What does it mean to love God deeply while refusing easy answers about faith, suffering, injustice, and the complexities of being human?
In Meditations of a Madman: The Musings of a Hated Man Loving God, Brian K. Woodson, Sr. brings together biblical reflection, personal vulnerability, theological questioning, and prophetic critique. That’s a lot! Emerging from Woodson’s own practice of morning meditation, these short reflections begin with Scripture but rarely remain safely within familiar interpretations. Instead, Woodson constantly asks readers not simply what they believe, but why they believe it—and what happens when ancient texts encounter the difficult realities of contemporary life. Woodson is very thought provoking.
In this Radix Live conversation, we will explore the mixture of contemplation and provocation that shapes Woodson’s book. We’ll talk about his conviction that Christian faith requires serious thought; his reflections on depression, grief, and the mystery of suffering; his impatience with formulaic theology and institutional religion; and his insistence that questions of race, poverty, exclusion, and injustice belong within the life of faith rather than at its margins. We will also consider the personal dimension of these meditations: writing as a way of wrestling with anger, sorrow, doubt, and the experience of being misunderstood while continuing to seek the voice of God amidst the noise.
Meditations of a Madman asks what an honest, thinking, sometimes uncomfortable faith might look like—and whether loving God faithfully may occasionally require what the world, or even the church, regards as … a little madness.
Brian K. Woodson, Sr. has a Bachelor of Industrial Design degree from Syracuse University and a Master of Divinity degree from United Theological Seminary and has served in the United States Air Force. For the past twenty-five years, he has been the Senior Pastor of a progressive church in the Bay Area and currently serves as a director with Faith in Action East Bay. All these experiences contributed to Woodson's already rich imagination to create the odyssey that is Purplynd. Woodson is the author of many articles and Meditations of a Madman: The Musings of a Hated Man Loving God. He is married to Valerie McCann Woodson, and together they have three amazing sons and a daughter that tops them all.