When the Church Forgets Christ with Tim Whitaker

Tripp Fuller

In this episode, Tim Whitaker from the New Evangelical joined me for one of those sprawling conversations that somehow manages to connect Christian nationalism, the Democratic Party’s moral cowardice, process theology, and whether buying burritos on payment plans signals the end of civilization. We started with our upcoming “God of Justice” class and quickly dove into the bewildering reality of watching people worship a brown-skinned immigrant named Jesus on Sunday, then cheer for the deportation of brown-skinned immigrants on Monday. Tim shared his jarring experience at the DNC, where he found himself more aligned with the leftist protesters outside than the military-industrial complex celebration inside, while I vented about Democratic senators who can’t figure out why state-run grocery stores aren’t communist plots. We wrestled with that familiar ex-evangelical dilemma of trying not to recreate the same purity culture dynamics we escaped from, just with new villains and shibboleths. The whole thing was anchored by this persistent question that haunts anyone trying to follow Christ in empire: where exactly is God when the people wearing Jesus name tags are the ones building alligator moats, and the politicians who should know better are too bought off to acknowledge that maybe poor people deserve vegetables?

UPCOMING ONLINE CLASS – The God of Justice: Where Ancient Wisdom Meets Contemporary Longing

This transformative online class brings together distinguished scholars from biblical studies, theology, history, and faith leadership to offer exactly what our moment demands: the rich, textured wisdom of multiple academic disciplines speaking into our contemporary quest for justice. Here you’ll discover how ancient texts illuminate modern struggles, how theological reflection deepens social action, and how historical understanding opens new possibilities for faithful engagement with our world’s brokenness and beauty. Join John Dominic Crossan, Peter Enns, Casey Sigmon, Aizaiah Yong, & Malcolm Foley

As always, the class is donation-based, including 0. INFO & Sign-Up at www.FaithAndPolitics.net

Theology Beer Camp is a unique three-day conference that brings together of theology nerds and craftbeer for a blend of intellectual engagement, community building, and fun. This event features a lineup of well-known podcasters, scholars, and theology enthusiasts who come together to “nerd out” on theological topics while enjoying loads of fun activities. Guests this year include John Dominic Crossan, Kelly Brown Douglas, Philip Clayton, Stacey Floyd-Thomas, Jeffery Pugh, Juan Floyd-Thomas, Andy Root, Grace Ji-Sun Kim, Noreen Herzfeld, Reggie Williams, Casper ter Kuile, and more! Get info and tickets here.

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