Table Talk

Jacob Mancini and Sam Strutton
  • 5.0 (3)
  • Spirituality

Two friends examining the faith they inherited, one patch at a time. Jacob and Sam are former church staff who believe Jesus invites us into a fuller picture of being human — one with room for doubt, critical thought, and perspectives that don't always fit the frameworks we were handed. Table Talk is a lab, not a platform. A place to look honestly at what's fraying, keep what's load-bearing, and practice integrating the rest in real time. Less explaining, more exploring. Good company for anyone discovering the surprising transformation downstream of surrendering certainty. Here's to faithful curiosity and patchwork spirituality.

Episodes

  1. Sep 22

    Get the Hell Out

    The goal was never to get the hell out of earth — it was to get the hell out of earth. Genesis never calls the world perfect. It calls it good — and then, before anything has gone wrong, not good. After a long break, Jacob and Sam pull back up to the table and follow that one small word wherever it leads: why a good world and a perfect one set you on completely different paths, what it means to read Genesis as literary instead of literal, and why the Bible’s second page seems designed to disorient anyone looking for certainty. Along the way: a yerba mate review nobody asked for, an academic advisor’s thirty-minute ministry, portal chess, the Mona Lisa, N.T. Wright’s missing fifth act, and a working definition of hell as the places where creation has come off the rails — starting with the hells inside us. Less perfect, more good. Pull up a chair. CHAPTERS00:00 Cold open: mate and a promise02:19 Sam’s new job07:50 How to be a gift in thirty minutes10:43 Portal chess13:14 Riftbound, top eight of nine15:56 God’s good world19:56 Good, not perfect23:41 Get the hell out of earth27:25 The Mona Lisa and the brushstrokes30:20 The Bible is a library32:43 Revelation and literary origami38:02 Where’s Waldo glasses40:39 Page two will break your literalism45:30 Act five47:10 Pockets of Eden50:49 Boots on the ground55:40 Get the hell out of me SCRIPTUREGenesis 1:31 — “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning — the sixth day.”Genesis 2:7 — “Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”Genesis 2:18 — “The Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.’”Isaiah 7:14 — “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”Matthew 1:23 — “‘The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’ (which means ‘God with us’).”Galatians 5:6 — “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”Scripture quotations from the NIV®. MENTIONEDPortal Chess — https://portalchess.ggRiftboundTim Mackie (BibleProject)Peter EnnsN.T. Wright — The New Testament and the People of God LISTENhttps://tabletalk.fm/episodes/03-get-the-hell-outYouTube: https://youtu.be/7GmLA0_1Bjc CONNECThello@tabletalk.fmInstagram / TikTok / YouTube: @tabletalkfmHere’s to faithful curiosity and patchwork spirituality.

  2. Jun 16

    God Is Love?

    The most familiar line in the faith — that God is love — turns out to be the hardest to pin down, so we sit with the difference between defining love and discerning it. In this episode, Jacob and Sam hit record with no script and follow the feedback that came in after the pilot wherever it leads: a family member’s pushback on whether the real problem is naming or labeling, and a grandmother’s read that the true substance of the quilt — the thing that actually keeps you warm — is love. Along the way: Genesis 2 and a God who waits to see what the human will call things, Meg tasting salmon for the first time, why Jesus at all if love is the point, and a naturalist’s question — “How do I say your name?” — that turns out to be a way of meeting God. Less defining, more discerning. Pull up a chair. CHAPTERS00:00 Intro00:37 Cold open06:12 Welcome back — no script07:57 Naming, or labeling?09:33 What Adam was really doing16:31 Tasting something for the first time21:01 The tree of knowing23:07 Love as the substance of the quilt25:28 Where the metaphor breaks32:19 Why Jesus35:11 Discern, don’t define41:46 Truthing in love46:49 “How do I say your name?”57:28 Love without guarantees SCRIPTURE1 John 4:8 — “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”Genesis 2:19 — “Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.”1 Corinthians 13:4 — “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.”Ephesians 4:15 — “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.”Scripture quotations from the NIV®. MENTIONEDBarry LopezTim Mackie (BibleProject)Jiddu KrishnamurtiJames K.A. Smith — Make Your Home in This Luminous Dark: Mysticism, Art, and the Path of UnknowingThe Cloud of Unknowing LISTENhttps://tabletalk.fm/episodes/02-god-is-loveYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smllGrHx5Aw CONNECThello@tabletalk.fmInstagram / TikTok / YouTube: @tabletalkfmHere’s to faithful curiosity and patchwork spirituality.

  3. May 5

    Why We’re Here

    The Sunday morning gathering that became a symbol of our faith — and why we decided to keep the conversation going. In this pilot episode, Jacob and Sam tell the origin story of Table Talk: how it began as an anti-event at the church where they both worked, why they kept pulling up chairs long after the church-staff chapter ended, and what they mean when they say faithful curiosity. They share some questions still alive for them, introduce the quilting metaphor that runs through everything they do, and ground the whole project in two verses held in creative tension — Galatians 5:6 and Proverbs 25:2. Less explaining, more exploring. Pull up a chair. CHAPTERS00:00 Intro00:37 Cold open02:08 Welcome to Table Talk04:09 How Table Talk began10:23 Curiosity over answers13:36 The table becomes a lab15:49 Jacob’s mystery: prayer17:24 Sam’s mystery: spiritual beings20:29 Faithful curiosity as a banner24:00 Is this deconstruction?29:30 The quilting metaphor37:21 Two verses, one framework46:00 The royal vocation of curiosity51:44 Pulling up chairs SCRIPTUREGalatians 5:6 — “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”Proverbs 25:2 — “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.”Matthew 5–7 — The Sermon on the Mount — the Kingdom Manifesto series the original Table Talk grew out ofMatthew 7:7 — “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”Matthew 6 — Jesus teaching the disciples to prayMark 2:27 — “Then he said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.’”Genesis 1 & Psalm 8 — Image-bearing and humanity’s royal vocationJob 1–2 — The divine council sceneScripture quotations from the NIV®. MENTIONEDJiddu KrishnamurtiBrian McLaren — Faith After Doubt LISTENhttps://tabletalk.fm/episodes/01-why-were-hereYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOtVLf_chwk CONNECThello@tabletalk.fmInstagram / TikTok / YouTube: @tabletalkfmHere’s to faithful curiosity and patchwork spirituality.

  • 3 Episodes

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

Two friends examining the faith they inherited, one patch at a time. Jacob and Sam are former church staff who believe Jesus invites us into a fuller picture of being human — one with room for doubt, critical thought, and perspectives that don't always fit the frameworks we were handed. Table Talk is a lab, not a platform. A place to look honestly at what's fraying, keep what's load-bearing, and practice integrating the rest in real time. Less explaining, more exploring. Good company for anyone discovering the surprising transformation downstream of surrendering certainty. Here's to faithful curiosity and patchwork spirituality.

Information

  • Creator
    Jacob Mancini and Sam Strutton
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    3
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Jacob Mancini and Sam Strutton
  • Show Website
    Table Talk