Holy Heretics: Losing Religion and Finding Jesus The Sophia Society

OK, I'll admit it right up front, this is a heavy episode. This one feels like a therapy session processing through the anger, the rage, the bitterness, and all your past complicity in white evangelical Christianity. If you haven't noticed yet, one of the pit stops on the deconstruction road is animosity. You finally wake up to all the harmful ways evangelical Christianity has impacted your life and the lives of others and sometimes all you can feel is resentment. It's easy to get stuck here, raging against the evangelical machine. But what might it look like to fuel your anger for something good, beautiful and true? Author Marla Taviano helps us unlearn our past by learning how to heal and move forward, channeling anger into transformative love. Ultimately, how do you stay emotionally, spiritually, and mentally healthy as you process the grief of growing up evangelical? 
We also discuss what it means to be a real ally, how to decolonize the deconstruction space, and ways you can center marginalized voices in your daily life.
 
Bio
Marla Taviano (she/her) is into: books, love, justice, globes, anti-racism, blue, rainbows, poems (and a hundred other things). Reads and writes for a living (and a life). Mom to some freaking awesome kids. Wears her heart on her t-shirts. On a mission/quest/journey to live wholefarted (not a typo). (Big fan of parentheses—and em dashes.) Connect with her on IG: @marlataviano and @whitegirllearning or marlataviano.com.



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Show notes:
http://www.sophiasociety.org/podcast/a-reckoning-with-white-evangelicalism

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This episode was produced by The Sophia Society.  Music is by Faith in Foxholes.

Episode Summary
In the second-part of our conversation about the Divine Feminine, we look at the ramifications of believing God is a guy. Institutional Christianity has given us God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, a triune male God with “He/Him” pronouns. And this male dominated theology has created a male dominator culture that manifests itself politically, socially, sexually, religiously, and economically in pragmatism, patriotism, persecution, capitalism, greed, aggression, egoism, hierarchy, oppression, exclusion, bigotry, ignorance, and emotionally stunted men. All of which has the planet on the brink of destruction. But what if we’re wrong? What if God isn’t a guy after all? And how would seeing God in female form change the way we understand ourselves and the world around us?
Rediscovering the Divine female attributes of God is one of the first steps toward our collective liberation from the dominant power structures that rule our lives. In this episode, we uncover all the ways God is referenced in female language throughout Scripture and church history. We also look at Jesus’ primordial identity as Holy Wisdom, or the Sophia of God, making the historical Jesus the personification of the Divine Feminine.

Quotables
“If God is male, the male is God.”
“Domination of women has provided a key link, both socially and symbolically, to the domination of earth.”
“The symbolic evidence of women’s invisibility in the human race is most clear perhaps in her suppression, her camouflage, her negation even in language. Women are subsumed, excised, erased by male pronouns, by male terminology, by male prayers, even by exclusively male images of God.”
“There has always been a vocal minority recognizing the many pronouns for God, including “He/Him,” “She/Her,” “They/Them.”
“All Language about God is metaphorical, but those metaphors matter.”
“One of the most ancient metaphorical understandings and expressions of Divinity is God as womb of the world.”
“How can women be made in the image of God if God cannot be imagined in female form?”
“What does God do all day long? God gives birth. From all eternity God lies on a maternity bed giving birth.”
“Sophia is the first of God’s works, God’s female companion in the creation of the cosmos.”
“Sophia became flesh and dwelt among us.”
“Just as God is our Father, so God is also our Mother.”

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If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a rating and a review 🙏

Show notes:
http://www.sophiasociety.org/podcast/what-are-gods-pronouns


Follow us on social media! Twitter: @holyheretics | Instagram: @holyhereticspodcast | Facebook: @holyheretics

Advertising inquiries: podcast@sophiasociety.org

Support our work on Patreon and get early access to episodes! https://www.patreon.com/holyheretics

This episode was produced by The Sophia Society.  Music is by Faith in Foxholes, and sound engineering is by Joshua Mudge (currently accepting new clients: josh.mudge09@gmail.com).

Episode Summary

Have you ever paused to wonder why it was always God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit—a trio of divine beings known only as “He” and “Him?” This should cause us to ask a basic question. Why is God so overwhelmingly referred to as a He in institutional Christianity, as well as in Judaism? Did you know that from ancient times God was first known as our Mother, and sustainer? Over the next two episodes we’re going to discuss what I believe is one of the most important spiritual conversations we’ve ever had on the show, the Divine Feminine. What might it look like to see God in female form and through female language? How would your relationship to the Divine change if you were equipped to see the other side of God? And how has knowing only God the Father warped our souls, impoverished our theology, and deadened our spirits?
As Sister Joan Chittister writes, “It is precisely women’s experience of God that this world lacks. A world that does not nurture its weakest, does not know God the birthing mother. A world that does not preserve the planet, does not know God the creator. A world that does not honor the spirit of compassion, does not know God the spirit. God the lawgiver, God the judge, God the omnipotent being have consumed Western spirituality and, in the end, shriveled its heart.”
I hope this episode will introduce you to the Divine Feminine, to God our Mother, and how reframing your image of God will change how you view yourself, the world, and your neighbor.

Bio
Gary Alan Taylor is the Co-Founder of The Sophia Society and Host of Holy Heretics Podcast. Gary Alan has an undergraduate degree in History from Milligan University, a Master of Arts in Holocaust Studies from East Tennessee State University, and worked on a PhD at The University of Tennessee. Gary Alan has spent his life in faith-based organizations and began deconstructing his faith about ten years ago when he was introduced to a theology of liberation and nonviolence. With his friend and colleague Melanie Mudge, Gary Alan created The Sophia Society to be a sacred space for the spiritual formation of post-evangelicals. Since then, The Sophia Society has served thousands of “exvangelicals” through it’s monthly Liminal Spaces publication, podcast, articles, online classes, and community spaces. You can plug in or simply learn more about The Sophia Society here! Gary Alan is passionate about overcoming his own religious trauma by pursuing a more mystical form of faith.

Additional Reading
Woman Strength by Joan Chittister
The Divine Feminine by Virginia Ramey Mollenkot
Thy Queendom Come by Kyndall Rae Rothaus
God is a Black Woman by Christena Cleveland
She Who Is by Elizabeth A. Johnson
Beyond God the Father by Mary Daly
If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a rating and a review 🙏

Show notes:
http://www.sophiasociety.org/podcast/god-our-mother

Follow us on social media! Twitter: @holyheretics | Instagram: @holyhereticspodcast | Facebook: @holyheretics

Advertising inquiries: podcast@sophiasociety.org

Support our work on Patreon and get early access to episodes! https://www.patreon.com/holyheretics

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

Episode Summary
We continue our march toward the marginalized this week with another conversation with Dr. Miguel De La Torre about the future of American political identity. As a Lantinx scholar, Miguel sees a future in which American society is run by white Christian nationalist elites at the expense of everyone who is 'the other.' Much like South African Apartheid, America could become a nation controlled by a very powerful and violent minority all supported by white evangelicals. After all, it was conservative Christians who helped set up South African Apartheid in the 1948. Following these through lines of American racism and oppression, he warns of a decline in democracy and rise in political violence—but equips us with the nonviolent ethical framework to resist this bleak future.
If you are a citizen of the United States, have you ever considered what it might look like to become Un-American? Have you ever considered all the ways the American Empire forces you to compromise your faith? As Christian ethicist Stanley Hauerwas once wrote, “Being a Christian is going to put you at odds with a great deal of what it means to be an American.” In this episode, we call upon listeners to consider what it might mean to remake America in the image of the God of liberation, and how do achieve that nonviolently? What role can you play in resisting this dominator form of Christianity and politics? 

Bio
Dr. Miguel De La Torre is Professor of Social Ethics and Latinx Studies at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado.  He has served as the elected 2012 President of the Society of Christian Ethics and served as the Executive Officer for the Society of Race, Ethnicity and Religion (2012-17). Dr. De La Torre is a recognized international Fulbright scholar who has taught courses at the Cuernavaca Center for Intercultural Dialogue on Development (Mexico), Indonesian Consortium for Religious Studies (Indonesia), University of Johannesburg (South Africa), Johannes Gutenberg University (Germany). Additionally, he has lectured at Universidad Bíblica Latinoamericana (Costa Rica), The Association for Theological Education in South East Asia (Thailand) and the Council of World Mission (Mexico and Taiwan). Advocating for an ethics of place, De La Torre has taken students on immersion classes to Cuba, Guatemala, the Peruvian Amazon, and the Mexico/U.S. border to walk the migrant trails. Among multiple yearly speaking engagements, he has also been a week-long speaker at the Chautauqua Institute, and the plenary address at the Parliament of World Religions. De La Torre has received several national book awards and is a frequent speaker at national and international scholarly religious events and meetings. He also speaks at churches and nonprofit organizations on the intersection of religion with race, class,  gender, and sexuality . In 2020, the American Academy of Religion bestowed on him the Excellence in Teaching Award. The following year, 2021, the American Academy also conferred upon him the Martin E. Marty Public Understanding of Religion Award. De La Torre is the first scholar to receive the two most prestigious awards presented by his guild and the first Latinx to receive either one of them. Check out De La Torre's BLOG for additional resources and readings. 

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a rating and a review 🙏

Show notes:
http://www.sophiasociety.org/podcast/resisting/american/apartheid

Follow us on social media! Twitter: @holyheretics | Instagram: @holyhereticspodcast | Facebook: @holyheretics

Advertising inquiries: podcast@sophiasociety.org

Support our work on Patreon and get early access to episodes! https://www.patreon.com/holyheretics and get access to our online class Making Sense of the Bible Post-Deconstruction!

This episode was produced by The Sophia Society.  Music is by Faith in Foxholes.

Contrary to what many assume, peace isn’t meekness in the face of evil it is the courageous and oftentimes creative task of disarmament. Active peacemaking is a way to fight against injustice without using violence. It is using the transformative force of love to resist oppression. It says that the means are the ends, that the way to peace is peace itself. “Love of enemies does not necessarily ease tensions; rather it challenges the whole system and becomes a subversive formula for true personal and national liberation,” writes liberationist theologian Gustavo Gutierrez. Therefore we shouldn’t be surprised that peacemakers like Dr. Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi appear as anything but peaceful.
But what might it look like for you to live a life of nonviolent resistance to evil? How do you confront evil and injustice without becoming unjust yourself? In this episode with Holy Heretics host Gary Alan Taylor, we discuss ways to take power back from the oppressors through nonviolent, subversive action. We draw on the teachings of Jesus who provided a 'third way' beyond fight or flight that leads to an opportunity for the perpetrator to not only recognize your humanity, but repent of his oppression. 
For our new patrons, thank you for joining us! Thank you for providing the resources we desperately need to continue creating this sacred, subversive space. Our podcast is an act of nonviolent resistance to dominator evangelicalism. We will not be silenced. We will not be intimidated by the religious establishment. We will continue to speak loudly and proudly for the marginalized, no matter the cost. Your commitment to this work is also an act of resistance, thank you! 

Bio
Gary Alan Taylor is the Co-Founder of The Sophia Society and the Host of Holy Heretics Podcast. Gary Alan grew up in conservative evangelical culture as a preacher boy and his deconstruction journey began way back as an undergraduate at Milligan College when he took a course that changed his life. Taught by Stanley Hauerwas protege Phil Kennesson, Christ and Culture planted seeds that would grow into a subversive faith decades later. Prior to his faith deconstruction, Gary Alan worked in evangelical spaces as a content creator. He has written for RedLetter Christians and Missio Alliance and has a Master of Arts degree in Holocaust Studies as well as PhD work in Colonial American History. Gary Alan and his wife Jennifer live in Monument, Colorado and attend Grace and St. Stephens Episcopal Church.

Quotables

“Four in ten Americans live in a household with a gun. 44% of Republicans say they own a gun.”
“What might it look like to deconstruct your faith nonviolently?”
“Here in America, we love our guns, and we love our God given right to blow you away.”
“Even out theology is violent. We believe in a violent, wrathful God, so violence is wrapped into the DNA of what it means to be an American.”
“When the United States kills it’s enemies, it’s probably a Christian who pulls the trigger.”
“What I fear is being in the presence of evil and doing nothing. I fear that more than death.”
“We don’t have enough money for healthcare, education and basic human services because we spend billions of dollars on war, and we call that pragmatic.”
“For what the world spends on defense every 2.5 hours, smallpox was eliminated.”
“We believe that violence saves.”
“Can you commit an act of violence for the cause of justice?”
“Is there ever a time that you could kill for the right cause?”
“What if the people we think are so evil aren’t evil at all?”
“Our addiction to redemptive violence is the fault of the church.”
“When war is undertaken in the name of God, there can be no limit in the killing, because so much is at stake.”
“Nonviolence isn’t an exception to the rule, but is at the heart of what it means to be a Christian.”
“There wasn’t even a word for pacifism in the early churc

Episode Summary
In the second installment of our conversation with Natalie Drew, we move deeper into her gender transition and how it impacted her marriage, career, and spiritual journey. If you haven’t checked out Part One, go back and listen now before moving forward into this episode! We answer several questions including, can you be Christian and transgender and what might it look like to transcend the false gender binary that pervades our social and spiritual spaces? I know you will appreciate the intimacy, honesty, and bravery Natalie continues to show to her online trolls and the theobros who wish her ill. May her grace provide a way forward in your own dealings with individuals who doubt you, question, you, and try to thwart your personal and spiritual path.
Bio
Despite what many within conservative Christian circles may claim, “Christian” and “transgender” are not mutually exclusive. Natalie is living proof of this, as she navigates life post-transition within conservative Christian circles. She, her wife Heather, and their two teenagers are recent transplants to the heart of Reformed country…west Michigan. Natalie has spent the past 13 years as an HR professional, and currently serves as an HR Manager for a Fortune 500 company in the Grand Rapids area. After 6 years as an infantry soldier in the Army, Natalie has committed her life to advancing an ethic of Christian nonviolence and fighting for the rights of trans people. She is dedicated to elbowing her way in Christian spaces to help make room for her LGBTQIA+ siblings who have historically been rejected and despised by the church.
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 🙏


Show notes:
http://www.sophiasociety.org/podcast/transgender-and-christian-part-two

Follow us on social media! Twitter: @holyheretics | Instagram: @holyhereticspodcast | Facebook: @holyheretics

Advertising inquiries: podcast@sophiasociety.org

Support our work on Patreon and get early access to episodes! https://www.patreon.com/holyheretics

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