Faith And Reason 360

This is our most ambitious and most important podcast series yet”- Peter Laarman, Episode 1.Long ago, European Christians cast Jesus in the image of their imperial rulers, who wanted art portraying a fair-skinned Savior. The world still feels those consequences today.Join Front Row host Peter Laarman and guest Grace Ji-Sun Kim, as she explores the historical and theological implications of Jesus becoming white and God becoming a white male.Follow them on this challenging intellectual journey, which discusses how whiteness becomes centered, even among people who are not white, and the toll that white supremacy takes on everyone, even those who live under the umbrella of “white.” We'll get glimpses at the ways in which the church has the capacity to challenge this modern ideology that allows for misogyny, homophobia, and a violent capitalism, based on violence and extraction.Find Grace Ji-Sun Kim's book here.

This is our most ambitious and most important podcast series yet”- Peter Laarman, Episode 1.Long ago, European Christians cast Jesus in the image of their imperial rulers, who wanted art portraying a fair-skinned Savior. The world still feels those consequences today.Join Front Row host Peter Laarman and guest Grace Ji-Sun Kim, as she explores the historical and theological implications of Jesus becoming white and God becoming a white male.Follow them on this challenging intellectual journey, which discusses how whiteness becomes centered, even among people who are not white, and the toll that white supremacy takes on everyone, even those who live under the umbrella of “white.” We'll get glimpses at the ways in which the church has the capacity to challenge this modern ideology that allows for misogyny, homophobia, and a violent capitalism, based on violence and extraction.Find Grace Ji-Sun Kim's book here.

This is our most ambitious and most important podcast series yet”- Peter Laarman, Episode 1.Long ago, European Christians cast Jesus in the image of their imperial rulers, who wanted art portraying a fair-skinned Savior. The world still feels those consequences today.Join Front Row host Peter Laarman and guest Grace Ji-Sun Kim, as she explores the historical and theological implications of Jesus becoming white and God becoming a white male.Follow them on this challenging intellectual journey, which discusses how whiteness becomes centered, even among people who are not white, and the toll that white supremacy takes on everyone, even those who live under the umbrella of “white.” We'll get glimpses at the ways in which the church has the capacity to challenge this modern ideology that allows for misogyny, homophobia, and a violent capitalism, based on violence and extraction.Find Grace Ji-Sun Kim's book here.

This is our most ambitious and most important podcast series yet”- Peter Laarman, Episode 1.Long ago, European Christians cast Jesus in the image of their imperial rulers, who wanted art portraying a fair-skinned Savior. The world still feels those consequences today.Join Front Row host Peter Laarman and guest Grace Ji-Sun Kim, as she explores the historical and theological implications of Jesus becoming white and God becoming a white male.Follow them on this challenging intellectual journey, which discusses how whiteness becomes centered, even among people who are not white, and the toll that white supremacy takes on everyone, even those who live under the umbrella of “white.” We'll get glimpses at the ways in which the church has the capacity to challenge this modern ideology that allows for misogyny, homophobia, and a violent capitalism, based on violence and extraction.Find Grace Ji-Sun Kim's book here.

“This is our most ambitious and most important podcast series yet” - Peter LaarmanLong ago, European Christians cast Jesus in the image of their imperial rulers, who wanted art portraying a fair-skinned Savior. The world still feels those consequences today.Join Front Row host Peter Laarson and guest Grace Ji-Sun Kim, as she explores the historical and theological implications of Jesus becoming white and God becoming a white male.Follow them on this challenging intellectual journey, which discusses how whiteness becomes centered, even among people who are not white, and the toll that white supremacy takes on everyone, even those who live under the umbrella of “white.” We'll see how the church can challenge this modern ideology, one that allows for misogyny, homophobia, and a form of capitalism based on violence and extraction.Find Grace Ji-Sun Kim's book here.

In the fourth part of this series, Dr. Obery Hendricks, Dr. Charlene Sinclair, and Peter Laarman continue their deep dive into what white Christian nationalists actually worship: power, wealth, and whiteness.This FRONT ROW podcast features Dr. Obery Hendricks, Dr. Charlene Sinclair and Peter Laarman.Dr. Obery Hendricks is a lifelong social activist, and one of the foremost commentators on the intersection of religion and political economy in America. He is the most widely read and perhaps the most influential African American biblical scholar writing today. His recent book, Christians Against Christianity: How Right-Wing Evangelicals Are Destroying Our Nation and Our Faith (Beacon Press, 2021) has gathered wide acclaim.Dr. Charlene Sinclair is an organizer, thinker, and writer whose work centers on the intersection of race, gender, economy, and democracy. Strongly influenced by the pathbreaking thought of the late James Cone, founder of Black Liberation Theology, Dr. Sinclair is committed to fashioning strategies that embrace a liberationist approach to faith and spirituality in the context of popular struggles for racial, economic, and gender justice. The Reverend Peter Laarman is a retired United Church of Christ minister and activist who led Judson Memorial Church in New York and Progressive Christians Uniting in California. He is currently involved with the King & Breaking Silence webinar project of the National Council of Elders and with the development of a new formation called Social Ethics Energizing Democracy. 

This is the 3rd episode in our season on Christians Against Christianity. This FRONT ROW podcast features Dr. Obery Hendricks, Dr. Charlene Sinclair and Peter Laarman.Dr. Obery Hendricks is a lifelong social activist, and one of the foremost commentators on the intersection of religion and political economy in America. He is the most widely read and perhaps the most influential African American biblical scholar writing today. His recent book, Christians Against Christianity: How Right-Wing Evangelicals Are Destroying Our Nation and Our Faith (Beacon Press, 2021) has gathered wide acclaim. Dr. Charlene Sinclair is an organizer, thinker, and writer whose work centers on the intersection of race, gender, economy, and democracy. Strongly influenced by the pathbreaking thought of the late James Cone, founder of Black Liberation Theology, Dr. Sinclair is committed to fashioning strategies that embrace a liberationist approach to faith and spirituality in the context of popular struggles for racial, economic, and gender justice. The Reverend Peter Laarman is a retired United Church of Christ minister and activist who led Judson Memorial Church in New York and Progressive Christians Uniting in California. He is currently involved with the King & Breaking Silence webinar project of the National Council of Elders and with the development of a new formation called Social Ethics Energizing Democracy. 

Special GuestsThis FRONT ROW podcast features Dr. Obery Hendricks, Dr. Charlene Sinclair and Peter Laarman.Dr. Obery Hendricks is a lifelong social activist, and one of the foremost commentators on the intersection of religion and political economy in America. He is the most widely read and perhaps the most influential African American biblical scholar writing today. His recent book, Christians Against Christianity: How Right-Wing Evangelicals Are Destroying Our Nation and Our Faith (Beacon Press, 2021) has gathered wide acclaim. Dr. Charlene Sinclair is an organizer, thinker, and writer whose work centers on the intersection of race, gender, economy, and democracy. Strongly influenced by the pathbreaking thought of the late James Cone, founder of Black Liberation Theology, Dr. Sinclair is committed to fashioning strategies that embrace a liberationist approach to faith and spirituality in the context of popular struggles for racial, economic, and gender justice. The Reverend Peter Laarman is a retired United Church of Christ minister and activist who led Judson Memorial Church in New York and Progressive Christians Uniting in California. He is currently involved with the King & Breaking Silence webinar project of the National Council of Elders and with the development of a new formation called Social Ethics Energizing Democracy. 

In the first part of this series, Dr. Obery Hendricks, Dr. Charlene Sinclair, and Peter Laarman lay out the beliefs of the ideologues who want an America ruled by a vengeful strongman. They ask if this movement can be fought by speaking in biblical terms, by seeing “loving your neighbor as yourself” as a struggle for the common good.  Do these authoritarians care about what is right or only what serves their interest? Will their value of domination win out over repentance? Can a return to ethics and justice stave off their ascent? Churches have a choice: They can embrace the radical power of Jesus of the gospels or slowly lose ground to an evangelical movement that worships at the strange altar of whiteness. Obery M. Hendricks Jr. is a lifelong social activist, and one of the foremost commentators on the intersection of religion and political economy in America. He is the most widely read and perhaps the most influential African American biblical scholar writing today. His recent book, Christians Against Christianity: How Right-Wing Evangelicals Are Destroying Our Nation and Our Faith (Beacon Press, 2021) has gathered wide acclaim.Dr. Charlene Sinclair is an organizer, thinker, and writer whose work centers on the intersection of race, gender, economy, and democracy. Strongly influenced by the pathbreaking thought of the late James Cone, founder of Black Liberation Theology, Dr. Sinclair is committed to fashioning strategies that embrace a liberationist approach to faith and spirituality in the context of popular struggles for racial, economic, and gender justice. The Reverend Peter Laarman is a retired United Church of Christ minister and activist who led Judson Memorial Church in New York and Progressive Christians Uniting in California. He is currently involved with the King & Breaking Silence webinar project of the National Council of Elders and with the development of a new formation called Social Ethics Energizing Democracy.

The Book Of Revelation has been described as the most misunderstood and misinterpreted book of the Bible and ought to come with an adults-only "reader's caution" for all its violent imagery. Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President of the United States (1801-1809), denied the divine inspiration of the Book of Revelation, describing it to Alexander Smyth (US Representative from Virginia) in 1825 as "merely the ravings of a maniac, no more worthy nor capable of explanation than the incoherences of our own nightly dreams."Despite Revelation's reputation, some, particularly Black people and other people of color, have found it to be hopeful and relevant. Revelation speaks to marginalized and powerless people, to anyone familiar with struggle. Some scholars call it the literature of the oppressed. And yet, we have seen over and over again, people going through tough times are remarkably resilient. There's something within them that keeps them hoping for life to get better, even when darkness seems to be winning. "True hope" is what preacher Peter Gomes calls a muscular hope, the stuff that gets us through and beyond when the worst that can happen happens. "Hope is forged on the anvil of adversity," Gomes famously said.This FRONT ROW podcast features special guests Charlene Sinclair and Peter Laarman.Dr. Charlene Sinclair is an organizer, thinker, and writer whose work centers on the intersection of race, gender, economy, and democracy. Strongly influenced by the pathbreaking thought of the late James Cone, founder of Black Liberation Theology, Dr. Sinclair is committed to fashioning strategies that embrace a liberationist approach to faith and spirituality in the context of popular struggles for racial, economic, and gender justice. Peter Laarman is a retired United Church of Christ minister and activist who led Judson Memorial Church in New York and Progressive Christians Uniting in California. He is currently involved with the King & Breaking Silence webinar project of the National Council of Elders and with the development of a new formation called Social Ethics Energizing Democracy. Charlene and Peter approach Revelation from very different positions.

This podcast series is about perhaps the most challenging and controversial book in the New Testament, The Book Of Revelation. Some Christians love it, and some hate it. Some Christians never talk about it; some never stop talking about it. Some people are using it as a predictor of current events or as part of their impetus for violence and fervor for hatred and political gain. Others apply Revelation as a sort of war against good and evil to almost any situation one might be involved.John Dominic Crossan, professor emeritus at DePaul University and widely regarded as the foremost historical Jesus scholar of our time, says, "The heartbeat of the Christian Bible is a recurrent cardiac cycle in which the asserted radicality of God's nonviolent distributive justice is subverted by the normalcy of civilization's violent retributive justice. And, of course, the most profound annulment is that both assertion and subversion are attributed to the same God or the same Christ."This FRONT ROW podcast features special guests Dr. Charlene Sinclair and Rev. Peter Laarman. Dr. Charlene Sinclair is an organizer, thinker, and writer whose work centers on the intersection of race, gender, economy, and democracy. Strongly influenced by the pathbreaking thought of the late James Cone, founder of Black Liberation Theology, Dr. Sinclair is committed to fashioning strategies that embrace a liberationist approach to faith and spirituality in the context of popular struggles for racial, economic, and gender justice. Rev. Peter Laarman is a retired United Church of Christ minister and activist who led Judson Memorial Church in New York and Progressive Christians Uniting in California. He is currently involved with the King & Breaking Silence webinar project of the National Council of Elders and with the development of a new formation called Social Ethics Energizing Democracy.Listen as Charlene's and Peter's different perspectives confront and challenge the ascending violence of “the war in heaven,” where Jesus judges the whole world; all who worship other gods, who commit murder, perform magic, or illicit sexual acts are thrown down to be forever tormented in a lake of fire, while those who claim to be God's faithful are invited to enter the new city of Jerusalem that descends from heaven and reigns in triumph for 1,000 years.

The Book Of Revelation is said to be the strangest, most controversial book in the Bible. Some love it, and some hate it. Some Christians never talk about it; some never stop talking about it. And, some people use it as a predictor of current events, as part of their impetus for violence and fervor for hatred and political gain. Others apply Revelation as evidence of a war between good and evil to almost any situation.Elaine Pagels, Harrington Spear Paine Professor of Religion at Princeton University, refers to The Book of Revelation as “war literature.” Pagels explains that John of Patmos, a war refugee, wrote Revelation sixty years after the death of Jesus, and twenty years after 60,000 Roman troops crushed the Jewish rebellion in Judea and destroyed Jerusalem and its Great Temple. Pagels persuasively interprets Revelation as a scathing attack on the decadence of Rome.This FRONT ROW podcast features special guests Charlene Sinclair and Peter Laarman.Dr. Charlene Sinclair is an organizer, thinker, and writer whose work centers on the intersection of race, gender, economy, and democracy. Strongly influenced by the pathbreaking thought of the late James Cone, founder of Black Liberation Theology, Dr. Sinclair is committed to fashioning strategies that embrace a liberationist approach to faith and spirituality in the context of popular struggles for racial, economic, and gender justice. Peter Laarman is a retired United Church of Christ minister and activist who led Judson Memorial Church in New York and Progressive Christians Uniting in California. He is currently involved with the King & Breaking Silence webinar project of the National Council of Elders and with the development of a new formation called Social Ethics Energizing Democracy. Charlene and Peter approach Revelation from very different positions.

Justice-seekers, church leaders, and religious scholars will learn more about how younger generations are perceiving the church, how to support local advocacy and activism, and how the future of Christianity is changing. Marcus Borg's lectures, drawn from Faith and Reason seminars like “Does Christianity Have a Future?” and “The Heart of Christianity,” provide the perfect foundation for an engaging and thoughtful discussion on these topics.Reverend Janet Cooper Nelson is a University Chaplain and Director of the Office of Chaplains and Religious Life and Faculty Member at Brown University. Janet leads a multi-faith team of associate chaplains and oversees the university's broad circle of religious life affiliates who advise student religious organizations. Together they ensure that a diversity of belief has voice and vitality throughout the university's community and that Brown's largest educational program is infused with opportunity to enrich religious literacy and experience with a practice in religion.Peter Laarman is a United Church of Christ minister who served as senior minister of New York's Judson Memorial Church and then as executive director of LA's Progressive Christians Uniting before retiring in 2014. He remains deeply involved in national and regional social justice projects touching on race, class, and religion. A lifelong activist, Peter focuses on the intersection of religion, race, and class and on how centuries of white supremacy shape the multiple crises we face today.

Religious scholars and church leaders will learn more about how younger generations are perceiving the church, how the gospel may be interpreted by younger church members, and how the future of Christianity is changing.Reverend Janet Cooper Nelson is a University Chaplain and Director of the Office of Chaplains and Religious Life and Faculty Member at Brown University. Janet leads a multi-faith team of associate chaplains and oversees the university's broad circle of religious life affiliates who advise student religious organizations. Together they ensure that a diversity of belief has voice and vitality throughout the university's community and that Brown's largest educational program is infused with opportunity to enrich religious literacy and experience with a practice in religion.Peter Laarman is a United Church of Christ minister who served as senior minister of New York's Judson Memorial Church and then as executive director of LA's Progressive Christians Uniting before retiring in 2014. He remains deeply involved in national and regional social justice projects touching on race, class, and religion. A lifelong activist, Peter focuses on the intersection of religion, race, and class and on how centuries of white supremacy shape the multiple crises we face today.

Church leaders will gain valuable insight into how younger generations are perceiving the church, how gospel and positive church communities are influencing activism, and how to navigate the future of Christianity.Reverend Janet Cooper Nelson is a University Chaplain and Director of the Office of Chaplains and Religious Life and Faculty Member at Brown University. Janet leads a multi-faith team of associate chaplains and oversees the university's broad circle of religious life affiliates who advise student religious organizations. Together they ensure that a diversity of belief has voice and vitality throughout the university's community and that Brown's largest educational program is infused with opportunity to enrich religious literacy and experience with a practice in religion.Peter Laarman is a United Church of Christ minister who served as senior minister of New York's Judson Memorial Church and then as executive director of LA's Progressive Christians Uniting before retiring in 2014. He remains deeply involved in national and regional social justice projects touching on race, class, and religion.

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Despite being divergent parabolic overtures to two different Gospels, Matthew and Luke agree on the Virginal conception and Bethlehem birthplace of Jesus. As common data, are those claims historical facts or theological interpretations? What is the meaning and intention of each claim in its original context?

Crossan talks about the infancy story of Luke as parabolic overture to that gospel. Imagine Luke 3-24 as the finished Gospel according to Luke and the author starting to compose its parabolic overture. How was that overture necessarily and inevitably determined by the vision of the completed Gospel?

Crossan talks about the infancy story of Matthew as parabolic overture to that Gospel. Imagine Matthew 3-28 as the finished Gospel according to Matthew and the author starting to compose its parabolic overture. How was that overture necessarily and inevitably determined by the vision of the completed Gospel?

Kick off Advent with John Dominic Crossan! In this episode, David and Debo talk to Crossan about “The First Christmas,” the book by Crossan and the late Marcus Borg.

Debo and Catherine Young sit down with Dr. Kristin Black to talk about the realities of black Americans' access to healthcare. There’s a widespread misconception that faith is not interested in fact and scientific research. Faith is always concerned with reality and truth. For faith to be active, faith has to know what the facts are. Science explores the natural world that God created

In honor of Suicide Prevention Month, Debo and David sit down with Reverend Dr. Jason Coker to talk about mental health. Dr. Coker recently released a new book, Faded Flowers: Preaching in the Aftermath of Suicide, about suicide and responding to pain as a church and as individuals. People deal with loss and pain in different ways, and Dr. Coker describes his own experience preaching in the aftermath of suicide.

Biblical tradition describes two very different Gods: a jealous God and a God of boundless love and kindness. Over the last 50 years, white American Christianity has been further degraded by the idea that God prospers people individually -- that it’s a transactional kind of religion. If you’re already at the point where you think of some human beings as less than, then you can easily find a way to make your God also think of some people as less than. This idea utterly contradicts the idea that God is supremely loving. You can’t have a God who consigns people to damnation on a count no fault of their own and a God who calls us by name.

Debo and Catherine Young sit down with Dr. Stephen Farrow, Executive Director of the National Diabetes and Obesity Research Institute of Mississippi (NDORI), to discuss health as a justice issue and how social factors like income and education impact health. Mississippi has the highest rate of obesity and childhood obesity in the United States, and 1 out of 3 people in Mississippi are considered obese. When thinking about health and obesity, one must also consider how racial bias and structural racism play into health and economy. Access to healthcare, education level, economic achievement and quality of life in the workplace all affect health and diabetes.

Debo and Catherine Young chat with Dr. Corey Wiggins, the Executive Director of the NAACP Mississippi State Conference. They touch on the importance of the vote to remove confederate emblems from the Mississippi state flag, and how that vote was followed with debates about issues like funding for public schools and universities. We must change the hearts and minds of our community and leadership in order to make real change happen. So, what happens next? What does change look like, and what can we do?

Debo and Catherine Young chat with Normella Walker, Director of the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Brigham Health Hospital. Walker talks about diversity in the workplace, as well as the importance of organizations’ roles in civic responsibility and social justice issues. If we’re going to see progress, we need to have leaders in place who value diversity and who will work to create change. How does white privilege apply to organizations when we talk about diversity and inclusion?

In the third episode of the Born Black Faith & Reason series, Debo and Catherine Young talk with Dr. Alice Graham, the executive director of Back Bay Mission in Biloxi. Dr. Graham recounts her own experience growing up, as well as how she found herself living in Mississippi. Dr. Graham goes into detail about how there are racial inequities evident in things like education, lack of funding for transportation, and red lining of properties.

Dr. Clopton goes into detail about several NMHS Unlimited documentaries, like “Did Johnny Come Marching Home” and “Elport Chess and the Lanier High School Bus Boycott of 1947.” Dr. Clopton references these films in regard to the miseducation of people, specifically when it comes to African Americans’ role in history and how systematic misinformation has been put into place to divide people.

Debo and David sit down with Catherine C. Young, Sr. Vice President of the Memphis Mid-South Affiliate of Susan G. Komen, to talk about systemic racism and the murder of George Floyd. Catherine starts off the conversation by highlighting the first time she experienced racism, as well as how she has faced discrimination in her life since then. Catherine goes into detail about how people of color view white privilege. She defines it as a recycling of wealth within the white community that results in white people being at the top, because they are given privileges that others do not have access to.

Dr. Keri Day, Associate Professor of Constructive Theology and African American Religion at Princeton Theological Seminary, discusses the disproportionate effect that COVID-19 has had on black people, its roots in inequality, and what we can do about it.

In part 2 of our exploration of a world reshaped by COVID-19, Joerg Rieger emphasizes the importance of communities coming together to build power. He continues his call for us to see God amidst us as a working person. How has the image of the cross changed over time, and how does it relate to resurrection? What if we viewed the cross as a symbol of resistance?

Theologian Joerg Rieger talks about why oppressed people have been hit hardest with COVID-19 and why people of faith and theologians should care. Joerg’s theory of the logic of downturn in regard to the broken system in the United States asks, "What if we thought about God from this perspective from the bottom up, or the perspective of an essential worker? How are we going to get out of this?"

Why have many faith traditions have been silent during this pandemic, and what would it take for us to own the problem of COVID-19 as a country?

David and Debo chat with Daniel Ball, with Freedom For All Americans, about the lack of protection for LGBTQ individuals in states like Mississippi and how religion has come to be seen as a tool that is used to weaponize and divide people. Daniel also goes into detail about alternative forms of spiritual healing and the importance of interfaith.

Debo Dykes and journalist Donna Ladd sit down with Representative Ronnie Crudup, Jr. of Hinds County’s House District 71 in Jackson, Mississippi, where Faith & Reason is based.

Our scholars and audiences seek understanding about the history and faith of religious people and culture—but not just for the sake of knowledge. Faith And Reason challenges faith to confront injustice in our world. Today, that means taking a critical look at the injustice right in our own backyard.

Join Debo and David Dykes as they visit Rabbi Marshal Klaven and learn about Hanukkah. Though it’s a minor religious holiday, Hanukkah has become enormously popular among American Jews. It’s a festival of light in the winter, it celebrates victorious underdogs, and it fits the “they tried to kill us / we won / let’s eat” rubric that animates Jewish holidays like Passover and Purim.

Featuring Dr. Joerg Rieger. What if we didn’t view religion as a sport, with a team that has to win, but instead as a language? Differences make a difference in how we move the world, so coming together to discuss different truths would benefit us and add to our knowledge of the world and the people around us.

Dr. Joerg Rieger joins Debo and David to discuss how the cross and the resurrection of Jesus illustrate resistance, and why women were the only followers of Jesus who showed up when Jesus was crucified. They also talk about how malignant religion can support an economic system that will result in exploitation and suffering. What are some of the mechanisms that keep the “American Dream” in place?

Dr. Joerg Rieger sits with Debo, David and Ann to delve into the differences between "malignant religion" and "life-giving religion." What is the relationship Jesus had with materialism and to what extent is preaching the good news to the poor life-giving versus malignant?

Dr. Joerg Rieger joins Debo, David, and Ann unpack the distinction between religion and politics. When Jesus says “Give to God what is God’s, and give to Caesar what is Caesar’s,” what is he really saying?

Dr. Joerg Rieger joins Debo, David, and Ann to explore the tension between the Christian perceptions of God: the kingly, dominant God of Caesar vs. the humble, human God of Jesus. When we talk about God, he says, which God are we talking about? If this God is one with Jesus, a working person and refugee who served the marginalized, what does it look like for us to be followers of Jesus today?

In this special episode, hear the Intro of "The Last Week," a new audio series from Faith And Reason. This series features new dialogue with John Dominic Crossan based on material from his book with Marcus Borg, "The Last Week." Part meditation, part historical exploration, and part theology — our new audio series with Dr. Crossan, David Dykes, and Ann Phelps is perfect for individual study, especially during the Lenten season. "The Last Week" is available now at faithandreason.org!

The final part of our series examining Richard Rohr's 9 stages of spiritual growth as delivered in his lecture, "The Human Spirit."

Part 5 of our series featuring audio from Father Richard Rohr’s lecture “The Human Spirit.”

Part 4 of our series featuring audio from Father Richard Rohr’s lecture “The Human Spirit.”

In Part 3 of our series featuring audio from Father Richard Rohr’s lecture “The Human Spirit,” Ann and Debo discuss Rohr’s next stage of human development: the realization that my thoughts and feelings are who I am.” This can cause us to become too locked in and certain in our beliefs, but there is freedom in remaining teachable. Spiritual maturity happens when we are open to challenging our convictions. Rohr says that “growth only happens on the threshold.” When we come to the edge of our comfort zone, don’t retreat - push on.

In Part 2 of our series featuring audio from Father Richard Rohr’s lecture “The Human Spirit,” Ann and Debo discuss moving beyond fear, projection versus authenticity, and self-examination as the work of responsible humans.