Broadcast Seeding Richard Newton

Dr. Meredith Minister is Assistant Professor of Religion at Shenandoah University. In this episode we discuss the intellectual transition from theology to religious studies, graduate school to professorship and much more. She also helps us understand the role of the teacher-scholar in bringing theory to undergraduate students and using theory to understand our work in the classroom.

Dr. Nyasha Junior is Associate Professor of Religion at Temple University. A biblical studies scholar with interests in Hebrews Bible, cultural politics, and women and gender studies, Dr. Junior helps us think through how biblical studies scholars can engage their publics in a substantive way.

Dr. Phillip Luke Sinitiere introduces us to the story behind Lakewood Church, one of America's larges and most controversial congregations. Sinitiere is the author of Salvation with a Smile: Joel Osteen, Lakewood Church, and American Christianity (New York University Press: 2015).

Historian of American Religion, Dr. Edward J. Blum helps us read Jesus iconography to better understand the role race and the Christian faith have had in shaping the meaning ascribed to American bodies. Blum co-authored (with Paul Harvey) the acclaimed book, The Color of Christ: The Saga of Race in America (UNC Press, 2012).

Dr. Rita Shah(Elizabethtown College)discusses "law and order," the nature of crime, and the emerging field known as critical criminology. Shah is winner of the 2016 Praxis Award from the ASC's Division on Critical Criminology.

Acclaimed writer and biblical scholar Dr. Jennifer Grace Bird considers the possibilities for reading the Bible in light of modern ethics and historical insights. Her book, Permission Granted: Take the Bible Into Your Own Hands (Westminster/John Knox Press, 2015)inquires what the text says about women, sex, sin and more.