Category: Bible Bash Podcast

From Tender to TikTok: Something for Everyone

Life in South Africa is wonderfully busy (and it is not all work!) I have some new content to share with you. Regardless of what you like, I must have something for you!

Bubble&Squeak Season 2 Ep 5 Tender Gasp

1. Performance artist George Ferrandi tells us about intimate work that has emerged in spite social distancing
2. Four Voicemails from Peterson’s Dad, Pete Toscano
3. A sound slice from an incomplete temple in Mexico

 

Citizens Climate Radio: How to Keep Your Cool on a Warming Planet

Dr. Krista Hiser and Sarah Jaquette Ray discuss managing emotions about climate change, so we can stay engaged without feeling overwhelmed.

 

Bible Bash Season 2 Ep 1 Drawing Near with NEW co-host Don Durham

First, Liam invites listeners to draw near to our new co-host, Don Durham, and invites Don to draw near to listeners as well. We learn a little about Don, who is – among other things – a trained organizational change and transition consultant, and strategic coach helping clients be who they want to be and accomplish what they want to accomplish

Susquehanna Life Out Loud: Renewal and Rejuvenation

After seeing their children struggle with remote learning at the start of the Coronavirus Global Pandemic, five families decided to pool their resources and started modern day one-room school house. They call it The Lewisburg Pod School.


TikTok: I have become a minor breakout star on South African TikTok as I practice Afrikaans and isiZulu and tell stories about my nosey neighbour.

@petersontoscanoI am learning ##Afrikaans. my neighbour is nosy and is trying to find me a mate. ##eish ##southafricatiktok ##afrikaanstiktoks ##vrou ##meise ##man♬ original sound – Peterson Thomas Tosc

God, Gender, and Pronouns. A Conversation with Avery Smith

FIRST an opportunity to Bible Bash with Liam Hooper and Me!

Announcing LIVE on-line Bible Bash Event! Dec 15th at 8 pm Eastern

We want to close out 2020 with a live, informal and more intimate version of Bible Bash. Please join us for lively bashing, hashing over, and muddling through Bible Bash topics.
You will also have opportunities to get involved in the conversations and maybe even meet some former and upcoming guests!
Tuesday December 15 at 8:00 PM Eastern Time.
In addition to the Zoom interactive presentation, we will also stream the event on the Ministries Beyond Welcome Facebook page.

God’s Gender with Avery Smith–Hosea 11:9

By taking on Hosea 11:9 Avery Smith, host of Blessed Are the Binary Breakers podcast, cracks open a rich discussion with Bible Bash co-hosts, Liam Hooper and Peterson Toscano.

Avery writes: “I interpret God’s declaration For I am God and not a man in Hosea 11:9 as, among other things, evidence of Their rejection of being assigned a human gender and the roles implied therein.”

Could God be making a declaration of gender? What is Hosea the prophet trying to do and say to the people? And what about God’s radical swings from tenderness to threats of violence? 

In addition to covering these topics and more, Avery highlights best practices for ministers and places of worship when addressing non-binary people by name and pronoun.

The entire conversation is fresh, insightful, and a lot of fun.

You can hear Bible Bash podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts. We are a project of Ministries Beyond Welcome and part of the Rock Candy Network.

Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash

Liam Hooper and Trans-Forming Proclamation

Liam Hooper will publish is his first book, Trans-Forming Proclamation: A Transgender Theology of Daring Existence. I interview Liam about this book that in its very structure models a bold new way of living. Liam then reads an excerpt from the book

In Trans-Forming Proclamation, Liam Hooper tenderly explores gender and the Bible. This book actually defies genre. With rich patches of poetry, memoir, and devotional, Liam weaves together inspiring literary insights with grounded, original, and informed scholarship. Trans-Forming proclamation: A Transgender Theology of Daring Existence is new wine in a new wine skin. It is Inventive, artful, and liberating. Available fall 2020 and published by Otherwise Engaged.

Bible Bash Podcast is part of the Rock Candy Network

Bible Bash logo was designed by Diana Coe at Crone Communications

Check out other Rock Candy podcasts

Ruth, Naomi, and Patriarchy with Diamond Stylz

Liam Hooper and I welcome Diamond Stylz to the Bible Bash podcast. She unpacks and repackages the Book of Ruth, while she relentlessly highlights the patriarchy that fuels the narrative.

Diamond Stylz is one of the premier voices among the millennial black trans community. Currently, Diamond is the Executive Director of Black Trans Women Inc, a national non-profit that is led by Black trans women focused on social advocacy, economic equity and building strong leadership among Black trans women.
Diamond is the host and producer of Marsha’s Plate, a weekly podcast that archives and centers the trans social justice movements and pro-black feminist culture.  Diamond also contributed an essay the the anthology OtherWise Christian 2: Stories of Resistance.
Oh, and coming soon Liam will publish his book, Trans-Forming Proclamation–A Transgender Theology of Daring Existence.

Biblical Gay Lovers, A Former Christian Rocker, and a Queer Fantasy

I have two podcast episodes that are packed with LGBTQ goodness and affirming religious realness.

The most recent Bible Bash Podcast is all about gay lovers in the Gospels. Liam Hooper takes on the “gayest” passage in the Christian Bible, the story of the Roman Centurion and the healing of his personal servant. Does this text condone gay sex? Gay relationships? Slavery?

Liam deepens the significance of the passage by connecting it to the narrative that comes immediately afterwards: Jesus raising a widow’s only son from the dead. Ancient Gay Lovers–Luke 7

Matt Langston of EleventySeven

The newest Bubble&Squeak podcast, Snarky Place, comes in two parts.

Part one: Musician, podcaster, and former Christian pop star, Matt Langston, talks about his song Birthrite. It is from Eventyseven’s new Basic Glitches album. You will hear the song in its entirety.

Part two: An exclusive reading of the new ebook The Vault of the Witch Hunters by by authors and illustrators M & J Pavlin. It is the first of their Cartson and Peckron. 2020 proceeds for the novelette on the Kindle store will go to youth charities. The ebook is available at Amazon. Sign up for updates and look out for the audio book version coming soon. You can download The Vault of the Witch Hunters ebook for Free!

Featured photo by Jr Korpa on Unsplash

He’s come down with a serious case of the demons. Bible Bash Ep 16

Mark chapter Five completely fascinates me. It is a day in the life of Jesus and the gang, and wow, what a wild ride. By the end of the day a whole bunch of people are angry with Jesus and frustrated by him. Sure there are some healings, but at the expense of pigs and a lot of stress. There was also a close call where Jesus and the disciples almost got completely stoned, and not in the party way.

Throughout Jesus disrupts people’s expectations, leaves people out, ignores the high and mighty, and defies social norms. Hear Liam Hooper and me talk about this bizarre and extraordinary series of stories in Mark Five. How often LGBTQI people have been treated as problems to solve. Yet Jesus says, “Go in Peace, my child, your faith has healed you,” even if society is still sick.

Hear it on the Bible Bash Podcast.

Featured Photo by Monika Kubala on Unsplash

Faith, Gender, Race and Justice: A Look at the Book of Ruth

David Chandler

Each month my friend, Liam Hooper and I host the Bible Bash Podcast. We take turns looking at passages in the Bible, then share our thoughts, analysis, and reflections on these passages. This opens up a discussion between the two of us. While we are both Bible scholars, our approaches are often personal, especially from our perspective as queer men. In the most recent episode, we are honored to have David Chandler, (Emily/David Chandler on Twitter) who agreed to share a reflection on the first chapter in the Book of Ruth.

David has a delicious eclectic background: They are an actor, singer, writer, magician, bibliophile, amateur folklorist and a spoons-player. Last year they completed their Bachelor of Music Theatre at Federation University, Australia. Right now they are in the midst of doing their Honours in Creative Arts. They are focusing on early queer rights activist and theorist, Karl Henrich Ulrichs.

David’s reading of Ruth is personal, and provides insights into the formation of their faith and faith journey. They share the story of a an unexpected encounter with the Bible and a new space to worship.

Diamond Stylz

In prepping for the show, Liam suggested I read an essay by the Black trans leader, Diamond Stylz. In the essay Womanist, which appears in Otherwise Christian 2: Stories of Resistance, Stylz sees the experience of trans woman of color mirrored in the cultural and social constrictions for widows in the Book of Ruth. Sytlz admits that while it may seem ridiculous to apply an ancient text to her own contemporary experiences,

“Yet, I as a Black, transgender woman have much in common with these women. Three-fourths of transgender people have experienced some form of workforce discrimination. One out of four have lost jobs due to bias. These circumstances frequently lead to involvement with underground economies such as sex work or drug work in order to survive.”

You can hear Bible Bash podcast wherever you listen to podcast, at the player below  or by following this link: Seeing Ourselves in the Text with David Chandler — Ruth 1

Featured Photo by Joseph Gonzalez on Unsplash

An Outcast Prophet and A Marginalized Woman


Liam shares his insights about I Kings 17-7-24. Elijah, a prophet with an unpopular message who finds himself destitute during a famine. A widow prepares a last meal for her son before they both die. They survive though as they shelter in place with the prophet. The similarities to what many are experiencing in this time of Coronavirus are striking.

Then I share “an other text” by Doris Lessing from The Sweetest Dream

Hear wherever you get your podcasts, click on play above, or follow this link.

PLUS both Liam and I reveal the activities they do to keep them sane during a time of isolation. Here is my Corona Containment Dancer playlist. Feel free to add tracks and definitely feel free to dance along.

 

Featured Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash

Tie Me Up, Delilah! Bible Bash takes on Judges 16

As an actor, I approach Biblical texts in a slightly unorthodox way. Sure I use traditional tools to study the text, but I also use the training I received in the theatre to explore the characters presented, including the ones who are in the scene but do not have speaking parts. The story of Samson and Delilah has the intrigue, sexual tension, and depth of a Shakespeare play.

While Samson has often been portrayed from the pulpit as an irresponsible, lascivious playboy, a close reading of the text, especially acting it out, reveals a much more complex character. It also exposes a deeply tender and moving relationship between two lovers.

Liam Hooper, the co-host of Bible Bash, and I dig into this story. We ask, how does sexual play and bondage in an oppressive police state create the conditions leading to intimacy, vulnerability, and self-sacrifice. Liam also shares an original poem, Tell You Everything, as part of the Other Text section of the show.

Check out tie-me-up-delilah-judges-16. It’s available wherever you get podcasts or at Podbean.

You can also read some of my observations of Samson and Delilah as part of my LGBTQ-Friendly Bible series.

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Featured Photo by jens holm on Unsplash

Hey, Hey Joseph, What ya gonna do? A Bible Bash Conversation

Every month Liam Hooper and I get together to talk about Bible texts. It was recently my turn. You may know I have a thing for Joseph in the book of Genesis. Perhaps the scene that gets the most attention in my Transfigurations presentation centers on Joseph (as told by his hyper masculine Uncle Esau.)

Joseph famously reconciles with his brothers during a famine. What has been fascinating me is how Jospeh responds to that famine. He proposes a national adaptation and disaster relief plan. Pharaoh loves the plan, and for good reason, it gives the leader everything a tyrant could desire.

Check out the latest Bible Bash Podcast: Joseph and the Not so Amazing Disaster Relief Plan.

Featured photo from Windy City Times: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat by Karen Topham