Unlikely Conversations
Civil Discourse is a Spiritual Practice
I grew up Catholic in a fairly Irish neighborhood of St. Paul, Minnesota. My childhood years were full of renegade nuns teaching me to seek Jesus on the margins and study scripture in diverse communities. My parents held their breath as I headed to a Lutheran college. There, a Jewish Rabbi taught me the New Testament. A Lutheran Theologian taught me about the Holocaust and a Japanese monk taught me about Zen Buddhism. I fell in love with the discussions in those classrooms and never turned back. I went to a Lutheran seminary and got hired at a Lutheran church. I got myself invited to Iftar meals with Kenyan Muslims and Shabbat meals with my Orthodox Jewish friends in New York City. At those tables, my own faith was fed and nurtured by challenging dialogue.
This podcast is about those kinds of exchanges. It’s a podcast that explores civil discourse is a spiritual practice. Unlikely Conversations comes from the Collegeville Institute, a place where scholars, artists, writers, and faith leaders travel to study, write and worship across religious boundaries.
Season 3 - Communities of Calling
In season three of Unlikely Conversations, we are asking big questions about meaning, purpose, and the theology of Christian vocation. Tune in twice a month to hear conversations with theologians, church leaders, and clergy in the Collegeville Institute’s Communities of Calling Initiative.
The Call to Rise After Crisis How can a church build community and belonging with neighborhood partners in the context of multiple, simultaneous pandemics? Read more »
The Call to Sing at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church Ann Schrooten speaks about her calling to serve through music, and how that vocation transformed during the pandemic and following George Floyd’s murder near her church in Minneapolis, MN. Read more »
Addressing the Purpose Gap with Dr. Patrick B. Reyes How do we understand God’s calling when not everyone has access to the same networks, resources, or opportunities? Read more »
Invited to Mission at Edgewood Church Think of a significant calling in your life. Who invited you to explore that calling? And what role did church play (if any) in that invitation? Read more »
Called Through Community at Edgewood Church What role does community play in understanding our individual vocation? And what happens when a pastor called to ministry starts to burn out? Read more »
Embracing Communal Callings: Service at St. Matthew’s Church How can congregations invite members of all ages to embrace God’s communal call to serve? Read more »
A Multiplicity of Callings: Skills Sharing at St. Matthew’s Church In this podcast episode, two church leaders discuss how a skills sharing class transformed their understanding of God’s calling. Read more »
Bringing Calling Back to Life The Unlikely Conversations podcast is back! Dr. Kathleen Cahalan speaks about how a healthy theology of vocation can help churches experience God’s calling in more expansive ways.Read more »
Season 2 - Writing, Faith and Justice
In its second season, each episode of the podcast centered on the subject of writing, faith, and justice with alumni guests from our writing workshops.
Undoing Oppressions In this episode, Nekeisha Alayna Alexis describes how her conviction to nonviolence evolved into her interest in co-liberation with animals.Read more »
Welcome is Not Enough On the surface, welcoming an immigrant seems kind. Karen González asks Christians to look again and push deeper.Read more »
Following a Mystical Jesus What compels a decorated combat veteran and former missions pastor to study mysticism at a center founded by Fr. Richard Rohr?Read more »
Consider the Birds Community organizing is often hard and contentious work. How can people stay committed when the world becomes overwhelming?Read more »
Writing in Luminous Darkness For Wesley Morris, being a good writer and pastor means embracing a “luminous darkness” as a place of transformation.Read more »
Midwifing Stories in the American South Josina Guess discusses her work as an editor, as well as her own writing on themes of race, violence, and family.Read more »
Being Heard into Speech What role can fellow writers play in the creative process? And how can a desire to “change the world” backfire?Read more »
Start with Your Own Soul How can writers begin to claim their own voice? And how should local communities inform both writing and organizing work? Read more »
Mothering Wisdom for Activists What role do writers have in expanding our imagination for what is possible? And who is tending to the spiritual needs of activists? Read more »
Writing for Mystic Activists In Season 2 of our podcast, listen to activists and writers of faith including Dr. Chanequa Walker-Barnes and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove. Read more »
Season 1 - Unlikely Conversations
In this first season, we get to listen to brilliant young, religious leaders from The Collegeville Institute’s Multi-Religious Fellows Program. This cohort is comprised of 2 Jews, 2 Muslims, 2 Hindus, 2 Buddhists 2 Catholics and one Lutheran. We asked the cohort members to pair up, take a moment apart from the group, and dig into all kinds of thorny topics ranging from sacred texts to money to hateful stereotypes to why we need relationships that extend beyond another interfaith breakfast. I hope these conversations feed your faith and cultivate your curiosity like they do mine.
Complicated Women in Scripture Our last podcast episode from this season asks: how are sacred stories about complicated women taught differently in Christianity and Judaism? Read more »
Getting Curious About Difference How do we teach toward curiosity in our religious institutions? How do we build interfaith relationships so when crisis happens we can support each other? Read more »
Worship During A Pandemic In our latest podcast episode, hear a Hindu-Jewish conversation about how religious communities are gathering, celebrating, and grieving during COVID-19. Read more »
Race and Justice in Interfaith Spaces In this podcast episode, hear a frank conversation about race between two young faith leaders in the Muslim and Buddist religious communtities. Read more »
From Interfaith Dialogue to Multi-Religious Action Our third podcast episode explores the history of multi-religious work with Rabbi Barry D. Cytron and Dr. Marty Stortz. Read more »
Love is a Verb In the second episode of our podcast, hear a Muslim-Catholic dialogue about faith and action for the common good. Read more »
Religion and the Next Generation Listen now to the first episode of our new podcast Unlikely Conversations. Read more »