In this conversation, fellow theologian and sports commentator Andy Root returns to the show to talk about his latest book Evangelism in an Age of Despair—the title of a book that, for an Ellulian like me who is looking for hope in a world filled with despair, raises my eyebrows and gets me to lean in. My guess is that hearing this title will have a similar effect for a lot of people tuned into Personalist Manifesto(s).

The other thing I should mention is that Andy and I recorded this conversation December 12, 2025 at 1:30pm Pacific time. It is important to mention that date and time because it proves—or at the very least implies—that Andy and I have prophetic giftings when it comes to the National Hockey League. Because, when Andy asks me at the start of our conversation if I think former Canucks defencemen Quinn Hughes will be traded, I confirm my suspicion, with some reasons given for that intuition, as does Andy.

And for those of you how follow hockey, you will know that shortly after this ‘prophetic word’ from Andy and I Quinn Hughes was indeed traded… within hours… to the Minnesota Wild… Andy’s hometown hockey team. So, you know, maybe if this whole theology thing doesn’t work for us, maybe we have promising careers in hockey predictions ahead of us.Whether that’s actually true or not is beside the point, though.

The real point of our conversation is less about hockey trades and more about finding some consolation, and some hope, in world overrun by despair.

Bio

Andrew Root is the Carrie Olson Baalson Professor of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary, USA. He writes and researches in areas of theology, ministry, culture and younger generations. His most recent books are Evangelism in an Age of Despair (Baker, 2025), The Church in an Age of Secular Mysticisms (Baker, 2023), Churches and the Crisis of Decline (Baker, 2022), The Congregation in a Secular Age (Baker, 2021), The End of Youth Ministry? (Baker, 2020), The Pastor in a Secular Age: Ministry to People Who No Longer Need God (Baker, 2019), Faith Formation in a Secular Age (Baker, 2017), and Exploding Stars, Dead Dinosaurs, and Zombies: Youth Ministry in the Age of Science (Fortress Press, 2018).

Links

• Evangelism in an Age of Despair (book): https://bakerpublishinggroup.com/products/9781540968715_evangelism-in-an-age-of-despair
• Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ministry-in-a-secular-age-featuring-dr-andrew-root/id1462822741
• Website: https://www.andrewroot.org/
• Twitter: https://x.com/rootandrewFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/andrew.root/

'Addiction' is a word that conjures up so many images, ideas, and reactions in so many people. And because it has become so politicized, stigmatized, misunderstood, and/or dealt with poorly, it can be difficult to discern the addiction signals from the addiction noise these days.

That's why I find the perspective of Quentin Genius—so helpful and refreshing. Not only is Quentin an ER doctor at Saint Paul’s Hospital in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada—and consequently embedded within a veritable world of addiction—he’s a theologian, ethicist, and an avid reader of Dostoevsky and poetry.

In other words, Quentin is a rare bread; a real Renaissance man who can speak to the realities of addiction in a way that is informed, compassionate, insightful, practical, and even... hopeful.

So, if you find yourself wrestling with the reality of addiction in one way or another, my hope is that you’ll find this conversation helpful. And if you or someone you know are struggling with addiction, reach out to someone you trust, make a call to a crisis line, or jump online and search for support wherever you are.

Because hear me, really hear me, when I say this: there is no such thing as a lost cause. There really is hope. Freedom from addiction is possible. Something as seemingly simple and inconsequential as friendship, friendship with God and other people, really can move us closer and closer to this kind of hope and freedom.

Bio

Dr. Quentin Genuis is an emergency physician and ethicist at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, Canada. He serves as the physician ethicist for Providence Health Care, and is a Sessional Faculty and the Professional in Residence at Regent College in Vancouver, where he teaches on topics including medical ethics and addiction.

Links

Website: https://quentingenuis.com

Recovering People (book): https://wipfandstock.com/9798385231232/recovering-people/

To kick off a new year, and the first episode of 2026, I’ve got a special treat for you: an on location dialogue with none other than Nick Boyczuk, the founder and proprietor of Electric Eagle Tattoo Shop, and as you may have heard me mention in other episodes: my very own tattoo artist.

In this sense, our conversation is about as personal (and weirdly personalist) as you can get. In fact, at one point in the conversation, it occurred to me that having Nick on the podcast is like having my therapist on the podcast. Except in this case, it’s my salty languaged therapist who draws on me with a tattoo rig made from electric doorbell components (the old school, traditional way).

But there’s more to our conversation than tattoo talk among trauma-bonded buds here. There’s conversation about creativity; about commitment; about discipline; about tradition; about listening; about care; about courage; about growth; and about… God.

All the elements, in other words, of the kinds of conversations you normally hear on Personalist Manifesto(s).

Bio

Nick's a mustachioed, deep thinking, fast working tattoo artist who lives in Abbotsford, British Columbia, with his wife, kids, and cats.

Links

Nick's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nickboyczuktattoo/

Electric Eagle Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/electriceagletattoo/

Nick's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Nick-Boyczuk-Tattoo-61559196154551

To book with Nick, email: nickboyczuktattoo@gmail.com

In this final episode of 2025, I’m joined by Tripp Fuller from Homebrewed Christianity and Paul Hoard from the Seattle School of Theology and Psychology. We talk about the Christmas story, and how, in so many ways, it moves in the opposite direction of the stories being told by artificial intelligence prophets, power brokers, and profiteers today.

So, wherever you are at in this advent season, I hope this conversation brings you a bit of hope as it reminds you of what it is to be human, what love truly is, and how, even when it seems so dark out there, the light of the world really has overcome that darkness.

Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I’ll see you in 2026.

Bios

Tripp Fuller is a podcaster, theologian, minister and competitive home brewer. Currently, he is visiting Professor of Theology at Luther Seminary. He received his PhD in Philosophy, Religion, and Theology at Claremont Graduate University. For over 12 years Tripp has been doing the Homebrewed Christianity podcast where he interviews different scholars about their work so you can get nerdy in traffic, on the treadmill, or doing the dishes. Last year it had over 3 million downloads. It also inspired a book series with Fortress Press called the Homebrewed Christianity Guides to topics like God, Jesus, Spirit, Church History and so on.

Paul Hoard, PhD, LMHC, is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist and associate professor of counseling psychology at The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology. His work sits at the intersection of Lacanian theory, theology, and culture, examining how desire, disgust, trauma, sexuality, and play shape our lives and imaginations. He maintains a clinical practice, provides supervision for therapists integrating psychoanalysis and theology, and is the co-author (with his sister Billie Hoard) of Eucontamination: Disgust Theology and the Christian Life, a book that reimagines the theological logic of disgust as a site of transformation rather than exclusion.

Tripp's Links

Website: https://www.homebrewedchristianty.com/

Substack: https://processthis.substack.com/

Bluesky: @trippfuller.bsky.social

Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/homebrewed-christianity/id276269040

Paul's Links

Substack: https://paulhoard.substack.com/

Paul's Book: https://wipfandstock.com/9798385213726/eucontamination/

In this episode, I speak with two returning guests, political columnist and commentator David Moscrop and politician Jeff Wheeldon.

As you’ll discover, the origin story for what you’ll about to hear kicked off when David used the terms 'mutant socialist' and 'bad leftist' in our previous conversation.

There was something about those terms, and the thoughts surrounding them, that helped me feel very seen and understood. And it also reminded me a lot of the conversation I had with Jeff on this show.

The three of us all lean to the left in our politics, but that doesn’t mean we feel totally at home within what constitutes ‘The Left’ today. And for me personally, this reality actually goes a fairly long way in accounting for why I started Personalist Manifesto(s): to explore what it could look like to venture into uncharted political territory in our fraught right, left, and centre, landscape today.

And so, I thought, “Well… Maybe I—maybe we—are mutant socialists?” And then, the idea for this assembly was born: a mutant socialist assembly, a bad leftist conversation, where we talk politics in ways that do and don’t fit with many of the options on offer today, and we see if that resonates with ourselves and anyone listening.

We cover a lot of ground here: 90s pop culture, technology, institutions, localized politics, and lots in between. And we hope, in covering this ground, you feel encouraged to practice touch the grass, love your neighbour, politics wherever you happen to be. And so with that, here’s my conversation with David and Jeff—the mutant socialist crew.

Bios

David Moscrop is a politics columnist, commentator, and author of Too Dumb for Democracy? Why We Make Bad Political Decisions And How We Can Make Better Ones. His work has appeared in outlets including Globe and Mail, the Washington Post, the Walrus, Time Magazine, the Guardian, and Jacobin. He holds a PhD in political science from the University of British Columbia.

Jeff Wheeldon blogs on municipal politics, and still occasionally publishes essays on politics, religion, and sociology.

Links

David's Book: Too Dumb for Democracy? Why We Make Bad Political Decisions and How We Can Make Better Ones: https://gooselane.com/products/too-dumb-for-democracyDavid's Substack: www.davidmoscrop.com

David's Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/davidmoscrop.com

David's Twitter: @David_Moscrop

Jeff's blog: https://jeffwheeldon.ca/blog/

Jeff's publications: https://sociologyandchristianity.org/index.php/jsc/article/view/281

When genocides and political atrocities take place, it has become common for people to assemble in public, bear witness to what has happened, and address those events to reach a sense of… what, exactly?

Awareness? Truth? Understanding? Closure? Reconciliation? Healing? Reparation? Change?

And if these—or something else—are the aims of these assemblies, do they actually achieve these goals? Enter Jane Barter, and her new book Theopolitics and the Era of the Witness, to explore these and so many other important questions related to a phenomenon that has become so typical of our time that it is rare to encounter people thinking as deeply, and speaking as meaningfully to these questions as Jane does.

Bio

Jane Barter (she/her) is Professor of Religion and Culture at the University of Winnipeg. She has published three monographs, including her a recent book on witnessing to political atrocity, Theopolitics and the Era of the Witness (Routledge. 2025). She recently co-edited (with Doris Kieser, St. Joseph’s College, University of Alberta) a special volume of the Journal of Moral Theology on the papal visit and apology to survivors of Residential Schools in Canada. She is also general editor of the forthcoming (2026) multi-volume T & T Clark Encyclopedia of Christian Theology (Bloomsbury Press).

Links

Jane's new book: https://www.routledge.com/Theopolitics-and-the-Era-of-the-Witness/Barter/p/book/9781032615035

It’s amazing and terrifying how one small sentence posted online at a particular moment in a particular context can spread like wildfire, and result in a book.

In this case, it was the sentence Jesus was non-violent, posted by Susy Flory on Facebook during the Covid-19 pandemic and the January 6 Insurrection that started the fire and led to a book.

In this conversation, I speak with Susy and Scott Johanningsmeir, editors of the recent published book Jesus Was: Not What We Expected But Better Than We Imagined where we not only get the origin story for the book, but we also reflect on how some of the most important things in life, including the Christian life, can be hidden in plain sight.

So whether you identify as a Christian or not, I encourage you to listen to this conversation. It might re-introduce you, or introduce you for the first time, to the revolutionary, and kind, Jesus. Who not only was, but is, and is to come.

Bios and Links

Susy Flory is a New York Times best-selling author or coauthor of eighteen books, directs West Coast Christian Writers, and is the founder of Everything Memoir with Susy Flory. Her book The Unbreakable Boy became a feature film in wide release in March, 2025. Susy earned a master’s degree in New Testament at Northern Seminary and is finishing up her doctoral studies on women writers in the ancient world, including the New Testament era. She lives in Northern California. Check out Susy’s Substack, and follow her on Facebook and Instagram.

Scott Johanningsmeier is a bivocational pastor at Elizabeth Baptist Church in Southern Indiana. He has a bachelor’s degree in music technology from Indiana University and a master’s degree in New Testament from Northern Seminary. Outside of ministry, he works in the technology installation industry. He and his wife have two daughters. Check out Scott’s Substack and follow him on Facebook and LinkedIn.

Oh, and pick up a copy of the Jesus Was: Not What We Expected But Better Than We Imagined book here.

As you’ll hear in this conversation, this episode started with a collegial back-and-forth about a footnote concerning punk rock. I was reviewing my friend Erv Klassen’s Doctor of Ministry project on hope, and he took an excellent side quest at the bottom of one of his pages to talk about the birth of punk rock.

Don’t you just love it when music fans get into hairsplitting conversations (i.e. arguments) about who started what and when and how they started it? I know I do. Well, sometimes. And then at other times, I don’t.

Either way, what I love about this footnote is that it started an offline conversation that started the podcast dialogue that you’re about hear—and maybe one day, it’ll result in a micro-course on theology and punk rock. We’ll see. But for the time being, my conversation with Erv is about punk rock, and what that has to do with hope and theology.

The funny thing is, Jacques Ellul wrote about punk rock (and disco) in his book Empire of Non-Sense. And here’s what he says in a footnote:

"These pages were written well before the appearance of punk and disco. But these movements are nothing more than the confirmation and continuation of the previous movement of insignificance congealed by the hypnotic effect of technique. The sounds, the shouts, the gesticulations, the frenzied outbursts, the throbbing, the fragmentation are in reality perfectly stereotyped and express a programmed type of music. The sounds that burst forth do not express any “emotion” in spite of what one says; they simply produce an instant of mind-altered happiness. One must not forget that after punk the emotionless style prevails. After the anarchy and spontaneity of punk comes, not with a tip of the scale but with the continuation of the same tendency, a frozen, rigid, and petrified style. It is not for nothing that one hears “Do the Mussolini,” a derive appeal to Fascism, and constant appeal to death, “I wish I could die…” What causes this completely depersonalized and neutralized ethos and a glorification of militarism?

So, clearly, Ellul wasn’t a fan—at least not of nihilistic synth-punk bands. Fair enough. But the question he asks “what causes this…?” can lead in all sorts of directions, and not all in the ways Ellul proposes here. There are other, more hopeful directions, that punks can take. And in this episode, Erv and I try to articulate what those other directions may be.

Bio

Erv Klassen is the Registrar and Assistant Academic Dean at Columbia Bible College in Abbotsford. He teaches in the areas of Spiritual Formation and Christian History. Erv is passionate about old books like medieval Christian devotional literature, and loves introducing these spiritual classics to others. He has worked at Columbia since 2008 following his work as a youth pastor and many summers working at summer camp. He loves playing modern board games, listening to rock and roll, reading Superman comics, flying kites, and birdwatching. He and his family live in Hope (figuratively and literally).

Links

Erv's Doctor of Ministry Project on Hope: https://actsseminaries.com/assets/main/klassen---hope-dmn-project-final-version-with-signatures.pdf

A Non-Comprehensive Punk Rock Playlist in No Specific Order

• Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965–1968

• The Clash - London Calling

• The Go-Gos - Beauty and the Beat • Greenday - American Idiot (2004)

• Iggy and the Stooges - Raw Power

• Patti Smith - Horses

• The Ramones - Ramones

• Talking Heads - 77

• The Clash - London Calling

• Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks

• The Jam - In the City

• Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures

• New Order - Movement

• Black Flag - Damaged

• Minor Threat - First Two Seven Inches

• Fugazi - 13 Songs

• Bad Brains - Rock for Light

• Refused - Shape of Punk to Come

• At the Drive - Relationship of Command

• Blink-182 - Cheshire Cat

• Blink-182 - Dude Ranch