The Iconocast

In this episode, co-hosts Joanna and Mark interview Richard Horsley.

Richard Horsley is Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and the Study of Religion at the University of Massachusetts. He is a prolific author with twenty New Testament studies to his credit. He has edited or authored such words as In the Shadow of Empire: Reclaiming the Bible as a History of Faithful ResistanceJesus and Empire: The Kingdom of God and the New World Disorder, and most recently, Covenant Economics: A Biblical Vision of Justice for All.

Advanced apologies to Canada (listen through to the post-interview “banter” at the end to find out why an apology is necessary).

Direct download: s1e10-Iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

In this episode, co-hosts Sarah, Mark, and Jarrod interview Brian McLaren. Listen in as they explore the nonviolence of God, the state of the world, and our relationship to Empire.

Brian is an internationally known (and controversial) evangelical pastor, speaker, and activist. He is the author of numerous books, including his latest book, “a new kind of Christianity.”

For more information about Brian, visit www.brianmclaren.net/archives/about-brian/

Direct download: s1e9-Iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

In this episode, co-hosts Joanna and Mark interview Wes Howard-Brook.

Their conversation covers, among other things: the “argument” within Scripture between advocates of the “religion of Empire” and the “religion of Creation,” the ethic of love (rather than nonviolence in the New Testament) and the anarchic impulses within Scripture.

Wes is adult educator, writer, and co-founder of Abide in Me Ministries. His book  ‘Come Out, My People!’: God’s Call Out of Empire in the Bible and Beyond, is now scheduled for Fall 2010 for publication by Orbis Books. His other books includeJohn’s Gospel and the Renewal of the Church, Becoming Children of GodThe Church Before Christianity, and Unveiling Empire: Reading Revelation Then and Now (co-written by Anthony Gwyther).

Direct download: s1e8-Iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

In this episode, co-hosts Joanna and Mark interview Mary Jo Leddy–Canadian writer, speaker, theologian and social activist. Leddy works alongside refugees at Romero House in Toronto.

She is the author of such books as Say to the Darkness We Beg to DifferReweaving Religious Life: Beyond the Liberal ModelAt the Border Called Hope: Where Refugees are Neighbors andRadical Gratitude.

Direct download: s1e7-Iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

Recently, Mark spent time in Birmingham Alabama, where he sat down with Jim Douglass, an activist, and noted author on nonviolence and Christian theology.

He and his wife, Shelley Douglass, founded the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action in Poulsbo, Washington, and Mary’s House, a Catholic Worker house in Birmingham, Alabama. In 1997 the Douglasses received the Pacem in Terris Award.

Douglass’ latest book, JFK and the Unspeakable, explores how JFK was martyred as a peacemaker by forces within the Government. He is also the author of such books asThe Non-Violent Cross and The Non-Violent Coming of God.

Direct download: s1e6-Iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

Recently, Mark spent time in Birmingham Alabama, where he sat down with Jim Douglass, an activist, and noted author on nonviolence and Christian theology.

He and his wife, Shelley Douglass, founded the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action in Poulsbo, Washington, and Mary’s House, a Catholic Worker house in Birmingham, Alabama. In 1997 the Douglasses received the Pacem in Terris Award.

Douglass’ latest book, JFK and the Unspeakable, explores how JFK was martyred as a peacemaker by forces within the Government. He is also the author of such books asThe Non-Violent Cross and The Non-Violent Coming of God.

Direct download: s1e5-Iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

In this episode, we (Sarah Lynne Anderson and Mark Van Steenwyk) continue our interview Dakota scholar Waziyatawin. Be sure to check outpart one. In this part of the interview, we continue to grapple with how Christianity needs to come to terms with its imperial history. We need to repent with more than just words. Our ecclesial bodies (especially denominations with land holdings) may want to ask themselves “what does justice look like?”

We know that, until this podcast, most of you have never heard of Waziyatawin…but this interview raises more questions (in a starkly eloquent way) than any interview with a high-profile Christian provocateur. Please take the time to listen–we promise that it will mess with your head in amazing ways.

You might be interested in a series that has developed as a response to the challenges Waz issues to Christians in the interview: Christianity is Empire. That series will engage the imperial nature of historic Christianity and seek, we hope, to offer a chastened, faithful, alternative.

Waziyatawin is a Wahpetunwan Dakota from the Pezihutazizi Otunwe (Yellow Medicine Village) in southwestern Minnesota.

Waz currently holds the Indigenous Peoples Research Chair in the Indigenous Governance Program at the University of Victoria (British Columbia). Her interests include projects centering on Indigenous decolonization strategies such as truth-telling and reparative justice, Indigenous women and resistance, the recovery of Indigenous knowledge, and the development of liberation ideology in Indigenous communities.

She is the author or editor of: Remember This!: Dakota Decolonization and the Eli Taylor NarrativesIndigenizing the Academy: Transforming Scholarship and Empowering Communities, For Indigenous Eyes Only: A Decolonization Handbook,In the Footsteps of Our Ancestors: The Dakota Commemorative Marches of the 21st Century, and What Does Justice Look Like? The Struggle for Liberation in Dakota Homeland.

Direct download: s1e4-Iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

In this episode, we (Sarah Lynne Anderson and Mark Van Steenwyk) interview Dakota scholar Waziyatawin. This is the first of a two part interview. For part two, go here.

This is an intensely challenging two part interview (part two will air in two weeks); we discuss how Christianity is intrinsically unjust, how justice requires the entire dismantling of civilization, and how denominations, if they are sincere in their apologies to Indigenous peoples, should take the first step of handing over unused lands to the tribe upon whose land they occupy. You’ll definitely want to forward that to your denominational headquarters. 

Waziyatawin is a Wahpetunwan Dakota from the Pezihutazizi Otunwe (Yellow Medicine Village) in southwestern Minnesota.

Waz currently holds the Indigenous Peoples Research Chair in the Indigenous Governance Program at the University of Victoria (British Columbia). Her interests include projects centering on Indigenous decolonization strategies such as truth-telling and reparative justice, Indigenous women and resistance, the recovery of Indigenous knowledge, and the development of liberation ideology in Indigenous communities.

She is the author or editor of: Remember This!: Dakota Decolonization and the Eli Taylor NarrativesIndigenizing the Academy: Transforming Scholarship and Empowering Communities, For Indigenous Eyes Only: A Decolonization Handbook,In the Footsteps of Our Ancestors: The Dakota Commemorative Marches of the 21st Century, and What Does Justice Look Like? The Struggle for Liberation in Dakota Homeland.

Direct download: s1e3-Iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

In this episode, co-hosts Sarah Lynne Anderson and Eliacin Rosario-Cruz interview Ched Myers, activist, educator, and the author of a number of books–inclucing “Binding the Strongman”.

Ched, a fifth generation Californian, lives in a small intentional community in Oak View, CA, an hour and a half north of Los Angeles. Over the past three decades he has worked with many peace and justice organizations and movements, including the American Friends Service Committee, the Pacific Concerns Resource Center and the Pacific Life Community. Today withBartimaeus Cooperative Ministries he focuses on building capacity for biblical literacy, church renewal and faith-based witness for justice.

Direct download: s1e2-Iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

In this episode, co-hosts Joanna Shenk and Mark Van Steenwyk interview Nekeisha Alexis-Baker (founder of JesusRadicals.com, activist, organizer, and thinker). Note: this interview was recorded months before the Iconocast became a part of JesusRadicals.com.

Direct download: s1e1-Iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT