Nomad Podcast

Liz Bucar, a religious ethicist and Northeastern University professor, examines what wellness culture leaves out. They explore spiritual practices detached from tradition, yoga and psychedelics within religious frameworks, religion beyond belief, authority, belonging, appropriation, and the role of community in human flourishing. The conversation also revisits Sabbath, evangelical formation, and how practices shape the people we become.

Carmen Acevedo Butcher, an author, spiritual-text translator, and contemplative educator, explores The Cloud of Unknowing and faith beyond certainty. She reflects on loving what cannot be defined, befriending restless minds, and discovering divine intimacy in silence, nature, and ordinary kindness. The conversation also considers Lectio Divina, deconstruction, mystical language, and finding a firm foundation in mystery during anxious times.

Pádraig Ó Tuama, an Irish poet, theologian and conflict-transformation facilitator, explores inherited sacred stories, desire, shame and the body’s early wisdom. He reflects on poetry, masculinity, friendship, prayer after religious harm and anger as creative energy. Together they consider mystery, birds, beauty and the imperfect journey of becoming “almost new.”

In this conversation, bestselling historian Bart Ehrman argues that ideas we now take for granted—caring for strangers, helping those in need and expanding our moral concern beyond family and tribe—were anything but obvious in the ancient world.Bart has spent much of his career challenging traditional Christian beliefs. But in Love Thy Stranger he makes a surprising historical case for Christianity's positive legacy, while remaining candid about the harm the church has also caused. Along the way we explore Jesus' relationship to Judaism, why the early church may have changed his teaching on forgiveness, whether Christianity transformed the moral imagination of the West, and what—if anything—we stand to lose as faith continues to decline.After the interview, Nomad hosts Tim and Nick wrestle with what it means to be shaped by Jesus’ moral vision while no longer holding all the beliefs that once came with it.Interview starts at 11m 44sBooks, quotes, links →The creation of Nomad’s thoughtful, ad-free content is entirely funded by our equally thoughtful and wonderful listeners. By supporting us, you gain access to Nomad’s online spaces—like the Beloved Listener Lounge, Enneagram Lounge, and Book Club—as well as bonus episodes such as Nomad Contemplations, Homegrown Conversations, and Nomad Revisited.If you’d like to join our lovely community of supporters, head over to our Patreon page. You might even be rewarded with a Nomad pen or our coveted Beloved Listener mug!If a monthly commitment isn’t possible right now, a one-off donation is always deeply appreciated—you can do that here.Looking to connect with others nearby? Check out the Listener Map or join our Nomad Gathering Facebook group.And if you're up for sharing your own story, we regularly post reflections from listeners on our blog—all with the hope of fostering deeper understanding, connection and supportive relationships. If you'd like to share your story on the blog, contact us for more information here.

What does it mean to become a man? And who teaches us how? In this episode, Tim is joined by author Shannon Kearns to explore the stories, expectations and assumptions that shape masculinity. Drawing on his experience as a trans man, Shannon offers a unique perspective on what it means to consciously navigate a world that many assume comes naturally.Together they explore male loneliness, friendship, vulnerability, violence, faith, and the quiet fear many men carry of not being enough. Rather than offering another culture-war take on masculinity, this conversation asks a more generous question: what might it look like to improvise a better way of being a man?After the interview, Nomad hosts Tim and Joy reflect on their own experiences of gender, friendship and vulnerability, and wonder whether some of the familiar stories we tell about men and women are quite as simple as they seem.Interview starts at 13m 13s Books, quotes, links →The creation of Nomad’s thoughtful, ad-free content is entirely funded by our equally thoughtful and wonderful listeners. By supporting us, you gain access to Nomad’s online spaces—like the Beloved Listener Lounge, Enneagram Lounge, and Book Club—as well as bonus episodes such as Nomad Contemplations, Homegrown Conversations, and Nomad Revisited.If you’d like to join our lovely community of supporters, head over to our Patreon page. You might even be rewarded with a Nomad pen or our coveted Beloved Listener mug!If a monthly commitment isn’t possible right now, a one-off donation is always deeply appreciated—you can do that here.Looking to connect with others nearby? Check out the Listener Map or join our Nomad Gathering Facebook group.And if you're up for sharing your own story, we regularly post reflections from listeners on our blog—all with the hope of fostering deeper understanding, connection and supportive relationships. If you'd like to share your story on the blog, contact us for more information here.

Swami Padmanabha, a Hindu monk, teacher and author who explores Bhakti, mysticism, and evolving religious practice. He discusses staying faithful to tradition after betrayal. He talks about healthy authority, doubt as a tool, cross-tradition learning with Christianity, and building compassionate communities that let love and practice keep growing.

Marissa Burt, author and educator who studied evangelical parenting, unpacks how certainty and control shaped decades of Christian childrearing. She traces the rise of prescriptive parenting, the role of fear and spiritual authority, and how love was reframed as punishment. Conversations explore shame, estrangement, and gentler alternatives that honor children’s personhood and faith without coercion.

In this episode, Tim talks with sex therapist and author Tina Schermer Sellers about the hidden legacy of religious sexual shame and the impact it can have on our relationships, our spirituality, and our sense of self. Drawing on decades of clinical experience, Tina explores how messages absorbed in childhood can shape the way we experience our bodies, desire, intimacy, and even our understanding of God. Together they discuss purity culture, embodiment, safety, trust, and why our bodies often hold onto shame long after our beliefs have changed.Along the way, Tina offers a more hopeful and life-giving vision of sexuality—one rooted not in fear or control, but in connection, pleasure, mutuality, and belovedness. The conversation explores eros as a life force, the possibility of healing through relationships, and how we might begin to reclaim our bodies as places of joy, wisdom, and even divine encounter.Following the interview, Tim is joined by his wife Hannah for a thoughtful and often humorous conversation about growing up with evangelical messages around sex, dating and relationships. Together they reflect on shame, intimacy, safety, eros, and what it means to raise children with a healthier relationship to their bodies, desires and sense of self.Interview starts at 19m 08sBooks, quotes, links →The creation of Nomad’s thoughtful, ad-free content is entirely funded by our equally thoughtful and wonderful listeners. By supporting us, you gain access to Nomad’s online spaces—like the Beloved Listener Lounge, Enneagram Lounge, and Book Club—as well as bonus episodes such as Nomad Contemplations, Homegrown Conversations, and Nomad Revisited.If you’d like to join our lovely community of supporters, head over to our Patreon page. You might even be rewarded with a Nomad pen or our coveted Beloved Listener mug!If a monthly commitment isn’t possible right now, a one-off donation is always deeply appreciated—you can do that here.Looking to connect with others nearby? Check out the Listener Map or join our Nomad Gathering Facebook group.And if you're up for sharing your own story, we regularly post reflections from listeners on our blog—all with the hope of fostering deeper understanding, connection and supportive relationships. If you'd like to share your story on the blog, contact us for more information here.

Abi Millar grew up in a charismatic evangelical church where faith once felt vivid, immediate and full of certainty. But as questions about science, belief, heaven and hell began to press in, that certainty slowly unravelled. In this conversation, Tim talks with Abi about what it cost to leave, the freedom and loss that followed, and the spiritual hunger that eventually re-emerged after a long season of atheism. They also talk about some of the practices Abi explores in her book The Spirituality Gap — including yoga, ayahuasca, tarot and meditation — and the tension between scepticism and openness that runs through her journey. Along the way, the conversation touches on rootedness, community, cultural integrity, and the question of whether spirituality can truly flourish without a shared story or tradition. Following the interview, Nomad hosts Tim and Nick reflect on the burden of heaven and hell, the freedom and loss of leaving evangelical faith, and the search for meaning beyond certainty. They also explore what Abi’s journey raises about psychedelics, tarot, rootedness, and the limits of highly individual spirituality.Interview starts at 10m 34sBooks, quotes, links →The creation of Nomad’s thoughtful, ad-free content is entirely funded by our equally thoughtful and wonderful listeners. By supporting us, you gain access to Nomad’s online spaces—like the Beloved Listener Lounge, Enneagram Lounge, and Book Club—as well as bonus episodes such as Nomad Contemplations, Homegrown Conversations, and Nomad Revisited.If you’d like to join our lovely community of supporters, head over to our Patreon page. You might even be rewarded with a Nomad pen or our coveted Beloved Listener mug!If a monthly commitment isn’t possible right now, a one-off donation is always deeply appreciated—you can do that here.Looking to connect with others nearby? Check out the Listener Map or join our Nomad Gathering Facebook group.And if you're up for sharing your own story, we regularly post reflections from listeners on our blog—all with the hope of fostering deeper understanding, connection and supportive relationships. If you'd like to share your story on the blog, contact us for more information here.

Damon Garcia, writer and speaker who explores theology and critiques of evangelical culture, reflects on Pentecostal upbringing and the pressure to find a singular calling. He contrasts vocation with capitalist pressures, shares a messy vocational journey, and offers a gentler view of small, ordinary callings rooted in presence, grace, and collective resistance to monetised worth.