Wild Theology

Wild Theology Poetry Shorts #1 - From the RS Thomas Literary Festival

The Following poems were read at the RS Thomas Literary Festival as part of a competition and open reading on September 18, 2022:

The Learner’s Eisteddfod

 

Siarad Cymraeg?

Ydw, I say. But, it’s barely true

 

One clumsy American. 100,000 Celtic warriors…faces painted blue. Or so I imagined.

But it’s only Taid a Nain and snotty Johnny Bach crying in the rain.

 

Dewi lifts his cup. Baptize the night in Bitters. Rhiannon dons the holy national garb... Wellies and short–shorts. A squabble of pubescent poets whistle and squawk around Rhiannon as she floats on mud and plastic pavements.

 

Despite the chiming of her birds, no one living slept that night.

 

The rains came hard. Sanctified our canvas homes, and everything we owned

was dipped in wind and water. This is my immersion, a festival of song and strange

tongues, far from my home of sun and surf.

 

In the Pavilion, a domesticated rebellion, a dream of crowns and thrones. We clap

the sword of peace. Does Bakhtin observe bemused from heaven as we inaugurate

this formal carnival with robed and solemn clowns?

 

Back at the old Welsh capel, their prayers break upon me, not just for these few hours,

nor for the days, but for the years…for eternity.* This is my home now…my Jerusalem.

 

Yet I will wake tomorrow, still that other, a stranger in this land of song and hwyl

and soft sorrows framed in yr hen iaith hir.

 

Siarad Cymraeg?

Ydw, I say. Leaning in.

 

* paraphrased from RS Thomas ‘The Other’, t. 457

 

Sonnet #5

 

In response to R.S. Thomas ‘The Lesson': “Return migrant, so your listeners arising on some May morning of the spirit may hear you whistling again softly…” 

 

This God unseen, He hides beneath the robes


of cloud and sky and cracking thunderous nights


Behind the starry skies and sun’s stiff light


and winds that blow toward edge of curve of globe

 

He ever moving hides and then disrobes


a ghost who moves from in to out of sight


He hides I seek. I hide He seeks each night


and then upon hope’s door I pierce my lobe

 

I slave my ear to hear, my eye to see,


my mouth to cry in supplicating groans


I go to search, but stay to find my way


in paradox: in slavery I am free


to see, to hear, to cry these baleful moans


which celebrate the loss, the find, each day

Wild Theology Podcast: The One Who Names Himself Part 1

In this episode entitled "The One Who Names Himself", I look at the frantic search for a meaning and fulfillment. Kanye West's declaration at Glastonbury that he was the greatest rock star on the planet and the Self-Help Movement are discussed as examples of this phenomenon.

 

You can support this podcast at https://Patreon.com/PhilWyman
You can find the video version at https://youtu.be/oAZH34Zh4os 

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https://BurningReligion.com

Love Big or Go Home with John W. Morehead

John W. Morehead from MultiFaith Matters and I talk about the my new book Love Big or Go Home. He asks me about the origin story to this book, and I rehearse tales from my own nomadic travels and lessons learned through my time with nomads and assorted travelers.

You can support this podcast at https://Patreon.com/PhilWyman
You can find the video version at https://youtu.be/ozAkhGyK37Y

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https://BurningReligion.com

You can donate to the ongoing mission (which as of 2022 will be based in Wales) at the following secure PayPal link:
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Wild Theology Podcast - The Tattered Robes of Life: a song, a pre-Easter meditation

In this Wild Theology Podcast, I consider the Pre-Easter vigil of Good Friday and Holy Saturday. Christianity is framed by the idea that life comes from death, and suffering leads to growth and "glory".

Also, in this podcast, I introduce a song pulled form the archives of my life. I write this a number of years ago. It's not a great recording, but I do a touch of Logic Pro mastering magic should make it sound reasonable (a bit like an old Nick Drake recording, I suppose).

You can support this podcast at https://Patreon.com/PhilWyman
You can find the video version at https://youtu.be/pRK8rC77Jsg

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https://BurningReligion.com

Wild Theology Podcast -The Beginnings of Love Big or Go Home

This podcast looks back two years to the first podcasts I started doing. The audio is overdriven and scratchy, but the beginnings of my newly released book Love Big or Go Home were also being scratched out. So, here is a taster of my new book that outlines my Wild Theology about the gospel itself. This book was forged on the road with nomads, hippies, and the "motorhomeless", and in studies on ancient Christianity and the anthropology of developing American and UK homelessness and nomadism.

You can purchase Love Big or Go Home on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09VRNB6MC

You can support this podcast at https://Patreon.com/PhilWyman
You can see the video version at https://youtu.be/h9DsSyBglfY

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https://BurningReligion.com

Wild Theology Podcast - Moving to Wales. The Story of this Dream.

May 4th, 2022 (God willing) I will be moving somewhere near Caernarfon Wales. This is a dream come true, and includes another one of my wild ideas. Join me on this podcast as I share about my dream to live in Wales, and to spend a year and a day walking around the country, staying with the locals, getting to know the land, and speaking no language but Welsh for the entire time.

You can support this podcast at https://Patreon.com/PhilWyman
You can see the video version at https://youtu.be/Hzn1DlWPgec

Also connect with me at:
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https://BurningReligion.com

John Robinson on Minority Languages and the Gospel

In this Wild Theology Podcast Flashback, I look back to September 2019, and a recording I did with John Robinson. John is the founder and director of Lingua Christi, a non-profit in Wales, which focuses upon bringing the gospel to minority languages throughout Europe. John talks about the importance of sharing in the gospel in the language of a person's heart. This is at the center of my own upcoming mission to Wales. John's work among minority languages has been instrumental in influencing people to learn the languages of the places they go to hare their faith. If you have a heart for missions, his wisdom is worth your time.

You can support this podcast at:
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https://www.philwyman.com
https://www.BurningReligion.com
https://www.SalemGathering.com

 

The Obscene Hermeneut Part 3

Once again, looking back a few years to this first of my podcasts, and realizing that these issues seem even more applicable today than they were when I first posted them. This is part three of a Flashback to Wild Theology Podcasts.

In this third episode of the Obscene Hermeneut, I discuss the issues of confirmation bias and cognitive dissonance, and I ask whether calling confirmation bias on others is evidence of it in ourselves, and wether we will be able to continue peacefully as a nation if things continue the way they are going now.

 

You can support this podcast at:
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Connect with me at:

https://www.facebook.com/philwyman
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https://www.philwyman.com
https://www.BurningReligion.com
https://www.SalemGathering.com

 

The Obscene Hermeneut Part 2

This is the second episode looking at the subject I call The Obscene Hermeneut, and we ask whether it is possible that we are being polarized against our own neighbors. Have we begun to see evil where it does not exist?

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Wild Theology Original Episode: The Obscene Hermeneut Part 1

In this episode I am returning to the very first podcasts of Wild Theology. This short episode, which is the first part of a series I did a few years back seems as appropriate as ever. Here is part 1 of the Obscene Hermeneut.

Everyone is a Hermeneut - an interpreter of the events around us and the things we see and read. Philosophers have talked about the Hermeneutics of Suspicion for decades. In this first episode of the Wild Theology Podcast, I discuss how we have moved from interpreting the world around us with suspicion to interpreting the actions of others with obscenity. We assume obscenity about others who hold wildly differing beliefs, but perhaps we need to ask ourselves what this means about us.

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https://www.SalemGathering.com

Wild Theology Podcast with Shaily Patel - Magic and the Early Church

Shaily Patel is the Associate Professor of Early Christianity in the Department of Religion and Culture at Virginia Tech. Her Doctoral Thesis was on the subject of Magic in Early Christian Traditions, and that's the topic of this podcast. We discuss the ways in which the early Christian writers delineated the difference between miracles and magic, and we look at how some people have seen both Jesus and Peter as Magicians.

Pastor Phil freaks out and needs his crucifix for this episode, which is weird because he actually doesn't own one. And Shaily shares her one big fear about things supernatural, which Phil is like "Yeah whatever, Let me at 'em, Let me at 'em!" But maybe he's just a like the Cowardly Lion. Find out on this episode of Wild Theology - Magic and the Early Church.

You can follow Shaily on Twitter @vox_magica

You can support this podcast at
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On Liminality and the Christian with John W. Morehead

Between transitioning my mom to elder care after caring for her full-time through the first 18 months of COVID, to traveling, to working through Salem's monthlong Halloween, this is the first podcast in months. So, Hello all! Thanks to John W. Morehead for making this one happen. 

In this podcast, I'm a guest on the Multifaith Matters Podcast hosted by John W. Morehead. We talk about the concept of liminality as it relates to the Christian witness in the world.

"Liminal" describes occupying a space at a boundary or threshold. John and I talk about occupying those spaces in our relationships with others.

You can find John Morehead on Podbean at:
https://johnwmorehead.podbean.com

The Multifaith Matters website is www.multifaithmatters.org

 

You can support this podcast at
https://Patreon.com/PhilWyman

You can find the video version soon on YouTube

Also connect with me at:
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https://BurningReligion.com

Lindsay Walker on her newly released indy film, The Welshman

Lindsay Walker from Anglesey, North Wales talks about her new film, The Welshman. It covers a turbulent time in Welsh history, and covers the season of the building of the Trwyeryn reservoir, and the drowning if the Welsh village Capel Celyn.

 

You can support this podcast at
https://Patreon.com/PhilWyman

You can find the video version at:
https://youtu.be/7ycMoiNASA4

Also connect with me at:
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https://BurningReligion.com