Excavations with Connie Chen

What does it mean to live by Christian ethics without God at the center? What happens when Marxist theory meets the bars of Rikers Island, the wards of outpatient psychiatric care, and the walls of San Quentin? In this episode of Excavations, Connie sits down with Chris Alfonso (Jean-Paul Fartre), a Marxist scholar, organizer, and abolitionist, to trace the surprising theological architecture inside radical thought. They explore the structural parallels between Hegel's dialectic and Christian...

What happens when you stop apologizing for your body and start reading it as sacred text? In this episode of Excavations, I sit down with Ciarra Jones (@thegardeningtheologian) to talk about what it actually means to reclaim the body after religious trauma. We go deep on queer sexual ethics, the theology of pleasure, disability justice, Eve as liberator, and why so much of Christian tradition has needed us to stay at war with our own flesh. This is a conversation for anyone who grew up being ...

What happens when desire meets doctrine and neither will back down? In this episode of Excavations, Connie Chen sits down with Colten Barnaby for a wide-ranging, unfiltered conversation about the tangled roots of faith, sexuality, and identity. They dig into what it means to grow up Christian with a body full of desires you've been taught to distrust, how worshiping a male God shapes the way we relate to ourselves and others, and why shame doesn't just disappear when you leave the pew. From t...

Join Connie Chen and Dr. Tamice Spencer-Helms for a rich conversation exploring hospice work as a powerful metaphor for helping whiteness face its own death and transformation. Together, we reflect on the sacred interconnectedness of birth and death, the vital role of embodiment in spiritual practice, and the possibility of resurrection that emerges when we embrace grief, ritual, and our shared humanity. In this episode, we explore: How the disembodiment of whiteness disconnects us from ourse...

From the perspective of an Asian American artist, I explore the Instagram blackout designed to prompt reflection and amplify black voices after the death of George Floyd. If you enjoyed listening to this episode, please consider leaving a review here on iTunes and supporting me on Patreon. If you would like to suggest topics for future episodes or send in comments, please email [email protected] Website: www.connie-chen.com Instagram | Tiktok | Youtube Suppor...