In this episode we speak with author and director of creative writing at Alma College, Sophfronia Scott. We speak with Sophfronia about how her faith has been shaped by the author, monk and mystic, Thomas Merton.  Having struggled to connect with Merton through his autobiography, Sophfronia immersed herself in his journals, and there she found a mentor, friend and kindred Spirit. So we ask her what we can learnt from Merton about being “spiritual but not religious”, the relationship between action and contemplation, inner work, sexuality and more. Interview starts at 15m 36s Show Notes → Nomad is able to produce episodes like this one because a group of faithful listeners help us pay the bills. Our supporters gain access to the Nomad community - which manifests as Nomad Book Club and The Beloved Listener Lounge - and bonus episodes, such as Nomad Contemplations, Nomad Devotionals and Nomad Revisited. And you may find yourself the proud owner of a Beloved Listener mug! Head over to our Patreon page and our own members page to donate. You might also want to have a look at our blog, which we use to share the stories of the evolving faith of our podcast listeners. And if you're looking for other people to share this journey with, then register on our Listener Map and our Nomad Gathering Facebook page, and see if any other nomads are in your area.

Nomad Podcast

Sophfronia Scott - Merton, Monks and Mystics (N266)

In this episode we chat with clinical social worker and a trauma-informed coach, Brian Peck. Brian grew up in a fundamentalist Christian church and upon leaving he began to realise the trauma this had caused. He now specialises in helping people work through their experiences of religious trauma.  So we talk to Brian about why religious spaces seem predisposed to traumatic experiences, what red flags we should be looking out for, how we can protect ourselves, how we can navigate relationships if we feel we have to leave, and many other things.   Interview starts at 10m 52s  Show Notes → Nomad is able to produce episodes like this one because a group of faithful listeners help us pay the bills. Our supporters gain access to the Nomad community - which manifests as Nomad Book Club and The Beloved Listener Lounge - and bonus episodes, such as Nomad Contemplations, Nomad Devotionals and Nomad Revisited. And you may find yourself the proud owner of a Beloved Listener mug! Head over to our Patreon page and our own members page to donate. You might also want to have a look at our blog, which we use to share the stories of the evolving faith of our podcast listeners. And if you're looking for other people to share this journey with, then register on our Listener Map and our Nomad Gathering Facebook page, and see if any other nomads are in your area.

Brian Peck - Church Trauma (N265)

In this episode we speak with former church pastor, author and teacher Keith Giles. Like many evangelicals, Keith inherited a dispensational understanding of the End Times. If you’re not sure what that is, think anti-Christ, mark of the Beast, the rapture, Jesus’s return, and the New Jerusalem. Keith slowly became aware that this was a relatively new, ill-informed and damaging way of reading the bible. So he set about discovering a healthier ‘End Times’ vision. Interview starts at 11m 40s Show Notes → Nomad is able to produce episodes like this one because a group of faithful listeners help us pay the bills. Our supporters gain access to the Nomad community - which manifests as Nomad Book Club and The Beloved Listener Lounge - and bonus episodes, such as Nomad Contemplations, Nomad Devotionals and Nomad Revisited. And you may find yourself the proud owner of a Beloved Listener mug! Head over to our Patreon page and our own members page to donate. You might also want to have a look at our blog, which we use to share the stories of the evolving faith of our podcast listeners. And if you're looking for other people to share this journey with, then register on our Listener Map and our Nomad Gathering Facebook page, and see if any other nomads are in your area.

Keith Giles - Ending the End Times (N264)

Merry Christmas to One and All from Nomad Podcast.  In this devotional episode, Fr Azariah France Williams recalls the story of Viraj Mendis, who sought sanctuary in the UK from Sri Lanka. He lived for several years in a room in the Church of the Ascension, in Hulme, Manchester, being protected by the community. In 1989, the police raided the church and he was forcibly deported. This episode also features the poet and artist Steve Beal. And David Benjamin Blower performs the medieval traditional Christmas carol, Coventry Carol. Show Notes → Nomad is able to produce episodes like this one because a group of faithful listeners help us pay the bills. Our supporters gain access to the Nomad community - which manifests as Nomad Book Club and The Beloved Listener Lounge - and bonus episodes, such as Nomad Contemplations, Nomad Devotionals and Nomad Revisited. And you may find yourself the proud owner of a Beloved Listener mug! Head over to our Patreon page and our own members page to donate. You might also want to have a look at our blog, which we use to share the stories of the evolving faith of our podcast listeners. And if you're looking for other people to share this journey with, then register on our Listener Map and our Nomad Gathering Facebook page, and see if any other nomads are in your area.

Azariah France-Williams - A Displaced Christmas (N263)

The former Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams carries a lifelong love for the theology and practice of the Eastern Church. His recent book, Looking East in Winter gives a window into the beautiful contemplative practices of the Eastern tradition. In this conversation we explore the life of contemplation, political solidarity, simplicity, and "the natural process of becoming natural." Interview starts at 16m 32s Show Notes → Nomad is able to produce episodes like this one because a group of faithful listeners help us pay the bills. Our supporters gain access to the Nomad community - which manifests as Nomad Book Club and The Beloved Listener Lounge - and bonus episodes, such as Nomad Contemplations, Nomad Devotionals and Nomad Revisited. And you may find yourself the proud owner of a Beloved Listener mug! Head over to our Patreon page and our own members page to donate. You might also want to have a look at our blog, which we use to share the stories of the evolving faith of our podcast listeners. And if you're looking for other people to share this journey with, then register on our Listener Map and our Nomad Gathering Facebook page, and see if any other nomads are in your area.

Rowan Williams - Becoming Natural (N262)

When Hannah Malcolm was approached to write a book on climate grief, she chose, instead, to edit a book compiling voices from across the global church. The resulting picture is an extraordinary collage of very different experiences, all of which begin to suggest the many different ways in which everything is connected.  In this conversation we glimpse the church as something far richer and more diverse than we thought; we discover the marks of colonialism and extractive capitalism everywhere; and we explore how the crises of the present is drawing us back to land, to one another, and to our own bodies. Interview starts at 12m 16s Show Notes → Nomad is able to produce episodes like this one because a group of faithful listeners help us pay the bills. Our supporters gain access to the Nomad community - which manifests as Nomad Book Club and The Beloved Listener Lounge - and bonus episodes, such as Nomad Contemplations, Nomad Devotionals and Nomad Revisited. And you may find yourself the proud owner of a Beloved Listener mug! Head over to our Patreon page and our own members page to donate. You might also want to have a look at our blog, which we use to share the stories of the evolving faith of our podcast listeners. And if you're looking for other people to share this journey with, then register on our Listener Map and our Nomad Gathering Facebook page, and see if any other nomads are in your area.

Hannah Malcolm - Words for a Dying World (N261)

Claire Gilbert is a theologian, writer, and founding director of Westminster Abbey Institute. When she discovered that she had Myeloma - terminal cancer in the blood - she began her way by writing letters to a circle of trusted friends. The journey drew her home to nature, to her body, and to her long love for the mystic, Julian of Norwich. The letters are now published in the book Miles to Go Before I Sleep. Interview starts at 16m 15s Show Notes → Nomad is able to produce episodes like this one because a group of faithful listeners help us pay the bills. Our supporters gain access to the Nomad community - which manifests as Nomad Book Club and The Beloved Listener Lounge - and bonus episodes, such as Nomad Contemplations, Nomad Devotionals and Nomad Revisited. And you may find yourself the proud owner of a Beloved Listener mug! Head over to our Patreon page and our own members page to donate. You might also want to have a look at our blog, which we use to share the stories of the evolving faith of our podcast listeners. And if you're looking for other people to share this journey with, then register on our Listener Map and our Nomad Gathering Facebook page, and see if any other nomads are in your area.

Claire Gilbert - Letters on Dying and Living (N260)

Cop26 is a gathering of world leaders, meeting this November in Glasgow to review agreements to reduce carbon emissions. While the meeting was being confirmed, the Young Christian Climate Network planned a relay pilgrimage from Cornwall to Glasgow.  In this podcast Rachel Mander talks to us about what’s at stake in this historic gathering, about faith and activism, about how poorer countries are being pushed into debt to the bigger carbon emitters, and about the trials and joys of the political pilgrimage. Interview starts at 22m 06s Show Notes → Nomad is able to produce episodes like this one because a group of faithful listeners help us pay the bills. Our supporters gain access to the Nomad community - which manifests as Nomad Book Club and The Beloved Listener Lounge - and bonus episodes, such as Nomad Contemplations, Nomad Devotionals and Nomad Revisited. And you may find yourself the proud owner of a Beloved Listener mug! Head over to our Patreon page and our own members page to donate. You might also want to have a look at our blog, which we use to share the stories of the evolving faith of our podcast listeners. And if you're looking for other people to share this journey with, then register on our Listener Map and our Nomad Gathering Facebook page, and see if any other nomads are in your area.

Rachel Mander - Pilgrims to Cop26 (N259)

In this episode we listen in on a conversation between Alex Clare-Young and Sarah Hobbs about their trans experience. Alex is a transmasculine non-binary minister with the United Reformed Church, currently completing doctoral research into trans theology. Sarah is a trans woman, who leads a consultancy business, and is a speaker and trainer. Together they co-chair the Open Table Network, a partnership of Christian communities which welcome and affirm people who are LGBTQ+. In the conversation Alex and Sarah honestly and vulnerably share their stories of coming to terms with their identities, their transition, the reaction of their faith communities, and their evolving relationship with the Bible and the Christian faith. It’s a beautiful, honest, heartbreaking, inspiring, hopeful conversation. Conversation starts at 21m 25s Show Notes → Nomad is able to host conversations like these because a group of faithful listeners help us pay the bills. Our supporters gain access to the Nomad community - which manifests as Nomad Book Club and The Beloved Listener Lounge - and bonus episodes, such as Nomad Contemplations, Nomad Devotionals and Nomad Revisited. And you may find yourself the proud owner of a Beloved Listener mug! Head over to our Patreon page and our own members page to donate. You might also want to have a look at our blog, which we use to share the stories of the evolving faith of our podcast listeners. And if you're looking for other people to share this journey with, then register on our Listener Map and our Nomad Gathering Facebook page, and see if any other nomads are in your area.

Alex Clare-Young & Sarah Hobbs - Trans. Christian. Human. (N258)

In this episode we’re joined by religion and contemporary spirituality commentator, Diana Butler Bass. Diana talks about her latest book Freeing Jesus, in which she tracks the evolution of her understanding and experience of Jesus. From liberal Methodist beginnings, through fundamentalist evangelicalism, to a more progressive Christianity, Diana has never lost her interest in Jesus, or her openness to mystical experiences. But how does she, and the Nomad hosts, now understand titles like Lord, Saviour, Friend and Way? Interview starts at 14m 53s Show Notes → Nomad is able to host conversations like these because a group of faithful listeners help us pay the bills. Our supporters gain access to the Nomad community - which manifests as Nomad Book Club and The Beloved Listener Lounge - and bonus episodes, such as Nomad Contemplations, Nomad Devotionals and Nomad Revisited. And you may find yourself the proud owner of a Beloved Listener mug! Head over to our Patreon page and our own members page to donate. You might also want to have a look at our blog, which we use to share the stories of the evolving faith of our podcast listeners. And if you're looking for other people to share this journey with, then register on our Listener Map and our Nomad Gathering Facebook page, and see if any other nomads are in your area.

Diana Butler Bass - Freeing Jesus (N257)

Every month we produce a podcast for our supporters called Nomad Revisited. In each episode Tim and Nick enter the Nomad archive and chose an episode from the last 12 years, and spend an hour or so reflecting on how their faith has evolved since then. It’s an exercise in self forgiveness and compassion, as they are often confronted with terrible interview technique, poor audio quality and very earnest, evangelical theology! This month we thought we’d put one of these episode on Nomad’s main feed, as a free taster. It’s a 2014 conversation with the author of the book The Evangelical Universalist, Robin Parry. At the time Tim and Nick would have considered ‘evangelical universalism’ an oxymoron, and a slippery slope to liberalism. But how do they view it now? Interview starts at 21m 56s Show Notes → If you want to access Nomad Revisited, and our monthly Devotionals and Contemplations, head over to our Patreon page or our own members page to donate. You might also want to have a look at our blog, which we use to share the stories of the evolving faith of our podcast listeners. And if you're looking for other people to share this journey with, then register on our Listener Map and our Nomad Gathering Facebook page, and see if any other nomads are in your area.

Robin Parry - A Hope in Hell? [Revisited] (N256)

This episode is a conversation between good friends Emma Morton and Lyn Baylis. Emma is a former pastor, art therapist and activist, whose faith led her towards pagan spirituality and community. Lyn has practiced her pagan spirituality all of her life. She’s been a priestess for 40 years, is a Multi-faith minister, and is the UK Coordinator for LifeRites and Senior teacher on the LifeRites Foundation Course. Here they talk about how their journeys took shape, how they’ve dealt with rejection and persecution, and what they’ve learned from one another. Conversation starts at 16m 5s  Show Notes → Nomad is able to host conversations like these because a group of faithful listeners help us pay the bills. Our supporters gain access to the Nomad community - which manifests as Nomad Book Club and The Beloved Listener Lounge - and bonus episodes, such as Nomad Contemplations, Nomad Devotionals and Nomad Revisited. And you may find yourself the proud owner of a Beloved Listener mug! Head over to our Patreon page and our own members page to donate. You might also want to have a look at our blog, which we use to share the stories of the evolving faith of our podcast listeners. And if you're looking for other people to share this journey with, then register on our Listener Map and our Nomad Gathering Facebook page, and see if any other nomads are in your area.

Emma Moreton & Lyn Baylis - When Christians and Pagans Make Friends (N255)

Natalia-Nana is a teacher, trainer, and coach in Equity, Diversity, and Liberation. In this episode we talk about what it means to decolonise our faith, why it is important and how we can go about it. Jemimah and Natalia-Nana explore the relationship between deconstruction and the work of decolonising and dismantling. They discuss the impact of colonisation on the ways we think, relate, and the way that institutions operate including in our spiritual journeys and faith communities. Interviews starts at 20m 57s Show Notes → Nomad is able to host conversations like these because a group of faithful listeners help us pay the bills. Our supporters gain access to the Nomad community - which manifests as Nomad Book Club and The Beloved Listener Lounge - and bonus episodes, such as Nomad Contemplations, Nomad Devotionals and Nomad Revisited. And you may find yourself the proud owner of a Beloved Listener mug! Head over to our Patreon page and our own members page to donate. You might also want to have a look at our blog, which we use to share the stories of the evolving faith of our podcast listeners. And if you're looking for other people to share this journey with, then register on our Listener Map and our Nomad Gathering Facebook page, and see if any other nomads are in your area.

Natalia-Nana - Decolonising Faith (N254)

On this episode we’ve invited Liz Pattison and Jim Robinson to have a conversation around their experiences of death. Jim lost both his parents at quite a young age, and Liz recently lost her partner. They share their experiences of grief and loss, how friends, family and church responded, and how their faith has evolved through these experiences. It’s an honest, real, insightful, moving and hopeful conversation. Conversation starts at 21m 32s Show Notes → Nomad is able to host conversations like these because a group of faithful listeners help us pay the bills. Our supporters gain access to the Nomad community - which manifests as Nomad Book Club and The Beloved Listener Lounge - and bonus episodes, such as Nomad Contemplations, Nomad Devotionals and Nomad Revisited. And you may find yourself the proud owner of a Beloved Listener mug! Head over to our Patreon page and our own members page to donate. You might also want to have a look at our blog, which we use to share the stories of the evolving faith of our podcast listeners. And if you're looking for other people to share this journey with, then register on our Listener Map and our Nomad Gathering Facebook page, and see if any other nomads are in your area.

Liz Pattison & Jim Robinson - Surviving Death (N253)

Miles Irving has been foraging since childhood. Having journeyed through Pentecostalism, he returned to his first passion for wild foods, and began to discover that our relationship to what we eat bears deeply on our relationship to everything. In this episode, Miles and David spend a day eating nothing but foraged food and talking through the joys, trials and transformations that come of eating what grows out of the soil where we live. Interview starts at 15m 15s Show Notes → Nomad is able to host conversations like these because a group of faithful listeners help us pay the bills. Our supporters gain access to the Nomad community - which manifests as Nomad Book Club and The Beloved Listener Lounge - and bonus episodes, such as Nomad Contemplations, Nomad Devotionals and Nomad Revisited. And you may find yourself the proud owner of a Beloved Listener mug! Head over to our Patreon page and our own members page to donate. You might also want to have a look at our blog, which we use to share the stories of the evolving faith of our podcast listeners. And if you're looking for other people to share this journey with, then register on our Listener Map and our Nomad Gathering Facebook page, and see if any other nomads are in your area.

Miles Irving - Foraging and the Kindness of Creation (N252)

Stumbling through the post-Christendom wilderness, looking for signs of hope.

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Nomad Podcast

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