Commie Plots! Chick Tracts! My Visit to the Global Headquarters of the Sectarian Review Podcast

Danny Anderson meeting Philip Roth

at the celebration of Roth's 80th birthday

Danny Anderson is a professor of literature at Mount Aloysius College near Cresson, Pennsylvania. He grew up near Cleveland in a center of American fundamentalism: the kind of place where Barry Goldwater was considered a Liberal, the Earth was 6,000 years old, fluoride was a Commie plot, and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse were real, not just a nickname for top-rated defensive linemen. 

And yet, Danny earned a Masters Degree in American Jewish literature, followed by a PhD comparing the Campus as a setting in Jewish film and literature.  So what school could be a better fit for an expert in Jewish literature who grew up Conservative Evangelical than a rural Catholic College that was founded as a convent and school for girls in 1853? 

So many strands of American faith are woven through Danny’s life that he is an ecumenical event when he is eating lunch alone at his desk. 

Actually Danny has two desks in the Homage-to-Hogwarts structure he works in.  The second desk is the studio where he records podcasts.  Danny is the founder and host of SectarianReview, a podcast about Faith, Culture, Music, Economics, Film, History, Religion and Politics.  If that sounds sane, here are ten actual topics:

·      Elon Musk

·      The John Birch Society

·      Spiderman

·      Andrei Rublev

·      Seven Mountains Dominionism

·      Donald J. Trump

·      Oscar Romero and Redemption

·      Science Fiction & Theology

·      Chick Tracts

·      The Wolf Man

From these topics, and from many others, like Alex Jones being banned on Social Media, you could get the idea that Sectarian Review is all fun and crazy. But the most affecting episode for me was “Black Exodus from White Evangelicalism.” I listened to that interview twice and read her article "For Those Who Stay" by Danny’s guest Tamara Johnson the same day the podcast dropped on my iPhone. 

In that episode Johnson talked about her struggle to be part of a white Evangelical congregation and how Charlottesville changed everything for her.  I am struggling with being an ethnically Jewish believer with Black sons and wondering how I can worship with people who drank the full pitcher of Trump Koolaid and continue to be devoted to him after Charlottesville. Listening to Johnson helped me to deal with that conflict in my life.

I was in the Johnstown area Monday, so I took a forty-minute drive northeast and met Danny at his office, got a brief tour of the campus then went to lunch. During lunch we mainly talked about Danny’s research area.  I grew up in a completely secular Jewish home and read very little American Jewish literature. Danny is now my Sherpa on that high mountain. He posted a list of his ten favorite Jewish novels on the Sectarian Review website. During lunch he recommended a half-dozen books and movies I should see and read, with a supplemental list of Woody Allen movies.  I was texting titles to myself while he spoke. It’s a good thing my iPhone has lots of memory.

If you were wondering what kind of person grows up fundamentalist, studies Jewish literature, teaches at a rural Catholic College, Danny is the only one. I cannot recommend the podcast highly enough. I suggest scanning the Sectarian Review website for your favorite conspiracy theory then begin listening, and smiling.    

  Danny Anderson

Sectarian Review is part of the Christian Humanist Network.  

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