In Conversation with David Goa David Goa

I am pleased to be joined by Pastor Eden Jersak for this on-going series of
conversations on the Ekklesia.

I am privileged to call Eden, and her husband Brad, friends and have spent
many rich hours in conversation with them in their home in Abbotsford.
Eden’s understanding of the church as a place of welcome, as a place where
you can always add another leaf to the table of fellowship is striking.

I am pleased to be joined by Pastor Donald Sjoberg for this on-going series of conversations on the Ekklesia.

Bishop Sjoberg was born in 1930 on a farm near Clanwilliam, Manitoba. His early life was shaped by the Swedish immigrant community and Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Erickson, Manitoba. He studied at Luther College in Regina and at the University of Saskatoon where he was a part of the Lutheran Student Movement. For a decade and a half, he served as National Bishop for the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Canada, retiring from that position in 1993.

This is my third conversation with Calum McCracken. We continue exploring the place of religion in shaping political movements and focus on the rise of Christian Reconstructionism and its current shape, Christian Nationalism.

This is my second conversation with Calum McCracken. We continue exploring the place of religion and public policy in the Civil Rights Movement

Calum’s undergraduate studies focused on political philosophy. He is now off to graduate school and will be working on issues of human rights on the international stage.

One of the pleasures of my teaching and curatorial work, in Universities and Museums, has been welcoming young budding scholars to the table. Our research and thinking together has always been fruitful. Today’s conversation kicks off a series of conversations with young scholars on themes I have been privileged to work on with each of them

In the last number of months Calum McCracken has joined me in exploring the rise of Christian nationalism. Since I have always been a bit cautious in studying the diseases of religion, culture, and society not wanting to catch the infection I decided we would begin our work and this conversation considering the Civil Rights Movement that animated much of the 1960 and think about how religion was at play in the gifts it bequeathed to our society. We would then move on to thinking about how the same texts and narratives and similar theological ideas can also be at work in the rise of Christian Nationalism.

I am pleased to be joined by Professor Richard Topping for this on-going series of conversations on the Ekklesia. He is President of the Vancouver School of Theology, a federated faculty bringing together students and professors from a variety of churches. He has worked to ground theological education in the gift of Christian scripture, its revelation and call to faithfulness. He sees, clearer than most, the challenges facing churches in the twenty-first century and what Christian understanding offers for the life of the world. Professor Topping is unusual, combining superb scholarly gifts, the heart of a pastor, a fine teacher and excellent administrator. It is a rare combination.