A Language for Growth: Attempting to Name the Mystical

In previous episodes we have suggested the importance to push beyond deconstruction into a process of reconstruction.  We believe such a move to not only be possible, but helpful.  What does such a move look like?  How can we talk about it, what sort of language best helps us to identify such a disruptive yet exciting process?

Join us in this episode as we focus on the sort of speech that can help us better understand the process of deconstruction and reconstruction, outlining the helpful "messiness" that characterizes the non-binary speech we recommend for helping us understand the wonderfully mystical process of deconstruction and reconstruction.

Over the course of this season, we have been making a case for deconstruction of the traditional Evangelical faith system. We have been saying that healthy moves and progress are often found as one throws off the legalism and the surveillance mentality found in much of American Evangelical faith systems. Maturity can result in the loss of a person's cherished Evangelical faith system, landing the journeyer in a place of skepticism, doubt, and secularism. As we have said, this can be a move toward health and growth. However, there is still room to move on through secularism/skepticism toward a position of mysticism, wonder, and humility. We describe what that can look like, leaning on our own journeys as examples of that type of progress.

In this episode we attempt to tease out three potential forms that mysticism can take: (1) classical mysticism, (2) post-modern/post-Evangelical mysticism, and (3) mysticism that finds conceptual funding and inspiration in moves toward liberation and a focus on the poor.

Have a listen to see if this makes sense.  We think it does.  We also feel it might give listeners inspiration to identify other forms of humble mysticism, a maturing move toward mystical and humble connections with the divine.

So, join us as we discuss the path towards reconstruction on a journey to mysticism from skepticism and speak about how that process has played out in our lives!


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As always we want these to be informed by YOU, so let us know what you think, send us your thoughts, and we may even try a few! 

Deconstruction is a word that one finds floating around in Christian circles quite a bit lately.  

For some, the term promises liberating possibilities, an open door allowing fresh air into a context that has long felt stifled.  For others, the deconstruction process is dangerous, something that provokes deep anxiety, a move that threatens an unnecessary (and perhaps heretical) dismantling of valuable, historic non-negotiables at the heart of the Christian faith.

With that in mind, in this episode, we invite YOU along for a closer look at the deconstruction process.  We explore some of its connotations and we welcome the journey it entails.  We dive below the surface, peeling back some of the layers found in the idea, complete with insight into why deconstruction is often necessary, what is involved, and how it might be approached in a healthy manner. 

We hope this discussion invites new questions and new insights for those who are curious about helpfully, and faithfully, navigating the deconstruction process.

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Twitter: @PodLmd
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As always we want these to be informed by YOU, so let us know what you think, send us your thoughts, and we may even try a few! 

Get ready for part 3 of our Evangelicalism series where JM, JSF, and Dr. Lindy Backues discuss deconstruction in light of our context in Evangelical America today.  This conversation ranges from discussing why deconstruction can sometimes be healthy to a deep dive into the phenomenon itself in with helpful language to make sense of its natural place within a faith journey.

As always we want these to be informed by YOU, so let us know what you think, send us your thoughts, and we may even try a few! 

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Twitter: @PodLmd
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Web: lmdpod.buzzsprout.com
Email: lmdpod@gmail.com

Join us for our first Friday release for the second episode in the "Evangelicalism" module, where Lindy, JSF, and JM dive deep into a conversation on "Christianese" in America today (yes we know--very "meta').

It is commonplace knowledge that how we as humans talk and the language we use affects how we see the world around us.  In short, the language we use helps shape the way we experience life. 

An offshoot of this is – especially for those of us from the Evangelical world – the language we use easily ends up walling us off from real life, prompting us to offer simplistic answers to difficult questions.  Worse yet, it often prohibits us from admitting when our language does not match the reality we encounter.  We often come off to others as being phony and afraid to discuss topics of deep importance.  In this episode, we take a look at how this works, and then we broaden our conversation to include a deeper look at the way we live.

 We conclude that we must learn to speak more clearly, be more transparent, and open up more fully to important – even challenging – facets of life, especially those related to our relationship to God through Jesus.  In short, we must avoid using religious platitudes or holy words that cloud sincere attempts to understand the puzzles of our world, even when that sort of speech uttered or a life lived makes us uncomfortable.



As always we want these to be informed by YOU, so let us know what you think, send us your thoughts,  we may even try a few! 

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Web: lmdpod.buzzsprout.com
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Welcome back for season 2 of the Like-Minded Deviants Podcast! We begin season 2 with the first in our multi-episode module on Evangelism.

In this episode, we take a biographical and personal look at what has come to be called Evangelicalism in the West--predominantly the cultural phenomena in the United States.  Where did it come from?  What was it in response to?  What did it do?  How has it changed? 

JM and JSF give us some insight into their own family histories as they have woven in and out of the history of Evangelicalism over the last several decades.  Lindy throws into the mix of this history, baggage, and mix of blessings an older but somewhat different perspective that he has experienced.

As always we want these to be informed by YOU, so let us know what you think, send us your thoughts,  we may even try a few! 

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Web: lmdpod.buzzsprout.com
Email: lmdpod@gmail.com

Join us for our Preview for season 2 of Like-Minded Deviants as we loop you in for a few program updates, and release schedule as we get set for season 2!  We are so excited to be back and look forward to our first module releasing in the near future!

We have been so excited by the response to our podcast and we want these to be informed by YOU, so let us know what you think, send us your thoughts,  we may even try a few! 

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Web: lmdpod.buzzsprout.com
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Throughout this season we have arrived at the idea that the Church is not in itself the Reign of God, but the Reign of God is both its starting point and its goal. So that leads us to the question, how does the Church (as God’s idea) address the ‘crackedness’ of the cosmos (the problem of evil we explored at the beginning of the season)?  How does it ‘dramatize’ and manifest grace, love, justice, and the dream of God? 

Join us this week in our final content episode of the season (paired with a Bar-Talk episode) as we examine the call of the Christian Community as a Counter Force and an active participant through actionable grace in the narrative of The Pathetic God.

• Hendrik Berkhof, Christ and the Powers. Translated by John Howard Yoder, Harrisonburg, Virginia: Herald Press, 1977 (ISBN: 978-0-8361-1820-9).
• David P. Gushee & Glenn H. Stassen, Kingdom Ethics: Following Jesus in Contemporary Context. Second Edition, Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2016 (ISBN: 978-0-8028-7421-4).
• Stephen Charles Mott, Biblical Ethics and Social Change. Second Edition, New York: Oxford University Press, 2011 (ISBN: 978-0199739370).

Readings: 

• ‘The Church and the Powers’, Berkhof, Chapter 5
• ‘Salt, Light, Deeds’ and ‘Thy Kingdom Come’, Gushee & Stassen, Chapters 10 & 17
• 'The Church as Counter-Community', Mott, Chapter 7

**Also Check out our BONUS EPISODE! BAR Talk: The conversation after class and on-tap. Reflecting on the season... and what comes next!**

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Web: lmdpod.buzzsprout.com
Email: lmdpod@gmail.com

Join us for our last episode of the first season – appropriately themed Bar-Talk episode as we reflect on the season as a whole, its impact on us, and what we have in store for season 2. In these episodes we connect for a lower key/more relaxed conversation, what we like to call, the conversation after the class! So feel free to grab a drink and join us!

Join us for the second part, and main conversation in our "Toolbox"* episode, where we delve into a theological engagement and critique of Macro-Economics, our Metaphors, the environmental crisis, Globalization, Internationalization, and The Pathetic God.


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Twitter: @PodLmd
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Web: lmdpod.buzzsprout.com
Email: lmdpod@gmail.com

*Note: Each Toolbox episode pairs with a shorter "Toolbox" mini-episode, on for a short lecture unpacking or describing the particular topic  of each "Bookshelf" episode. Think of the "Bookshelf" to Theory and "Tool Box" as praxis.