts a vision for collective repair. Harper has spent three decades researching ten generations of her family history through DNA research, oral histories, interviews, and genealogy. Fortune, the name of Harper's first non-indigenous ancestor born on American soil, bore the brunt of the nation's first race, gender, and citizenship laws. As Harper traces her family's story through succeeding generations, she shows how American ideas, customs, and laws robbed her ancestors—and the ancestors of so many others—of their humanity and flourishing. In this episode, Harper guides us through the ways America was built upon systems and structures in ways that blessed some and cursed others, allowing Americans of European descent to benefit from the colonization, genocide, enslavement, rape, and exploitation of people of color. As Harper lights a path through national and religious history, she clarifies exactly how and when the world broke and shows the way to redemption for us all. Buy Fortune now! –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. Join us on the Activist Theology app To follow Activist Theology on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic The Activist Theology Podcast is an Irreverent Media Podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some of you know about the mutual aid request that Dr. Robyn extended a few weeks ago to assist them in getting their mother out of a dangerous living situation. This past weekend, we traveled a long distance to pack up and move their mother to safety. Throughout the process, watching the help of relative strangers, experiencing solidarity in unexpected places, we recognized that the work of Activist Theology is also for us. We were liberated by it. Listen today to how the story unfolded. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. Join us on the Activist Theology app To follow Activist Theology on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic The Activist Theology Podcast is an Irreverent Media Podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On a sunny, Saturday afternoon in one of the most walkable areas of Chattanooga, Anna finds herself in the middle of an unplanned crisis. A car careens through the city, immediately in front of her, barely missing humans crossing the road and totaling cars in its path. The driver has just OD'd on Fentanyl. The drug epidemic is getting progressively worse and we are watching the lives of human beings upended at every turn. How are we to be community in the midst of this pain? ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. Join us on the Activist Theology app To follow Activist Theology on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic The Activist Theology Podcast is an Irreverent Media Podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Across the country, we are watching legislatures, school boards, private and public school systems chase the archaic idea that some books are "allowed" to be read by children and some are not. Unsurprising to anyone, the books that are not being allowed are books that expose America's racist, homophobic, transphobic and Christian nationalist past. Dr. Robyn and Rev. Anna share some stories from their home state and attempt to navigate the problematic resurgence of book banning. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. Join us on the Activist Theology app To follow Activist Theology on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic The Activist Theology Podcast is an Irreverent Media Podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rev. Dr. Angela Yarber is the author, artist, and Executive Director of the Tehom Center, a non-profit teaching about revolutionary women through art, writing, retreats, and academic courses. With a Ph.D. in Art and Religion and over a decade teaching Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, four of her eight books have been listed in Top LGBTQ Religion Books. All art and book sales fund the non-profit. To purchase art or books, including her newest memoir, Queering the American Dream, please visit www.tehomcenter.org ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. Join us on the Activist Theology app To follow Activist Theology on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic The Activist Theology Podcast is an Irreverent Media Podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As we celebrate the launch of Dr. Robyn's newest book, Anna and Robyn have a much needed conversation around our health, time, rest and reflection. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. Join us on the Activist Theology app To follow Activist Theology on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic The Activist Theology Podcast is an Irreverent Media Podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rev. Anna spent Easter Sunday with a group of humans who were calling on Gov. Lee of Tennessee to stay the execution of Oscar Smith. Texas will put to death a human on the same night. Tennessee is scheduled to murder 4 residents this year, What is it about us that creates a desire for punitive retribution through death? Dr. Robyn and Rev. Anna have a frank conversation that calls us all to action. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. Join us on the Activist Theology app To follow Activist Theology on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic The Activist Theology Podcast is an Irreverent Media Podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Idelette McVicker is the founder and president of SheLoves Media Society, an online forum for Christian women that includes SheLoves Magazine and the Dangerous Women membership community. She is a popular speaker and retreat leader internationally. McVicker wrote the SheLoves manifesto, Let Us Be Women Who Love, which has been used by women's ministries around the world and in Sarah Bessey's book Jesus Feminist. After training as a journalist in South Africa, she lived in Taiwan, where she wrote for daily newspapers. McVicker moved to Canada in 1999 and lives in Surrey, British Columbia.  Follow Idelette here. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. Join us on the Activist Theology app To follow Activist Theology on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic The Activist Theology Podcast is an Irreverent Media Podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Following the shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, Dr. Robyn and Rev. Anna have a vital conversation on the community care that is required for those who inflict such brutal harm on others. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. Join us on the Activist Theology app To follow Activist Theology on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic The Activist Theology Podcast is an Irreverent Media Podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The overturn of Roe v. Wade has us reeling. Rev. Anna and Dr. Robyn break down their thoughts and offer an update on the frequency of episodes in the future. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. Join us on the Activist Theology app To follow Activist Theology on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic The Activist Theology Podcast is an Irreverent Media Podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We hear you. We really do. You are wondering where we are. Why we had to take several weeks away;. We started this podcast about 8 weeks before the world radically changed in 2020. The truth is that our work has accelerated in ways we weren't anticipating and we are trying to balance what it looks like to continue to put this podcast into the world and participate in our other vocational and heart callings. In this episode, we have a conversation about that very thing. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. Join us on the Activist Theology app To follow Activist Theology on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic The Activist Theology Podcast is an Irreverent Media Podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we are offered the gift of conversation with friends Kashif Andrew Graham and Blake Mundell. Their newest release, The Corner of Every Room, is a response to and for community; an indictment and an invitation. To view the lyric video, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDIccdb0e4c Kashif Andrew Graham is a freelance writer and Outreach Librarian for Religion and Theology at Vanderbilt Divinity Library. He is a frequent contributor to Nashville Scene, Chapter16, Theological Librarianship and other literary outlets. Kashif has also appeared on C-SPAN, Queerology, and Nashville's WPLN. Bridging the arts and entertainment, he can often be found introducing films and plays and hosting panel discussions. He is currently at work on a novel about an interracial gay couple living in East Tennessee. Instagram: @kashifandrewgraham @kagwrites Twitter: @kagwrites TikTok: @kashifandrewgraham Website: kashifandrewgraham.com Blake Mundell, a Colorado native living in Nashville, makes pop music under the moniker Courier. In addition to writing and producing songs about the life experiences of those closest to him, he works as a Licensed Massage Therapist on the medical staff of the Tennessee Titans, and as an Instructor of Ethics at Mind Body Institute in Nashville. Blake's music, writing, bodywork, and activism have been featured in various media publications such as Queerology, Relevant Magazine, Massage Magazine, as well as the Washington Post and Denver Post for his work in helping craft Colorado Senate Bill 21-116, which eliminated Native mascots in the state of Colorado in 2021. Blake's upcoming album, Human Becoming, is expected to release in 2023. He spends his free time working to complete his debut fiction novel. Instagram: @blakeamundell  Twitter: @blakemundell TikTok: @blakemundell Website: http://www.therealcourier.com ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. Join us on the Activist Theology app To follow Activist Theology on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Roberto: roberto@activistheology.com or @drrobertoche To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic The Activist Theology Podcast is an Irreverent Media Podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this conversation, Dr. Roberto and Rev. Anna discuss the evolution of self and the ways in which we continue to "come out" and evolve. We are ever-becoming – coming out in ways that some may find as "breaking news" and others might find highly uninteresting. Nevertheless, we have a difficult and enlightening conversation. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. Join us on the Activist Theology app To follow Activist Theology on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Roberto: roberto@activistheology.com or @drrobertoche To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic The Activist Theology Podcast is an Irreverent Media Podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since 2016, we have watched our democracy take hits that we thought were firsts. We don't have a historical memory for where we have been and it results in us thinking that we have never seen times like this. Roberto and Anna are both big fans of the new podcast "Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra" and were stunned to hear how much of the fascism we are experiencing in these days were also a part of the national conscious in the 1940s. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. Join us on the Activist Theology app To follow Activist Theology on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Roberto: roberto@activistheology.com or @drrobertoche To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic The Activist Theology Podcast is an Irreverent Media Podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Roberto had an interesting Uber ride while in Chicago. Stemming from that conversation, we ponder the question: is the Church helping us be, do, act better? Or is the Church complicit in our demise? As you might imagine, the answer isn't a simple one. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. Join us on the Activist Theology app To follow Activist Theology on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Roberto: roberto@activistheology.com or @drrobertoche To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic The Activist Theology Podcast is an Irreverent Media Podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We had one thing planned and got sidetracked in every way. So we talk about economics, the midterm election outcomes, marriage equality, and a host of other things. Sometime these "catch all" episodes become our favorites. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. Join us on the Activist Theology app To follow Activist Theology on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Roberto: roberto@activistheology.com or @drrobertoche To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic The Activist Theology Podcast is an Irreverent Media Podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

(Recorded live at the American Academy of Religion) Dr. Roberto and Rev. Anna got to spend some time together in Denver, CO during the American Academy of Religion. This event, the largest gathering of academics whose studies are centered on religion, gave us the opportunity to record several episodes with guests that we should all be paying attention to. For each of these guests, we ask them one, big question. This episode introduces you to Ted Vial, Vice President of Innovation, Learning, and Institutional Research at Iliff School of Theology. We ask Ted the question "what do we mean when we say religion?" ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. Join us on the Activist Theology app To follow Activist Theology on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Roberto: roberto@activistheology.com or @drrobertoche To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic The Activist Theology Podcast is an Irreverent Media Podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

(Recorded live at the American Academy of Religion) Dr. Roberto and Rev. Anna got to spend some time together in Denver, CO during the American Academy of Religion. This event, the largest gathering of academics whose studies are centered on religion, gave us the opportunity to record several episodes with guests that we should all be paying attention to. For each of these guests, we ask them one, big question. This episode introduces you to Monica Coleman, scholar, theologian and author. We ask Monica the question "how do we have a stable nervous system in the face of fascism?" ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. Join us on the Activist Theology app To follow Activist Theology on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Roberto: roberto@activistheology.com or @drrobertoche To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic The Activist Theology Podcast is an Irreverent Media Podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

(Recorded live at the American Academy of Religion) Dr. Roberto and Rev. Anna got to spend some time together in Denver, CO during the American Academy of Religion. This event, the largest gathering of academics whose studies are centered on religion, gave us the opportunity to record several episodes with guests that we should all be paying attention to. For each of these guests, we ask them one, big question. This episode introduces you to Philip Butler, Assistant Professor of Theology and Black Posthuman Artificial Intelligence Systems at Iliff School of Theology. We ask Philip the question "what do we mean when we say futures?" ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. Join us on the Activist Theology app To follow Activist Theology on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Roberto: roberto@activistheology.com or @drrobertoche To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic The Activist Theology Podcast is an Irreverent Media Podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

(Recorded live at the American Academy of Religion) Dr. Roberto and Rev. Anna got to spend some time together in Denver, CO during the American Academy of Religion. This event, the largest gathering of academics whose studies are centered on religion, gave us the opportunity to record several episodes with guests that we should all be paying attention to. For each of these guests, we ask them one, big question. This episode introduces you to Taurean Webb, 2021-2 Fellow in Conflict and Peace at Harvard Divinity School and the Associate Director at the Center for the Study of Global Change (Indiana University). In this conversation, we ask Taurean the question "what do we mean when we say liberation?" ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. Join us on the Activist Theology app To follow Activist Theology on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Roberto: roberto@activistheology.com or @drrobertoche To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic The Activist Theology Podcast is an Irreverent Media Podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

(Recorded live at the American Academy of Religion) Dr. Roberto and Rev. Anna got to spend some time together in Denver, CO during the American Academy of Religion. This event, the largest gathering of academics whose studies are centered on religion, gave us the opportunity to record several episodes with guests that we should all be paying attention to. For each of these guests, we ask them one, big question. This episode introduces you to Carmen Lansdowne, 44th Moderator in the United Church of Canada. Ordained in 2007, the Rev. Dr. Lansdowne is only the second Indigenous person to be elected Moderator, following the Very Rev. Stan McKay, who served as Moderator 1992‒1994. A member of the Heiltsuk First Nation, she was born in Alert Bay, British Columbia, and has been a lifelong member of the United Church. She is committed to an Indigenous way of being in the world. In this conversation, we ask Carmen the question "how do we include indigeneity in collective liberation conversations?" ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. Join us on the Activist Theology app To follow Activist Theology on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Roberto: roberto@activistheology.com or @drrobertoche To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic The Activist Theology Podcast is an Irreverent Media Podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

(Recorded live at the American Academy of Religion) Dr. Roberto and Rev. Anna got to spend some time together in Denver, CO during the American Academy of Religion. This event, the largest gathering of academics whose studies are centered on religion, gave us the opportunity to record several episodes with guests that we should all be paying attention to. For each of these guests, we ask them one, big question. This episode introduces you to Elyse Ambrose (they/them), is a blackqueer ethicist, creative, and educator whose research, art, and teaching lie at the intersections of race, sexuality, gender, and spirituality/religion. They are an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and Black Study at the University of California, Riverside. In this conversation, we ask Elyse the question "how do we create conditions to age well?" ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. Join us on the Activist Theology app To follow Activist Theology on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Roberto: roberto@activistheology.com or @drrobertoche To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic The Activist Theology Podcast is an Irreverent Media Podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

(Recorded live at the American Academy of Religion) Dr. Roberto and Rev. Anna got to spend some time together in Denver, CO during the American Academy of Religion. This event, the largest gathering of academics whose studies are centered on religion, gave us the opportunity to record several episodes with guests that we should all be paying attention to. For each of these guests, we ask them one, big question. This episode introduces you to Steed Davidson, a native of Trinidad and Tobago, with a Ph.D. in Hebrew Bible from Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York.. They are the Dean of the Faculty and Vice President of Academic Affairs at McCormick Theological Seminary. In this conversation, we ask Steed the question "how do we read the Bible well and without harm?" ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. Join us on the Activist Theology app To follow Activist Theology on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Roberto: roberto@activistheology.com or @drrobertoche To be in touch with Rev. Anna: anna@activistheology.com or @unholyhairetic The Activist Theology Podcast is an Irreverent Media Podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices