Under God?

The Lord is our (good) shepherd, right? So how do we make sense of a God who both scatters and gathers God's people? In this episode, Jackie and Isaiah think through the meaning of "revenge" in Jeremiah 23:1-6 and scour their seminary notes for clues on how to read Jeremiah in good faith.

Paul asked three times for God to take the thorn in his side away. God said no. And Paul still somehow managed to brag about it. Why?

Who do we think God is when bad things happen? Jackie and Isaiah read I Samuel 8 through the lens of intergenerational trauma and talk through what faith looks like when we're not sure about God.

How do we pray when we don't know what to hope? Jackie and Isaiah talk through the good news of a God who groans with us as we reach for liberation. (We roamed all over Romans 8 on this one.)

In this episode, Jackie and Isaiah talk through Biblical queerness, the life and death of DMX, and the radical inclusion of the Lord of All.

In the wake of the police murders of Daunte Wright, Adam Toledo, and Ma'Khia Bryant and in the shadow of the Chauvin trial, what do we do with the Twenty-Third Psalm? Jackie and Isaiah talk through the connections between psalms 22 and 23, the footsteps of the ancestors, and the hymns of Chance the Rapper.

The Gospels of Mark and John have very different testimonies about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Both are true. In this episode, Jackie and Isaiah discuss what it means to be a witness--whether you know what you've seen or not.

Want an unedited hot take on how the Letter to the Ephesians is an assimilationist text? Of course you do.

This was a tough one, y'all. Jackie and Isaiah talk through why the writer of Ephesians is so into othering and remind each other that God didn't make junk.

The Roman Christians are play cousins. They just don't know it yet. Jackie breaks down Paul's use of the call of Abraham to bring together the Jewish and Gentile Christians in the church in Rome.

What would you do if your undead ancestors showed up to meet your teacher? Invite them to hang out, right? In this episode, Jackie and Isaiah unpack the symbolism of the Transfiguration using Drake analogies and talk through what to do when you're happy and terrified at the same time.

Jackie outlines Christian witness within empire and Isaiah reflects on the complexity--and comedy--of mercy in Jonah.

Hello, friends! It's been a minute, but we're getting back in the biblical saddle with Matthew 25. It's got sheep, goats, the devil and his angels, and Jesus in disguise. What better place to start?

In this episode, we're putting the cross in crossover with CG and DJ, friends and co-hosts of the Holy as Hell podcast. Together we'll tackle church responses to COVID-19 and retell the story of Lazarus in light of a pandemic.

What kind of savior rides a (possibly) stolen donkey? And what do we do with a God who doesn't save us the way we want?

How do we talk about God when the threat of death feels so close? Jackie muses on the ways we make sense of suffering. Isaiah waxes poetic about losers.

In late February, millions of Christians around the world were reminded of their mortality with a cross marked in ash on their foreheads. Today, in the midst of COVID-19, most of us are feeling that mortality much more acutely. So what can the practices of Lent teach us during a pandemic? (Disclaimer: our episode was recorded a few weeks ago.)

"Jesus died so that I might live. What kind of life is this?" Jackie and Isaiah grapple with one of the Bible's most famous passages in light of lynching and other forms of white supremacist violence.

Ever wondered why Moses stayed up on the mountain for forty days? Turns out God had strong opinions about interior decorating.

Paul's got something to say to the Corinthians, and Jackie and Isaiah are stressed about it.

"If you're gonna be ugly-acting with or without chips, you can keep them. You might as well eat them." What is the fast God chooses? Jackie questions an interaction at the jail, and Isaiah reflects on getting some help from his pastor. Cover Art: Pawlicki, Michal. Words Can't Feed the Hungry, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=55838 [retrieved February 8, 2020]. Original source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/undpeuropeandcis/5269051224/.

In our very first episode, your co-hosts, Jackie Newsome and Isaiah Lewis, get straight to the serious questions. Who wrote the Gospel of Luke? Could Jesus have chosen not to be the Messiah? And what's the deal with turtledoves?

Can reading scripture ever be an act of solidarity? Isaiah Lewis shares about some relationships that shape his interpretation.

Everybody reads scripture with someone in mind. Find out how Jackie's relationships help her make meaning of the Bible.

Your co-hosts, Jackie and Isaiah, share why we've decided to practice lectio divina together.

The Bible is a lot of things: beautiful, confusing, funny, strange, terrifying. It's sacred for billions of people around the world. But it's also been used to justify everything from white supremacy to boycotting Teletubbies. Is there anything in the Good Book for outsiders like us? Join public defender Jackie Newsome and writer Isaiah Lewis as we question the text in search of hope and justice in today's America.