Holy Heretics: Losing Religion & Finding Jesus
The EXvangelical podcast that addresses your questions about faith, politics, how we got here, and how to move forward. No topic is off-limits as we have conversations with scholars, spiritual seekers, and activists in our quest to uncover the heart of faith.
Ep 96: From Original Sin to Original Blessing w/Matthew Fox
What if humanity didn’t begin with a fall, but with a blessing? What if your original identity wasn’t sinful, but good? In today’s Holy Heretics podcast episode, I’m joined by the renown Dr. Matthew Fox, one of the most provocative and influential theologians of the last half‑century. A former Dominican priest and the author of Original Blessing, Fox is best known as the founder of Creation Spirituality, a spiritual and theological framework that challenges Western Christianity’s deep fixation on sin, guilt, and separation.
Ep 95 Bishop Trumps President w/Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde
Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde joins Holy Heretics this week with the kind of steady, unflinching presence that has marked her ministry for decades. Our conversation moves through her spiritual journey, her Episcopal imagination, and the moral clarity that shaped her message to President Trump at his inaugural prayer breakfast. In a time of authoritarianism and dehumanization, Bishop Budde offers a courageous and compassionate way forward.
Ep 94 A Rebirthing of Humanity w/Roger Tempest
There are places in the world where history doesn’t sit behind glass—it works directly with the present to shape the future. Set across 3,000 acres in the rolling countryside of Yorkshire, England, Broughton Estate and Sanctuary has been home to the Tempest family for more than 900 years. But Broughton is not a relic. Under the custodianship of Roger Tempest, the estate has become a living organism—one that is remembering its wildness and rediscovering its soul. Here, outer rewilding and inner rewilding meet as the land heals people and people learn how to heal the land.
Ep 93 Silence, Stillness & Spiritual Unfoldment W/John Butler
Today, I sit down with 88-year-old mystic John Butler, aka “Mr. Nothing.” A British author, retired farmer, and lifelong seeker whose gentle presence has become a sanctuary for millions. Formed by silence, shaped by prayer, and seasoned by decades of wandering across continents and inner landscapes, Mr. Butler speaks from a depth rare in our dopamine-driven age. Join us for a meditative conversation about silence and stillness as our ever present doorways to God.
Ep 92 Inner Christianity: Returning to Our Roots W/Mark Vernon
Growing up evangelical required a preoccupation with external behaviors and moral performance, or what I now understand as sin management. The more you controlled, hid, or projected your external behaviors onto others, the closer you were to God. Leaving evangelicalism meant finding deeper streams of spiritual wisdom. Instead of this hyper-fixation on what I was doing, inner Christianity helped me recognize God’s eternal presence at the core of my being.
Ep 91: The Resistance is Alive and Well w/Jesse Nickel
Following the example of other authoritarians, Donald Trump wants us to burn cars. He wants us to throw rocks. He wants images of chaos — especially violence against police or National Guard troops — to flood the evening news. These are precisely the results he wants: to manufacture chaos as a means of justifying repression. We can’t give him what he wants.
Ep 90: A Call For Bravery, Peace, and Self Love w/Regina Cates
I realize that a lot of our episodes lean toward the scholarly and the erudite, but this is not one of those. This conversation is personal, real, and raw. In fact, this is our 90th episode on Holy Heretics, and it may just be our most candid, open, and vulnerable conversation to date as we discuss how to heal and find peace with yourself post-evangelicalism.
Ep 89: We’re Done: Womanism in MAGA America w/Dr. Angela Parker
If the United States is to survive the MAGA cult, it will be through the embodied actions, wisdom, spirituality, and lived experience of Black women who understand what it takes to resist, regroup, and offer the world an alternative community of justice.
Ep 88: The Historical Jesus w/John Dominic Crossan
What can we know about the historical Jesus? Why did the Roman Empire want him dead? The world’s leading Jesus scholar joins me to answer these questions and more in this fascinating conversation about the historical Jesus.
Ep 87: MAGA Christians and the Sin of Empathy w/Gary Alan Taylor
MAGA Christians are cruel because the MAGA cult is cruel; and MAGA Christians are cruel because cruel people tend to become MAGA members.
Ep 86: The Science of Spirituality w/Dr. Rupert Sheldrake
For ten years running, Dr. Rupert Sheldrake has been recognized as one of the most spiritually influential living people in the world. Sheldrake’s research provides a link between science and spirituality, and in particular, the proven benefits of the spiritual life on one’s well-being, mental health, and life expectancy. Spiritual people live longer, are healthier, and happier.
Ep 85: Ecospirituality and ReWilding w/Dr. Rachel Wheeler
This rising interest in ecospirituality reflects a growing recognition that environmental issues cannot be addressed solely through scientific or political means, but also require a profound shift in our worldview, values, and spirituality.
Ep 84: Created to Create w/Ally Markotich
Whether you realize it or not, you are creative! You were born with gifts and talents that only you can give the world. The first step towards claiming this Divine inheritance is recognizing that you are a sacred, creative being.
Ep 83: Finding God in an Errant Bible w/Liz Charlotte Grant
If I had a guess, I’m betting one of the main reasons why you deconstructed evangelicalism is because of the Bible. But, is all this the Bible’s fault? Have we made the Bible into something it was never intended to be? Me thinks yes.
Ep. 82: Celtic Spirituality w/John Philip Newell
In this modern age, when we find ourselves divorced from the natural world, addicted to technology, controlled by institutional religion, and victims of an empire of our own making, there is a great deal to learn from the ancient Celts.
Ep. 81: This is Going to Hurt w/Bekah McNeel
Like a dog returning to her vomit, America chose the sexual predator, white nationalist, pathological liar, and criminal instead of an educated, compassionate Black woman to lead this nation into our collective future. What are you going to do about it?
Ep. 80: Ministers of Propaganda w/Dr. Scott Coley
Good evangelical Christians are Republican. It seems like it’s always been this way. That means the propaganda is working.
Ep. 79: Finding Your Place In This World w/Dr. Sharon Blackie
Dr. Blackie speaks to those of us who feel lost in a sick, vampiric culture. If you long for a more enchanted life filled with wonder, beauty, and mystery, this episode will encourage you to find meaning through ancient wisdom, Celtic Spirituality, folklore, and indigenous tales of subversive wisdom.
Ep. 78: Speaking of Rape w/Rev. Dr. Danielle Tumminio Hansen
Rape survivors need speech to recover--to tell the story of their harm, to rebuild their sense of self and their place in the world. But the words available to them often fail to describe their experience of the violation.
Ep. 77: And Justice For All w/Kalie May Hargrove
Dismantling the legalized discrimination of LGBTQ+ Students at Christian Colleges.
Become a Patreon Supporter
We love being able to dream up and bring to fruition all our wild ideas for episodes, but it’s just the two of us doing it in our free time. If you have been impacted by our work OR if you’d like to get exclusive content and episodes in the future, please consider supporting us via Patreon! Your financial support gives us the time we need to make this podcast a reality.