Religious Socialism Podcast

Maxine Phillips, Religious Socialism's current co-convener, interviews Dr. Elliot Ratzman on the history of Jewish pacifism, the contradictions of religious authoritarianism, and the historical precedent for leveraging nonviolent resistance to tyranny.

In this conversation, iconographer Kelly Latimore talks art, flourishing, protest, and spirituality, naming some practices for nourishing our spirits as we pursue justice in a toxic and demoralizing political climate. Check out his art at https://kellylatimoreicons.com

In this episode, Aaron Stauffer (Associate Director, The Wendland-Cook Program in Religion and Justice) joins to discuss faith, the strategies of broad-based community organizing, and the role of sacred values in organizing work. For more on the topic, check out his book: Listening to the Spirit: The Radical Social Gospel, Sacred Value, and Broad-based Community Organizing.

In this episode, Tripp Fuller of Homebrewed Christianity podcast joins to talk faith that's beautiful enough to be called good news, a process vision of socialism, fiction and popculture as the fullest expressions of humanity, and miscellaneous nerdiness. Join us October 17–19 in Denver for theologybeer.camp ! Use the coupon code TAKEHEARTHOBBIT for $50 off your ticket. Email us at religioussocialism@gmail.com if you plan to come, we'd love to meet up.

Jeff Wells joins the podcast to talk with us about the new book he coedited: Preaching the Uncontrolling Love of God: Sermons, Essays, and Worship Elements from the Perspective of Open, Relational, and Process Theology. Purchase his book! https://www.amazon.com/Preaching-Uncontrolling-Love-God-Perspective/dp/1958670324 To speak with Jeff or join the mailing list, contact jefferywells.love@gmail.com Join us October 17–19 in Denver for theologybeer.camp ! Use the coupon code TAKEHEARTHOBBIT for $50 off your ticket. Sign up before June 1 for reduced ticket prices. Email us at religioussocialism@gmail.com if you plan to come, we'd love to meet up.

In this special episode, we visit the Debs Museum in Terre Haute, IN to speak with museum director Allison Duerk about the life and vision of the pioneering socialist Eugene V. Debs. Visit the Debs Museum and follow them on social media for events and updates. https://debsfoundation.org https://www.facebook.com/EugeneVDebsFoundation https://www.instagram.com/debsmuseum

Scholar, philosopher, and prolific author Dr. David Bentley Hart joins the podcast to discuss Bible translation as an act of resistance, the Christian sources and support for social democracy, and the moral demands of human and creaturely relations to care for one another. Don't forget to join us at Theology Beer Camp (www.theologybeer.camp) and use the promo code HEARTGODPOD for a discount! – Check out his New Testament translation (https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300265705/the-new-testament/) – For essays on his theological and political ideas, check out "Theological Territories" (https://undpress.nd.edu/9780268107185/theological-territories/) – And per Hart's own request, check out his works of fiction like "Roland in Moonlight" (https://angelicopress.org/roland-in-moonlight-hart)

A bonus episode! Two different Q&A sessions with Joerg Rieger, Felipe Maia, and Jason Moore are bundled into this extra episode connected to Joerg's new book, "Theology in the Capitalocene." Listen for some great insights on religion, ecology, and solidarity in this turbulent era of creaturely life.

In this interview with Dr. Wideline Seraphin, we discuss the decolonizing power of Haitian spirituality and the unique literacies of a group of Haitian transnational girls, discovering the necessity of including the whole self – mental, emotional, physical, social, & spiritual – in the work for liberation. Dr. Wideline Seraphin is Assistant Professor of Literacy Studies at UTA. Her research centers on the literate lives of Black immigrant girls, critical media literacy, and teacher education.

Welcome back comrades! In this segment, Ralph & Nicole-Ann kick off a new season for Heart of a Heartless World, catching up after a long hiatus and giving a preview of what is to come this year. It's a good dose of solidarity, spirituality, and of course, socialism – all the things that give us a little hope for the world.

Seven Catholic plowshares activists entered Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base in St. Mary’s, Georgia on April 4th, 2018. They went to make real the prophet Isaiah’s command to “beat swords into plowshares.” The seven chose to act on the 50th anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who devoted his life to addressing what he called the “triple evils of militarism, racism, and materialism.” Carrying hammers and baby bottles of their own blood, the seven attempted to convert weapons of mass destruction. They hoped to call attention to the ways in which nuclear weapons kill every day, by their mere existence and maintenance. One of those seven, Mark Colville (pictured back right), talks with Colleen Shaddox about his resistance to the weapons economy and his life at Amistad Catholic Worker House in New Haven, Connecticut. Mark talks about how he and his comrades argued that their Catholic faith compelled them to act against Trident - a defense that the jury was never allowed to hear. Now he looks forward to serving his sentence for the action. As he says, much of the Bible was written inside a prison - what better place to read it?

This episode of Heart of a Heartless World features Travis Donoho and Jeremy McMahan. Travis is a professional labor union organizer and member of Thich Nhat Hahn's Order of Interbeing Sangha. Jeremy is the producer of this podcast and a Tibetan Buddhist practitioner and scholar. They discuss the relationship between socialism and Buddhism, how self care is essential for labor organizing, and why a lot of American Buddhists don't identify as socialists.

Matt Mazewski and Brendan Moore, both economics doctoral candidates and labor organizers, join “Heart of a Heartless World” to discuss the relationship between labor rights and the American Catholic Church. Matt and Brendan are interviewed by Nicole-Ann Lobo, and their conversation includes a brief history of Catholic social teaching and what papal encyclicals have to say about labor rights, the current state of American bishops and labor, the role of the Catholic Labor Network, and how Catholic higher education instutions are treating graduate student unions. Resources: Fratelli tutti Challenges the Utopia of Neoliberalism — https://christiansocialism.com/pope-francis-fratelli-tutti-socialism-capitalism/ The Catholic Labor Network — catholiclabor.org Gaudium et Spes Labor Report — http://catholiclabor.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GESAnnualReport2020.pdf The NLRB’s Theology of Labor — https://www.thestrikewave.com/original-content/religion-and-the-nlrb U.S. Bishops praise Biden’s actions on immigration — https://www.catholicsentinel.org/Content/Default/Homepage-Rotator/Article/US-bishops-praise-Biden-s-actions-on-immigration-/-3/382/41722 USCCB brief on Janus case — https://www.usccb.org/sites/default/files/about/general-counsel/amicus-briefs/upload/Janus-v-American-Federation-of-State-16-1466-bsac-usccb-amicus.pdf