Grace Ji-Sun Kim’s podcast, “Madang,” has found at new home with Baptist News Global.
The podcast previously was hosted by The Christian Century but moves to BNG this week with a new episode.
Kim serves as professor of theology at Earlham School of Religion in Richmond, Ind., and earned a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. She is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the author or editor of more than 20 books.
Grace Ji-Sun Kim
Of her writing and podcasting, she has said her work “aims to interrogate, enrich and bring us to a greater sense of understanding of this world we live in through the voices of writers, academics, activists, makers of social change, religious leaders and everyone in between. Through union and diverse conversation, I seek to leave no question unanswered, no idea unshared and no story untold.”
The name of the podcast, “Madang,” is a Korean word that refers to the outdoor courtyard, a traditional characteristic of a Korean home. The madang is like an outdoor family room where friends and strangers alike gather to engage in conversation, debate and celebration.
“My fondest memories of my childhood in Korea were when I would visit my grandmother’s house. There, dropped like a patch of vibrant green earth in moldy concrete, was the madang. It was the place in which I played make-believe, the place where real life and the abstract first met,” she explained. “Most of the rooms in the home are entered through the madang, and thus it serves as a space for encounter and sharing, celebration and fellowship, greeting a visitor and welcoming a stranger.”
Thus her goal on the podcast is to welcome an array of guests to freely talk about their life, their understandings of God and their opinions on modern issues in religion and culture.
This week’s episode is an interview with Kelley Nikondeha, author of Jubilee Economics: The Purpose, Practices, and Possibilities for a Better Future.
BNG’s family of podcasts may be accessed from the home page at baptistnews.com or from all major podcast distribution platforms, including Apple podcasts and Spotify and YouTube.