Jesus Spit In Your Soup: An Interview with Tripp Fuller

I like my soup hot, real hot. Patty likes her just a tad beyond warm. Neither of us would like it if you spit in our soup.

What would happen if you found out Jesus spit in your soup? That is the question!

Challenging Your Form of Life

Here in Oklahoma some of us are wrestling with the intersection of theology and pastoral ministry. The catalyst at present is the budget crisis that is prompting school districts across the State to cut teaching positions, school days, and more. The issue is the way the Oklahoma Legislature cuts taxes without considering revenue shortfalls during an energy sector downturn.

Not only are schools facing deep cuts but the deletion of tax credits for low income families is on the table. Most will quickly argue that these folks need to get better jobs. What is really beings stated is, “I need to protect my way of life.”

When Jesus tells stories that challenge the way systems disadvantage the poor in favor of the rich, Jesus spits in our soup. Today’s podcast guest uses that illustration to point out they way we may re-think what it means to be faithful to Jesus. Tripp Fuller contends that if we pay attention to Jesus, he is always spitting in our soup where soup is our form of life.

Considering Jesus from Within

When any person begins to talk about Jesus, his life-death-resurrection, they are doing Christology whether they know it or not. Over the years as constructive theologies have developed categories emerged to identify where a writer was beginning their study of Jesus and where they ended up once their investigate ended.

For those unfamiliar with these categories they are deceivingly complicated – low, high, below, above. If you begin with the humanity of Jesus some may suggest that your place of beginning is from below. If you begin with the Deity of Jesus, your place of beginning is from above. What you conclude about Jesus is described as either a low Christology or a high Christology.


Tripp challenges these categories and suggests a theology from within. Our conversation centers on Tripp’s book, Jesus: Lord, Liar, Lunatic . . . or (Freaking) Awesome? If you came to the website and were invited to subscribe to the mailing list, I have offered the first chapter in Tripp’s book. I still contend that if you read that first chapter, you will be lured to buy the book. I hope you do! (I do not receive anything more than knowing a friend’s book is selling well.)

Listen close when he begins describing what it means to think about Jesus from within!

Calling Attention to Our Anxieties

Tripp has served as BSU minister, youth ministry, and family minster. He grew up a Baptist boy in North Carolina, the son of a Baptist minister. His pastoral insight is one of his great gifts. Don’t let the fact he is a professional theologian fool you!

One of the things Tripp does is to challenge us to consider our response when someone claims there is an issue when the underlying trouble is a personal anxiety over a life event. This may be one of the most important insights, pastors, you will hear on this podcast.

You may be sure Tripp will return to the podcast in the future. We are talking about a series on public theologians. It would be a great companion to pathological: a podcast for the pastor-theologian.

Tripp is the director of theology and humanities at The Hatchery in Los Angeles, California, and the founder and host of Homebrewed Christianity, the top theology podcast in the world.

If you find the podcast helpful, challenging, even maddening, share it with your friends and have a discussion. I will be haunting the normally quiet comments here to see if you discover Jesus spitting in your soup as you listen.

Also, remember to head over to your iTunes account. Look for toddlittleton.net and give us a rating and review. It will help us continue to be found as a resource for pastors and those interested in the intersection of pastoring and theology.

About the Author
Husband to Patty. Daddy to Kimberly and Tommie. Grandpa Doc to Cohen, Max, Fox, and Marlee. Pastor to Snow Hill Baptist Church. Graduate of Oklahoma Baptist University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Reading. Photography. Golf. Colorado. Jeeping. Friend. The views and opinions expressed here are my own and should not be construed as representing the corporate views of the church I pastor.

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