Is the Black Church the Problem?
The Esau McCaulley Podcast
Esau McCaulley
5.0 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 16 October 2025
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Critics have recently accused the Black Church of promoting "ethnic idolatry," but is that fair, or even historically accurate? Esau McCaulley is joined by Kaitlyn Schiess and producer Mike to unpack where the Black Church came from, why it exists, and what these critiques reveal about American Christianity. Then, is it ok to have joy in the midst of so much suffering and why did we talk about the Taylor Swift album when it is full of explicit material? Also, we break down the latest culture-war controversy over the Super Bowl halftime show.
0:00 - Theme Song
3:45 - Contract Demands for Holy Post
6:54 - Why is there a Black Church?
11:43 - Virality vs Conversation
16:25 - Kaitlyn Left Out of the Taylor Swift Episode?
20:30 - Is it Wrong to Be Happy?
28:16 - Talking About Secular Art
35:00 - Bad Bunny's American Half-Time
44:25 - End Credits
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, everyone, welcome to the Esau McCauley podcast. I'm your host, Esau McCauley, and I'm super excited about today's episode. |
| 0:12.6 | We have our first fellow Holy Post coworker as a part of the podcast. We have someone who works here. I mean, one second, let me |
| 0:22.7 | finish. I'm going to introduce Caitlin. We got someone who actually works here who's decided |
| 0:26.8 | that we're worth her time. And so we have on the podcast, Caitlin Chess. She is a- |
| 0:32.2 | Hang on. That's not how you say her last name. Is it Chess? Chess. |
| 0:35.7 | Kate-Ell. Edit this apart out. |
| 0:55.3 | Caitlin Chess, I was nervous about that the whole time. Caitlin Chess, oh my goodness, I'm blowing it already. She is a co-host of the, we call it the flagship, the Holy Post podcast, and she also has her own podcast. Curiously, Caitlin, she's the author of two books, the liturgy of the Bible. |
| 0:56.2 | Is that what it? Nope. |
| 1:02.6 | I'm so good at this. That's the crossover, the two together. The liturgy of politics and the ballot and the Bible. We're so happy to have you on the podcast. Thanks, Issa. I'm happy to be here. |
| 1:07.2 | And we're also joined by producer Mike. I guess you also work. you also work here. Yeah. I'm on staff at the whole post. I'm at the other staff is what I meant. Oh, like the people who were on camera. The important people. Wow. I hear where it is on the street and I didn't know this, not that I don't listen to your podcast. I do listen to it. Where it is on the street that you are like double-timing that sometimes your own curiously, Caitlin? Yeah. You know, you saw she's never threatened to fire me on her podcast. So this is not exclusive? I'm just sitting out some feelers. He's cheating on you. He's cheating on you. During the prep of the podcast, we were tossing around topics. And Caitlin said, oh, I know nothing about sports. |
| 1:46.8 | True. During the prep of the podcast, we were tossing around topics. And Caitlin said, oh, I know nothing about sports. And Caitlin thought that would be a reason for us to avoid the topic. But it also meant |
| 1:52.8 | for me, here on this podcast, we exploit weaknesses. And so since you don't know anything about sports, |
| 1:58.4 | I'm going to open with a sports question. So I'm going to ask you a couple of things to clarify how much background I need to give to you. |
| 2:04.0 | Okay. |
| 2:04.3 | Do you know who the Milwaukee Bucks are? Not even a little bit. Okay. They are a basketball team who plays in Milwaukee. That makes sense. Okay. So do you know who Janus Ante Tacumpo is? Definitely not. |
| 2:15.0 | Okay. Janice Ante Duccoe, well, I can say his name correct. |
| 2:17.1 | Janice Ante Ducpo is a famous basketball player. |
| 2:20.5 | He's one of the best players in the NBA. Definitely not. Okay. Yannes Ante Ducpo, well, I could say his name correct. Yannes Ante Ducpo is a famous basketball player. |
| 2:20.3 | He's one of the best players in the NBA. |
| 2:21.3 | I want set next to him. |
| 2:23.3 | You want to sit next to him? |
| 2:24.3 | The United Club launch at all right. |
... |
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