This episode comes to you in partnership with Inverse Podcast. The diverse InVerse podcast community explores how the Scriptures can turn the world upside down, or be weaponized to uphold the status quo. So, this episode we’re going to talk the “T” word—theology. Theology is simply how we understand God and our relationship with God. Christian social ethics teaches that our understanding of God forms the basis for everything we do in the world. It impacts everything. This will we be a very special deep dive into the theo-ethical questions rising in the context of the genocide in Gaza. We will ..read more

This episode comes to you in partnership with The Historic African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In the spirit of the Historic Black Church, which has begun to rise up and call for a ceasefire in Gaza, St. Thomas’s 17th rector, The Very Rev. Canon Martini Shaw and his team decided to focus the church’s Lenten season on understanding what’s going on in Gaza and why it matters for our faith. So, a portion of this episode has been listened to by the St. Thomas’s Community! Last episode we spoke with historian Dr. Rashid Khalidi to help us understand “What’s going ..read more

This special episode comes to you in partnership The Historic African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas. In the spirit of the Black Church, which has begun to rise up and call for a ceasefire in Gaza, St. Thomas’s 17th rector, The Very Rev. Canon Martini Shaw and his team decided to focus the church’s Lenten season on understanding what’s going on in Gaza. So, a portion of this episode has been listened to by the parishioners of Historic African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas Church! When considering who should help us understand “What’s going on?” there couldn't be anyone better than the author ..read more

This special episode comes to you in partnership The Historic African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas. In 1787, Absalom Jones, Richard Allen and James Forten staged an action at St. George’s Methodist Church (blocks from Independence Hall—where the U.S. Constitution was about to be written). The three men went down from the gallery where Blacks were allowed to sit and knelt at the altar during prayer time. They were told they couldn’t pray alongside white parishioners, so they stood up, turned around, and walked out and established the Freedmen’s Society. That society provided the seed funding ..read more

In this critical election year where the most dedicated base for the GOP candidate is a rising tide of White Christian Nationalism within the evangelical community, we must take the time to understand it. So, we invited the producer/director of God & Country, Dan Partland, to join us in conversation. Based on the book, The Power Worshipers by Katherine Stewart, God & Country focuses in on the inner-workings of the White Christian Nationalism Movement, the decision-makers and the funders. We’d love to hear your thoughts. Thread or Insta Lisa @lisasharper or to Freedom Road @freedomroad ..read more

This episode we are joined by the filmmakers of the newly released and riveting documentary, “Bad Faith: Christian Nationalism’s Unholy War on Democracy.” Director Stephen Ujlaki has produced more than 25 feature films, made-for-television movies and documentaries, and served as dean of the Loyola Marymount University School of Film and Television. With 10 years of directing and producing experience in Hollywood, Chris Jones, co-directed the film. “Bad Faith” offers us all an incredible lesson in the roots and fruits of Christian Nationalism in the U.S. The film follows two streams of Evange ..read more

This episode we have part of Lisa Sharon Harper's posse on the show! Rev. Dr. Waltrina Middleton, Dr. Claudia Owens Shields and Corey Nathan are all partners with our work on Freedom Road. Waltrina is the executive director of Community Renewal Society and a senior consultant with Freedom Road, specializing in Spiritual Formation. Claudia is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in multi-ethnic psychology, formerly tenured professor at the Chicago School of Psychology. Claudia also serves as a senior consultant with Freedom Road. And, finally, Corey Nathan is the celebrated host of th ..read more

This episode we are joined by Rabbi Sharon Brous. In 2013 Rabbi Brous was listed as America’s #1 most influential Rabbi. Her 2016 TED Talk “It’s Time to Reclaim Religion” has been viewed 1.5 million times and is utterly inspiring. At 30 years old, Rabbi Brous founded IKAR back in 2004. IKAR is a spiritual community in Los Angeles that has become a magnet for LA’s unaffiliated Jews. Rabbi Brous has joined us on Freedom Road Podcast before when she and T’ruah president, Rabbi Jill Jacobs, helped us to understand Anti-Semitism. Rabbi Brous was invited to join us on Freedom Road because her new b ..read more

On this episode we are joined by Dr. Mitri Raheb, Founder and President of Dar al-Kalima University in Bethlehem. The most widely published Palestinian theologian to date, Dr. Raheb is the author and editor of 50 books including: Decolonizing Palestine: The Land, The People, The Bible; In the Eye of the Storm: Middle Eastern Christians in an Age of Empire and Faith in the Face of Empire: The Bible through Palestinian Eyes—among many, many others. Dr. Raheb was invited to speak with us from Bethlehem, because the world has watched the death toll of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank multip ..read more

This month we are joined by one of the foremost Christian ethicists in the world, Dr. David Gushee, Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics at Mercer University, and Chair of Christian Social Ethics at Vrije Universiteit (“Free University”) Amsterdam, and Senior Research Fellow, International Baptist Theological Study Centre and he is the author of several books, most recently, Defending Democracy from its Christian Enemies. Dr. Gushee was invited to speak with us because, well—we need his wisdom and expertise right now. Not only is the Christian church a consistent foe of demo ..read more