Theology Made Podcast

Theology Made
  • 5.0 (2)
  • Christianity
  • Updated Weekly

The Theology Made Podcast takes complicated ideas about God and makes them simple. Each episode unpacks theology, church history, or biblical truth in a way that's clear, thoughtful, and actually enjoyable. substack.theologymade.com

  1. 1d ago

    The Woman the Church Misread for 1,400 Years

    For 1,400 years, the church called her a prostitute. She wasn’t. Mary Magdalene is one of the most recognizable figures in Christian history and one of the most misrepresented. The Gospels never describe her as a sinful woman. That story came from a single sermon, preached by Pope Gregory I in 591 AD, in which he conflated three different women into one with no textual basis for doing so. The Eastern church never accepted it. Scholars spent centuries pointing to the actual text. The Catholic Church corrected it in 1969: 1,378 years later. The real Mary Magdalene stood at the cross when most of the disciples had fled. She went to the tomb before dawn. She was the first person the risen Christ chose to speak to, and the first person he sent with a message. The church fathers called her the apostle to the apostles. This episode tells the story the Gospels actually tell and asks why the other version lasted as long as it did. Theology Made is a listener/reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Theology Made at substack.theologymade.com/subscribe

  2. Jul 23

    Why Follow Your Heart is the Oldest Heresy

    In the second century, a brilliant theologian named Valentinus nearly became pope. His idea was simple: the truth is inside you. Trust it. Follow it. The church called it heresy. Two thousand years later, it’s the most repeated advice in Western culture. This episode traces “follow your heart” from the Gnostic communities of ancient Rome through Carl Rogers and the therapeutic revolution, through Augustine weeping in a Milan garden and asks the question the phrase never bothers to ask: what exactly is your heart, and who formed it? Topics covered: • Valentinus and the Gnostic system • Irenaeus and Against Heresies • Carl Rogers and the therapeutic self • Philip Rieff’s Triumph of the Therapeutic • Augustine’s Confessions and the restless heart • The desert fathers on discernment vs. suppression • What the Christian tradition actually says about desire Theology Made is a listener/reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. #theology #churchhistory #augustine #gnosticism #christianity #theologyexplained Get full access to Theology Made at substack.theologymade.com/subscribe

  3. Jul 16

    Who Decided Children Mattered

    In the Roman world, leaving an unwanted newborn at the base of a public column was legal, common, and considered a reasonable household decision. Aristotle endorsed infanticide for weak children. Seneca described it as rational household management. The Spartans institutionalized it. The idea that a child’s life has inherent worth; that it cannot be assigned or revoked by a father, a state, or a council of elders, is not ancient wisdom. It is a specific invention. It has an origin. This episode traces how one religious movement changed the legal, cultural, and moral status of children across the Western world, built the first orphanages, lobbied the first child protection laws, and generated the intuitions about childhood that modern secular culture now treats as self-evident. The invention of childhood is one of the most consequential and least told stories in Western history. Someone had to say it first. This is who, and why it mattered. Theology Made is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Theology Made at substack.theologymade.com/subscribe

  4. Jul 9

    The Woman the Church Couldn’t Ignore

    In the twelfth century, a nun with no formal authority, no official platform, and no institutional power began writing down what she saw. Kings wrote back. Emperors wrote back. The pope read her work aloud to a room full of bishops and told her to keep going. Hildegard of Bingen shouldn’t have had the influence she had. By every rule her world recognized, she was outside the circle of people who got to speak. She had no theological degree, no political office, no inherited title. She had visions she’d been quietly carrying since childhood—and eventually, she stopped keeping them to herself. What followed was one of the strangest careers in church history: composer, scientist, preacher, prophet, and one of the most widely consulted voices in medieval Europe. This episode is about Hildegard—but it’s really about influence. How it moves. Where it comes from. And why the people who aren’t supposed to be heard are sometimes the ones nobody can stop listening to. Theology Made explores the ideas, figures, and moments in Christian history that still have something to say. New episodes every week. Theology Made is a listener/ reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Theology Made at substack.theologymade.com/subscribe

  5. Jul 2

    Faust: The Story That Predicated Modern Life

    Five hundred years ago, Europe told a story about a man who sold his soul for unlimited knowledge, unlimited power, and a life without limits. We turned him into a hero. This episode traces the Faust legend from its historical roots in the Holy Roman Empire to Christopher Marlowe’s stage, to Goethe’s radical reinvention of the character — and then straight into the present. Because the Faustian bargain didn’t end in the 16th century. It just changed address. Ray Kurzweil wants to live forever. Peter Thiel is transfusing young blood. Silicon Valley is building what it openly calls a god. And the ancient heresy the early church spent centuries arguing against is back — this time wearing a lab coat. This is an episode about the deal modern civilization is making. What it’s trading. What it’s losing. Theology Made is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Theology Made at substack.theologymade.com/subscribe

  6. Jun 25

    Why Smart People Still Fall For Cults

    You think you’d never fall for a cult. Most people do. But the truth is, cults don’t prey on stupidity, they rely on something far more dangerous: intelligence, commitment, and the human need for certainty. This piece explores why smart people aren’t immune to manipulation, how belief systems become self-sealing, and why the real threat isn’t deception from the outside; but the stories we learn to defend from within. Theology Made is a listener/reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. At 18 I decided I wanted to be a pastor. There was one problem. While I grew up in church, I didn’t have a clear understanding of how I thought about God. So, I spent 20 years pursuing that. This framework is the result of those 20 years. You can get it in 40 minutes. The Theology Made Workshop: https://theologymade.mykajabi.com/offers/RqeAzfaY Get full access to Theology Made at substack.theologymade.com/subscribe

  7. Jun 18

    Science vs Religion Is a Myth? What Darwin Actually Changed

    In 1859, Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species—and many believed it marked the end of faith. Science had won. Religion had lost. But that story isn’t history. It’s a myth. In this episode, we break down the real relationship between science and Christianity—unpacking the famous Darwin debate, the origins of the “science vs religion” narrative, and why historians now reject it. You’ll discover: * Why the Darwin vs Christianity conflict is largely invented * The truth behind the 1860 Oxford debate * Famous Christian scientists you’ve never heard about * What Darwin actually challenged (and what he didn’t) * Why evolution doesn’t disprove God From Gregor Mendel to Francis Collins, from Augustine to modern theology—this episode explores how faith and science have always been more connected than we’ve been told. Theology Made is a listener/reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. At 18 I decided I wanted to be a pastor. There was one problem. While I grew up in church, I didn’t have a clear understanding of how I thought about God. So, I spent 20 years pursuing that. This framework is the result of those 20 years. You can get it in 40 minutes. The Theology Made Workshop: https://theologymade.mykajabi.com/offers/RqeAzfaY Get full access to Theology Made at substack.theologymade.com/subscribe

  8. Jun 11

    The First Christians Didn't Try to Change the Empire

    The first Christians lived under the most powerful political system the world had ever seen. They didn’t lobby it, campaign against it, or try to capture it. They fed the poor, buried the dead, and built a community so stubbornly different that three centuries later, the empire couldn’t explain what had happened. This episode looks at how the earliest church related to power, not by ignoring it, but by operating on an entirely different logic. We trace what it meant to call Jesus “Lord” in a world that already had one, why political strategy wasn’t the church’s instrument of change, and what got quietly lost when the faith began to assume that influence and control were the same thing. Theology Made is a listener/reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Theology Made at substack.theologymade.com/subscribe

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About

The Theology Made Podcast takes complicated ideas about God and makes them simple. Each episode unpacks theology, church history, or biblical truth in a way that's clear, thoughtful, and actually enjoyable. substack.theologymade.com

Information

  • Creator
    Theology Made
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    55
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Theology Made
  • Show Website
    Theology Made Podcast