Politics Episodes

This episode, recorded in the fall of 2020, is being re-released due to its relevance following the TX ruling.

Revisiting Tucker Carlson's trip to Hungary.

Laura Polk returns to the show to discuss the Jan 6th insurrection and the Religious Right. In particular, we discuss three pivotal events in 1980, and how they set the stage for much of what's followed. This interview was recorded on 2/7/2021. Laura Polk is an independent educator and researcher. You can support her via Patreon here. (I do!) Follow Laura on Twitter @seelolago. You can support Blake's work on Exvangelical and Powers & Principalities via Substack at The Post-Evangelical Post. ...

My guest this week is Jack Jenkins, national reporter for Religion News Service and author of the book American Prophets: The Religious Roots of Progressive Politics and the Ongoing Fight for the Soul of the Country (Amazon, Bookshop). We discuss how one defines "the religious left," how the religious left differs from the religious right, the historical predecessors of the current religious left, and how the media has adapted to covering religion since the 2016 election. Follow Jack Jenkins on...

My guest this week is Dr. Anthea Butler, associate professor of religion and Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and author of the upcoming book White Evangelical Racism: The Politics of Morality in America. In addition to her upcoming book (to be released in March 2021), we discuss her experience as a public scholar, how the media covers religion & Trump, and many of the trends and headlines of the past four years. Follow Dr. Butler on Twitter @AntheaButler. Follow Blake on Twi...

On this week's episode, I am joined by Bradley Onishi of the Straight White American Jesus podcast to answer your questions about white evangelicalism and Christian nationalism. You all had some really wonderful questions, and it was equally wonderful to have an opportunity to answer them alongside Brad. Bradley Onishi is associate professor of religion at Skidmore College. If you enjoy this show, please be sure to check out SWAJ by following the link above. Support them on Patreon and follow B...

My guest this week is Robert Jones, founder and CEO of PRRI (The Public Religion Research Institute), and author of the recent book White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity (Amazon, Bookshop). In this discussion, we talk about how his book reveals the ways white American Christianity's history of white supremacy pervades all denominations - white evangelicals, mainline Protestants, and white Catholics. We discuss the "restricted moral vision" of white Christians, th...

My guest this week is Sarah Posner, author of the book Unholy: Why White Evangelicals Worship at the Altar of Donald Trump (Bookshop, Amazon). In her book, Sarah details the intellectual and social connections between the New Right, the Religious Right, and alt-right - and the ways in which white evangelicals provide moral and political cover for the Trump administration. Further, her work indicates the ways in which the Trump administration has rewarded white evangelical support by pursuing pol...

We're taking a brief break to allow a little more time for production, but we're ready to take your questions. Brad Onishi (of Straight White American Jesus) & I will be taking your questions and answering them on the air in an upcoming episode. Submit your questions by Monday October 5th to be considered. Use the link in the show notes to send a Voice Message in Anchor, or send me a voice memo at contact@exvangelicalpodcast.com. If you enjoy the show, please rate & review it on Apple Podcasts, ...

My guest this week is Julie Ingersoll, professor of religious studies at the University of North Florida and author of the book Building God's Kingdom: Inside the World of Christian Reconstruction (Amazon, Bookshop.org). Christian Reconstruction is a movement that can be hard to both explain and identify, but has considerable influence - especially in the realm of Christian education and homeschooling. Julie helps provide context for this movement, and why its social and political goals are anti...

My guests this week are Sam Perry & Andrew Whitehead, authors of the book Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States (Amazon, Bookshop.org). Perry & Whitehead are sociologists, and have published their data about America's relationship to Christian nationalism. They help define a framework for Christian nationalism, and why it is valuable to distinguish it from white evangelicalism in this context. They also provide four primary ways Americans react to Christian nati...

My guest this week is Kristin Kobes Du Mez, author of the new book Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation (Bookshop.org, Amazon). Her book examines the role that cultural ideals of evangelical masculinity have been influenced more by John Wayne than by Jesus of Nazareth. If you've spent time in white evangelical circles, much of this will ring true; if you wonder why evangelicals are drawn to "strong men" like Donald Trump, her work will help explai...

This week's episode features a conversation with Katherine Stewart. Katherine Stewart is the author of The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism (Bookshop.org, Amazon.com). Her book provides a comprehensive overview of the tactics and strategies Christian nationalists have employed in American politics: teaching false historical narratives about American history (and the history of the Religious Right itself), deteriorating the public education system, lobbying st...

In this very first episode of Powers & Principalities (termed Episode 0, because it acts as a bridge between Exvangelical & this show), I talk with Diana Butler Bass about the early history of fundamentalism in white evangelical Protestant Christianity in America. You can subscribe to the new show feed right here on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and elsewhere. Diana Butler Bass is the author of several books, including Grateful: The Transformative Power of Giving Thanks (Bookshop.org, Amazon*). She a...

Interviews with Chris Stroop & Laura Hagen about the stories being shared using the #ExposeChristianSchools hashtag. --- This episode is sponsored by · Charity Promotion: Democracy Works: This advertisement is part of a charitable initiative in partnership with Democracy Works. howto.vote --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/exvangelical/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/exvangelical/support

In response to the #GC2Summit today, I am re-releasing my conversation with Emily Joy & Hannah Paasch, creators of #churchtoo. --- This episode is sponsored by · Charity Promotion: Democracy Works: This advertisement is part of a charitable initiative in partnership with Democracy Works. howto.vote --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/exvangelical/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/exvangelical/support

In September, a group of us gathered for the first Exvangelical Community Roundtable. Featuring: Kathryn Brightbill, Chris Stroop, Akiko Ross, David Wheeler, and Julie Ingersoll. --- This episode is sponsored by · Charity Promotion: Democracy Works: This advertisement is part of a charitable initiative in partnership with Democracy Works. howto.vote --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/exvangelical/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/exvangelical/support

My guest this week is Chris Stroop. Chris was a guest back on episode 15 of the show, and since that time he has become well-known for his essays on Religion Dispatches (as well as his threads on Twitter, including the trending hashtag #EmptyThePews) about the global Religious Right, particularly in American and Russian politics, as well as Exvangelical experience more broadly. He is also a fellow administrator of the Exvangelical Facebook group. We talk at length about #EmptyThePews and the sto...

No guest this week. It's been a few days since the election. These are some of my thoughts on it, as well as some stories from my youth. Discuss this show with the hashtag #byourlove. "The Real Origins of the Religious Right," by Randall Balmer: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/05/religious-right-real-origins-107133?o=1 - Follow me on Twitter @brchastain. Follow the show on Twitter & Instagram @exvangelicalpod. Like the show on Facebook at facebook.com/exvangelicalpod. Support the sho...

This week's episode features a conversation with Dr. Chris Stroop. Chris is an historian and a Provosts's Postdoctoral Scholar in the Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of South Florida, and the co-editor of the upcoming anthology By the Rivers of Babylon. We discuss his experience with K-12 Christian education, how he wrestled with faith in college and beyond, his reporting on the conservative crackdown of students and faculty on Christian college campuses, as well as his recent a...

This week's episode includes a wonderful conversation with Ryan Johnson, a friend from college. We met up in Chicago to talk about his upbringing, our shared experience in the social sciences department at the Mystery College, and the fraught marriage of evangelicalism and Republican politics in the United States. Follow the show on Twitter: @exvangelicalpod Like the show on FB: facebook.com/exvangelicalpod Follow on Instagram: @exvangelicalpod Follow me on Twitter: @brchastain Support the show ...

This week, we feature a conversation with author, religious scholar and PhD candidate Greg Coates. We discuss his evangelical youth, his time in China, his book, and of course, Donald Trump. Follow Exvangelical on Twitter @exvangelicalpod. Like us on Facebook facebook.com/exvangelicalpod. Follow Blake on Twitter @brchastain. Show Notes: Greg's book, Politics Strangely Warmed: Political Theology in the Wesleyan Spirit https://www.amazon.com/Politics-Strangely-Warmed-Political-Theology/dp/14982015...

This first episode of Exvangelical features a long, free-form with American religious historian Dr. Jonathan Dodrill, who is a longtime friend of mine. We discuss how we met at Christian college, our experiences there, as well as how our viewpoints have changed since then. We also spend a good amount of time talking about modern evangelical politics, the current election cycle, and the baffling case of Donald Trump. This conversation was originally recorded on 6/28/16 and has been edited. Frank ...