Marginalized and Hungry. Elijah, a widow and a pinch of flour — I Kings 17

Liam shares his insights about I Kings 17-7-24. Elijah, a prophet with an unpopular message who finds himself destitute during a famine. A widow prepares a last meal for her son before they both die. They survive though as they shelter in place with the prophet. The similarities to what many are experiencing in this time of Coronavirus are striking. 

Peterson shares "an other text" by Doris Lessing from The Sweetest Dream

PLUS both Liam and Peterson reveal the activities they do to keep them sane during a time of isolation. Here is Peterson's Corona Containment Dancer playlist. Feel free to add tracks and definitely feel free to dance along. 

In each episode of Bible Bash Podcast, Liam, a trans queerish man, and co-host, cis gay Bible scholar, Peterson Toscano, take turns presenting the text. They then discuss. In addition, each episode they present an other text, a non-Biblical text of note--religious or secular--that may or may not correspond to the Bible text. 

Bible Bash Podcast is a project of Ministries Beyond Welcome. 

Our theme song is Playbill by The Jellyrox. It is available on iTunes, Spotify, or through Rock Candy Recordings

To share your questions, comments, requests for passages to be discussed, or suggestions for guests who can talk about texts, email Liam and Peterson: ministriesbeyondwelcome@gmail.com

Bible Bash Podcast is part of the Rock Candy Network

Bible Bash logo was designed by Diana Coe at Crone Communications

Check out other Rock Candy podcasts

• Stephen Long's Sacred Tension
• Peterson Toscano's Bubble&Squeak
• EleventyLife hosted by Matt Langston of the Band EleventySeven

Rude and Downright Prophetic — Matthew 3 with Rev. Scott Kershner

While serving as Activist in Residence at Susquehanna University, Peterson Toscano co-preached a sermon with chaplain Rev. Scott Kershner, and then recorded their conversation for Bible Bash podcast. 

Going back and forth they discuss Matthew chapter 3, the story of John the Baptist in the wilderness. John is an outrageous character in the way he dresses, where chooses to do ministry, and in his bold, direct, and highly critical message to the leaders of his day. 

Now John himself had ^[f]a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. ⁵ Then Jerusalem was going out to him, and all Judea and all the district around the Jordan; ⁶ and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, as they confessed their sins.

⁷ But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? (NASB version from Biblegateway.com)

Peterson sees modern connections in John the Baptist with the work that performance artists and climate activists like Greta Thunberg do. Famously the Swedish teen stood up in front of world leaders at the United Nations and railed against them. 

"This is all wrong. I shouldn't be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you!

"You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I'm one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!

Scott and Peterson point out WHO the prophets John and Greta speak to--leaders who have power over many people. They are not simply demanding individual repentance from citizens, they preach directly to leaders in order to change the world to go in a new direction. 

Liam ends the show with "Another Text" and reads from the introduction of Winona LaDuke's book, All Our Relations. From winonaladuke.com

Winona LaDuke is one of the world’s most tireless and charismatic leaders on issues related to climate change, Indigenous rights, human rights, green and rural economies, grass-roots organizing, local foods, alternative sources of energy and the priceless value of clean water over a career spanning nearly 40 years of activism.

In each episode of Bible Bash Podcast, Liam, a trans queerish man, and co-host, cis gay Bible scholar, Peterson Toscano, take turns presenting the text. They then discuss. In addition, each episode they present another text, a non-Biblical text of note--religious or secular--that may or may not correspond to the Bible text. 

Bible Bash Podcast is a project of Ministries Beyond Welcome. 

Our theme song is Playbill by The Jellyrox. It is available on iTunes, Spotify, or through Rock Candy Recordings

To share your questions, comments, requests for passages to be discussed, or suggestions for guests who can talk about texts, email Liam and Peterson: ministriesbeyondwelcome@gmail.com

Bible Bash Podcast is part of the Rock Candy Network

Bible Bash logo was designed by Diana Coe at Crone Communications

Check out other Rock Candy podcasts

• Stephen Long's Sacred Tension
• Peterson Toscano's Bubble&Squeak
• EleventyLife hosted by Matt Langston of the Band EleventySeven

Trickery, Discrimination, and Dinah–Genesis 34

Trigger Warning: This show contains references to sexual assault and extreme violence which comes directly out of Genesis chapter 34. (Who said the Bible is "family-friendly?")

Liam Hooper takes on a difficult text: Genesis 34 which tells the story of Dinah, the daughter of Leah and of Jacob. One day Dinah, a young woman of marrying age, leaves the family compound on the edge of a Hivite settlement to visit the women of the region. According to the writer of the account:

² When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the region, saw her, he seized her and lay with her by force. ³ And his soul was drawn to Dinah daughter of Jacob; he loved the girl, and spoke tenderly to her. ⁴ So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this girl to be my wife.”

This sets off a string of bloody events, intrigue, and depending how you look at it, a heroic or horrific response. 

⁹ Make marriages with us; give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves. ¹⁰ You shall live with us; and the land shall be open to you; live and trade in it, and get property in it.” ¹¹ Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, “Let me find favor with you, and whatever you say to me I will give. ¹² Put the marriage present and gift as high as you like, and I will give whatever you ask me; only give me the girl to be my wife.”

¹³ The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully, because he had defiled their sister Dinah. ¹⁴ They said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us. ¹⁵ Only on this condition will we consent to you: that you will become as we are and every male among you be circumcised...²⁵ On the third day, when they were still in pain, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and came against the city unawares, and killed all the males. ²⁶ They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house, and went away. ²⁷ And the other sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and plundered the city, because their sister had been defiled.

For Liam this passage raises troubling questions. The brothers and the teller of the tale emphatically state Shechem rapes Dinah, but is it possible Dinah gives her consent to Shechem? Are the brothers offended because their sister is "defiled," or because she chose her own lover and husband without their consent? How does class, ethnicity, and tribe play in this display of extreme violence by the aggrieved brothers against every male in the city? What might Dinah have to say about all of this since none of her words or reactions are ever mentioned in the text? And how does this ancient text mirror the race-based terrorism gangs of white men poured out on African-Americans when they accused a Black man of being sexually or romantically inappropriate with a white woman? 

Liam admits he has more questions than answers. Peterson Toscano joins the discussion, adds even more questions, and reveals the confusing feelings he had as a child when he was sexually assaulted. The honest discourse and deep questions invites listeners to contribute their own thoughts, feelings, and insights. 

To share your questions, comments, requests for passages to be discussed, or suggestions for guests who can talk about texts, email Liam and Peterson: ministriesbeyondwelcome@gmail.com

Peterson follows up with "Another Text," The Afternoon Son, a poem by gay poet Constantine or C.P. Cavafy. It was translated by Edmund Keeley and is available to read at The Poetry Foundation. 

In each episode of Bible Bash Podcast, Liam, a trans queerish man, and co-host, cis gay Bible scholar, Peterson Toscano, take turns presenting the text. They then discuss. In addition, each episode they present another text, a non-Biblical text of note--religious or secular--that may or may not correspond to the Bible text. 

Bible Bash Podcast is a project of Ministries Beyond Welcome. 

Our theme song is Playbill by The Jellyrox. It is available on iTunes, Spotify, or through Rock Candy Recordings

To share your questions, comments, requests for passages to be discussed, or suggestions for guests who can talk about texts, email Liam and Peterson: ministriesbeyondwelcome@gmail.com

Bible Bash Podcast is part of the Rock Candy Network

Bible Bash logo was designed by Diana Coe at Crone Communications

Check out other Rock Candy podcasts

• Stephen Long's Sacred Tension
• Peterson Toscano's Bubble&Squeak
• EleventyLife hosted by Matt Langston of the Band EleventySeven

Tie Me Up Delilah — Judges 16

Liam Michael Hooper, a Trans Bible scholar spends a lot of time  in the Hebrew Bible. This inspired co-host Peterson Toscano to explore the story of Samson and Delilah in the book of Judges, chapter 16. Looking at the story with eyes of a playwright and an actor, Peterson points out the intense intimacy and profound love between the Israelite man and the Philistine woman. In a surveillance state, their relationship grows deep through role play and bondage.  

Liam then shares "The Other Text," his poem To Tell You Everything which will appear in the upcoming book Transforming Proclamation published by Otherwise Engaged. 

In each episode of Bible Bash Podcast, Liam, a trans queerish man, and co-host, cis gay Bible scholar, Peterson Toscano, take turns presenting the text. They then discuss. In addition, each episode they present another text, a non-Biblical text of note--religious or secular--that may or may not correspond to the Bible text. 

Bible Bash Podcast is a project of Ministries Beyond Welcome. 

Our theme song is Playbill by The Jellyrox. It is available on iTunes, Spotify, or through Rock Candy Recordings

To share your questions, comments, requests for passages to be discussed, or suggestions for guests who can talk about texts, email Liam and Peterson: ministriesbeyondwelcome@gmail.com

Bible Bash Podcast is part of the Rock Candy Network

Check out other Rock Candy podcasts

• Stephen Long's Sacred Tension
• Peterson Toscano's Bubble&Squeak
• EleventyLife hosted by Matt Langston of the Band EleventySeven

Pitching a Tent — Genesis 38

Have you ever wondered, "Who might be bisexual in the Bible?" Drawing on the scholarship of Rabbi Mark Sameth, author of the New York Times essay, Is God Transgender? Liam Hooper digs into the story of Judah, the son of Jacob, and an encounter he had with another man. 

Then Peterson Toscano shares the other text. He reads the poem Soot by Ana Blandiana from the anthology In the Shape of a Human Body I am Visiting the Earth.

In each episode of Bible Bash Podcast, Peterson, cisgender gay Bible scholar and co-host, Liam Michael Hooper, a trans queerish Bible scholar, take turns presenting the text. They then discuss. In addition, each episode they present another text, a non-Biblical text of note--religious or secular--that may or may not correspond to the Bible text. 

Bible Bash Podcast is a project of Ministries Beyond Welcome. 

Our theme song is Playbill by The Jellyrox. It is available on iTunes, Spotify, or through Rock Candy Recordings

To share your questions, comments, requests for passages to be discussed, or suggestions for guests who can talk about texts, email Liam & Peterson:  ministriesbeyondwelcome@gmail.com

Bible Bash Podcast is part of the Rock Candy Network 

Bible Bash logo was designed by Diana Coe at Crone Communications

Check out other Rock Candy podcasts

• Sacred Tension by Stephen Long
• Bubble&Squeak by Peterson Toscano
• Eleventylife by EleventySeven

Joseph and the Not So Amazing Disaster Relief Plan — Genesis 47

Peterson shares the story of Joseph from Genesis chapter 47. Long after the incident with the coat of many colors (which is quite possibly a princess dress) Joseph is in Egypt. Through his gift of dream analysis, he predicts a famine, and then proposes an adaptation plan. While his plan is effective, it is totally unjust. Hear Peterson and Liam discuss this story with a climate justice twist

Then Liam shares The Other Text, a poem by Leah Goldberg.

In each episode of Bible Bash Podcast, Peterson, cisgender gay Bible scholar and co-host, Liam Michael Hooper, a trans Bible scholar, take turns presenting the text. They then discuss. In addition, each episode they present another text, a non-Biblical text of note--religious or secular--that may or may not correspond to the Bible text. 

Bible Bash Podcast is a project of Ministries Beyond Welcome. 

Our theme song is Playbill by The Jellyrox. It is available on iTunes, Spotify, or through Rock Candy Recordings

To share your questions, comments, requests for passages to be discussed, or suggestions for guests who can talk about texts, email Liam & Peterson:  ministriesbeyondwelcome@gmail.com

Bible Bash Podcast is part of the Rock Candy Network 

Bible Bash logo was designed by Diana Coe at Crone Communications

Check out other Rock Candy podcasts

• Sacred Tension by Stephen Long
• Bubble&Squeak by Peterson Toscano
• Eleventylife by EleventySeven

Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milkah, and Tirzah–Numbers 27

Liam shares the story of five sisters who appear in Numbers 27. Without any attachment to a male heir, they will end up desperately destitute that is of course until they lobby for their cause and end up changing Mosaic law. 

Peterson follows up with the "Other Text." A reading from Gender Outlaws--The Next Generation. Peterson reads an excerpt from Kate Bornstein's introduction. 

In each episode of Bible Bash Podcast, Peterson, cisgender gay Bible scholar and co-host, Liam Michael Hooper, a trans Bible scholar, take turns presenting the text. They then discuss. In addition, each episode they present another text, a non-Biblical text of note--religious or secular--that may or may not correspond to the Bible text. 

Bible Bash Podcast is a project of Ministries Beyond Welcome. 

Our theme song is Playbill by The Jellyrox. It is available on iTunes, Spotify, or through Rock Candy Recordings

To share your questions, comments, requests for passages to be discussed, or suggestions for guests who can talk about texts, email Liam & Peterson:  ministriesbeyondwelcome@gmail.com

Bible Bash Podcast is part of the Rock Candy Network 

Bible Bash logo was designed by Diana Coe at Crone Communications

Check out other Rock Candy podcasts

• Sacred Tension by Stephen Long
• Bubble&Squeak by Peterson Toscano
• Eleventylife by EleventySeven

Enuchs and Jesus and Pronouns, Oh My! Mx Chris Paige — Matthew 19

Special guest Mx. Chris Paige joins Liam Hooper and Peterson Toscano to share excerpts from their new book, Otherwise Christian--A Guidebook for Transgender Liberation. 

Chris reads from the Chapter, Zey Jesus, and reveals the discomfort some people have about gender neutral pronouns, especially when attached to Jesus of Nazareth. Chris also discusses Matthew 19: 11,12, the only passage where Jesus directly references eunuchs. Along with Liam and Peterson, they talk about this incredibly important passage, and the significance it has for each of them. 

Chris then reads the "Other Text." They share the poem, A Litany for Survival by Audre Lorde, the Black, lesbian, womanist, poet.  

Mx Chris Paige uses they or zey pronouns, though some of their older writing may have other identifying features.

In each episode of Bible Bash Podcast, Peterson, cisgender gay Bible scholar and co-host, trans Bible scholar, Liam Michael Hooper take turns presenting the text. They then discuss. In addition, each episode they present another text, a non-Biblical text of note--religious or secular--that may or may not correspond to the Bible text. 

Bible Bash Podcast is a project of Ministries Beyond Welcome. 

Our theme song is Playbill by The Jellyrox. It is available on iTunes, Spotify, or through Rock Candy Recordings

To share your questions, comments, requests for passages to be discussed, or suggestions for guests who can talk about texts, email Liam and Peterson: ministriesbeyondwelcome@gmail.com

Bible Bash Podcast is part of the Rock Candy Network 

Bible Bash logo was designed by Diana Coe at Crone Communications

Check out other Rock Candy podcasts

• Sacred Tension by Stephen Long
• Bubble&Squeak by Peterson Toscano
• Eleventylife by EleventySeven

Jael and her Tent Peg — Judges 4

Liam Hooper, a Trans Bible scholar, talks about Jael in Judges chapter 4, her famous tent peg, & the naughty unconventional way she uses it. Fierce, subversive, and gender non-conforming, Jael stands as a bold figure in the Bible.

Peterson Toscano joins in the discussion then shares an "other" text. He reads a poem by Sapho (ca. 610-580 B.C.E.) from Andrew Harvey's The Essential Gay Mystics. 

In each episode of Bible Bash Podcast, Peterson, cisgender gay Bible scholar and co-host, trans Bible scholar, Liam Michael Hooper take turns presenting the text. They then discuss. In addition, each episode they present another text, a non-Biblical text of note--religious or secular--that may or may not correspond to the Bible text. 

Bible Bash Podcast is a project of Ministries Beyond Welcome. 

Our theme song is Playbill by The Jellyrox. It is available on iTunes, Spotify, or through Rock Candy Recordings

To share your questions, comments, requests for passages to be discussed, or suggestions for guests who can talk about texts, email Liam and Peterson: ministriesbeyondwelcome@gmail.com

Bible Bash Podcast is part of the Rock Candy Network 

Bible Bash logo was designed by Diana Coe at Crone Communications

Check out other Rock Candy podcasts

• Sacred Tension by Stephen Long
• Bubble&Squeak by Peterson Toscano
• Eleventylife by EleventySeven

Being Transgender, Being Human — Joy Ladin and The Book of Jonah

Special guest, Joy Ladin, joins Liam Hooper and Peterson Toscano for a moving and insightful exploration of the Book of Jonah. Joy Ladin holds the Gottesman Chair in English at Yeshiva University, and, in 2007, became the first (and still only) openly transgender employee of an Orthodox Jewish institution.

In her book, The Soul of the Stranger: Reading God and Torah from a Transgender Perspective,Joy writes, “I don’t mean to suggest that the Book of Jonah is about being transgender. The Book of Jonah is about being human. But transgender experience is human experience, and questions transgender people face are questions that we all face. Everyone, transgender or not, has to decide what parts of ourselves we will and will not live. Each of us has to decide when we can’t and when we must sacrifice our individuality for the sake of our families and communities, when we have to be what others count on us to be, and when, like Jonah, we have to live the truths that set us apart from others and reveal to the world what we have only revealed to God.”  (from Soul of the Stranger, page 7. Quoted by Mx. Chris Paige in the fabulous new book, OtherWise Christian—A Guidebook for Transgender Liberation.)

You can study the Torah with Joy Ladin through the TransFaith Institute.  

We are excited to announce that Dr Joy Ladin will be returning to the Transfaith Institute for a 4-session seminar on Wednesdays at 1pm Eastern/10am Pacific beginning July 31, 2019!

The LIVE sessions will also be recorded and added to the Ruzuku course room for participant review.

Joy Ladin’s memoir, Through the Door of Life: A Jewish Journey Between Genders, was a finalist for a National Jewish Book Award; her recent book, The Soul of the Stranger: Reading God and Torah from a Transgender Perspective, is a for a Lambda Literary Award and Triangle Award finalist. She has also published nine books of poetry, including, most recently, The Future is Trying to Tell Us Something: New and Selected Poems. Her work has been recognized with a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, a Fulbright Scholarship, an American Council of Learned Societies Research Fellowship, and two Hadassah Brandeis Institute Research Fellowships, among other honors. A nationally recognized speaker on trans and Jewish identity, she serves on the Board of Keshet, an organization devoted to full inclusion of LGTBQ Jews in the Jewish world.

After the discussion about Jonah, Liam then shares “an other text,” a piece by Abraham Joshua Heschel.

In each episode of Bible Bash Podcast, Peterson and co-host, Liam Michael Hooper, a Trans Bible scholar, take turns presenting the text. They then discuss. In addition, each episode they present another text, a non-Biblical text of note--religious or secular--that may or may not correspond to the Bible text. 

Bible Bash Podcast is a project of Ministries Beyond Welcome. 

Our theme song is Playbill by The Jellyrox. It is available on iTunes, Spotify, or through Rock Candy Recordings

To share your questions, comments, requests for passages to be discussed, or suggestions for guests who can talk about texts, email Liam and Peterson: ministriesbeyondwelcome@gmail.com

Bible Bash Podcast is part of the Rock Candy Network 

Bible Bash logo was designed by Diana Coe at Crone Communications