The Protagonistas: Recent Episodes
Kat Armas
The Protagonistas is a podcast centered on highlighting the stories and experiences of Black, Indigenous, and other women of color among communities of faith. Our conversations sit at the intersection of race, gender, sexuality and spirituality.
Join Kat and author of A Brown Girl's Epiphany, Aurelia Davila Pratt, as they chat about what it looks like to reclaim your own intuition and live into new paradigms so we can experience individual and collective liberation.
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Follow Aurelia: @revaureliajoy
In this episode, Kat reads a reflection from Sacred Belonging on women, the Bible, and sexualized violence.
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Read Kat's newsletter: katarmas.substack.com.
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In this episode, Kat shares a reflection on the word "logos" and how that connects to our relationship with all things.
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In this episode, Kat talks about a wisdom that is intuitive and embodied. A wisdom that becomes.
Please leave a review if you haven't already!
Preorder Sacred Belonging.
Follow Kat on social media: @kat_armas
This week Kat chats with Anishinaabe and Ukrainian writer from Lac Seul First Nation, Patty Krawec about her book Becoming Kin. Patty is the cohost of the Medicine for the Resistance podcast and cofounder of the Nii'kinaaganaa Foundation, which collects funds and disperses them to Indigenous people and organizations.
In this episode Kat chats about how ecologists have claimed that our world is both chaotic and stable- a truth that can change how we engage with each other and the divine.
Subscribe to Kat's newsletter: katarmas.com/newsletter
Preorder Sacred Belonging: http://bakerpublishinggroup.com/books/sacred-belonging/406220
Did Darwin really say survival is of the "fittest"? and what does it mean to be at home in who we are? Perhaps Jesus had some thoughts on this (as we can see from his interaction with the demon possessed man).
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Hola Protagonistas listeners! It's so wonderful to be back!
In this episode, Kat gives an update on the near-future of the Protagonistas and gives a post-Pentecost reflection.
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Do you love children's books that are for adults, too?
In this episode Kat chats with bestselling author Dorena Williamson. Dorena is passionate about showing children—and adults—that differences can be curiously explored and joyfully celebrated. Using a graceful approach, her books tackle tough subjects with storytelling that enriches young hearts and minds. Dorena's most recent children's book The Celebration Place won the 2022 Jerry Pinkney Children's Book Award.
We have an exciting new episode today with Karen González about her recent book Beyond Welcome! Karen's new book takes us further into the conversation about immigration, challenging us to go deeper than simply welcoming immigrants. In this conversation, Karen and Kat chat about the myth of the good immigrant, immigration in the Bible, assimilation vs. integration, and so many more topics. We hope you enjoy the conversation!
Follow Karen @_karenjgonzalez
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Follow Chasing Justice @chasingjustice_
We are back!
We took a little hiatus to recuperate after a full Spring and Summer seasons, but Kat is back with an incredible new interview about disability and the church with Dr. Amy Kenny! If you haven't read Amy's book My Body is Not a Prayer Request yet, you 100% should. She is brilliant and hilarious and her work is a much-needed gift to the church.
Follow Amy @dramykenny
Follow Kat @kat_armas
We have an exciting episode today with Lisa Sharon Harper about her recent book Fortune! As Harper lights a path through national and religious history, she clarifies exactly how and when the world broke and shows the way to redemption for us all. The book culminates with a vision of truth-telling, reparation, and forgiveness that leads to beloved community. You will surely enjoy the conversation!
From Ferguson to New York, and from Germany and South Africa to Australia and Brazil, Lisa Sharon Harper leads trainings that increase clergy and community leaders’ capacity to organize people of faith toward a just world. A prolific speaker, writer and activist, Ms. Harper is the founder and president of FreedomRoad.us, a consulting group dedicated to shrinking the narrative gap in our nation by designing forums and experiences that bring common understanding, common commitment and common action.
Follow Lisa @Lisasharper
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Follow Chasing Justice @chasingjustice_
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In this episode, Kat chats with Gail Song Bantum about her and her husband, Brian’s new book, Choosing Us: Marriage and Mutual Flourishing in a World of Difference. Gail rewrites the marriage narrative by highlighting mutual flourishing and the freedom and beauty that comes with that in our relationships with our spouses.
Reverend Gail Song Bantum is the Lead Pastor of Quest Church, an urban, multi, and inclusive community in the heart of Seattle. Pastor Gail is particularly passionate about empowering emerging leaders and is a highly sought after speaker, preacher, and consultant. She is a contributing author of the New York Times Bestseller, A Rhythm of Prayer: A Collection of Meditations for Renewal, edited by Sarah Bessey, and co-author of Choosing Us: Marriage and Mutual Flourishing in a World of Difference. Pastor Gail received her M.Div. from Duke Divinity School and is an ordained minister in the Evangelical Covenant Church. She and her husband, Dr. Brian Bantum, have three young adult sons and reside in Seattle, WA.
Follow Gail and her family on their website www.theBantumspace.com
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Support The Protagonistas on Patreon!
This episode, Kat chats with author Alyssa Aldape about the new Disney movie that everyone is talking about (or should we say, singing about?): Encanto! Alyssa shares about power, calling and how Encanto’s insightful messages relate to the church.
Follow Alyssa on social media @aaaldape
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Follow Chasing Justice @chasingjustice_
Support The Protagonistas on Patreon!
In this episode, Kat talks with Candice Benbow about her book, Red Lip Theology. Candice shares about what it looks like to be authentic in our relationships with God and the freedom that comes with that.
Candice Marie Benbow is a multi-genre theologian who situates her work at the intersections of beauty, faith, feminism and culture, giving voice to Black women’s shared experiences of healing and journeying toward wholeness. Reimagining how faith can be a tool of liberation and transformation for women and girls, she challenges Black women to think critically about how they see God and the world.
Named by Sojourners as one of “10 Christian Women Shaping the Church in 2020”, Candice has written for various outlets including ESSENCE Magazine, Glamour Magazine, The Root, VICE, Shondaland, MadameNoire and the Me Too Movement.
Her first book, Red Lip Theology: For Church Girls Who’ve Considered Tithing to the Beauty Supply Store When Sunday Morning Isn’t Enough is out now wherever books are found!
Follow Candice @candicebenbow
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In this episode Kat chats with writer, speaker, and singer Sharifa Stevens about reclaiming submission, ridiculous hope, and what it really means to be "awake"- among other things.
Sharifa is the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, born and raised in New York, and currently residing with her family in Dallas, TX. She graduated from Columbia University in New York with a Bachelor in African American Studies before earning a master in theology from Dallas Theological Seminary. Sharifa is a conglomeration of intersections: Bronx wisdom and prep-school code-switching; smoke shop Now-and-Laters and church peppermints; hip-hop and hymns. Intersections can be a mash-up—rife with both tragedy and opportunity; places of pause within movement. Sharifa aspires to use writing as a vehicle that moves readers to intersect with the sacred and the honest. She contributed to the book Vindicating the Vixens: Revisiting Sexualized, Vilified, & Marginalized Women of the Bible and Rally: Communal Prayers for Lovers of Jesus and Justice. Sharifa is married to a Renaissance man, and mother to two lively boys.
Follow Sharifa @sharifawrites
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In this episode Kat chats with pastora Inés Velasquez-McBryde about cosiendo and creating- an embodiment of Abuelita Faith. Inés shares about her Abuela Sara (who is featured in Ch. 6 of the book) and about what abuelita theology means to her. Inés was the very first guest on The Protagonistas!
She is co-pastor of The Church We Hope For- check them out! Follow them at @thechurchwehopefor on Instagram and Twitter.
Follow Inés @inesmcbryde.
Follow Kat @kat_armas.
In this episode, Kat chats with the face of The Black Enneagram (on Instagram) Dayo Ajanaku! Dayo and Kat chat about enneagram energies found in Abuelita Faith and what we can learn from abuelita theologians.
Follow Dayo: @theblackenneagram
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In this episode Kat chats with Mvskoke writer and educator, Mariah Humphries.
Through her and her ancestors experience navigating the tension between Native and White American culture, Mariah is an educator to non-Native spaces. With over 20 years of vocational ministry service, she is focused on theology, racial literacy and reconciliation within the American Church. She is the current Be the Bridge Ministry educator where she works with religious leaders to navigate racial reconciliation in their congregations.
Kat and Mariah chat about her experiences growing up Native, the sacredness of the land, her racial justice work, and much more.
In today's episode Kat chats with Afro-Nuyorican Boricua Dr. Elizabeth Ríos about the Latin@ church, barrio theology, "Progressive Pentecostalism," women in church planting, and so much more.
Make sure to follow Dr. Liz on social media: @drlizrios
Visit her website: https://www.elizabethrios.com/
Follow Kat Armas @kat_armas
Preorder Abuelita Faith for exclusive podcast episodes: www.katarmas.com/book
In this recap episode, Kat reflects on her conversation with Sarah Williams.
Follow Kat on Instagram and Twitter: @kat_armas
Preorder Abuelita Faith for exclusive podcast episodes: katarmas.com/book
In today’s beautiful and personal episode of The Protagonistas, Kat chats with Korean American writer and seminary student, Sarah Williams, about her experiences as a transracial adoptee.
Sarah shares some insight on her transracial adoption and what it means to "come out of the fog" in regard to adoption and white supremacy. She also shares some adoptee-centered biblical interpretations and reflections.
Follow Sarah on Instagram and Twitter: @anadopteetalksback and @re.coalition
Follow Kat on IG and Twitter: @kat_armas
In this episode, Kat highlights some key points about silence and contemplation from her conversation with Lisa Colon Delay.
In this episode, Kat chats with Puerto Rican author and podcaster Lisa Colon Delay about her new book The Wild Land Within: Cultivating Wholeness through Spiritual Practice
Kat and Lisa dialogue about the contemplative life, the difference between Eastern and Western traditions (including atonement theories), spiritual formation during these times, and how marginalized people and groups used contemplation and spiritual formation for sustenance in the long road of racial justice. They also talk about wounds and fears and how contemplation and silence before God might help us heal.
Purchase Lisa's book and follow her on social media @LisaDelay and www.lisadelay.com
Also follow Kat @kat_armas and www.katarmas.com
In this recap episode, Kat highlights some of the key points in her conversation with Quina Aragon. She also includes a short clip of Quina's recent book Love Gave.
Follow Quina on social media: @quina_aragon
Follow Kat on social media: @kat_armas
Join The Protagonistas' patreon: patreon.com/theprotagonistas
In this week's conversation, Kat chats with Jamaican, Filipina, Puerto Rican children’s book author and spoken word poet Quina Aragon about her mixed identity, a biblical theology of ethnic identity, why adults need children's books, and a little bit about her recent book "Love Gave."
Visit Quina's website: quinaaragon.com
Instagram: @quina_aragon
This is her uncle's song she mentions in the interview: https://youtu.be/d_z_djHbo8E
In this recap episode Kat highlights a key part of her conversation with Karla, namely the importance of taking up space. Kat shares about how women in the Bible took up space after their encounters with Jesus and we should too.
In this episode, Kat chats with Afro-Latina writer and podcaster Karla Mendoza about her story in leaning into joy and taking up space, as well as her journey of decolonizing.
Follow Karla on Twitter: @dearkarla_ and Instagram: @dearkarla
Also check out her podcast: El Cafecito with Karla
In this recap episode Kat highlights some of the key points in her conversation with Tiffany Bluhm.
In this episode, Kat chats with Tiffany Bluhm about her new book, Prey Tell: Why We Silence Women Who Tell the Truth and How Everyone Can Speak Up.
Tiffany and Kat chat about power dynamics, the silencing of women, sexual assault in Scripture and elsewhere, and how BIWOC are uniquely affected by these injustices. Tiffany also expounds on all her theological insights in Prey Tell, which includes the misuse of Bible verses like Matthew 18, among others.
In this recap episode, Kat highlights some of the key points in her conversation with Bianca Mabute-Louie.
Check out the Chasing Justice podcast's episode on Anti-Asian Racism with Kathy Khang, Jazzy Johnson, and Barnabas Lin (part 1).
Kat chats with Asian American researcher, educator, consultant, and zine-creator Bianca Mabute-Louie about her spiritual upbringing, creativity in justice work, her PhD focus, and ultimately: anti-Asian racism...and how we can imagine a new future together.
Bianca conducts research, creates resources, and facilitates workshops to support individuals and organizations in their pursuit of racial justice. As a daughter of Cantonese immigrants, Bianca is especially dedicated to helping Asian Americans embrace their racial/ethnic identities, understand their place in racial politics, and hold their stake in racial justice movements. She is pursuing her PhD in Sociology at Rice University, and her forthcoming scholarship centers Asian Americans in the national discourse on race, religion, and politics.
Follow Bianca on Twitter and Instagram: @beyonkz
Visit her website to sign up for her newsletter: biancaml.com
In this recap episode, Kat highlights some of the key points in her conversation with Dr. Quanny Ard. Included is a clip from an earlier conversation with Marlena Graves.
In this episode Kat chats with Dr. Quantrilla Ard about her spirituality and faith, and the importance of believing in a practical God. This practical God is what led her to receive her PhD which centers research on Maternal Discrimination Stress and Negative Birth Outcomes among Black women and their babies.
Dr. Quanny breaks down her journey toward discovering this information and the "why" behind it (including the horribly racist history of gynecology, the Tuskegee Experiment and other failures within the system)--which is necessary information in our fight for a more just and equitable world.
If you’re someone who’s interested in research and hard facts surrounding the ways racism and discrimination affects different systems in place then this episode is definitely for you.
Follow Quanny on
Twitter: @qyard08
Instagram: @quannyboo
And her website: https://www.thephdmamma.com/about-me/
In this recap episode, Kat highlights some of the key points in her conversation with Morgan Lee. Included in a clip from an earlier conversation with Tamisha Tyler.
Welcome to the Protagonistas 2.0!
In this episode, Kat chats with Morgan Pomaika’i Lee. Morgan is Christianity Today’s global media manager and the cohost of their podcast, Quick to Listen.
In this episode, Morgan and Kat talk about the power of naming, as well as being a mixed race person, and how social location matters.
If you’re someone who is interested in getting more into the nuance of broad terms like “Latinx” or “Asian American” or “person of color” even then I think this conversation will be interesting to you as Morgan and I talk a lot about how these sort of terms both help and hurt the cause of justice.
Follow Morgan on Twitter at @mepaynl
Read her article on being a mixed-race Christian here.
Also, JOIN The Protagonista’s PATREON COMMUNITY!
In the last interview episode of 2020 Kat chats with author, speaker, pastor (and so much more) Sandra Van Opstal!
Kat and Sandra chat about Sandra’s upbringing: being the daughter of immigrants and how that has influenced the way she teaches and leads others in navigating their place in the world. Kat and Sandra also chat about recentering power and why we specifically need to center historically vulnerable women.
Sandra also shares about how her experiences in different denominations and within different communities has led her to believe that it’s our uniqueness and our differences that give us an opportunity to sharpen one another—and we must be willing to interrogate that within ourselves and each other so that we don’t end up with idolatrous theologies and perspectives.
In this second part of the conversation, Ally and Kat chat about pentecostalism, gender and the expectations of women in the church: how racism and sexism are so intertwined that it’s oftentimes hard to pick to the two apart, and how women of color are often seen as suspect just for existing.
They also talk about anti-racist work and spiritual formation—how social justice and personal transformation go together despite how many might try and pin the two against each other. With this, they engage with Paul and his commentary on Christian identity: when it comes to issues of race, what sort of things did Paul speak to and how can we read his text in such a way that informs our current reality?
Kat and Ally also chat about holding our beliefs with an open hand, being willing to learn from other denominations and expressions of faith. When reflecting on her seminary experience, Ally said that she was there to learn, not to prove what she already thought she knew to be true. Imagine if we all had this mentality when it came to theology?
Lastly, they chat about how dominant culture wants to stick our communities in monolithic, non-nuanced space or ways of thinking and being. Society often talks about the Black community or the Latinx community in stereotypical ways—ways that erase our nuanced experiences, often leading to the dehumanizing of folks—even by progressives. Many folks pity us and our communities, glossing over our rich histories and cultures. “Don’t have pity on us,” Ally says. “just treat us right.”
Discussion questions:
What are some ways the Divine has communicated with you, whether through dreams or visions?
What are some things you have learned from the faith of your ancestors?
What does the “cloud of witnesses” mean to you?
Visit Marlena’s website: https://marlenagraves.com/ where you can find links to her book and her social media handles.
You can follow her on Instagram at @oshetamoore And here for links to more of her work: https://linktr.ee/oshetam
Questions to reflect on:
What are some ways you cultivate peace in your daily life?
In what ways, or how can you “reach back” or “look back” to knowledge gained in the past and bring it into the present in order to make positive progress?
How do you engage both inner and systemic work in your personal life?
Kat chats with Mexico City native, and director of campaigns and mobilizing at Sojourners, Sandy Ovalle. Sandy leads the SojoAction team, which is building a community dedicated to putting its faith in action for social justice. Together they develop the tools and training needed to activate communities and nourish them for this moment. Sandy is also a city dweller, and a people-loving bailarina who loves writing poetry, gathering people around homemade pozole, and thinking about the complexities of living between worlds as an immigrant Latina.
In this episode, Kat and Sandy talk about those complex realities, including her mobilizing work at Sojourners and her journey to becoming an American citizen.
Visit Mini’s website: minipalmer.com
Her podcast, "The Ocean in a Drop with Mini Palmer," available on her website and the Apple iTunes Store.
Her chapter, "The Voices That Shape Us", is available in "Voices Rising: Women of Color Finding and Restoring Hope in the City" from Servant Partners Press and on Amazon.
Instagram: @qu.o.t.d
In today’s episode of The Protagonistas, Kat has an important, honest and vulnerable conversation with Christian scholar and disability advocate, Elizabeth Staszak on Disability and Faith. Elizabeth chats about her own disability, her journey of disclosure, and converting to Coptic Orthodoxy.
In this episode Kat chats with Robyn, Claudia, and Teresa—three contributing authors to Voices Rising: Women of Color Finding & Restoring Hope in the City.
Robyn, Claudia and Teresa are three women of color from diverse backgrounds who share their stories of mission, hope and survival.
Kat chats with writer, campus minister, and justice program director, Brandi Miller. Kat and Brandi chat about Jesus, theology as it pertains to race, and what it looks like to unlearn and relearn the Bible.
Brandi is on staff with Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, advocating for the dignity of all Black lives. She blogs about race and faith, and spends her time musing on the role of practical theology in racial justice. You can follow her on twitter at @brandinico or visit her author pages at: http://thesaltcollective.org/author/brandi-miller/ and https://www.huffpost.com/author/brandi-miller
To wrap up Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage month, Kat chats with Singaporean pastors and international seminary students, Jasmine and Benita. Jasmine and Benita share about their background, the role food plays in comfort, the Holy Spirit, and the beauty of using all your senses in liturgy. Enjoy!
Kat speaks with author, writer and daughter of Jamaican immigrants, Patrice Gopo. Kat and Patrice chat about the beauty and struggle of life, faith and being a Black woman in America. If you’re a creative, you’ll especially enjoy this conversation as Patrice shares some beautiful nuggets of wisdom about the process of creativity.
Kat chats with writer, speaker, coffee drinker, yoga teacher, and author of Raise Your Voice: Why We Stay Silent and How to Speak Up, Kathy Khang, about Esther, identity, assimilation, belonging and the power of names. They also chat about niceness vs. kindness, the disruptive Gospel and about what gives them hope.
You can find follow Kathy on Instagram and Twitter @mskathykhang and visit her website www.kathykhang.com.
In honor of Black History Month, Kat speaks with singer, songwriter, recording artist and scriptwriter, September Penn about Sounds of the Civil Rights Movement: The Power of Song.
In this episode, you’ll get to hear about music’s role in racial reconciliation as well as original songs from September’s production.
Kat chats with writer, speaker and immigrant advocate, Karen Gonzalez, about her personal immigration story, immigrants in Scripture, and why "welcome the immigrant" rhetoric doesn't go deep enough. Kat and Karen also chat about Karen's upcoming book with Herald Press titled "The God Who Sees: Immigrants, the Bible and the Journey to Belong."
In this episode, Kat chats with musician, actress and seminary student, January Lim about growing up as a Korean-American pastor’s kid, Asian-American representation, and the process of finding her own identity and learning to use her voice.
All music heard in this episode is from January, herself (and some with her mom)!
In today’s episode, Kat chats with Teesha Hadra. Teesha is a Jamaican, ex-lawyer, priest in training, and she is currently writing her first book with Abingdon Press titled “Black and White: Disrupting Racism One Friendship at a Time.”
Besides friendship, Teesha and Kat talk about growing up Black, going from being a lawyer to ordination to the priesthood, and interracial marriage and relationships.
In this episode Kat chats with Neelou Sattarin about patriarchy, being Iranian, and what it was like to start a new life in America. Kat also chats with president of the Center for Biblical Equality, Mimi Haddad, about being Lebanese, Jesus’s interaction with women, and patriarchy across the globe.
In this episode, Kat speaks with Esperanza Gene, a hilarious mixed-race African-American Dominicana. They talk about intersectionality, colorism, privilege within Latinx communities, protest, and the #SeminaryWhileBlack movement.
For the first part of the episode you’ll hear from two Filipinas: Francesca De Castro, a high school senior who shares about what it was like to move to America, and Joyce Del Rosario, a PhD candidate who talks about her work involving Mary, Jesus’ mother and Mary Magdalene. You’ll then hear from Sharyl, a college student and DACA recipient, who also shares her story about moving to America, and lastly, from her professor, Heather Thompson Day, who's also an author, speaker and advocate for young people of color.
For my first episode, I chat with pastor, preacher, interpreter and cross-cultural trainer, Inés Velasquez McBryde. We talk about what it’s like to be a Latina pastor in Arkansas, reclaiming that Abuelita Theology, and what “decolonizing” her faith looks like.