As 2022 comes to a close, hosts Robin Mitchell Stroud and Debra Levy Martinelli reflect on the more than 30 episodes of The Incarcerated Christian Podcast and look toward the future. The podcast will continue after the new year, but with a new brand and emphasis. In this final episode, Robin and Debra describe what to expect. 

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• The rebranded, and revamped version of the podcast
• A call for listener feedback
• How to contact the podcast

Related Links:

The Incarcerated Christian

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Annalise by Admiral Bob (c) copyright 2017 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/admiralbob77/56178 Ft: Kara Square

How did a popular evangelical pastor become a humanist speaker and writer? How do students react to a humanist chaplain on campus? Today’s podcast episode with Bart Campolo addresses those questions.  

Bart Campolo is a humanist speaker and writer who was an evangelical pastor before transitioning from Christianity to secular humanism. He was the first humanist chaplain at the University of Southern California. Campolo currently serves as a leader and therapist of a humanist fellowship called Caravan in Cincinnati, Ohio, and hosts a podcast called Humanize Me. He has written several books, including Kingdom Works: True Stories of God and His People in Inner City America and Things We Wish We Had Said and Why I Left, Why I Stayed, which he co-wrote with his father, Tony Campolo, a sociologist, pastor and proponent of progressive thought and reform within the evangelical community.  

Listen to the episode to hear how Campolo’s spiritual journey brought him to secular humanism, how he was received as a humanist chaplain and what it was like to dramatically alter his belief system with a prominent pastor for a father.  

Topics Discussed in This Episode: 

• Campolo’s gradual transition from Christianity to secular humanism
• The definition of humanism
• Campolo’s humanist beliefs
• His three decades as an inner-city minister
• How his father, a noted evangelical pastor, reacted to his change in beliefs
• Campolo’s current work as a therapist and leader of Caravan, a humanist fellowship
• How he was received as a humanist chaplain on a university campus
• Why Christians see joyful humanists as threatening
• One of Campolo's spiritual role models

Book Referenced by Campolo: 

• The Great Agnostic: Robert Ingersoll and American Freethought by Susan Jacoby

Related Links:

The Incarcerated Christian

The Incarcerated Christian on Instagram

The Incarcerated Christian on TikTok

The Incarcerated Christian on Twitter

Bart Campolo website

Bart on Twitter

Bart on Facebook

Annalise by Admiral Bob (c) copyright 2017 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/admiralbob77/56178 Ft: Kara Square

To overcome trauma, you first need to know that you have trauma and that there are things you can do to overcome it. But how do you get that information? How do you determine what exactly is a trauma response when you have one? 

Today’s guest, licensed clinical psychologist Quincee Gideon, has more than 12 years of experience treating trauma, including religious trauma, and trauma-related disorders. Listen as Dr. Gideon discusses trauma, how trauma lives in the body, and successful treatment methods. Then check out her Woven Together Trauma Therapy website, which includes a religious trauma quiz.

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• Dr. Gideon’s religious and spiritual journey
• Her own deconstruction process
• Definitions and types of trauma
• Common examples of religious trauma
• Learning about and overcoming one’s own trauma
• How trauma lives in the body
• Whether religious trauma happens more than people expect
• Trauma therapy treatment modalities
• Dr. Gideon’s favorite spiritual practice and spiritual role model

Books Recommended by Dr. Gideon:

• Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving by Pete Walker
• The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk

Related Links:

The Incarcerated Christian 

The Incarcerated Christian on Instagram 

The Incarcerated Christian on TikTok 

The Incarcerated Christian on Twitter 

Quincee Gideon, PsyD 

Woven Together Trauma Therapy

Traumastery Online Education 

Grey Matter Psychological Testing 

Annalise by Admiral Bob (c) copyright 2017 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/admiralbob77/56178 Ft: Kara Square

October is “Holy Horrors Month” on The Incarcerated Christian Podcast. Today we visit again with Dr. Steve Wiggins, with whom we spoke last October about the abundance and significance of biblical and religious symbols and themes in horror movies and the three films he calls “The Unholy Trinity”: The Exorcist, The Omen, and Rosemary’s Baby. In today’s episode, we turn to the subject of demons, both biblical and cinematic, using Wiggins’s recent book, Nightmares with the Bible: The Good Book and Cinematic Demons as a starting point.

Listen to the episode to learn Wiggins's perspective on what constitutes a demon, what defines demons in popular culture, and why people are so obsessed with demons.

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• How Dr. Wiggins defines "demon"
• The inspiration for his book title 
• Where most people get the idea of what a demon is
• What defines demons in current popular culture
• Why we’re obsessed with demons
• The differences between Biblical and cinematic demons 
• When American cinema began to portray demons
• Why women are frequently the targets of demonic possession in horror movies
• Demons as depicted in both American and global media
• How demons are portrayed in such horror movie franchises as The Conjuring and The Amityville Horror
• Academic studies of horror movies

Related Links:

The Incarcerated Christian 

The Incarcerated Christian on Instagram 

The Incarcerated Christian on TikTok

The Incarcerated Christian on Twitter

Steve Wiggins

Steve Wiggins Twitter

Annalise by Admiral Bob (c) copyright 2017 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/admiralbob77/56178 Ft: Kara Square

In Part 2 of our conversation with Terry Wildman, lead translator and project manager of the First Nations Version of the New Testament, he explains the reasoning behind the translations of the names of biblical people and places as part of the effort to create a more meaningful, intuitive and accessible version of the New Testament for Native people. 

Listen to Terry describe the etiology and translations of notable people and places of the Bible, including Mary the Mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, other Marys, Noah, Esau and Jacob, Judas, Bathsheba, Sarah, Jerusalem, Sodom and Gomorrah, and Galilee, as well as the pushback he and his colleagues received for using a translated version of Jesus’s name.

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• Why the translated names for Jacob and Esau were chosen
• The story behind Noah’s name
• Biblical place names, including Jerusalem, Sodom and Gomorrah, and Galilee
• The connection between “bitter tears” and “strong tears” with respect to Mary the Mother of Jesus and Mary Magdalene
• Differentiating among different people in the Bible who have the same names
• The translation of the name Judas and why it may be unexpected
• The pushback against using a translated name for Jesus
• How culturally relevant translations can help people better understand the New Testament

Related Links

The Incarcerated Christian

The Incarcerated Christian on Instagram

The Incarcerated Christian on TikTok

The Incarcerated Christian on Twitter

Terry Wildman

First Nations Version of the New Testament

Native InterVarsity

Rain Ministries

US Catholic Magazine article

How and why did the First Nations Version: An Indigenous Translation of the New Testament come to be? How does renaming people and places in a way that resonates with readers — especially Native people — influence the way they interpret and relate to the New Testament? Today’s guest, Terry Wildman, is the lead translator and project manager of the First Nations Version of the New Testament. In this episode, he talks about why he and others took on the daunting task of translating the New Testament into a more meaningful, intuitive and accessible version for Native people and how the First Nations Version has been received.

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• The inspiration for a First Nations Version of the New Testament
• Why it made sense to translate the New Testament into English in a way that connects Native people to their heart languages
• How and why names of biblical people and places were translated in the First Nations Version
• The idea behind a thought-for-thought translation 
• The concept of sin in the First Nations Version
• Public reaction to the First Nations Version

Related Links

The Incarcerated Christian

The Incarcerated Christian on Instagram

The Incarcerated Christian on TikTok

The Incarcerated Christian on Twitter

Terry Wildman

First Nations Version of the New Testament

Native InterVarsity

Rain Ministries

What roles do yoga, chants and gongs play in spirituality? What are the spiritual benefits of yoga, particularly Kundalini yoga? Kundalini yoga teacher Gwenn Ranbir Agiapal answers those questions in today's episode. Gwenn began her yoga studies and practice in 1974 and ultimately discovered Kundalini yoga. She became certified in Kundalini yoga in 2005 and is now a Level 3 Teacher Trainer. Listen in to hear her perspective on the meditative and healing effects of yoga, chanting and gong work. She also shares her Meditation Minutes.

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• Gwenn’s religious experiences with nature
• How her Sunday School teacher mom supported Gwenn's decision to leave the church
• Gwenn’s exploration of Buddhist studies
• The spiritual benefits of yoga
• Different forms of yoga and meditation
• The goal of energy-clearing work
• How chanting and yoga work together
• The positive impact of the gong's multiple layers of sound
• Gwenn’s teaching career
• Her interpretation of true self 
• Gwenn’s Meditation Minutes (below)

Meditation Minutes

These are the effects of meditation over time.

• 3 Minutes: Affects the electromagnetic field and blood circulation (attitude)
• 11 Minutes: Changes the nerves and glandular system (endocrine)
• 22 Minutes: Balances the 3 minds - Positive, Negative, and Neutral - so they work together
• 31 Minutes: Allows the glands, breath, and concentration to affect the cells
• 62 Minutes: Changes the gray matter in the brain
• 2-1/2 Hours: Changes the psyche in its relationship with the surrounding magnetic field so that the subconscious mind is held in the new pattern by the surrounding universal mind

Related Links

The Incarcerated Christian

The Incarcerated Christian on Instagram

The Incarcerated Christian on TikTok

The Incarcerated Christian on Twitter

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