Send a text

REPRISE - After attending a recent event featuring Dr. Jemar Tisby, I had the chance to connect with the host of that gathering, Professor Jessica Wai-Fong Wong, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at Azusa Pacific University and author of the groundbreaking book Disordered: Holy Icons and Racial Myths.

In this episode, we reflect on that event, where Dr. Tisby shared moving stories about his relationship with the late Dr. Bill Pennell of Fuller Theological Seminary—a pioneering voice in racial awareness whose bold challenges to white evangelicalism began in the late '60s and continued for decades.

Dr. Wong, herself deeply influenced by Dr. Pennell’s legacy, joins me for a conversation that dives into the concept of whiteness as an archetype and its enduring impact on Christian theology and the history of race. Drawing from her own journey as a Chinese American woman raised in predominantly white spaces in Texas, Dr. Wong shares insights from her book, including what it means to "aspire to whiteness" and the painful experience of being cast as an "anti-icon" in a white-dominated religious context.

We also explore my own experience within a Korean megachurch in Southern California, examining how whiteness becomes synonymous with order, while everyone else—Black, brown, Asian, Jewish, or female—is often seen as a threat to it.

This is more than a theological discussion—it’s a deep dive into history, identity, and the present-day political and spiritual moment we’re all navigating. SHOW NOTES

Originally aired April 2025

Support the show

Become a Patron - Click on the link to learn how you can become a Patron of the show. Thank you!

Ken’s Substack Page

The Podcast Official Site: TheBeachedWhiteMale.com

Send a text

(REPRISE from AUG 2025)

Today I welcome a familiar voice and a longtime friend—Dr. Randall Balmer. Back in the day, when we were “Trinity Men,” he was “Randy” to me. Today, he’s Dr. Balmer—historian, author, professor, and one of the leading voices on religion in America. He earned his graduate degrees at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Princeton, and Union Theological Seminary, and this marks our third interview together.

Randall recently published a powerful piece in the Los Angeles Times about the 1925 Scopes Trial—often remembered as the showdown between Genesis and Darwin. He reminds us that the trial wasn’t supposed to be about evolution at all, but that’s where it landed. William Jennings Bryan thundered that “if evolution wins, Christianity goes.” Clarence Darrow countered, “It’s not Scopes on trial—it’s civilization.” Nearly a century later, the questions linger.

Randall also brings us into his latest book, America’s Best Idea: The Separation of Church and State. It’s a sweeping story—Roger Williams’s “hedge of separation,” Jefferson’s Danbury letter, Madison, Adams, and the First Amendment—all the way to today’s battles over vouchers, religious schools, and the religious right. Along the way, we’ll talk about court rulings, culture wars, and the ongoing debate over whether America is a Christian nation—or a nation that protects the freedom of every faith, and of no faith at all.

It’s always a rich conversation when Dr. Balmer joins me, and today is no exception.

Come on along with us! SHOW NOTES

Support the show

Become a Patron - Click on the link to learn how you can become a Patron of the show. Thank you!

Ken’s Substack Page

The Podcast Official Site: TheBeachedWhiteMale.com

Send a text

REPRISE - Ken welcomes pastor, historian, and special advisor to the President at Baylor University, Dr. Malcolm Foley. Just this month, his new book - The Anti-Greed Gospel: Why the Love of Money Is the Root of Racism and How the Church Can Create a New Way Forward - has just been released. Dr. Foley shares something of his faith and spiritual journey. As an undergraduate at Washington University in St. Louis, he majored in Finance and the Classics. After earning an M. Div. at Yale Divinity School, he completed his Ph.D. at Baylor. His dissertation focussed on the history of lynching in America, and the responses of African American Protestants to the horror of it all. Ken and Malcolm unpack the thesis of his new book: that racism is rooted in greed. They talk about his concept of racialized capitalism, the dominance of white supremacy, the witness of the “Church Fathers” and the biblical passages that deal with greed and wealth. In the 1987 movie Wall Street, Gordon Gekko (played by Michael Douglas) declares, “Greed is good!” Dr. Foley disagrees. He takes a deep dive into the reality of lynching and the use of violence and terror to subjugate black folks. It’s a hard look at history. They talk about Malcolm’s heroes in the movement: Martin Luther King, Malcolm X (for whom he was named), and Ida B. Wells among many others. Toward the end of their lively conversation, Ken asks Dr. Foley about the current weaponization of phrases like DEI, Woke, and CRT which do not appear in the book.

Don’t miss Malcolm’s response.

SHOW NOTES (see links to the book and more about Dr. Foley)

Support the show

Become a Patron - Click on the link to learn how you can become a Patron of the show. Thank you!

Ken’s Substack Page

The Podcast Official Site: TheBeachedWhiteMale.com