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Dr. Josh McNall, an Assistant Professor of Pastoral Theology at Oklahoma Wesleyan University, has launched a brand-new podcast called Outpost Theology.

The podcast is designed to be on "the frontier" of theology, culture and the church. These are the points of contact, and the ideal audience includes pastors, interested churchgoers or secular seekers.

Dr. McNall said that he is interviewing academics through this podcast, but he want the conversation to be accessible to non-academics as well. He said he felt there was a need to bridge the gap between those who were working with theology and a popular level audience that may be interested to learn more.

The other reason for the podcast is that the questions surrounding God, culture and the understanding of Scripture in the 21st century are not just being asked by theologists, professors or Bible scholars. Every day people are asking these questions, too, and the podcast is aimed at connecting with them and helping them get answers.

Dr. McNall said a Christian university like Oklahoma Wesleyan University is designed to serve the public by providing high quality education from a Christian perspective. In doing so, Dr. McNall said they serve the church. He said OKWU has a calling to serve the church by raising up people who are going to be loving, gracious, biblical, and contributing to their churches and communities.

There may not always be time to read a book, but people can always listen to a podcast when they go for a run or while they are driving to work. As a professor that has written articles and books, Dr. McNall said there was still an audience that he wasn't reaching. He said he wanted to connect with people who are always on the go, which is yet another reason as to why he wanted to starting the Outpost Theology podcast.

While Dr. McNall is friends with folks from Outpost Coffee in Bartlesville, he said the name did not come from the popular coffee shop. He said he had a hard time deciding a name for the podcast, but when he thought about it long enough, he remember the old days when outposts would be on the frontier of two different lands. The idea is that the outpost is not located in the heart of academia, nor is it located in the center of pop-culture. Rather, the outpost is at the border between culture, theology and the church.

The Outpost Theology podcast is sponsored by Oklahoma Wesleyan University, and it is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts. New episodes will be released monthly. All you have to do is search the podcast name or the host's name, which is Josh McNall.

Dr. McNall's first podcast was recorded with Lucy Peppiatt, the Principal of Westminster Theological Centre in the UK. The two talked about Peppiatt's new book, Rediscovering Scripture's Vision for Women: Fresh Perspectives on Disputed Texts.

Three episodes have been recorded in total so far. The first episode with Peppiatt is the only one that has been released so far.

Dr. McNall said these recordings took place before everything went south with the coronavirus outbreak in America. He said they do not address the pandemic in the episodes, but he has given thought to what future episodes for the podcast will entail with the virus in mind. There may be some standalone episodes that Dr. McNall releases to address our current predicament wit COVID-19.