Affable Agnostics and Unhostile Atheists: A Conversation with Dr. Ross Lockhart about Christianity in Vancouver

This is Episode Seven of Season Three, featuring Dr. Ross Lockhart, who is Professor of Mission Studies at Vancouver School of Theology and Dean of St. Andrew’s Hall. Ross is also an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in Canada. His main areas of research are in Missiology and Homiletics. He is the author of numerous books, including Lessons from Laodicea: Missional Leadership in a Culture of Affluence; Beyond Snakes and Shamrocks: St. Patrick’s Missional Leadership Lessons for Today; co-author of Better Than Brunch: Missional Churches in Cascadia as well as Christianity: An Asian Religion in Vancouver and editor of Christian Witness in Cascadian Soil.  His newest book is West Coast Mission: The Changing Nature of Christianity in Vancouver and it formed the basis of our conversation.  We discuss what it means to be a Christian in Vancouver, a place where, honestly, there’s not a lot of hostility to Christianity, but maybe more a bit of disinterest or bemused curiosity for this minority religion.

Ross also gave us numerous excellent resources for understanding religion in post-Christendom Vancouver, which really, as Ross explains, was never a part of broader Christendom as in the rest of Canada. Ross mentioned the work of Lynn Marx, whose book Infidels and the Damn Churches Irreligion and Religion in Settler British Columbia examines the religious history of the Canadian European wild west. Tina Block continues that work in her book The Secular Northwest Religion and Irreligion in Everyday Postwar Life that "debunks the myth of a godless frontier, revealing a Pacific Northwest that was serious about its secularity, consciously rejecting the trappings of organized religion but not necessarily spirituality – and not necessarily God." He mentioned many other scholars, but I will highlight here the work of Paul Bramadat, also from Winnipeg, who among other writings co-edited Religion at the Edge: Nature, Spirituality, and Secularity in the Pacific Northwest, which examines religion in all of its varieties in Cascadia.

 And now some news on upcoming podcast episodes:

Coming up next is Dr. Christine Evans on Pop Culture Matters and the movie The Night of the Hunter, Fr. Ryan Duns on the theology of horror, Dr. Megan Fritts Cabrera, Dr. Ruben Rosario, Dr. Gerald Schlabach, and Dr. Tim Pawl.

Dr. Christine Evans and I have already recorded the next Pop Culture Matters episode, inspired by a recent viewing of The Night of the Hunter and and excellent lecture by Christine at VIFF. We discuss Robert Mitchum's creepy and dreadful film.

Follow us at our Instagram page, @stmarkscce, newly revived, and drop us a line as to what you want to see or hear. When we decide what’s next, we’ll let you know and then we can all make sure to watch it or listen to it or read it before the next episode of Pop Culture Matters. Or email us with your suggestions to [e-mail] or [e-mail].

Some upcoming events:

We are now setting the program for The Promise of Christian Education: Past, Present and Future,  MAY 1-3, 2025, at ST. MARK'S COLLEGE, VANCOUVER, CANADA. We will update the website soon with information on the program and where you can register for The Promise of Christian Education: Past, Present and Future, MAY 1-3, 2025, at ST. MARK'S COLLEGE, VANCOUVER, CANADA. Consider joining us in Vancouver in 2025 for the conference. The cost will be minimal to attend the concurrent sessions of the conference itself, around $50-60  and I think you will find it stimulating and challenging. It will be exciting. Details are coming soon.

Three Confirmed Plenary Speakers: 

Dr. Margaret MacDonald, St. Mary's University, Halifax

Dr. Samuel Rocha, University of British Columbia, Vancouver

Reverend Dr. Stan Chu Ilo, De Paul University, Chicago

On December 5, we will have Matt Hoven presenting in-person on his new book on Fr. David Bauer, Hockey Priest. Matt will be interviewed by Clay Imoo, Canuck Clay!  You can now register for the event on Eventbrite. 

The CCE website is now up and running. I am so excited that we now have one stop for all of our events, the podcast, our YouTube videos, and everything else, including upcoming events. Check it out as it continues to be updated by Fang Fang and Kevin on a regular basis!

What Matters Most is produced by the Centre for Christian Engagement at St Mark’s College, the Catholic college at UBC. The CCE is a centre at St. Mark’s College that explores the Christian and Catholic intellectual tradition and seek to learn from others, other Christians, members of other religious traditions, and from those who do not claim any particular or formal religious affiliation.

Thanks to Martin Strong, Kevin Eng, and Fang Fang Chandra for all of their help and support in crafting this and all the other episodes. I also want to thank our donors to the Centre, whose generosity enables this work to take place at all: Peter Bull, Angus Reid, and Andy Szocs. In addition, the Cullen Family, Mark and Barbara, continue to support the work and outreach of the CCE, particularly in our lecture series and support of our conferences, and now in their donation of money for the purchase of new podcast equipment. 

Since St. Mark’s Centre for Christian Engagement seeks to enable the creation of a culture of encounter and dialogue, let me invite you into that discussion. Send me questions, send me ideas for guests, send me comments. Please follow me on Twitter, Threads, or BlueSky @biblejunkies, or on Facebook, at Biblejunkies, or on Instagram @stmarkscce. Or email me or Ms. Fang Fang Chandra at [e-mail]. Let us know what you think.

If you are enjoying the podcast, please let people know by rating and reviewing What Matters Most on your favourite podcasting platform. It really does help people find these inspiring conversations!

John W. Martens

Director, Centre for Christian Engagement, St. Mark's College at UBC