It’s Holy Week, which means Bo and I finally stopped talking about chickens, bikes, and CCM songs long enough to do theology — though we did all of those things first. The actual idea Bo had was simple and turned out to be genuinely illuminating: what if we worked our way backwards through the passion week narrative, starting with the post-resurrection appearances on Monday and moving back toward Good Friday? The theory being that if you start at the end and let the consequences of the resurrection interpret everything before it, you read the whole story differently. Turns out, yes, you do. We talked about the fact that no gospel actually describes the resurrection happening — only its effects, only its consequences — and how much Christian energy gets wasted on the mechanism when the texts are entirely uninterested in that question. Tripp’s seven implications for Holy Week came fast and hot: the cross as mirror of what civilization does to nonviolent love, PSA as the theological theory with the least observable consequences in people’s actual lives, and why loving your enemies isn’t a vibe but the specific thing that got Jesus killed. Then Bo discovered Holy Saturday via Balthasar and hasn’t recovered — the silent day as a womb of restrained fullness, Jesus as the one who has gone further into death than any of us will ever go, double dead, so that nothing we face is faced alone. Pete Rollins on the experience of absence versus the absence of experience made an appearance. Bonhoeffer made his inevitable appearance. Elgin Frank Tupper closed it out: the resurrection isn’t verified by the empty tomb, it’s verified by the harvest — when all things are raised into the life of God. We’ll be back next week for Nephilim. Happy Easter.

Join Our New Donation-Based Online Class – Theology for Troublemakers!

The injustices we face are immense—but they are not unique. What theological and ethical tools and ideas can we take from previous generations to confront our social ills today?

For over four decades, Dr. Gary Dorrienhas been one of the foremost scholars of liberal theology, social ethics, and democratic socialism—tracing the movements and figures who dared to believe that Christianity demands justice. His multi-volume histories have shaped how a generation understands the social gospel, Black theology, and the ongoing struggle for a more just world.

This course begins where all serious social ethics must begin: with the social movements themselves.What was actually happening when Reverdy Ransom and Ida B. Wells called for a “new abolition”? How did Reinhold Niebuhr’s realism shape—and sometimes limit—Christian engagement with power? Why did welfare mothers become the leaders of a national movement for economic justice? What made James Cone declare that Black Power was the gospel?

Only by understanding what these figures and movements accomplished thencan we wrestle with what faithfulness demands of us now.

WHAT IS INCLUDED?

6 Pre-Recorded Lectures: Each video lecture features Dr. Dorrien’s masterful teaching, drawing on decades of historical research and his landmark scholarship in social ethics and liberal theology.
6 Livestream Conversations: Each week includes a live conversation with Gary Dorrien, Aaron Staufer, and Tripp Fuller—your chance to ask questions and engage directly with one of the world’s leading scholars of Christian social ethics.
Guest Lecturers: Learn from a diverse range of voices including Cynthia Moe-Lobeda, Joe Strife, Nicholas Hayes Mota, Carolyn Baker, Colleen Wessel-McCoy, and Charlene Sinclair.
Online Community: Connect with other participants in the private Facebook group and access all lectures and livestream replays on the Class Resource Page.

ASYNCHRONOUS CLASS: You can participate fully without being present at any specific time. Replays are available on the Class Resource Page.

COST: A course like this is typically offered for $250 or more. Your contributions are what make our classes possible. We invite you to contribute whatever amount you feel led to give (including $0).

This podcast is a Homebrewed Christianity production. Follow the Homebrewed Christianity, Theology Nerd Throwdown, & The Rise of Bonhoeffer podcasts for more theological goodness for your earbuds. Join over 75,000others on our

The Consequences, Not the Mechanism: What the Resurrection Narratives Are Actually About