Christmas, Empire, and Context: Discussing Advent with Kelley Nikondeha

A Pastor and a Philosopher Walk into a Bar

Merry Christmas! In this episode, we talk with Kelley Nikondeha about her book The First Advent in Palestine: Reversals, Resistance, and the Ongoing Complexity of Hope. Kelley helps us reimagine the meaning of Advent by taking us into the complex political, religious, and ethnic landscape that forms the backdrop of the Christmas story, and encourages us to trade our often whitewashed, Americanized, empire-friendly understanding of the story for something grittier, more authentic, and more moving. How does the conflict between Israel and Palestine affect the typical American Christian's understanding of incarnation? What do most people get wrong about the story of Jesus's birth? What's up with those angels? Get the book and listen to this conversation for insights on these and many other timely topics.
The resources mentioned in this episode are:

• Womanist Midrash by Wilda C. Gafney
• Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes by Kenneth E. Bailey
• The First Christmas by Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan

Also, check out the Philosophy vs. Improv podcast, hosted by The Partially Examined Life.

The beverage we tasted in this episode is Christmas Ale by Anchor Brewing Company.
The tasting is at 0:36. To skip to the interview, go to 3:19.
You can find the transcript for this episode here.
Content note: this episode contains discussion of violence, rape, trauma, and some mild profanity.
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Luvut

1. Christmas, Empire, and Context: Discussing Advent with Kelley Nikondeha (00:00:00)

2. Beverage Tasting (00:00:36)

3. Interview (00:03:19)