Episodes

Happy new year, everyone - the first guest of 2023 is a return guest, Bradley Onishi. Brad is co-host of the Straight White American Jesus podcast and author of the new book: Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism—and What Comes Next. Our conversation starts discussing just 10 words, just 2 sentences, from the first chapter of Brad's book: "I should have known better," and "I could have been there." "There," in this context, is the Capitol Riot. This is a good...

Social Media Reconsidered, Redux

Why learning & practicing antiracism is a lifelong commitment

Enjoy this episode from Speaking in Church, a fellow IMG podcast

Author & pastor Angela Denker returns to the show to discuss the 2022 midterms.

Powers & Principalities is back! This season we're talking about white evangelicalism & media.

This week's guest is Jeanna Kadlec, author of the new book Heretic: A Memoir, out this week. Her book is a deeply intimate memoir of her life growing up in and leaving evangelicalism, discovering her queerness, and much more. We talk about the midwest, about developing spiritual practices after religion, and comics - it was a very laid back and meandering conversation that I hope you’ll enjoy as much as I did. You can find Heretic at your local bookstore, or you can support this show by purcha...

My guest today is Becca Andrews. Becca is a journalist at Reckon News, and author of the new book No Choice: The Destruction of Roe v. Wade and the Fight to Protect a Fundamental American Right. She has been reporting on reproductive rights and justice, as well as related topics such as purity culture, for several years and her work has also appeared at Mother Jones, Jezebel, and Teen Vogue, among others. Content note: I want to note that this episode deals directly with abortion and other aspe...

How media is used to subvert & challenge religious norms online.

Blake joined Sarah & Justin from REVcovery to talk about burnout inside outside the church.

Exploring the concepts of repentance and forgiveness for today's world

Another archival episode, in light of the news from The Village Church. Matt Chandler went on indefinite leave from TVC this weekend after inappropriate messaging on Instagram, just a couple weeks after they settled with an abuse victim while acknowledging no wrongdoing. These are longstanding issues in evangelicalism going back decades. There's nothing pithy to say about churches that protect their shepherds instead of their flocks. Here is my 2021 interview with Emily Joy Allison. Learn mor...

While I continue to work on my manuscript, here is another archival episode for you. This is from my series, Powers & Principalities. Season 1 was published in 2020 and focused on Christian nationalism, which remains painfully relevant. This episode features a conversation with Sam Perry and Andrew Whitehead, co-authors of the book Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States [affiliate link]. While I personally think Christian nationalism is very hard to fully extri...

Enjoy this 2017 interview with David Bazan of Pedro the Lion

Who needs hearts and minds when you have power?

Today’s guest is Jo Luehmann. Jo and I spoke back in March this year, after arranging to chat in late January, early February, so this episode has been a long time coming. In this conversation, you’ll hear Jo talk about growing up in Colombia, her experience within evangelical circles in America, and her work discussing decolonization. In the months following our discussion, Jo became a target of many far right figures such as Matt Walsh, who rallied their followers to harass Jo. The reason was...

Hello, and welcome to Exvangelical. I’m your host, Blake Chastain. I know there’s a lot going on. I know that the recent Supreme Court rulings are beyond discouraging - they are harmful for so many people, and a decision that could lead to the downfall of Roe is expected as soon as tomorrow. But multiple things happen all at once, and because of our interconnectedness, we feel them all. But I want to isolate one event happening right now and say: Happy Pride - especially to those born and raised...

My guest today is Dr. Ryan Haupt. Ryan is a scientist and podcaster on the show Science...Sort of, and a frequent guest host on the comic book podcast iFanboy. iFanboy was one of the very first podcasts I ever listened to and after a couple of random interactions on Twitter - Ryan and I were able to connect to talk back at the beginning of February. This conversation runs the gamut. We talk about Ryan’s experience growing up in the church in West Virginia, about discovering science in college, ...

Podcaster and author of the new book, When We Belong

Note: there is a leveling discrepancy between the intro comments and the interview, which begins around the 10:30 mark. There's been two major shootings in the last two weeks. I try to piece together some thoughts, and combine a couple things from recent essays, in the intro to this re-released episode with Robert Jones. I guess it's best to just listen. Essays I adapt for the intro: Let the circle be broken. Live Free and Die. The interview is part of season 1 of Powers & Principalities, whic...

Time to talk Marshall McLuhan, [social] media, and religion

The activist, musician, and author joins the show!

The TikTok creator & podcaster joins the show!

He gave them what they wanted.