Straight White American Jesus - SWAJ Daily: All the Made-Up Things
Aired: 2020-03-24
Duration: 03:52


=== Evangelical Shifts (03:52) ===

[00:00:00]  AXIS MUNDY AXIS MUNDY Hello friends, it's Monday, March 23rd, and we are all sort of reckoning with the coronavirus pandemic and trying to cope.
[00:00:30]  Just an update, this week I'm going to have an episode with author and journalist Asha Daya, who has gone from an evangelical worship leader to a feminist author and reproductive rights activist in just a few years.
[00:00:43]  It's an amazing interview.
[00:00:45]  On Friday, Dan and I are going to have a great episode on what I'm calling the first evangelical president, Jimmy Carter, and why, surprisingly, it would be lovely to have him back in the Oval Office.
[00:00:56]  We're going to compare him to Donald Trump and just kind of see Just for now, a very brief reflection.
[00:01:03]  You know, I've been thinking a lot about all the things that we often take for granted.
[00:01:08]  or the evangelical was quite the opposite of what we think of as evangelical today.
[00:01:14]  Just for now, a very brief reflection.
[00:01:17]  You know, I've been thinking a lot about all the things that we often take for granted.
[00:01:22]  You know, all of us are stuck in the house and we're missing out on small things like weekly lunch with a friend, big things like birthday parties and celebrations, and even bigger things like a wedding.
[00:01:37]  I know some people are even having to think about how to bury their loved ones during this time.
[00:01:43]  And it made me think of a quote from Gerald Murphy.
[00:01:45]  Gerald Murphy was part of the Lost Generation in the 1920s.
[00:01:49]  He was very close to F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Fitzgerald and other members of the Lost Generation.
[00:01:57]  And, you know, he was very privileged, but inevitably, as happens in life, despite how much money you have, people get sick, people have a hard time.
[00:02:08]  And that happened with him.
[00:02:11]  His friend Zelda Fitzgerald went to an asylum because she was mentally ill.
[00:02:17]  One of his children went to a sanatorium because he was very, very sick and then died.
[00:02:23]  And then of course the Great Depression happened and there was kind of worldwide suffering.
[00:02:28]  Here's a quote he gave to F. Scott Fitzgerald back in those days.
[00:02:34]  I remember saying to him that for me only the invented part of life was satisfying, only the unrealistic part.
[00:02:40]  Things happen to you, sickness, birth, Zelda and Prangens, which is the asylum, Patrick in the sanatorium, Father Weyberg's death.
[00:02:49]  These things were realistic and you couldn't do anything about them.
[00:02:53]  Do you mean you don't accept those things?
[00:02:55]  Scott asked.
[00:02:57]  Scott is F. Scott Fitzgerald.
[00:02:59]  I replied that of course I accepted them, but I didn't feel they were the important things, really.
[00:03:05]  And I know this could be taken the wrong way, as if birth and death aren't important, but I don't think that's what he's saying.
[00:03:10]  Thanks for listening to this free preview of our SWADGE episode.
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