We're rebroadcasting our 2014 interview with the late Phyllis Tickle. In our conversation we explore the idea that our culture has been shaped by roughly 500-year cycles, which have helped define our major religious traditions for the past two millennia. According to Tickle, our present epoch - referred to by some as "The Great Emergence" - has the potential to yield a new Christianity distinct from Protestantism, Catholicism, and Orthodoxy. Dr. Tickle passed away in 2016.

We revisit our 2015 interview with Jim Wallis, founder of Sojourners. We discuss his recent book, America's Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America  

We revisit our 2015 interview with Jim Wallis, founder of Sojourners. We discuss his recent book, America's Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America  

Mahany's new book, Motherprayer, is a meditation on divine love, seen through the lens of mothering love. 

We talk with Heather King about her life as a poly-addicted alcoholic, and the central role of her religious faith in her recovery. Her most recent book, Holy Desperation: Praying As If Your Life Depends On It, is a chronicle of her journey.

We talk with Heather King about her life as a poly-addicted alcoholic, and the central role of her religious faith in her recovery. Her most recent book, Holy Desperation: Praying As If Your Life Depends On It, is a chronicle of her journey.

Michelle Alexander's work examines the hidden structures of control exerted by our criminal justice system, and the effects this control has particularly on minority populations in America. Her 2010 book, The New Jim Crow, set the tone of the conversation for understanding recent events in race relations.

Professor Plate's teachings and writings explore relations between sensual life and spiritual life. He has authored/edited eleven books and writes regularly for the Huffington Post, Religion Dispatches, Killing the Buddha, OnFaith, and other sites. He is co-founder and managing editor of Material Religion: The Journal of Objects, Art, and Belief, co-founder and president of SCRIPT (Society for Comparative Research in Iconic and Performative Texts), president of CrossCurrents/ The Association of Religion and Intellectual Life, and is a board member of the Interfaith Coalition of Greater Utica, NY. His most recent book is A History of Religion in 5 ½ Objects: Bringing the Spiritual to its Senses.

Heidi Neumark spent twenty years as the pastor of Transfiguration Lutheran Church in the South Bronx in New York City, and has spent the past decade at Trinity Lutheran Church in Manhattan. At both posts, she has encountered the same need: people on the margins - cast out and unwanted - who need to hear the Good News that they are wanted, needed, and valued.

So Reverend Neumark has focused her ministry on immigrants, the homeless, and queer and LGBTQ youth, offering them shelter and welcome in a city that is often harsh and violent.

Host David Dault speaks to Reverend Neumark about what motivates her ministry, how she reads the Bible, and what gives her hope.

Also on the show, our guest producer, Katie Lynn Murphy, files a report about her experiences of China during the recent protests.

Tattoos, foul language, and a heart for the Gospel. pastor and author Nadia Bolz-Weber talks about her new book, Accidental Saints, and the centrality of grace.