THEOLOGY BEER CAMP 23

The God-Pods are back for round two! This year, Homebrewed Christianity brings the zestiest podcasters, scholars, and people who like to nerd out on theological goodness while they party. At Camp, we will...

nerd out with super-nerds (scholars)
enjoy some wild live podcasts
have some serious fun at a tailgate party, 90s karaoke, theological speed-dating, EPIC bottle share, bonfire smores, & fall festivities
enjoy quality craft beer (& other tasty treats)
hang with your favorite podcasters & find new ones
leave with some new theology nerd friends

Reggie Williams

Dr. Reggie Williams is the Associate Professor of Christian Ethics at McCormick Theological Seminary and author of Bonhoeffer’s Black Jesus: Harlem Renaissance Theology and an Ethic of Resistance. He received his Ph.D. in Christian ethics at Fuller Theological Seminary in 2011 and a Master’s degree in Theology from Fuller. He is a member of the board of directors for the Society for Christian Ethics, as well as the International Dietrich Bonhoeffer Society. Learn more about Reggie.

Adam Clark

Dr. Adam Clark is Associate Professor of Theology at Xavier University. He is committed to the idea that theological education in the twenty-first century must function as a counter-story. He currently serves as co-chair of Black Theology Group at the American Academy of Religion, actively publishes in the area of black theology and black religion, and participates in social justice groups at Xavier and in the Cincinnati area. He earned his PhD at Union Theological Seminary in New York where he was mentored by James Cone. Learn More.

Rubén Rosario
Rodríguez

The Rev. Dr. Rubén Rosario Rodríguez, a graduate of Union Theological Seminary and Princeton Theological Seminary, holds the Clarence Louis and Helen Steber Professorship in Theological Studies at Saint Louis University. Recent publications include Dogmatics After Babel: Beyond the Theologies of Word and Culture (Westminster John Knox Press, 2018) and the T&T Clark Handbook of Political Theology (Bloomsbury/T&T Clark, 2019). Dr. Rosario engages issues of global migration and social justice as director of the Mev Puleo Program in Latin American Politics, Theology, and Culture at Saint Louis University, and through advocacy work with Missouri Immigrant and Refugee Advocates (MIRA). An ordained Presbyterian minister, he currently serves as moderator for the Commission on Preparation for Ministry in the Presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy. His latest monograph is Theological Fragments: What We Can and Cannot Know about an Infinite God (Westminster John Knox Press, 2023). Learn More.

Grace Ji-Sun Kim

Grace Ji-Sun Kim is Professor of Theology at Earlham School of Religion. She received her M.Div. from Knox College and her Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. She is the author or editor of 22 books most recently, Keeping Hope Alive; Intersectional Theology co-written with Susan Shaw and Embracing the Other. Kim is a Series Editor for Palgrave Macmillan Series, “Asian Christianity in the Diaspora”. Eerdmans included her in their list of Five Great Women Scholars, and the Englewood Review of Books named her in their list of Ten Important Women Theologians You Should Be Reading. Learn More and Follow Grace on substack.

Jay McDaniel

Jay McDaniel is a professor of process theology and world religions at Hendrix College and director of the Steel Center for the Study of Religion. Jay also hosts Converastions in Process, a podcast that aims to understand and explore a process outlook on life, with its emphasis on inter-becoming, the intrinsic value of all life, the presence of fresh possibilities, and the need create communities that are creative, compassionate, diverse, inclusive, and participatory, with no one left behind. He advocates for nature, the wild, and interreligious dialogue. Learn More.

W. Travis McMaken

W. Travis McMaken is a Michigander who recently realized that he has not lived in Michigan for over 20 years. What's more, he realized - to very mixed feelings - that he has lived in Missouri for over a decade. Time flies when you're theologizing and administrating! He is an internationally recognized scholar who has published books on Karl Barth and baptism, Helmut Gollwitzer and economic justice, and most recently - with Ash Cocksworth - on Karl Barth's spiritual writings. He also teaches classes on topics like "Happiness and Success" and "Star Wars and Religion." For anyone who cares about such things, he is the Butler Bible Endowed Professor of Religion and Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri. Learn More.

Roberto Che Espinoza

Dr. Roberto Che Espinoza is a Transgender public scholar & Latinx using story and imaginative narrative with hopes of stewarding ethical futures. Roberto explored their mixed-race Latinx, queer, and gender nonconforming identity during college and became involved in activism, particularly focusing on the intersections of gender, sexuality, and race. After completing a PhD in Theology & Ethics, Roberto moved to the Bay Area to teach and eventually launched the collaborative project Activist Theology, dedicated to social healing through politicized theology and storytelling. Currently ordained in the Baptist tradition, Roberto continues to live a life committed to prophetic imagination and seeks to be referred to as Dr. Roberto Che Espinoza. Learn more.

Kristy Whaley

After graduating from the University of Glasgow with a PhD in Literature and Theology, Kristy began her post as assistant professor at St. Petersburg College, where she teaches World Religions and Introduction to Humanities. Her research is interdisciplinary, using her background in systematic theology and literature to reexamine doctrines. Her doctoral thesis was on understanding the imago Dei in light of the interwar novels of Jean Rhys, which allowed Kristy to focus on an image of God in trauma of marginalized communities. Her follow up to this will be an understanding of the silent grief of God.

Leah Robinson

Rev. Dr. Leah Robinson is the author of Bad Theology: Oppression in the Name of God (SCM 2023). She has previously served for 9 years as Assistant Professor of Practical Theology at Glasgow University and Assistant Professor of Practical and Pastoral Theology at Edinburgh University in Scotland. Most recently she was Associate Professor of Religion at Pfeiffer University in North Carolina for five years. She currently is Professor of Religion at William Woods University. Her previous book is entitled: Embodied Peacebuilding: Practical Theology as Reconciliation (Peter Lang, 2015). Her two upcoming research projects are: Televangelists and Murdering Preachers: Bad Theology in COVID (Palgrave, 2024) and Born Perfect or Boy Erased: A Journey with Survivors of Conversion Therapy (Lexington Press, 2025). She likes cats, red wine, karaoke, long debates about music, and the Georgia Bulldogs.

Pete Enns

Peter Enns (Ph.D., Harvard University) is Abram S. Clemens professor of biblical studies at Eastern University in St. Davids, Pennsylvania. A biblical scholar, Dr. Enns teaches and writes on Old Testament, New Testament, Second Temple Judaism, and the intersection of biblical studies and contemporary Christian faith. He has taught extensively at the seminary and doctoral levels (Westminster Theological Seminary, Princeton Theological Seminary, Harvard Divinity School, Fuller Theological Seminary, Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, Biblical Theological Seminary) and on the undergraduate level (Temple University and Messiah College). He speaks actively in academic and ecclesiastical venues on topics pertaining the Bible and Christian faith. He has written or edited over a dozen books and many articles and essays, including The Bible Tells Me So, The Sin of Certainty, and How the Bible Actually Works.

Tony Jones

Tony Jones is an outdoorsman, theologian, award-winning writer, and author of the forthcoming book, The God of Wild Places: Rediscovering the Divine in the Untamed Outdoors (March, 2024). He’s written a dozen books, hosts the Reverend Hunter Podcast, and teaches at Fuller Theological Seminary and the Loft Literary Center. Tony is a senior fellow at the Making Meaning in a Post-Religious America Project, funded by the John Templeton Foundation, and he is a sought after speaker and consultant in the areas of spirituality, writing, and the outdoors. He has served as a consultant for television shows, owns an event planning company, and guides canoe trips in the BWCA and writing retreats in Italy. He holds an A.B. from Dartmouth College, an M.Div. from Fuller Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary. Tony is married, has three children and two dogs, and lives in Edina, Minnesota. Learn More.

Donna Bowman

Donna Bowman is a theologian and critic who lives in Conway, Arkansas, with her husband (fellow critic Noel Murray) and two college-age children. She's been teaching interdisciplinary studies in the Schedler Honors College at the University of Central Arkansas since 1999. Her theological specialties are process thought, Karl Barth, and ordinary theology. She is the author of The Divine Decision: A Process Doctrine of Election (WJK 2002), Prayer Shawl Ministries and Women’s Theological Imagination (Lexington 2013), and The Homebrewed Christianity Guide to Being Human (Fortress 2018). Her most recent projects focus on the makers of Women's March pussyhats in 2017, and pandemic masks in 2020. Outside of academia, Donna is best known for her A.V. Club reviews of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul.

Craig A. Boyd

Craig A. Boyd is Professor of Philosophy and Humanities at Saint Louis University. Among the books he has published are The Virtues: A Very Short Introduction, with Kevin Timpe (Oxford University, 2021), Virtues and Their Vices, co-edited with Kevin Timpe (Oxford University Press, 2014), and A Shared Morality: A Narrative Defense of Natural Law Ethics (Brazos Press, 2007). His scholarly articles have appeared in such venues as The Heythrop Journal, Christian Scholar’s Review, Christianity & Literature, New Blackfriars, and American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly.

Bruce Ellis Benson

Bruce Ellis Benson currently teaches Philosophy of Religions and Continental Philosophy at the University of Nottingham, as well as being Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the University of Vienna, as part of the project 'Revenge of the Sacred: Phenomenology and the Ends of Christianity in Europe.' Bruce was Senior Research Fellow at the University of St Andrews, and has taught and engaged in research at Loyola Marymount University, Wheaton College (IL), the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, and Union Theological Seminary (NYC). He has written five books, co-edited eight, and authored over 100 chapters, articles, and reviews. He also serves as the Executive Director of the Society for Continental Philosophy and Theology.

James McGrath

Prof. James F. McGrath is the Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University. He blogs at ReligionProf on the Patheos website and his podcast and presence on the platform formerly known as Twitter are under the same handle. He has published many books and articles about sci-fi, including Theology and Science Fiction and The Battle of Ranskoor av Kolos. He is also a science fiction author, his recent story "New Members" (in the anthology Hero of a Different Stripe) is about AI technology's impact on the church. His most recent book is A to Z of the New Testament published by Eerdmans.

Kate Hanch

Kate Hanch is a pastor theologian seeking to make theology real and accessible to the church and the world. She has taught from continuing education courses to seminary level courses; from children's Sunday School to adult small groups. She received her MDiv from Central Baptist Theological Seminary and her PhD in Theology and Ethics from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. Her dissertation, entitled Prophetic Humility: A Feminist Theological Account, explored the theologies of medieval women mystics and 19th century Black women preachers. Her first book, Storied Witness: The Theology of 19th Century Black Women Preachers in America, was published by Fortress Press in October 2022. She currently serves as the associate pastor at First St. Charles United Methodist Church in St. Charles, MO.

J. Aaron Simmons

J. Aaron Simmons holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from Vanderbilt University and is currently a Professor of philosophy at Furman University in Greenville, SC (USA). He is the President of the Søren Kierkegaard Society (USA) and has published widely in philosophy of religion, phenomenology, and existentialism. Among his authored and edited books are God and the Other: Ethics and Politics After the Theological Turn; The New Phenomenology: A Philosophical Introduction; Kierkegaard’s God and the Good Life; and Kierkegaard and Levinas: Ethics, Politics, and Religion. He and his wife, Vanessa, have been married 20 years and have an 11 year old son, Atticus. Although Aaron loves doing philosophy, he would almost always rather be fishing. Check out Aaron’s youtube channel: “Philosophy for Where We Find Ourselves,” and his TedX talk (also on youtube): “The Failure of Success.”

Nichole Torbitzky

Rev. Dr. Nichole Torbitzky earned her doctorate from Claremont Graduate University. Her doctoral thesis, The Process of Salvation: Subjective Form and the Metaphysics of Atonement Theory, was supervised by Roland Faber. She earned her Master of Divinity from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, focusing her master’s thesis on process theology and Howard Thurman. Her current research investigates Whiteheadian notions of subjective form and the internal relations subjective form has on the ordering of eternal objects in the primordial nature of God. Torbitzky has served churches in Pennsylvania, California, and Missouri. She currently serves as the Editor of the Lectionary Commentary series for the Center for Process Studies. She is Chaplain and Associate Professor of Religion at Lindenwood University, in St. Charles, MO, and teaches courses on World Religions, African American Religions, Islam, Indian Religions, History of Christianity, the Bible, Religion and Science, and Women and Religion.