Podcast
True North Theology
Hosted by New Leaf Podcast Network · EN
True North Theology is a podcast about Canadian theology. It features stories by Canadians about Canadians. In our first season, your host Ryan Turnbull will take you on a crash course through the tradition of Canadian political theology.
Ryan has interviewed theologians, ministry practitioners, historians, political scientists, and more to help provide an introduction to some of the conversations that Canadian Christians have been having about faith and public life in Canada throughout our history. Every week, you will be introduced to a different figure or movement in Canadian political theology and provided recommendations on some further reading that you can explore if a particular topic interests you. We are really looking forward to learning with you all as we dig into the lives and stories of so many interesting Canadians.
10episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Finale
Jun 7, 202200:31:03Tap to summarizeJoin Ryan and Elle as they wrap up the True North Theology project!
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"Becoming Kin" featuring Patty Krawec
May 24, 202200:54:51Tap to summarizeBuilding off last week’s episode on decolonial feminism, this week we speak with Anishnaabe author, Patty Krawec about her forthcoming book, Becoming Kin: An Indigenous Call to Unforgetting the Past and Reimagining Our Future. Krawec challenges settler Christians to start “unforgetting” the parts of our history that we have historically ignored and to take up our responsibilities as kin as we seek to imagine a future for the Canadian Church that honours all our relations.Patty Krawec is an Anishnaabe-Ukranian writer and speaker addressing anti-racist and decolonial possibilities in labour, education, and faith-based organizations. Patty has been published in Sojourners Magazine as well as the online publications Rampant and Midnight Sun. Her book, Becoming Kin: An Indigenous Call to Unforgetting the Past and Reimagining Our Future releases on September 27, 2022. It is now available for pre-order. Current projects include the popular Medicine for the Resistance podcast. Ambe: A Year of Indigenous Reading that featured panel discussions that streamed to twitch.tv where viewers participate in the chatroom. Read more on her substack pattykrawec.substack.com where she writes essays reflecting on the books she is reading and how they can help us see the world and our place in it differently.Further Reading and Resources:Bradford, Tolly, and Chelsea Horton, eds. Mixed Blessings: Indigenous Encounters with Christianity in Canada. Vancouver ; Toronto: UBC Press, 2016.Coulthard, Glen Sean. Red Skin, White Masks: Rejecting the Colonial Politics of Recognition. Univ Of Minnesota Press, 2014.Deloria, Vine. God Is Red. 30th Anniversary Edition. Golden, Colo: Fulcrum Publishing, 2003.TRC Calls to ActionKrawec, Patty. Becoming Kin: An Indigenous Call to Unforgetting the Past and Reimagining Our Future. S.l.: Broadleaf Books, 2022.Krawec, Patty. “Christians Romanticize Wandering Yet Rendered My People Homeless.” Sojourners, February 25, 2020.
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Decolonial Feminism with Dr. Denise Nadeau
May 17, 202200:50:59Tap to summarizeMuch of this series has been historically oriented, but this week’s episode features a conversation with Denise Nadeau, to unpack some of the various critiques of the dominant ideologies that have animated Canadian life. We introduce listeners to decolonial and feminist critiques and hear how these critiques can animate concrete practices of resistance in the world today.Dr. Denise Nadeau is an educator, scholar, and activist working at the intersection of somatic therapy, spiritual practice, decolonization, and racial justice. Currently she is an Affiliate Assistant Professor in the Concordia Religions and Cultures Department.Further Reading and Resources:Beavis, Mary Ann, With Elaine Guilleman, and Barbara Pell, eds. Feminist Theology with a Canadian Accent: Canadian Perspectives on Contextual Feminist Theology. Montréal: Novalis, 2008.Kwok, Pui-Ian, ed. Hope Abundant: Third World and Indigenous Women’s Theology. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2010.Nadeau, Denise M. Unsettling Spirit: A Journey into Decolonization. Montreal ; Kingston ; London ; Chicago: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2020.
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Jean Vanier: A Troubled Legacy with Daniel Rempel
May 10, 202200:57:18Tap to summarizeThis week’s episode takes a critical look at Jean Vanier’s complicated legacy. On the one hand, Vanier’s work with L’Arche was transformative for how people with disabilities are seen and cared for around the world. However, on the other hand, we found out after his passing that he was complicit in sexual abuse and the coverup of abuse by his mentor. My friend Daniel Rempel joins me for a conversation about how to navigate learning from a compromised figure like Vanier.Daniel Rempel is a PhD Candidate at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland. He works in the area of Disability theology and Karl Barth.Further Reading and Resources:Brock, Brian, and John Swinton, eds. Disability in the Christian Tradition: A Reader. Grand Rapids, Mich: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2012.Rempel, Daniel. “Intellectual Disability, Community, and the Other.” The Journal of the Christian Institute on Disability 8.2 (Fall/Winter 2019). Krahn, Sarah. “A Theo-Politics of Coercion – The Heresies of Jean Vanier” Rupert’s Land News, May 4, 2020.Vanier, Jean. Becoming Human. UK ed. edition. London: Darton,Longman & Todd Ltd, 1999.Summary Report on Vanier’s Abuse from L’Arche.L’Arche International: https://www.larche.org/welcome
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Radical Catholics with Dr. Dean Detloff
May 3, 202200:45:13Tap to summarizeDean Detloff has a PhD from the Institute for Christian Studies and is the Central Ontario Animator with Development and Peace. He also cohosts “The Magnificast,” a podcast about Christianity and leftist politics.Further Reading and Resources:Development and Peace Website: https://www.devp.org/en/Magnificast Podcast: https://themagnificast.com/ Baum, Gregory. Progress and Perspectives: The Catholic Quest for Christian Unity. First Edition. Sheed and Ward, 1962.Pope Francis. Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home. Vatican, 2015.
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A Rocha and Food Justice with Zoe Matties
Apr 26, 202200:43:25Tap to summarizeZoe Matties is the Manitoba Program Manager with A Rocha CanadaFurther Reading and Resources:A Rocha website: https://arocha.ca/where-we-work/manitoba/ Bunnett Wiebe, Marta, ed. Germinating Conversations: Stories from a Sustained Rural-Urban Dialogue on Food, Faith, Farming, and the Land. Winnipeg, MB: CMU Press, 2021.
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The Social Gospel and Prairie Politics with the Hon. Bill Blaikie
Apr 19, 202200:53:18Tap to summarizeThe Hon. Bill Blaikie served as Member of Parliament from 1979-2008 where he served as Deputy Speaker and member of the Privy Council. He was also MLA in the Manitoba Legislature from 2009-2011. Blaikie is also an ordained minister in the United Church of Canada.Further ReadingAllen, Richard. The Social Passion: Religion and Social Reform in Canada, 1914-1928. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1990.Blaikie, Bill. The Blaikie Report: An Insider’s Look at Faith And Politics. Toronto: United Church Publishing House, 2011.
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The Evangelicals with Dr. James Robertson and Dr. Patrick Franklin
Apr 12, 202201:20:37Tap to summarizeDr. James Robertson is Assistant Professor of Christian History at Tyndale University with a particular research emphasis on Canadian Church history. Dr. Patrick Franklin is Associate Professor of Theology at Tyndale University.Further ReadingEgerton, George. “Trudeau, God, and the Canadian Constitution: Religion, Human Rights, and Government Authority in the Making of the 1982 Constitution.” In Rethinking Church, State, and Modernity: Canada Between Europe and America, edited by David Lyon and Marguerite Van Die. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2000.Robertson, James. Overlooked: The Forgotten Origin Stories of Canadian Christianity, New Leaf Press, April 2022. ______For more discussion around Dr. Robertson’s new book, Overlooked, join the Learning Centre starting April 21st for the Overlooked Book Club seriesCanadaOverlooked.ca
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The Antigonish Movement with Dr. Peter Ludlow
Apr 5, 202200:49:19Tap to summarizeIn response to the dire economic circumstances of the Maritimes in the early 20th century, Roman Catholics centered at St. Francis Xavier University in the diocese of Antigonish started a movement of mass adult education that led to one of the most successful economic development movements in the world. Celebrated by the Vatican and by partners around the world, the “Antigonish Movement” is a truly remarkable story of the work of Canadian Christians working to empower people to become “masters of their own destiny”. This week on the podcast, Dr. Peter Ludlow takes us through some of the key moments and figures in this movement and challenges the church today to find its own “Antigonish movement” to throw its energy behind.Peter Ludlow has a PhD from Queen’s University Belfast. An adjunct professor of Catholic Studies at St. Francis Xavier University, he is the editor of Historical Studies, the peer-reviewed journal of the Canadian Catholic Historical Association. His latest book, Disciples of Antigonish: Catholics in Nova Scotia, 1880-1960 will be released shortly by McGill-Queen’s University Press.Further ReadingCoady, M.M. Masters of Their Own Destiny. New York: Harper &Row Publishers, 1939.Ludlow, Peter. The Canny Scot: Archbishop James Morrison of Antigonish. McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2015.Ludlow, Peter. Disciples of Antigonish: Catholics in Nova Scotia, 1880-1960. Montreal, QC: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2022.Also, check out the Coady Institute: https://coady.stfx.ca/ ______For more information about the upcoming Political Theology series in the New Leaf Learning Centre (March 18 - April 8, 2022) visit: newleafnetwork.ca/events/canadianpoliticaltheology
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The Red Tories with the Rev. Canon Dr. David Widdicombe
Mar 29, 202200:53:05Tap to summarizeWhen we use the word Tory today, it’s often short-hand for somebody who is in the Conservative Party of Canada, but the Red Tories were a loosely defined group of Conservatives from an earlier era of Canadian history that had a Christian inflected vision of the role of politics that differs somewhat from what we may be accustomed to from our Conservative politicians today. This week, Ryan sits down with the Rev. Dr. David Widdicombe to unpack the tradition of Red Toryism with special attention to its Anglican pedigree.David Widdicombe has a PhD from the University of Oxford and was the long-time rector of St. Margaret’s Anglican Church in Winnipeg, MB.Further ReadingGrant, George. Lament for a Nation: The Defeat of Canadian Nationalism, 40th Anniversary Edition. Montréal: Mcgill-Queens University Press, 2005.Horowitz, G. “Conservatism, Liberalism, and Socialism in Canada: An Interpretation.” The Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science / Revue Canadienne d’Economique et de Science Politique 32, no. 2 (1966): 143–71.Leacock, Stephen. The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice. Nabu Press, 2010.Segal, Hugh. Two Freedoms: Canada’s Global Future. Toronto: A J. Patrick Boyer Book, 2016.______For more information about the upcoming Political Theology series in the New Leaf Learning Centre (March 18 - April 8, 2022) visit: newleafnetwork.ca/events/canadianpoliticaltheology
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