Ciarra Jones, known online as The Gardening Theologian, blends theology, ecology, and storytelling to help people untangle inherited beliefs and cultivate a more liberated, life-giving spirituality. Drawing from her experiences in Pentecostal Christianity, academia, queerness, and gardening, Ciarra explores how systems of power shape the way we understand God, identity, belonging, and collective care. Through the wisdom of plants and natural systems, she invites people to imagine faith beyond rigidity, certainty, and perfectionism. In this episode, Ciarra shares how gardening became a pathway toward a gentler understanding of God, why ecosystems reveal the limits of individualism, and how uncertainty can become a form of liberation rather than fear. She unpacks the tension between conviction and mystery, the loneliness of leaving harmful systems, and the possibility of rebuilding community, identity, and faith from the ground up. WATCH EPISODES ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/heatherparady TOPICS FROM THIS EPISODE: Why ecosystems challenge individualism and “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” cultureWhat plants teach us about suffering, flourishing, death, and transformationWhy certainty can become a form of control—and how mystery creates space for growthHow the earth, plants, and the garden challenge ideas of hierarchy and white supremacy RESOURCES MENTIONED: Lessons from Plants by Beronda L. Montgomery: https://amzn.to/3P87SSVStand Your Ground: Black Bodies and the Justice of God Kelly Brown Douglas https://amzn.to/4tK4rjtThe Four Vision Quests of Jesus Steven Charleston https://amzn.to/4nvQi7QAztlán and Arcadia: Religion, Ethnicity, and the Creation of Place https://amzn.to/3PsCQ87Matters of the Heart by Thema Bryant Ph.D. https://amzn.to/4drJdk8Homecoming by Thema Bryant Ph.D. https://amzn.to/4dRd7Qc CONNECT WITH CIARRA JONES: Website: https://ciarrajonesconsulting.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thegardeningtheologian Substack: https://sacreddissent.substack.com/ The Community Garden Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/6NJ90Dwrlky75Olr7dvROG?si=cd32effe3534483b CONNECT WITH HEATHER: Follow Heather on IG: https://www.instagram.com/heatherparady/ Access Full Show Notes Here: https://www.heatherparady.com/blog/168
