by Ben Howard
This week on the show Ben, Sebastian and Jesse tackle the topic of
villains. What makes a villain? Why do we create villains? Do we need
villains to be able to understand ourselves? They'll talk about the
villainy of Fred Phelps, Stalin and Hitler, as well as whether Batman
would be a villain if he existed in real life. Also, Ben and Sebastian
will share about the Mark Driscoll sermon they watched and the whole
crew will share historically mundane moments in villainy.
You can download the podcast by clicking here.
Or you can subscribe to the podcast by searching "On Pop Theology" in
the iTunes music store. If you like the show, please rate and
review us on iTunes. It's the first step in our secret mission to take over the world.
Finally, if you'd like to stream the podcast, you can do that here:
Peace,
Ben
You can follow On Pop Theology on Twitter @OnPopTheology or like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/OnPopTheology. If you'd like to support what we do, you can donate via the button on the right of the screen.
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by Ben Howard
It's almost the end of the year and if I've learned anything from the internet it's that lists are the best-est thing in the whole wide world. With that in mind we wanted to take this time to highlight the best of what has been written and recorded here at On Pop Theology.
Since the beginning of the year we've published 158 essays from 24 different authors and produced 45 episodes of the On Pop Theology podcast. Some of these have been deeply philosophical, some deeply personal, and some have embraced an absurdism that borders on unhinged.
I cannot express how grateful I am to all those who've worked with us over the past year and to all of those who've taken the time to read and listen to the things we've worked to create. I especially want to thank podcast producer Brandon Schexnayder, my co-host Jesse Moon, and my other co-host, editor, and sounding board S
ebastian Faust for all the hard work they've done in putting together what you see here.
Now, to the lists!
Best Posts of the Year
1) Preying in the Name of God by Sebastian Faust
"And so I shall say to a system that preys on the poor, that trades on the trusts of the weak, ascribes goodness to greed, reckons faithfulness by a widow’s last farthings: Be scattered. Be broken. Be flung into the sea. And it shall be so. Now go. And do likewise."
3) What We Talk About When We Talk About Rob Bell by Ben Howard
"Rob Bell's new book will or will not sell. His television show will or will not be picked up. His words will or will not affect someone, and the conversation we're having here, the conversation about Rob Bell, about whether or not he matters or what he means, will not affect that. A conversation about Rob Bell's importance, or the importance of any person or movement, is really a conversation about the ways we've tied our meaning, our viability, to this conversation."
4) Silver Linings Playbook, Mental Illness, and the Church by Rachel Donegan
"My bipolar disorder won’t disappear anytime soon, because without a major medical breakthough, I’ll most likely have it until the day I die. My specific type is marked by rapid shifts in mood, ranging from hypomania, where I am boiling over with both exuberance and anger and will post twenty tweets in three hours, to severe depression, where I won’t want to talk to anyone and getting dressed is a marked achievement. There is no 'cured' per se, just 'stable.'"
5) The Disparate Worlds of Warring Minds: The Epistemology of a Government Shutdown by Ben Howard
"This isn’t a schism of ideology; its roots lie deeper – they are more entrenched, and less examined. In an epistemological divide, reconciliation can never have winning as its goal. The gap between the disparate worlds of warring minds can only be bridged through the authenticity and vulnerability of legitimate relationship. We must encounter the other, and though we find she is not the same as us, we must deign to see her as similar. We must humanize those we so often demonize."
6) Prayers to a Dark God by Sebastian Faust
"I’ve been thinking about that. So has Rilke. Somewhere around Ash Wednesday, our prayers, our meditations, comingled. Rilke began. I followed. We prayed to a different God than so many of the people round about us. We prayed to a dark God."
7) The Lie They Tell About Emma Watson and Me by Lyndsey Graves
"I've spent days and months of my life beating myself up for not being extroverted, ten pounds lighter, an early riser, more photogenic, more spiritually disciplined, concerned about strangers, or for not having a louder voice. And if I’m honest, in these areas of my life, if I can only accomplish the bare minimum, that’s me doing really well."
8) A Place in Sedona by JaneAnn Kenney
"We speak sometimes of the thin places, the places where heaven and earth meet, places where we hear echoes of eternity and feel the goodness of creation as though it had not fallen. Being in Sedona, I remember stories which are not my own—of my parents before I changed their lives in Alaska, if you can believe it, and of another people for whom places were important, marked with rocks to say “this is Beth-El”. In this place, my hopes for my life are peacefully swallowed up in my hopes for the future of humanity and the greater creation."
9) Rule Number 1: Your Faith Lies by Ben Howard
"Sometimes the things we whole-heartedly believe turn out to be wrong and that’s an incredibly difficult thing to admit. When our faith leads us astray, when our faith lies to us about the reality that actually exist, we look everywhere else for answers. We blame our parents, the church we grew up in, we blame God for not being the God we originally believed in. It’s hard to bear the tension that comes with a faith that can only ever be incomplete and fallible."
10) In Defense of Miley Cyrus: The Art of Wrecking Balls and Sledgehammers by Ben Howard
"This song, like any good pop song, is a construct, a product of the culture that creates it. And this particular song was birthed of a culture that is deeply confused by the relationship between physical and emotional intimacy. This is the art of our culture and it is good."
Best Episodes of the Year
1) Dick Cheney Sounds Like the Devil
Ben, Sebastian, and Jesse dig into the terrible, awful concept of hell, but in a fun way with jokes.
2) A Diverse Church For People Just Like You w/ Christena Cleveland
Ben and Jesse sit down with social psychologist and author Christena Cleveland to talk about issues of race and diversity in the church.
3) On Women in Ministry w/ Jen Thweatt-Bates
Ben talks with Jen Thweatt-Bates, theologian and moderator of Gal328.org, an organization working for gender equality in Churches of Christ.
4) The West Wing Musical Extravaganza
This episode is dedicated to the greatest political television show in history and, in particular, the greatest fictional president, Jed Bartlet.
5) On Modesty, Dating, and Being Single in the Church w/ Emily Maynard
Ben sits down with writer and blogger Emily Maynard to talk about modesty culture, "Christian" dating, and being a single twenty-something in the church.
Ben
Howard is an accidental iconoclast and generally curious individual
living in Nashville, Tennessee. He is also the editor-in-chief of On Pop
Theology and an avid fan of waving at strangers for no reason. You can
follow him on Twitter @BenHoward87.
You can follow On Pop Theology on Twitter @OnPopTheology or like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/OnPopTheology. If you'd like to support what we do, you can donate via the button on the right of the screen.
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by Ben Howard
Things have been a bit quiet here over the last few weeks. You may have noticed.
I thought it might be time to explain that, because that silence is about to come to an end.
Over the past few weeks I’ve been working behind the scenes with my friend and editor, Sebastian Faust, as well as a number of others, to re-imagine what exactly On Pop Theology will look like for the next month, for the next year, and what we hope to achieve going forward.
The blog will remain very similar. We have a wonderful team of regular contributors working with us. Some, like Charity Erickson, Lyndsey Graves, and JaneAnn Kenney, you’ve read here often. Others, like Lane Severson and Jared Byas, will be newer to you.
The podcast is where we’re really hoping to shake things up.
As always, there will still be interviews with people we find interesting and noteworthy. In fact, we would very much love to hear your suggestions on who you’d like to hear us interview. I can’t promise anything, but I’ve tried some bizarre things in an attempt to get a guest before. Aim high.
Also, our more avant-garde studio shows with Jesse Moon, Sebastian, and myself will still be a monthly feature. If you’ve listened to those episodes, you’ll know we’re game for pretty much anything.
More importantly, we’ll be bringing you two different types of podcasts this year.
In the first, we’ll be trying to explore difficult and complex societal issues. We want to learn about and talk about the hard things and we want to work with the people who understand those topics.
For the second, we’ll be focusing one episode a month on a particular book of the Bible. Our goal is to bring in some of the most knowledgeable Biblical scholars to lend us their expertise as we try and understand how to read the Bible responsibly, respectfully and justly.
Here’s the part where we need your help, and it’s two-fold.
First, we need your ideas. What do you want to read about? What do you want to learn about? What questions do you have? You can leave a comment here, contact us on Twitter at either @BenHoward87 or @OnPopTheology, or send us an email at onpoptheology@gmail.com.
Second, we’re asking you for money. While the podcast isn’t expensive to produce, it’s also not cheap. Our budget for the show this year is almost $400 which covers web hosting and equipment. If you like the show and can spare $5 or $10 to help us cover the costs, we would be deeply grateful.
We’ve added a "Donate" button to the sidebar on the right. Just click there and you can donate whatever amount you’d like via Paypal.
I’ve said before that On Pop Theology, both the blog and the podcast, is one of the most enjoyable things I’ve ever done. I love doing this. I love being creative, I love working with creative people, and I love being able to share that creativity with you.
You are all wonderful! Happy Thanksgiving!
Ben
Howard is an accidental iconoclast and generally curious individual
living in Nashville, Tennessee. He is also the editor-in-chief of On Pop
Theology and an avid fan of waving at strangers for no reason. You can
follow him on Twitter @BenHoward87.
You can follow On Pop Theology on Twitter @OnPopTheology or like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/OnPopTheology.
You might also like:
by Ben Howard
This week's episode is dedicated to the greatest political television
show in history and, in particular, the greatest fictional president,
Jed Bartlet. The show starts off with a conversation between Sebastian,
Jesse and Ben about the use of religion in The West Wing. We'll talk
about episodes heavy in religious topics, Bartlet's Catholic faith, and
how the show dealt with pain and loss. After that we'll talk about what a
Hypothetical Jed Bartlet would do to deal with current economic,
political and cultural issues. Finally, we'll bring you our first
podcast musical composition, "The Council of Extraordinary Men".
You can download the podcast by clicking here.
Or you can subscribe to the podcast by searching "On Pop Theology" in
the iTunes music store. If you like the show, please rate and
review us on iTunes. It's the first step in our secret mission to take over the world.
Finally, if you'd like to stream the podcast, you can do that here:
Peace,
Ben
You can follow On Pop Theology on Twitter @OnPopTheology or like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/OnPopTheology. If you'd like to support what we do, you can donate via the button on the right of the screen.
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by Ben Howard
Every week at On Pop Theology, we read a lot of blog posts to put
together our "Best of the Week" post. In the nine months that we've been
doing that we've learned a lot about blogging, writing, and the nature
of Christianity in our corner of the internet. We've also learned that
we don't drink nearly enough wine. So this week, Sebastian, Jesse, and I
decided to knock back a little vino as we reflect on the lessons we've
learned from reading Christian blogs all these weeks. We'll talk about
metaphorical tables, why our existential angst doesn't make us angry
enough, and how sometimes we don't understand some of the things the
nice people on the internet say. But mainly we'll get tipsy and tell you
how much we love you.
If you like the show, please rate and
review us on iTunes, that way even more people can listen to us babble about nonsense on the internet.
You can download the podcast by clicking here.
Or you can subscribe to the podcast by searching "On Pop Theology" in
the iTunes music store.
Also, remember to "Like" On Pop Theology on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @OnPopTheology for all the updates, posts, and links throughout the week.
Finally, if you'd like to stream the podcast, you can do that here:
Peace,
Ben
If you have any questions, comments, or if you just want to say hi, you can contact us at onpoptheology [at] gmail.com.
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by Ben Howard
This week Ben, Jesse and Sebastian talk about whether or not America is a
Christian nation. We'll discuss the assumptions we grew up with, the
conflation of American values with Christian values, and why believing
America is a Christian nation makes the Revolutionary War ironic. There
will also be references to The Giving Tree and Care Bears. Finally,
you'll join us as we quiz Christian college students in a game called
"Ben Franklin or The Bible".
If you like the show, please rate and
review us on iTunes. It's the first step in our secret mission to take over the world.
You can download the podcast by clicking here.
Or you can subscribe to the podcast by searching "On Pop Theology" in
the iTunes music store.
Also, remember to "Like" On Pop Theology on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @OnPopTheology for all the updates, posts, and links throughout the week.
Finally, if you'd like to stream the podcast, you can do that here:
Peace,
Ben
If you have any questions, comments, or if you just want to say hi, you can contact us at onpoptheology [at] gmail.com.
You might also like:
by Ben Howard
This week Ben, Sebastian, and Jesse dig into the terrible, awful concept
of hell, but in a fun way with jokes. They'll trace the development and
prominence of hell as it's been portrayed in pop culture, including the
representations that don't fit at all with historic Christian theology.
Then they'll play a rousing game of "Who The Hell Am I?" where they
must chose whether a quote was said by Don Draper, Dick Cheney or the
Devil himself. Finally, they'll tell you who they most want to meet when
their heretical nonsense sends them to hell. We hope you enjoy and
please forgive the terrible Jimmy Stewart impression.
If you like the show, please rate and
review us on iTunes. It's the first step in our secret mission to take over the world.
You can download the podcast by clicking here.
Or you can subscribe to the podcast by searching "On Pop Theology" in
the iTunes music store.
Also, remember to "Like" On Pop Theology on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @OnPopTheology for all the updates, posts, and links throughout the week.
Finally, if you'd like to stream the podcast, you can do that here:
Peace,
Ben
If you have any questions, comments, or if you just want to say hi, you can contact us at onpoptheology [at] gmail.com.
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by Ben Howard
Ben, Jesse and Sebastian sit down this week to talk about the weird and
wild world of online dating. During the conversation they tell their
stories and talk about the positives and negatives of online dating and
whether they think it's helpful in finding true love. After that
discussion, they'll play a new game called "Christian Fiction or
Harlequin Romance". Finally, join in the fun as Jesse and Sebastian make
Ben fill out a Christian Mingle profile. We've included the user name
and password in the podcast if you're curious to check out the site.
Have a listen, have a laugh, and enjoy the show!
You can download the podcast by clicking here.
Or you can subscribe to the podcast by searching "On Pop Theology" in
the iTunes music store. If you download the show through iTunes, please
be so kind as to rate and review us. We're on a quest to overtake Joel Osteen.
Also, remember to "Like" On Pop Theology on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @OnPopTheology for all the updates, posts, and links throughout the week.
Finally, if you'd like to stream the podcast, you can do that here:
Peace,
Ben
If you have any questions, comments, or if you just want to say hi, you can contact us at onpoptheology [at] gmail.com.
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by Ben Howard
On the day of the historic Supreme Court rulings which declared the
Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional and effectively invalidated
California's Proposition 8, Jesse, Sebastian and Ben sit down in the
studio to reflect on the meaning and importance of the day's events.
They pontificate on whether these rulings will be viewed as the tipping
point in the gay marriage conversation or if the importance of these
rulings is more symbol than substance. Eventually the conversation turns
to the recent apology from Exodus International President Alan Chambers
and the wider question of the churches response to homosexuality.
You can download the podcast by clicking here.
Or you can subscribe to the podcast by searching "On Pop Theology" in
the iTunes music store. If you download the show through iTunes, please
be so kind as to rate and review us. We want your feedback and it helps
the show to grow.
Also, remember to "Like" On Pop Theology on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @OnPopTheology for all the updates, posts, and links throughout the week.
Finally, if you'd like to stream the podcast, you can do that here:
Peace,
Ben
If you have any questions, comments, or if you just want to say hi, you can contact us at onpoptheology [at] gmail.com.
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by Ben Howard
Ben and Jesse embark on a wacky, meandering, and occasionally insightful
look into the world of pop music and how it relates to the church. Over
the course of the episode we'll talk about the fight between style and
content, the transition from innovative to hip to cliche, why we like
things that are subversive, and why Lutherans are like kale. Join in,
relax, and enjoy listening to our semi-narcissistic ramblings.
You can download the podcast by clicking here.
Or you can subscribe to the podcast by searching "On Pop Theology" in
the iTunes music store. If you download the show through iTunes, please
be so kind as to rate and review us. We want your feedback and it helps
the show to grow.
Also, remember to "Like" On Pop Theology on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @OnPopTheology for all the updates, posts, and links throughout the week.
Finally, if you'd like to stream the podcast, you can do that here:
Peace,
Ben
If you have any questions, comments, or if you just want to say hi, you can contact us at onpoptheology [at] gmail.com.
You might also like:
by Ben Howard
Ben and Jesse sit down with social psychologist and author Christena
Cleveland to talk about issues of race and diversity in the church. Dr.
Cleveland talks to us about the value and importance of multicultural
churches as well as some of the pitfalls and hurdles facing churches
that want to become more diverse. We also discuss the importance of
diverse leadership, the role of those in the church with privilege, and
why multicultural churches may be more effective, but less efficient
than segregated churches. Join us for a fascinating conversation about a
number of issues that are too often overlooked in most conversations
about the church.
You can find more information about Christena on her blog, follow her on Twitter @CSCleve and watch for her new book Disunity in Christ when it comes out November 4th.
You can download the podcast by clicking here.
Or you can subscribe to the podcast by searching "On Pop Theology" in
the iTunes music store. If you download the show through iTunes, please
be so kind as to rate and review us. We want your feedback and it helps
the show to grow.
Also, remember to "Like" On Pop Theology on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @OnPopTheology for all the updates, posts, and links throughout the week.
Finally, if you'd like to stream the podcast, you can do that here:
You can download the podcast by clicking here.
Or you can subscribe to the podcast by searching "On Pop Theology" in
the iTunes music store. If you download the show through iTunes, please
be so kind as to rate and review us. We want your feedback and it helps
the show to grow.
Also, remember to "Like" On Pop Theology on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @OnPopTheology for all the updates, posts, and links throughout the week.
Finally, if you'd like to stream the podcast, you can do that here:
Peace,
Ben
If you have any questions, comments, or if you just want to say hi, you can contact us at onpoptheology [at] gmail.com.
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