Welcome to the Unlikely Conversations Podcast
We often inhabit spaces in person and online where we only interact with folks who primarily look and think and act and practice faith like we do. Unlikely Conversations is a podcast hosted by Collegeville Institute board member Ellie Roscher that features unique and dynamic interviews with writers, thinkers, scholars, and artists affiliated with Collegeville Institute programs.
Season Three:
In season three of Unlikely Conversations, we are asking big questions about meaning, purpose, and the theology of Christian vocation. Beginning on Tuesday, August 3, 2021 tune in twice a month to hear conversations with theologians, church leaders, and clergy in the Collegeville Institute’s Communities of Calling Initiative.
The Spiritual Practice of Discernment
December 21, 2021
Have you ever asked yourself: how does spiritual discernment work, practically? What are the signposts? How can I feel God’s subtle nudge?Read more »Creative Callings in the Pandemic at Plymouth Church
December 7, 2021
Learn how the pandemic pushed Plymouth Church to explore creative callings in new, innovative ways.Read more »Writing as Prayer, Discernment, and Vocation
November 23, 2021
Can writing be a tool of discernment and a form a prayer? In this podcast episode, Carol Davis Younger shares her vocation to be a writer in and for the Church.Read more »The Call to Rise After Crisis
November 9, 2021
How can a church build community and belonging with neighborhood partners in the context of multiple, simultaneous pandemics?Read more »The Call to Sing at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church
October 26, 2021
Ann Schrooten speaks about her calling to serve through music, and how that vocation transformed during the pandemic and following George Floyd’s murder near her church in Minneapolis, MN.Read more »Addressing the Purpose Gap with Dr. Patrick B. Reyes
October 12, 2021
How do we understand God’s calling when not everyone has access to the same networks, resources, or opportunities?Read more »Invited to Mission at Edgewood Church
September 28, 2021
Think of a significant calling in your life. Who invited you to explore that calling? And what role did church play (if any) in that invitation?Read more »Called Through Community at Edgewood Church
September 14, 2021
What role does community play in understanding our individual vocation? And what happens when a pastor called to ministry starts to burn out?Read more »Embracing Communal Callings: Service at St. Matthew’s Church
August 31, 2021
How can congregations invite members of all ages to embrace God's communal call to serve?Read more »A Multiplicity of Callings: Skills Sharing at St. Matthew’s Church
August 17, 2021
In this podcast episode, two church leaders discuss how a skills sharing class transformed their understanding of God's calling.Read more »
Season Two:
In its second season, each episode of the podcast centered on the subject of writing, faith, and justice with alumni guests from our writing workshops.
Undoing Oppressions
February 25, 2021
In this episode, Nekeisha Alayna Alexis describes how her conviction to nonviolence evolved into her interest in co-liberation with animals.Read more »Welcome is Not Enough
February 12, 2021
On the surface, welcoming an immigrant seems kind. Karen González asks Christians to look again and push deeper.Read more »Following a Mystical Jesus
January 27, 2021
What compels a decorated combat veteran and former missions pastor to study mysticism at a center founded by Fr. Richard Rohr?Read more »Consider the Birds
January 13, 2021
Community organizing is often hard and contentious work. How can people stay committed when the world becomes overwhelming?Read more »Writing in Luminous Darkness
December 16, 2020
For Wesley Morris, being a good writer and pastor means embracing a "luminous darkness" as a place of transformation.Read more »Midwifing Stories in the American South
December 2, 2020
Josina Guess discusses her work as an editor, as well as her own writing on themes of race, violence, and family.Read more »Being Heard into Speech
November 18, 2020
What role can fellow writers play in the creative process? And how can a desire to "change the world" backfire?Read more »Start with Your Own Soul
November 4, 2020
How can writers begin to claim their own voice? And how should local communities inform both writing and organizing work?Read more »Mothering Wisdom for Activists
October 21, 2020
What role do writers have in expanding our imagination for what is possible? And who is tending to the spiritual needs of activists?Read more »Writing for Mystic Activists
October 7, 2020
In Season 2 of our podcast, listen to activists and writers of faith including Dr. Chanequa Walker-Barnes and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove.Read more »
Season One:
In its first season, each episode of the podcast featured two participants in the Multi-Religious Fellows program at the Collegeville Institute.
Complicated Women in Scripture
July 15, 2020
Our last podcast episode from this season asks: how are sacred stories about complicated women taught differently in Christianity and Judaism?Read more »Getting Curious About Difference
July 1, 2020
How do we teach toward curiosity in our religious institutions? How do we build interfaith relationships so when crisis happens we can support each other?Read more »Worship During A Pandemic
June 17, 2020
In our latest podcast episode, hear a Hindu-Jewish conversation about how religious communities are gathering, celebrating, and grieving during COVID-19.Read more »Race and Justice in Interfaith Spaces
June 5, 2020
In this podcast episode, hear a frank conversation about race between two young faith leaders in the Muslim and Buddist religious communtities.Read more »From Interfaith Dialogue to Multi-Religious Action
May 20, 2020
Our third podcast episode explores the history of multi-religious work with Rabbi Barry D. Cytron and Dr. Marty Stortz.Read more »Love is a Verb
May 6, 2020
In the second episode of our podcast, hear a Muslim-Catholic dialogue about faith and action for the common good.Read more »Religion and the Next Generation
April 22, 2020
Listen now to the first episode of our new podcast Unlikely Conversations.Read more »Season One Trailer
April 3, 2020
Listen now to the trailer for Unlikely Conversations, a new podcast from the Collegeville Institute that explores civil discourse as spiritual practice.Read more »
