Ep 95 Bishop Trumps President w/Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde

Episode Summary:

You may have first encountered the Right Reverend Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde in January 2025, when she stood in the pulpit at the Inaugural Prayer Service and spoke directly to President Trump with a clarity that astonished the nation. But that moment was not an anomaly. It was the public expression of a life shaped by decades of priestly courage, intellectual honesty, and a fierce commitment to the vulnerable. Long before a national audience knew her name, Bishop Budde had been standing in the places where power wounds people—naming what is true, binding up what is broken, and refusing to look away.

In this conversation, we explore the deeper story beneath that moment—the spiritual formation, the Episcopal imagination, and the radical mercy that guides her ministry. Bishop Budde reflects on what it means to practice justice not as a slogan but as a way of life. She talks about the inner work required to offer public truth-telling without becoming hardened, and the practices that keep her grounded in humility, courage, and hope.

We also trace the distinctive gifts of the Episcopal tradition that shaped her: a progressive and intellectually rigorous faith, a sacramental vision of human dignity, and a commitment to mercy. In contrast to the imperial Christianity on offer from the evangelical church, Bishop Budde embodies a different way—one that draws from the life and teachings of the historical Jesus, who was also a victim of imperial violence.

This episode invites you into a faith that is spacious, courageous, and deeply human. A Christianity that remembers its calling not to bless the powerful, but to stand with the powerless. A faith tradition that asks you to resist the powers that be through non-participation with evil and the guiding question, “What is yours to do?”

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Show notes:

http://www.sophiasociety.org/podcast/bishop-mariann-budde

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This episode was produced by The Sophia Society and written by Gary Alan Taylor.  Music is by Faith in Foxholes.