Parker's Pensées Ep. 279 - How to Be an Everyday Saint with Josh Nadeu from Sword & Pencil
Oct 12, 2025
In this conversation, Josh Nadeau, the creative mind behind Sword & Pencil and author of 'Room for Good Things to Run Wild', dives into themes of spiritual formation and masculinity. He candidly shares his struggles with addiction, promoting vulnerability among men. Josh critiques hollow evangelical practices and champions the importance of embodied spirituality. They discuss how everyday actions can serve as sacred liturgies and explore the profound narratives that shape faith. His journey emphasizes finding true life through sacrifice and seeing suffering as a catalyst for growth.
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Story Over Apologetics
- Josh wrote a narrative to reach hearts, not just heads, because people don't get reasoned into faith they get storyed into it.
- He intended the book to rekindle love for Jesus through lived narrative rather than apologetic argumentation.
Vulnerability As A Launchpad
- Josh recounts writing vulnerably about alcoholism and suicidal thoughts to give others space to share their worst parts.
- His editor challenged him to reshape the memoir into something serving other readers, which he did.
Functional Gnosticism In Evangelicalism
- Josh critiques evangelical 'functional Gnosticism' that disparages the body and prefers disembodied spiritual posturing.
- He argues rites and embodied markers of maturity are missing, leaving people to perform spiritual identity with language and props.
