Way Stations | Conversations Along the Journey

*Originally aired in 2021: Re-released in Way Stations Format for Podcast
Join Steve as he interviews Bruce Hindmarsh (Professor of Spirituality and Christian History | Regent College), about "Dark Night of the Soul", a poem written by St. John of the Cross which inspired Steve to write the song. 
https://www.brucehindmarsh.com/
Music Video/Song: Dark Night of the Soul
Music and Lyrics by Steve Bell *Adapted from the poem by St. John of the Cross (circa 1577)
Orchestral arrangement by Mike Janzen Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra conducted by Rei Hotoda

In this fascinating episode, Steve talks to Dr. Stephen Backhouse about the field of Political Theology, who then demonstrates that discipline by applying it to the Gospel of Mark.
During COVID, Dr. Backhouse released a 31-part podcast series in which he takes listeners through a political reading of the book of Mark. Each episode is 30-40 minutes long and presented in a delightfully casual, accessible manner.  Host Steve Bell found the series to be transformative and hopes this conversation will entice some of you to check it out. 
Go To:
https://www.tenttheology.com/
and click on The Gospel of Mark
(it's free)
Spoiler alert! For Dr. Backhouse, 'political' does not equal 'partisan.' This is not about how one should vote in an election. Backhouse invites listeners to consider that Political Theology is a more fully-orbed contemplation of how we use our power in the world in the light of Biblical revelation... particularly, the life and teachings of Jesus.
We hope to have Stephen Backhouse back in the early new year to discuss his book, Kierkegaard: A Single Life (Zondervan, 2016).  From the slip cover: "This new biography introduces Kierkegaard in his many disguises—the thinker, the lover, the recluse, the writer, the controversialist—in prose so compelling it reads like a novel,"
You may want to order and read the book in advance.

In this podcast, Steve and Carolyn discuss her music career journey as a songwriter and Christian recording artist, along with discussing her latest single "Fall In Love". This compelling conversation will take you behind the scenes of the industry, and will highlight some of her influences along the way and finishes with a lyric video of Carolyn's new song.
Carolyn Arends is an internationally awarded singer/songwriter and author whose work has yielded 14 albums,15 top ten radio singles on the Canadian and US Christian charts, and 3 critically acclaimed books. Carolyn holds a Master of Arts in Theological Studies from Regent College. She is a regular columnist for Christianity Today and serves as an adjunct professor at ACTS Seminary, Pacific Life Bible College, and Columbia Bible College.In addition to her busy touring and speaking schedule, Carolyn is the current Director of Education for Renovaré Institute for Christian Spiritual Formation. 
Carolyn lives in Surrey, BC with her husband, Mark, and their children Benjamin and Bethany. 
Websites: 
https://www.carolynarends.com/ 
https://renovare.org/institute/overview

Good Grief: Honouring the Passing of Parents

The podcast opens with Carolyn explaining her work with Renovaré Institute for Christian Spiritual Formation before she and Steve swap stories, insights and songs about their recent loss of beloved parents, and the songs each wrote in the wake of their grief.
*note: to watch the video of this podcast click HERE… 

Carolyn Arends is an internationally awarded singer/songwriter and author whose work has yielded 14 albums,15 top ten radio singles on the Canadian and US Christian charts, and 3 critically acclaimed books.
Carolyn holds a Master of Arts in Theological Studies from Regent College. She is a regular columnist for Christianity Today and serves as an adjunct professor at ACTS Seminary, Pacific Life Bible College, and Columbia Bible College.
In addition to her busy touring and speaking schedule, Carolyn is the current Director of Education for Renovaré Institute for Christian Spiritual Formation.
Carolyn lives in Surrey, BC with her husband, Mark, and their children Benjamin and Bethany.
 
Websites:
https://www.carolynarends.com/
https://renovare.org/institute/overview
 
Discography and Books:
https://www.carolynarends.com/releases
 
Articles:
Stoicism Isn't Spiritual: What Grief Taught Me About Being Fully Human
by Carolyn Arends
Ain't No Grave Gonna Hold Our Bodies Down (Christianity Today)
by Carolyn Arends
 
Songs:
Videos for the songs included in this podcast can be watched independently on YouTube. Click song titles below to watch:
To Cry for You 
Music and Lyrics by Carolyn Arends
Album: Recognition
There's a lump in my throat
There's a knot in my chest
I am tired to the bone
But I cannot rest
But it's only right
To feel like I do
Cause it is my honour
To cry for you
All the memories come back
Like the tide rolling in
And the current is strong
I go under again
So I hold my breath
What else can I do?
Cause it is my honour
To cry for you
Blessed are the ones who weep
Cause every tear is proof
Of ties that bind so strong and deep
That death cannot undo
So it is my honour
To cry for you
I've got more than a hunch
That you're somehwere so good
It'd be wrong to come back
Even if you could
I will see you again
But until I do
It is my honour
To cry for you
Blessed are the ones who weep
Cause every tear is proof
Of ties that bind so strong and deep
That death cannot undo
So it is my honour
To cry for you
There's a lump in my throat
There's a knot in my chest
But the ache in my soul
Tells me I am blessed
Cause when the sorrow is great
The love is too
And it is my honour
To cry for you
I guess grief is the work
That love must do
So it is my honour
To cry for you
 
In Memoriam 
Music and Lyrics by Steve Bell
Album: Wouldn't You Love to Know
 
Fresh tendernesses burgeoned
with the dying of my dad
I love him all the more for it
He lived his life for others' gain
His death, he gave away the same
And I love him all the more for it
 
This son was fiercely fashioned
By his father's dappled life
The way he loved his children
The way he loved his wife
My dad was hardly perfect
But I hardly give a rip
I loved him all the more for it
 
Not scandalized by brokenness
Not scandalized by pain
But Dad could not abide the curse
And hellishness of shame
He'd absorb another's failures
And return them as a gift
We loved him all the more for it
 
My father was a trumpeter
Those days have long since passed
He passed along his passion to me
Eager as I was
We'd sit for hours and listen
To the Tijuana Brass
I loved him all the more for it
 
I tenderly remember
When a beauty left me rent
I was too young to consider then
That love is never spent
He told me pain would linger
And would likely leave a dent
I loved him all the more for it
My dad was a believer
He believed that God is good
He was certain Jesus lived
To show how everybody could
And that all our earthly sorrows
Couldn't be the final writ
I loved him all the more for it
 
My father was a fortress 
For my two sisters and I
And more-so for our mom
Who suffered so much of her life
He taught us how to live 
And then he taught us how to die
We loved him all the more for it
 
Fresh tendernesses burgeoned 
With the dying of my dad
I love him all the more for it

John Newton's Amazing Grace: The Man and the Story Behind the Song
-with guest Dr. Bruce Hindmarsh
Bruce Hindmarsh holds the James M. Houston Chair of Spiritual Theology at Regent College in Vancouver. He has published and spoken widely to international audiences on the history of early British evangelicalism. His recent book, Amazing Grace: The Life of John Newton and the Surprising Story Behind the Song, co-authored with Craig Borlase, offers a dramatic biography of John Newton, the 18th century slave-trader turned abolitionist who penned the poem, Amazing Grace, that has become the near universal hymn of humanity in the western world.
Bruce joins Steve to talk about this page-turner of a dramatic biography which will also yield a feature-length documentary in 2024.

WEBSITE:
www.brucehindmarsh.com

Books by Bruce Hindmarsh:
Amazing Grace: The Life of John Newton and the Surprising Story Behind the Song 
By Bruce Hindmarsh and Craig Borlase (W Publishing Group, an imprint of Thomas Nelson, 2023)
Newton's story is shocking, and Amazing Grace does not try to airbrush or excuse his faults. There are glaring contradictions in the life of a ship's Captain who retreats to his cabin to study his Bible and write tender love letters to his wife while hundreds of slaves lie in chains in the hold below.
The Spirit of Early Evangelicalism: True Religion in a Modern World
By Bruce Hindmarsh (Oxford University Press, 2018)
The Spirit of Early Evangelicalism sheds new light on the nature of evangelical religion by locating its rise with reference to major movements of the 18th century, including Modernity, the Scientific Revolution, and the Enlightenment. Hindmarsh draws on a wide range of sources to make meaningful connections between the evangelical awakening and the history of science, law, art, and literature. 
For Christ and His Kingdom: Inspiring a New Generation
By James Houston and Bruce Hindmarsh (Regent College Publishing, 2013)
Dr. Hindmarsh presents the need for intellectual and spiritual integrity as essential to paradosis, the transmission of a living faith to the next generation, while Dr. Houston provides a compelling case for a fulsome theological understanding of the person in Christ as intrinsic to an authentic Christian education that avoids the reductionism of secular viewpoints.
The Evangelical Conversion Narrative: Spiritual Autobiography in Early Modern England
By Bruce Hindmarsh (Oxford University Press, 2005)
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, thousands of ordinary women and men experienced evangelical conversion and turned to a certain form of spiritual autobiography to make sense of their lives. This book traces the rise and progress of conversion narrative as a unique form of spiritual autobiography in early modern England.
John Newton and the English Evangelical Tradition: Between the Conversions of Wesley and Wilberforce
By Bruce Hindmarsh
Dr. Hindmarsh draws upon extensive archival and antiquarian sources to provide a serious, scholarly consideration of the life and religious thought of John Newton (1725-1807). In addition, he uses the theme of Newton as a 'sort of middle man' to explore the religious understanding of a whole generation who knew themselves as 'evangelical' although this was different from those who later adopted the term as a badge of partisan loyalty. 

SONG:
Come To My Help (Psalm 70:1)
By Steve Bell
 
*WATCH VODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/ZfLYdoPvxTA
 
SEE ALSO:
In 2021 Steve released a independant vodcast with Dr. Bruce Hindmarsh discussing the life of St. John of The Cross and his poem "Dark Night of the Soul" which is the inspiration for Steve's song of the same name.
The vodcast includes a performance video of the song at the end of the conversation.
Watch: Steve Bell Video Podcast: Bruce Hindmarsh "Dark Night of the Soul" (St. John of the Cross)