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Holy Heretics: Losing Religion and Finding Jesus

By: The Sophia Society
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  • Summary

  • Holy Heretics seeks to foster honest conversations about the state of religion in the 21st century. We interview experts, spiritual seekers, scholars, and activists in our quest to examine just exactly how modern-day Christianity lost the Way of Jesus while also discovering how it can be regained through subversive thought and action.
    All episodes copyright 2021 The Sophia Society.
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Episodes
  • Ep. 76: FKD Up By Faith w/Jude Mills and Gary Alan Taylor

    Ep. 76: FKD Up By Faith w/Jude Mills and Gary Alan Taylor
    May 6 2024

    Episode Summary:

    In this unique, collaborative episode of Holy Heretics, I chat with Jude Mills, the creator of the FKD Up By Faith podcast. Jude created the FKD Up By Faith podcast for individuals harmed by religious fundamentalism. She hails from the Southeast of England, and is using her podcast to fuel her scholarly work at the University of Kent.

    Jude and I are both hosts of our own respective shows, and this time, instead of asking the questions, Jude interviewed me about my faith deconstruction journey. It was a blast! It’s also probably the first time I’ve had the chance to fully discuss how my personal, professional, and spiritual life was “f’kd up” by evangelical Christianity. Here’s a few things we get on about in this conversation:

    *Why Melanie and I created Holy Heretics

    *Why it’s a good thing to be labeled a heretic these days

    *How my faith deconstruction journey costs me my job

    *Where I’ve landed post deconstruction

    *How to move beyond the rage stage of deconstruction

    *What your life and faith can look like after evangelicalism

    I hope my story helps you process, heal, and continue your journey of recovery from religious fundamentalism.

    Please follow us on social media (use the buttons below) and help us get the word out! (Also, please don’t hesitate to use any of these channels or email to contact us with any questions, concerns, or feedback.)

    If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a rating and a review, or share on your socials 🙏 And check out Jude’s show FKD UP BY FAITH wherever you get your podcasts!

    Show notes:

    http://www.sophiasociety.org/podcast/fkd-up-by-faith

    Follow us on social media! Twitter: @holyheretics | Instagram: @holyhereticspodcast | Facebook: @holyheretics | Substack: holyheretics.substack.com

    Advertising inquiries: garyalan@sophiasociety.org

    Support our work on Patreon or Substack and get early access to episodes and premium content like our online class on deconstruction!

    https://www.patreon.com/holyheretics or subscribe to our Substack to gain access to Holy Heretics Shorts, premium content, and our online class on faith deconstruction!

    This episode was produced by The Sophia Society and written by Jude Mills and Gary Alan Taylor. Music is by Faith in Foxholes.

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    50 mins
  • Ep. 75: Faith and Mental Illness: What I’ve Seen in Dark Places w/Anna Gazmarian

    Ep. 75: Faith and Mental Illness: What I’ve Seen in Dark Places w/Anna Gazmarian
    Apr 21 2024

    Episode Summary:

    (CW): Mental Illness, Suicidal Ideation, Depression, and Anxiety)

    Anna Gazmarian’s new book Devout: A Memoir of Doubt, investigates the overlapping complexities of religious faith, mental illness, and doubt. If you grew up in religiously conservative spaces, odds are you either never talked about mental illness or you were made to believe only people with a demonic spirit could suffer from mental and behavioral disorders. According to research by the National Institutes of Health, evangelical Christians often see mental health as the outworking of a harmful spiritual condition and therefore, the solution is to just have more faith in God. This is not only completely erroneous, it’s harmful. In this deeply personal conversation, Anna shares her struggles with depression, bipolar disorder, darkness, and doubt. For those of us who have lived on the dark side of the human experience, we have gifts to give to the world that only we can give because we know what it is like to lose touch with reality, to be in pain, to question the entire human experiment, to suffer with anxiety, to struggle to get out of bed in the morning, and to fight to find meaning in an otherwise meaningless existence. I’m honored to share this space with Anna and have this needed conversation about mental health and faith.

    Bio:

    Anna’s debut, Devout: A Memoir of Doubt is forthcoming from Simon & Schuster in March 2024. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the Bennington Writing Seminars. Her essays have been published in The Guardian, The Rumpus, Longreads, The Sun, and Quarterly West. She works for The Sun Magazine and lives in Durham, NC.

    Please follow us on social media (use the buttons below) and help us get the word out! (Also, please don’t hesitate to use any of these channels or email to contact us with any questions, concerns, or feedback.)

    If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a rating and a review, or share on your socials 🙏

    Show notes:

    http://www.sophiasociety.org/podcast/Christianity-and-mental-illness

    Follow us on social media! Twitter: @holyheretics | Instagram: @holyhereticspodcast | Facebook: @holyheretics | Substack: holyheretics.substack.com

    Advertising inquiries: garyalan@sophiasociety.org

    Support our work on Patreon or Substack and get early access to episodes and premium content like our online class on deconstruction!

    https://www.patreon.com/holyheretics or subscribe to our Substack to gain access to Holy Heretics Shorts, premium content, and our online class on faith deconstruction!

    This episode was produced by The Sophia Society and written by Gary Alan Taylor. Music is by Faith in Foxholes.

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    37 mins
  • Ep. 74: My Life and Faith After Evangelicalism w/Jonathan Merritt

    Ep. 74: My Life and Faith After Evangelicalism w/Jonathan Merritt
    Apr 4 2024
    Episode Summary:Interviewing Jonathan Merritt felt like having a conversation with myself. His journey out of white evangelical subculture is an almost mirror-image of my journey. My guess is, you’ll find a lot of correlation as well. Jonathan was a card-carrying evangelical who left his Southern roots and evangelical home to find faith, family, and freedom outside the confines and cult-like community of evangelical Christianity. His journey led him from certainty to contemplation, from winning to wisdom, from the shallow end of the pool into the deep waters of Ignatian spirituality, and from exclusion to radical inclusion. As he reminds us, evangelical Christianity is not only a fairly modern invention, it is also a minority movement within global Christianity. Evangelicals do not have a monopoly on God. There are a myriad of spiritual pathways available to you once you leave. So take heart, there is life after evangelicalism. There is faith after evangelicalism. There is new found family after evangelicalism. You get to decide what your future is going to look like. You have the power to form a freer faith and a more inclusive “family.” Four years and seventy-four episodes into Holy Heretics Podcast and I can honestly say I believe this conversation with Jonathan Merritt to be the most helpful and hopeful episode we’ve ever created. I hope you enjoy!Bio:Jonathan Merritt is one of America’s most popular writers on issues of faith and culture. He is author of several critically-acclaimed books, including Learning to Speak God from Scratch: Why Sacred Words are Vanishing - and How We Can Revive Them, named “Book of the Year” by the Englewood Review of Books. Jonathan is an award-winning contributor for The Atlantic, a contributing editor for The Week, and a regular columnist for Religion News Service. He has published more than 3000 articles in respected outlets such as The New York Times, USA Today, Buzzfeed, The Washington Post, The Daily Beast and Christianity Today. In addition to the written word, Jonathan regularly contributes commentary to television, print, and radio news outlets. He has been interviewed by ABC World News, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, NPR, PBS, and CBS’ “60 Minutes.” Jonathan is also a sought after speaker at colleges, conferences, and churches on topics relating to spirituality, politics, and current events. Whether he is delivering an academic lecture or inspirational sermon, Jonathan’s captivating communication style and powerful presence are well-suited for intimate gatherings of hundreds or arenas filled with thousands. As a collaborator or ghostwriter, Jonathan has worked on more than 50 books, with several titles landing on the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestsellers lists. Additionally, he trains hundreds of young writers through his Write Brilliant seminars and online course. He is often available for exclusive one-on-one coaching for a select number of advanced writers.Jonathan holds a Master of Divinity from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, a Master of Theology from Emory University’s Candler School of Theology, and has done additional graduate work focused on ascetical theology at The General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church. He is the recipient of numerous awards and accolades including the Wilbur Award for excellence in journalism, and the Religion News Association’s columnist of the year award. Jonathan currently happily resides in New York City. You can find Jonathan’s latest children’s book My Guncle and Me here! For more information about Jonathan and his writings, visit his website. You can also connect with Jonathan on Instagram. Please follow us on social media (use the buttons below) and help us get the word out! (Also, please don’t hesitate to use any of these channels or email to contact us with any questions, concerns, or feedback.)If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a rating and a review, or share on your socials 🙏Show notes: http://www.sophiasociety.org/podcast/faith-family-and-freedom-after-evangelicalismFollow us on social media! Twitter: @holyheretics | Instagram: @holyhereticspodcast | Facebook: @holyheretics | Substack: holyheretics.substack.comAdvertising inquiries: garyalan@sophiasociety.orgSupport our work on Patreon or Substack and get early access to episodes and premium content like our online class on deconstruction! https://www.patreon.com/holyheretics or subscribe to our Substack to gain access to Holy Heretics Shorts, premium content, and our online class on faith deconstruction! This episode was produced by The Sophia Society and written by Gary Alan Taylor. Music is by Faith in Foxholes.
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    49 mins
Ministry & Evangelism Spirituality
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