Pastor Emily Swan comes from Low Church. She doesn’t disrespect the “smells and bells,” but she sees more value in building an accessible, judgment-free community while preaching in jeans and Birkenstocks. She also knows the dangers of imposed uniformity of thought, having been fired from her previous pulpit for being gay.
As the face of Blue Ocean Church, Emily uses her training as a history professor to assess religion through a centuries-long lens, and to establish how religious teachings remain relevant to modern battles for social justice. She also encourages people to think critically and voice their doubts, because a healthy faith is a faith with questions.
We talk about the opportunity for Roller Disco Friday Worship, the overuse of “preachGPT,” and that time she bought an Anglican priest costume for an ordainment ceremony. Because if the average age of church attendees is 60, where are younger people going to go?
Some of the big names Emily dropped:
Author, professor, and publishing consultant Phyllis Tickle
Sociologist of religion Philip Jenkins
Political scientist Robert Putnam
Stand Your Ground: Black Bodies and the Justice of God by Kelly Brown Douglas
And of course, her own book: Solus Jesus: A Theology of Resistance
Production note: This week’s episode was a bit of an adventure, since we recorded on the fly with unfamiliar equipment in unfamiliar surroundings. If anything’s inaudible, please refer to the transcript below. The best part, though, has to be when her dog barked exactly as we were discussing how religion shouldn’t center around humans.
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