Stephen Backhouse is a theologian and teacher and the author of Kierkegaard: A Single Life, a biography and survey of the work of the iconoclastic Danish writer Soren Kierkegaard. You can find out more about Stephen's Tent Theology teaching program at: https://www.tenttheology.com/ While our conversation is mostly about Kierkegaard and his work, we also discuss the dangers of Christian Nationalism (or Christendom), including a segment on whether or not American Christians should recite the Pledge of Allegiance, the dangers of being an ordained minister within the institution of the Church, and how Arcade Fire's album Reflektor was inspired by Kierkegaard. 

Pastor Dan Leman discusses the background and poetry of the book of Lamentations, and how God births art out of tragedy. The music and Rachel Wilhelm, Bifrost Arts, and Nathan Peterson are also mentioned in the intro.

Nathan Peterson returns to the podcast for an in depth discussion of his recent song "Is It a Sin?" It's not so much an interview as it is a conversation about the song and how we respond to art that challenges us and perhaps even offends us. Please check out out www.nathanpeterson.net for Nathan's music and writings.

Jeremy Casella is a singer-songwriter from Nashville, Tennessee. He has released four albums over the years and is currently putting on a Kickstarter campaign to fund his fifth album Spirit. Jeremy is an artist I've had the privilege to get to know over the years after meeting him after a Caedmon's Call concert in 2004. Episode 59 features two interviews with him, one from 2014 done right before a house show he did in 2014 after the release of his album Death in Reverse and the other done this past week on the phone as his kids were home from school in a series of perpetual snow days. Finally, this episode also contains a brief interview (and update) with artist Nathan Peterson, who was on the podcast last fall, where I speak to him about the vinyl release of his EP So Am I.