Assembly

In this episode of Assembly, Zac and Amaryah talk with Anthony Paul Smith about his Contending Modernities piece, Provincializing Theodicy. Drawing on Sylvia Wynter, Fanon, Laruelle, and others, Smith discusses the relationship between this piece and his forthcoming work on theodicy, the function of theodicy in contemporary culture, and theodicy and state of the university.

On this episode, Amaryah and Zac speak with Mona Siddiqui and Joshua Ralston about their individual approaches and collaborative work on Christian-Muslim Relations at the University of Edinburgh's Divinity School and Christian-Muslim Studies Network.

On this episode of Assembly Zac and Amaryah discuss the latest book by Ashon Crawley, The Lonely Letters, the winner of the 2021 Lambda Literary Awards in LGBTQ Nonfiction. We discuss Ashon's play with style and form in his writing and art, the relationship between blackpentecostalism and his work, and the mystical aspects of blackness that escape philosophical and theological domains of knowing.

In this episode of Assembly, Zac and Amaryah discuss prison abolition and religion with Joshua Dubler and Vincent Lloyd, authors of the recent book "Break Every Yoke:Religion, Justice, and the Abolition of Prisons." Among other things, they discuss what to do now that prison abolition has drawn greater attention from mainstream media and religion's role in prison abolitionism.

In this episode of Assembly, Zac and Amaryah discuss Linn Tonstad's latest book, Queer Theology: Beyond Apologetics. They talk to Dr. Tonstad about the intersections of queerness and theology, writing an introductory book, and the legacy of Marcella Althaus-Reid. Note: Amaryah was having technical issues which made her audio particularly poor for this episode. Thankfully Zac and Dr. Tonstad's audio was great.

In this episode, Zac and Amaryah discuss Willie Jennings' latest book, After Whiteness:An Education in Belonging. They get into theological education and its relationship to racial formation, as well as the role of the erotic in pedagogy and transforming unjust relationships in the academy and beyond.

Zac and Amaryah talk with tabletop RPG game designer Avery Alder(@lackingceremony) on games, community, and imagination in apocalyptic times. You can find more about Avery and her games here. You can read Avery's piece on emotional labor here.

In this episode of Assembly, Zac and Amaryah chat about the 2019-2020 movie season with Liam O'Donnell of the film podcast Cinepunx. They talk about Parasite, Uncut Gems, and Portrait of a Lady on Fire as well as some other favorites over the past year.

In this episode of Assembly, we talk with Adam Kotsko about his reconceptualization of Carl Schmitt's idea of political theology in his latest book, Neoliberalism's Demons. We also talk about pedagogy and teaching difficult figures.

On this episode of Assembly, Amaryah and Zac chat with Matthew M. Harris and Tyler B. Davis about their essay "In the Hope That They Can Make Their Own Future: James H. Cone and the Third World". They discuss understanding Cone as a part of the black radical tradition, black internationalism, and black marxism as well thinking about historical materialism and theology and collaborative writing.

On this episode of the Assembly Podcast, Zac and Amaryah talk with Nathan Kalman-Lamb about his work on sports, race, and social reproduction. Zac also gets Amaryah to break down her understanding of the relationship between social reproduction and political theology.

In this episode, Zac and Amaryah discuss Michelle Sanchez's recent book, Calvin and the Resignification of the World: Creation, Incarnation, and the Problem of Political Theology in the 1559 Institutes. And in discussion with the author, we get into questions of theological reading, writing, and formation, questions of genre and culture, and reading Calvin in political theological terms.

On this episode of the ASSEMBLY podcast, we pick up where we left off in sharing our interviews from 2019's PTN Conference. Here, Amaryah interviews two of the conference keynotes, Najeeba Syeed and Lap Yan Kung on topics like race and religion, interfaith justice work, and the role of the church in the Hong Kong protests.

On this episode of Assembly, Zac and Amaryah discuss the work of Gil Anidjar, especially his book, Blood, and his critique of Christianity and political theology. Stay tuned for more conference interviews with Najeeba Syeed and Lap Yan Kung.

On this episode of Assembly, Zac and Amaryah talk with the poet, essayist, and professor Ross Gay about his recent Book of Delights, and the explorations of politics, finitude, and meaning present there.