CONFLICTED

Conflicted Community: Aimen Interviews Thomas

Jul 10, 2024

Former novice monk Thomas shares his spiritual journey from Mount Athos, discussing narcissism, humility, monastic life, and intellectual pursuits. He explores his transition to Orthodoxy, collaborations with Aimen, and the launch of his new podcast on Church Fathers.

01:03:56

Episode guests

Thomas

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Episode notes

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Thomas' journey from novice monk to launching a new podcast on Church Fathers.

Exploration of Thomas' spiritual evolution from a strict evangelical background to Orthodoxy.

Deep dive into how Thomas' encounter with Aimen initiated intellectual discussions and friendship.

Deep dives

Introduction to Personal Backgrounds and the New Podcast

The podcast episode introduces Aemon Dean, a host, and Thomas, a guest. Aemon typically interviews Thomas but now flips the script. Aemon announces the launch of a new podcast on Substack and decides to delve into Thomas' life and spiritual journey in this episode.

Intro

3min

Exploring Shared Fascination with Religion

7min

Exploring Religious Upbringing and Philosophical Evolution

16min

Thomas's Journey to Greece and Mount Athos

6min

Exploring Narcissism, Spirituality, and Humility

4min

Monastic Life and Intellectual Pursuits

20min

Rational Explanations, Addressing Violence, and Launching a Substack

6min

All Conflicted fans know Aimen’s life story – but what about that of his co-host, Thomas Small? Avid listeners will have heard Thomas talk about his Orthodox Christian faith and his time as a novice monk at a monastery on the Greek island of Mount Athos, but the story of how he got there, and why he decided to leave the brotherhood, is a fascinating tale… This week, Thomas and Aimen switch roles to find out more about Thomas’ spiritual journey.

We’re putting out this episode to all of our dear listeners, because Thomas is releasing a new podcast over on Substack called ‘Life Sentences’. This is Thomas’ attempt to introduce to the world the Church Fathers – the Christian writers, theologians, mystics and divines who wrote in the first 1000 years of Christianity. The podcast sees Thomas read out the texts of the Church Fathers and comment on them as he goes, making them relevant to today. It’s a fascinating listen, and we hope all Conflicted listeners will tune in when the first episode goes live on Sunday July 14th.

You can subscribe and find out more about the podcast through the website at: https://wisdomreadings.substack.com/

To listen to more bonus episodes like this one, subscribe to the Conflicted Community. And don’t forget, subscribers can also join our Conflicted Community chatroom, where you can interact with fellow dearest listeners, discuss episodes past and future, get exclusive messages from Thomas and Aimen, ask future Q&A questions and so much more.

All the information you need to sign up to the Conflicted Community is on this link: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/

And finally – Conflicted season 5 goes live next Wednesday on July 17th! Thomas and Aimen have been cooking up a whole new season on… Africa. Tune in next Wednesday for the first episode.

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CONFLICTED

Conflicted Community: Aimen Interviews Thomas

Episode guests

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Deep dives

Introduction to Personal Backgrounds and the New Podcast

Thomas' Transition to Orthodoxy and Church Fathers

Meeting Between Thomas and Jonathan Regarding a Book

Thomas' Childhood Background and Faith Development

Thomas' Monastic Experience and Discoveries

Remember Everything You Learn from Podcasts