Ken's guest is professor, author, musician and now podcaster, Japanese American R. Scott Okamoto. While teaching at a well-known, established Christian university, Scott finds himself deep in the private process of deconstruction. His fervent evangelical faith began to crumble. He grew up in a high profile evangelical church in Pasadena where he followed in the footsteps of his parent's strong faith. His family's tragic experience of Japanese internment during WWII in Southern California contributed to his resistance to the Christian nationalism he encountered in the church and beyond. As a leader in the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship on his University of California at San Diego campus, he became a worship leader, reading and studying apologetics on his own. He meets Josh McDowell. But the answers he needed eluded him. With a Master of Arts from the University of San Francisco in English and writing, he became a professor of English at that Christian university. When he befriended the leadership of the LGBTQ community there, which by necessity remained "underground," the resistance he and the students faced pushed him further in the direction of deconstruct, which by now is complete. He's publishing a book which addresses the challenge of working for a Christian institution when one's faith can no longer be sustained. Early next year, he will launch his new podcast he calls, "Chapel Probation." SHOW NOTES
Become a Patron: www.patreon.com/beachedwhitemale