Kwok ’n’ Roll

Challenges and New Opportunities in Theological Education

Dr. Frank M. Yamada is Executive Director of the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada (ATS). There are about 270 schools in the ATS belonging to evangelical, mainline Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox church families. Over the past several decades, theological education in North America has undergone significant changes. In this episode, Dr. Yamada describes the challenges facing theological schools and the new opportunities supported by the Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative funded by the Lilly Endowment. As the Trump administration has issued executive orders and directives regarding higher education, theological schools need to adapt to these changes. The ATS has promoted global engagement for some time due to the shift in Christian demographics to the Global South. Theological education needs to respond to where God’s mission is and where the spirit is moving. ATS has offered spaces for theological educators and administrative staff to develop their leadership skills and capacity in responding to transitional changes.

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Postcolonial Imagination and Feminist Theology 20th Anniversary

This episode celebrates the 20th anniversary of the publication of my book Postcolonial Imagination and Feminist Theology. When I published it in 2005, I did not plan on writing a book on postcolonial theology. It was only from hindsight that I realized that I was using postcolonial theory to scrutinize some of the assumptions of feminist theology. After the book was published, I was glad to see that colleagues in America, Asia, and Europe have used and taught the book. It has influenced different fields, such as theology, biblical studies, and practical theology. To celebrate the 20th anniversary, I invited several former students to share how the book has impacted their work. They are Dr. Boyung Lee, a practical theologian from Korea; Dr. Shari C. Mackinson, a womanist ethicist; Dr. Lama Htoi San Lu, a Kachin feminist theologian from Myanmar; and Ms. Asia Lerner-Gay, a doctoral student from Emory University. I am very grateful for their contributions.

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Protestant Roots in American Islamophobia

Dr. Deanna Ferree Womack is Associate Professor of history of religions and interfaith studies at Candler School of Theology at Emory University. In this episode, she discusses how missionary discourses and stereotypes about Islam and Muslims contributed to the rise of American Islamophobia in the late twentieth century. In addition to texts, she examines the portrayals of Muslims in postcards, photos, and material culture in Protestant missionary archives. She points out why previous studies have often neglected the gender dimension, focusing on texts written by men and theological arguments. She shows that the missionary women have participated in discourse about Islam through children’s books and material culture. As a scholar of Middle Eastern Christianity, she sheds light on Muslim-Christian relations and helps us understand tensions and conflicts in the Middle East. She points out how Christians can reach out to their Muslim neighbors and build strong communities.

 

Dr. Deanna Ferree Womack's book is Re-Inventing Islam: Gender and Protestant Roots in American Islamophobia

 

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Gender and Religion Studies in Europe and the U.S.

Prof. Dr. Ulrike Ernst-Auga is a German Protestant theologian and a scholar of cultural and religious studies. She is also the President of the International Association for the Study of Religion and Gender. In this episode, she discusses how she uses postcolonial, postsecular, and queer perspectives to study religion and gender across different contexts. As Christian nationalism has grown, she explains how nationalist ideology constructs a “proper family,” based on heteronormality and patriarchal authority as the foundation of a nation. Women’s bodies become the symbol of purity and reproductive obligation. Neo-nationalism promises a return to a mythic past of moral clarity and racial homogeneity. Christian nationalism is tied to whiteness, patriarchy, and state power. But religious performances can also subvert this formation, such as Black liberation theology and queer activism. In the U.S., scholars of gender and religion respond to religious fundamentalisms and postcolonial and postsecular debates. In Europe, scholars work in a more secular, anti-clerical context and are influenced by poststructuralism, Marxism, and existentialism. Religion is generally ignored, and scholars have only recently engaged postcolonial approaches. As 2025 comes to an end, she shares her reflections on changes in world politics over the last year and highlights what religion scholars must pay attention to.

Prof. Dr. Ulrike Ernst-Auga’s book is An Epistemology of Religion and Gender

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Moral Injury and Atonement Theories

Dr. Rita Nakashima Brock is a noted Asian American feminist theologian, activist, and world authority on moral injury. She was Senior Vice President for Moral Injury Recovery Programs at Volunteers of America. In this episode, she explains what moral injury is and the difference between moral injury and PTSD. She describes how moral injury affects her family, especially in her relationship with her father, who came back from the Vietnam War as a different person. Churches and faith communities can help people with moral injury by organizing supportive and non-judgmental groups. She says that traditional atonement theories are not helpful and explains it through the lens of moral injury. As a pioneer in Asian American theology, she uses the concept of interstitial integrity to describe multilayered, complex identities that defy simple characterizations of victims and oppressors. Many Asian American scholars have cited the concept to discuss their own identities. As a longtime activist, she says people need to form coalitions to resist the Trump administration's policies. She sees hope in the fact that more and more people are fighting back and resisting.

Dr. Rita Nakashima Brock’s coauthored book Soul Repair: Recovering from Moral Injury after War.

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The Prospects for a Polycentric Anglican Communion

Bishop Ian T. Douglas is the retired Bishop Diocesan of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut and the former Agnes Dun Professor of Mission and World Christianity at the Episcopal Divinity School. With Kwok Pui-lan, he has coedited Beyond Colonial Anglicanism (2001) and Living Postcolonial Anglicanism (2025). In this episode, he discusses the historical backgrounds of these two books. In the past two decades, we have increasingly seen postcolonial Anglican structures and realities across the Anglican Communion. Yet, the postcolonial Anglican church is always a church becoming. As the Anglican demographic has shifted toward the Global South, the Anglican Communion is increasingly polycentric. Douglas has participated in many commissions and council meetings of the Anglican Communion. He argues that we can’t use a politics of containment to uphold authority and instead must celebrate differences among churches, including racial, cultural, and linguistic differences.

Ian T. Douglas’s book Living Postcolonial Anglicanism

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Gender-based Violence and U.S. Moral Compass

Dr. Traci C. West is Professor Emerite of Christian Ethics and African American Studies at Drew University Theological School. She is known for her scholarship and activism around gender-based violence, particularly against Black women. In this episode, she uses the lens of gender-based violence to examine the moral compass of the U.S. society. She shows how public morality has shifted when sexual violence and abuse are not disqualifying factors for people who hold high positions in government, including the presidency. As a Christian ethicist who has done research work internationally, she discusses the challenges of learning from and standing in solidarity with global activists as a citizen of the U.S. At a time when American imperialism is on the rise, Dr. West encourages the upcoming generation of ethicists and activists to use an intersectional approach and combine theory with praxis, paying attention to institutional, personal, and intimate violence.

Dr. Traci C. West's book Solidarity and Defiant Spirituality

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Stand In Solidarity with LGBTQ Communities in Precarious Times

Dr. Cody J. Sanders is a queer Baptist minister, pastoral theologian, and Associate Professor of Congregational and Community Care Leadership at Luther Seminary in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Previously, he served as pastor of Old Cambridge Baptist Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In this episode, he responds to the taking away of trans rights and the Supreme Court decision not to reconsider the legality of same-sex marriage. He argues that the affirming of LGBTQ people by churches is only the first step. Churches must publicize LGBTQ stories and learn from how LGBTQ lives have become sources of theological wisdom. Despite the rejection and violence LGBTQ Christians have experienced, they have been practicing faith at the margins of religious communities. Dr. Sanders shares why he wrote the first book on the intersection between religious and spiritual narratives and LGBTQ suicide and interviewed LGBTQ people who had attempted suicide. He analyzes the stories that came out from the survivors and learned about their inspiring refashioning of Christian faith and queer theology. In our precarious times, churches and faith communities must take risks to stand in solidarity with this marginalized community in the public square.  

Dr. Cody J. Sanders’s books include Christianity, LGBTQ Suicide, and the Souls of Queer Folk and A Brief Guide to Ministry with LGBTQIA Youth

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