The Reverend Canon Dr. Stephanie Spellers is one of the Episcopal Church’s leading thinkers around 21st-century ministry and mission. She is a priest, author, speaker, and friend who currently serves as the Canon to the Presiding Bishop for Evangelism, Reconciliation, and Creation Care.

She is the author of Radical Welcome: Embracing God, The Other, and the Spirit of Transformation as well as The Episcopal Way; Church’s Teaching for a Changing World and Ancient Faith, Future Mission: Fresh Expressions in the Sacramental Tradition. She has worked for many years at the intersection of practice and reflection, renewal and justice. Her latest book, The Church Cracked Open; Disruption, Decline, and New Hope for Beloved Community is an important response to the question, “What will The Episcopal Church look like over the next 50 years?”

Prior to accepting her current position at the Church Center, she taught at General Theological Seminary, served as a Canon in the Diocese of Long Island, and founded The Crossing, a ground-breaking church within St. Paul's Cathedral in Boston. Canon Stephanie spent five years as Chaplain to the Episcopal Church's House of Bishops, co-chaired the Standing Commission on Mission and Evangelism, and directed new ministry initiatives for the Center for Progressive Renewal.

Canon Stephanie began her career as an award-winning religion journalist in Knoxville, Tennessee; a job she took after graduating from Harvard Divinity School, where she studied religion and social change movements. She later graduated from Episcopal Divinity School and, in 2018, received an honorary doctorate from The General Theological Seminary for her contributions to the Christian faith and the wider Church. She grew up in Frankfort, Kentucky and maintains close ties to her extended family there.

• The Church Cracked Open
• Facebook (@sspellers)
• Instagram (@revspellers)

The Rev. Amy Peeler, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of New Testament at Wheaton College, IL and an Associate Rector at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Geneva, IL. Author of Women and Gender of God (Eerdmans, 2022), “You Are My Son”: The Family of God in the Epistle to the Hebrews (T&T Clark, 2014), and co-author with Patrick Gray of Hebrews: An Introduction and Study Guide (T&T Clark, 2020), she continues to research, write, and speak on Hebrews and familial language in the New Testament.

She received her BA in Biblical Languages from Oklahoma Baptist University, M. Div. and Ph. D. in New Testament from Princeton Theological Seminary, and served as a Senior Research Fellow with the Logos Institute at the University of St. Andrews. She is an active member of the Institute for Biblical Research, Society of Biblical Literature, and a Fellow with the Center for Pastor Theologians. Her current research includes a commentary on Hebrews with Eerdmans. In addition to teaching, preaching, and writing, Rev. Dr. Peeler enjoys running, CrossFit, and time with her husband Lance, a church organist and liturgical scholar, and their three children.

Our discussion focuses on Rev. Dr. Peeler's journey of faith, her path to ordination as an Episcopal priest, her passion for and vocation of studying scripture, and the challenges and blessings she has experienced along the way.

• Website
• Sermons (St. Mark's Church- Geneva, IL)
• X / Twitter (@albpeeler)
• Instagram (@amy.peeler)

Bishop Mariann Budde is the bishop and spiritual leader of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, D.C., and the Washington National Cathedral. Prior to her election in 2011, she was a parish priest in Minneapolis for eighteen years. She has appeared on PBS NewsHour, Meet the Press, Good Morning America, and the Today show, among others. Bishop Budde earned her master’s in divinity and doctor of ministry from Virginia Theological Seminary.

Bishop Budde believes that Jesus calls all who follow him to strive for justice and peace, and to respect the dignity of every human being. To that end, Bishop Budde is an advocate and organizer in support of justice concerns, including racial equity, gun violence prevention, immigration reform, the full inclusion of LGBTQ+ persons, and the care of creation.

Her sermons have been published in several books and journals and she is the author of three books:

• How We Learn to Be Brave: Decisive Moments in Life and Faith (2023)
• Receiving Jesus: The Way of Love (2019)
• Gathering Up the Fragments: Preaching as Spiritual Practice (2007)

• Bishop Mariann's Writings (Episcopal Diocese of Washington)
• Facebook (@bishopmariannbudde)
• Instagram (@mariannbudde)

If you enjoy this podcast and would like to find more content like this, please visit my website at www.markbeckwith.net, where you can listen to more episodes (and read episode transcripts), read my blog, and sign up to get weekly reflections in your inbox. I also explore the themes of this podcast further in my book, Seeing the Unseen: Beyond Prejudices, Paradigms, and Party Lines. 

This episode of the Reconciliation Roundtable podcast was edited, mixed, and produced by Luke Overstreet.