Untidy Faith

Kate Boyd
  • 5.0 (30)
  • Spirituality

Transforming faith after fracture The Untidy Faith podcast is where we have honest conversations and gentle encouragement for when following Jesus gets messy. Join your host, Kate Boyd - author, speaker, and gentle guide for Christians who are disentangling their faith from culture, rebuilding their relationship with Scripture, and desiring to find joy in following Jesus again - each week to find your life and faith after deconstruction. kateboyd.substack.com

  1. 3d ago

    Tyler Hill | From Original Sin to Original Goodness

    In this episode of the Untidy Faith Podcast, I sit down with Tyler Hill for a conversation about what changes when you start your story with belovedness instead of brokenness—and why the exhaustion so many of us carry comes from chasing something we’ve had in our pocket the whole time. Topics Covered * The breathwork session that gave Tyler a visceral image of the womb, and what it revealed about his very first knowing * Henri Nouwen’s three biggest lies (I am what I have, what I do, what others say) and how they become the raw material for a false self * Why belovedness isn’t spiritual bypassing, and what Tyler learned about it from people in prison who can’t hang their hat on their morality * The unexpected first spiritual practice Tyler prescribes, and why it involves $100 and an outfit you actually love * What’s hardest to let go of when you awaken to your true self, and it isn’t the theology Timestamps:03:00 The Six Months When Everything Fell Apart05:00 “Nothing to Prove, Nothing to Lose” and Why It Felt Like a Lie11:00 Baseball Tyler and the Making of a False Self18:00 The Practical Cost of Living from the False Self22:00 Belovedness That Isn’t Cheap Grace or Positive Thinking26:00 On-Ramps That Don’t Feel Like Obligation30:00 The Burning Bush and the Practice of Curiosity38:00 What You Have to Let Go Of46:00 Why Belovedness Requires a Feminine God47:00 How to Know You’re Living It, Not Just Believing It53:00 Finding Tyler’s Work and Monday Morning Blessings This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kateboyd.substack.com/subscribe

  2. Aug 11

    Kristel Acevedo | Atonement Beyond Transaction

    In this episode of the Untidy Faith Podcast, I sit down with Kristel Acevedo, author of Liberated at the Cross, for a conversation about what we lose when the cross gets flattened into a single transaction—and why a theology that has been used to justify suffering, silence, and submission might actually be the one that sets us free. Topics Covered * Why picking one atonement theory and calling the rest trash doesn’t square with a God who pursues relationship over and over * What it means that Jesus wasn’t a victim of the cross, and how that reframes the whole event for people who’ve been handed it as guilt * How liberation theology’s systemic lens challenges the individualism of Western evangelicalism without abandoning personal faith * Why Kristel spent years downplaying her Latinidad in white-majority spaces, and what changed when someone asked her to write from her culture * The one thing the church would stop doing if it took liberation at the cross seriously (hint: it involves looking away) Timestamps:02:00 Beyond Transaction: Meaning and Method at the Cross05:00 When the Cross Has Been Used Against You10:00 Catholic Guilt and the Crucifix That Said “You Did This”13:00 Why “Liberated” and Not Some Other Word18:00 What a Latina Perspective Reveals About the Cross22:00 What the Church Would Stop Doing23:00 What a Cross-Shaped Life Actually Looks Like24:00 Finding the Study and Kristel’s Work This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kateboyd.substack.com/subscribe

  3. May 12

    God is a Mother Too | Elizabeth Berget

    In this episode of the Untidy Faith Podcast, I sit down with Elizabeth Berget, author of Love Like a Mother, for a conversation about what happens when we take maternal metaphors for God as seriously as paternal ones—and why the church’s exclusion of feminine language for God isn’t just theologically incomplete but leaves women spiritually homeless in motherhood. Topics Covered * What gets quietly excluded when “God the Father” is our only or primary image * How the Hebrew word for God’s compassion (rachum) in Exodus 34:6—God’s first self-description—is tied to the word for womb (rechem) * How motherhood becomes a spiritual desert when your brain changes more than any other point in life (including puberty) but nobody tells you to expect your faith to change, and churches assume laziness instead of recognizing you’re doing a lot * The disconnect between how motherhood is emphasized in church circles but under-resourced spiritually * What’s at stake if we keep handing people a God who can only be described in paternal terms Timestamps: 01:00 What We Describe and Exclude with “God the Father” 06:00 All God Language Is Metaphor (We Forgot That) 10:00 Why Motherhood Feels Like a Spiritual Desert 16:00 Rachum: God’s Maternal Compassion Lost in Translation 23:00 Embodied Verbs and the Incarnational God 29:00 What Spiritual Formation Actually Looks Like for Mothers 35:00 What’s at Stake When We Exclude Feminine Language 37:00 Finding the Book and Elizabeth’s Work This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kateboyd.substack.com/subscribe

  4. Apr 23

    Celeste Irwin | Trans and Christian

    In this episode of the Untidy Faith Podcast, I sit down with Celeste Irwin for an honest conversation about what it’s like to be trans in Christian spaces—from childhood shame over “transy thoughts” with no language for them, to losing every friend when coming out, to discovering that transition feels like being literally raised to life. Celeste Irwin is a transgender, lesbian woman and a survivor of a spiritually abusive evangelical church network. She’s written in-depth about her experiences in that network, and she now writes and speaks about issues affecting transgender people, including queer inclusion in Christian spaces. Topics Covered * Why even as a child Celeste knew “this is the thing I can’t confess”—different from sins you talk about in small group, this was something that would “really mess stuff up” if she stared at it too long * The cost of exile like losing most friends when leaving evangelicalism, then losing the rest when coming out as trans * What churches miss without trans people: * Why queer exclusion is spiritual abuse * The three things Celeste is tired of saying but will say for us anyway: * How the movie Moana captures trans joy best Timestamps: 02:00 Primary School “Transy Thoughts” and Unconfessable Shame 10:00 The Cost of Exile: Losing 20-Year Friendships 14:00 What the Church Loses Without the Trans Limb 22:00 Names, Identity, and “Your Identity Should Be in Christ” 28:00 Three Things Celeste Is Tired of Saying (But Will Say Again) 36:00 Why Becoming Affirming Requires Actual Repentance 40:00 What Intellectual Arguments Miss: The People 46:00 Trans Joy: Skirt Go Spinny and Te Fiti’s Heart Restored 54:00 What a Church That Genuinely Welcomes Trans People Looks Like 58:00 The Pride Month Challenge: Education Work Required Links https://www.celestefinally.com https://www.youtube.com/@Celestial-Navigation https://www.notovercome.org This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kateboyd.substack.com/subscribe

  5. Mar 31

    Alisha Roth | Christians and Divorce

    Join me and Alisha Roth for a honest conversation about what it takes to leave a marriage when you’ve done everything “right”—the Christian college, the missionary training, the four daughters—and why the church’s fear and control around divorce leaves women trapped in unsafe situations. Topics Covered * The question that changed everything and why the answer unlocked self-love Alisha couldn’t access when it was just about her own safety * Why “your husband has a right to your body” made it impossible to trust what her body already knew, and how one therapist naming abuse as abuse cracked open the church bubble keeping her trapped * The stat the church doesn’t want you to know * Why women who choose to leave face different judgment than women who get left * What happened when Alisha’s therapist refused to tell her whether to get divorced—and why learning that taking ownership of your own life (instead of keeping everyone else happy) is the holy work Timestamps: 01:00 When Everything Looks Right But Something’s Wrong 05:00 Having Someone Name the Abuse Changes Everything 10:00 Why the Church Blames Women Who Leave 15:00 Fear, Control, and Managing God’s Image 20:00 Finding Hope and Community After Loss 24:00 Why It Matters to Talk About Choosing to Leave 29:00 Taking Ownership: “I Have to Make This Decision” 32:00 Rebuilding Faith: Love Over Rules 35:00 Finding the Book and Alisha’s Work This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kateboyd.substack.com/subscribe

  6. Mar 17

    Why is Christian Art so Bad? | I Read Something Bad

    Join us for this podcast crossover episode! I’m bringing you our I Read Something Bad discussion about bad Christian art. If you’re into spicy fantasy books and spiritual formation, check out I Read Something Bad Podcast biweekly! Today your Matron Saints of Spice are tackling the ever-controversial question of why so much Christian art feels thin, didactic, and aesthetically weak—and just plain BAD. We’re getting real about how flattening the Bible into surface-level application points has destroyed our capacity to engage layers in any medium, why making Ruth and Boaz into a love story completely misses the point about welcoming the stranger, and how capitalism turned humans into resources to be used up—which means our entire identity got wrapped up in usefulness instead of Imago Dei. Topics Covered: * The definition of good art as opening perception and making room for the reader versus bad art that reduces experience to propaganda with predetermined conclusions * Why Christian art often fails the hospitality test—inviting someone over just to lecture them about what to believe instead of offering actual coffee and conversation * Post-Reformation history of shifting from visual imagery (icons, stained glass) to language-only emphasis, and how the printing press made accessibility a priority that accidentally flattened everything * The Enlightenment’s need for certainty, empirical knowledge, and being on the same page—which bled into making messages crystal clear at the expense of mystery and layers * How “Facing the Giants” versus “Remember the Titans” shows the difference between heavy-handed Christian messaging and wrestling with justice/humanity through storytelling * Why Ruth and Boaz isn’t a romance about finding your person—it’s about Boaz depicting how Jesus welcomes strangers and provides for the vulnerable (Ruth said “where you go I will go” to NAOMI, people) * The collapse of context and layers in Bible reading, and how treating Scripture as flat application points instead of artistic literature kills our ability to engage depth anywhere else * How usefulness became our framework for existence instead of beauty, and why that’s devastating when your productivity disappears but you’re still made in the image of a creative God Good art invites wonder and makes space for mystery. Bad art tells you exactly what to think and then wonders why you’re not engaged. 🎨✝️📖 Timestamps: 02:00 Defining Good Art: Hospitality vs Heavy-Handed Messaging 06:00 Intimacy and Openness as Framework for Beauty 09:00 Why People Want to Be Told What to Think vs Asking Questions 11:00 Facing the Giants vs Remember the Titans: What We’re Wrestling With 14:00 Stained Glass Windows vs Sharpie Statements: Losing the Layers 16:00 Post-Reformation Shift from Visual to Language-Only Emphasis 20:00 Teen Talent Competitions and Performing for God’s Glory 23:00 When Church Art Became Branded Word Art from Hobby Lobby 25:00 Iconoclasm and What We Lost by Rejecting Visual Beauty 28:00 Ruth and Boaz Isn’t a Love Story About Finding Your Person 3 1:00 Reading the Bible with Layers: Literature, Language, Lifetime, Lenses 34:00 Why Translation Is Always Interpretation 37:00 Ruth After Proverbs 31: She’s the Woman of Valor, Actually 39:00 When Usefulness Disappears and You Lose Your Framework for Beauty 41:00 Imago Dei Isn’t Broken or a Mission to Accomplish—It Just Is 43:00 Capitalism Turned Humans Into Resources to Be Used Up 45:00 Creating Without Goals: The Church Art Studio Experiment 47:00 Redeeming Love Scammed Us (The Bible Story Is Different, Y’all) 50:00 Mount Pilgrim’s Stained Glass: Good Christian Art That Inspires Justice This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kateboyd.substack.com/subscribe

    Why is Christian Art so Bad? | I Read Something Bad

  7. Mar 3

    Matt Matson | Practicing vs Performing

    In this episode … Topics Covered * Understanding the difference between performance and presence * How busyness and transactional living keeps us from noticing sacredness, but the deeper barrier is internal fear—not of other people but of what we might reveal if we stopped performing and showed up authentic * Why conversation as sacrament doesn’t mean using Christianese or performing religiosity, but practicing noticing these moments as important (maybe even sacred) until you graduate into sensing holiness far more often than you used to * The radical claim that if you just pay attention you’d find one or two moments that were everything you’ve been looking for in the next week * Changing our mindset around interactions to being sacred rather than battlefields Timestamps: 01:00 Everyday Sacredness and the Fear People Will Miss It 04:00 Reclaiming “Church” as the Space Between Us 09:00 Performance vs. Presence: The Conditioning That Keeps Us Safe 14:00 Finding Freedom to Just Be in the Pews 19:00 What Keeps Us from Seeing the Ordinary as Holy 26:00 The Holy Work of Silence and Listening 31:00 Abiding in the Vine: Relationship as Spiritual Practice 3 6:00 Practicing Sacred Conversation Like Crooked Yoga 40:00 What Changes When We Notice This Moment Matters 43:00 Finding the Book and the Between Ministry This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kateboyd.substack.com/subscribe

  8. Feb 17

    Shannan Martin | Balancing the World's Heaviness

    In this episode of the Untidy Faith Podcast, I sit down with Shannan Martin, author of Counterweights, for a grounding conversation about how her dad’s blue-collar farm wisdom—”carry something equally heavy in the other hand”—became a daily practice for staying upright in a world that feels increasingly overwhelming. Rather than focusing on “toxic positivity” or the “count your blessings” mantra, Shannan teaches us to honestly name the weights we carry and intentionally find counterweights that pull us back to center so we can keep breathing through the chaos and moving toward justice without burning out. Topics Covered * How a blue-collar dad’s practical advice about carrying heavy things to the barn became a metaphor for pulling ourselves back to center when we’re lurching under the weight of collective trauma and constant news cycles * Understanding counterweights as different from gratitude or mindfulness * Why the “abundant life” Jesus promised isn’t prosperity gospel glitter but getting all of it * Learning from incarcerated people at the work release center what accessible counterweights look like * How protecting your peace can mean staying engaged and bearing witness to trauma (especially for those with power and privilege) rather than opting out * Why counterweights are always happening and how naming them with intention increases capacity for moving toward justice Timestamps: 01:00 Defining Counterweights: Dad’s Blue-Collar Wisdom 05:00 Why This Cultural Moment Needs This Practice 11:00 The Abundant Life: We Get It All 16:00 Avoiding Toxic Positivity While Staying Grounded 21:00 Accessible Counterweights: From Cabinet Scrubbing to Dancing 27:00 Learning from Incarcerated Neighbors About What’s Accessible 32:00 Beauty as Emergency: Increasing Capacity for Justice Work 37:00 Finding the Book and Shannan’s Work This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kateboyd.substack.com/subscribe

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5
out of 5
30 Ratings

About

Transforming faith after fracture The Untidy Faith podcast is where we have honest conversations and gentle encouragement for when following Jesus gets messy. Join your host, Kate Boyd - author, speaker, and gentle guide for Christians who are disentangling their faith from culture, rebuilding their relationship with Scripture, and desiring to find joy in following Jesus again - each week to find your life and faith after deconstruction. kateboyd.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    Kate Boyd
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    161
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Kate Boyd
  • Show Website
    Untidy Faith

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