In this episode we’re joined by Dr. Karen Swallow Prior – writer, literary scholar, and professor – to talk about her new book, The Evangelical Imagination: How Stories, Images, and Metaphors Created A Culture In Crisis (published by Brazos). As Dr. Prior explains, she is engaging the issue of evangelicalism as an insider, highlighting various concerns that she has not with evangelical beliefs but with the application of those beliefs. Over the course of our...
In this episode we are joined by Dr. Constantine Campbell, who is Professor and Associate Research Director at the Sydney College of Divinity and the author of a number of works in biblical studies and ancient Greek, as well as the book we’re excited to discuss on this episode, Jesus V. Evangelicals: A Biblical Critique of a Wayward Movement (published by Zondervan Reflective). Over the course of our conversation, we discuss how American Evangelicalism is...
Concluding our series on the intersection of faith and politics we turn to address fake news and the spread of misinformation. In this episode Dr. John Anthony Dunne and Dr. Chris Porter are joined by Rachel Wightman, who is Associate Director for Instruction and Outreach at the library at Concordia University in St. Paul, Minnesota. Over the course of our conversation we discuss what makes misinformation so problematic, what unique factors in our communication today...
In the run up to Election Day in the United States (Tuesday, November 3rd), here at The Two Cities we’ve been doing a series of political podcasts. This episode extends that conversation further, but situates it as part of a conversation with a major pop-cultural artifact—Watchmen. Originally a comic series in the mid-1980s, Watchmen is revered as one of the best graphic novels of all time. It was made into a (much-derided) film in the...
Continuing our conversation on the role of faith in our political discourse and political engagement, in the present episode Dr. John Anthony Dunne and Brandon Hurlbert talk with Michael Spalione about his doctoral research on the topic of war within political theology. Having just recently passed his viva in pursuit of a PhD in political theology from Trinity College, Bristol through the University of Aberdeen, Michael helps us think about the topic of war from...
In this tumultuous election season in the States, in which partisan entrenchment often leads to a lack of kindness and respect across the aisle, we have brought in a guest from across the pond to help sort us out. Joining Dr. John Anthony Dunne and Brandon Hurlbert is special guest Rev. Baroness Maeve Sherlock, who is Curate at St. Nics Durham in England, and is also a member of the House of Lords in the...
In this episode Amber Bowen and John Anthony Dunne are joined by Dr. Aaron Griffith (Th.D., M.Div., Duke Divinity), who is currently Assistant Professor of History at Sattler College (Boston, MA), to discuss his upcoming book God’s Law and Order: The Politics of Punishment in Evangelical America (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2020). Over the course of our conversation we discuss the history of the evangelical posture towards criminal punishment, the way that the criminal...
Continuing our conversation on Critical Theory and Critical Race Theory (CRT), we conclude our series with some ecclesial reflections as it pertains to pastoral concerns and the nature of Christian engagement with CRT. Along the way we talk about what it means to be a Christian peacemaker, whether evangelical quest for political power is an objective good worth pursuing, and if the Bible contains hegemonic discourse. This episode, which builds upon the previous episodes with...
During much of quarantine I was helping to co-run an “Equipping Hour” class at my church (our version of Adult Sunday School). The class was called “The Gospel According to Oscar,” which I co-led with my good friend J. D. O’Brien, a filmmaker, documentarian, and videographer (check out his documentary about homelessness in Minneapolis called Out in the Cold on Amazon Prime). This class was sort of a follow-up to one that we did last...
Last week, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) ruled 5–4 against President Trump’s attempt to repeal former President Obama’s executive order on Immigration, known as DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). In this episode, John Anthony Dunne and Rev. Daniel Parham are joined by Jon Garcia, a PhD student in Religion at USC. Over the course of our conversation we talk about the implications of this ruling, President Trump’s possible determination to try...
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