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The Underneath

Kenneth Branagh's recent film "Belfast" is an unashamed child's-eye view of the city and community trauma that shaped him and set his life on the trajectory it has subsequently followed. He was criticised by some for having rose-tinted spectacles on, despite the film's predominantly black and white perspective, but I suspect that was both a function of Branagh's own personality (contrast his upbeat, if bargain-basement Henry V with the grim fare offered recently by the NT with Kit Harrington) and a deliberate choice. He wasn't offering a forensic political analysis of the inter-community violence and economic doldrums that drove his family from Northern Ireland, but a fond tribute to parents and a small community that saw him through a difficult if  formative time.
I grew up in Belfast a few years after Branagh, if a part of it that was insulated from the worst of the violence here because of it being a solidly Protestant area with no interfaces for miles, so I recognised the city he described.
I also recognise the religious landscape that Andrew Cunning describes in his superb new podcast "The Underneath". I clearly grew up spiritually in the "same space" that he did, if a substantial decade or so earlier, where in my world Christianity, Protestantism, Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism were all the same... Yes there would be some denominational turf wars, and sneering at those who were seen as ecumeniacs, liberals or traditionalists, but in the spiritual sphere I grew up in there was none of the theological diversity in the world church that I have subsequently come to encounter and appreciate... and absolutely no openess to or understanding of Catholicism as part of that church (even though we lived next to and were very friendly to a Catholic family).
In the first episode of his podcast Andrew explores that landscape with a range of voices from within the broad evangelical family, and those who have left it. You can read him writing about the project here. https://sluggerotoole.com/2022/05/01/the-underneath-new-podcast-series-digs-deep-into-evangelicalism-in-northern-ireland/
He explores his own spiritual roots in a more forensic fashion than Branagh does his physical/political roots, but with a similar gentleness (if you want a lack of gentleness, and indeed insight, enter the murky world of Slugger O'Toole's comments section). I suspect some of that gentleness may dissipate in later episodes, but given that he has interviewed me for a later episode I trust he will be kind to me in my ramblings. 
In a world where everyone seems to be doing a podcast lately, and I have been interviewed for a range of them for some reason, this one is not only very well produced (and I have listened to some shockers recently) it really does have something to say about and to evangelicalism.
To paraphrase Branagh it's for those who left and those who stayed.

Shalom

Check out this podcast: The Underneath #theUnderneath 
https://podcastaddict.com/podcast/3933312 via @PodcastAddict


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