In the Shift

"Tricky Jesus Questions" with Thomas Jay Oord

Episode 38: In this episode I talk again with Dr Thomas Jay Oord, but this time we turn our attention toward Jesus. If God is present in and through all things and by very nature is not intervening but rather is uncontrolling love, then how do we make sense of the Jesus story? In this conversation we wrestle with Jesus' identity and the historic claims of his divinity and humanity, discuss his miracles and how they might be seen as 'uncontrolling', tackle a range of views on the virgin birth, contemplate Jesus' possible cooperation with his own resurrection, and consider what it is that makes him unique.

You can also check out Tom's latest book, "Questions and Answers for God Can't" for more responses to the questions that have arisen in response to his book "God Can't".

What if God isn't in "control" and doesn't know the future?

Episode 37: For many of us the idea that God is all-powerful and all-knowing is assumed to be the very definition of divinity. But here we bring together threads from recent episodes to suggest that God might not be all powerful (in the way we typically understand power) and may not know the future. But what does this mean? It can be an unsettling idea, but perhaps it also allows us to more honestly see the challenges we face and to explore what real participation with the divine might look like.

Divine Intervention and the subtlety of God - with Dr Nicola Hoggard Creegan

Episode 36: In this episode I talk with Dr. Nicola Hoggard Creegan about the God-world relationship, the depths of wonder within nature, the role of empathy and cooperation in evolution, the subtlety of God's presence and action in the world, and what it means to say that God is non-finite. 

 

Dr. Nicola Hoggard Creegan is a theologian based in Auckland. She is co-director of New Zealand Christians in Science. She is the author of Animal Suffering and the Problem of Evil (OUP, 2013), and co-edited Creation and Hope with Andrew Shepherd. Nicola has long standing interests in science and faith, and also eco-theology. She is now working on a book on the freedom of the will. 

Divine Intervention, the Mind & Religious Experience - with Dr Sarah Lane Ritchie

Episode 35: We're back! After a brief 2020 hiatus, this new episode features a conversation with the brilliant Dr Sarah Lane Ritchie. She is a scholar who works at the intersection of theology and the sciences, and in particular in relation to questions surrounding the human mind, the relationship between God and the physical world and the development of religious belief. In this episode we discuss different ways of thinking about God's relationship to the world, whether we have a soul, the validity of religious experience, and the potential role of psychedelics as a kind of spiritual technology. 

Divine Intervention: Vulnerability and the question of divine presence

Episode 34: This episode of In the Shift explores the related themes of human vulnerability and divine presence. We are often tempted to use God - and the idea of God's intervention - to cover over the awareness of our own vulnerability. But if we are able to come face-to-face with it, perhaps there are important insights to be gained, not only about ourselves but also about God. This episode also tackles the notion of divine presence - which can be understandably thrown into question when we face something like Covid-19. Is God really present, and if so, what does it even mean to say that? And what about the feelings of absence and loneliness that can be so potently known, regardless of our faith constructs?

Divine Intervention: "God Can't" with Dr Thomas Jay Oord

Episode 33: In this episode I'm joined by theologian and philosopher Dr Thomas Jay Oord for a fascinating and wide-ranging conversation on the themes of his work especially in relation to his latest book, "God Can’t: How to believe in God and love after tragedy, abuse, and other evils". We discuss what it means to say that God's nature is uncontrolling love, how this impacts on the way we understand God’s presence and activity in the world, and why it might mean that there are many things that God simply "cannot", rather than "will not", do. We cover all sorts of terrain including different views of God, why "intervention" is not a helpful word, whether or not miracles and healings are possible, the responsiveness of fundamental reality itself, the origins of the universe, and then what all of this might mean for personal faith, prayer and spirituality.

Thomas Jay Oord is a theologian, philosopher, and scholar of multi-disciplinary studies. Oord is a best-selling and award-winning author, having written or edited more than twenty-five books. A twelve-time Faculty Award-winning professor, Oord teaches at institutions around the globe. He is the director of the Center for Open and Relational Theology. Oord is known for his contributions to research on love, open and relational theology, science and religion, and the implications of freedom and relationships for transformation. You can find out more about his work by visiting www.thomasjayoord.com 

Divine Intervention: Sovereignty and Suffering

Episode 32: In this episode we explore the challenges that arise when we consider the "sovereignty of God". In the Christian tradition God is typically understood as the one who is all powerful (omnipotent) and under whose domain and dominion all things take place. But this gives way to questions of what we do with suffering and pain. If God is in charge then what is going on here? In this episode we unpack three traditional theological responses to the problem of suffering and evil, why they're inadequate, and what questions and alternatives might begin to emerge in response.

Divine Intervention: Where in the world is God?

Episode 31: We're back with a new series exploring the question of divine intervention! In Christian faith, many people are introduced to the idea of a God who is actively responsive, in 'control' and who answers prayer. But when crisis hits or some kind of disruption to our beliefs takes place we can start to question these assumptions (and with good reason). So what do we do with this and how do we move forward?

Is the idea of God still possible or meaningful, and if so what can authentic and honest spirituality look like? This episode introduces some of the big questions, and briefly unpacks three different frameworks for understanding the God-world relationship: classical theism, panentheism and pantheism, and how they impact the way we think about the possibility of divine intervention.

In the Flesh: Believing with our bodies

Episode 30: This is the final episode of the In the Flesh series, and we talk about where and how we store memory, what it means to 'know' something, how our bodies can surprise us about what we believe, and about the intersections between mysticism and revolution.

In the Flesh: Bodies, pain, and embracing difference

Episode 29: In this episode I talk with massage therapist Cheri Inoue about her experience growing up as Japanese-Canadian, the challenge of race, identity, Christianity as whiteness, the journey of learning to embrace difference, and how this story intersects with her work as a clinician. It is a wide-ranging conversation that explores working with people's bodies and particularly their pain, approaching both of these with a posture of non-judgement, and how we can discover acceptance for the difference and uniqueness of our own bodies in the midst of a life that demands so much from us.

Cheri has an Auckland-based practice, Well Within: Posture and Movement Care