The Liminal

What church can be vs. what it usually is

In this one I talk about the frustrating disconnect between how churches could be a strong, wide-reaching force for good in the world, but so many aren't.
Some churches contribute directly to the cycles of hate and violence  we see all around us.
Other churches focus only on themselves. They buffer their members from the world's suffering and injustice, leaving them apathetic and complacent to harmful systems as long as it feels good to be in the in-group.
Church could and should be a place from which love, justice, grace, and abundance flow outward. Not just in rhetoric, but materially. Systemically.
For a while now, I've been sensing that I'm ready to move on from parsing out theological and philosophical arguments in my head. I want to move in a new direction, focusing on how to more tangibly live out my values through service and activism.
In short: loving people, planet, and peace.
I intend to keep drawing from my contemplative Christian roots as I do this, but I see my teammates as anyone working for love and justice in the world -- not people who ascribe to any one systematic theology and think everybody else should, too.
I close by reading an essay I wrote in grad school about what it takes to move from fundamentalism to a healthy, curious, fruitful kind of faith. I hope it's helpful to someone who feels alone.
If this is your vibe too, connect with us on instagram: @theliminalpodcast
Music by my husband, Joe Calderone https://www.joecalderonemusic.com/

Contemplative Christianity and the four stages of faith

In this episode, I give an overview of Brian McLaren’s Four Stages of Faith, a really helpful model for understanding how our religious worldview or spirituality can evolve over time as we pay more and more attention to the world around us. I’ve studied under Brian’s wisdom at the Center for Action and Contemplation and have come to respect him a great deal, not just for his writings but for his example as a community advocate and activist.
Brian calls the four stages Simplicity, Complexity, Perplexity, and Harmony. They represent the evolution from dualistic, black-and-white thinking in Stage 1, to a gamified winner/achiever mindset in Stage 2, to the disillusionment and chronic skepticism of deconstruction/the wilderness in Stage 3, to the generous and expansive love of Stage 4.
I give my own spin on these four stages, and I share about how contemplative Christianity has been a soft place to land for me throughout Stages 3 and 4, even as I impatiently long for more Stage 4 communities to sprout up and give us a place to belong again.
 
Things I mention in the episode:
The PDF table of the four stages: http://brianmclaren.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Four-Stages-1.pdf
Brian’s podcast where he explores 13 cognitives biases that stunt our spiritual growth in Seasons 1 and 2: Learning How to See
Sarah Bessey’s new book that feels like a cozy blanket and a warm cup of tea: Field Notes for the Wilderness
As always, the music and sound for the pod is provided by my husband Joe Calderone. You can check out his composition and production work at https://www.joecalderonemusic.com/
Hang with us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theliminalpodcast/

Christian Universalism

This episode is an overview of themes around Christian Universalism: the position that a loving and just God could never punish finite sin with infinite torment, and that salvation and reconciliation will ultimately reach everyone.
For this episode, I read David Bentley Hart's magnum opus of a book, "That All Shall Be Saved," plus critical reviews and related scholarly commentaries of its themes. I think Hart's book is a text that will shine in history as a desperately needed correction to longstanding bad hermeneutics and bad witness that are formed by, and help perpetuate, ghoulish ideas about hell and thus the nature of God.
I give an overview of eschatological positions in (what I hope is) a very approachable format, and I touch on related topics like original sin and the fall.
So much of faith deconstruction is disillusionment and disappointment. But in Universalism, I find my imagination blossoming with hope again, picturing what a Christianity of gardeners instead of gatekeepers could really mean for our metaphorically and literally burning planet.
 

Friendships, family, and relationships after deconstruction with special guest Joe Calderone

My husband Joe joins me as I talk through the social side of faith deconstruction and processing the change in friendships and family relationships that used to center around a shared church experience.
This is a relaxed and hopeful conversation about things like:
How to take the space you need without burning bridges that don't need to be burned
Maintaining friendships with people who have not deconstructed
How healing our own stuff can give us grace and patience with others
Finding clarity in the difficult decision of whether or not to leave a relationship or a church
Rebuilding community as an adult
Original pod music by Joe! joecalderonemusic.com

Some Christmas camaraderie for the wilderness

Just a little message of solidarity inspired by the Polar Express... and sharing some things that help me stay grounded and hopeful.
Science Mike's Axioms of Faith: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/axioms-for-faith_b_8482932
Book mentioned: Celebration of Discipline* by Richard Foster*(I'm realizing that title sounds like a terrible parenting book -- I promise it's not!)
Original music by my husband who is a composer, producer, and bassist. Check out his work at joecalderonemusic.com

Biblical criticism took me on a trip

I finished "Misquoting Jesus" by Bart Ehrman about a month ago, but I found myself needing a lot of time to wrap my head around it before sharing my thoughts. I read it again, I read some responses to it, and I cross-referenced his notes on specific scriptures with folks like David Bentley Hart's. I think I'm ready to talk about it!
In this episode, I share what I've learned about the history of the New Testament from a bird's eye view, then I go through some of the specific instances where scribes deliberately changed texts to fit their theological or social concerns.
Some key topics include:
The complicated relationship of orthodoxy to unreliable source texts
Verses with Christological and trinitarian concerns that were altered or added
Verses that were changed to intentionally devalue women
Considering if we've overvalued doxis (theory/theology) and undervalued praxis (action)
The danger of pseudo scholarship in the age of the internet and social media
I close by reflecting on how crucial it is to have intellectual and spiritual humility, and how theology and apologetics can themselves be a distraction from actually living the way Jesus taught.
As always, feel free to engage with us on instagram at @theliminalpodcast and let me know your thoughts!
Original music by my husband who is a composer, producer, and bassist. Check out his work at joecalderonemusic.com

Catch-up chat: reading Ehrman & Bentley Hart, recent travels

This is a more informal episode where I catch you up on what I'm learning from Bart Ehrman's "Misquoting Jesus" and David Bentley Hart's "That All Shall Be Saved." This isn't a polished summary of biblical criticism or of salvation theologies; it's more of a laid-back chat while I'm still in the middle of these books and sharing how these topics are hitting me right now. I also talk a little about my recent trips (Japan and Boston) and how I feel about the idea that people from other cultures -- especially with deep spiritual traditions of their own -- need to be saved by Christianity.
*Audio note: my recording came out a little boomy even after a re-record and my sound guy (my husband) is out of town so I'm sorry this one isn't quite as crisp! It's a little better at moderate volume.
The organization I mention in the intro: https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/

The role of scripture (part 1)

Many of us were taught a "sola scriptura" approach to the Bible and/or claims that the Bible is inerrant, meaning perfect and without contradiction or factual errors. The trouble is, lots of people who all claim to live by "sola scriptura" come to wildly different conclusions about theology, and inerrancy simply fails to hold up under honest academic scrutiny. 
This episode introduces key questions about the claims we put on the Bible and whether there are better ways to think about the foundation of our faith and what spiritual development looks like. This will be a recurring topic as future episodes dive more into theology, church history, science, and more.
The episode closes with a poem I wrote five years ago called "Tend the Garden, Not the Gate."
Let me know on Instagram (@theliminalpodcast) how you think about the foundation of faith, the role of scripture, and how to balance theory (ideas in our heads) with action (how we live in the real world) in a healthy faith life! Future episodes will draw on listener questions and contributions.

Mental and emotional health in faith deconstruction

This episode discusses the ways that religion and deconstruction can affect our mental health, and why I believe we should prioritize emotional healing before we get too deep into theological arguments. Emotional intelligence skills can help us mediate our biases and get better at critical thinking. But more importantly, our psychological well-being is too important to be treated like collateral damage to theology debates. That’s how churches sometimes treat us, but that’s not how healthy spirituality works.
I share some of my own experience working through mental health struggles from deconstruction including healing a childhood trauma in therapy, and I offer some insights from scholarly research around topics like mindfulness and emotions. The resources I share in the episode are listed below:
If you are having thoughts of suicide and are in the United States, call or text the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or visit https://988lifeline.org
Crisis resources in other countries: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_suicide_crisis_lines
Stress and coping resources: https://nowmattersnow.org
LGBTQ support: https://thetrevorproject.org
Support for new parents: https://postpartum.net
Veteran resources for PTSD and other rehabilitative needs: https://woundedwarriorproject.org
Substance abuse: https://samhsa.gov or 1-800-662-HELP.
The Holy Hurt podcast about spiritual trauma and healing: https://holyhurtpodcast.com/

The good company of the wilderness

For many of us, faith has been a tangled web of constructive & beautiful experiences mixed in with harmful ideas & baggage. “Deconstruction”  is a necessary process of untangling the good from the bad. However, deconstruction culture can be so good at the  tearing down part that ultimately, the people brave enough to question the intellectual or ethical foundations of their faith group are the ones  left without all the benefits that come from belief and community: things like a hopeful/redemptive worldview, community care, and empowerment for activism rooted in love and justice. In this episode, I offer a framework that has helped me untangle the constructive parts of Christian spirituality from the baggage, and why I see the wilderness as more hopeful and holy of a place than it feels (even when it sucks).