The Rev. Canon Stephanie Spellers, an Episcopal priest, is Canon in Residence in St. Bartholomew’s Church in New York. At a time when church membership declines in America, Spellers points to the broader trends of disaffiliation from institutions. She interviewed dozens of the Nones, Dones, and Unchurched in San Francisco, Atlanta, the Twin Cities, and New York to find out why they are passing on church. How do they find and create community and a sense of belonging? Do the Dones still miss church? Why are the Millennial and Gen Z generations the loneliest generations? How could their insights help shape the future of the Christian community? You can order the book, request the free study guide, and keep track of Canon Spellers' book tour stops at www.stephaniespellers.com/church-tomorrow. Listen wherever you get your podcasts Watch full episodes on YouTube Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X Website www.kwokpuilan.com  

Dr. Frank M. Yamada is Executive Director of the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada (ATS). There are about 270 schools in the ATS belonging to evangelical, mainline Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox church families. Over the past several decades, theological education in North America has undergone significant changes. In this episode, Dr. Yamada describes the challenges facing theological schools and the new opportunities supported by the Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative funded by the Lilly Endowment. As the Trump administration has issued executive orders and directives regarding higher education, theological schools need to adapt to these changes. The ATS has promoted global engagement for some time due to the shift in Christian demographics to the Global South. Theological education needs to respond to where God’s mission is and where the spirit is moving. ATS has offered spaces for theological educators and administrative staff to develop their leadership skills and capacity in responding to transitional changes. Listen wherever you get your podcasts Watch full episodes on YouTube Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X Website www.kwokpuilan.com    

This episode celebrates the 20th anniversary of the publication of my book Postcolonial Imagination and Feminist Theology. When I published it in 2005, I did not plan on writing a book on postcolonial theology. It was only from hindsight that I realized that I was using postcolonial theory to scrutinize some of the assumptions of feminist theology. After the book was published, I was glad to see that colleagues in America, Asia, and Europe have used and taught the book. It has influenced different fields, such as theology, biblical studies, and practical theology. To celebrate the 20th anniversary, I invited several former students to share how the book has impacted their work. They are Dr. Boyung Lee, a practical theologian from Korea; Dr. Shari C. Mackinson, a womanist ethicist; Dr. Lama Htoi San Lu, a Kachin feminist theologian from Myanmar; and Ms. Asia Lerner-Gay, a doctoral student from Emory University. I am very grateful for their contributions. Listen wherever you get your podcasts Watch full episodes on YouTube Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X Website www.kwokpuilan.com

Dr. Deanna Ferree Womack is Associate Professor of history of religions and interfaith studies at Candler School of Theology at Emory University. In this episode, she discusses how missionary discourses and stereotypes about Islam and Muslims contributed to the rise of American Islamophobia in the late twentieth century. In addition to texts, she examines the portrayals of Muslims in postcards, photos, and material culture in Protestant missionary archives. She points out why previous studies have often neglected the gender dimension, focusing on texts written by men and theological arguments. She shows that the missionary women have participated in discourse about Islam through children’s books and material culture. As a scholar of Middle Eastern Christianity, she sheds light on Muslim-Christian relations and helps us understand tensions and conflicts in the Middle East. She points out how Christians can reach out to their Muslim neighbors and build strong communities.   Dr. Deanna Ferree Womack's book is Re-Inventing Islam: Gender and Protestant Roots in American Islamophobia   Listen wherever you get your podcasts Watch full episodes on YouTube Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X Website www.kwokpuilan.com    

Prof. Dr. Ulrike Ernst-Auga is a German Protestant theologian and a scholar of cultural and religious studies. She is also the President of the International Association for the Study of Religion and Gender. In this episode, she discusses how she uses postcolonial, postsecular, and queer perspectives to study religion and gender across different contexts. As Christian nationalism has grown, she explains how nationalist ideology constructs a “proper family,” based on heteronormality and patriarchal authority as the foundation of a nation. Women’s bodies become the symbol of purity and reproductive obligation. Neo-nationalism promises a return to a mythic past of moral clarity and racial homogeneity. Christian nationalism is tied to whiteness, patriarchy, and state power. But religious performances can also subvert this formation, such as Black liberation theology and queer activism. In the U.S., scholars of gender and religion respond to religious fundamentalisms and postcolonial and postsecular debates. In Europe, scholars work in a more secular, anti-clerical context and are influenced by poststructuralism, Marxism, and existentialism. Religion is generally ignored, and scholars have only recently engaged postcolonial approaches. As 2025 comes to an end, she shares her reflections on changes in world politics over the last year and highlights what religion scholars must pay attention to. Prof. Dr. Ulrike Ernst-Auga’s book An Epistemology of Religion and Gender Listen wherever you get your podcasts Watch full episodes on YouTube Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X Website www.kwokpuilan.com

Rita Nakashima Brock is a noted Asian American feminist theologian, activist, and world authority on moral injury. She was Senior Vice President for Moral Injury Recovery Programs at Volunteers of America. In this episode, she explains what moral injury is and the difference between moral injury and PTSD. She describes how moral injury affects her family, especially in her relationship with her father, who came back from the Vietnam War as a different person. Churches and faith communities can help people with moral injury by organizing supportive and non-judgmental groups. She says that traditional atonement theories are not helpful and explains it through the lens of moral injury. As a pioneer in Asian American theology, she uses the concept of interstitial integrity to describe multilayered, complex identities that defy simple characterizations of victims and oppressors. Many Asian American scholars have cited the concept to discuss their own identities. As a longtime activist, she says people need to form coalitions to resist the Trump administration's policies. She sees hope in the fact that more and more people are fighting back and resisting. Rita Nakashima Brock’s coauthored book Soul Repair: Recovering from Moral Injury after War. Listen wherever you get your podcasts Watch full episodes on YouTube Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X Website www.kwokpuilan.com  

Bishop Ian T. Douglas is the retired Bishop Diocesan of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut and the former Agnes Dun Professor of Mission and World Christianity at the Episcopal Divinity School. With Kwok Pui-lan, he has coedited Beyond Colonial Anglicanism (2001) and Living Postcolonial Anglicanism (2025). In this episode, he discusses the historical backgrounds of these two books. In the past two decades, we have increasingly seen postcolonial Anglican structures and realities across the Anglican Communion. Yet, the postcolonial Anglican church is always a church becoming. As the Anglican demographic has shifted toward the Global South, the Anglican Communion is increasingly polycentric. Douglas has participated in many commissions and council meetings of the Anglican Communion. He argues that we can’t use a politics of containment to uphold authority and instead must celebrate differences among churches, including racial, cultural, and linguistic differences. Ian T. Douglas’s book Living Postcolonial Anglicanism Listen wherever you get your podcasts Watch full episodes on YouTube Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X Website www.kwokpuilan.com  

Dr. Traci C. West is Professor Emerite of Christian Ethics and African American Studies at Drew University Theological School. She is known for her scholarship and activism around gender-based violence, particularly against Black women. In this episode, she uses the lens of gender-based violence to examine the moral compass of the U.S. society. She shows how public morality has shifted when sexual violence and abuse are not disqualifying factors for people who hold high positions in government, including the presidency. As a Christian ethicist who has done research work internationally, she discusses the challenges of learning from and standing in solidarity with global activists as a citizen of the U.S. At a time when American imperialism is on the rise, Dr. West encourages the upcoming generation of ethicists and activists to use an intersectional approach and combine theory with praxis, paying attention to institutional, personal, and intimate violence. Dr. Traci C. West's book Solidarity and Defiant Spirituality Listen wherever you get your podcasts Watch full episodes on YouTube Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X Website www.kwokpuilan.com

Dr. Cody J. Sanders is a queer Baptist minister, pastoral theologian, and Associate Professor of Congregational and Community Care Leadership at Luther Seminary in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Previously, he served as pastor of Old Cambridge Baptist Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In this episode, he responds to the taking away of trans rights and the Supreme Court decision not to reconsider the legality of same-sex marriage. He argues that the affirming of LGBTQ people by churches is only the first step. Churches must publicize LGBTQ stories and learn from how LGBTQ lives have become sources of theological wisdom. Despite the rejection and violence LGBTQ Christians have experienced, they have been practicing faith at the margins of religious communities. Dr. Sanders shares why he wrote the first book on the intersection between religious and spiritual narratives and LGBTQ suicide and interviewed LGBTQ people who had attempted suicide. He analyzes the stories that came out from the survivors and learned about their inspiring refashioning of Christian faith and queer theology. In our precarious times, churches and faith communities must take risks to stand in solidarity with this marginalized community in the public square.   Dr. Cody J. Sanders’s book Christianity, LGBTQ Suicide, and the Souls of Queer Folk and A Brief Guide to Ministry with LGBTQIA Youth Listen wherever you get your podcasts Watch full episodes on YouTube Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X Website www.kwokpuilan.com        

Julian Davis Reid is the founder of the ministry Notes of Rest®, which invites the weary into the rest of God practiced in the Bible and Black music. He is a musician, speaker, writer, and a Black artist-theologian of Chicago, who graduated from Candler School of Theology. In this episode, he discusses his upbringing in the church, immersed in both Black and classical music. He has studied and appreciated contemplative spirituality in the Black tradition, influenced by the works of Barbara A. Holmes, Howard Thurman, and Barbara L. Peacock. Reid has released the album Vocation, which includes the single “Moan.” He plays a short excerpt in the episode. In addition to music, Reid has published chapters in books and is writing a book, Notes of Rest. His Substack newsletter is entitled “Julian’s Notes.” Julian Davis Reid’s Website His Substack Listen wherever you get your podcasts Watch full episodes on YouTube Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X Website www.kwokpuilan.com

Dr. Sharon A. Suh is a professor of Religious Studies at Seattle University, a practicing Buddhist, and a yoga teacher. In this episode, she shares why she edited the book Emergent Dharma, inviting Asian American Buddhist scholar-practitioners to share their practices. American Buddhist scholarship has focused on white Buddhist communities. This book intervenes by introducing the lives and practices of Asian American women. Suh has also published Occupy This Body: A Buddhist Memoir, in which she discusses eating disorders, family dynamics, and trauma. She discusses the journey behind writing this moving book. She teaches yoga through a trauma-informed lens, helping women of color reconnect with their bodies. As we face uncertain and anxious times, Suh discusses how Buddhist practices can nurture a spirituality of resilience. Dr. Sharon A. Suh's books Emergent Dharma and Occupy This Body Listen wherever you get your podcasts Watch full episodes on YouTube Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X Website www.kwokpuilan.com  

The Right Revd Humberto Maiztegue Goncalves is the bishop of the Meridional Diocese of  in the southern region of Brazil and a professor of the Bible. The Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil is a progressive church that ordains women to the priesthood and welcomes LGBTQ+ people. In this episode, the bishop introduces the history and mission of the church, the influences of liberation theology and decolonization, and the Brazilian Book of Common Prayer published in 2015. He discusses the United Nations’ climate conference COP30, which will be held in Belem, Brazil, in November 2025, as well as his reactions to the changing relationships between Brazil and the U.S. and China. One of the issues the Brazilian church faces is the role of Mary in the Christian faith. The bishop discusses his collaboration with the community in the publication of a book on Mary. He also comments on the proposed changes of Anglican structures to make the Anglican Communion more responsive to our times. Listen wherever you get your podcasts Watch full episodes on YouTube Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X Website www.kwokpuilan.com  

Dr. Lisa Isherwood teaches at the University of Wales Trinity and Saint David, and she is a prolific writer and leader on queer theology, feminist theology, and body theology. She and Hugo Córdova Quero coedited the pioneering book The Dare Primer on Global Queer Theologies, with 21 contributors from around the world. In this episode, she shares how this volume came about and her forthcoming book coauthored with Quero, entitled Global Queer Theologies: Intercontextual and Interreligious Perspectives. She discusses the rise of right-wing politics and Christian nationalism in the world and how queer and feminist theologians might address this urgent situation. In a lively exchange, she shares what she has learned from postcolonial theology and her hope for liberative and progressive theologians in the future. Dr Lisa Isherwood’s The DARE Primer on Global Queer Theologies and Global Queer Theologies: Intercontextual and Interreligious Perspectives Listen wherever you get your podcasts Watch full episodes on YouTube Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X Website www.kwokpuilan.com    

Dr. Carlos Mendoza-Álvarez, a street theologian in Mexico City, has taught theology in the U.S., Brazil, and Mexico. He discusses how his decolonial theology is informed by the marginalized and the survivors of violence and oppression. As a novice of the Dominican Order, he visited  Chiapas in southern Mexico and learned about the indigenous peoples’ struggles, wisdom, and hope. His decolonial theology brings theologians into dialogue with the voices of the vulnerable and those in the peripheries. His book Resurrection as a Messianic Anticipation discusses eschatological anticipation for the Kingdom of God through the memories and grief of survivors. He also discusses Mexico’s response to the escalating conflicts between the U.S. and Latin American countries. As a seasoned theologian and activist, he shares his hope in the solidarity of the global people’s movements and the importance of learning from the wisdom of survivors in our critical time. Dr. Carlos Mendoza-Álvarez’s book: Resurrection as a Messianic Anticipation Listen wherever you get your podcasts Watch full episodes on YouTube Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X Website www.kwokpuilan.com  

Dr. Sharon D. Welch is a scholar and activist and a former Provost of the Unitarian Universalist’s Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago. A seasoned activist, she was involved in the women’s movement, peace movement, and direct activism for decades. She has worked with the Chicago League of Women Voters, the Social Enterprise Alliance, and the Community-Based Learning Collaborative, among other organizations. In this episode, she discusses what she has learned from Indigenous leaders such as Carol Lee Sanchez and Robin Wall Kimmerer, Hong Kong lawyer and democracy fighter Benny Y. T. Tai, social scientist Stanley Deetz, and Unitarian Universalist pastor Joseph Santos Lyons about social transformation, deliberative or generative democracy, and quiet generators of liberation. She offers advice to activists and scholars of the upcoming generation as they prepare to lead us into the future. Dr. Sharon Welch’s book: After the Protests Are Heard Listen wherever you get your podcasts Watch full episodes on YouTube Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X Website www.kwokpuilan.com  

Dr. Vincent Lloyd is a professor of theology and religious studies at Villanova University. He researches and teaches about the philosophy of religion, religion and politics, and race. In this episode, he discusses his two forthcoming books: Political Theology Reimagined and What Is Political Theology? While political theology in the past has engaged with the works of Carl Schmitt, Giorgio Agamben, and Jacques Derrida, cutting-edge scholarship in the field employs queer theory, critical race theory, and decolonial theory, etc. Lloyd explores the intersection between political theology and Black theology and discusses the book on race that he is co-authoring with Jonathan Tran. Pope Leo is a famous alum of Villanova University. Lloyd shares his hopes for the new Pope and how political theology can deepen our understanding of the relationship between religion and politics, contributing to the pursuit of justice. Dr. Vincent Lloyd’s books: Political Theology Reimagined and What Is Political Theology? Listen wherever you get your podcasts Watch full episodes on YouTube Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X Website www.kwokpuilan.com  

Dr. Tina Pippin teaches the Bible and Religion at Agnes Scott College, a women’s college in Decatur, Georgia, USA, and she will be the president of the Society of Biblical Literature in 2026. In this episode, she discusses her new book The Actual Jesus, which investigates the portrayals of Jesus in films, novels, popular media, and AI. She recalls her training in biblical studies as a graduate student in the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary before its takeover by the fundamentalists and the development of Jesus research in the past few decades. The field of biblical studies has greatly expanded with the addition of women, racial and ethnic minorities, formerly colonized people, and LGBTQ persons. She offers examples of her pedagogy relating the Bible to global affairs and social concerns in her community. She also discusses her hope for future biblical scholarship. Dr. Tina Pippin’s book The Actual Jesus Listen wherever you get your podcasts Watch full episodes on YouTube Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X Website www.kwokpuilan.com

Dr. Antonio Alonso is the Director of Catholic Studies at Candler School of Theology, Emory University. He composed the responsorial psalm for the first Mass Pope Francis celebrated in the U.S. in 2015. A Latin Grammy-nominated composer, he discusses the difference between composing liturgical music versus secular music. He began writing music as a teenager and is the author of over 200 published compositions and arrangements. He reflects on Pope Francis’ legacy and his hopes for Pope Leo as the first pope from the U.S. Dr. Alonso is also an award-winning scholar, whose works focus on worship and ritual practices. He discusses his book Commodified Communion: Eucharist, Consumer Culture, and the Practice of the Everyday Life and is working on a second book on changes in material Catholicism in the wake of the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. Dr. Antonio Alonso’s book: Commodified Communion Pope Francis in US Holy Mass Listen wherever you get your podcasts Watch full episodes on YouTube Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X Website www.kwokpuilan.com      

Dr. Keun-joo Christine Pae teaches religion and ethics, and women and gender studies at Denison University in Ohio. In this episode, she discusses transpacific imagination in theology and ethics, and her field research on spiritual activism in Korea. As a coeditor of Searching for the Future in the Past: Reclaiming Feminist Theological Visions, she explains why feminist theology continues to be a critical tool for women-identified and gender-minoritized people to overcome violence and oppression. She helps us understand the growth of Christian Zionism in Korea, pointing to the literal interpretation of the Bible and anti-communism, as well as growing Christian nationalism in the country. As an Episcopal priest and a scholar, she discusses how churches can be involved in the pursuit of social justice. Dr. Kuen-Joo Christine’s book: A Transpacific Imagination of Theology, Ethics, and Spiritual Activism Listen wherever you get your podcasts Watch full episodes on YouTube Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X Website www.kwokpuilan.com

Dr. Anthony Reddie became the first professor of Black Theology at Oxford University in its nearly 900-year history. Born in the U.K. to immigrant parents from Jamaica, Reddie describes racism in the British church and society and how black theology developed in Britain since the 1990s. He argues that Black theology in the U.K. is inseparable from British colonial history and must adopt a postcolonial stance. He offered the first course on Black theology, focusing on James Cone, at Oxford in 2023. He directs the Center of Black Theology at the Regent's Park College and works with churches and organizations to deconstruct whiteness and develop decolonial theological education and pedagogy. He will publish Living Black Theology in the fall of 2025. Dr. Anthony Reddie's book Living Black Theology Listen wherever you get your podcasts Watch full episodes on YouTube Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X Website www.kwokpuilan.com