The Liminal

Making sense of the killing of Charlie Kirk, its aftermath, and how to move forward

Kristin here to catch up & check in. In this episode: A note about my guest appearance on another podcast covering a personal but maybe relatable topic (linked below) An excellent book recommendation about the deconstruction movement as a prophetic voice to the church (linked below) Quick recap of a beautiful weekend at the Students of Life conference back in November Election/inauguration tho...

In this one I talk about the frustrating disconnect between how churches could be a strong, wide-reaching force for good in the world, but so many aren't. Some churches contribute directly to the cycles of hate and violence  we see all around us. Other churches focus only on themselves. They buffer their members from the world's suffering and injustice, leaving them apathetic and complacent to har...

In this episode, I give an overview of Brian McLaren’s Four Stages of Faith, a really helpful model for understanding how our religious worldview or spirituality can evolve over time as we pay more and more attention to the world around us. I’ve studied under Brian’s wisdom at the Center for Action and Contemplation and have come to respect him a great deal, not just for his writings but for his e...

This episode is an overview of themes around Christian Universalism: the position that a loving and just God could never punish finite sin with infinite torment, and that salvation and reconciliation will ultimately reach everyone. For this episode, I read David Bentley Hart's magnum opus of a book, "That All Shall Be Saved," plus critical reviews and related scholarly commentaries of its themes....

My husband Joe joins me as I talk through the social side of faith deconstruction and processing the change in friendships and family relationships that used to center around a shared church experience. This is a relaxed and hopeful conversation about things like: How to take the space you need without burning bridges that don't need to be burned Maintaining friendships with people who have not de...

Just a little message of solidarity inspired by the Polar Express... and sharing some things that help me stay grounded and hopeful. Science Mike's Axioms of Faith: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/axioms-for-faith_b_8482932 Book mentioned: Celebration of Discipline* by Richard Foster *(I'm realizing that title sounds like a terrible parenting book -- I promise it's not!) Original music by my husban...

I finished "Misquoting Jesus" by Bart Ehrman about a month ago, but I found myself needing a lot of time to wrap my head around it before sharing my thoughts. I read it again, I read some responses to it, and I cross-referenced his notes on specific scriptures with folks like David Bentley Hart's. I think I'm ready to talk about it! In this episode, I share what I've learned about the history of t...

This is a more informal episode where I catch you up on what I'm learning from Bart Ehrman's "Misquoting Jesus" and David Bentley Hart's "That All Shall Be Saved." This isn't a polished summary of biblical criticism or of salvation theologies; it's more of a laid-back chat while I'm still in the middle of these books and sharing how these topics are hitting me right now. I also talk a little about...

Many of us were taught a "sola scriptura" approach to the Bible and/or claims that the Bible is inerrant, meaning perfect and without contradiction or factual errors. The trouble is, lots of people who all claim to live by "sola scriptura" come to wildly different conclusions about theology, and inerrancy simply fails to hold up under honest academic scrutiny.  This episode introduces key question...

This episode discusses the ways that religion and deconstruction can affect our mental health, and why I believe we should prioritize emotional healing before we get too deep into theological arguments. Emotional intelligence skills can help us mediate our biases and get better at critical thinking. But more importantly, our psychological well-being is too important to be treated like collateral d...

For many of us, faith has been a tangled web of constructive & beautiful experiences mixed in with harmful ideas & baggage. “Deconstruction”  is a necessary process of untangling the good from the bad. However, deconstruction culture can be so good at the  tearing down part that ultimately, the people brave enough to question the intellectual or ethical foundations of their faith group are...

Launching next week: a refreshing take on Christian deconstruction and reconstruction that focuses on emotional resilience and intellectual honesty. The Liminal is a space to search for the best examples of Christian faith in scholarship and in action, not as a means of apologetics or persuasion, but rather as a means of healing from past baggage and finding empowerment in our spirituality again....