Blessed Are the Binary Breakers
Avery Arden
Recent Episodes
Avery and Micah offer a conversational primer in queer theology — from its origins in queer theory, to distinctions between queer and simply affirming theologies, to fabulously queer passages from scripture.
This episode was originally published on The Word in Black and Red, a podcast moving chapter by chapter through the Bible with co-hosts offering perspectives informed by anarcho-communism, queerness, disability, class, and more.
Find the podcast, its discord, and more here: https://linktr.ee/twibar
Check out the Llama Pack's Facebook here (Micah's online faith community for people wary of church.)
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This show's theme song is "Aetherium" by Leah Horn.
First Laura Sommer and then Rowan share their experiences at AutScape, an annual meeting of autistic folk of all ages in England. Both discuss how AutScape has given them glimpses of what it would be like to live in a world where autistic culture is celebrated, diverse communication styles and sensory needs are accommodated, and special interests received with joy.
Be sure to check out Laura's Autistic Liberation Theology podcast for a companion episode that centers around this question: how can various marginalized groups resist the world's assumptions that we have no place in any positive future — be it the immediate future, the speculative futures of science fiction, or the Kin(g)dom of heaven?
Click here for an episode transcript!
Talking Points:
- (0:00) Introducing AutScape and the need to imagine futures for ourselves that the world claims we don’t fit into
- (4:38) Laura’s AutScape experiences — a glimpse of what socializing & community could be like an an autistic-centered world
- (11:15) Prophetic promises and “making a way out of no way”
- (13:00) Introducing Rowan; gently ribbing neurotypicals
- (17:50) How AutScape helped Rowan embrace the autistic identity; AutScape as a space to try out new things
- (28:12) Communication badges; universal design; wrapping up
This show's theme song is "Aetherium" by Leah Horn. This episode also made use of "At Home," "Sunrise, St. Chapelle," and "Closing Time" by John Hamilton, with permission.
John Hamilton is a non-theist pastor whose lifelong search for transcendence has taken him from altar boy to rock-and-roll musician, from preaching with certainty into embracing the unknowable nature of God. In this episode, John and I discuss his upcoming memoir, Honest to God, which comes out September 15. Get book info at Wildhouse Publishing here.
Click here for an episode transcript.
Content warning: alcohol & addiction (from 19:00-24:35).
Talking Points:
- (0:00) Introducing John Hamilton’s memoir Honest to God
- (5:00) The inspiration and publication process
- (11:00) Reaching ego death through transcendence; transcendence in Catholic worship
- (16:13) Finding transcendence as a rock-and-roll musician
- (19:00) Years of keeping a panic disorder secret; getting in and out of alcohol dependence
- (24:35) Becoming a pastor, coming to understand that God is unknowable
- (36:10) Looking to humanity's future — more divisions, dying churches; what do we hold onto?
- (44:00) Finding "hard hope" while pastoring dying churches
- (47:30) Hoping for deeper and more honest conversations; wrapping up
Where to find John:
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This show's theme song is "Aetherium" by Leah Horn. This episode also made use of "At Home," "Sunrise, St. Chapelle," and "Closing Time" by John Hamilton, with permission.
How can we use this last week of Disability Pride Month to celebrate the unique insights into human and divine nature that disability can bring? For starters, we can learn from the wisdom of disabled activists and theologians, which is what you'll find in this episode.
Click here for an episode transcript.
Talking Points:
- (0:00) Intro + Eli Clare on intersectional pride
- (5:35) Pastor Lamar Hardwick: ableism = the fear of being human
- (9:10) Letiah Fraser: our fragile, mortal bodies are where we meet God
- (12:15) Rabbi Julia Watts Belser + Laura Sommer: disabled bodies' unique insights into the divine
- (22:00) John M. Hull: encountering God beyond light and dark
- (25:50) Bekah Anderson's meditation on the Body of God, "with every ability and every disability in the world"; wrapping up
Other episodes that dig into disability:
- Our Pride Is Not a Sin: A disabled and Christian lens
- No End to Transphobia without Uprooting Ableism: Exploring embedded forms of oppression
- Goodness Embodied: An intersex, nonbinary first human and a disabled risen Christ
- Marginalized Bodies as Spectacle & the Good News in Jesus’ Disabling Wounds
- Making Space for Gethsemane: Two trans & disabled theologians discuss what people in pain actually need
- How Shiva Gave Rudra Their Name: The life of a disabled nonbinary Fijian Canadian
- “We just want to be heard”: Dee on Chile, race, disability, and trans rights
- Eli and the Prophet Elijah
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This show's theme song is "Aetherium" by Leah Horn. This episode also makes use of "Flies on the Prize," "Beaconsfield Villa Stomp," "I Snost, I Lost," and "His Last Share of the Stars" by Doctor Turtle.
In 2017, Kate Davoli (they/them, MDiv) was dismissed from the ordination process for being polyamorous. In spite of this heartache, they have remained steadfastly part of the Presbyterian Church (USA).
Listen — or read along in the transcript — as Kate recalls the events leading up to & following their dismissal; ponders what we learn about God through polyamorous people's lives & callings; and balances the heartache of being denied ordination with the queer gift of how their liminal status facilitates ministry to church-hurt people.
Talking Points:
- (0:00) Intro: as Pride month ends and the PC(USA)’s General Assembly begins, we remember the work still to be done to achieve full and equal access for all
- (6:50) Kate’s dismissal from the ordination process over being polyamorous – living with and raising children with two life partners; how being open has allowed them to find support, and be support
- (34:00) Kate’s thoughts about getting polyamory into the Book of Order — unintended consequences; the path to ordination continues to be inequitable for queer folks, disabled folks, etc. — hence things like the Olympia Overture
- (46:21) What Kate’s unordained ministry looks like: working within Presbyterian institutions, and outside them; able to serve people hurt by the church who might not trust an “official” minister
- (54:20) What does it mean for the church, and what does it say about God, that polyamorous people are being called to ministry? — re-shaping relationship to be more communal, less nuclear
- (60:44) A historical role model? — Karl Barth’s own complex polyamorous experience
- (64:36) God is not a jerk; you are not alone; wrapping up
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Get info about Kate's ministry at www.davoliconsulting.com, or find books they've written at kdavoli.gumroad.com.
Check out LGBTQIA+ Affirming Ministries of Pittsburgh (LAMP) at lampgh.org.
Learn more about the Olympia Overture being voted on this week here.
Learn more about polyamory: www.morethantwo.com/.
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This show's theme song is "Aetherium" by Leah Horn. This episode also makes use of "The Ants Built a City on His Chest" and "Know No No-Nos" by Doctor Turtle.