Join Ryan and Elle as they wrap up the True North Theology project!

Building off last week’s episode on decolonial feminism, this week we speak with Anishnaabe author, Patty Krawec about her forthcoming book, Becoming Kin: An Indigenous Call to Unforgetting the Past and Reimagining Our Future. Krawec challenges settler Christians to start “unforgetting” the parts of our history that we have historically ignored and to take up our responsibilities as kin as we seek to imagine a future for the Canadian Church that honours all our relations.

Much of this series has been historically oriented, but this week’s episode features a conversation with Denise Nadeau, to unpack some of the various critiques of the dominant ideologies that have animated Canadian life. We introduce listeners to decolonial and feminist critiques and hear how these critiques can animate concrete practices of resistance in the world today.

This week’s episode takes a critical look at Jean Vanier’s complicated legacy. On the one hand, Vanier’s work with L’Arche was transformative for how people with disabilities are seen and cared for around the world. However, on the other hand, we found out after his passing that he was complicit in sexual abuse and the coverup of abuse by his mentor. My friend Daniel Rempel joins me for a conversation about how to navigate learning from a compromised figure like Vanier.

Dean Detloff has a PhD from the Institute for Christian Studies and is the Central Ontario Animator with Development and Peace. He also cohosts “The Magnificast,” a podcast about Christianity and leftist politics.

Zoe Matties is the Manitoba Program Manager with A Rocha Canada.

The Hon. Bill Blaikie served as Member of Parliament from 1979-2008 where he seved as Deputy Speaker and member of the Privy Council. He was also MLA in the Manitoba Legislature from 2009-2011. Blaikie is also an ordained minister in the United Church of Canada.

Dr. James Robertson is Assistant Professor of Christian History at Tyndale University with a particular research emphasis on Canadian Church history. Dr. Patrick Franklin is Associate Professor of Theology at Tyndale University.

In response to the dire economic circumstances of the Maritimes in the early 20th century, Roman Catholics centered at St. Francis Xavier University in the diocese of Antigonish started a movement of mass adult education that led to one of the most successful economic development movements in the world. Celebrated by the Vatican and by partners around the world, the “Antigonish Movement” is a truly remarkable story of the work of Canadian Christians working to empower people to become “masters of their own destiny”.

When we use the word Tory today, it’s often short-hand for somebody who is in the Conservative Party of Canada, but the Red Tories were a loosely defined group of Conservatives from an earlier era of Canadian history that had a Christian inflected vision of the role of politics that differs somewhat from what we may be accustomed to from our Conservative politicians today. This week, Ryan sits down with the Rev. Dr. David Widdicombe to unpack the tradition of Red Toryism with special attention to its Anglican pedigree.

Today’s episode features a conversation with Dr. Allen Mills about the theo-political vision of former Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau. We explore the ways which, what Dr. Mills calls the ‘3 Ps’ of this vision - personalism, pluralism, and pragmatism - shaped the political career of one of the most compelling figures in all of Canadian political history.

This week’s conversation features the work of Dr. David Wilson, a historian and biographer of Thomas D’Arcy McGee, one of Canada’s Father’s of Confederation. Ryan and Dr. Wilson discuss the life of McGee and his surprising contributions to a religiously tolerant Canada. Ironically, it was precisely the strong Catholic convictions of McGee that convinced him to work for a world where all religious minorities are protected and respected.

This week’s episode dives into the topic of Human Rights. Dr. Curle shares the story of how the UN Declaration on Human Rights came to be, featuring the contributions of folks from all over the world including the Canadian John Humphrey. Dr. Curle outlines a bunch of ways Christians can think and work with the human rights tradition and continue to contribute to a world where human rights are recognized and respected.

This week’s episode looks at how the Protestant Churches in Canada moved from an assimilationist policy toward Indigenous peoples to a posture of reconciliation. Dr. Beninger introduces some of the people and movements that helped effect this change.

On this week’s episode, Ryan and Jon introduce the theme of this season of True North Theology - Canadian Political Theology. They discuss some various approaches to political theology and ask what, if anything, is distinctive about Canadian approaches to this tradition.