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Everything Happens with Kate Bowler

Randall Balmer: Wrestling With the Faith We Love

Everything Happens with Kate Bowler

Kate Bowler

Society & Culture, Religion & Spirituality, Health & Fitness

4.85.1K Ratings

🗓️ 13 September 2022

⏱️ 46 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Many of us miss the churches of our childhood and are trying to figure out what pieces of our faith to keep and which to leave behind. My guest today knows that better than anyone. Randall Balmer is a historian of American religion at Dartmouth College, THE expert of American evangelicalism, and a pastor’s kid (PK!) of a fundamentalist preacher.   In this conversation, Kate and Randy talk about:  How to reconcile the evangelism of today with its progressive past The cost of a more manufactured worship experience Why they both value those stray moments of faith What (if any) hope is there for evangelicalism  Maintaining faith when you’ve been hurt by the church Kate ends with a blessing for when faith sometimes breaks your heart. *** Looking for the transcript or show notes? Click here. Find Kate on Instagram or Facebook or Twitter. Subscribe to our weekly email for blessings. No Cure for Being Human (And Other Truths I Need to Hear) is now available wherever books are sold. Order your copy, today. Looking for some short spiritual reflections and blessings? Check out GOOD ENOUGH: 40ish Devotionals for a Life of Imperfection. Available wherever books are sold. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

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0:00.0

School is back in session, everyone.

0:04.6

It is September already.

0:06.3

I know.

0:07.0

Can you believe it?

0:08.6

But today I thought we could do something different.

0:10.7

Today I hope to take you inside of my classroom.

0:14.5

My name is Kate Boller, and this is Everything Happens.

0:19.3

I study American religious history,

0:21.4

and I get to teach do-goaters here at Duke Divinity School.

0:25.0

Some of us, if we were Christiane, grew up in a culture,

0:29.9

which really emphasized being separate from the rest of the world.

0:33.7

We call that separation a subculture.

0:37.1

So maybe we'd have not just music, but Christian music,

0:41.4

not just TV, but shows like Veggie Tales and McGee and me.

0:46.6

Bookstores, but also just Christian bookstores,

0:50.2

which sell a lot of t-shirts with like faith puns,

0:55.4

which I was so tempted to give you a couple examples right now.

1:00.4

But one of the most dominant American religious subcultures

1:04.4

is called evangelicalism, and about 40% of Americans

1:08.2

have found themselves in the evangelical tradition

1:12.2

at one point or another in their religious lives.

1:16.5

Evangelism has been really popular in America for centuries,

...

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