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by Currents in Religion
Currents in Religion is a podcast from the Baylor University Religion Department and Baylor University Press. We host conversations with academics, writers, and artists that explore some of the most interesting currents in religious studies, with a focus on Christianity. On this podcast you'll hear discussions about theology, ethics, biblical studies (New Testament and Hebrew Bible/Old Testament), history, archaeology, and so on.
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- 1 weeks ago55 min
Justo L. Gonzalez: Missionary of Hispanic Theology in the United States: A Chat with Angel Vendrell
In today’s episode, Claire meets with Angel D. Santiago-Vendrell to talk about his book Justo L. Gonzalez: Missionary of Hispanic Theology in the United States. Two of celebrated Hispanic theologian Justo L. González’s major works, The Story of Christianity and A History of Christian Thought, continue to be used as primary textbooks in undergraduate and seminary programs throughout the United States. But few of his literary students and admirers know the details of his biography, in particular the significance of his contribution to the emergence of Hispanic theology in the United States during the past five decades.In this biography, Angel Santiago-Vendrell gives fresh attention to González’s role in a rapidly changing theological landscape. Born in Cuba in 1937 and profoundly shaped by the "revolutionary decade" of the 1950s, González studied theology at Yale, Basel, and Strasbourg, where he encountered George Lindbeck, Karl Barth, and Yves Congar. He became good friends with Martin Luther King, Jr., during the 1960s while teaching at the Evangelical Seminary in Puerto Rico. He later went on to serve at Candler School of Theology and then to take various denominational positions in the United Methodist Church. His work for the Fund for Theological Education led to the creation of the Hispanic Theological Initiative in 1998. Although González is best known as a prolific author, Santiago-Vendrell argues that his most enduring contribution to Western Christianity is as a pioneer in Hispanic theology.González’s story reveals new strategies for the advancement of Hispanic people, the largest ethnic/racial minority in the United States but with the lowest proportion of educated leaders, pastors, and professors. His example of perseverance in Christian vocation calls Hispanic believers to remember and reignite their witness. Santiago-Vendrell presents González’s life and work as embodying a missional passion rooted in the gospel of incarnation, of God’s work in history. This incarnational theology is the center of an unwavering commitment in González’s life to equip and unite Christians in their proclamation of the faith. This painstaking engagement with and for the church—Hispanic and otherwise—continues to bear much fruit.Dr. Angel D. Santiago-Vendrell is a professor ofworld Christianity and witness. He was born and raised in Puerto Rico and came to faith in Christ at the age of nineteen after hearing a sermon by Rev. Ludy González, a Puerto Rican female Pentecostal pastor. He served as a youth pastorand assistant pastor in Puerto Rico, and as senior pastor of Iglesia Metodista Unida San Andres in Jamaica Plains, MA, for three years. Before coming to Truett, from 2008 to 2010, he was an assistant professor of mission studies at Memphis Theological Seminary, and from 2010 to 2023, he served as the E. Stanley Jones associate professor of evangelism at Asbury Theological Seminary, Orlando Campus. Dr. Santiago-Vendrell is passionate about missionary historiography, especially biographical studies, and how those stories could shape current Christian practices that aretransforming and liberating. He also enjoys surfing, playing basketball, and building Star Wars Lego. He lives in the Waco area with his wife, Misoon Im, and their two sons.
- 2 weeks ago49 min
Apotropaic Theophany in the Gospel of John: A Discussion with Alicia Myers
In today’s episode, I am speaking to Alicia Myers about herarticle titled “Jesus’ Apotropaic Theophany: Guarding and Sanctifying Believers in John’s Gospel.” It speaks about how Jesus makes God’s presence available in his physical form. While Jesus’ physical protection is apotropaic, there is asuperior protection that comes after Jesus’ death and resurrection through the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit does the same work as that of Jesus and that of the Father through their divine unity. The divine unity is also in itself apotropaic because it protects believers from the evil one. They are protected and guarded for eternal life. Spirit-filled believers who love one another are God’s continued apotropaic presence in the world. Myers says that believers are “assuredof their place in God’s household and their participation in the divine unity regradless of their physical distance from Jesus himself.”Alicia Myers joined the Department of Religion in fall 2025after teaching at Campbell University (2014-2025) and United Theological Seminary (2011-2014). As a member of the Colloquium Ioanneum (John Colloquy), she is also a Research Fellow in the Department of Old and New Testaments atthe University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa. Her current projects include a book and a commentary on 1-3 John, a short volume on Hebrews, and a collection (co-edited with Catrin H. Williams) on the Johannine writings. She is married and has two sons as well as a large spotted dog whokeep her busy when she’s not writing or teaching.
- 3 weeks ago55 min
Reading the Bible on Turtle Island: A Chat with Chris Hoklotuube and Danny Zacharias
In today's episode, Claire meets with Chris Hoklotubbe and Danny Zacharias to discuss their book, Reading the Bible on Turtle Island, and North American Indigenous lenses for interpreting the Bible. In Reading the Bible on Turtle Island, Indigenous scholars Chris Hoklotubbe and Danny Zacharias explore what it means to read the Bible from the lens of Indigenous peoples in North America. Exploring the intersection of Scripture, Cultural Traditions, Hearts and Minds, and Creation, they affirm Creator's presence with Indigenous people since the beginning. By recovering these rich histories, this book offers a fresh reading of Scripture that celebrates the assets, blessings, and insights of Indigenous interpretation. Indigenous culture has often been dismissed or deemed problematic within Western Christian circles, and historical practices have often communicated that Indigenous worldviews have little to offer the church or its understanding of Scripture. Hoklotubbe and Zacharias challenge this perspective, reasserting the dignity of these cultures that were condemned through colonial practices and showing how Indigenous interpretations bring invaluable insights to all of God’s people. Join the dance of North American Indigenousinterpretations of Christian ScriptureDanny Zacharias grew up in Winnipeg (Treaty 1 territory),with his maternal ancestors (Cree/Anishinaabe) inhabiting the areas of Treaty 1 and Treaty 5 territory for many generations. After completing his Bachelor of Arts at Providence College, he and his wife Maria moved to Mi’kma’ki (Nova Scotia) to complete his Master of Divinity and Master of Arts (Theology) at Acadia Divinity College. While working part-time at ADC, Danny completed his PhD in New Testament studies through Highland Theological College (University of Aberdeen). During his time serving at ADC, Danny also completed the processof ordination with the Canadian Baptists of Atlantic Canada and serves regularly in his local church. Danny also carries administrative responsibilities as Associate Dean and Director of the Hayward Lectures. In addition to his role at ADC, Danny is a faculty member of NAIITS: An Indigenous Learning Community. More than any of these achievements, Danny is most proud to call Maria his wife, Lex, Jack, and Hudson his sons, and Ella-Rose his daughter.Christopher Hoklotubbe (ThD, Harvard) is a proud member ofthe Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. He is the director of graduate studies of NAIITS: An Indigenous Learning Community, the first accredited Indigenous designed, developed, delivered, and governed theological institute. He is also assistant professor of classics at Cornell College (Mount Vernon, Iowa). He is the author of Civilized Piety: The Rhetoric of Pietas in the Pastoral Epistles and the Roman Empire, which was awarded the Manfred Lautenschläger Award for Theological Promise. He and his wife, Stephanie, have two daughters and live near Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
- Aug 18, 20261h 1m
Ageing and Dying in a Broken World: A Discussion with Ashley Moyse
In today’s episode, Claire is speaking with Dr. Ashley Moyseabout his book Resourcing Hope for Ageing and Dying in a Broken World Wayfaring Through Despair which came out in 2024. For those captive to the broken world of late modernity,wherein ageing and dying persons become vulnerable to despair, this book offers a diagnostic of such despair. It also resources the practices of a realistic, humanising hope that might enable a strength for person to journey with and forothers, together, through such despair. Thus, by addressing the aetiology of despair experienced by people confronting ageing, frailty and dying, and drawing upon the writings of Gabriel Marcel, among others, Ashley Moyse reveals the problematic life of a broken world with its functionalising metaphors, instrumentalising reasoning and objectifying desires that offer no hope at all. It is a broken world where despair generates behaviours that anticipate harm or other, often tragic, outcomes that impede or greatly curtail or even completely inhibit human flourishing. Resisting despair, but living through it, Moyse presents the activity of the moral life, demonstrating a way persons might be resourced through an intersubjective and reflective pedagogy, with its habits or practices that enable a humanising hope, liberating human beings to become those readied to confront the actualities of human living and dying, and encouraged to grow and develop as 'wayfarers', hopefully.Dr. Ashley Moyse is a Canadian (born and raised in Estevan, Saskatchewan) whose scholarly work tends to be found at the intersections of theology, philosophy, and medicine/health care. At present, he is the Associate Professorof Bioethics in the Department of Religion at Baylor University. Dr. Moyse is concurrently a Research Fellow at Harris Manchester College, University of Oxford, a Research Associate at Vancouver School of Theology, and a Fellow withthe James M Houston Centre for Humanity & the Common Good at Regent College. Previously, he was the Assistant Professor of Medical Ethics and McDonald Scholar in the Center for Clinical Medical Ethics (directed by DrLydia Dugdale) at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons in NYC. At Columbia Dr. Moyse was the intellectual curator and director of the Columbia Character Cooperatives (medical students) and the co-director with Dr Beatriz Desanti de Oliveira of the Character and Clinical Ethics Pathway (internal medicine residents), which were both novel educational programming in ethics education and professional/ moral formation. He also had the privilege of serve as the McDonald Postdoctoral Fellow in Christian Ethics and Public Life with the McDonald Centre for Theology, Ethics and Public Life at the University of Oxford, where he was also a senior member of Christ Church College. Dr. Moyse was alsoappointed a humanities and healthcare fellow with a Wellcome Trust ISSF funded project, 'Advancing medical professionalism: integrating humanities teaching inthe University of Oxford's medical school'. In addition to these recent roles, his academic background includes training in theology, bioethics and health policy, and applied physiology.
- Aug 11, 202631 min
"Civilizing Mission" and French Catholic Missionary Francis Aupiais: A Chat with Briana Wong Smoak
In today's episode, Claire is joined by Dr. Briana Wong Smoak to discuss the “civilizing mission” associated with French Catholic missionary activity in West Africa through the often-obscured experiences of Indigenous midwives who worked within, alongside, and sometimes beyond the mission of Francis Aupiais. Briana Wong Smoak started at Baylor as a Lecturer in the World Religions area in August 2025, after having previously worked at Phillips Theological Seminary and Wake Forest University School of Divinity. She takes great delight in her role as a teacher, seeking to help students grow as they continue to discern their callings. Briana is passionate about the biblical mandate for justice and encourages her students to live into God’s heart for those on the margins. Briana’s academic work centers on Christianity in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and how Christians in the West might be able to learn more about following Jesus by listening to the voices of those from other parts of the world.
- May 15, 20261h 4m
What Grows in Wear Lands: A Discussion with Tish Harrison Warren
In today’s episode, Claire is joined by Tish Harrison Warrento discuss her brand new book, What Grows in Weary Lands: On Christian Resilience. Early Christians often grappled with a reality we rarely talk about in contemporary life: that God seems to abandon the soul at times, leaving us feeling as if we are alone and left to our own resources. These are times of futility, when work and relationships feel hard, when prayer feels unsatisfying, and we question whether our efforts are amounting to anything. For centuries, Warren notes, times of “aridity” were seen as necessary prerequisites for growth and maturity. Yet in our culture fixated on speed and optimization, we risk losing this deeper sense of the human journey and the resilience that comes with it.Writing for a moment when two-thirds of Americans are dissatisfied with their work, and a sense of languishing is widespread, Warren draws from both her own season of exhaustion and the rich well of Christian tradition— particularly that of the earliest Christian monks—to discover the habits and mindsets that anchor us in times of doubt, difficulty, and spiritual dryness. She offers hope to those who feel like life is overwhelming, taxing, and disorienting.What Grows in Weary Lands speaks to anyone longing for a life of depth in a distracted age. Warren helps us see that nothing is wasted—that even in desert seasons something good is growing, rooted in grace and reaching toward glory. Tish Harrison Warren is a writer and an Anglican priest. She is the author of several books, including Liturgy of the Ordinary, which won Christianity Today’s 2018 Book of the Year, and Prayer in the Night, which won ChristianityToday’s 2022 Book of the Year and the 2022 ECPA Christian Book of the Year. She formerly wrote a weekly newsletter for The New York Times, which focused on faith in public discourse and private life. She was also a columnist at Christianity Today. Her articles and essays have appeared in Comment Magazine, The Point Magazine, Religion News Service, and elsewhere. She currently serves as the C.S. Lewis Theological Writer-in-Residence for The Anglican Episcopal House of Studies at Baylor’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary. She is a senior fellow with the Trinity Forum and an assisting priest at Immanuel Anglican Church. She lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband and three children.
- May 6, 202640 min
A Study in How Migration Shapes Religion (Rerun)
Today, we are bringing you a rerun from our very first season. Dr. Chaves' research is a strong reminder of the migration experience and how it shapes religious life.In this episode, Dr. João Chaves discusses what he learned from years of research on Brazuca Baptist churches, that is, Brazilian American Baptist churches. These congregations reveal the way the experience of migration shapes theology and religious life and raise questions for what the landscape of religious life in America might look going forward. This research is the topic of João's 2021 book with Baylor University Press, Migrational Religion: Context and Creativity in the Latinx DiasporaJoão Chaves is Assistant Professor of Evangelism and Mission at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. He earned his PhD from Baylor University's Department of Religion in 2017. Follow João on Twitter, @JoaoB_Chaves.
- Apr 29, 202643 min
Theology, Ethics, and a Church in Conflict: A Conversation with Amy Carr and Christine Helmer (Rerun)
Enjoy this rerun from the Fall 2023 season! What an excellent episode.-------------------------Welcome to our Fall 2023 season! In this episode, Zen speaks with Amy Carr and Christine Helmer about their brand new Baylor University Press book Ordinary Faith in Polarized Times: Justification and the Pursuit of Justice. Amy Carr is Professor of Religious Studies at Western Illinois University.Christine Helmer is Peter B. Ritzma Professor of Humanities at Northwestern University.Here's some of the book's blurb:Christians in the United States and around the world are politically polarized today, unable to speak to one another across deep divisions regarding urgent social issues. Ordinary Faith in Polarized Times: Justification and the Pursuit of Justice addresses this dire reality by offering a theological framework for Christian justice-seeking. Amy Carr and Christine Helmer draw on Paul’s theology to center the idea of justification by faith in Christ as the primary ground of Christian belonging and community.This approach yields a theology of ordinary faith that resists the temptation to equate Christian identity with the performance of a heroic "here I stand" posture against moral and political positions felt to be inimical to a properly Christian life...Carr and Helmer articulate ways that justification by faith grounds Christian practices of affective listening and storytelling, even on the most contentious ethical questions today, with the hope that mutual conversation in and through the Beloved Community can get Christians who disagree oriented towards each other again for the good of the world.
About Currents in Religion
Currents in Religion is a podcast from the Baylor University Religion Department and Baylor University Press. We host conversations with academics, writers, and artists that explore some of the most interesting currents in religious studies, with a focus on Christianity. On this podcast you'll hear discussions about theology, ethics, biblical studies (New Testament and Hebrew Bible/Old Testament), history, archaeology, and so on.
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