Nomad Podcast

What is spirituality actually for? Public theologian, author and activist Brian McLaren returns to Nomad to explore that question through his new novel The Great Rift . We talk about ritual, belonging and the power — and danger — of trying to engineer spiritual outcomes. Along the way we ask whether spiritual practices need God, what happens when we borrow rituals from different traditions, how co...

For generations, the natural world has been somewhere we go for refuge: to quiet the noise, regain perspective and feel held by something larger than ourselves. But what happens when rising heat, wildfire smoke and disappearing wildlife make that refuge itself feel less safe? Professor of philosophy Roger Gottlieb , author of Nature Spirituality and Environmental Crisis , explores ecological grief...

Wellness culture promises us healthier bodies, calmer minds and longer lives. But what if that still isn’t enough? In this conversation, Beyond Wellness author and religious ethicist Liz Bucar explores what gets lost when spiritual practices are detached from the traditions, communities and worldviews that gave them meaning. We discuss the difference between wellness and genuine flourishing, why r...

For many of us, faith was handed to us as certainty: right beliefs, right answers, and a God who could be clearly defined, defended and explained. But what happens when certainty begins to fall away? In this conversation, Carmen Acevedo Butcher returns to Nomad to explore The Cloud of Unknowing, the anonymous medieval text that insists God “can be loved but not thought.” Together we ask what it mi...

Pádraig Ó Tuama returns to Nomad for a conversation about the stories we inherit, the desires we’re taught to mistrust, and what happens when religious language gets tangled up with shame. We talk about scripture, poetry, anger, masculinity, friendship and the strange ways God can remain present even after religion has caused harm. Along the way, Pádraig reflects on exorcisms and reparative therap...

In this conversation, bestselling historian Bart Ehrman argues that ideas we now take for granted—caring for strangers, helping those in need and expanding our moral concern beyond family and tribe—were anything but obvious in the ancient world. Bart has spent much of his career challenging traditional Christian beliefs. But in Love Thy Stranger he makes a surprising historical case for Christiani...

What does it mean to become a man? And who teaches us how? In this episode, Tim is joined by author Shannon Kearns to explore the stories, expectations and assumptions that shape masculinity. Drawing on his experience as a trans man, Shannon offers a unique perspective on what it means to consciously navigate a world that many assume comes naturally. Together they explore male loneliness, friendsh...

How do you hold onto a spiritual tradition after being deeply disappointed by the people who represent it? That's a question Swami Padmanabha — a Hindu monk, teacher and author of Evolution in Divine Love — has had to wrestle with more than once. Rather than walking away, those experiences led him into a deeper exploration of authority, uncertainty, love and the possibility that healthy traditions...

For many Christian parents, the message was simple: if you follow the biblical formula, your children will grow into faithful, flourishing adults. But what if those promises were never true? In this episode, Tim speaks with Marissa Burt , co-author of The Myth of Good Christian Parenting , about the rise of the evangelical parenting movement, the fears that fuelled it, and the hidden assumptions a...

In this episode, Tim talks with sex therapist and author Tina Schermer Sellers about the hidden legacy of religious sexual shame and the impact it can have on our relationships, our spirituality, and our sense of self. Drawing on decades of clinical experience, Tina explores how messages absorbed in childhood can shape the way we experience our bodies, desire, intimacy, and even our understanding...

Abi Millar grew up in a charismatic evangelical church where faith once felt vivid, immediate and full of certainty. But as questions about science, belief, heaven and hell began to press in, that certainty slowly unravelled. In this conversation, Tim talks with Abi about what it cost to leave, the freedom and loss that followed, and the spiritual hunger that eventually re-emerged after a long sea...

In this episode, Damon Garcia joins us to explore the pressure of trying to find — and faithfully follow — God’s plan for your life. Growing up in a Pentecostal and charismatic church culture, Damon was taught that God had a specific calling for each person, and that missing it could mean missing the life you were meant to live. Damon reflects on the anxiety, striving, and self-surveillance that t...

What if the deepest encounters with the divine are not dramatic or ecstatic, but quiet, steady, and hidden in ordinary life? Mark Vernon returns to Nomad to explore silence, mysticism, and the search for God after disillusionment. Reflecting on his own journey through priesthood, contemplative practice, psychotherapy and spiritual direction, Mark speaks about finding a form of Christianity rooted...

In this conversation, Giles Goddard and Halima Gosai Hussein are joined by Natasha Chawla for a wide-ranging exploration of faith, change, and the unexpected places where different spiritual rivers meet. Drawing on their journeys within Christianity, Islam, and Hindu philosophy, they reflect on the traditions they inherited, the moments that reshaped them, and what it means to remain rooted while...

In this special episode, theologian and author Selina Stone reflects on one of the oldest and most unsettling human questions: why do the wicked prosper? Drawing on scripture, history, and her own experience, Selina explores the anger, grief and moral disorientation that arise when cruelty and exploitation seem to flourish while justice is delayed. Rather than offering easy answers, she invites us...

Lucy Sixsmith joins Nomad to explore the world of Soul Survivor and the wider charismatic culture that shaped so many young Christians in the 1990s and 2000s. Drawing on her new book When the Music Fades , Lucy reflects on surrender language, “chosen generation” spirituality, and the subtle ways power can operate in spaces that feel warm, funny and down to earth. Together we ask what happens when...

Rupert Sheldrake joins us for a wide-ranging conversation that begins with psychedelics and quickly opens into bigger questions. Why do some experiences feel “more real than real”? What happens when the familiar boundaries of self dissolve, and the world returns charged with meaning, beauty, and presence? Along the way Rupert reflects on his own encounters with psychedelics, the long ritual histor...

In this episode, Tim speaks with feminist theologian and author Meggan Watterson about the Gospel of Mary and the Acts of Paul and Thecla — early Christian texts that didn’t make it into the New Testament. They explore what these stories reveal about the diversity of early Christianities, the formation of the biblical canon, and the ways women’s voices were preserved, reshaped, or silenced. What d...

In this gentle and quietly unsettling conversation, Hiroko Yoda invites us into a world where spirituality doesn’t begin with belief, but with attention. Drawing on her Japanese upbringing and her book Eight Million Ways to Happiness , Hiroko reflects on grief, ancestors, everyday ritual, and the idea of “half belief, half doubt” — a way of living that makes space for ambiguity rather than trying...

In this Nomad Revisited episode, we return to a 2017 conversation with Anglican priest, poet, and writer Rachel Mann . As the first trans person interviewed on Nomad, the exchange unfolds in a spirit of curiosity and vulnerability, with questions that are sometimes tentative and awkward, met by Rachel’s remarkable patience, clarity, and generosity of spirit. The conversation explores identity as s...

This episode began life as our 2025 Patreon fundraiser — but we’re releasing it here, freely, on the main feed, with a new intro and two additional questions! For this special episode, we invited last year’s guests to turn the tables and ask us whatever they liked. What came back was a rich, surprising mix of the playful, the personal, and the deeply searching. Questions came in from Rowan William...

In this special episode, writer, priest and theologian Jarel Robinson-Brown reflects on the power of love in a world that so often feels fragile, unjust, and burning at the edges. Drawing on the story of his grandmother’s resilience and tenderness, the radical imagination of Mary, and the embodied life of Jesus, Jarel invites us to see Christian truth not as a text but as a life — love made flesh,...

In this episode we speak with Anglican Deacon and writer Jayne Manfredi, whose work explores the female body as a place of truth-telling, theological insight and spiritual transformation. Jayne talks with striking honesty about midlife, menopause and the shifting experience of embodiment — the leaking, aching, changing realities many women learn to hide — and reflects on the Church’s persistent di...

As far-right movements gain visibility in Britain and beyond, many are drawing on Christian language, symbols and stories to justify exclusion and division. What happens when the gospel of love is co-opted by the politics of fear? In this conversation, theologian and Baptist minister Helen Paynter explores how theology, scripture and nationalism are becoming dangerously entangled. She reflects on...

Palestinian peace activist Sami Awad has lived his whole life under military occupation. He’s witnessed violence, loss, and deep injustice. Yet rather than turning towards hatred or certainty, he’s journeyed into a spirituality rooted in compassion, healing, and what he calls Christ consciousness — a way of seeing that refuses separation and fear. In this conversation, Sami reflects on what it mea...