The McKrakenCast: Recent Episodes
wtravismcmaken
Dr. W. Travis McMaken carries on conversations with friends, books he's reading, and the strange voices inside his head. He is a professor of religion and author of books on theology. On Twitter: @WTravisMcMaken
This is the 5th and final part in a series of adult education (Sunday School) classes that I taught at St. Charles Presbyterian Church (USA) in the early months of 2020. It provides a fairly thorough discussion of the Scots Confession's history and theology targeted (hopefully, effectively so) at the generally educated churchgoer.
Part 5 continues exploring the background of the Scots Confession. It deals with life and times of John Knox, the principal author of the Scots Confession, cover his departure from England in 1554 to avoid the reign of "Bloody Mary" Tudor, his time in Geneva and Frankfurt, his return to Scotland in 1559, and his legacy. It also explores chapters 21 - 25 in the confession itself, addressing topics like the purpose of the sacraments, the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper, the Holy Spirit's work in the sacraments, government and civil authority, and the two gifts given to the church.
This is Part 5 in a 5-part series. You can find the series index here. Click here for the blog post corresponding to this episode, and click here to access this content on YouTube.
=========================
I write books. I run a blog. I have a YouTube channel. I teach.
Join me for a conversation with Dr. Ash Cocksworth (Twitter, University of Roehampton) as we talk about our recently released co-edited volume, Karl Barth: Spiritual Writings, in the Paulist Press Classics of Western Spirituality series. We discuss how Ash and I got to know each other and came to work together on this volume, what our favorite things about the book are, who should read the book, how politics relates to spirituality, and much more. Marmite even comes up at one point and a brilliant bit of wordplay by yours truly falls totally flat. It was a fun conversation.
Ash and I were joined by my friend, Dr. Kate Hanch (Twitter, First St. Charles United Methodist Church), who functioned as our special guest host and moderator for the conversation. Once you’ve ordered your copy of Karl Barth: Spiritual Writings, head over to Fortress Press to pre-order Kate’s forthcoming book, Storied Witness: The Theology of Black Women Preachers in 19th-Century America.
=========================
I write books. I run a blog. I have a YouTube channel. I teach.
This is the third of what has been a three part series of adult spiritual formation / education (Sunday School) classes that I recently finished teaching at St. Charles Presbyterian Church (USA), here in March of 2022. The date for this particular recording was March 20, 2022. During this series, I lead discussion of the Revised Common Lectionary texts for these Sundays in Lent. Many thanks to my sisters and brothers who joined in the conversation.
This Sunday's readings were:
- Isaiah 55:1-9
- Psalm 63:1-81
- 1 Corinthians 10:1-13
- Luke 13:1-9
You can access these readings here.
We discussed things like:
- Spiritualizing vs eschatological / apocalyptic approaches to the Judeo-Christian tradition in these texts
- More on Judaism, Christianity, and the perils of supercessionism
- A God-inspired vision of what the world could be if we could "buy...without money" and not "labor of that which does not satisfy"
- God's people as attracting the interest of the nations and drawing them in rather than a geographically expansionist view
- A moral interpretation for God's thoughts and ways being different than ours
- Allegorical interpretation in Paul even if the Reformers didn't much care for it as an interpretive strategy
- Bad things don't happen to you because you're a bad person
=========================
I write books. I run a blog. I have a YouTube channel. I teach.
This is the second of what should be a three part series of adult spiritual formation / education (Sunday School) classes that I'm currently teaching at St. Charles Presbyterian Church (USA), here in March of 2022. The date for this particular recording was March 13, 2022. During this series, I will be leading discussion of the Revised Common Lectionary texts for these Sundays in Lent. Many thanks to my sisters and brothers who joined in the conversation.
This Sunday's readings were:
- Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18
- Psalm 27
- Philippians 3:17-4:1
- Luke 13:31-35
You can access these readings here.
We discussed things like:
- Abram / Abraham's 318 "trained men" and what he could possibly have to be afraid of
- Suzerain treaties
- Genesis 15:6 and its influence on the Abrahamic faiths (Judaism, Christianity, Islam)
- Depictions of Jesus's relationship with the Pharisees and the place of Jesus-following Pharisees in the early days of what would become Christianity
- The apocryphal Lives of the Prophets
- Feminine imagery for God / God and gender
=========================
I write books. I run a blog. I have a YouTube channel. I teach.
This is the first of what should be a three part series of adult spiritual formation / education (Sunday School) classes that I'm currently teaching at St. Charles Presbyterian Church (USA), here in March of 2022. The date for this particular recording was March 6, 2022. During this series, I will be leading discussion of the Revised Common Lectionary texts for these Sundays in Lent. Many thanks to my sisters and brothers who joined in the conversation.
This Sunday's readings were:
- Deuteronomy 26:1-11
- Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16
- Romans 10:8b-13
- Luke 4:1-13
You can access these readings here.
We discussed things like:
- My complicated relationship to the liturgical year and lectionary
- Lent, Zwingli, and the origins of the Reformed tradition
- How maybe Ash Wednesday should come before Mardi Gras
- How we should treat "aliens" / immigrants
- How observation of the Sabbath is explained differently in Exodus 20 compared to Deuteronomy 5
- How the Jewish and Christian traditions identify God and God's people by telling stories / recounting history
- The protoevangelium in Genesis 3:15 and the Reformed tradition's problems with replacement theology / supercessionism
- Calling on the name of the Lord and why LORD shows up in all capital letters in the Old Testament
=========================
I write books. I run a blog. I have a YouTube channel. I teach.
This is Part 4 in a series of adult education (Sunday School) classes that I taught at St. Charles Presbyterian Church (USA) in the early months of 2020. It provides a fairly thorough discussion of the Scots Confession's history and theology targeted (hopefully, effectively so) at the generally educated churchgoer.
Part 4 continues exploring the background of the Scots Confession. It deals with life and times of John Knox, the principal author of the Scots Confession, from the history of Scotland leading up to his birth to Knox's departure from England in 1554 to avoid the reign of "Bloody Mary" Tudor. It also explores chapters 16 - 20 in the confession itself, addressing topics like the marks of the church, universal salvation, the supersessionism in Reformed ecclesiology, the afterlife, and the authority of Scripture.
This is Part 4 in a 5-part series. You can find the series index here. Click here for the blog post corresponding to this episode, and click here to access this content on YouTube.
=========================
I write books. I run a blog. I have a YouTube channel. I teach.
This content lived on Youtube behind a privacy wall for a couple of years, but now I've released it into the wild. If you want to enjoy the video version, just click here. I talk about the martyrdom of Polycarp, an interview I once saw on TV between Stephen Colbert and Ricky Gervais, and why Christians need to have well-developed atheist muscles.
=========================
I write books. I run a blog. I have a YouTube channel. I teach.
This is Part 3 in a series of adult education (Sunday School) classes that I taught at St. Charles Presbyterian Church (USA) in the early months of 2020. It provides a fairly thorough discussion of the Scots Confession's history and theology targeted (hopefully, effectively so) at the generally educated churchgoer.
Part 3 continues exploring the background of the Scots Confession. It deals with John Calvin and the Swiss Reformation, including Calvin's teachings on the knowledge of God, as well as providing a very brief overview of the English Reformation. It also explores chapters 11 - 15 in the confession itself, addressing topics like Christ's intercession at the right hand of the Father, the afterlife, faith, "total depravity," "good" works and merit, and the Christian's ongoing struggle against sin.
This is Part 3 in a 5-part series. You can find the series index here. Click here for the blog post corresponding to this episode, and click here to access this content on YouTube.
=========================
I write books. I run a blog. I have a YouTube channel. I teach.
The androcentric nature of Barth's language notwithstanding, in this section he addresses the human condition and the "contradiction" at the heart of our existence, as well as reflecting on how it can be that God encounters us in the midst of that contradiction as "the answer to our question" (Diktatsatz).
This is part 5 of a multi-part series. You can find the series index here. Click here for the blog post corresponding to this episode, and click here to access this content on YouTube.
I begin the audio recordings by reading Barth’s Diktatsatz, so I will begin reproducing that here as well. The bold is mine and indicates where I find emphasis:
God's revelation, which is the basis of Christian preaching, is the answer to our question how we can overcome the contradiction in our existence, which we have to view not as our destiny but as our responsible act, and which we know that we cannot overcome. But we know ourselves in this regard only as God makes himself known to us. We would not ask about God had God not already answered us. Because of this, we can neither evade the question about God nor settle it in any sense.
=========================
I write books. I run a blog. I have a YouTube channel. I teach.
This is Part 2 in a series of adult education (Sunday School) classes that I taught at St. Charles Presbyterian Church (USA) in the early months of 2020. It provides a fairly thorough discussion of the Scots Confession's history and theology targeted (hopefully, effectively so) at the generally educated churchgoer.
Part 2 gets into the background of the Scots Confession. It surveys the state of the late medieval Christian Church as well as a number of reform movements (Francis of Assisi, Wycliffe, Hus, etc.) and gives a brief overview of Martin Luther's reformation and theology. It also explores chapters 6 - 10 in the confession itself, addressing topics like the incarnation, election, christology, atonement / salvation, and the creedal descent into hell.
This is Part 2 in a 5-part series. You can find the series index here. Click here for the blog post corresponding to this episode, and click here to access this content on YouTube.
=========================
I write books. I run a blog. I have a YouTube channel. I teach.
This is Part 1 in a series of adult education (Sunday School) classes that I taught at St. Charles Presbyterian Church (USA) in the early months of 2020. It provides a fairly thorough discussion of the Scots Confession's history and theology targeted (hopefully, effectively so) at the generally educated churchgoer.
Part 1 tries to answer the question of what a confession actually is in different Christian traditions, talks about the context and character of the Scots Confession, and explores chapters 1 - 5 in the confession itself.
This is Part 1 in a 5-part series. You can find the series index here. Click here for the blog post corresponding to this episode, and click here to access this content on YouTube.
=========================
I write books. I run a blog. I have a YouTube channel. I teach.
We return to Barth’s first dogmatics lectures, and to the elaboration of one of his key theological concepts – both in this earlier period as well as throughout his later Church Dogmatics, although there it recedes into the background a bit despite continuing to be of foundational importance: Deus dixit, God has spoken.
This is part 4 of a multi-part series. You can find the series index here. Click here for the blog post corresponding to this episode, and click here to access this content on YouTube.
I begin the audio recordings by reading Barth’s Diktatsatz, so I will begin reproducing that here as well. The bold is mine and indicates where I find emphasis:
Christian preachers dare to speak about God. The permission and requirement to do so can rest only on their adoption of the witness of the prophets and apostles that underlies the church, the witness which is to the effect that God himself has spoken and that for this reason, and with this reference, they too must speak about God. This assumption can arise only because they take it that God’s address is directed to them as well. It means that with fear and trembling they recognize God as the true subject of the biblical witness and their own proclamation.
=========================
I write books. I run a blog. I have a YouTube channel. I teach.
The Belhar Confession is about speaking the gospel in a time of rampant racial oppression. Those currents continue to run strongly in the USA, and the current COVID-19 crisis has only fanned the flames. The PC(USA)’s newest confession has much for us to hear in this moment lest the temporary social distancing necessary for physical help ultimately result in exacerbating white supremacism's harmful social distancing from racial and otherwise minority communities.
The PC(USA) adopted the Belhar Confession as part of its Book of Confessions at the 222nd General Assembly in 2016.
Presbyteries and local congregations were asked to engage with the confession as part of the church’s process of discernment. So in the Fall of 2015, I worked with some of the other leaders of my congregation – St. Charles Presbyterian Church – to organize a four-week adult education series on the confession. It was my job to provide the introductory session, covering Belhar’s background and significance.
I didn’t record that material at the time, but I came across that material again recently and thought that it might be worth sharing. Follow the links above for more resources on Belhar, as well as the text of the confession itself.
Also available in video.
=========================
I write books. I run a blog. I have a YouTube channel. I teach.
More on Barth’s first dogmatics lectures! This episode addresses the relationship between dogmatics and preaching. We get a number of Barth “greatest hits” – like an early form of his approach to the three-fold Word of God (revelation, scripture, and preaching), and his distinction between regular and irregular dogmatics. But the central issue is the relationship between God’s word and the human word of preaching. Also, I use the idea of Sachkritik to expand on Barth’s definition of theology.
This is part 3 of a multi-part series, and you can find the series index here. It is also available on YouTube. Make sure to subscribe via your preferred site.
=========================
I write books. I run a blog. I have a YouTube channel. I teach.
I read a lot of books in 2019. Here are my top 5.
Featured Books:
- Balmer, Evangelicalism in America
- Heschel, The Insecurity of Freedom: Essays on Human Existence
- Hunsinger, Karl Barth and Radical Politics, 2nd edition
- Marable, Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention
- Weinberg & Bealer, The World of Caffeine: The Science and Culture of the World's Most Popular Drug
Also available on Youtube.
=========================
I write books. I run a blog. I have a YouTube channel. I teach.
You're bored of hearing about the men of the Reformation. Get the scoop on some of the key Reformation women!
Click here to access written and video versions of this content.
=========================
I write books. I run a blog. I have a YouTube channel. I teach.
Continuing our dive into Karl Barth's first attempt at writing a dogmatics, this episode tackles the first section: The Word of God as the Problem of Dogmatics. He discusses what it means to think of dogmatics as a science, and we also encounter an early version of his doctrine of the three-fold Word of God (revelation, Scripture, and preaching). Barth also reflects on why he thinks a prolegomena is necessary when doing theology, and I riff a bit on his recommendations for how to go about studying theology.
This is part 2 of a multi-part series, and you can find the series index here. It is also available on YouTube. Make sure to subscribe via your preferred site.
=========================
I write books. I run a blog. I have a YouTube channel. I teach.
Travel with me back to the early 1920s and Karl Barth's first attempt at writing a dogmatics. Launched while teaching at the University of Göttingen, this was the genesis of the material that would become Church Dogmatics approximately a decade later. What we call the Göttingen Dogmatics in English is especially interesting to me because it is much closer to Barth's work as pastor-cum-socialist organizer.
This is the first of a multi-part series, and it is the first series that I have produced primarily for the podcast medium. It is also available on YouTube. Make sure to subscribe via your preferred site.
Find episode 2 here, and get the series index here.
=========================
I write books. I run a blog. I have a YouTube channel. I teach.
Dr. W. Travis McMaken and Rev. Dr. Nichole Torbitzky (both of the Lindenwood University Philosophy & Religion program) discuss Colin Gunton's book on Karl Barth and Charles Hartshorne - "Becoming and Being" - in an effort to help Barthian and Process theologians understand each other better. This is part 3 of a multi-part series.
Lindenwood University Philosophy & Religion department: https://www.lindenwood.edu/academics/academic-schools/school-of-humanities/philosophy-and-religion/
McMaken's Twitter: https://twitter.com/WTravisMcMaken
Torbitzky's Twitter: https://twitter.com/ntorbitzky
Torbitzky's LU profile: http://www.lindenwood.edu/about/directories/faculty-staff-directory/details/ntorbitzky/
McMaken's LU profile: http://www.lindenwood.edu/about/directories/faculty-staff-directory/details/wtmcmaken/
Gunton's book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Being-Hartshorne-Theological-Monographs/dp/0198267134/
We couldn't find a live link to the John Cobb book that Torbitzky mentioned at the end of the video, so here's another (also by Cobb) that's a good beginning resource: https://www.amazon.com/Process-Theology-Introductory-John-Cobb/dp/0664247431/
Also, there's this video of a lecture by Cobb: https://youtu.be/Zo5b2Pi8piQ
This is an excerpt from an essay by Helmut Gollwitzer about Karl Barth and socialism.
Available in video format.
==========================
I write books! Check them out here.
I run a blog! Check it out here.
==========================
Excerpt source: Helmut Gollwitzer, "Kingdom of God and Socialism in the Theology of Karl Barth," in George Hunsinger (ed., trans.), Karl Barth and Radical Politics, 2nd ed. (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2017), 83-85.
Image source and attribution: Stiftung Haus der Geschichte [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)].
This is the third in a three-part series that I have done on How I Read John Calvin. Truth in advertising: Karl Barth makes an appearance (yes, again), but so does Francis Turretin!
Hint: it's not predestination.
You can access this content in video format.
I read a lot of books in 2018. Here are my top 5.
The original tweet:
https://twitter.com/WTravisMcMaken/status/1079844334571347970
Also on Youtube: https://youtu.be/JnJypQXwqEc
Featured books:
Taylor, “From BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation” – DET post: http://derevth.blogspot.com/2018/03/what-am-i-reading-keeanga-yamahtta.html
Cone, “Martin & Malcolm & America” – DET post: http://derevth.blogspot.com/2018/05/brief-book-note-james-cones-martin.html
Niebuhr, “Moral Man and Immoral Society” - https://www.amazon.com/Reinhold-Niebuhr-Immoral-Society-Politics/dp/B00HTK2CQ4/
Brown, “Ransom of the Soul” – DET post: http://derevth.blogspot.com/2019/01/brief-book-note-peter-browns-ransom-of.html
Pedersen, “The Eternal Covenant” – DET post: http://derevth.blogspot.com/2019/03/brief-book-note-pedersens-eternal.html
=========================
I write books! Check them out here:
https://www.amazon.com/W.-Travis-McMaken/e/B00CHN7FWE/
I run a blog! Check it out here:
http://derevth.blogspot.com/
I teach! Check me out here:
https://www.lindenwood.edu/about/directories/faculty-staff-directory/details/WTMcMaken/
=========================
Music credit:
Sliabh - Cathal by Aislinn is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License.
For this recording, David Congdon and I sat down (metaphorically) with Juan Torres for a wide-ranging interview about Dialectical Theology, universalism, religion and politics, and more.
Juan Torres on Twitter
David Congdon on Twitter
Travis McMaken on Twitter
Order Congdon's The God Who Saves
Order McMaken's Our God Loves Justice
This content is also available in video format on YouTube.
In this installment I review David Steinmetz's book, Reformers in the Wings, and talk a bit about Reformation history and some of its lesser known figures.
This content is also available in video, if you prefer.
If you'd like to learn more about the Reformation, there's lots of material waiting for you at at DET (the theology blog that I run).
Friedrich Schleiermacher is awesome. Lots of folks love to hate him, but I'm here to tell you that you should read him.
In this recording, I discuss the 5th of Schleiermacher's speeches from On Religion. I've re-purposed a recording that I made for a class that I no longer teach. I hope you find it helpful or at least entertaining.
This content appeared first on YouTube.
Rev. Dr. Nichole Torbitzky, one of my colleagues in the Lindenwood University Philosophy & Religion program, joins me to discuss Colin Gunton's book on Karl Barth and Charles Hartshorne - Becoming and Being - in an effort to help Barthian and Process theologians understand each other better. This is part 1 of a multi-part series.
Follow Nichole on Twitter: @ntorbitzky
This is part two in a three-part series on How I Read John Calvin. It tackles the issue of whether it is possible - within the context of Calvin's theology - to know God on the basis of human rationality and observation of the world. Truth in advertising: Karl Barth makes an appearance.
This is the live recording of my presentation to the Karl Barth Society of North America at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion in Boston (2017), with a brief, informal introduction by George Hunsinger.
Get my book on Gollwitzer here!
This is the first in a three-part series on How I Read John Calvin. Thanks to Joshua Torrey (Twitter: @JoshuaTorrey) for sparking the idea.
At one point I say that McNeill published a selection of the Institutes; I should have said that Donald McKim did so.
Elsie McKee's book is entitled, The Pastoral Ministry and Worship in Calvin’s Geneva (Geneva: Droz, 2016).
Rev. Dr. Nichole Torbitzky, one of my colleagues in the Lindenwood University Philosophy & Religion program, joins me to discuss Colin Gunton's book on Karl Barth and Charles Hartshorne - Becoming and Being - in an effort to help Barthian and Process theologians understand each other better. This is part 1 of a multi-part series.
Follow Nichole on Twitter: @ntorbitzky
This is my interview with Rev. Kate Hanch about Julian of Norwich. We discuss Dame Julian's sociohistorical context, her doctrine of the Trinity, the metaphors that she uses for God and for Jesus, what texts you should read to get to know her better, and more. We also talk a little about what it means to be a Cooperative Baptist.
Follow Kate on Twitter: @KateHanch
David Congdon joins me as we provide an introduction to dialectical theology and announce the launch of the new Society for Dialectical Theology.
If you would like to join the Society for Dialectical Theology, follow this link: http://bit.ly/2gbBblH
Follow David on Twitter: @dwcongdon
John Calvin was the leading Protestant reformer in Geneva, Switzerland, during the second generation of the Reformation. One of the founders of the Reformed / Presbyterian tradition, his theology remains highly influential for many people still today. In this episode, I answer some questions about all that.
I read a lot of books in 2017. Here are my top 5.
Featured books:
- (#OGLJ) McMaken, Our God Loves Justice
- Ch’en, Buddhism in China
- Cone, The Cross and the Lynching Tree
- Van Buren, Christ in Context
- Tillich, The Socialist Decision
- Prum, The Evolution of Beauty