The McKrakenCast
Episodes
Sunday Mar 20, 2022
Reflecting on the Lectionary Texts for the Third Sunday in Lent (RCL Year C)
Sunday Mar 20, 2022
Sunday Mar 20, 2022
This is the third of what has been a three part series of adult spiritual formation / education (Sunday School) classes that I recently finished teaching at St. Charles Presbyterian Church (USA), here in March of 2022. The date for this particular recording was March 20, 2022. During this series, I lead discussion of the Revised Common Lectionary texts for these Sundays in Lent. Many thanks to my sisters and brothers who joined in the conversation.
This Sunday's readings were:
Isaiah 55:1-9
Psalm 63:1-81
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Luke 13:1-9
You can access these readings here.
We discussed things like:
Spiritualizing vs eschatological / apocalyptic approaches to the Judeo-Christian tradition in these texts
More on Judaism, Christianity, and the perils of supercessionism
A God-inspired vision of what the world could be if we could "buy...without money" and not "labor of that which does not satisfy"
God's people as attracting the interest of the nations and drawing them in rather than a geographically expansionist view
A moral interpretation for God's thoughts and ways being different than ours
Allegorical interpretation in Paul even if the Reformers didn't much care for it as an interpretive strategy
Bad things don't happen to you because you're a bad person
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I write books. I run a blog. I have a YouTube channel. I teach.
Sunday Mar 06, 2022
Reflecting on the Lectionary Texts for the First Sunday in Lent (RCL Year C)
Sunday Mar 06, 2022
Sunday Mar 06, 2022
This is the first of what should be a three part series of adult spiritual formation / education (Sunday School) classes that I'm currently teaching at St. Charles Presbyterian Church (USA), here in March of 2022. The date for this particular recording was March 6, 2022. During this series, I will be leading discussion of the Revised Common Lectionary texts for these Sundays in Lent. Many thanks to my sisters and brothers who joined in the conversation.
This Sunday's readings were:
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16
Romans 10:8b-13
Luke 4:1-13
You can access these readings here.
We discussed things like:
My complicated relationship to the liturgical year and lectionary
Lent, Zwingli, and the origins of the Reformed tradition
How maybe Ash Wednesday should come before Mardi Gras
How we should treat "aliens" / immigrants
How observation of the Sabbath is explained differently in Exodus 20 compared to Deuteronomy 5
How the Jewish and Christian traditions identify God and God's people by telling stories / recounting history
The protoevangelium in Genesis 3:15 and the Reformed tradition's problems with replacement theology / supercessionism
Calling on the name of the Lord and why LORD shows up in all capital letters in the Old Testament
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I write books. I run a blog. I have a YouTube channel. I teach.
Monday Jun 21, 2021
Brief Reflections on Christian Atheism
Monday Jun 21, 2021
Monday Jun 21, 2021
This content lived on Youtube behind a privacy wall for a couple of years, but now I've released it into the wild. If you want to enjoy the video version, just click here. I talk about the martyrdom of Polycarp, an interview I once saw on TV between Stephen Colbert and Ricky Gervais, and why Christians need to have well-developed atheist muscles.
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I write books. I run a blog. I have a YouTube channel. I teach.
Monday Jul 01, 2019
Barthian and Process Theologians in Dialogue (Part 3)
Monday Jul 01, 2019
Monday Jul 01, 2019
Dr. W. Travis McMaken and Rev. Dr. Nichole Torbitzky (both of the Lindenwood University Philosophy & Religion program) discuss Colin Gunton's book on Karl Barth and Charles Hartshorne - "Becoming and Being" - in an effort to help Barthian and Process theologians understand each other better. This is part 3 of a multi-part series.
Lindenwood University Philosophy & Religion department: https://www.lindenwood.edu/academics/academic-schools/school-of-humanities/philosophy-and-religion/
McMaken's Twitter: https://twitter.com/WTravisMcMaken
Torbitzky's Twitter: https://twitter.com/ntorbitzky
Torbitzky's LU profile: http://www.lindenwood.edu/about/directories/faculty-staff-directory/details/ntorbitzky/
McMaken's LU profile: http://www.lindenwood.edu/about/directories/faculty-staff-directory/details/wtmcmaken/
Gunton's book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Being-Hartshorne-Theological-Monographs/dp/0198267134/
We couldn't find a live link to the John Cobb book that Torbitzky mentioned at the end of the video, so here's another (also by Cobb) that's a good beginning resource: https://www.amazon.com/Process-Theology-Introductory-John-Cobb/dp/0664247431/
Also, there's this video of a lecture by Cobb: https://youtu.be/Zo5b2Pi8piQ
Monday Jun 17, 2019
My Top 5 books of 2018
Monday Jun 17, 2019
Monday Jun 17, 2019
I read a lot of books in 2018. Here are my top 5.
The original tweet:
https://twitter.com/WTravisMcMaken/status/1079844334571347970
Also on Youtube: https://youtu.be/JnJypQXwqEc
Featured books:
Taylor, “From BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation” – DET post: http://derevth.blogspot.com/2018/03/what-am-i-reading-keeanga-yamahtta.html
Cone, “Martin & Malcolm & America” – DET post: http://derevth.blogspot.com/2018/05/brief-book-note-james-cones-martin.html
Niebuhr, “Moral Man and Immoral Society” - https://www.amazon.com/Reinhold-Niebuhr-Immoral-Society-Politics/dp/B00HTK2CQ4/
Brown, “Ransom of the Soul” – DET post: http://derevth.blogspot.com/2019/01/brief-book-note-peter-browns-ransom-of.html
Pedersen, “The Eternal Covenant” – DET post: http://derevth.blogspot.com/2019/03/brief-book-note-pedersens-eternal.html
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I write books! Check them out here:
https://www.amazon.com/W.-Travis-McMaken/e/B00CHN7FWE/
I run a blog! Check it out here:
http://derevth.blogspot.com/
I teach! Check me out here:
https://www.lindenwood.edu/about/directories/faculty-staff-directory/details/WTMcMaken/
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Music credit:
Sliabh - Cathal by Aislinn is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License.
Monday Jun 10, 2019
Congdon & McMaken - The Torres Interview
Monday Jun 10, 2019
Monday Jun 10, 2019
For this recording, David Congdon and I sat down (metaphorically) with Juan Torres for a wide-ranging interview about Dialectical Theology, universalism, religion and politics, and more.
Juan Torres on Twitter
David Congdon on Twitter
Travis McMaken on Twitter
Order Congdon's The God Who Saves
Order McMaken's Our God Loves Justice
This content is also available in video format on YouTube.
Friday May 31, 2019
Reflections on Schleiermacher's 5th Speech on Religion
Friday May 31, 2019
Friday May 31, 2019
Friedrich Schleiermacher is awesome. Lots of folks love to hate him, but I'm here to tell you that you should read him.
In this recording, I discuss the 5th of Schleiermacher's speeches from On Religion. I've re-purposed a recording that I made for a class that I no longer teach. I hope you find it helpful or at least entertaining.This content appeared first on YouTube.
Thursday Apr 25, 2019
Barthian and Process Theologians in Dialogue (Part 2), with Nichole Torbitzky
Thursday Apr 25, 2019
Thursday Apr 25, 2019
Rev. Dr. Nichole Torbitzky, one of my colleagues in the Lindenwood University Philosophy & Religion program, joins me to discuss Colin Gunton's book on Karl Barth and Charles Hartshorne - Becoming and Being - in an effort to help Barthian and Process theologians understand each other better. This is part 1 of a multi-part series.
Follow Nichole on Twitter: @ntorbitzky
Wednesday Apr 24, 2019
Barthian and Process Theologians in Dialogue (Part 1), with Nichole Torbitzky
Wednesday Apr 24, 2019
Wednesday Apr 24, 2019
Rev. Dr. Nichole Torbitzky, one of my colleagues in the Lindenwood University Philosophy & Religion program, joins me to discuss Colin Gunton's book on Karl Barth and Charles Hartshorne - Becoming and Being - in an effort to help Barthian and Process theologians understand each other better. This is part 1 of a multi-part series. Follow Nichole on Twitter: @ntorbitzky