Protect Your Noggin

Even though they’ve been enjoying playing within New Age spaces, Jeff, Stacie and Sydnie reflect on ways in which New Age spirituality can go wrong in contemporary, capitalist society. In particular, they reflect on the phenomenon of “spiritual bypassing” as it relates to conversations surrounding grief. Topics include pseudoscience, cultural appropriation, equity within yoga, and spiritual narcis...

Even though they’ve been enjoying playing within New Age spaces, Jeff, Stacie and Sydnie reflect on ways in which New Age spirituality can go wrong in contemporary, capitalist society. In particular, they reflect on the phenomenon of “spiritual bypassing” as it relates to conversations surrounding grief. Topics include pseudoscience, cultural appropriation, equity within yoga, and spiritual narcis...

This chapter helps us understand difference between modern liberalism and the naturalness of Taoist anarchism. The Tao Te Ching expresses care for all beings, but it doesn’t express such care by advocating for a highly controlled society. States, even socialist states, cause everyday people harm when they become restrictive. We’ve seen this to some extent in China, but especially in Cuba. To be su...

We discuss reasons why pastors, church workers, and professors at church-related universities might want to quit their positions for the sake of conscience. We also discuss four contexts in which it might be worth sticking it out. We conclude with our suggestions for how to operate if you are planning to ghost your scene. We aren’t trying to be patronizing to any group, but rather want to recogniz...

We discuss the Drake equation, which helps us calculate the chances that there is intelligent extraterrestrial life in our galaxy, with whom we might communicate. We then reflect on the philosophical and religious implications of several of the variables. How likely is life to exist at all? How dangerous are human beings to other life? How long can a civilization last? And what do Hindus, Christia...

"The wise aren’t preachy. The preachy aren’t wise. Sit in silence. Practice temperance. Smooth jagged edges. Release entanglements. Soften your gaze. Embrace oneness with the earth. This is called mystical union." After a long pause in reflection, Stacie's back with one that hits close to home.

Stay tuned for the always fascinating takes from Rick Mallinson, Jeff's pop. He shares some interesting connections that happened recently, illustrating Carl Gustav Jung's concept of synchronicity. Stacie and Syd return and chat about dreams, nature hikes, and Rick's encounter with a guru in 1970. Come virtually join in on the casual conversation. 

Jeff offers his final retractions episode, reflecting on his book Sexy: The Quest for Erotic Virtue in Perplexing Times . Topics include purity culture, ethical porn, monogamy, deconstruction, virtue theory, the Tao Te Ching, and mysticism.

This is sort of a show about how a Christian university could save the world--if only a Christian university were possible--and if only the spirit of Molech handn't staged a hostile takeover of an otherwise radical movement. Jeff explains what he was up to when he presented a funded lecture on the topic of confessional Lutheran thought, yet started to unravel his entanglement in confessional Luthe...

Jeff discusses the reasons why he wrote an article about the Hebrew Bible's account of semi-divine beings making the Nephilim, giant god-human hybrids, and what it means for navigating life today in a postmodern world, run by a modern economy, informed by an ancient text. This article isn't rejected so much as identified as the first part of the unravelling of Jeff's confidence in the American eva...

This is part of a short series of episodes in which I look back on stuff I (Jeff) wrote in the past and reflect on ways my thinking might have changed, and what I might want to reject. In this episode, while I generally stand by my take on the history of thought within the Genevan Academy, under the rectorship of Theodore Beza (John Calvin’s right hand man), I explore ways in which I didn’t see ho...

As a couple of kids who grew up in American evangelicalism, Tarot cards were a taboo we never even considered violating in our youth. Now, we discuss the ways in which Jungian understanding of archetypes of the collective unconscious helped us make use of Tarot for personal healing and growth. Part 1: Our uneasy relationship with tarot, CG Jung’s idea of the archetypes of the collective unconsciou...

As a couple of kids who grew up in American evangelicalism, Tarot cards were a taboo we never even considered violating in our youth. Now, we discuss the ways in which Jungian understanding of archetypes of the collective unconscious helped us make use of Tarot for personal healing and growth. Part 1: Our uneasy relationship with tarot, CG Jung’s idea of the archetypes of the collective unconsciou...

In this part, we discuss the history of nudist spirituality in Christian movements from the second century till the present. Adamites ancient and revived, and the Christian connections to the founding of the naturist movement in America are discussed. Stacie answers whether she went on the World Naked Bike Ride.

Nudism in American culture, reflections on nudity in the Garden of Eden, a recent news story about a French nudist who shot someone at the beach, the history of Christian naturism, the Christian nudist sect called the Adamites, hot springs culture, & our experience with various opportunities to be naked in public, including at least Jeff’s participation in Portland’s World Naked Bike Ride. Part on...

In part 2 Jeff answers: What do we think of the historical arguments for the resurrection of Jesus? This is all about apologetics and philosophy of religion over the Christian centuries and whether the evidentialist arguments are viable these days.

Jeff answers listener questions about our current take on the concept of Jesus’ resurrection and the nature of belief in the bodily resurrection of humans. This is not an exhaustive manifesto but presents candid reflection on twenty years of teaching and researching the historical development of Christianity and philosophical and historical arguments for Jesus’ resurrection. We discover that the b...

Though we’ve been talking a lot lately about things we are glad to shed about our conservative Christian background, we reflect on some of the healthy and helpful things we experienced in non-denominational youth programming. This discussion is not meant to suggest that parents should uncritically send their kids to church programs, but rather to reflect on ways that folks who are leaving organize...

We draw from the radical life and thought of anarchist Emma Goldman to frame contemporary conversations about abortion and reproductive rights. We discuss the ways in which women’s bodily autonomy is intimately connected to full spectrum emancipation. Topics include Christian nationalism, the weaponization of anti-abortion for the sake of supporting unchecked capitalism, the history of contracepti...

A discussion of books to to read this summer, especially for those who have left or are thinking of leaving fundamentalist or toxic forms of religion. We offer suggestions related to spirituality, but they do not involve joining a religion or accepting some claim to special revelation. We offer suggestions for folks who want to get up to speed on science, find balance in their lives, unpack their...

Our go-to psychology prof Dr. Betsi Little helps us unpack the ways in which attribution theory can help us understand why people tend to defend creepers in religious circles. It also leads to a discussion of the ways in which we can survive and heal the social sicknesses of our time. A key takeaway: it just takes one person to subvert conformity. CW: Sexual abuse, domestic violence, racist and ho...

Jeff and Stacie respond to listener emails and voice messages, largely unpacking our perspectives on the Bible, inerrancy, LGBT inclusion, and traditional social values within conservative Christianity. We also weigh in on the leaked letter from LCMS president Matthew Harrison to the board of regents at Concordia University Wisconsin. If you have known us in our old lives within the orbit of Ameri...

An examination of atheistic strands of anarchism, focusing on Mikhail Bakunin (1814–1876), author of God and the State . This episode is content packed, with just Jeff this time. If you don’t want so much academic content, feel free to skip to another episode.  

He who’s full of Te is like a baby.  Scorpions don’t sting him.  Ferocious beasts don’t eat him.  Eagles don’t carry him off.   His bones are supple.  His muscles are soft.  But his grip is tight.  He doesn’t know what sex is yet,  but he gets erections.  That’s how much vitality is in him.  He can wail all day  without losing his voice.  He knows the heights of harmony.  Knowing harmony is called...

What happens when you reject the state’s official paperwork and driver’s licenses? When did you begin, and why does that matter politically and spiritually? Who owns you and your biological material? We explore these questions with our old pal Jon David Johnson, with whom Jeff played music back in the day as The Bloodhound Shuffle. He has a unique interpretation of the Bible and political history...