You Have Permission Dan Koch

This week I’m joined by co-hosts of the excellent fatherhood-focused Milkless Podcast, Max Valverde and Matt Naylor for another listener-favorite “I Don’t Believe in That God” episode. Max leans towards atheism, finding a personal God unlikely, while Matt feels a pull towards spirituality but questions specific religious claims.
This is actually an episode swap -- so today there is both a new Milkless episode featuring yours truly (in which we discuss the benefits and costs of religion/spirituality in raising kids) AND a You Have Permission episode with the two of them.
A major theme that emerged was the difference between specific truth claims about the nature of reality and God vs. poetic or "theopoetic" framings that resonate as meaningful and promote human flourishing, even if not literally true. We didn't see perfectly eye-to-eye on this, with Matt expressing reservations about believing things for the sake of comfort or convenience rather than evidence. (Of course, I pushed back on what counts as evidence, etc.)

This conversation was SO GOOD that Matt and Max are returning for round 2 in a month or so -- keep your eyes out for that one!

Watch this Episode on YouTube
Milkless Podcast
Milkless Podcast on IG

___________________________________________
Get Tickets for Theology Beer Camp 2024:
https://homebrewedchristianity.lpages.co/theology-beer-camp-24/
Use Code ReturnofYHP for $50 off your ticket!
___________________________________________
Follow Dan on IG: www.instagram.com/dancoke/
Or Twitter: twitter.com/DanKoch
Faith deconstruction resources: www.soyouredeconstructing.com/
Edited by Josh Gilbert (joshgilbertmedia.com -- he is accepting more work!)
Email about the "sliding scale" for the Patreon: youhavepermissionpodcast@gmail.com
YHP Patron-only FB group: tinyurl.com/ycvbbf98
Website: www.dankochwords.com/yhp.html
Join Dan's email list: www.dankochwords.com/
Artwork by sprungle.co/
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Finally, a long chat with indie Christian musician John Mark McMillan! John Mark started out firmly in the mainstream Christian world but has been gradually exploring more complex and nuanced expressions of faith (and doubt!) through his art. 
We discussed his early life on a Christian commune, what it's like to be a recording artist wrestling with deep questions of faith and doubt, and whether a doubting faith is actually more faithful than one laced with certainty. We got into meaning-making, suffering, and the audacity of hope in an imperfect world. In other words, it was great.

Watch this Episode on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/PcWpzObjGK4

John Mark's Website
John Mark McMillan on Spotify

Resources Mentioned:
Hunting the Divine Fox: An Introduction to the Language of Theology
Viktor Frankl's Book: A Man's Search for Meaning

___________________________________________
Get Tickets for Theology Beer Camp 2024:
https://homebrewedchristianity.lpages.co/theology-beer-camp-24/
Use Code ReturnofYHP for $50 off your ticket!
___________________________________________
Follow Dan on IG: www.instagram.com/dancoke/
Or Twitter: twitter.com/DanKoch
Faith deconstruction resources: www.soyouredeconstructing.com/
Edited by Josh Gilbert (joshgilbertmedia.com -- he is accepting more work!)
Email about the "sliding scale" for the Patreon: youhavepermissionpodcast@gmail.com
YHP Patron-only FB group: tinyurl.com/ycvbbf98
Website: www.dankochwords.com/yhp.html
Join Dan's email list: www.dankochwords.com/
Artwork by sprungle.co/
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How many times has someone told you that you have to watch The Chosen, the smash hit TV series depicting the life of Jesus?
My buddy Jeff Martin and I break down season 1, episode 2 & 3, reacting to all manner of interesting details from my own liberal Christian therapist perspective and Jeff’s more moderate Evangelical lens.
We get into:

Shabbat and Shabbat dinner

Conversion experiences and their psychological, social, and spiritual aspects

depiction of Jesus' interactions with children and his characterization


I’m very curious how much appetite there is for continuing with episodes like this, so please check it out and let me know what you think!

**Watch this episode on YouTube**
https://youtu.be/3ViFnTp7Des
___________________________________________
Get Tickets for Theology Beer Camp 2024:
https://homebrewedchristianity.lpages.co/theology-beer-camp-24/
Use Code ReturnofYHP for $50 off your ticket!
___________________________________________
Follow Dan on IG: www.instagram.com/dancoke/
Or Twitter: twitter.com/DanKoch
Faith deconstruction resources: www.soyouredeconstructing.com/
Edited by Josh Gilbert (joshgilbertmedia.com -- he is accepting more work!)
Email about the "sliding scale" for the Patreon: youhavepermissionpodcast@gmail.com
YHP Patron-only FB group: tinyurl.com/ycvbbf98
Website: www.dankochwords.com/yhp.html
Join Dan's email list: www.dankochwords.com/
Artwork by sprungle.co/
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sarah McCammon, NPR journalist and author of "The Exvangelicals," shares her journey out of evangelical Christianity, including her pivotal relationship with her non-religious gay grandfather.
We explore how journalism provided Sarah with a space to question and how my work in therapy also demands openness to evidence. We covered the impact of the Trump era on evangelicalism and the earlier Emergent movement led by figures like Rob Bell and Rachel Held Evans.
We delve into the evangelical subculture's "parallel institutions" and their role in fostering distrust of mainstream institutions. Finally, we reflect on our wariness of echo chambers and the value we now place on viewpoint diversity and factual specificity.

Watch this Episode on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/Kl0cr4MZaBI

Sarah’s Book “The Exvangelicals: Loving, Living, and Leaving the White Evangelical Church”:
https://www.amazon.com/Exvangelicals-Loving-Living-Leaving-Evangelical/dp/1250284473
Sarah’s Substack
Depolarize! Podcast
Reconstruct Podcast
___________________________________________
Get Tickets for Theology Beer Camp 2024:
https://homebrewedchristianity.lpages.co/theology-beer-camp-24/
Use Code ReturnofYHP for $50 off your ticket!
___________________________________________
Follow Dan on IG: www.instagram.com/dancoke/
Or Twitter: twitter.com/DanKoch
Faith deconstruction resources: www.soyouredeconstructing.com/
Edited by Josh Gilbert (joshgilbertmedia.com -- he is accepting more work!)
Email about the "sliding scale" for the Patreon: youhavepermissionpodcast@gmail.com
YHP Patron-only FB group: tinyurl.com/ycvbbf98
Website: www.dankochwords.com/yhp.html
Join Dan's email list: www.dankochwords.com/
Artwork by sprungle.co/
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After kicking things off with our usual game of "Bar, Bank, Church or Dispensary?” and “Ways we are becoming our dads” segments, I introduced a new segment focused on funny Hard Times headlines.
Tony recalled his recent time in Rome and reflected on the passing of theologian Jurgen Moltmann. This led into a conversation about Israel and the war in Gaza, and all three of us gave our thoughts on the conflict.
Finally, I brought forward the idea of seeing Christianity as a story in which we find ourselves, and we compared it with other meta-narratives competing for our attention and loyalty.

Watch this Episode on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/O27kTZyxVcU

RESOURCES MENTIONED:

Tony's Substack on Jürgen Moltmann
Movie: God On Trial
Kristen Ashley's Book: Knight

___________________________________________
Get Tickets for Theology Beer Camp 2024:
Use Code ReturnofYHP for $50 off your ticket!
___________________________________________

Follow Dan on IG: www.instagram.com/dancoke/
Or Twitter: twitter.com/DanKoch
Faith deconstruction resources: www.soyouredeconstructing.com/
Edited by Josh Gilbert (joshgilbertmedia.com -- he is accepting more work!)
Email about the "sliding scale" for the Patreon: youhavepermissionpodcast@gmail.com
YHP Patron-only FB group: tinyurl.com/ycvbbf98
Website: www.dankochwords.com/yhp.html
Join Dan's email list: www.dankochwords.com/
Artwork by sprungle.co/
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s episode is a thoughtful conversation with my friend Josh Patterson of the (Re)Thinking Faith Podcast about his evolving relationship with Christianity. No longer a pastor, he sometimes struggles to articulate theological concepts that once came easily. Practices that used to nourish his soul now give him pause, and he wonders if his reduced engagement with Christian community and spiritual disciplines has contributed to this sense of distance.
Despite this, Josh still experiences spontaneous moments of prayer, gratitude, and spiritual connection. He values embodied spiritual experiences over mere intellectual agreement with doctrines. The theological issues that once consumed him, such as Hell and atonement theories, have been overshadowed by more fundamental metaphysical and philosophical questions. He resonates with poetic and metaphorical approaches to theology (AKA “theopoetics”) that allow religious language to gesture toward profound truths and experiences without collapsing into rigid literalism.

Watch this Episode on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/BuySOBvUOhY

Josh's Podcast "Rethinking Faith":
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rethinking-faith/id1438696524

___________________________________________
Get Tickets for Theology Beer Camp 2024:
https://homebrewedchristianity.lpages.co/theology-beer-camp-24/
Use Code ReturnofYHP for $50 off your ticket!
___________________________________________
Follow Dan on IG: www.instagram.com/dancoke/
Or Twitter: twitter.com/DanKoch
Faith deconstruction resources: www.soyouredeconstructing.com/
Edited by Josh Gilbert (joshgilbertmedia.com -- he is accepting more work!)
Email about the "sliding scale" for the Patreon: youhavepermissionpodcast@gmail.com
YHP Patron-only FB group: tinyurl.com/ycvbbf98
Website: www.dankochwords.com/yhp.html
Join Dan's email list: www.dankochwords.com/
Artwork by sprungle.co/
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices