Testifying

Logo art by Elise Carlton

I can't believe how long it has taken me to get around to writing about something that I love so much! But that's the way it is with podcasts. They politely sit there and wait for you to come back to them. Podcasts neither scold nor chastise, they wait patiently. So. On this first cold, wintry night of November I have returned to pick up where I left off with Sunday School Dropouts. Which was Hebrews. And was once more taken in by the humor and intelligence with which hosts ex-Christian Lauren O'Neal and non-believing sort-of-Jew Niko Bakulich approach the material. Which is The Bible. Yes children, the Bible. Each week they take a book of the Bible, occasionally with a guest who adds an extra element to the discussion, and deconstruct, critique, and eventually rate it in a most creative and entertaining fashion. As a person who has read the Bible cover to cover, the Old Testament once and the New Testament twice, I enjoy getting a new slant on material that is revered and often taken as literal by Christians around the world. I count myself as an agnostic after being raised, baptized, and confirmed in the Lutheran faith. Somehow those teachings just didn't take on me. I had too many questions left unanswered, or merely answered in a brush-off fashion by being told I should pray about it or that I needed to have faith. I realize now that my Sunday school teachers had little or no special training. They were just moms and dads from the congregation who volunteered and had a workbook to go by. I must have been a real pain in the ass. Even when I was still in high school I was aware that the Bible had been written principally in three languages, Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic, and was written four hundred years after the most recent events in it had occurred. That it had been heavily edited under the influence of royalty and the politics of the day within the church. I didn't believe and for a number of years felt that my lack of belief was a personal and spiritual failure. I did work through it, though, and since then have been interested in approaching the Bible in a purely intellectual way for its historical aspects and how it informs and influences the different flavors of Christianity. I adore Sunday School Dropouts! From the theme music composed and performed by host Niko to the cigarette smoking dove on the logo to the absolutely cute without being cutesy banter between hosts Lauren and Niko! I recommend it to anyone looking for a new perspective on an ancient topic.