The Spiritual Brewpub

What if Jesus and the ancient Chinese sage Lao Tzu (circa 400 BC) met beside a campfire? Michael interviews Gregory T. Smith on what that conversation might be like as Smith explains in his book, Jesus & Lao Tzu: The Way of Love. Jesus speaks of loving enemies, losing your life to find it, and becoming like a child. Lao Tzu answers with humility, simplicity, nonviolence, and the wisdom of lett...

Becky Garrison joins Michael to discuss her new book, Gaslighting for God: A Satirical Guide to Save Yourself from Spiritual Narcissists. Per Becky's research, self-styled spiritual saviors are out hawking salvation and spiritually abusing church members. Why are such spiritual narcissists drawn to so many evangelical churches (and some progressive ones) and becoming small or mega-church pastors a...

What is the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) and how does it perpetuate toxic charismatic revivalism and Christian nationalism? Pia Hugo joins Michael to share her story of domestic and spiritual abuse within the church that helped start NAR. Learn how she got sucked in, suffered abuse, and eventually saw how evangelical teachings on wife submission, anti-divorce, corporal punishment, prophesy, and...

Over decades, evangelical worship songwriting became an industry with more and more lyrics depicting spiritual warfare and conquest. Rick Pidcock, a former evangelical and charismatic worship leader for 20 years, joins Michael to talk about how lyrics like "Praise is the water my enemies drown in" shape the people who sing them. His book "Weapons of Worship," is a critical expose that looks behind...

Educator and Historian, Dan Henderson, joins Michael to discuss his new book, "Reflections of a Recovered Evangelical: Love Plus Nothing Else." How does one outgrow evangelicalism? Is it possible to follow Jesus outside Christianity? What is the history of the early first century Jesus movement? Why did one of the American founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson, reject organized religion? Why is today...

Michael and guest, actor/comedian John Fugelsang, talk about John's new book, The Separation of Church and Hate, which reveals how the Bible has been co-opted by evangelicalism and Catholicism to control the religious masses and access political power. Fugelsang’s message starts with taking down hypocrites but ends with fighting for the love, mercy, and service that are supposed to make up the hea...

When evangelical pastor Brian Recker began questioning the rationality of a loving God consigning non-Christians to eternal damnation, it turned his world upside down. But, in the process, a lot of harmful beliefs and evangelical sacred cows began falling to the ground and a refreshing spirituality of love remained. Join Michael as he interviews Brian about his new book, Hellbent: How the Fear of...

For the longest time, Paul's Epistle to the Romans has been used to justify misogyny, homophobia, eternal conscious torment, and blind allegiance to the State. But the truth is that the Apostle Paul never intended his letter to Jesus gatherings in Rome to teach any of those things. Authors Keith Giles and Matthew J. Distefano join Michael to discuss their new book that corrects these misunderstand...

Today, we discuss a very important book with our guest author Eric English. It's "The Kingdom of Man: Evangelicalism and the Distortion of Christianity." Eric and I discuss the history of the evangelical movement, what the milestones were when things went south, how we got to where we are today, and some critical correctives to go from a "kingdom of man" to a more authentic society, based on divin...

I’m excited to have Kathy Shihadah back with us. Kathy is a Writer/Editor/Researcher at "If Americans Knew"—a media organization focused on the Middle East. She’s also a Blogger at Patheos with the title, Grace-Colored Glasses. Moreover, she has close family living in Gaza and at least one family member who has fled Gaza. She has a well-researched and personal perspective on what’s going on in the...

Matthew Distefano joins Michael to talk about the sequel to his book "Heretic," called "Heretic Too." It's provocative, insightful, humorous, and healing. We discuss the book and the many issues he addresses therein as an exvangelical, including what it means to follow Jesus, sexuality, women in the "church," corporal punishment, the nature of sin, the doctrine of hell, violent theology, and how t...

Today, we are in for a special treat with our guest, Laci Nikita Bean. Laci is a Certified Religious Trauma Recovery Coach, a co-host of the Deadly Faith Podcast, and Author of the recently released book, "Leaving the Sanctuary: Discovering Life Beyond the Boundaries of Religion." You'll learn her story coming out of a full-blown church cult and finding freedom through deconstructing conservative...

Matthew Taylor is a senior scholar at the Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies. As a specialist in American Christianity, Islam, Christian extremism, and religious politics, he wrote the newly released book, The Violent Take It By Force: The Christian Movement That is Threatening our Democracy. Matthew joins Michael to discuss the book, the charismatic/apostolic movement that has s...

Michael chats with Gloria Beth Amodeo (goes by Beth) on her journey into and out of evangelical Christianity. Learn how a charming, insecure girl from a troubled family became a NYC evangelist for a Christian fundamentalist movement that sought to govern her every thought and action. We discuss Beth's book, God's Ex-Girlfriend, a wry, poignant, and unflinchingly honest memoir that unveils the cult...

Michael has a conversation with Larry Jordan, author of The Way: Meaningful Spirituality for a Modern World. Larry deconstructed conservative Christianity, left 25 years of investment banking, and then dedicated his life to serve the world. Working for the Red Cross, helping Veterans, teaching children in Africa and now serving in Rotary International, a non-religious, non-political service organi...

Get Dorsey's book: https://www.amazon.com/What-Kind-Bird-Cant-Fly-ebook/dp/B0CKZKDHYF/ Visit his organization, Legal Services for Children of Prisoners: https://prisonerswithchildren.org/ Visit The Spiritual Brewpub: https://www.spiritualbrewpub.com/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A former educator in evangelical and public schools, Dan Henderson joins Michael to discuss his new book and "The Spiritual Journey to Anti-Racism: A Travel Guide for White People." Dan explains a subtle, normally overlooked version of white privilege and the critical distinction between being nonracist and antiracist. He puts us squarely in the shoes of black and brown Americans, revealing discri...

Find Keith's book here: https://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Sayings-Jesus-Decoding-Gospel-ebook/dp/B0CW1FXSF2/ Find Keith's new podcast, The God Squad: Faith, Politics, Sanity here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-god-squad/id1754574318 Visit The Spiritual Brewpub here: https://www.spiritualbrewpub.com/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our co...

Learn more about JD Myers and his books here: https://redeeminggod.com/ Learn about Michael's book on exposing retribution and violence in popular theology here: https://www.spiritualbrewpub.com/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Find Part 1 here: https://the-spiritual-brewpub.simplecast.com/episodes/was-last-days-ministries-a-cult-former-members-share-their-story-part-1   To get more details about Sharon and Tracey's experiences , visit their podcast: https://www.confessionsofthecultsisters.com/ To learn more about Michael's journey and workshop , visit: https://www.spiritualbrewpub.com/ Find Michael's latest book here: h...

To get more details about Sharon and Tracey's experiences, visit their podcast: https://www.confessionsofthecultsiste...   To learn more about Michael's journey, visit: https://www.spiritualbrewpub.com/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Today, Leslie is a Faith & Life Transition Coach and host of the Honoring the Journey Podcast.  To learn more about Leslie's faith coaching services, visit: https://www.leslieneasecoaching.com/ To hear Leslie's podcast, visit: https://honoring-the-journey.simpleca... To learn more about Michael's content and deconstruction workshop, visit: https://www.spiritualbrewpub.com/ See more episodes: https...

To find the newly released Holy Ghosted, visit Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Holy-Ghosted-Spiritual-Religious-Language-ebook/dp/B0CDL39X7H/  To find Gaslighted by God and her other books, visit: https://tiffanyyeckebrooks.com/   To learn more about The Spiritual Brewpub, visit: https://www.spiritualbrewpub.com/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about ou...

Jonathan's books include "Indigo: The Color of Grief," "Theology of Consent: Mimetic Theory in an Open and Relational Universe," "The Reconstructionist," and "Questions About Sexuality that Got Me Uninvited from My Denomination."  Find his books here: https://www.jonathanfosteronline.com/ or on Amazon.  Learn more about The Spiritual Brewpub here: https://www.spiritualbrewpub.com/ Hosted by Simple...

What's really going in Palestine and Israel? Lamis Diab shares first hand experience being shot at by the Israeli army, what the apartheid conditions are like, the dehumanization of a people, what the bombing of Gaza is like, and some of the solutions being proposed. Also includes stories of Israeli historians and former IDF soldiers and their journeys to uncover the myths of the day. It's not so...