Daily Theology Podcast Stephen Okey

In today’s episode, I talk with Elissa Cutter of Georgian Court University in Lakewood, NJ. I first met Elissa when we were undergrads at Georgetown University in Fr. Walsh’s Hebrew Scriptures seminar. In this conversation, we talk about her early interest in politics, stemming from growing up in a political family; her experience studying theology in France after the 9/11 attacks, and her work on feminist historical theology.
Dr. Elissa Cutter is an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and Theology at Georgian Court University in Lakewood, NJ. She earned her BA in French and Theology at Georgetown University, her MA in Theology from the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, and her PhD in Theological Studies from Saint Louis University. Her research focuses on Mother Angelique Arnauld, the 17th century abbess and reformer at the convent of Port-Royal, as well as the wider Jansenist movement in France. She is also an editor at Women In Theology.
I apologize that I didn’t have this episode out last month, but I was beset by illness that I’ve only recently come out of. I’m planning to release three episodes over the next two months to make up for the gap, so look forward to those.
You can also see the full transcript for this episode below.
Thanks as always to Matt Hines of the band Eastern Sea for providing the music for the Daily Theology Podcast.
Transcript of Episode #52 - Elissa Cutter
[Opening Music]
Stephen Okey: Welcome to the Daily Theology Podcast, a podcast on the craft and vocation of theology.
I'm your host, Stephen Okey.
In today's episode, I talk with Elissa Cutter of Georgian Court University in Lakewood, New Jersey. I first met Elissa when we were undergrads at Georgetown University in Father Walsh's Hebrew Scriptures seminar.
In this conversation, we talk about her early interest in politics stemming, from growing up in a political family; her experience studying theology in France after the 9/11 attacks; and her work on feminist historical theology.
I apologize that I didn't have this episode out last month, but I was beset by illness that I am still coming out of, which you can perhaps hear in my voice. I'm planning to release three episodes over the next two months to make up for the gap. So look forward to those.
I hope you enjoy the episode and thank you for listening.
[Music Transition]
Stephen Okey: Today for the Daily Theology Podcast, I'm talking with my friend, Elissa Cutter, from Georgian Court University in New Jersey. Elissa, thank you for being here.
Elissa Cutter: Yeah. Thank you so much for inviting me.
Stephen Okey: I like to begin by asking, how did you get into studying theology?
Elissa Cutter: Yeah, thank you. Gosh, I feel like my story is, is very convoluted. And it is, you know, like so many others it was not my intention to study theology initially. I think I should start with a little bit of background, which is that my family was actually very involved in politics in Massachusetts.
So, the closest person to me in this, as a kind of role model in this was my grandfather, and he had been Attorney General of Massachusetts, and he also ran against Ted Kennedy for the Democratic nomination for Senate.
Stephen Okey: Wow.
Elissa Cutter: And lost.
Stephen Okey: Yeah, yeah, I figured.
Elissa Cutter: Um, but that, that was actually a big thing, like, in the debate, he, there was this line, and I, I'm probably going to misquote it, but he basically said to him, if your name were Edward Moore instead of Edward Moore Kennedy, your candidacy would be a joke.
And, yeah, so people felt bad for Kennedy, apparently. And, so, yeah, my grandfather lost. But it, so he wasn't just, I should note, my grandfather was also running a little bit on his name as well. His, um, uncle at the time was Speaker of the House of Representatives. So, like my family had been involved in politics for a while in Massachusetts.
Stephen Okey: And these were the McCormacks?
Elissa Cutter: Yes, these ar

For this month’s episode of the Daily Theology Podcast, I spoke with Professor Jessica Coblentz. We talk about the influence of Henri Nouwen’s Life of the Beloved on her path to studying religion, her research on theology and depression, and thinking theologically about suffering. We focus especially on her book, Dust in the Blood: A Theology of Life with Depression, which I recommend you all go out and get after you listen to the episode (you can order it direct from the publisher here or from the behemoth here).
Dr. Jessica Coblentz is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Theology at St. Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana. She holds a BA from Santa Clara University, an MTS from Harvard Divinity School, and a PhD from Boston College. She is the author of Dust in the Blood: A Theology of Life with Depression (Liturgical Press, 2022), which won the 2023 award for best book from the College Theology Society. She also co-edited The Human in a Dehumanizing World: Re-Examining Theological Anthropology and Its Implications (Orbis, 2022) with Daniel Horan, OFM.
Thanks as always to Matt Hines of the band Eastern Sea for providing the music for the Daily Theology Podcast.


Get full access to Okeydoxy at stephenokey.substack.com/subscribe

For the first Daily Theology Podcast episode of 2024, we welcome Heather Miller Rubens of the Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies. We talk about how her early interest in Hebrew scriptures led to the study of Jewish Catholic relations, the work of the ICJS, and about how to do interreligious dialogue well. We focus especially on her forthcoming project, In Good Faith: An Argument for an Interreligious Society, and her argument that the public sphere actually needs more talk about religion, not less, if we want to live in a healthy and functioning society.
Dr. Heather Miller Rubens is the Executive Director and Roman Catholic Scholar at the Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies (ICJS). She has a BA from Georgetown University, and an MA and PhD from the University of Chicago Divinity School. Her research focuses on theological, ethical, and political issues relating to the roles of religion and interreligious dialogue in the public square.
You can also see the full transcript for this episode below.
Thanks as always to Matt Hines of the band Eastern Sea for providing the music for the Daily Theology Podcast.
Transcript of Episode #50 - Heather Miller Rubens
#50 – Heather Miller Rubens
[Opening Music]
Stephen Okey: Welcome to the Daily Theology Podcast, a podcast on the craft and vocation of theology. I'm your host, Stephen Okey.
In today's episode, I talk with Heather Miller Rubens, who is the Executive Director and Roman Catholic scholar at the Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies. We talk about how her early interest in Hebrew scriptures led to the study of Jewish Catholic relations, the work of the ICJS, and about how to do inter-religious dialogue well. We focus especially on her forthcoming project "In Good Faith: An Argument for an Interreligious Society," and her argument that the public sphere actually needs more talk about religion, not less, if we want to live in a healthy and functioning society.
Thanks to everyone who has subscribed through Substack, where this podcast is joined to my Okeydoxy newsletter. New episodes of the podcast will come out each month while newsletters will come out every two weeks or so. The next one of those will be on Martin Scorsese's "The Last Temptation of Christ" as part of my "Celluloid Christ" series.
I hope you enjoy the episode and thanks for listening.
[Music Transition]
Stephen Okey: Today for the Daily Theology Podcast, I'm talking to my friend, Heather Miller Rubens. Heather, thank you for being here.
Heather Miller Rubens: Thank you for inviting me.
Stephen Okey: You are the executive director, and Roman Catholic scholar at the Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies, which sounds like a lot of heavy double duty. So I like to, I like to open by asking people, how did you get into doing theology?
Heather Miller Rubens: Yeah, so I went to Catholic school my whole life, from elementary school through college, at Georgetown University, where we met as undergrads so many, many years ago. And I was a double major in theology and creative writing. And towards the end of my time there, I actually took a Hebrew Bible class with Father Jim Walsh and started learning Biblical Hebrew with him, and he sort of encouraged me to keep going with religion, the study of religion, as did a lot of my other undergraduate mentors as well.
And I knew I wanted to, to, to study a religion that I didn't identify with. It wasn't mine and really very much enjoyed Hebrew, and so went to the Oxford Center for Hebrew and Jewish Studies for a 1 year masters and sort of immerse myself in the study of Judaism and the study of the Hebrew language, and then went to the University of Chicago to pursue a doctoral degree and an additional masters.
And at the University of Chicago I was able to combine my doctoral studies with Judaism and Christianity, and do that under the history of Judaism section. So, I actually trained as a historian at the Unive

This episode welcomes Chris Bellitto of Kean University to the podcast. We talk about his first career as a journalist, as well as how that background helped him as a scholar, teacher, and public commentator on church events. We also discuss working with students in the classroom in a way that both provokes reflection while sustaining civil conversation…


Get full access to Okeydoxy at stephenokey.substack.com/subscribe

In our newest episode of the podcast, I talk with my friend and fellow Boston College alum Nichole Flores. We talk about how working with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers during divinity school helped her understand her vocation as a theologian, how she understands the public role of the theologian, including at public universities, and her work on the intersection of theology and democracy. We also talk extensively about her book The Aesthetics of Solidarity (https://amzn.to/3EUcOSk) and the diverse ways that people appropriate significant religious symbols like Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Dr. Nichole Marie Flores (https://religiousstudies.as.virginia.edu/nichole-m-flores) is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia. She earner her AB in Government at Smith College, her MDiv from Yale Divinity School, and her PhD in Theological Ethics from Boston College. Her research focuses on the intersection of Catholic ethics, theological aesthetics, and democracy. She is the author of The Aesthetics of Solidarity: Our Lady of Guadalupe and American Democracy (https://amzn.to/3EUcOSk) (Georgetown University Press, 2021).

Get full access to Okeydoxy at stephenokey.substack.com/subscribe

In our second episode back from hiatus, Steve Okey speaks with Jon Malesic, author of The End of Burnout from University of California Press. They talk about how his early interest in physics and the mysteries of the universe drew him to study theology, how his personal experience with burnout led to his research on it, and where he now situates himself with respect to theology.
Jon Malesic (https://twitter.com/JonMalesic?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor) is an author, journalist, and scholar who teaches writing at Southern Methodist University and University of Texas at Dallas. He previously was an associate professor of theology at King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, PA. He earned his BA degree from the Catholic University of America and his PhD from the University of Virginia. He is the author of two books, Secret Faith in the Public Square (https://amzn.to/3OE1Wyg) (Brazos, 2009), and The End of Burnout: Why Work Drains Us and How to Build Better Lives (https://amzn.to/3BWkQsG) (University of California Press, 2022). For more on Jon Malesic, you can visit his website (https://jonmalesic.com/) or subscribe to his Substack newsletter (https://jonmalesic.substack.com/).
Thanks as always to Matt Hines of the band Eastern Sea (https://open.spotify.com/artist/1g7l0o1IobV06d8Y4kyEhY) for providing the music for the Daily Theology Podcast.
You can support the Daily Theology Podcast at Patreon for as little as $2 a month (https://www.patreon.com/dailytheopod), or you can buy Steve a cup of tea at Ko-Fi.com (https://ko-fi.com/dailytheopod).
You can find the Daily Theology Podcast on
Twitter (https://twitter.com/DailyTheoPod)
Instagram (http://www.instagram.com/dailytheopod)
YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@dailytheopod)

Get full access to Okeydoxy at stephenokey.substack.com/subscribe