This podcast is the second (listen to Pt 1) of a special 2-part episode of RTN Theology features co-authors Soong-Chan Rah & Mark Charles talking about lament, imagination, history, politics, and a call to conciliation. Deeply theological thinkers, Charles and Rah, their partnership came about from repeatedly crossing paths speaking about the topic…

This podcast is the first of a special 2-part episode of RTN Theology features co-authors Soong-Chan Rah & Mark Charles talking about lament, imagination, history, politics, and a call to conciliation. Deeply theological thinkers, Charles and Rah, their partnership came about from repeatedly crossing paths speaking about the topics of the Doctrine …

Bob joins Bishop Gene Robinson, the chaplain of the Chautauqua Institution for a special talk about his life of faith as a professional musician, father, and friend. Their remarkable CHQ Assembly conversation comes during such a difficult time for so many, and remembers how his faith in Jesus grew amidst the crisis of his daughter, Hallie’s, brain …

RTN Theology #30 features two longtime Portlanders— D.L. Mayfield and Liz Vice (little known fact: before she was a gospel and R&B star she worked on Portlandia!). D.L. Mayfield is the author of "The Myth of the American Dream" (IVP, 2020). Liz and Danielle reflect on their own experiences of Portland's virtues and vices, and how protest might just…

RTN Theology #29 features two theologians who’ve both recently written brilliant books about 4th Century North African Bishop and theologian St. Augustine: Natalie Carnes (Baylor) & previous guest, James K.A. Smith (Calvin). This wide-ranging and luminous conversation spotlights Dr. Carnes’ new book, Motherhood: A Confession (Stanford UP) and branc…

This podcast is the second of a special 2-part episode of RTN Theology features guest host Liz Vice and spoken word artist Micah Bournes talking faith, art, and activism. Liz and Micah have collaborated on each’s albums, including Micah’s most recent record, A Time Like This. This wide-ranging conversation between two brilliant artist of faith was …

This podcast is the first of a special 2-part episode of RTN Theology features guest host Liz Vice and spoken word artist Micah Bournes talking faith, art, and activism. Liz and Micah have collaborated on each’s albums, including Micah’s most recent record, A Time Like This. This wide-ranging conversation between two brilliant artist of faith was t…

This special RTN Theology conversation features two renowned artists, Scott Avett and Makoto Fujimura, at the table to talk creativity, hope, artistic process, and faith in a time of pandemic. Scott Avett is a member of the Avett Brothers and a visual artist recently exhibited at the North Carolina Museum of Art. Makoto Fujimura is internationally …

RTN Theology #26 partners with the NC Study Center for a brilliant end-of-semester concert and conversation between Duke Divinity bible scholar Ellen Davis and Nashville songwriter Sandra McCracken. Director of Spiritual Formation, Bill Boyd guides a conversation around the hopeful resources of the Psalter in times of disorientation and displacemen…

Everyone is working and worshipping at home these days and all of our social lives outside of our homes are mediated by technology. RTNT 25 enlists guest co-host John Jay Alvaro to join in on a conversation with author Jay Kim (Analog Church: Why We Need Real People, Places, and Things in the Digital Age, IVP 2020). about the ways we use technology…

Our Holy Week episode features author and liberation theologian Kelley Nikondeha. Not only do we get into her new book, Defiant: What the Women of Exodus Teach Us about Freedom (Eerdmans 2020), but also her previous book Adoption: The Sacrament of Belonging in a Fractured World. Kelley brings a ferocity and loving imagination to help us see and rec…

Community is on all of our minds during this time of social-distancing in order to help flatten the curve of the spread of coronavirus. Fittingly, Bob and Chris connect with the founders of Reality Ministries, a highly relational, Christ-centered community of persons with and without disabilities in Durham, NC. Jeff and Susan McSwain share the theo…

After an intense couple of weeks, Bob and Chris get back together to reflect on the beginning of the Lenten season, the Coronavirus outbreak, and the Democratic Primaries. RTN Theology #22 features archival audio of author and organizer Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove from November 3, 2019 when he spoke at Oak Church. Part of an ongoing series of profile…

RTN Theology #21 features Esau McCaulley—priest, professor, writer, and theologian— talking about the Christian season of Lent. Our wide-ranging conversation includes how the darkest day of the church calendar is the exact day when he found a new and permanent church home. While Esau repeatedly attempts to convert and confirm Chris into the Anglica…

Far from the end of the world, apocalypse mostly means unveiling what’s been under the surface the whole time. In this episode of RTN Theology, Chris and Bob converse with writer Amy Peterson on what happens when the things you grew up taking for granted are revealed as less than reliable, true, or solid. Amy’s new book Where Goodness Still Grows: …

RTN Theology podcast launches out on it own with a new season featuring Christian philosopher James K.A. Smith. Bob and Chris talk with Jamie about his new book On The Road With Saint Augustine: Real-World Spirituality for Restless Hearts (Brazos Press, 2019). By deeply exploring the primal image of the journey for our human condition, Smith unlock…

For many, the Christian liturgical calendar is often a bit mysterious or just plain strange. Bob and Chris dig into the start of the year, the four weeks leading up to Christmas known as Advent, with theologian and arts pastor David Taylor of Fuller Seminary. David wears many hats, and in our interview we discuss how he teaches his students about t…

Bob and Chris sit down with baker and writer Kendall Vanderslice for a special Thanksgiving episode of RTN Theology centered on food, faith, and a movement of church communities built around the table. Vanderslice’s 2019 book, We Will Feast (Eerdman’s) is a veritable buffet in its own right: part journalism, part food studies, part memoir, and part…

Bob and Chris talk with Megan and Isaac Wardell, who shepherd a Christian music collaborative out of Charlottesville, VA made up of dozens of musicians, theologians, pastors, and faith leaders from many places and traditions. In 2017 they released the project’s debut album, Work Songs, about vocation. Last week came the follow-up Neighbor Songs. Th…

Bob and Chris sit down with Richella Parham to talk about her debut book, Mythical Me: Finding Freedom from Constant Comparison. Richella talks about the trap of comparing ourselves to others and the way that a distorted picture of ourselves and others creates a distorted picture of God, and vice versa. Richella’s writing is as interesting, accessi…

RTN Theology #14 remembers as collaborative music project from 2012 birthed out of a North Carolina church community. Bob and Chris talk with producer Jeff Crawford about the making of Hymns from the Gathering Church at Arbor Ridge Studios. This record features old hymns reimagined by artists such as Phil Cook, Mandolin Orange, Skylar Gudasz, Seth …

RTN Theology 13 is a conversation with Dr. Jennifer Allen Craft in Durham, NC as she participates in the Duke Initiatives in Theology and the Arts’ 10th anniversary symposium. Dr. Craft wrote Placemaking and the Arts: Cultivating the Christian Life: a beautiful vision for investing in real places and loving real people, while we cultivate a rich ex…

Chris has a conversation with C. Christopher Smith, author of How the Body of Christ Talks. Bob and Chris also speak with Will Acuff of Corner to Corner in Nashville, TN about the amazing community organizing & empowerment work he, his wife Tiffany, and their team are doing with the youth in their community. Throughout the episode you’ll hear music…

Chris Breslin speaks w/ Dr. Stanley Hauerwas’ on the recent passing of his friend, Jean Vanier, the life of the church in the era of Trump, and what it means to become people of virtue & character. Dave Fitch shares the ways that Dr. Hauerwas has shaped his life & work and also shares his most recent book project, The Church of Us vs. Them. Dr. Hau…

This episode of RTN Theology centers on the life, thought, and legacy of German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Bob Crawford talks with professor Stephen Haynes, author of The Battle for Bonhoeffer about how Bonhoeffer has become a cultural Rorschach test, often coopted and reflecting his interpreters, but also how his life and work can be relevant…

In this episode of RTN Theology, Bob talks with Christian social ethicist-activist, author, and Professor at Iliff School of Theology, Dr. Miguel De La Torre. Bob and Miguel discuss liberation theology and the connection between the theology shared by slaveholders during the antebellum and Civil War periods with the theology professed by many promi…

Bob speaks with Arizona State University Associate Professor of History Catherine O’Donnell about the prejudice Catholics endured in the years leading up to the American Revolution and how they gained the respect of George Washington as he sought French assistance in the cause. Catherine also discusses her recent work Elizabeth Seton: American Sain…

In this episode of RTN Theology hosts Bob Crawford and Keith Larson share personal reflections on the life of North Carolina 3rd District Congressman Walter B. Jones who passed away on February 10th, 2019. Jones served Eastern North Carolina in Congress and the State Legislature for over 34 years. He became a household name in the run up to the war…

Discussing the relationship between faith and the public sphere has been a part of America’s story since its beginning. Over the past decade, the presence of Christian faith in public policy and politics has been questioned and challenged in new and unique ways. How are citizens, Christian and non-Christian alike, to respond to issues of faith in p…

This week Bob and Pastor Chris Breslin of Oak Church in Durham, NC sit down with Duke University, Thomas A. Langford Distinguished Professor of Theology Jeremy Begbie for a discussion about how we can see God’s presence in our own creative expression. Begbie uses music to try and explain hard to grasp theological concepts like the trinity, as descr…

In this episode of RTN Theology, Bob talks to Fuller Theological Seminary Assistant Professor Kutter Callaway about his new book, Breaking the Marriage Idol: Reconstructing Our Cultural and Spiritual Norms (InterVarsity Press, 2018) and the need to change the existing perceptions of single life and marriage in the church. They also discuss theology…

Chris Breslin recently invited Bob to be part of a live conversation with Kate Bowler to talk about the history of Christianity, their faith, and how the crisis of cancer has affected their relationships with God. Kate Bowler is Assistant Professor of the History of Christianity in North America at Duke Divinity School and author of the New York Ti…

In the second installment of RTN Theology, Bob speaks with Messiah College’s John Fea about Christianity in Early America and the ways that the founders viewed the relationship between faith and politics. Fea outlines the “5 Cs” of history, the importance of approaching history with an open mind, and explains why he thinks the title of his book Was…

In the premier episode of our theology subseries, RTN Theology we welcome Christian philosopher James K.A. Smith to discuss the intersection of Christianity and culture in the United States. We also chat about his illuminating Op-Ed that appeared in the Thanksgiving edition of the Washington Post, which looks at ‘love of country’ from a religious p…

We're excited to announce that RTN Theology w/ Bob Crawford & Chris Breslin is expanding to its own podcast feed. A brand new episode, along w/ episodes 1-18 will be live here on January 23rd. Subscribe now so you don't miss it! Until then, check out The Road to Now w/ Bob Crawford & Ben Sawyer, available on all podcast players and at www.TheRoadTo…