Episodes - Page 37 | Straight White American Jesus

Nov. 10, 2020

The Brown Church: 500 Years of Resistance and Organizing - with Robert Chao Romero, PhD, JD

In his new book, The Brown Church, Robert Chao Romero speaks from spiritual borderlands. As a Latino pastor and scholar trained in critical race theory, he speaks to those managing what many times feel like mutually exclusive identities. In the process his book has something essential to teach all …

Nov. 6, 2020

Weekly Roundup: A Historic Election, the Religious Left's Huge Impact, and the Religious Right Remains the Religious White

As we process the unfolding events related to the election, Brad and Dan discuss: why Tuesday night felt so dismaying, despite knowing it would be a long road the disappointing turnout for Trumpism and the need to reckon with...

Nov. 2, 2020

Religion, Roots, and Black National Identity with Richard Newton

In an episode recorded as part of a public lecture at Skidmore College, Brad speak with Dr. Richard Newton about his new book, Identifying Roots: Alex Haley and the Anthropology of Scriptures. They discuss how Haley's book Roots and the ensuing TV mini-series marked a new chapter in telling the sto…

Oct. 30, 2020

Weekly Roundup: America's Tense Moment

In the week before the election, Brad and Dan begin with another chapter of Falwell's Follies. Dan then explains why the polls are similar, but different from 2016 and how Trump's surrender to COVID has hurt his reelection ch...

Oct. 27, 2020

After Evangelcalism with David Gushee

Dan speaks with Dr. David Gushee, Professor of Ethics and Director of the Center for Theology and Public Life at Mercer University. The former president of the American Academy of Religion, he is a prolific author who writes ...

Oct. 23, 2020

Weekly Roundup: Hunter Biden Explained, Pope and Civil Unions, and the American Values Survey

Opener : Brad and Dan each get 2 minutes uninterrupted on the last debate Explainer: Hunter Biden non-scandal mularkey Explainer : Pope announces he is in favor of same-sex couples having civil unions (but not marriages?) Dee...

Oct. 21, 2020

81% WTF (Re-release): The Historical Receipts on Evangelical Leaders Hypocritical Support for Trump

The episode that started it all! On one of our very first shows, we went to the historical record to quote all the evangelical leaders who did everything possible to decry Bill Clinton after his sex scandal/impeachment. They ...

Oct. 16, 2020

Weekly Roundup: Constitutional Originalism and Biblical Literalism

Dan briefs us on the dueling presidential town halls before he and Brad explain the tenets of Constitutional Originalism, a legal philosophy Amy Coney Barrett claims to hold. They compare it to a separate, but related issue--...

Oct. 13, 2020

Sarah Levin, Co-Chair of the DNC Interfaith Council and Founder of Secular Strategies

Brad speaks with Sarah Levin, the Co-Chair of the DNC's Interfaith Committee and the Founder of Secular Strategies, a firm dedicated to mobilizing secular voters. They discuss the values that matter to non-religious voters an...

Oct. 9, 2020

Weekly Roundup: Pretty Fly for a White Guy

Some major announcements! We are now a proud partner of the Capps Center at UCSB! Capps is dedicated to ethics, religion, and public life in a way that matches up seamlessly with our approach on SWAJ. Check out their new seri...

Oct. 5, 2020

Trump's COVID Diagnosis, the ACB "Celebration of Life," and White Evangelical Racism with Prof. Anthea Butler

Brad speaks to Professor Anthea Butler, a captain in the Biden campaign's "Catholics for Biden" initiative, and chair of the Religious Studies department at the University of Pennsylvania. They discuss the details of Trump's ...

Oct. 5, 2020

Putin's Russia: City on a Hill -Orange Wave, Ep. 4

Brad explores the alliance between the alt-right and the Religious Right in and through Trump's presidency. In tracing this story, he uncovers how and why the Religious Right now looks to Putin's Russia, Orban's Hungary, and ...

Oct. 1, 2020

Weekly Roundup: Trump's Debate Coup and How the Office Warned us About 2020

On an abbreviated Weekly Roundup Brad discusses the first presidential debate, the media's inability to call out Trump's threats of violence and election delegitimization, the ways White Catholics and young Evangelicals might...

Sept. 29, 2020

America First vs. the American Dream

Sarah Churchwell is Professor of American Literature and Chair of Public Understanding of the Humanities at the School of Advanced Study, University of London. In her book, Behold, America ( Bloomsbury 2018 ) she explores the...

Sept. 25, 2020

Weekly Roundup: RBG. Amy Coney Barrett. Breonna Taylor. And, Respectable Evangelicalism?

Brad and Dan discuss four main stories on this week's roundup: 1. The passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg has led to Amy Coney Barrett as the frontrunner to replace her. Brad outlines the history and contours of the charismatic Ca...

Sept. 22, 2020

Christian Nazis, the Third Reich, and Our Current Political Moment

Brad speaks with historian Ricard Steigmann-Gall, author of the Holy Reich: Nazi Conceptions of Christianity 1919-1945 . They discuss how the Nazi party used a Christian social identity as a way to signal who the true and goo...

Sept. 18, 2020

Weekly Roundup: Patriotic Miseducation

Brad and Dan discuss a coterie of stories at the intersection of race, nation, and religion. First, they dissect the president's announcement of a new commission on "patriotic education" as a thoroughly Christian nationalist ...

Sept. 15, 2020

Purity Culture, National Security, and Racism

Brad speaks with Dr. Sara Moslener, author of Virgin Nation: Sexual Purity and American Adolescence from Oxford University Press. Dr. Moslener outlines the history of purity culture from the 19th century to the present, highl...

Sept. 11, 2020

Weekly Roundup: 9/11, COVID, and the Promises and Perils of Civil Religion

Brad and Dan begin by discussing how 9/11 is an event marked by acts of civil religion--ceremonies, rituals, and symbols that enable the nation to remember and mourn. Brad asks why we haven't had such things implemented to he...

Sept. 8, 2020

Racism at the Start: History of the Religious Right (re-issue)

During the first half of this episode Brad and Dan trace the racist and nationalistic origins of white evangelical politics. On the second half, Brad talks with Dartmouth scholar Randall Balmer, who is perhaps the world's lea...

Sept. 7, 2020

Sex Scandals, Christianity, and America

Brad interviews Dr. Leslie Dorrough Smith about her new book, Compromising Positions: Scandals, Politics, and American Christianity . She breaks down an important concept: Sex scandals are not about sex. They are about the st...

Sept. 5, 2020

Weekly Roundup September 4, 2020: Man. Woman. Losers. Suckers. Soldiers.

Dan confesses that 1st grade on Zoom is more intimidating than translating French philosophy or reading Hebrew. He and Brad then discuss the bombshell report on Trump calling soldiers losers, his defense of white nationalist ...

Sept. 4, 2020

The Orange Curtain: The Orange Wave-Ep 9

On the series finale, Brad reflects on his departure from Orange County and evangelicalism. This provides a jumping off point for reflecting on what we've learned through the series, and, perhaps most importantly, how Orange ...

Aug. 29, 2020

Fascism Draped in the Flag

Brad and Dan discuss the vagaries of the new semester and the apocalyptic challenges posed by Zoom and Outlook. They then dissect the events in Kenosha, WI during the last week--from the shooting of Jacob Blake, the vigilantism of Kyle Rittenhouse, and the various political and social responses. Fr…