Ep. 8: The History of Christianity in America with Chris Staron of Truce Podcast
Show Notes
Episode Summary
If Americans could call a truce, just for a moment, what would happen? Would we see the humans on the other side of the political aisle? Would it enable us to find common ground with people who believe differently than we do? We sat down with Chris Staron, producer of Truce Podcast, to talk about what he’s learned about the history of Christianity in America and why it matters so much more than most of us realize.
Bio
Chris Staron is the award-winning filmmaker behind Bringing up Bobby and Between the Walls. He’s also the author of the dramatic Christian thriller Cradle Robber. His heart is for people who are on the outside edges of popular Christianity: the under-represented, the skeptics, those hurt by the church. Truce is a vehicle to express the unmet needs of the outsiders. When he’s not juggling multiple episodes at the same time, Chris enjoys hiking, cross country skiing, improv comedy, and teaching Sunday school.
Follow Chris on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and check out his podcast on Apple Podcasts.
Quotables
“If you tie your faith to things that really are not reliable, there’s a chance that you could lose your faith.” (tweet this)
“It’s healthy for us to have a 3D view of what the United States really is: the good, the bad, the ups, and the downs.” (tweet this)
“It’s easier for us to paint a whole people group as evil than to realize that they are sinners who need Jesus just as much as I do.” (tweet this)
“It helps us not to see everyone as villains, but to see us as victims of a collective era.” (tweet this)
“One of the worst words we’ve used in this era is ‘unprecedented’ because that causes people to have fear that the era they’re living in has no history to it, when it reality we live in a very cyclical world.” (tweet this)
Key Topics with Timestamps
[01:38]—Explanation of Chris’s podcast, Truce, especially how it looks at the history of Christianity in America to examine what shapes Christian faith today
[06:21]—Discussion of how the Russian Revolution impacted Christianity in America
[10:25]—Parts of our “Christian” American heritage that are actually relatively new developments
[14:53]—American coup in Guatemala
[20:20]—How we tend to dehumanize “those people” and avoiding the “villain mentality”
[23:06]—How Chris hopes his faith has changed as a result of his research
[26:42]—Chris’s ways of fostering in himself compassion for others
[30:40]—What beliefs and postures Chris gets called a heretic for
[36:02]—Brief discussion of socialism and Acts 2
[39:05]—Where Chris finds hope when looking at the future of faith
[42:00]—Rapid Fire questions
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Credits
This episode was produced by The Sophia Society. Music is by Faith in Foxholes, and sound engineering is by Joshua Mudge.
