Whatever your idea of a Christian minister is, the men of Two Friars and a Fool will turn it on its head.
Aric Clark, Doug Hagler and Nick Larson are three progressive Presbyterian ministers and bloggers hell-bent on breaking traditional views of Christianity.
Clark, Hagler and Larson attended the same seminary, San Francisco Theological seminary. The administration pushed reorganization during their years at the seminary, and Clark and Hagler made it their business to know what was going on.
"We were kind of troublemakers for the seminary," Clark said.
In their efforts to make sure the student body was aware of the changes happening at the school, the two produced the school's first student publication.
"We put out this provocative rag a couple times," Hagler said, cracking up.
After graduation, the two made sure to keep in touch, and they added Larson to their group, forming Two Friars and a Fool. The trio maintains a blog under the same name aimed at creating resources for people about theological debates.
The leading words on the About page of the trio's blog, "Two Friars and a Fool," read, "You know that feeling you get when you're surrounded by good friends who share your passions out for a few drinks at the local and after a couple of pints you get into an argument about metaphysics that lasts till two in the morning? That is the feeling we are trying to distill and bottle at Two Friars and a Fool."
The blog has become a new way for the trio to shake things up. When the Presbyterian Church debated ordaining LGBTQ people, the ministers created a collection of resources that argued in favor of ordination.
"We got examined by our presbyters for causing trouble," Clark said. "Again."
Clark said the three friends are trying to play the role of a medieval fool, the figure who undermined the king and his royal court with blatant truth telling. But instead of being blunt toward the king, these guys are blunt toward Christendom.
"Something important for us is the playful manner in talking about theology," Clark said. "We want to talk serious theology, but we want to do it in a playful way that gets people off their guard and keeps them there so they are a little less likely to get offended."
Sophomore Grace Oczon brought two of the three friars, Clark and Hagler, to DePauw University as her Christian education event for the year. Oczon is the Christian Interfaith Intern for the Center for Spiritual Life.
"I checked out their blog and they actually wrote a lot about social justice," Oczon said. "That's what got me wanting to bring them to campus, especially with the Movement and everything going on."
Clark and Hagler arrived at DePauw just as their newest book, "Never Pray Again," hit bookstore shelves. In the book, the three ministers argue that showing other people you care is more important, and more effective, than praying for them.
"Disclaimer: If prayer is something you personally get a lot out of and it doesn't hinder you from acting justly, go for it," Hagler said.
For the men of Two Friars and a Fool, the "colorless" prayer found in most Protestant churches didn't cut it.
"When I whisper something aloud or think something, I've never heard an answer from God, so the conversation seemed very one way," Hagler said. "And am I telling God anything he doesn't already know? Probably not."
Although Hagler has never felt a reaction from God while praying, he says he has when interacting with other people. The idea that a person's relationship with God can be the same as his or her relationship with neighbors became the focus of "Never Pray Again." In terms of the Bible, the three pulled from Matthew 25, specifically verse 40: "The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did for me."
"If you keep the relationship with God and the relationship with your neighbor separate, you can feel like you have a good relationship with God while being horrible to your neighbor," Clark said. "It shouldn't be that way."
The ministers of Two Friars and a Fool do more than just preach action before prayer. At his home church in Fort Morgan, Colo., Clark uses prayer as a way to make his congregation uncomfortable and bring social justice issues to light.
"I won't pray in place of something else," Clark said. "I won't allow prayer to be used in place of the first kind of love, the direct kind of love."
In his six years leading his congregation, Clark has seen the prayers of his congregation move away from pleas for personal healing to pleas for justice, their community and their enemies.
Hagler shares Clark's emphasis on Christians' relationships with other people.
"I don't want to be a Christian believer," Hagler said. "I want to be a Christian practitioner, and I want my practice to be in how I treat other people."