STRONGWILLED: Recent Episodes
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DL and Krispin Mayfield host conversations about the personal and political impacts of Religious Authoritarian Parenting.
Spoilers in the episode! DL and Krispin talk about S1 E5 titled “Category 55 Emergency Doomsday Crisis.” We talk about unjust systems that we call good, how groundbreaking Hamilton was when this episode aired, and more! We use the audio from The Good Place Podcast. Here’s the first episode of the series where we talk about the Adventures in Odyssey episodes with Marc Evan Jackson. Wanna hear more about fascism? Check out DL’s substack. Also, here’s a link to The Food Place. Leave us a voicemail at (503) 912-4130 or send a voice memo to propheticimaginationstation@gmaill.com. You can Join our patreon comamunity to support this podcast and gain access to two extra episodes each month, our facebook community, as well as the backlog of patreon-only episodes covering evangelical media, spiritual abuse, and more. You can follow The Bad Place Podcast on Twitter and Instagram. You can follow Krispin on Instagram here and Danielle on Instagram here. Head to our website for transcripts of the episodes.
DL and Krispin talk about S1 E4 titled “Jason Mendoza.” We talk about self-acceptance, shame, and systems that create hierarchies of who is considered good and bad. And we laugh a lot because of Jason Mendoza. We use the audio from The Good Place Podcast. Krispin mentions Best in Miniature (which unfortunately you only watch in Canada, or with a VPN) Leave us a voicemail at (503) 912-4130 or send a voice memo to propheticimaginationstation@gmaill.com. You can Join our patreon comamunity to support this podcast and gain access to two extra episodes each month, our facebook community, as well as the backlog of patreon-only episodes covering evangelical media, spiritual abuse, and more. You can follow The Bad Place Podcast on Twitter and Instagram. You can follow Krispin on Instagram here and Danielle on Instagram here. Head to our website for transcripts of the episodes.
DL and Krispin talk about S1 E3 titled "Tahani Al Jamil." We talk about what makes a person good, directional insanity and what could be done with 60 billion dollars. Leave us a voicemail at (503) 912-4130 or send a voice memo to propheticimaginationstation@gmaill.com. You can Join our patreon comamunity to support this podcast and gain access to two extra episodes each month, our facebook community, as well as the backlog of patreon-only episodes covering evangelical media, spiritual abuse, and more. You can follow The Bad Place Podcast on Twitter and Instagram. You can follow Krispin on Instagram here and Danielle on Instagram here. Head to our website for transcripts of the episodes.
Is flying the most selfish super power? And can people change? This episode, DL and Krispin talk about S1E2 (“Flying”) of the Good Place and the philosophical questions that come with it! DL mentions Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater. Leave us a voicemail at (503) 912-4130 or send a voice memo to propheticimaginationstation@gmaill.com. You can Join our patreon comamunity to support this podcast and gain access to two extra episodes each month, our facebook community, as well as the backlog of patreon-only episodes covering evangelical media, spiritual abuse, and more. You can follow The Bad Place Podcast on Twitter and Instagram. You can follow Krispin on Instagram here and Danielle on Instagram here. Head to our website for transcripts of the episodes.
This is the FIRST EPISODE of our recap of the Good Place Podcast. We’re talking about Episode 1 of Season 1. We’re talking about ethical conundrums, anxiety about the afterlife, religious trauma, and whether Ted Danson’s character is some form of Billy Graham. DL mentions The Good Place: the Podcast. They also mention How to Be Perfect by Michael Schur. Kesha’s song is actually just called Sleazy. You can Join our patreon comamunity to support this podcast and gain access to two extra episodes each month, our facebook community, as well as the backlog of patreon-only episodes covering evangelical media, spiritual abuse, and more. You can follow The Bad Place Podcast on Twitter and Instagram. You can follow Krispin on Instagram here and Danielle on Instagram here. Head to our website for transcripts of the episodes.
TW: religious abuse, sexual abuse, family cover-up of abuse, psychological abuse, retaliation for abuse allegations. Most of this episode discusses sexual abuse and child pornography. There's a short section 13:55-22:55 that discusses the plan for Christian homeschoolers to go to Washington and republican politics, and also current youtube Christina influencers. Then, 39:40-end is free of triggers around sexual abuse, and discusses the hope of survivors of IBLP. The episode talks about how the Duggar family and friends respond to Josh Duggar's charges of child pornography and his previous allegations of sexual abuse. There's also discussion of abuse charges and also legal retaliation. There's a short portion about how conservative Christians are trying to hold cultural power through politics and social media. We also talk a bit about the survivors of IBLP and how they've been healing and recovering from trauma. This is the last of a four episode series called Too Many Cults, where Krispin and Lindsay Strannigan (from The Holy Ghosting Podcast, and DL’s sister) recap the docuseries Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets on Amazon Prime. Join our patreon community to support this podcast. You can find us on Twitter and Instagram.
TW: religious abuse, sexual abuse, family cover-up of abuse, psychological abuse, harsh punishment of children), controlling parenting, grooming and sexual abuse. Here's a breakdown of the episode and the topics: 0:00 Introduction, brief non-specific mention on Josh's child pornography charges. 2:00 Discussion of free labor in evangelical spaces 23:00 Discussion of sexual abuse from Gothard and sexual abuse within the IBLP. This is the third of a four episode series called Too Many Cults, where Krispin and Lindsay Strannigan (from The Holy Ghosting Podcast, and DL’s sister) recap the docuseries Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets on Amazon Prime. This episode we talk about how both IBLP and Jim Bob Duggar hold onto money while those with less power do unpaid work. We also talk about how Gothard created an environment in the IBLP that encouraged abuse to exist with impunity. Krispin shares a bit of the parallels he saw in his own evangelical community in response to his disclosure of sexual abuse by a family membr. Join our patreon community to support this podcast. You can find us on Twitter and Instagram.
TW: religious abuse, sexual abuse, family cover-up of abuse, emotional neglect, psychological abuse, physical abuse (and violent punishment of children), intimate partner abuse Here's a breakdown of the episode and the topics: 0:00 Introduction, overview of episode, discussion of why traumatized people can be drawn to fundamentalism 9:45 homeschooling 22:10 subjugation of women; abuse of girls & women, purity culture, gender roles 30:00 child abuse; discipline of children 47:30 sexual abuse This is the second of a four episode series called Too Many Cults, where Krispin and Lindsay Strannigan (from The Holy Ghosting Podcast, and DL’s sister) recap the docuseries Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets on Amazon Prime. This episode we talk about how Bill Gothard’s teachings about women's gender roles and parenting creating environments where abuse could occur with impunity. Join our patreon community to support this podcast. You can find us on Twitter and Instagram.
We talked to Jessie McLaughlin about “So Help Me God.” She shares with us about her experience of growing up Christian, the inner turmoil of taking it very seriously, and how she’s been healing from religious trauma through therapy. We love Jessie’s twitter feed where she talks about recovering from evangelicalism, hilarious day-to-day things, and you can see her design work on her instagram.She sings on her husband's record, and our favorite song is Where We’re Going. (The album is Man Overboard by James and the Shame by Rhett McLaughlin, one half of the Good Mythical Morning YouTube). You can hear more about Jessie and Rhett's story of going on staff at Campus Crusade (Cru) and the process of leaving, as Rhett tells is here.We have a website—check it out for more information. You can also find us on Twitter and Instagram.To support our show (we can’t do this without you!), join us on Patreon! You’ll get access to our monthly patron-only episodes (including the entire backlog), as well as occasional zoom hangouts. You can join this community for as little as $1.50 a month!
We took some time to talk about the recent shooting in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Focus on the Family, which is located there. We started this podcast analyzing their kid’s radio show Adventures in Odyssey, and covered a whole series that was specifically anti-LGBTQIA+ back in 2019 - the first episode of our season titled “Beginning to Untie the Ties That Bind.” We mention Grace Baldridge’s documentary where they interview Jackie Hill Perry. Also, check out their music in spotify! We also mention the Behind the Bastard’s podcast about James Dobson. Jenna DeWitt has a website of resources for LGBTQIA+ Christians and allies called Invisible Cake Society We have a website—check it out for more information. You can also find us on Twitter and Instagram. To support our show (we can’t do this without you!), join us on Patreon! You’ll get access to our monthly patron-only episodes (including the entire backlog), as well as occasional zoom hangouts. You can join this community for as little as $1.50 a month!
Krispin interviews DL about starting out to as a Jesus Freak to wanting to be just like Dorothy Day to wanting to be herself. We talk about the perfectionism of growing up evangelical, and how that pressure can continue, even if you move on from the conservative framework you were raised with. Make sure to check out DL's book Unruly Saint about Dorothy Day and how she started the Catholic Worker. And here's a little article about the ferry in New York named after her. Our most recent patreon-only episode, we discussed 2004's The Village and talked about cults (and whether white evangelicalism is a cult). We have a website—check it out for more information. You can also find us on Twitter and Instagram. To support our show (we can’t do this without you!), join us on Patreon! You’ll get access to our monthly patron-only episodes (including the entire backlog), as well as occasional zoom hangouts. You can join this community for as little as $1.50 a month!
Season nine of Prophetic Imagination Station is here!! Before listening, go ahead and check out the music video for Jesus Freak. We’re diving into the iconic album Jesus Freak by DC Talk, track by track. In this introductory episode, Krispin and DL talk about the title track, examining the lyrics and context behind the song Jesus Freak. We have a website—check it out for more information. You can also find us on Twitter and Instagram. To support our show (we can’t do this without you!), join us on Patreon! You’ll get access to our monthly patron-only episodes (including the entire backlog), as well as occasional zoom hangouts. You can join this community for as little as $1.50 a month!
Join us for the final episode of season 8! Krispin and Danielle talk about the classic purity culture read, I Kissed Dating Goodbye. Krispin mentions Emotionally Focused Therapy—find more about that here. We have a website—check it out for more information. You can also find us on Twitter and Instagram. To support our show (we can’t do this without you!), join us on Patreon! You’ll get access to our monthly patron-only episodes (including the entire backlog), as well as occasional zoom hangouts. And potentially, Krispin will share his online magazine writings. You can join this community for as little as $1.50 a month! Cover art by Zech Bard.
D.L. has a delightful conversation with Erin Moon about the very first Christian YA series, written by Robin Jones Gunn and published by Focus on the Family—the Christy Miller series. Beyond fun reminiscing and sharing personal experiences, we also uncover the not-so-subtle ulterior motives behind the popular novels (spoiler alert: it’s serving the patriarchy). You can find Erin Moon on the socials @erinhmoon, on substack, and on her podcast, The Bible Binge. We have a website—check it out for more information. You can also find us on Twitter and Instagram. To support our show (we can’t do this without you!), join us on Patreon! You’ll get access to our monthly patron-only episodes (including the entire backlog), as well as occasional zoom hangouts. You can join this community for as little as $1.50 a month! Cover art by Zech Bard.
TW: sexual assault, rape, abuse D.L. once again revisits Redeeming Love with Dr. Alexiana Fry. We get more into the weeds of some of the problematic and traumatic elements in the novel itself, as well as Hosea, Judges, and the Bible in general. Trigger warning for violence, rape, and abuse. Dr. Alexiana Fry (find her on Twitter) is an Old Testament scholar and professor of biblical studies, with a focus on trauma, feminism, and migration. Dr. Fry references Nancy Nam Hoon Tan’s work from her book Resisting Rape Culture. Dr. Julia O’Brien’s work is also mentioned—check out her book Challenging Prophetic Metaphor. You can find more information about our Faith and Justice Network cohort here! We’d love to have you join us this fall to untangle white evangelism together. We have a website—check it out for more information. You can also find us on Twitter and Instagram. To support our show (we can’t do this without you!), join us on Patreon! You’ll get access to our monthly patron-only episodes (including the entire backlog), as well as occasional zoom hangouts. You can join this community for as little as $1.50 a month! Cover art by Zech Bard.
D.L. chats with Jenna DeWitt about Captivating, the highly-influential prescriptive romance guide for young Christian women in the early 2000s. We tackle the harmful biases around gender roles and romance from an asexual and aromantic perspective. Jenna DeWitt (follow her on Twitter!) is an editor and queer activist, focusing on educating people and providing resources on asexual and aromantic identities. Check out her blog for more info! Also, as mentioned in the episode, here is the Spotify playlist curated by Jenna, Rainbow Faith. You can find more information about our Faith and Justice Network cohort here! We’d love to have you join us this fall to untangle white evangelism together. We have a website—check it out for more information. You can also find us on Twitter and Instagram. To support our show (we can’t do this without you!), join us on Patreon! You’ll get access to our monthly patron-only episodes (including the entire backlog), as well as occasional zoom hangouts. You can join this community for as little as $1.50 a month! Cover art by Zech Bard.
D.L. chats with Devi Abraham about the wildly popular novel (and now movie) Redeeming Love. We delve into some of the troubling elements of the story, discuss why it holds such an appeal for evangelical women, and touch on some related aspects of purity culture (Devi’s speciality!) as well. Devi Abraham is a writer and co-host of the podcast Where Do We Go from Here?, tackling sex and purity culture. Follow her on twitter @devi_writes and check out her website. You can find more information about our Faith and Justice Network cohort here! We’d love to have you join us this fall to untangle white evangelism together. We have a website—check it out for more information. You can also find us on Twitter and Instagram. To support our show (we can’t do this without you!), join us on Patreon! You’ll get access to our monthly patron-only episodes (including the entire backlog), as well as occasional zoom hangouts. You can join this community for as little as $1.50 a month! Cover art by Zech Bard.
D.L. chats with Valerie Weaver-Zercher about all things Amish Christian fiction! We explore the unique, multi-faceted world of Amish romance, how it ties into the larger evangelical world in general, why it’s so dominated by whiteness, and why it remains such a popular genre among evangelical women today. Valerie Weaver-Zercher is a writer and editor with Broadleaf Books (where D.L. is also an author). Check out her website and her book, which we discuss in this episode, Thrill of the Chaste. We have a website—check it out for more information. You can also find us on Twitter and Instagram. To support our show (we can’t do this without you!), join us on Patreon! You’ll get access to our monthly patron-only episodes (including the entire backlog), as well as occasional zoom hangouts. You can join this community for as little as $1.50 a month! Cover art by Zech Bard.
D.L. interviews Daniel Silliman about the Christian romance novel that started it all—Love Comes Softly. We talk about Oke’s Canadian background and how that plays into her writing, as well as the impact her books have had on Christian women and the Christian romance genre as a whole. Daniel is a news editor for Christianity Today and author of Reading Evangelicals. You can follow him on Twitter @danielsilliman Here is an interview with Janette Oke This article on Active History explores how Janette Oke romanticizes the Mounties You can check out this detailed report from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on their role in the Indian residential school system “I was born on the Canadian prairie. I was actually born at home. This sounds really like old, old west. I was born in a little log house. The doctor came out to our place to deliver me. So it sounds really, really old fashioned. I went to a one room country school. So a lot of what I write, it’s very much a part of my background–as a teenager, and even younger than that, I was very into the west and the pioneer days. So I read everything I could find on the pioneers. I felt they were a very hearty group of people with a lot of bravery to come out and start making a life on a new frontier. Our Canadian west opened up quite a bit different than the stories that I was reading, which were basically westerns from the U.S. side of the border, in that we had the Northwest Mounted Police—they were at that time—and basically precede the settlers.” “We never had the cowboy and Indian skirmishes and the unsettled west for them to come in. We never had sheriffs in Canada. We have had what is now the RCMP, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and so our pioneers came out to a rather settled area as far as the laws were concerned and oftentimes there were groups of people that sort of came together from a united background, and if you look at our small town around our area and find the oldest church you can pretty well say, ‘Well, that group of settlers came from Germany’, ‘That group of settlers came from Sweden’, you know. By the oldest church there you can pretty well identify it, so these people came west with deep, personal faith. That changed the whole color of how our west was settled.” We have a website—check it out for more information. You can also find us on Twitter and Instagram. To support our show (we can’t do this without you!), join us on Patreon! You’ll get access to our monthly patron-only episodes (including the entire backlog), as well as occasional zoom hangouts. You can join this community for as little as $1.50 a month! Cover art by Zech Bard.
Since Krispin's laptop was being repaired all last week, we won't have a new Christian romance episode up until next week - BUT here's a little clip from a recent patroon-only episode. You can become a patreon supporter of the podcast for as little as $1.50 a month. ALSO - this Saturday, May 15th, our patreon community is going to watch The Jesus Music together - and have a group chat along at the same time. Become a supporter & get details on how to watch along!
Danielle interviews Sharifa Stevens about the book of Esther, and the Bible stories that have been romanticized - and shouldn’t have been. Follow Sharifa on Twitter or Instagram! Also, subscribe to her substack! Check out her chapter in Vindicating the Vixens Did you grow up reading Christian Romance books? Why not try recapping one (under a minute is great) for us and making it onto the podcast! Simply call in to our voicemail line at (612) 656-9562 or record a voice memo and email it to us at propheticimaginationstation@gmail.com. For more information on our podcast, check out our website. You can also find us on Twitter and on Instragram. To support our show (we can’t do this without you!) join us at Patreon! We do monthly episodes for patrons-only and occasionally do a fun zoom hangout. You can join this community and get access to the backlog of patron-only podcasts for as little as $1.50 a month!
Danielle tells Krispin about why Christian romance has flown under the radar - and needs some attention! Did you grow up reading Christian Romance books? Why not try recapping one (under a minute is great) for us and making it onto the podcast! Simply call in to our voicemail line at (612) 656-9562 or record a voice memo and email it to us at propheticimaginationstation@gmail.com. Statistics on Romance Readers found here. Bell Hooks on romance books for the Washington Post. From Reddit (on a thread about Bell Hooks): “Romance as a genre is a safe haven for so many of us. We come here to know what it is to love deeply and be loved in return. For marginalized people especially having a place to land, this inclusive affirming space is more important than ever. Romance writers have been pushing boundaries for a long time, fighting for a space to tell our stories where women are sexual, Black love is cherished, queerness celebrated, where disabled people are beautiful, and the working class get HEAs [Happily Ever Afters]” Books and authors to be explored later on in this series: Janette Oke Francine Rivers Christy Miller Series Bodie Theone Amish Romance And more! For more information on our podcast, check out our website. You can also find us on Twitter and on Instragram. To support our show (we can’t do this without you!) join us at Patreon! We do monthly episodes for patrons-only and occasionally do a fun zoom hangout. You can join this community and get access to the backlog of patron-only podcasts for as little as $1.50 a month! Cover Art by Zech Bard
We decided for Krispin's book release day to drop an episode, and we're talking about feelings & faith. We listened to & discussed this episode about feelings, faith, evangelism, Jesus bracelets, worrying about salvation, and marriage. To pair with this episode, we are releasing a patreon-only episode where we talk about the attachment styles of Whit, Connie, Eugene, Tom and others!
Krispin and Danielle compare the film adaptation of Redeeming Love. Trigger warnings: sexual assault, childhood sexual abuse, domestic violence and panic attacks/anxiety attacks. Redeeming Love was a book written by a reformed romance author in 1991, to give a modern-but-not-that-modern retelling of the book of Hosea.
Send us an email or find us on social media to tell us about what movies you think we should watch! You can support the show by becoming a patreon. You can follow the show on twitter and instagram, and visit our website. You can follow Krispin at twitter and instagram and sign up for a monthly email about attachment, spirituality and evangelicalism here. Pre order Krispin's book here! You can follow DL on twitter and instagram, and buy her books here.
Trigger warning! Sexual & religious abuse. We think it's worth watching the 2-minute trailer before listening to this episode. We discuss the Netflix doc 'Procession,' about survivors of sexual abuse by clergy. The documentary follows six male survivors as they create short films based on their experience, with a drama therapist. TW: sexual abuse, religious abuse. We mentioned some resources around the topic: Traumatized by Religious Abuse by Connie Baker (and check out our episode where we interview her here). Something's Not Right Here by Wade Mullen Redeeming Power: Understanding Authority & Abuse in the Church by Diane Langberg. Send us an email or find us on social media to tell us about what movies you think we should watch! You can support the show by becoming a patreon. You can follow the show on twitter and instagram, and visit our website. You can follow Krispin at twitter and instagram and sign up for a monthly email about attachment, spirituality and evangelicalism here. Pre order Krispin's book here! You can follow DL on twitter and instagram, and buy her books here.
We talk about the movie American Underdog. Send us an email or find us on social media to tell us about what movies you think we should watch! You can support the show by becoming a patreon. You can follow the show on twitter and instagram, and visit our website. You can follow Krispin at twitter and instagram and sign up for a monthly email about attachment, spirituality and evangelicalism here. Pre order Krispin's book here! You can follow DL on twitter and instagram, and buy her books here.
This is a replay of an episode from two years ago - we talk about Christmas in evangelicalism, evangelistic musicals and why Krispin thinks Christmas time is a sexy time.
We discuss The Most Reluctant Convert, which featured Nicholas Ralph from All Creatures Great and Small (some of our favorite boringly-calming British TV). Check out our series on The Chronicles of Narnia, in case you missed it - including the episode about our former professor who collected C.S. Lewis artifacts. Send us an email or find us on social media to tell us about what movies you think we should watch! You can support the show by becoming a patreon. You can follow the show on twitter and instagram, and visit our website. You can follow Krispin at twitter and instagram and sign up for a monthly email about attachment, spirituality and evangelicalism here. Pre order Krispin's book here! You can follow DL on twitter and instagram, and buy her books here.
Krispin tells DL about "The Jesus Music" documentary about CCM. Trigger warning: childhood verbal abuse. This is a documentary about Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, Kirk Franklin, Toby Mac -- and a lot of other CCM artists. Krispin went to see it in the theater, and told DL all about it.
DL went to The Eyes of Tammy Faye and we talked about how there are examples of Christians in conservative circles who were standing up for LGBTQ+ people in the church, even decades ago.
We also talk about the documentary by the same name which you can stream on https://www.wowpresentsplus.com.
Send us an email or find us on social media to tell us about what movies you think we should watch! You can support the show by becoming a patreon. You can follow the show on twitter and instagram, and visit our website. You can follow Krispin at twitter and instagram and sign up for a monthly email about attachment, spirituality and evangelicalism here. Pre order Krispin's book here! You can follow DL on twitter and instagram, and buy her books here.
We're starting our new season where one of us watches a Christian movie and tells the other about it. This episode we discuss a documentary called Show Me the Father and discuss patriarchy, "father wounds," and if men can uniquely mediate between heaven and earth because of their gender (spoiler alert: we don't think so!). Send us an email or find us on social media to tell us about what movies you think we should watch! You can support the show by becoming a patreon. You can follow the show on twitter and instagram, and visit our website. You can follow Krispin at twitter and instagram and sign up for a monthly email about attachment, spirituality and evangelicalism here. You can follow DL on twitter and instagram, and buy her books here.
We had two great conversations with people who have been interviewing numerous people within the scene, and how this scene impacted people (musicians and listeners) theologically and politically. We talked with Mason Mennenga - host of the A People’s Theology podcast and The Black Shee Podcast. I also talked with Professor Joel Harrison is Associate Professor of Religion at Northern Virginia Community College in Manassas, VA. He’s working on a book right now on Evangelical Political Identity and Underground Christian Punk, He looks at how leftist punk aesthetics were fully embraced in some circles and, thus, pushed evangelicalism in a progressive direction - like what Mason was sauing - and in others, "punk" was repurposed for more conservative political ends. Here's the article about Mars Hill and Tooth & Nail bands. Join us next week for our new season!
You can support the show by becoming a patreon. You can follow the show on twitter and instagram, and visit our website. You can follow Krispin at twitter and instagram and sign up for a monthly email about attachment, spirituality and evangelicalism here. You can follow DL on twitter and instagram, and buy her books here. Send us an email! Zech Bard designed artwork for the season and Forrest Johnson wrote and recorded theme music.
We wrap up the Shamecore season talking about how shame is healed - through relationship. Drew Hart is the author of Who Will be a Witness and Trouble I’ve Seen. Curt Thompson has published Anatomy of the Soul, The Soul of Shame and The Soul Of Desire: Discovering The Neuroscience Of Longing, Beauty, And Community.In the episode, Krispin mentions Judith Herman’s book Trauma and Recovery We mention songs from Mewithoutyou’s album Catch for Us the Foxes and also The King Beetle on a Coconut Estate
You can support the show by becoming a patreon. You can follow the show on twitter and instagram, and visit our website. You can follow Krispin at twitter and instagram and sign up for a monthly email about attachment, spirituality and evangelicalism here. You can follow DL on twitter and instagram, and buy her books here. Send us an email! Zech Bard designed artwork for the season and Forrest Johnson wrote and recorded theme music.
Curt Thompson has published Anatomy of the Soul and Soul of Shame Dr. Karyn Purvis audio was taken from lectures available from the Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development. If you’re a parent interested in learning more about building secure attachment with your children, Krispin recommends The Whole-Brain Child by Payne and Seigel and The 6 Needs of Every Child by Amy & Jeffrey Olrick. Krispin also reference Becoming Attached by Robert Karen and the Attachment Theory in Action podcast interview with Alan Sroufe. We talk about a few songs from Son, I Loved You At Your Darkest and the “soft song” is called The Widow.
You can support the show by becoming a patreon. You can follow the show on twitter and instagram, and visit our website. You can follow Krispin at twitter and instagram and sign up for a monthly email about attachment, spirituality and evangelicalism here. You can follow DL on twitter and instagram, and buy her books here. Send us an email! Zech Bard designed artwork for the season and Forrest Johnson wrote and recorded theme music.
Krispin talks with Robert Monson about the theology behind all these "soft songs," as well as short bit with Danielle Shroyer, who we heard earlier this season. Robert is part of the 3 Black Men podcast, as well as a writer and musician. In this episode we mention Mako Nagasawa, the book Gentler God, by Doug Frank and The Inner Voice of Love by Henri Nouwen. Also, here is the article on attachment and spirituality Krispin references. Here are the songs in this episode: Mouth like a Magazine by Showbread Matthias Replaces Judas by Showbread Some Will Seek Forgiveness, Others Escape by Underoath Bliss Tearing Eyes by Dead Poetic So Great a Salvation by The OC Supertones Getting Into You by Relient K Dandelions by Five Iron Frenzy
You can support the show by becoming a patreon. You can follow the show on twitter and instagram, and visit our website. You can follow Krispin at twitter and instagram and sign up for a monthly email about attachment, spirituality and evangelicalism here. You can follow DL on twitter and instagram, and buy her books here. Send us an email! Zech Bard designed artwork for the season and Forrest Johnson wrote and recorded theme music.
We’re posting on Sunday because this is a special 4th of July Episode! (You know we’re SO patriotic like that!) What’s the connection between Father John Misty (Joshua Tillman, also from Fleet Foxes) and the navy seal who killed Osama Bin Laden? This is a short episode where Krispin talks about this weird connection, and then we have a replay of an old Prophetic Imagination Station episode where we discuss Adventures in Odyssey’s episode “The Price of Freedom.” Here’s the Esquire article mentioned in the episode. And the press release from Demon Hunter. Hear the rest of Brad Jersak’s interview here. Watch the Training For Utopia video and let me know what you think!
Here are the songs of the episode: Nancy From Now on by Father John Misty Turn Your Back and Run by Demon Hunter Not Ready to Die by Demon Hunter The Soldier’s Song by Demon Hunter Throwin’ Out Tha Wicked by T-Bone Demon Executor by T-Bone Good Feeling by Training For Utopia
Why would anyone willingly choose hell over heaven? In this episode, we'll hear from a couple of people who found themselves in a place in which they would make just that decision - and why. Heather Beamish is an artist, speaker, activist and poet based in Toronto Canada. Follow her on Instagram here. You can watch Hellbound? by Kevin Miller on amazon. Listen to all of Ravage Ritual by Zao here. You can support the show by becoming a patreon. You can follow the show on twitter and instagram, and visit our website. You can follow Krispin at twitter and instagram and sign up for a monthly email about attachment, spirituality and evangelicalism here. You can follow DL on twitter and instagram, and buy her books here. Send us an email! Zech Bard designed artwork for the season and Forrest Johnson wrote and recorded theme music.
Krispin talks with Mandy Smallwood about Dead Poetic and hell anxiety. There's a clip from an Adventures in Odyssey episode that we talked about in our episode, Let's Talk About Hell Baby over two years ago. This episode features A Green Desire and Tell Myself Goodbye by Dead Poetic, and also Wrong Body by As Cities Burn. We'd like to get voicemails or voice memos from you! How did teachings about hell impact you, your mental health, or your relationship with God? (or all three!) Send us an email or leave us a voicemail. Oh, and that REAL C.S. Lewis quote is from The Problem of Pain (p. 139).
You can support the show by becoming a patreon. You can follow the show on twitter and instagram, and visit our website. You can follow Krispin at twitter and instagram and sign up for a monthly email about attachment, spirituality and evangelicalism here. You can follow DL on twitter and instagram, and buy her books here. Send us an email! Zech Bard designed artwork for the season and Forrest Johnson wrote and recorded theme music.
Krispin explains addictive behaviors from an attachment perspective and asks whether Christianity offers any concrete help when we’re stuck in behaviors we want to stop. He talks with Heather Patton Griffin about how many churches approach growth and transformation, “try harder to mean it more,” and what often gets missed. We keep talking about This From My Lips by Yours My Sin is Purged by As Cities Burn You can follow Heather Patton Griffin on twitter - she has so many great twitter threads on these topics!
You can support the show by becoming a patreon. You can follow the show on twitter and instagram, and visit our website. You can follow Krispin at twitter and instagram and sign up for a monthly email about attachment, spirituality and evangelicalism here. You can follow DL on twitter and instagram, and buy her books here. Send us an email! Zech Bard designed artwork for the season and Forrest Johnson wrote and recorded theme music.
"Oh how sweet is the sound / I know it saved, but is it changing a wretch like me?" Krispin explores the angst around purity culture that shows up in Christian hardcore, and discusses with Dr. Bradley Onishi how this element of evangelical culture impacted the Atlanta Shooter's actions in March 2020. Follow Brad on twitter and check out his podcast Straight White American Jesus, where he's discussed and responded to Tim Keller, Al Mohler and Jim Daly. Check out Ruth Graham's article that quotes Onishi here. Here are all the songs referenced in this episode: Time Stands Still by Extol Breaking My Own Heart by Haste the Day A Boy Brushed Red Living in Black and White by Underoath Stalemade by Project 86 that song by No Innocent Victim Eye Candy by Trauma A Green Desire by Dead Poetic Run for Your Life (She calls) by Impending Doom Face:Face by Norma Jean This From My Lips by Yours My Sin is Purged by As Cities Burn
You can support the show by becoming a patreon. You can follow the show on twitter and instagram, and visit our website. You can follow Krispin at twitter and instagram and sign up for a monthly email about attachment, spirituality and evangelicalism here. You can follow DL on twitter and instagram, and buy her books here. Send us an email! Zech Bard designed artwork for the season and Forrest Johnson wrote and recorded theme music.
Brandi Miller is the host of the Reclaiming My Theology Podcast. You can follow her on twitter and instagram. We talk about her love for Emery, end up talking a lot about Reese Roper, and also how theologies of sin have upheld oppressive power structures. We talk about Listening to Freddie Mercury by Emery …as well as Under Bridges by Brave Saint Saturn and Mr. Fahrenheit by Five Iron Frenzy. —————————- You can support the show by becoming a patreon. You can follow the show on twitter and instagram, and visit our website. You can follow Krispin at twitter and instagram and sign up for a monthly email about attachment, spirituality and evangelicalism here. You can follow DL on twitter and instagram, and buy her books here. Send us an email! Zech Bard designed artwork for the season and Forrest Johnson wrote and recorded theme music.
Krispin & DL talk about Bindside and “the gospel” message based on having a dirty, rotten heart. Krispin interviews Danielle Shroyer about original sin -- and original blessing. Danielle Shroyer is a spiritual director, former pastor, speaker and author of Original Blessing and The Boundary-Breaking God. You can follow her on twitter. You can listen to the two Blindside songs here and here. ——— You can support the show by becoming a patreon. You can follow the show on twitter and instagram, and visit our website. You can follow Krispin at twitter and instagram and sign up for a monthly email about attachment, spirituality and evangelicalism here. You can follow DL on twitter and instagram, and buy her books here. Send us an email! Zech Bard designed artwork for the season and Forrest Johnson wrote and recorded theme music.
Pádraig Ó Tuama is an Irish writer, poet & theologian. Host of On Being's Poetry Unbound podcast, he was recently named On Being's Theologian in Residence. From 2014-2019 he was the leader of the Corrymeela Community, Ireland's oldest peace and reconciliation organization. Our favorite book by Pádraig is In the Shelter, which was just re-relased last month with a foreward from Krista Tippet. You can follow him on twitter and instagram. You can follow Heather Patton Griffin on twitter - she has so many great twitter threads on these topics! You heard a voicemail from Zech Bard in this episode - who also did the wonderful artwork for the season! ——— You can listen to the two Underoath songs here and here. ——— You can support the show by becoming a patreon. You can follow the show on twitter and instagram, and visit our website. You can follow Krispin at twitter and instagram and sign up for a monthly email about attachment, spirituality and evangelicalism here. You can follow DL on twitter and instagram, and buy her books here. Send us an email! Zech Bard designed artwork for the season and Forrest Johnson wrote and recorded theme music.
Soong Chan Rah is author of several books, including Prophetic Lament. You can follow him on twitter here. Hillary McBride is the author of Mothers, Daughters, and Body Image. You can listen to her whole talk on emotions at Cascade Church (it’s great!). You can follow her on twitter and instagram. Joel Harrison is currently working on a book tentatively titled “Palms of Victory, Crowns of Glory: Evangelical Political Identity and Underground Christian Punk.” You can follow him on twitter here. Soong Chan Rah references Dr. Chanequa Walker-Barnes’ book I Bring the Voices of My People and The Burden of Black Religion by Chris Evans. ——— You can listen to To Think of You is to Treasure a Distant Memory by Zao here. Check out the live video Krispin mentions here. ——— You can support the show by becoming a patreon. You can follow the show on twitter and instagram, and visit our website. You can follow Krispin at twitter and instagram and sign up for a monthly email about attachment, spirituality and evangelicalism here. You can follow DL on twitter and instagram, and buy her books here. Send us an email! Zech Bard designed artwork for the season and Forrest Johnson wrote and recorded theme music.
Dr. Leah Payne is a professor of Christian studies at George Fox University, author of Gender and Pentecostal Revivalism: Making a Female Ministry in the Early Twentieth Century and co-host for The Weird Religion Podcast. You can follow her on twitter here. She is currently working on a book on CCM and you can help her out by filling out her CCM survey, if you grew up listening to any kind of Christian music. You can follow Becky Castle Miller on twitter, instagram and buy her books here. Her full 50-minute interview is up over at Attached to the Invisible, where she talks more in depth about emotions, evangelicalism, and what following Jesus in our emotional life looks like. Here’s Bill Bright’s Four Spiritual Laws that Becky refers to in her interview.
Songs in this episode: Adam, Soiled Rags and A Life Wasted Sleeping,by Nodes of Ranvier. Memphis Will Be Laid to Waste by Norma Jean with Aaron Weiss with audio from a live recording from Furnace Fest 2002.
You can support the show by becoming a patreon. You can follow the show on twitter and instagram, and visit our website. You can follow Krispin at twitter and instagram and sign up for a monthly email about attachment, spirituality and evangelicalism here. You can follow DL on twitter and instagram, and buy her books here. Send us an email! Zech Bard designed artwork for the season and Forrest Johnson wrote and recorded theme music.
To start off the Shamecore Records season, Krispin interviewed director Chris White and composer/musician, Daniel Smith about their recent movie Electric Jesus. At the end of the episode, D.L. shares a bit about forming an evanegalistic punk rock band when she was 13 years old. The soundtrack for Electric Jesus just released, and is filled with both Christian hair metal and Danielson’s weird indie rock. We’ve been a longtime of fan of Daniel Smith’s music as Daielson, and one of our favorite albums is Fetch the Compass Kids. You can watch a whole documentary about Danielson here and it is wonderful. Here is the Believer article about Danielson that D.L. mentions. Next week, we’ll really dive into talking about Christian hardcore and the emotional experience of growing up evangelical. You can follow the podcast on twitter or instagram, where D.L. will post pictures of her punk rock days. Become a patreon and support the podcast for as little at $1.50 a month. Also, you can send us an email! You can follow Krispin on twitter or instagram, and DL. on twitter and instagram. D.L.’s most recent book The Myth of the American Dream is also available!
After D.L. talked about Frank Peretti on the Good Christian Fun podcast, we decided to release this episode for the general public, a Patreon-only episode from a year ago when we talked about The Cooper Kids and The Door in the Dragon's Throat. Become a Patreon for $1.50, $4 or $8 per month and get monthly episodes like this one and dive into our back catalogue of episodes about WOW 1999, Brio Magazine and other evangelical artifacts
D.L. and Krispin discuss The Last Battle in the last episode of the series, and D.L. reads an essay we wrote together about the parallels between The Last Battle and American Christianity. Our 6th season, Shamecore Records is coming in March! Join us at our Patreon for some patreon-only episodes until then!
Next season, we're talking about Christian hardcore, and touching on the whole Christian punk/ska/metal/emo universe. We'll be interviewing folks like Pádraig Ó Tuama, Soong Chan Rah, and Danielle Shroyer to understand how the evangelical theology has shaped our emotional world in the church. If you're a fan of heavy Christian music, we'd love to hear about your experience and perhaps use a sound-byte for the season. Click here to leave us a voicemail or email. We'll be back next week with the final episode of The Lion, the Witch and the Evangelicals.
Krispin and Danielle interview artist, Tomatobird about the comic she wrote about Tash from The Last Battle titled "Inexorable" and available to read here. You can follow her on instagram, twitter and tumbler, support her on Patreon, and buy prints of her work in her online store. SHAMECORE RECORDS will be the 6th season of our podcast. Listen to the trailer here, and if you love (or loved) heavy Christian music, leave us a voicemail! Have any lingering questions about Narnia? We are wrapping up next week, so hit us up with questions on twitter or at propheticimaginationstation@gmail.com. A few highlights from our conversation: Was C.S. Lewis a univeralist? Sort of. Discussed the book Roar!: A Christian Family Guide To The Chronicles Of Narnia Taylor points out that having some good brown people doesn’t make The Last Battle not racist, it’s just tokenism. The idea that myths point to Jesus is invalidating… “your beliefs and stories are valuable because they are secretly about Jesus and you don’t know it yet.” This book bring up the question: Is death good? The Pevenses watch the world end and its a positive experience. Calormen gets all the criticism for sacrifice, while there’s a sacrificial slab (stone table) right in the middle of Narnia. Religion often pushes away death anxiety, so we don’t get a chance to make peace with it. Much of the time, Lewis was having fun… he wasn’t THAT intentional. Lewis’ themes are beyond Christianity. We can see the limits of Lewis’ imagination, and where his imagination pushed the limits of his context. Racism in The Last Battle is possibly worst than Horse & His Boy. Is Tash Satan? That’s certainly up for debate. Taylor believes that Narnia is a world of henotheism, where western gods are good characters, eastern gods are not.
D.L. and Krispin take a break from Narnia to reflect on four years of our podcast analyzing evangelical media - and how conspiracy themes are woven throughout! We discuss how to navigate relationships when you those in your life dismiss the significance of this event. D.L. explains the relational follow-out that occurred in Germany, as D.L. discusses the book Frauen by Owings. If you were disappointed with your church's response yesterday (Sunday Jan 10) to this insurrection, it's unlikely to get any better from here on out. It’s super important to find a supportive spiritual community, if you’re able to!
Torri Williams Douglass is a writer, speaker, educator, and activist. She is the creator of White Homework which is a curriculum designed to help people create their own personalized antiracism plan. The courses were developed as a response to the hundreds of requests she got from individuals asking, “I don’t want to be racist, but what do I DO?” Prior to this, she worked in higher ed, doing recruitment for Underrepresented Minorities in STEM. She lives with her family in Portland, Oregon. Also she’s a great twitter follow. “The Chronicles of Narnia was required reading for homeschoolers.” Anyone else remember Abeka homeschool curriculum?! D.L. wrote this piece on reading Little House on the Prairie with kids. "Aslan is a drama queen"… (remember how Mr. Whitaker, drama queen for the patriarchy in Season 4 of Prophetic Imagination Station?) Rereading our childhood favorites actually is a good place to start reading with a decolonize lens. We are already comfortable with them - but it takes a lot of extra time. Krispin grew up with Hannah Barbarra Bible videos like these. No art is perfect - but sometimes it’s not worth the energy and time it takes to wade through it. Krispin mentions Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria by Beverly Daniel Tatum
Matt Mikalatos took more time to talk with us about Narnia and C.S. Lewis, with lots of interesting parts we haven't covered in our series - like an eco-critical reading of Narnia, guessing Lewis' enneagram number, Planet Narnia, and how Lewis wrote letters to children explaining the Narnia series in ways he never made public. Thank you Matt and patrons for a wonderful evening! You can sign up and be a part of events like these, and more, at www.patreon.com/dlmayfield
Check out another show on the Area Code Network, We Wonder: Advent. The podcast where we wonder together about the story of God. We Wonder is a contemplative devotional for children. Find our more here: wewonderpod.com
Paul Pastor is an editor and writer, and has published a collection of non-ficiton essays about the Holy Spirit called The Face of the Deep and some books of prayers & meditations called The Listening Day Volume 1 and Volume 2. You can find him on Twitter. Or go to his website and write him a letter! Become a patreon of the podcast at www.patreon.com/dlmayfield and join us for a Narnia Q&A Wednesday night, Dec 16 (6pm pacific / 9pm eastern). The Highlights: Aslan’s How: a house put together by Dr. Garry Friesan for male students attending Multnomah University (Multnomah Bible College when we went there). Paul mentions the best box set being this one and we agree. Lewis’ favorite author/theologian was named George McDonald. He was a Victorian era preacher and fantasy writer known for his heretical views. Phantastes by MacDonald, Lewis said, “baptized his imagination”. The Silver Chair synopsis. The Silver Chair also includes one of the best characters in Lewis’ canon, Puddleglum Michael Ward wrote a book on the Narnia stories being linked to medieval conceptions of various planets. Check out his website, Planet Narnia. Why hasn’t The Silver Chair been made into a major motion picture? The Silver Chair corresponds to Luna, or the moon. The Dark Night of the Soul by St. John of the Cross is an initiatory moment. Holy Darkness is different and holds richness because they dwell in obscurity or shadow, which is present in Godself. The Scriptures say that God dwells in deep darkness.
Alireza Shafiee-Nasab, born in 1990 in Dezful, Iran, is an Iranian translator, literary editor and teacher. You can follow him Instagram or visit his website http://shafieenasab.ir. He holds an MA degree in English literature from the University of Tehran, with a thesis entitled “Christianized Archetypes in The Chronicles of Narnia”, in which he argues that the psychological ideas of Carl Gustav Jung might have influenced Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, while Lewis, as a devout Christian, gives these ideas a Christian touch, modifying them wherever they contradict Christian doctrines. He is currently translating Fernando Aramburu’s Patria into Persian Calormen is the country south of Narnia in the books--appearing most prominently in The Horse and His Boy and also The Last Battle. Calormen is obviously an Eastern/Oriental culture compared to Narnia’s northern European culture. Calormen culturally, according to Shafiee-Nasab, is a mixture of Arabic and Persian and Turkish elements: long beards and dark skin and upturned shoes. “Aslan” comes from a Turkish word which means lion. It’s also the name of one of the characters in Arabian Nights, a work which greatly influenced C. S. Lewis. Other influences from this book show up in Narnia, including naming the boy prince Caspian after the Caspian Sea. Lewis was interested in psychology but was not a fan of Freud. But he found Carl Jung to have a more humane version of psychology. Shafiee-Nasab believes Lewis’ interest in Jung contributes to some of the archetypes in his work, including the figures of Aslan and Tash--and how people end up responding to a false Aslan because of their mental image of his. Lewis was also influenced by Dante, and possibly by his depiction of Islam in in works. Along with that, in old Persian Tash (the God of death in the Narnia world) means fire. How do we deal with the orientalism/racism underlying works like The Horse and His Boy? One thing we can do is wonder why there was such an appetite for works like Narnia while Persian/Islamic epics continue to be ignored. One such example is that one of the most famous Irianian books ever written--The Epic of Kings--still has yet to be completely translated into English.
Kat Coffin is a musician and an academic specializing in the works of C.S. Lewis and gender theory. Before you listen to the podcast, maybe check out this wonderful summary Kat Coffin wrote on The Problem of Susan here. Or read this quick Twitter thread summary Here’s the passage in The Last Battle that makes people so upset about Susan not getting into Aslan’s Country. JK Rowling on Susan Pevensie and Lewis: “There comes a point where Susan, who was the older girl, is lost to Narnia because she becomes interested in lipstick. She’s become irreligious basically because she found sex. I have a big problem with that.” Neil Gaiman wrote a short story called The Problem of Susan (which we do not necessarily recommend reading as it is . . . intense.) C.S. Lewis was a lot like Susan! Lewis eventually became friends with Dorothy L Sayers and then befriended and married Joy Davidman. An American communist from Brooklyn! Till We Have Faces--Lewis’ last novel, which was basically co-written with Joy Davidman A Grief Observed--Lewis’ book on his marriage “CS Lewis is not as evangelical as evangelicals want him to be but he’s not as progressive as I want him to be.” -- Kat Coffin George MacDonald, one of Lewis’ main literary mentors, was a universalist. Krispin mentions The Evangelical Universalist, by Robin Parry, which was originally published under the pen name Gregory MacDonald, as a nod to George MacDonald. Shadowlands is the film about Lewis’ life and marriage to Joy. As Kat Coffin points out, there are elements of it that have been edited to fit the intended audience, so keep that in mind! Find Kat on Twitter Instagram Blog
Episode 7: Interview with Matt Mikalatos on The Voyage of the Dawn Treader Matt Mikalatos is the author of the Sunlit Lands fantasy trilogy, starting with The Crescent Stone. He also writes a bi-weekly column about C.S. Lewis at Tor.com. You can connect with him at www.mikalatos.com. Matt writes about a wide variety of Narnia-related content for Tor. Here is a link to his piece on Eustace and spiritual formation. Matt describes The Voyage of the Dawn Treader as a travelogue or spiritual pilgrimage novel. Books which influenced Lewis in this genre include” The journeys of at Benedict The Travels of Sir John Mandeville Dante’s Paradiso
What is the deal with Eustace? Matt says that Lewis was saying that intense secularism is the main problem for Eustace--he doesn’t read the write books, believe in magic, or even know what a dragon is! Matt mentions the Jewish ritual bath called Mikvah. For more information on that, go here. Matt mentions Mark Charles and his numerous books and talks on white supremacy. We are big fans of Mark Charles, go check him out! You can find Matt Mikalatos on Twitter and Facebook and if you are interested in his books (which you should be by now!) go check out The Sunlit Lands.
In the introduction, DL mentions reading the book Bonhoeffer's Black Jesus by Reggie Williams. We highly recommend it (Go listen to this podcast episode if you want a taste of the book). Emily Metcalf is a scholar and artist who focuses on Tolkein and Lewis in both areas. You can find her website with links to her shop here (we highly recommend checking out her Tolkien inspired watercolors!). In today’s interview, she discusses with DL a recent paper she wrote on Lewis’ view of patriotism. C.S. Lewis wrote often about the four loves. Go here if you want to learn more about them. Emily describes the various forms of patriotism as understood by Lewis, from what he considers a “normal” love of country all the way to toxic nationalism. In her paper, Emily describes Lewis’s understanding of the five degrees of patriotism as: “love of home, veneration of national/cultural history, assumption of superiority, rights to power, and finally, self destruction.” Just in case you can’t remember the plot of Prince Caspian, use this as a refresher. One of the twitter handles mentioned is Diverse Tolkien. Go check it out! You can find Emily Metcalf (Emily Austin is her artist name) on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Follow The Prophetic Imagination Station podcast on Twitter or Instagram, or join the fun over at Patreon!
After watching productions of The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe by both BBC (1988) and Disney (2004), Krispin and Danielle discuss the differences, as well as the story itself.
For a stroll down memory lane, you can watch the BBC version on youtube.
Sign up for our patreon here to hear our patreon-only episode next week about Focus on the Family and how they’ve influenced evangelicals to vote republican for decades.
Thanks to Rich Villodas for his Dear Wormwood tweet.
This episode is mostly about what the Stone Table/Death of Aslan meant in the Chronicles of Narnia. Buckle up for a fascinating deep dive into atonement theories and evangelical theology! Mako Nagasawa served a Spanish-speaking ministry to Mexican immigrants in East Palo Alto, CA and afterward, worked for two startup companies trying to bring technology and jobs to inner city communities. Since 2000, Mako, his wife Ming, and their two children John and Zoe have lived among friends in a Christian intentional community house in a black and brown neighborhood in Dorchester. Mako has done campus ministry since 2001 and founded The Anástasis Center in 2014. Mako’s website (with lots of links and articles!) Mako’s FB group: Healing Atonement and Restorative Justice. He helped develop a financial curriculum called Lazarus at the Gate, as well as a small group curriculum about Check out Mako’s interview with Almost Heretical about atonement theories and how Penal Substitutionary Atonement has impacted US politics. Mako has a whole academic paper on C.S. Lewis’ Theory of Atonement, that you can read here! (also, check out Mako’s take on theology and Harry Potter here and Lord of the Rings here) Mere Christianity quote: Only a bad person needs to repent only a good person can repent perfectly, Jesus is the only one who could push human nature where it needs to be pushed. (12 min). We discuss “survival emotions” of anxiety and guilt, relief and gratitude evoked by Penal Substitution Atonement. (14 min) Athanasius: On Incarnation (CS Lewis wrote the introduction, which you can read here). Jesus died to burn away the corrupt nature of humanity. It’s a medical paradigm, not a legal paradigm.
Important note: I (D.L.) say Dr. Cronin is at the University of Florida when in fact she teaches at Florida State University. Me and my West Coast bias/ignorance showing--sorry about that! Dr. Sonya Cronin teaches classes both on the Hebrew Scriptures and Fantasy Literature--which makes her the perfect guest for this podcast. You can visit this site to learn more about her, including her books (and she is currently working on one about the gospel of Mark!). We reference the recent controversy surrounding JK Rowling and her recent anti-trans public statements. You can learn more about this situation here. Krispin references his interview with Connie Baker about interacting with authors who are problematic. You can listen to his interview with her about spiritual abuse here. Dr. Cronin references Philip Pullman, saying “Fantasy is a safe space to learn the virtues of the world, in a way that is not quite ‘thou shall’. ‘Once a upon a time’ does something for us that ‘thou shall and thou shalt not’ just doesn’t do.” (11:54) When talking about Lewis and Tolkein they must be set in their context, the 1950s--including their portrayals of women. Lewis was considered safe for evangelicals because before he ever wrote fantasy he wrote apologetics--so we knew exactly what he believed. (25 min) Harry was created a wizard — the idea of being created to be something is very much connected to the Christian tradition. Christian responses to Harry Potter: Richard Abanes wrote Harry Potter and the Bible: The Menace behind the Magik John Granger is a Christian who says we SHOULD read these books. - 35min
A clip of our just-released patreon-only episode talking about evangelicals, politics, and the recent “worship protests” out of Bethel - and how do you talk to family members about why it’s problematic? Become a patreon here , beginning at $1.50/month and get a monthly episode, access to our facebook group and more!
Link to her biography and faculty page here. Buy her incredibly detailed, thoughtful, academic book Re-Enchanted: The Rise of Children’s Fantasy Literature in the Twentieth Century Questions to consider when reading books like The Chronicles of Narnia: What are these stories, what are they doing, and how did they become so ingrained in American culture? How do these stories both aliant people and enchant them at the same time? How do we re-evaluate classics? How can we get better at interrogating what are classics? Cecire on experiencing “the moment” when she realized she didn’t see herself represented in fantasy stories: “I looked in the mirror and it hit me like a ton of bricks: I would never be a blonde-haired blue-eyed fairy tale princess and that those stories were just not about me.” Tolkein and Lewis were anti-modernists, and they were able to overhaul the English curriculum at Oxford to focus on the middle ages--choices that had ripple effects for generations. Second wave of the oxford school of children’s literature includes people like Susan Cooper (Dark is Rising) Diana Wynn Jones (Howl’s Moving Castle), Phillip Pullman (His Dark Materials), Kevin Crossly Holland (Arthur Trilogy)--and influenced people like J.K. Rowling. Thanks to Lewis and his curriculum developed at Oxford we have seen a major push in Children’s Fantasy Writing-- all about Arthurian Legends, Medieval texts,and reworking them for the 20th writing. These books are serious about the magic, but incredibly Northern Euro-centric. Peoples of Africa descending from Ham. (28:00) -- this comes directly from Christianity “I am an academic so I think visiting, rereading, and thinking about books in general is a good thing . . . Remember that humans are complicated and our artistic productions are complicated.” (30:38) You can identify pleasures or desires in your life that you would not like to carry forward. Cecire references authors Nnedi Okorafor and the Binti series, N.K. Jemisin and Saladin Ahmend Throne of the crescent moon as different narratives to contrast with Lewis/The Horse and His Boy. D.L. mentions reading Birchbark House series in conjunction with the Little House books to her daughter. Read her essay on it here. Rhodes must fall (39:40) Twitter: https://twitter.com/mscecire Website: https://mariacecire.wordpress.com/ American Library Association Great Stories Club
Welcome to Season 5 of The Prophetic Imagination Station Podcast: The Lion, The Witch, and The Evangelicals. In this episode Krispin and D.L. discuss what the chronicles of Narnia is, a bit about Lewis’ background when he was writing the books, and their own experiences growing up evangelical and reading them. For a good overview of the seven books in the Chronicles of Narnia, go here. The main biographies D.L. read to prepare for this season were The Narnian by Alan Jacobs (someone who unabashedly loves Lewis and writes his bio accordingly), and The Magician’s Book: A Skeptic’s Adventures in Narnia by Laura Miller (who writes as a non-Christian about her love for the books). Fake CS Lewis quotes are everywhere! If you find any good ones, please send them to us at propheticimaginationstation@gmail.com so we can use them in upcoming “My Dear Wormwood” segments. According to this site, less than 5% of people in England attend church services regularly (and this was before Brexit!). Click here to buy The Myth of the American Dream where D.L. mentions C.S. Lewis four times!!! Come join us on Patreon for as little as $1.50 a month and hear our monthly patreon-only podcasts and join our Facebook group! Stay tuned for next week, when we interview Maria Sachiko Cecire, professor of literature at Bard college and the author of Re-Enchanted (an excellent book!).
The Area Code Network launches today! Area Code is a collective of creators who have gathered to create the most genuine, sincere work possible, uninhibited by red tape or competing agendas, and Prophetic Imagination Station is just one of many podcasts that are a part of it. Check out www.areacodenetwork.com for more information and to sign up for our newsletter.
Starting September 14, we will launch into a series on The Chronicles of Narnia, interviewing several experts and also discussing our own experiences with this series. We're asking why American evangelicals resonated so deeply with an author who was neither American, nor evangelical - and what still enchants us about this series today.
We decided to make our Patreon-only episode available for everyone this month to get a sense of what our episodes are like. We dissect one piece of evangelical media each month - prior months have been Focus on the Family's Brio Magazine and WOW 1999, as well as others. This month We discuss a 1970's Christian claymation cartoon - Davy and Goliath, and the topic is racism. Watch Davy & Goliath: Blind Man's Bluff Watch Phil Vischer's video on Race in America In this episode we reference: I Bring the Voices of My People by Dr. Chanequa Walker-Barnes, The Color of Compromise by Jemar Tisby Divided by Faith by Emerson & Smith.
Krispin and Danielle reflect on the past season of Frank Peretti's America. TW: We discuss sexual abuse. Check out Danielle's new book, The Myth of the American Dream! We mention in the episode. And don't miss our discussion of WOW 1999 on our patreon-only podcast.
Krispin talks with Connie Baker about the psychology of why churches end up protecting abusers and discrediting those who speak up about abuse. She is the author of Traumatized by Religious Abuse and facilitates a facebook group with 500+ members about religious abuse.
Leah Payne a professor of Christian studies at George Fox University, author of Gender and Pentecostal Revivalism: Making a Female Ministry in the Early Twentieth Century and co-host for The Weird Religion Podcast. We talked with her about pentacolism in the broader history of the church and how Peretti’s book led the way for traditions that had previously been disregarded to make a big impact on American evangelicalism.
Joshua Pease is a pastor, author, and journalist, and all-around smart guy. In this interview, we focus mainly on his work in regards to conspiracy theories and abuse within evangelical churches. Note for those listening, there is some discussion of sensitive topics, including abuse. RAINN is a great resource for sexual abuse survivors, including live chat and phone options for support. Here is his piece on conspiracy theories and why our brains love them for Popular Mechanics. 5 min: Brief mention of Janette Oke. For those who aren’t familiar, she is the woman who brought us the whole Canadian Christian mountie romance trope. It’s a real thing! 9:20: “Our brains want both suspicion and they want simplicity; and that’s problematic because life gives us a lot of reasons to be afraid and life is also super complex. And so what we do is grab hold of shortcuts that make us feel better.” “We want a simple explanation for life, even if that explanation is kind of horrifying--it makes us feel better, because at least we know where the danger is.” 15: “Conspiratorial thinking is 100 percent about trying to find safety, control, and simplicity in a world that is not that way.” 33: Joshua’s article on narcissism is called Bill Gothard’s Fundementalist Trap for The New Republic.
Welcome to a special quarantine edition of the Prophetic Imagination Station season 4: Frank Peretti’s imagination. Today we break up all the This Present Darkness talk to do a little deep dive into Carman--and specifically, the song Revival in the Land. Watch, and then listen to us jabber about it! Intro: Hi, we are going stir-crazy so we did a lip sync to Carman’s song Satan Bite the Dust. And you know what? It’s pretty good! (Here’s a link to the actual Carman approved video for Satan bite the Dust) 12: jack chick Halloween tract 21: yo kids/RIOT/ 25: Myth of the American Dream 26: Mid faith crisis exile (episode 79) 28: James Alison On Being Liked 30: T-bone Demon Executor (the electric chair song) 30: Krispin’s rap 32: Todd Bently 44: sling bang boom (with Hanson!) 45: Addicted 2 Jesus (with DC Talk!)
Brad Jersak is the author of several books, including Her Gates Will Never Be Shut and Incarnation & Inclusion, two of Krispin’s favorites. He’s appeared on many podcasts, this one with Jonathan Martin on Hell, Judgment & Atonement. Summing up what prayer is in This Present Darkness: “Our prayers were like the batteries that energized the angels” The title of the book comes from Ephesians 6:12: “For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (NRSV) 9 min: Jersak mentions YWAM and Fuller Seminary teaching spiritual warfare/classes on signs and wonders. He also mentions Peter Wagner, John Wimber, and Chuck Kraft. Please click on the links for more information. On why horror movies and conspiracy theory books are popular: “We like to face our fears in the context of something we have control over.” 16: D.L. mentions Todd Bentley, a charismatic preacher recently in the news again. Do you really want to go down this rabbit hole? OK, here you go. 35: Jersak mentions moralism in his book, A More Christlike Way. 40: “The weapons of the world are force, and that’s not how Jesus came and overcame everything. He came to surrender to the will of his father.” 50: Book recommendations on connecting to Jesus: Can You Hear me? Tuning in to the God who Speaks
Lisa Sharon Harper, author of The Very Good Gospel, founder of Freedom Road--a consulting group dedicated to helping people do justice more justly (Check out her excellent podcast here). “I wasn’t taught to interpret Scripture. I was just given Scripture and told to do it.” 19 min: Peretti’s books were a spiritualization of the culture wars which launched in the 1980s through the moral majority. 26 min: Viv Grigg says that the “powers” move us away from the ethics of God. What does it mean to be ruled by God? It means to come under the constitution of God. Belief for the Hebrews was not a mind thing, it was in the body, and it has to be lived out in the world. And that’s what ethics are. 31 min: In the book Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America the authors state that the one way for white evangelicals to change their worldview is to be immersed in communities that are unlike themselves 32 min: “The good news is that Jesus, the king of the kingdom of God, has come to earth to confront the powers of the earth who are hell bent on crushing the image of God.” 40 min: Recommendations for people who are deconstructing but still want to be aware of power and principalities: immerse yourself in the teachings of communities of color. The Very Good Gospel: How Everything Wrong Can be Made Right by Lisa Sharon Harper The Cross and the Lynching Tree by James Cone Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman Stand Your Ground: Black Bodies and the Justice of God by Kelly Brown Douglas In many ways it is a uniquely European and western project to separate the spirit and the body and to secularize the world. 48 min: “I think that the unspoken project of western civilization has been to usurp God, to become God, to control everything.” 49:30 Race: A Theological Account by J. Kameron Carter. “The only way to live without connection to the spirit world is to think that you are God, and to live at a level where you don’t experience oppression, where you ARE the powers.” “I really believe that it was used to forward a political movement, and it was one that was consciously galvanizing white evangelicals to rally around a political ideology that they knew . . . would ultimately result in the winning of the original culture war, which began with Brown V. the Board of Education.” The culture war is not just about sexual politics, but it is also about race. It is about the desired rule and control of white men over space. 49 min: “The Spirit of God comes against oppression.” D.L. recommends William Stringfellow’s book An Ethic for Christians and other Aliens in a Strange Land. A white theologian in the 70s, his understanding of principalities in the Bible shifts from the personal to the institutional.
Hi Friends! Episode 2 of Frank Peretti's America is out now wherever you listen to your podcasts. Listen, then come back here and let us know what you think! We would also love to share any and all stories you might want to share about your own experiences growing up and learning about spiritual warfare. Drop a story in the comments or email us at propheticimaginationstation@gmail.com. If you are interested in the Faith in an Age of Fear conference DL mentions, check out the eventbrite here. We would love to see you there! Interview with Daniel Silliman, (on twitter @danielsilliman) whose PHD dissertation was on the history of best-selling evangelical novels. He specifically looked at the five novels which changed evangelical publishing in a significant way and sold over a million copies. Those books were: Love Comes Softly (1979) by Janette Oke This Present Darkness (1986) by Frank Peretti Left Behind by Tim Lahaye and (1996) Jerry B. Jenkins The Shunning (1997) by Beverly Lewis The Shack by (2007) by William Paul Young Silliman recounts how the evangelical fiction market primarily courted female book buyers with Christian romance novels, and how Peretti and his “Christian horror” was a new risky genre. 21 min: Silliman mentions Francis Schaeffer and his beliefs on worldviews influencing Crossway publishing to branch out into books like This Present Darkness. 28 min: Silliman gets into the background of Amy Grant and her personal and professional troubles, and why this led to her being so drawn to a little book called This Present Darkness. Here’s a link to an LA times piece about Amy Grant being credited for the sales bump, with this particular jewel of a quote from Lane Dennis, CEO of Crossway (Peretti’s publisher): “He has written a book for the so-called Moral Majority. They can hold this up and say, ‘This is how I see the world.” 37: min Jack Chick Tracts and demons.
Trigger Warnings: talking about demons, demon possession, sexual abuse, sexual abuse allegations being dismissed 24 min: TW Sexual Abuse in TPD. Here is a link to R. L. Stollar’s original tweet thread. Intro: music by Krispin Mayfield (indebted to the song “Ashton” by Michael W. Smith. Voice clips from pastor Steve Waldon and his youtube channel, where he reviewed This Present Darkness in 2018. This Present Darkness Wikipedia page. This Present Darkness sparknotes (short summary for those who are curious). This Lying Survivor: Frank E. Peretti and Evangelical Fears about False Abuse Allegations by R.L. Stollar for Fathom Magazine. 39 min: Frank Peretti book on bullying called The Wounded Spirit.
Listener questions about The Ties that Bind and the future of the Prophetic Imagination Station podcast
Perhaps the worst episode in the whole album, #triggerwarning and buckle your seat belts.
We discuss church, the Lord's day, and voice actors -- including one of our favorite actors featured on this episode of AIO.
Listen to the episode we discuss here for free: https://www.whitsendblog.org/2014/06/the-ties-that-bind-part-1/
Also, follow along with these discussion questions: http://media.focusonthefamily.com/aio/pdfs/aio-58-discussion-guide.pdf
THE MORTAL COIL! Parts one and two, we discuss them both. And what evangelicalism has taught us about what happens when we die.
We discuss "Kidsboro" and what happens when you let kids create their own civilization in the woods, as well as how to get involved in local politics to love your neighbor as yourself, as well as how to hold power accountable.
We discuss TWO Adventures in Odyssey episodes about homeschool and evolution in public schools.
propheticimaginationstation #focusonthefamily #walterbruggeman #adventuresinodyssey #aio #manifestdestiny #christophercolumbus #dlmayfield
An introduction to our podcast, as well as what's in store for the next 6-episode season of The Prophetic Imagination Station, where we'll be exploring the political lens of Adventures in Odyssey, and looking at their perspectives on US history, government, judicial system, public schools, and more.
This 4th of July, we listened to "By Dawn's Early Light" and talk about how we make sense of the history of the U.S.
We discuss the episode where the AIO writers tackle the topic of discrimination and prejudice.
We discuss an AiO classic which tackles a critical issue of its time -- Dungeons and Dragons!