Censorsh*t!

Last June I was interviewed by a Reformed Theology podcast about my new book, Calvin for the World (Baker Academic, 2024). The time to coordinate and prepare for the interview, along with the ninety minutes it took to conduct the interview, seemed trivial compared to the impact it might have in promoting the book. The aforementioned podcast had even agreed to post their interview the day the book launched!

Then a week before the publishing date (August 27) I reached out to the podcasters. Complete radio silence. I visited their website and noticed that their last podcast was dated the first week of July. Suspicious. The book launch came and went and still no response. 

Yesterday I finally got a response. Not from the podcast administrative team but from the interviewer and producer of my segment. He was very apologetic in explaining that my interview on Calvin for the World and an interview with the editors of The New Testament in Color: A Multiethnic Bible Commentary (IVP Academic, 2024) were canceled by his co-hosts (whom I've never met or spoken to) who "did not want their names to be attached to guests with ministerial connections to 'progressive denominations.'" They then cited a previously unmentioned policy that they do not "publish episodes with guests in mainline denominations."

Needless to say, the producer of my segment was greatly disappointed, deeply apologetic, and was nothing but professional. He then shared with me his decision to resign in protest. I was touched by his actions and by his taking the time to respond to my e-mail even though he was no longer employed by the podcast. But part of me was (and remains) shocked. Of all the possible responses to my book, I did not see this coming. Given all the things I've written, THIS is the book that gets me censored?!

My book is an attempt to make Calvin an engaging interlocutor for people in the 21st century. Ironically, I am realizing that Calvin is being held hostage within the rigid confines of seventeenth-century Reformed Scholasticism and all that entails (the Canons of Dort, predestination, and limited atonement). Sadly, their theology tells us more about Calvinism than Calvin. Which is one of the main reasons I wrote Calvin for the Word in the first place: to let Calvin speak for himself rather than relying on the various traditions (and their self-appointed gatekeepers) that have taken his name.

Seems like my book struck a chord and made them uncomfortable. Mission accomplished.