America at 250: Gratitude, Truth, and Hope

America at 250: Gratitude, Truth, and Hope

In this brief Fourth of July reflection, The Unintentional Heretic explores how Christians can love their country with both gratitude and honesty, celebrating America’s ideals while telling the truth about its contradictions. True patriotism is not silence or triumphalism, but a faithful commitment to justice, mercy, and the dignity of every human being. Would love to hear your thoughts! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2617303/fan_mail/new]

God Is Not in Control, and That Might Be Good News: Omnipotence, Suffering, and the Power of Uncontrolling Love

In this episode of The Unintentional Heretic, we explore whether God must be understood as all powerful in the traditional sense, especially in light of suffering, tragedy, and the painful claim that even the death of a child is somehow “God’s will.” Moving through Scripture, the problem of evil, process theology, and Thomas Jay Oord’s idea of amipotence, we consider whether a more faithful vision of God may be not all controlling, but all loving. Would love to hear your thoughts! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2617303/fan_mail/new]

When the Flag Replaces the Cross: Christian Nationalism and the Gospel According to Empire

In this episode of The Unintentional Heretic, we explore Christian nationalism as a distortion of the Gospel that confuses love of country with worship of country and replaces the way of Jesus with the logic of empire. From Pharaoh to Rome to Constantine to America’s own myths of divine destiny, we look at how sacred language has been used to justify power, violence, and exclusion, and why the kingdom of God calls us to something far more humble, truthful, and Christlike. Would love to hear your thoughts! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2617303/fan_mail/new]

Mary Magdalene: Apostle, Sinner, or Threat?

In this episode of The Unintentional Heretic, we explore how Mary Magdalene was transformed by centuries of church tradition from the first witness to the resurrection into a symbol of sexual sin and repentance. Her story reveals how easily the church has distorted women’s authority, and how the risen Christ entrusted the first Easter proclamation not to Peter, not to Paul, but to Mary. Would love to hear your thoughts! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2617303/fan_mail/new]

When the Church Split in Two: The Great Schism and the Fracturing of Christian Orthodoxy

In this episode of The Unintentional Heretic, we explore the Great Schism of 1054, when the Eastern and Western churches formally split after centuries of theological, political, cultural, and linguistic tension. It is a reminder that what we often call “orthodoxy” has always been shaped by history, power, personality, and disagreement, and that the divisions we inherit are not always as inevitable as they seem. Would love to hear your thoughts! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2617303/fan_mail/new]