In this week's bonus podcast, we expand on our conversation with Mary Button.  We talk more about the politics of art, and art as religious expression.  We discuss Clarence Jordan's Cotton Patch Gospels, and explore Button's most recent work, a Stations of the Corss based in narratives from the recent conflicts in Syria.

"I try to use old stories to draw my viewers into new meanings," says painter Mary Button.  Button trained in fine arts at New York University, and studied theology at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta.  Her work has been featured in events at the United Nations and the national Council of Churches, and she is currently an artist-in-residence at First Congregational Church in Memphis, Tennessee.

In 1995, Robert Rhodes and his family sold most of their possessions ans went to live on the Minnesota prairie in religious seclusion.  Rhodes had gone to live among the Hutterites, a 500 year old religious movement centered on communal ownership of property, radical pacifism, and an intense fervor for the Gospel.

By 2002, Rhodes and his family had left the Hutterites.  He chronicles his six years there in the book Nightwatch: An Inquiry into Solitude.

Also on the broadcast, Huffigton Post writer and lay theologian David J. Dunn explains to Christians why they should reconsider the ideas they have about Hell.

Bonus audio from the interview with Robert Rhodes that we were unable to include in the broadcast version of the show due to time.

This is an extra part of the interview with Todd Green we weren't able to include in the broadcast portion of the show.

Legislation against Sharia law and vandalism against Mosques in Virginia and Tennessee are just the most recent outbreaks of anti-Muslim sentiment that many refer to as "Islamophobia."  Our guest, Todd Green, assistant professor of religion at Luther College, talks with us about the religious and political aspects of Islamophobia, and the factors that contribute to its presence in American culture.

Also, Travis Ables offers comments about the television show Community.

This week we talk with pastor and author Stacy Smith about her book, Bless Her Heart: Life as a Young Clergy Woman.  Co-authored with Ashley-Anne Masters, the book gathers anecdotes from female pastors from across denominational lines, and offers frank advice about the joys and pitfalls of being a young woman starting out a career in ministry.

Also, Katy Scrogin reviews Stephen Sheehi's book, Islamophobia: The Ideological Campaign against Muslims.