Sandhya Rani Jha: Transforming Communities
gcr's Podcast
Today Carol and Derrick talk with Sandhya Rani Jha about transforming communities and how people like you are healing their neighborhoods. Sandhya Jha serves as founder and director of the , a collective of 40 organizations creating access, equity and dignity for all in Oakland and the Bay Area. Raised in an interracial and multi-faith family and witness to the sometimes subtle (and sometimes obvious) ways that racism and xenophobia show up in our society, it is not surprising that Sandhya’s career has been marked by work to effect public policy change (working in the...
info_outline
Melvin Bray: Better-Waking Up to Who We Could Be
gcr's Podcast
Melvin Bray is an Emmy® award-winning storyteller, writer, educator and social entrepreneur embedded with his wife and three kids in the West End neighborhood of Southwest Atlanta. He is an active member of several vanguard networks working to cultivate more sustainable approaches to faith and civic engagement. His book invites us to consider how we might change the world by telling better stories. Join Carol as she interviews Melvin to hear the stories he has to share.
info_outline
Meredith Gould: Desperately Seeking Spirituality
gcr's Podcast
Didn’t get everything you wanted for Christmas? How about this special GCR podcast with Meredith Gould? Join Derrick and Carol as they chat with Meredith about her book “” about spirituality through the lenses of sociology, theology, psychology, and social media. They also spend some time talking about the spiritual stressors of our current culture and recent political events. Learn more about Meredith at .
info_outline
Norman Wirzba: Way of Love
gcr's Podcast
Carol is joined by Norman Wirzba, Duke University professor of Theology and Ecology and author of “Way of Love: Recovering the Heart of Christianity.” The pioneering scholar and author of Food and Faith and Living the Sabbath asserts that Christianity has slid off its rightful foundation, arguing that the faith only makes sense and can only be expressed in a healthy way if it seen as based on love, with a mission of training others in the way of love. It’s often said that God is love, yet his message of compassion and caring for others is often overshadowed by the battles dividing...
info_outline
C Christopher Smith: Reading for the Common Good
gcr's Podcast
We have been created to live and work in community. But all too often we see ourselves primarily as individuals and run the risk of working at cross-purposes with the organizations we serve. Living faithfully in a neighborhood involves two interwoven threads: learning and action. In , C. Christopher Smith, coauthor of , looks at the local church as an organization in which both learning and action lie at the heart of its identity. He explores the practice of reading and, in his words, "how we can read together in ways that drive us deeper into action." Beyond this interview with Carol, you can...
info_outline
Ruth Everhart: Ruined
gcr's Podcast
info_outline
Bruce Reyes-Chow: Dont Be An Asshat
gcr's Podcast
info_outline
Teresa Pasquale Mateus: Sacred Wounds
gcr's Podcast
, LCSW, E-RYT 200 wears many hats including: author, trauma specialist, educator, trainer, yoga teacher, "crooked mystic," contemplative-actioner bringing mindfulness and healing into action and activist contexts, and a meditation & retreat facilitator. Teresa believes strongly in the potential in everyone to overcome hardship, be stronger than they ever thought possible, and the capacity for people to not just survive life but thrive in the process of living. In this episode, Derrick speaks with Teresa about her new book about healing from the spiritual traumas of our lives.
info_outline
Drew Hart: Changing the Way the Church Views Racism
gcr's Podcast
Derrick interviews Drew Hart on the church’s view of racism followed by Carol and Derrick reflecting together. Drew Hart is a writer, speaker, and PhD candidate in theology and ethics with ten years of pastoral ministry experience. Regularly speaking at churches, conferences, and colleges, Drew brings together his pastoral experience with his academic training to challenge the Church on a variety of topics. Most recently he has been especially invested in conversations on white supremacy and racism and Christianity, but also routinely speaks on Christian discipleship to Jesus,...
info_outline
Franklyn Schaefer: Defrocked
gcr's Podcast
Rev. Frank Schaefer is an ordained minister in the United Methodist Church where he ministered for 20 years (in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference) when, in 2013, he was tried by a highly publicized United Methodist church court for officiating at his son’s same-sex marriage. He was defrocked on December 19th, 2013 when he refused to uphold the Book of Discipline in its entirety, which would have meant to denounce gay marriage rights. With the stripping of his credentials, he lost his parish, career and security. Subsequently, Frank became a nation-wide speaker and activist. Though his...
info_outlineCarol is joined by Norman Wirzba, Duke University professor of Theology and Ecology and author of “Way of Love: Recovering the Heart of Christianity.” The pioneering scholar and author of Food and Faith and Living the Sabbath asserts that Christianity has slid off its rightful foundation, arguing that the faith only makes sense and can only be expressed in a healthy way if it seen as based on love, with a mission of training others in the way of love.
It’s often said that God is love, yet his message of compassion and caring for others is often overshadowed by the battles dividing us politically, culturally, and religiously. Why does Christianity matter if it isn’t about love?
The Way of Love invites readers to experience Christianity that is centered on love. Extensive theological training cannot replace the way of love that transforms and connects each of us to God and the faith, Wirzba contends. Interweaving illuminating testimonials, historical references, and Scripture, he reveals how love allows us to move into the fullness of life; when we do not love we lose our faith. “To fail to love,” he reminds us, “is to lose God.”