Seven years ago, I walked into a room with a guy I barely knew and another guy [whose book I had recently warned people not to purchase] to record a podcast. It was only intended to be a 3-part series on Penal Substitutionary Atonement Theory where each of us would post one of the three parts on our personal blogs and link back to one another for shared traffic.
But that recording was so much fun that we decided to do it a few times a month. Our first idea for the show was to call it “The Quoir Boys” since all 3 of us had books published with Quoir Publishing, but, thankfully, someone suggested a much better title, “The Heretic Happy Hour” and that was it.
[Our never-before-seen Quoir Boyz logo]
Jamal Jivanjee, Matthew Distefano, and myself, would record and post two episodes per month for several years together. We even hosted a few live shows where fans would sit and listen to us record an episode, ask questions, drink beer and eat pizza. It was a blast.
From the beginning, our vision was to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted. Specifically, to address the pain of spiritual deconstruction and provide some guidance and insight for those seeking to navigate into something like reconstruction [which was always defined by the individual, never by us].
Our tagline was, “Burning Questions [not people]” and our name was a tongue-in-cheek reference to the idea of calling someone a “Heretic” without realizing that you were probably considered a heretic to someone else who disagreed with your theology.
“Everyone is someone’s heretic” became one of our most-used phrases on the show.
We also incorporated sound effects like a morning shock-jock radio DJ. It was so much fun!
Later, Jamal left the show on good terms to pursue other endeavors and we brought on Dr. Rev. Katy Valentine and Derek Day. That ramped up the fun until Derek became an Atheist and then we added Desimber Rose and Sandhya Jha to the mix. That was when things really got fun!
But, the fun came to an end when both Katy and Sandhya felt the need to step away from the show. We said our goodbyes and shut everything down.
But not for long.
Matthew Distefano and I weren’t done yet. So, we came up with this idea to round up the most insanely awesome group of panelists imaginable to help us talk about some of the most important topics of the day.
Here’s who we convinced to join us for this little resurrection attempt:
Yes, that’s really Rainn Wilson who played “Dwight” on The Office, and we really did get David Bentley Hart, Flamy Grant, Derek Webb, Jennifer Knapp, Shane Claiborne, Lisa Sharon Harper, Elaine Pagels, David Hayward [the Naked Pastor], and all the rest.
Most people thought this was a joke when we posted the announcement on April 1st. Of course, that was April Fools Day, but when we were still going on about this on April 2 and beyond, people started to realize we weren’t kidding around.
As of this posting, we have already pre-recorded the first 10 episodes of the podcast and they are fantastic!
Our first panel discussion posted today with comedian and political talk show host John Fugelsang, Eve_WasFramed [Instagram and TikTok influencer], and Desimber Rose returning to talk about “The Bible and Politics.”
As if this wasn’t awesome enough, we’ve also decided to go from posting new episodes twice a month to posting new episodes and content THREE TIMES A WEEK!
Yes, that’s right. We’ll post a new panel discussion every Tuesday, and every Friday, Matthew and I will host a Friday Bonus Show, and then every Sunday morning Matthew will post a solo episode to recap some of the week’s news items.
Honestly, Matthew and I haven’t been this excited about the podcast since we first launched this thing 7 years ago. We hope you’ll listen, and like, and subscribe and maybe even call us on our new Heretic Happy Hour Hotline at 530-332-8020 to leave us a message and let us know what you think of our brand-new Heretic Happy Hour Podcast.
We couldn’t be happier about all the great panelists who have joined us for this new adventure and we hope you’ll come along for the ride.
Because, we’re back baby and we’re not going away anytime soon.
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The newest book from Keith Giles, “The Quantum Sayings of Jesus: Decoding the Lost Gospel of Thomas” releases TODAY on Amazon. Order HERE>
Keith Giles is the best-selling author of the Jesus Un series. He has appeared on CNN, USA Today, BuzzFeed, and John Fugelsang’s “Tell Me Everything.” He hosts the Second Cup with Keith podcast, and co-hosts the Apostates Anonymous podcast, and the Heretic Happy Hour Podcast.
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