Spiritual Misfits Podcast

Simon Buckingham-Shum is Professor of Learning Informatics and Director of the Connected Intelligence Centre at the University of Technology Sydney. Learn more: https://Simon. BuckinghamShum.net Abundant Intelligences ( Abundant-Intelligences.net ): Indigenous knowledge systems provide a way to rebuild AI's epistemological foundations - transforming tools that currently reinforce colonial pra...

Carolyn Meers offers a contemplative journey through the mystery of light across traditions, through time, into prayer. This episode includes a guided practice of holding yourself and others in the light of dawn, midday, and twilight. At the end Caro reads Jan Richardson's blessing 'How the light comes'. Want to reach out and let us know your thoughts or suggestions for the show? Se...

Christmas can be wonderful...and complicated. Especially when your beliefs have shifted and you're heading into family gatherings or other contexts where not everyone understands or agrees with where you're at now.  In this conversation, Will sits down with pastor and spiritual director Carolyn Meers and therapist Linda Pesavento to explore why Christmas amplifies these tensions, how to...

Anne Lanyon joins Will to discuss her work with the Faith Ecology Network (FEN), an interfaith network of people bridging conversations between science and religion.  Anne shares about her formative years growing up as an Irish Catholic in rural Victoria, the work she has done for many decades at the intersection of peace, ecology and justice, and the way she hears the earth speaking a prophetic m...

We're living through wild times. In this episode I'm sharing how I'm holding anxiety about various AI possibilities within the season of Advent and its invitation. I talk about attachment hacking, cognitive atrophy, and the existential questions around artificial general intelligence. But more than that, I'm trying to practice what it means to face reality with courage while st...

Mike Hardie joins Will to share about his winding journey through various denominations and changes in faith, leading him to where he is today: helping establish a new community of faith called Oasis, part of the Uniting Church in Sydney. Mike and Will discuss how to create spaces that honour mystery alongside conviction, structure and freedom, holding space for children developing their understan...

Mikenzie Ling joins Will to explore three crucial tensions for our times: Can we be locally grounded with a global mindset? Can we stay physically embodied in an increasingly digital age? Can we be both ancient and progressive? A conversation that will spark your thinking and invite you into deeper listening. Will mentions the work of Vanessa Andreotti:  Hospicing Modernity https://decolonialfutur...

What do you do when you realise you haven't prayed in months, and you haven't missed it? Sally Douglas joins Will to explore what it means to 'rewild' prayer: moving beyond formulas, gendered God-language, and the Zeus-like deity many of us inherited. A conversation about trinitarian prayer, holy demanding, and finding your way back to the real when your ability to pray feels d...

Mitch Forbes joins Will for another Pub Theology chat. They discuss topics like Christian indignation at Halloween, the existence of evil, thoughts about death, and questions about authenticity, performance and the essential nature of human beings. The Substack article Mitch and Will discuss regarding Authenticity: https://curtjaimungal.substack.com/p/against-authenticity?utm_source=share&utm_...

Biblical scholar Michelle Eastwood joins Will Small to discuss her journey from growing up Lutheran, journeying through multiple denominations and shifting in the way she engages the biblical text. Drawing from her PhD research on Psalm 71 and aging women, Michelle advocates for reading the Bible as a "flawed document" that can still inspire faith, without needing to explain away its dif...

Rev. Samuel Dow joins Will Small to share how he found his calling at the intersection of faith and ecology through Baroona Farm, an urban farm in Brisbane that grows food with and for refugees and asylum seekers. Will and Samuel discuss eco-theology, links between agriculture and spirituality and how to build more gentle and sustainable communities. Follow Baroona Farm on social media: @baroonafa...

Content Warning: This episode contains detailed discussion of suicidal ideation, intrusive thoughts, religious trauma, and mental health crisis. If you're struggling, please reach out to Lifeline (13 11 14) or Beyond Blue (1300 22 4636). Jon Reichardt is an ARIA-nominated music producer who's worked with some of Australia's biggest hip hop artists: Hilltop Hoods, Bliss n Eso, 360. B...

This week we're revisiting a conversation from December 2023 with Sara M. Saleh - Palestinian-Australian human rights lawyer, poet, and activist. As we mark two years since the beginning of Israel's devastating assault on Gaza, and as news breaks of a fragile ceasefire agreement, Sara's voice offers crucial context and perspective that remains deeply relevant. In this conversation,...

How do you address God when you pray? Has the way you name the divine changed over your lifetime? In this contemplative episode, Carolyn Meers invites us to slow down and explore the mystery of naming God. Drawing from biblical stories like Hagar's encounter with "the God who sees" and Moses' conversation with the burning bush, we reflect on how our names for God reveal as much...

Brian Recker used to be an evangelical pastor. Growing up fundamentalist, hell was always core to his experience of Christianity. But when he started questioning the doctrine as a pastor, it unraveled more than he expected. His new book 'Hell Bent' argues that fear of hell fundamentally distorts Christian spirituality, disconnecting us from God, ourselves, and others. We discuss the powe...

Join Mitch and Will at the pub for an unstructured conversation about the recent deaths of James Dobson and Charlie Kirk, the challenge of responding maturely to political violence, and how universalist theology might offer a different way of thinking about these situations. Topics covered: The deaths of James Dobson and Charlie Kirk and the polarised online responses Why ‘and’ is better than ‘but...

Steff Fenton joins Will to discuss their new book Gender Expansive Faith: How Trans Lives Are Illuminating the Divine, Transforming Feminism, and Ending Christian Patriarchy .  The conversation explores Steff's interpretation of Matthew 19 and Jesus's teaching about eunuchs, how trans and gender diverse people offer healing to a world harmed by rigid gender binaries, and practical questi...

Keith Mascord joins Will to discuss his latest book 'An Honest Faith' after an East Coast tour. A former Sydney Anglican and Moore College lecturer Keith's views have shifted over time in an ongoing commitment to honest philosophical and theological inquiry. Keith now advocates for a radically inclusive and intellectually honest Christianity. Faith remains deeply important to Keith...

Following last week's collaborative conversation between Spiritual Misfits and On the Way podcast, this episode features the poetry that bookended our special evening at West End Uniting Church in Brisbane, performed by Will Small and Boy Renaissance. Related Episodes Spiritual Misfits, On the Way (Live from 'Words for Those Who Wander') - The panel conversation from this event A No...

A special cross-over podcast episode between Spiritual Misfits and On the Way, recorded at 'Words For Those Who Wander' at West End Uniting Church in Brisbane.  In this conversation, Will Small, Dom Fay, Sue Grimmett, and Peter Catt explore what happens when the old spiritual maps stop working and we need to become cartographers for our time. Together they wrestle with profound questions...

In this episode, we explore what it means to live faithfully during times of political and social upheaval with systematic theologian from Princeton Theological Seminary Hanna Reichel, author of "For Such a Time as This: An Emergency Devotional." Drawing on lessons from the Confessing Church's resistance to Nazi Germany, Hanna challenges us to move beyond simple answers and moral pu...

Danny Bryant joins Will to discuss his book Unless a Seed Falls to the Ground: Welcoming the Death of the Whiteness Gospel . Part memoir, part theological critique, Danny's work traces his journey from growing up in a fundamentalist cult to becoming a pastor who now practices what he calls "hospice ministry", allowing cancerous forms of American Christianity to die. In this deeply p...

Joyce Tangi is the Culture of Safety Pastor for the Uniting Church NSW & ACT Synod, and she cares deeply about building communities where everyone can thrive. In this conversation, we explore what safety actually looks like beyond policies and procedures, how to navigate power dynamics in faith communities, and why deep listening might be the most radical act we can practice. Want to reach out...

David Gate joins Will Small to discuss his new book "A Rebellion of Care" and what it means to stay tender in a world that often seems to demand hardness. David Gate is a poet, writer, and visual artist who grew up in London and now lives in Asheville, North Carolina. His work centres around care for the individual and the nurture of community, and his Instagram poetry has touched thousa...

Bradley Jersak is a theologian, author, and Principal of St. Stephen's University. His books including A More Christlike God, A More Christlike Word, and Out of the Embers have helped countless people navigate faith transitions and discover a more expansive understanding of the gospel. This conversation explores some of the pivotal movements in Brad’s story as well as his views on things like...