Reclaiming the Garden

We’re back with our podcast pals Jordyn and Sara for another year-in-review! We talk about Tish Harrison Warren’s terrible not-Anglican New York Times takes, God is Grey’s problematic treatment of Jo Luehmann that left a bad taste in our mouths, the bureaucratic nightmare that is the United Methodist Church split, the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the amazing anthems of Maddie Zahm for us burnt-out...

In this episode, Anna and April draw from our respective academic disciplines (social work and theology) and Sara Miles’ memoir Take This Bread to discuss strategies for how to sustain ourselves in the work of healing and justice, including neurodivergent-friendly alternatives to meditation. Sara Miles’ connection to bodily spiritual experience, her conviction that her “body was connected literall...

In this episode, we have a conversation with Baptist pastor Dana and ordained Hindu Fred, who are happily married. They share their beautiful story of finding each other through a dating app and connecting over a shared love of spirituality despite their differing beliefs. They discuss their life together and how they take part in each others’ spiritual traditions/practices and how that cross-fert...

In this episode, we, along with our friends Celia and Colleen from Assemblies of Pop Podcast, share our memories of Christian music and the culture created around it (music festivals, etc): we talk about TobyMac, Family Force 5, DC Talk, Dara Maclean, the big worship bands like Hillsong and Bethel, and other artists of various genres that have been lumped into the Christian label. We discuss how o...

In this episode, we have a conversation with mystical theologian and author of Bad Theology Kills, Kevin Garcia! Kevin shares their spiritual journey from being in ex-gay ministry to finding wholeness in queer identity and finding God in their body, in other people, and in practices such as yoga. We get into some pretty deep theological discussions (April tries to articulate her Christology) and t...

In honor of this spooky month, this episode is all about what scares evangelical Christians to death (but we forgot to even really talk much about Halloween–oops!). From cuss words to the “devil’s lettuce” to feminist theory to children’s media not being superheteronormative (Baby Bear from Sesame Street can’t have a doll, he’s a boy!!!), we discuss why these “scandalous” things are actually not t...

Now that we’ve been doing this podcast for a year and a half (!), we figured it was time for a re-introduction. Anna and April talk about what we do on this podcast–we break down the bad theology we learned in our evangelical adolescences, and share our journeys of learning new ways to look at biblical texts, sexual ethics, systems of power, and more. We also interview all kinds of wonderful peopl...

In this episode, we have a conversation with Keri Seymour, a multi-hyphenate human who currently lives in London who acted as Anna’s coming out sounding board. Keri tells the story of her difficult Catholic adolescence and her time spent in a convent (where yes, she did indeed kiss a nun), and she talks about the questions she had about Jesus and God that ultimately led to her taking on the belief...

Although our modern understanding of sexuality and gender identity and the terms we use to describe the spectrum of those identities are very different than the understanding and language used during “Bible times” (across several centuries, cultures, and languages), we can still look at certain relationships and characters in the Bible and see how they went outside of the sexual, relational, and/o...

In this episode, we have a conversation with author and liberation theologian Damon Garcia, whose book, The God Who Riots: Taking Back the Radical Jesus , releases today, August 23rd; links to purchase available below/on his social media pages! We chat with Damon about his spiritual journey of growing up conservative evangelical and discovering that the Jesus he read about in the Gospels was much...

In this episode, we break down what we were taught about money, the economy, and socioeconomic status in the churches we grew up in. Even if we were not explicitly taught the “prosperity gospel” à la televangelists (that if you be the best Christian you can be and donate a lot of money to the church, God will make you rich, and poor people are “just lazy and don’t have God’s favor”), we were still...

In this episode, we have a conversation with ex-Mormon (or “exmo”) YouTubers Jordan and McKay! They share their journey of growing up in the Mormon/LDS church and the things that caused them to doubt until their “shelves” of faith broke and they decided to leave (the disturbing history of Joseph Smith marrying women as young as 14, the practices and lack of informed consent in the Temple, among ot...

In this episode, we get down and dirty and nerdy with the ancient lawbook of Leviticus. We break down the arbitrary categories we were given to interpret the laws of the Hebrew Bible (the moral law vs. the ceremonial law; even if this concept was applied, the rule prohibiting mixed fabrics is in a section of mostly “moral laws”), and we discuss Leviticus’ authorship (not Moses lol, he didn’t have...

In this episode, we have a conversation with Richie X, an autistic, queer and non-binary writer/commentator and host of two podcasts, Surviving Fundamentalism and Underdogs on Top! They share their winding faith journey from being raised Muslim to finding Black Baptist churches and becoming a young preacher, to finding Pentecostalism, to joining a fundamentalist cult, to deconstructing and finding...

In celebration of the Tony’s (which at time of release was this past Sunday), Anna and I discuss several musicals that make us think about theology and/or LGBTQ+ identity (and we include the perspectives of a few of our friends, too!). We of course start with musicals that take their stories from the Bible (Jesus Christ Superstar, Godspell and Prince of Egypt which yes, April still needs to watch)...

Due to some scheduling conflicts and April and Anna having a lot going on in late May, our May guest interview has been moved to June. But today we’re dropping a minisode with some cool life updates! Anna talks about her experience with grad school (MA in Social Work) so far, her classes and internship; April talks about her belated graduation (which on date of release was this past Sunday, look a...

Content warning: depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation. Please take care of yourself, we love y’all. This episode is all about mental health (and we didn’t even realize May is Mental Health Awareness Month when we recorded it!). We discuss how the churches we grew up in did not equip us to deal with our depression and anxiety in a healthy way (“just pray and read the Bible and deal with the sin i...

In this episode, we take on a topic so big (heaven, hell, the final destiny of creation), we had to bring in the perspectives of our friends from Ravel Podcast–Emily Rettinghouse, Josh Lieuallen, and Stephen Henning. We break down what we were taught about the afterlife (kind of having amnesia in heaven about your friends and family who were in hell? And heaven being a neverending church service?...

In this episode, we get down and dirty and nerdy with scripture (and liberation theology) as we discuss the central claim of Christianity: that Jesus of Nazareth was crucified, died, was buried, and rose from the dead. We break down what we were taught about Jesus’ death, the “God-ordained” cosmic child abuse known as penal substitutionary atonement theory–that on the cross Jesus took God’s wrath...

In this episode, we have a conversation with our friend Ellie Dote, a transgender Christian woman, public speaker, and business owner! She shares about her winding faith background from Catholicism to Calvary Chapel evangelicalism and working in church ministry, and the various experiences that brought her life to a turning point, including getting diagnosed as HIV positive. She talks about her co...

In this episode, we discuss spiritual practices–things we do that ground us in the presence of God and that contribute to our well-being. We start by discussing the state of the world right now, how we often feel burnt out and helpless with the news of Russia (though it is not the Russian people’s will but Vladimir Putin’s) invading Ukraine and the news of anti-trans legislation in Texas and other...

In this episode, we have a conversation with public radio journalist and queer Christian Claire Murashima! Claire talks about her Christian Reformed background (her understanding of total depravity is recognizing that the world has so much brokenness and injustice, not that we as humans are bad at our core), her educational and faith formation at Calvin University, and the journey that led to her...

In this episode, we discuss vocation, calling, purpose–spiritual ways of saying, what are we supposed to be doing with our lives? In the churches we grew up in, we learned a lot of misconceptions and rigid ideas about how God works Their good will through us and in the world–like that we’re called, or even predestined, to do this One Thing for life or that a call to ministry or evangelism is the h...

In this episode, we have a conversation with YouTuber Mary Clare Kunkel, whose channel “Faith Evolving” (not to be confused with the Evolving Faith Conference!) has A+ content for Christians seeking faith in their evolving contexts. Mary Clare talks about her ecumenical faith background in the United Methodist, Catholic, and Lutheran churches, and what she’s learned about spirituality through them...

In this episode, because Jan. 6th marked one year since the violent insurrection at the Capitol building, we discuss the systems of oppression that were on full display at the event, as well as other parts of history where that same “Christian” violence, white supremacy, and nationalism were in full force, and how these systems are embedded into every aspect of our society. We talk about the Purit...