Episode 114 - Greenbelt Festival 2025 review
Beer Christianity podcast
We bloody love Greenbelt. We have for years. The UK’s best Christian festival is also its best arts festival and justice festival, a place where belief, creativity and working for a better world coalesce in a series of talks, spiritual happenings and cool music, theatre, comedy and craft. And at the 2025 festival, we made our on-stage debut! In this episode, Laura, Malky and Jonty their Greenbelt 2025 highlights, as well as the they led in the Hope & Anchor venue. If you were at the sessions, this is your chance to hear what the gang thought about them. If you weren’t, it’s a...
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Episode 113: Sim Kern, author of Genocide Bad - Jewishness and antizionism
Beer Christianity podcast
Sim Kern is an author and social media creator who sprang to prominence at the beginning of Israel's latest war on the people of Gaza. As they have spoken out, from a Jewish perspective, against zionist justifications for Israel's violence, they have articulated what many within and outside Jewish communities feel about Israel and Zionism. As a result of their TikToks, they were invited by America's only Palestinian-owned publisher, , to get some of those helpful thoughts onto paper. The result is Genocide Bad, a book that was denounced by some Israeli pundits before it had been published,...
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Episode 112: The uncontrolling God - Simon Cross and Thomas Oord
Beer Christianity podcast
What if God wasn’t all-powerful? What if you already held a theology that the mainstream Church saw as heretical? What are Process Theology and Open and Relational Theology? Simon Cross and Thomas Oord join us for this episode to talk about a theology that, in a sense, rejects the images of God that don’t make sense in the light of God’s goodness. One part of that is seeing God as emotional, and not all-powerful. Jonty and Laura talk to them about their ideas about God, about dealing with people with abhorrent ideas and about the conference Simon and Thomas are contributing to in...
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Episode 111 - Dan McClellan - the Bible, TikTok and right-wing identity politics
Beer Christianity podcast
Dan McClellan is a different kind of biblical scholar. He has a cult following on TikTok, regularly engages with conspiracy and misinformation content to debunk it, and isn't afraid to speak about politics. Many of us have come to welcome Dan's "alright, let's see it" on stitches of lurid and ridiculous pseudo-religion online, and along the way, we've learned a lot about what the Bible is and isn't. Dan's takes are challenging not just to right-wing conspiracy theorists, but to many traditional Christian assumptions. What's nice is that he recognises that, and that he has no particular...
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Episode 110 - Naomi Nixon of the Student Christian Movement
Beer Christianity podcast
What can good church look like? What is 'success' if you're a progressive Christian? Do Christians who aren't conservative have to give up on things like evangelism and outreach? After a little break, we are delighted to welcome Naomi Nixon, CEO of the Student Christian Movement, which seeks to offer an affirming, progressive space that encourages Christians to put their faith into action. We talk about all these questions and more! We loved this episode because Naomi is just great, but also because it's cool to meet progressives who have nice things to say about conservatives. Listen...
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Episode 109- The true meaning of Christmas - Yuletide, Luigi and our new magazine: S(h)ibboleth
Beer Christianity podcast
What is the true meaning of Christmas? Is there such a thing? What is the Luigi Mangione situation all about? Do we buy the billionaire and media narrative that he (or whoever The Adjuster is) should not be lionized? And more importantly than any of that: why did we create S(h)ibboleth magazine, and what can readers expect from it? A lot of bloody questions being asked by your chaotic friends at Beer Christianity. You may or may not like our answers. But you will hear more interesting takes than almost anywhere else in Christian media. And that ain't nothing. Tune into this episode for...
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Episode 108 - Tony Campolo: remembering the man with archive interview
Beer Christianity podcast
Tony Campolo, the Baptist preacher, sociologist, Red Letter Christian and ceaseless campaigner for a Christian vision of social justice, has died. In this episode, we pay tribute to Tony in the best way we know how: by letting him speak for himself. Eventually. First, we talk about our own memories of him, and his influence on our theology. But once we've done making it about us, we share an interview with Tony from the vaults. In 2012, Tony Campolo was concerned about many of the things that are now even more pressing and horrifying. The interview feels prophetic in multiple understandings...
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Episode 107 - Religion and the Right: Helen Paynter on the Bible and fighting fascism
Beer Christianity podcast
The Far Right is on the rise. And, increasingly, fascists and proto-fascists are using Christian language and imagery to justify their position. What should a Christian response be? Can we really say that our faith is being 'hijacked' by racists and bigots, or is there deeper acknowledgement and repentance to be done in the service of justice? And if fascists are the enemy, what do wee do with the command to love them? The brilliant Revd Dr Helen Paynter, theologian, Executive Director of the Centre for the Study of Bible and Violence, and Beer Christianity's most regular guest, talks...
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Episode 106: Brian McLaren - hope in uncertain futures - plus S(h)ibboleth announcement
Beer Christianity podcast
Brian McLaren is one of the most important and influential voices in the Christian deconstruction movement. He's also one hell of a nice guy. Brian's influence on the post-evangelical Church is hard to overstate, and yet he remains humble and approachable as ever. We caught up with him at Greenbelt festival in August 2024 and talked to him about deconstruction, US election harm reduction and that appalling Musk-Trump interview. We also asked him about hope and the future. It's a great chat. Brian McLaren's latest book, right now. S(h)pecial announcement: S(h)ibboleth magazine...
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Episode 105 - SHORT - October 8th and everything after - with Christians for Palestine
Beer Christianity podcast
One year on from the attacks of October 7th 2023, and from the disproportionate Israeli campaign of violence that followed, it is more important than ever for Christians and all people who care about human rights and political justice to stand up and speak out against genocide, occupation and collective punishment. That's why people like are such an essential witness. We caught up with them on the most recent march in solidarity with Palestine. Follow on Instagram now.
info_outlineSteve Tinning is a Baptist Minister, a Public Issues Enabler for the Baptist Union of Great Britain and one of the team that makes Beer and Hymns happen at Greenbelt festival.
Steve is a lovely chap and talks to us about his secondment to JPIT (the Joint Public Issues Team of the Baptist, URC and Methodist churches), issues of asylum and refugee response, and about different responses to Ukrainian and other groups of refugees.
But we also got him on the show to talk about one of our favourite things: Beer and Hymns. Steve tells us a little about the origins and spread of the idea, how he came to be involved and the deep, thorough and extensive philosophy behind it.
He also has ideas abouthow you can run a Beer and Hymns (or Beer and Carols) in a pub near you!
Also, given that Israel, at time of recording, was still bombing the trapped and overwhelmingly civilian population of Gaza, we also talked about Palestine and standing with Palestinians. Steve Tinning denounces Hamas, you'll be pleased to know.
This episode runs a little long because Jonty and Steve argued a little, and also because we wanted to include some clips of Beer and Hymns in the wild. Included are audio tracks from Greenbelt 2023 , Greenbelt 2013 (featuring Dave Ball) and from the White House pub in Oxford, hosting St Aldates' Beer and Hymns (a more sedate and civilised affair than the Jesus Arms version) a few weeks ago.
New to Beer Christianity? Welcome!
Beer Christianity is an anti-capitalist, pro-BLM, pro-LGBTQ+, post-post-post-evangelical (and apparently republican) podcast where we drink a bit and talk a lot. Our aim is to be real, to be helpful and entertaining.
Follow Beer Christianity on Twitter: @beerxianity and find us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube and Stitcher.
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There's a connected Show With Music on Spotify called New Old Music. Check it out if you like eclectic music and weird chat. It's not terribly serious.
Jonty's novel, Incredulous Moshoeshoe and the Lightning Bird, is not available in all good bookshops, but if you bought it and left a review that would probably make that more likely.
We don't really want to preach at you, but some people like to know what we believe. It's this: Jesus Christ is the Son of God and came to teach us a better way to be while reconciling us to God and each other in a way we could never do without Him. He also changed water into wine. Nice.