The Beached White Male Podcast with Ken Kemp Ken Kemp

Award-winning author, journalist, and fellow podcaster Brian T. Kaylor joins Ken to talk about his soon-to-be-released (June 6, 2024) book, Baptizing America: How Mainline Protestants Helped Build Christian Nationalism. Brian adds a significant contribution to the discussion about the pervasive Christian Nationalism so prevalent today - the movement that became highly visible in the January 6th assault on our nation’s Capitol. It’s a little-discussed fact that the foundation for Christian Nationalism was laid by the “Seven Sisters” - the mainline denominations that far and away dominated the American religious scene before the explosion of evangelical denominations in the 1960s and 70s. Brian Kaylor asserts that despite its spurious claim, “Christian Nationalism isn’t Christian.” Ken and Brian unpack this thesis and review his well-researched, compelling book. They discuss Robert Bellah’s “Civil Religion” and the prescient warnings from Paul Tillich and H. Richard Niebuhr. Other topics include The National Prayer Breakfast, The Family, St. John’s Episcopal Church (“The President’s Church”), the National Cathedral, and traditional hymnology (including the prolific hymns written by Fanny Crosby). All of this has culminated in MAGA Trumpism and the complete takeover of the Republican Party. The American Flag and the Christian Flag have been standards in mainline denominational churches throughout out history - the Confederate Flag, too. Kaylor draws on Greg Boyd’s Myth of a Christian Nation to underscore the vast difference between the biblical notion of the Kingdom of God and America as the New Israel. SHOW NOTES

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Andy Wells returns to the podcast with an update on his popular book, Tried to be Straight. The first two-part interview with Andy has been one of the most popular BWM episodes to date. In that episode, Andy shares his journey growing up in church (All Saints Episcopal Church and Lake Avenue Congregational Church both in Pasadena, CA) where he served in leadership roles - and on to college and graduate school where he earned a Master of Arts in Christian Apologetics at Biola University. After struggling for decades with his identity - including association with the now defunct Exodus International and “reparative therapy” -  he tells his “coming out” story. Andy remains a committed Christian and dedicated student and teacher of the Bible. Today’s episode gets us current. Because of his book, Andy has counseled countless others in the LGBTQ+ community who struggle with their own identity, parents whose children have “come out,” and Christians who maintain a moral objection to non-hetero sexuality but want to maintain a positive relationship with everyone. Andy has been invited to speak and share his book with groups who have shared their appreciation and help. Andy endorses high-impact groups like Free Mom Hugs and Real Momma Bears. He shares his new book project designed to give language that builds bridges rather than walls. This is an important interview you will not want to miss - and then share it with your friends. SHOW NOTES
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Ken Fong and Betsey Newenhuyse join Ken Kemp for a special edition - The Two Kens and Beach Talk. Betsey made her third annual trip to California and the studios of the Beached White Male podcast. The three friends join together to interact over their weekend and a conversation is triggered by an unlikely Atlantic article (April 3, 2024, Issue) they all read - The True Cost of The Church Going Bust by self-described agnostic, Derek Thompson. In it, Thompson writes, “More than one-quarter of Americans now identify as atheists, agnostics, or religiously ‘unaffiliated,’ according to a new survey of 5,600 U.S. adults by the Public Religion Research Institute. This is the highest level of non-religiosity in the poll’s history.” The two Kens and Betsey discuss their church experience, especially the Sunday they spent together at the First Baptist Church of Pasadena (Ken Fong’s home church). Thompson argues, as a non-believer, that something profound is lost should communities of faith disappear in America. This episode has been released on both this podcast and Asian America The Ken Fong Podcast.
Atlantic Article | Become a Patron | Ken’s Substack - The Bible Salesman


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Dr. Peter Enns returns to the podcast to discuss his new book Curve-ball - When Your Faith Takes Turns You Never Saw Coming* or How I Stumbled and Tripped My Way to Finding a Bigger God. Pete admits it's the longest title in the history of publishing. The popular professor, author (see show notes for his many other books), and podcaster (The Bible for Normal People) drops his guard like never before sharing his spiritual and intellectual journey from his days as an aspiring baseball player to progressive Christian thinker. "Wrestling with God and Scripture is very old and completely normal. Actually, it's God-activated," he says. In reviewing the book, Ken and Pete talk about Noah, Jonah, and Jesus as archetypes in the struggle. Richard Rohr, David Bentley Hart, Thomas Oord and Rachel Held Evans get honorable mention as guides. Evolution is a major "curveball" for many Christians. Pete is especially interested in the chaos and "weirdness" of physics and quantum mechanics, all of which have opened Pete's mind and heart to a much bigger and more profound notion of God. While Pete avoids the clichéd use of the over-used and misappropriated descriptor, "deconstruction," he traces a normal, natural, and healthy evolution in our understanding of faith and our relationship to the God of the Universe. SHOW NOTES

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Author, pastor, educator, counselor and storyteller Jeffrey Munroe shares his new book, Telling Stories in the Dark: Finding Healing and Hope in Sharing our Sadness, Grief, Trauma, and Pain. Jeff draws on a lifetime of ministry in churches, universities, and Young Life both in the USA and Europe. He’s concluded that spiritual health is not so much about right beliefs as it is about telling our stories in an environment of safety and affirmation. In a chapter entitled,  “I’ll Go First,” he shares the traumatic moment, just a month before his planned wedding, when his fiance with no warning experienced a sudden, massive stroke. As a young man, he got very little support. He was told to “be strong.” “There’s a purpose.” You need to hear this story. It’s the age-old problem of theodicy - how can a loving God allow unimaginable tragedy? In a wide-ranging conversation, Jeff draws on significant sources like Bessel VanderKolk, Frederick Beuchner, and Richard Rohr. In sharing some very personal stories, he deals with issues like terminal cancer, racial disparity in health care, gun violence, white privilege, Alzheimer's and suicide. In each, he applies a strong message from the vulnerable writer, Frederick Buechner who introduced the notion of “the stewardship of pain.” SHOW NOTES
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On the 56th Anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Ken shares his final in the Substack series - Biblical Authority. On this day, we remember the tragedy and the legacy of the Civil Rights champion. While the Bible has been and is today abused and weaponized, there’s a beauty we dare not miss. MLK illustrates the point.
Ken’s Substack Page - Biblical Authority Part IV - A Thing of Beauty is a Joy Forever
From my book My Creed: An Unauthorized Rewrite of the Generally Accepted Evangelical Doctrinal Statement: Reflections on Authentic Belief by Kenneth Kemp (2020) Kindle and hard copy available on Amazon
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