Eighteen years. That’s how long Homebrew Christianity has been doing this thing — and to celebrate, Bo pulls out trivia, giveaways, and a surprise birthday guest in Brian McLaren, who drops in to talk about hope with longer timeframes, process theology as medicine for hardened neo-Platonism, and what worship might look like if we started from a process worldview instead of trying to fix a broken one. After Brian heads out to work out like the legend he is, we go full memory lane: the theology blog wars, the Hauwersian mafia, Rachel Held Evans and the post that broke the internet (and probably Tripp’s evangelical ordination credentials), Rob Bell trying to keep a straight face while Tripp improved a sermon to “No Woman No Cry” at Monkish, getting subtweeted by evangelicals who wouldn’t tag them, Chad Crawford — the OG CrawDaddy who saw all of this before anyone else did — and the MP3 recorder between two guys sitting three feet apart in a Westwood office that somehow became TNT. It’s a birthday party, it’s a wake, it’s a theological pub quiz, and it’s one of the most genuinely fun hours this podcast has ever produced. Eighteen years. Come on.

ONLINE LENT CLASS: Jesus in Galilee w/ John Dominic Crossan

What can we actually know about Jesus of Nazareth? And, what difference does it make?

For over five decades, Dr. John Dominic Crossan has been one of the world’s foremost scholars of the historical Jesus—rigorously reconstructing the life, teachings, and world of a first-century Jewish peasant who proclaimed God’s Rule in Roman-occupied Galilee. His work has shaped an entire generation of scholarship and transformed how millions understand the figure at the center of Christian faith.

This Lenten class begins where all of Dom’s work begins: with history. What was actually happening in Galilee in the 20s CE? What did Herod Antipas’ transformation of the “Sea of Galilee” into the commercial “Sea of Tiberias” mean for peasant fishing communities? Why did Jesus emerge from John’s baptism movement proclaiming God’s Rule through parables—and what made that medium so perfectly suited to that message? Only by understanding what Jesus’ parables meant then can we wrestle with what they might demand of us now.

The class is donation-based, including 0, so join, get info, and join up here.