[chuck]For our guest podcast this month, we have Reverend Michael Dowd, author of Thank God for Evolution and “evolutionary evangelist.” Reverend Dowd is an itinerant guest speaker who travels the country stumping for the marriage of evolution/naturalism and religion. Listen for the first half-hour as we circle each other warily, trying to feel out the other person’s viewpoints, and then having achieved a sense of the other’s worldview, we become more comfortable and can actually engage in a discussion in the second half hour rather than merely a Q & A session. Although we agree in large part, we do succeed in finding a few spots of disagreement here and again.

Reverend Dowd is a fascinating speaker whose unique perspective deserves a much wider audience. If you’re interested in doing some further reading, the first fifty pages of Thank God for Evolution is available at his website, and I’d highly recommend it. He is also available on Facebook and Twitter, and even has a blog!

[chuck]In this interesting conversation, we discuss the concept of “hopeful skepticism” with Nick Fiedler of the Nick and Josh Podcast, who coined the term. We also range across faith, belief, rationality, and the craziness of Mormonism.

Every time I talk to rational believers, I get just a little more hopeful about the future of our species. Fortunately I have found the cure for that hope: creationist tripe.

[chuck]Remember waaaaay back when we talked about having our April guests on the show? Well even though it’s May, they’re here!

I think this is our best podcast to date. Pete Rollins is a fascinating fellow and Adele Sakler as always provides a unique perspective on everything we discuss. And since I’m a genius, the odd man out was Leighton, who really didn’t contribute at all. But that’s pretty much par for the course. Give it a listen!

[leighton]Once again the time has come to announce our next set of guest speakers. On Friday March 24th we are pleased to have Peter Rollins join our discussions for the first time and welcome back Adele Sakler. With both Peter’s and Charley’s background in philosophy it promises to be quite stimulating to those interested in such subjects.Adele and I, as I’m sure many of our listeners will succumb, will be taking this as an opportunity to catch up on our sleep.

We look forward to having both of them on. It’s going to be an interesting ride.

Peter Rollins is the co-ordinator of the experimental collective Ikon. Ikon describes itself as iconic, apocalyptic, heretical, emerging and failing and engages in what it calls theodrama and ‘transformance art’. In the United States, Peter Rollins is considered to be one of the key leaders of the emerging church movement.

Rollins is also a freelance philosophy lecturer and writer who specialises in various aspects of continental philosophy, phenomenology and emerging church theology. He is currently a research associate with Trinity College Dublin.

He was educated at Queen’s University, Belfast (graduating with a BA Hons in Scholastic Philosophy, an MA in Political Theory and Social Criticism and a PhD dealing with Post-Structural theory).

Adele Sakler currently resides in Richmond, Virginia with her wife, Katryna, and their two dogs, Mushu and Lady. She blogs as Existential Punk at www.ExistentialPunk.com and is the creator and site administrator of Queermergent at http://Queermergent.wordpress.com. She is currently going through long-term treatment for Chronic Lyme Disease, other tick-borne diseases, and heavy metal toxicity.

Adele has been a Christ-follower for 20 years and an “out” queer woman for two and-a-half years. Her involvement with the emerging church and Emergent Village (http://www.emergentvillage.com/) has filled the better part of 10 years.