Things Not Seen Podcast

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the year 2000, against strong opposition,  pasthe Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, passed Congress by unanimous vote. It's supporters proclaimed that "God worked a miracle" that day on Capitol Hill. Our guest, John Mauck, was instrumental in crafting the ideas and language that became the Act. He tells us the story of how it became law. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We revisit our 2012 interview with Furman University philosophy professor J. Aaron Simmons, to discuss the relationship of Christianity and postmodern thought. Simmons identifies as a Pentecostal, a traditionally conservative Christian denomination. But his views on social issues complicate this easy label. We talk about the complexities he sees in the life of faith during this hour of conversation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our host David Dault speaks with award-winning poet, author, and journalist Judith Valente. We discuss her career as a religion reporter, as well as her explorations of modern monasticism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For Earth Day, we welcome back Boston Law Professor Jay Wexler to talk about his recent book, When God Isn't Green, which finds him exploring the points around the globe where religion and environmentalism come into conflict. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Around the world, Catholic and Protestant Christians are making preparations for Holy Week, a series of worship services leading up Easter, the day that Christians proclaim Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. During the day known as Good Friday,there is a tradition in many Christian communities to reflect on a series of phrases known as the "Seven Last Words" of Jesus as he hung on the cross. We speak with Fr. James Martin about his book, Seven Last Words, a collection of his meditations on the final hours of Jesus, and what it means for believers and nonbelievers alike.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Marge Nykaza is the founder and director of Harmony, Hope and Healing - a ministry to homeless and under-resourced families across the Chicago area. The most visible part of the ministry is choral groups composed of the homeless - but as Nykaza points out, their work is much more about the soul repair, which happens through the music. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Palm Sunday in 1990, attorney Jeanne Bishop received a phone call with the news that three members of her family - including her sister - had been brutally murdered. We take the full hour of our show this week to hear Bishop's account of her twenty-five-year journey towards forgiveness and reconciliation with her sister's killer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This hour we revisit our interview with actor and director Curt Cloninger, who has spent 30 years traveling the country performing thoughtful and thought-provoking one-man shows. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jason Micheli has cancer, and its not going away. His recent book, Cancer is Funny, is an honest, heartfelt reckoning with the reality of mortality and the Gospel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We revisit our award-winning talk with Nancy Ellen Abrams, author of A God That Could Be Real: Spirituality, Science, and the Future of Our Planet, about new discoveries in cosmology and their profound effect on our understanding of the universe and religion. In 2016 this episode won a national award for excellence in radio and podcasting from the Religion News Association. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kenneth Briggs went on a road trip to discover the condition of the Bible in America. What he found may surprise you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We revisit our 2014 interview with Reza Aslan. In early March, Aslan will premiere "Believer," a new documentary series on CNN Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We revisit our far-ranging conversation with Diana Butler Bass. Her recent book Grounded: Finding God in the World--A Spiritual Revolution is now out in paperback Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices