“The church” is going through a metamorphosis these days. What kind of community helps us to do our work as Christians, to love one another in these ‘dangerous times’?” Love in a Dangerous Time follows primarily three threads of inquiry:
- We will interview authors writing about the emerging faith movement and its impact on our world, i.e. Brian McLaren, John Dominic Crossan, Matthew Fox, Sarah Miles, etc.
- We will hear from people of faith who are working on a local, grassroots level doing innovative work in applying their faith to the justice work at hand in areas like mass incarceration, immigration, climate change, poverty, Israel/Palestine, Black Lives Matter, etc.
- We will talk to people who are involved in experimental congregations, alternative communities of faith, and experiences like Wild Goose Festival, along with artists and musicians who are reclaiming a sense of beauty in light of what draws us together in community and helps us to love more courageously and authentically.
Theological discussion will underlie everything, but I’ll leave the hard-core discussion of these huge ideas to Tripp & Bo.
Love in a Dangerous Time is co-hosted by Russ Jennings & Kristen Leigh.
Russ Jennings has a background in radio and in religious activity. For fourteen years, he hosted a program of avant-garde music on KPFA in Berkeley, CA. In 2004,he produced a 22-week radio interview series with defrocked Catholic theologian Matthew Fox, called “Spirit in Action,” and a series called “Days of Wonder,” on Judaism’s and Islam’s mystical holidays. Since his arrival in New York, in 2007, he has led a four-year bible study program at The Riverside Church, where he also served as the chair of the Israel/Palestine Task Force. He now serves on the advisory board of the Micah Institute and is part of the creative team at the Wild Goose Festival. Born in rural Michigan, and after 37 years in the SF Bay Area, Russ has lived in New York City since 2007.
Kristen Leigh is a singer/songwriter and artist-theologian from central NC. After traveling around the country and performing music for a number of years, she moved to New York City where she earned her M.Div. from Union Theological Seminary, an ecumenical think-tank for cutting-edge progressive theology, worship, and social justice. She focused her studies on theology, church history, and Biblical studies in relation to music, art, culture, and issues like poverty, gender, sexuality, and systemic racism. She currently lives in Asheboro, NC where she writes, grows vegetables, records music, practices archery, fosters interreligious and cross-cultural relationships, and facilitates classes, retreats, and workshops with The Servant Leadership School. In her former life she worked in radio and co-hosted an acoustic blues show entitled The Blind Mississippi Mojo Show.