EPISODES
What is Theosophia?
Sarah's good friend Kelly Simon interviews her about the new podcast.
EPISODE 2
Shantell Hinton
In Part 1, Rev. Hinton shares her journey to priesthood and how she experiences the Divine. Part 2 explores her theological question of salvation of body and/or soul in relation to justice.
EPISODE 3
Keegan Osinski
In Part 1, Vanderbilt Librarian Keegan Osinski talks about her tradition, the Nazarene Church and growing up in Southern California with a rebel spirit. Part 2 Keegan and Sarah discuss the theological significance of the Eucharist and what the Real Presence of Christ looks like to the church.
Follow Keegan at keeganosinski.com; twitter; instagram
EPISODE 4
Joy Bronson
Part 1 explores Joy's call to ordination, her Pentecostal roots and her vision for the Beloved Community. Part 2 continues talking about Beloved Community, the Politics of the Table and White Supremacy.
EPISODE 5
Claire Brown
In Part 1, Claire describes her church background and love of the sacraments. Part 2 discussed embodied theology through the lived experiences of motherhood and priesthood.
Find Claire at seminarmam.wordpress.com and @seminarymama on twitter and instagram.
EPISODE 6
Lis Valle
Part 1 features a daughter of a female pastor. Lis Valle shares her story of growing up in Puerto Rico. She first obtained her juris doctorate and practiced immigration law in Puerto Rico before starting Divinity school there. She came to the states to finish her MDIV at Louisville Seminary and later started her phd at Vanderbilt University in Homiletics and Liturgics. Lis and Sarah discuss her quest for gender justice in law and faith, how and why her gender informs her questions and how the church is the problem but needs to be a solution. Part 2 Lis and Sarah discuss her liturgical play entitled "Recovering Evangelical Coming Out."
EPISODE 7
Nontombi Naomi Tutu
The challenges of growing up black and female in apartheid South Africa have been the foundation of Nontombi Naomi Tutu’s life as an activist for human rights. Tutu is the third child of Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Nomalizo Leah Tutu.
EPISODE 8
Courtney Bryant-Prince
Rev. Courtney Bryant is a womanist, Christian social ethicist pursuing her PhD in Religion: Ethics and Society, at Vanderbilt University. Her current projects focus on the erotic as a divine resource for moral agency. From the vantage point of black female corporeality, she considers the impact of eros on identity construction, the materiality of liberation, and relational ethics. Bryant is also an ordained reverend and currently teaches Christian Social Ethics at Union Presbyterian Seminary.
EPISODE 9
Amy Violette
Amy is a Baptist Preacher, Professor, Entrepreneur. Amy is a certified Life-Coach, Former NCAA Track and Field Athlete for Belmont University, she started six companies before the age of 30. She is a professional songwriter and actor. Amy holds a MDIV from Baylor University. She is an adjunct faculty at Belmont University in the College of Theology and Christian Ministry. She was ordained in 2017 by First Baptist Church Decatur, GA. She lives in Nashville, TN and Santa Fe, NM and founded the Church at Lipstick Lounge in East Nashville, TN. Find Amy here.
EPISODE 10
Julia Nusbaum
Julia is a small town farm girl raised in Illinois. She currently holds the position of Event Manager for Your People’s Ministry in the United Methodist Church. She holds a Masters of Theological Studies from VAnderbilty University and Bachelors in history and religion from Augustana College. She lives in Milwaukee where she’s writing her first novel. She’s also the founder of HerStory an online blog that empowers women through storytelling.
EPISODE 11
Kait Dugan
Kait Dugan serves as the Curator for the Center for Barth Studies at Princeton Theological Seminary. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy and political science from Taylor University, a Master of Arts in theology from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, a Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary, and is currently pursuing her PhD in systematic theology from the University of Aberdeen. Her research focuses on the role of death in Pauline apocalyptic theology, and what the particular conceptions of death therein might bring to bear upon soteriological concerns. She is also a member of St. James Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) in Harlem, New York City.
EPISODE 12
Caroline Leithner
Caroline Leithner is a Nurse Practitioner in the State of Washington. She received a dual degree in nursing and theology from Vanderbilt University. She’s also an Episcopalian and has gone through a large portion of the ordination process but has put that part of her path on hold to pursue her career in health care. Caroline is insanely smart and an absolute delight of a person to be around. We discuss her religious upbringing in the church, her path to divinity school and nursing school and we begin to chat about how theology informs her nursing practice.
EPISODE 14
Bonnie Kristian
Bonnie is a political writer and author. She's an editor at The Week and a fellow at Defense Priorities. Her publications also appear on news outlets including Time, CNN, Politico, The Hill, Relevant Magazine, Rare, The American Conservative, and more. She holds a Masters in Christian Thought from Bethel Seminary. Bonnie recently came out with a new book entitled “A Flexible Faith” : Rethinking what it means to follow Jesus today.
EPISODE 15
Emilie Townes
Emilie is currently the Dean of Vanderbilt Divinity School and the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of Womanist Ethics and Society. She’s a pioneer, a visionary, and dare I say - a prophet.
EPISODE 16
Becky Seville
She’s a chemist, a Nazarene and host of the Twisted Sisterds podcast which highlights - "women deconstructing culture, theology and a random stray thought here and there.”
EPISODE 17
Jennifer Lane
In 2014, Jennifer was ordained as an American Baptists pastor and went Active Duty as an Army Chaplain with the 209th Aviation Support Battalion on Wheeler Army Airfield November 1, 2016. She also founded The Veterans Chapel in 2014 to teach churches and clergy how they can better minister to military families and Veterans, particularly marginalized groups of Veterans.
EPISODE 18
Erin Jean Warde
Rev. Erin Jean Warde serves as rector of St. Luke's in Ada, OK. She received her bachelors in English and Creative Writing from Troy University in Troy, AL, and her masters of divinity from Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, TX. Erin and I talk about her unchurched path to ordination, what sacraments mean to her and how she understands priesthood as story telling in Episode 1.
EPISODE 19
Crystal Cheatham
Crystal Cheatham is a social activist creating conversation and action concerning LGBT people in religious spaces. Crystal works as a ghostwriter but maintains a public voice through articles op-eds and blogs. She is a columnist for the Philadelphia Gay News and a contributor at both the Huffington Post and the New Civil Rights Movement. She’s a musician, a podcaster and most recently she is the founder and CEO of the OurBible App which seeks to “Uplift Believers of All Stripes.”
EPISODE 20
Jennifer Knapp
Jennifer Knapp is a beloved singer-songwriter who got her start in 90s Contemporary Christian Music scene. She received four Dove Awards and two Grammy nominations during her CCM career then left abruptly leaving her successful albeit stressful career behind. Seven years later Knapp came back with news that she was gay and wrote a lovely memoir about her childhood growing up in rural Kansas to her path to the CCM world, why she left and her how Christian faith never ceased as she recognized who she really was. Now Jennifer is an advocate for LGBT issues in the church and she just released her 3rd album post-sabbatical called Love Comes Back Around.
EPISODE 21
Megan Black
Megan Black is the National Clergy Organizer for Faith in Action, a multi-faith, multi-racial network of faith-based community organizations committed to ending racial inequity and economic injustice in our communities. Megan earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame and a Master's of Divinity from Vanderbilt Divinity School.
EPISODE 22
Rabbi Jill Hammer
Rabbi Jill Hammer, PhD, is the co-founder of the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute, a program that trains women in embodied, earth-based, feminist Jewish spiritual leadership. She is also the Director of Spiritual Education at the Academy for Jewish Religion, a pluralistic seminary for rabbis, cantors, and educators. She is the author of eight books, including Sisters at Sinai: New Tales of Biblical Women, The Jewish Book of Days: A Companion for all Seasons, The Omer Calendar of Biblical Women, The Hebrew Priestess: Ancient and New Visions of Jewish Women’s Spiritual Leadership (with Taya Shere), The Hebrew Priestess Prayerbook, and The Book of Earth and Other Mysteries.
EPISODE 23
Dr. Robyn Henderson-Espinoza
Robyn Henderson-Espinoza, PhD has been described in a myriad of ways: a scholar-activist, scholar-leader, thought-leader, teacher, public theologian, ethicist, poet of moral reason, and word artist. Among these ways of describing Dr. Robyn, they are also a visionary thinker who has spent two decades working in the hybrid space of church, academy, & movements seeking to not only disrupt but dismantle supremacy culture by focusing their PhD studies on new concepts of being & becoming, decolonizing knowledge production, & bridging with radical difference.
EPISODE 24
Rev. Anita Peebles
Rev. Anita hails from the state of Michigan. She attended Oberlin College for undergraduate studies then immediately went to Vanderbilt to complete her master of divinity degree at Vanderbilt University. She was ordained in the Alliance of Baptist Tradition in Nashville TN at Glendale Baptist Church. From there, Rev. Anita was called to serve as the Associate Pastor for Next Generation Ministries at Seattle First Baptist Church.
EPISODE 25
Rev. Michelle Wahila
Michelle was ordained to the ministry of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (USA) in November 2005. Michelle is the creator and owner of Ruffled By Grace: Parisian Wedding Blessings. She serves as an officiant for couples seeking personalized spiritual wedding blessings or to renew their wedding vows in Paris. She works with a team of professionals to offer creative and tailored services that reflect the uniqueness of every couple.
The Davis'
Hailing from Southern California, Kelsey Davis currently serves as Curator for Emerging Communities in the Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real. Before moving to CA, Kelsey completed her MDIV at Vanderbilt University with a Certificate of Religion in the Arts & Contemporary Culture as she served as a Chaplain for Young Adults at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Chapel and as school chaplain at Episcopal School of Nashville. She did her undergraduate degree in Theology at the University of Portland and was a student-athlete on the soccer team as a goal keeper. In her previous life, Kelsey was a professional soccer player, collegiate soccer coach, and US National Team Coach. And she still currently coaches youth soccer.
Heather Davis is from North Georgia. She’s currently working at Hospice Giving Foundation, Director of Annual Giving. Before Cali, while living in Nashville, Thistle Farms, Director of Development & Community Engagement. And before Nashville, Heather was the Co-Founder of Upward Roots in Oakland California. She holds a MA – Humanities, San Francisco State University and Bachelors in Business Administration & Spanish Language, Western Carolina University where she was also a student-athlete on the soccer team. In her former life, she also coached collegiate soccer and currently coaches youth soccer.
Rev. Kirsten Baer
She is a nurturer and loves being a pastor and priest. Her and her husband Rev. Tim Baer co-founded the church plant Grace Church in Yukon, Oklahoma. After serving at Grace Church for 5 years, Rev. Kirsten began full time as Assistant Chaplain at Casady Episcopal School in OKC in the fall of 2018. She is the first female priest to serve at Casady School. While she serves at Casady during the week, she is blessed to continue to serve at Grace on Sundays. She is a 2011 graduate of Virginia Theological Seminary (M.Div.) and the University of Oklahoma (B.A. and M.Ed). She loves baking and scrap-booking, but spends nearly all her free time with her children, Hannah and Andrew.
Rev. Brittany Hanlin
Rev. Brittany was born in East Orange, NJ, and moved to Charlotte, NC at age 11. She graduated from Howard University in Washington, DC with a major in Sociology and minor in Community Development. Upon graduating, Brittany became an AmeriCorps Volunteer, serving as Youth Care Worker for young ladies between the ages of 11-14 at Mercy Home for Boys and Girls in Chicago. She earned her Master of Divinity from Vanderbilt Divinity School in 2016. Brittany is very passionate about providing authentic and effective pastoral care to children and youth. She is currently an Associate Minister at Marble Colliegate Church in New York.