Episodes

Sara is a spiritual leader, facilitator, and teacher. She was educated at Earlham College, University of Denver, Iliff School of Theology, and holds a PhD in Theology and Women and Gender Studies from Drew University. Sara identifies as a queer cis woman, a Quaker, and is ordained and leads a congregation in the tradition of the United Church of Christ. Sara is a champion of coffee conversations, passionate about leftist politics and intersectional social justice, and thrives on diverse forms of...

We are thrilled to host Rev. Dr. Nikia Roberts on Juneteenth, the day she launches Abolitionist Sanctuary. Abolitionist Sanctuary’s mission is to help Black churches connect emancipatory religious values and abolitionist principles to public policies and transformative justice strategies that center the communal flourishing of poor Black mothers and their families beyond prisons, policing, and punishment. Rev. Dr. Robert is the Founder and Executive Director of Abolitionist Sanctuary. She is a ...

AND - Our Big Announcement

Danté Stewart is a speaker and a writer whose work in the areas of race, religion, and politics has been featured on CNN and in The Washington Post, Christianity Today, Sojourners, The Witness: A Black Christian Collective, Comment, and elsewhere. He received his BA in sociology from Clemson University and is currently studying at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. To connect with Danté on Twitter: Click here. Visit https://www.dantecstewart.com/ –––––––––––...

Delta Variant Is Wreaking Havoc – Are We Being Honest?

We are in the thick of the 2021 Summer Olympic Games and we are watching racism, sexism, queerphobia and mental health criticism unfold before our eyes. While these games can bring humans together, they are highly problematic. Dr. Robyn and Rev. Anna navigate the challenges surrounding these Olympic games and the challenges that they present. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. To follow Activist Theology on Twit...

Dr. Bayo Akomolafe considers his most sacred work to be learning how to be with his daughter and son, Alethea Aanya and Kyah Jayden – and their mother, his wife and “life-nectar”, Ijeoma. “To learn the importance of insignificance” is the way he frames a desire to reacquaint himself with a world that is irretrievably entangled, preposterously alive and completely partial. He is the Executive Director and Chief Curator for The Emergence Network (A Post-Activist Project] and host of the online wri...

A Conversation with Megan Rohrer

Relationships are hard. Showing up and being present for the great stuff and the tough stuff is what being in relationship is all about. And that's really easy to say and often harder to do. Some of us communicate through words while others are empathic and do most of their work using their feeling senses. Some of us are conflict-confident while others are conflict-averse, On the anniversary of the event that solidified the kinship between Robyn and Anna, they chat about their last four years of...

Some of us come from an evangelical upbringing that asked us to understand hell as a literal place, abstinence as law and sin as avoidable. Others of us grew up in mainline denominational systems that put on a face of moderate polity but still found ways to complicate our spiritual journeys. Still others have walked a path that looks different from these. Regardless of where you have come from, you have likely not arrived free from trauma – spiritual trauma. Dr. Robyn and Rev. Anna navigate thei...

Dr. Jerome Lubbe had his first debilitating migraine when he was 17. Since then, he has averaged about 100 migraines per year. His life has been a journey of victory and defeat, despair and hope, faith and doubt. As a complex neurological patient, he lived in a medical purgatory. He saw the best of traditional practitioners to no avail. He explored innovative, alternative healthcare models that also fell short. Ultimately, he became a doctor because he couldn’t find a good one. Dr. Lubbe is the...

If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is that changes that felt like a slow burn over the last decade accelerated in ways we didn't expect over the last eighteen months. Once of things we are curious about it just that – what happens to Sunday morning church in the wake of the online community? Will gathering together on Sunday be something we continue to do? Why or why not might that matter? Join Rev. Anna and Dr. Robyn and they dive into the questions around this very topic. ––––––––––––...

On Monday, October 4, 2021, the world watched as Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp went down for hours. This was only a day after a whistle-blower shared documents and truths with the world about the tech giants and the way that their algorithms are taunting us to anger. What did the time away from these apps do for us? What did they expose about our tendencies and our addictions? Most importantly, what does it tell us about community? –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support thi...

Dr. Robyn and Rev. Anna record this episode live from the border of Reynosa, Mexico. They spent the weekend with We the People Ride and were introduced to the amazing folx from Practice Mercy. Hear our stories and this wonderful conversation with Practice Mercy's lead, Alma Rose. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. To follow Activist Theology on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch wit...

Rev. Dr. Cari Jackson is director of spiritual care and activism for the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, leading RCRC's mission to equip, galvanize and collaborate with faith and community leaders advocating for reproductive dignity and freedom. An ordained minister in the United Church of Christ (UCC), Dr. Cari has served as pastor of congregations in UCC, United Methodist Church and Presbyterian Church-USA, incorporating spirituality and social justice. As a social healer, she has...

Obery M. Hendricks Jr. is a best-selling author, an activist, a religious scholar, a former theological seminary president, and an ordained elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. His books include The Politics of Jesus: Rediscovering the True Revolutionary Nature of Jesus’ Teachings and How They Have Been Corrupted, The Universe Bends Toward Justice: Radical Reflections on the Bible, the Church, and the Body Politic, and Christians Against Christianity: How Right-Wing Evangelicals Are ...

When Kyle Rittenhouse was found not guilty, the nation further affirmed its divide regarding self defense, gun control, protesting, and how just our justice system really is. The violent nature of our community, specifically of white men within our community, gives Robyn and Anna pause. Join them as they navigate this conversation. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. Join us on the Activist Theology app To follow...

For some of us, the Big Lie was first named a part of our vocabulary after November of 2020. For others of us, we'v watched lies around supremacy, Christianity, patriarchy and heteronormativity blanket the earth for decades. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. Join us on the Activist Theology app To follow Activist Theology on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@...

Season three! It's hard to believe. Join Dr. Robyn and Rev, Anna as they check in after the holidays, share some funny stories about their gifts and evaluate the state of the world. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To support this podcast, please visit https://activistheology.com/give. Join us on the Activist Theology app To follow Activist Theology on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook: @activistheology To be in touch with Dr. Robyn: robyn@activistheology.com or @irobyn To be in to...

When a pastor is caught spitting in his hand and then rubbing that spit on the face of a parishioner, all in the attempt to prove that faith trumps science, we are in serious trouble as a body. We've all seen gimmicks used from the pulpit – and some have stuck with us because they were memorable. The question is, does memorable equal impactful? How far are we willing to go to prove a point? And at what point is the message lost, simply because we won't stop being clever and start being real? ––...

Drawing on her lifelong journey to know her family’s history, leading Christian activist Lisa Sharon Harper recovers the beauty of her heritage, exposes the brokenness that race has wrought in America, and casts a vision for collective repair. Harper has spent three decades researching ten generations of her family history through DNA research, oral histories, interviews, and genealogy. Fortune, the name of Harper’s first non-indigenous ancestor born on American soil, bore the brunt of the nati...

Some of you know about the mutual aid request that Dr. Robyn extended a few weeks ago to assist them in getting their mother out of a dangerous living situation. This past weekend, we traveled a long distance to pack up and move their mother to safety. Throughout the process, watching the help of relative strangers, experiencing solidarity in unexpected places, we recognized that the work of Activist Theology is also for us. We were liberated by it. Listen today to how the story unfolded. –––––...

On a sunny, Saturday afternoon in one of the most walkable areas of Chattanooga, Anna finds herself in the middle of an unplanned crisis. A car careens through the city, immediately in front of her, barely missing humans crossing the road and totaling cars in its path. The driver has just OD'd on Fentanyl. The drug epidemic is getting progressively worse and we are watching the lives of human beings upended at every turn. How are we to be community in the midst of this pain? –––––––––––––––––––...

Across the country, we are watching legislatures, school boards, private and public school systems chase the archaic idea that some books are "allowed" to be read by children and some are not. Unsurprising to anyone, the books that are not being allowed are books that expose America's racist, homophobic, transphobic and Christian nationalist past. Dr. Robyn and Rev. Anna share some stories from their home state and attempt to navigate the problematic resurgence of book banning. ––––––––––––––––...