“...the shocking argument of this book is that cultural Christians could exist and even flourish in a world in which Christianity was a persecuted minority.” – Dr Nadya Williams, Cultural Christians in the Early Church In this conversation, Dr Nadya Williams unloads a ton of mindblowing insight about the way culture has impacted Christianity since the very beginning. There are more hot-button topics in this hour than you can shake a stick at (prostitution, pornography, medical assistance in dyin...
Jun 20, 2025•1 hr 1 min•0Ep. 84
What if your memory isn’t your memory? Would it matter? In what way would it matter? In this mini-recording, I unpack my own self-discovery of something tantamount to an accidental self-deception, and open it to the crowd to see if there’s anything to be learned from it. This is the podcast episode I mentioned: Devil & The Deep Blue Sea episode #7 (The Spell Breaks) This is the super-cool bridge I mentioned: Confederation Bridge This is the upcoming run I mentioned: Terry Fox Run across Conf...
May 30, 2025•9 min
Ep 83 with Keith Bodner LIVE!!! I’m inclined to try & call this something like a “very special after-school special” episode of the Jolly Thoughts pod, but… it was actually recorded at school ( Crandall University , to be precise, and aided by the illustrious Darrell Nevers ). In this conversation, the incomparable Dr Keith Bodner gives us a bit of a flyover on the concept of reading the Bible as narrative literature. Why would we listen to his opinion on this? Oh, no reason, other than he b...
May 09, 2025•47 min
In “ The Creed We Need ”, Jerome Van Kuiken gives us a very compact but loaded tour through the interactions between the ancient witness of the Nicene Creed and the less-ancient but now “traditional” theological underpinnings of the [John] Wesleyan[an] movement(s). In this fun & wide-ranging conversation, we hit up all kinds of topics. I’d love to hear from you: Which part was your favourite? Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction and Background 05:55 - Exploring the Nicene Creed 12:00 - Understandi...
May 02, 2025•57 min
I’ve known Natasha Dongell since I was a kid (which was longer ago for me than for her, I assure you), and I’ve long looked up to her as a source of wisdom, but this newly released book of hers (a memoir titled When Lynn Died ) is a resource on grief that I truly hope makes a broad impact in the world. In our conversation we briefly recap the story of crisis that led to her wanting/needing to write this book, but beyond that, she shares helpful thoughts on how people can deal with grief & th...
Feb 12, 2025•1 hr 9 min
Are miracles “violations” of the laws of nature? Are demons and ghosts more than just a relic of ancient mythology? Is there any truth behind modern-day exorcism? Do some people possess prophetic abilities? Are near-death experiences a true glimpse of the afterlife? Can the worldview of the ancient texts of Scripture help us interpret these supernatural phenomena? These are the kinds of questions that Matt McGuire tackles in his work in general and in his book in particular . In this conversatio...
Jan 24, 2025•1 hr 4 min
By the year 2040, churches will no longer have Sunday morning sermons… Joel Murphy said so. Just kidding, just kidding … I said so, and then said that Joel said so. It was my attempt at “futuring”, which is something that I don’t officially do. But Joel does. In his role at Futuring Hub , Joel is part of a team that exist to “consider tomorrow in order to anticipate and shape today’s church.” In this conversation, we get a crash course on futuring, consider some of its pros & cons, and then ...
Jan 10, 2025•1 hr 3 min
How does a man who grew up in an anti-Christian cult (one which attempted to convince him that people with his skin tone ought not follow Christ) end up a professing Christian pursuing academic studies in order to be better equipped to bring the Christian message to his own home community? That’s what this conversation (in part) helps to illuminate. Hakeem Bradley ’s story is full of ups, downs, people who helped point the way, and Jesus. To follow along with his ongoing story you can find him o...
Dec 27, 2024•1 hr 11 min
For some people, the word “gospel” is mostly connected to a genre of music. For others, it may conjure significant debate on what exactly it is . In Matt Bates ’ new book, Why The Gospel? , he tries rather to take a look behind the curtain at the purpose for the “Good News” that others are arguing about. This conversation is just a teaser at some of the great work Matt has done & is doing. If you’d like to keep up with him on socials, he has a Facebook & a X profile , and he remains an a...
Dec 20, 2024•1 hr 5 min
When it comes to religion & politics, there’s a difference between “personal” & “private”. At least, that’s Mike MacNeil says in this conversation… and I’m inclined to agree. Mike is the author of three books ( Jesus Kicks // Jesus Wears An Orange Jumpsuit // Holy Spit! ), a hoppin’ Substack blog ( Soul Apologetics ), and is a pastor on staff @ Kings Church in Atlantic Canada, where he gives leadership to their in-house Kings Academy . This is a pretty wide-ranging conversation, but if y...
Dec 06, 2024•58 min
When Alan Streett found himself sitting around a circle with friends of his listening to a man in a trance embody the voice of a dead loved one, the fact that he was doing so “in Jesus’ name” didn’t seem strange to him… until it did. In Alan’s newest book ( Exploring The Paranormal , from Eerdman’s Publishing ), he walks us through several jaw-dropping phases of his own life & personal experience with the paranormal, building to a climactic opportunity to share his own current understanding ...
Oct 31, 2024•1 hr 12 min
“For years, psychedelics were my religion. All I ever wanted was The Thing That Would Make Everything Okay Forever, the panacea, the cure for what plagued me. From those first moments when I tasted the earthy pulp of a psilocybin mushroom, it was love. Psychedelics were my sacrament. They shot me into cathedral vaults. The promise of eternal life through chemicals glittered seductively, but hid a yawning abyss…” - Ashley Lande In this episode of the podcast, we dive into Ashley Lande’s new book ...
Oct 18, 2024•1 hr 1 min
“From what I gather, you fit the bill of the kind of person I have in mind. Raised in the orbit of the church. Not unfamiliar with Jesus or Scripture. Not skeptical of them either. But untutored…” The above is a brief & early description of the idealized pen-pal (or, “interlocutor”, if you’re nasty/fancy) that Brad East had in mind when writing his new book, Letters To A Future Saint . In this conversation we dig into the book, his motivations for writing it, his hopes for its use, and his p...
Sep 27, 2024•1 hr 3 min
“Being told to participate - while in fact being unable to participate - is deeply dispiriting to worshipers, especially worshipers with anxiety…” (pg 152 of Worship In An Age Of Anxiety ) This Michael Jordan may or may not be able to palm a basketball, but he can certainly help us wrestle with the deep & challenging topic of how contemporary Christian worship practices (read “Western” and “Evangelical” in there too, likely) interact with those who are experiencing anxiety in our day & a...
Sep 06, 2024•1 hr 2 min
“Collaboration does not have to be about corruption; it can be about cooperation.” ( pg 78 of God’s Ghostwriters ) Have you ever stopped to wonder how the biblical texts were actually written down, and by who (or… whom)? In this episode of the podcast, I chat with Dr Candida Moss about her newest book, God’s Ghostwriters , which is about that very thing. In her own words, Candida is known as a bit of an iconoclast, and this book doesn’t disappoint in that regard, shedding light on (and raising q...
Aug 16, 2024•1 hr 12 min
In this episode of the pod, I’m cross-sharing a sermon I was glad to have been able to preach at my local church on Sunday, July 28th, as part of a 10-week series on the Sermon On The Mount . I reference in it this devotional , which is still available online, if interested. Also, the video version of this is available on my YouTube channel . Get full access to Marc Jolicoeur (aka Jolly Thoughts) at marcjolicoeur.substack.com/subscribe...
Aug 09, 2024•32 min
David Bennett is a self-described “celibate gay Christian”, but goodness… he is so much more than that! He’s an author , a theologian in residence , with a PhD from none other than Oxford , and he’s a fierce lover of (and follower of) Jesus . And yet, he’s a controversial character. In large part, this is because of his online presence (which some might construe as “activism”) on behalf of what is often shorthanded as “side-B Christianity”. I hesitate to offer any sort of in-depth definition of ...
Aug 02, 2024•1 hr 28 min
Conor Conway is a coffee connoisseur, top notch trumpeter, and spiritual conversationalist. Since he is a co-owner of Epoch Coffee in downtown Moncton, I have known of Conor for years now, but this in-depth conversation was long overdue. We dip into his early days with Canadian pop music sensation The Weeknd , drink three marvelously prepared cups of coffee, and dive DEEP into not only his own experiences of God in general and Judaism in particular, but also some of the (good and less-good) ways...
Jun 30, 2024•1 hr 49 min
Today is the first time I’ve wondered if the movie title “ Free Willy ” was actually a hidden joke. …probably not. Nonetheless, the question of just how “free” our wills may be is no longer a conversation restricted to theologians . That said, this conversation is from a theological vantage point. In it, Nathan Adams (who is currently a PhD student @ McGill University ) runs us through the paper he recently presented at the Wesleyan Theological Society . Wanna find out more? Either listen to the...
May 24, 2024•1 hr 4 min
Tim Perry has some strong feelings about the state of the Church at large, and he’s not afraid to lay them out for open & honest dialogue. In this wide-ranging conversation we discuss: * the unique place of Mary in Christian Theology throughout history, and how that intersects with today * the potential dangers of “dismissing” Mary * the latent worth of the Old Testament in the Church today * the value of embracing a whole-person, embodied worship experience We get into some nitty gritty wee...
Apr 26, 2024•1 hr
A few episodes back I shared my conversation with W David O Taylor, wherein we got nerdy on the question of whether or not Jesus could have been considered an “artist”. I shared part of that conversation during the Sunday morning message attached to Moncton Wesleyan Church ’s annual arts fest ( Imagine ). This podcast is the remainder of that message... Get full access to Marc Jolicoeur (aka Jolly Thoughts) at marcjolicoeur.substack.com/subscribe...
Apr 12, 2024•35 min
Imagine ‘24 (an annual Arts Fest that I’m quite involved in) is well in the rearview mirror now. Soon I’ll be posting the message I was pleased to be able to share as part of Moncton Wesleyan ’s Sunday morning service (a service that featured live dance, live painting, and some other beautiful artistic expressions), but this episode is actually a panel conversation with visual artist Leanne Prescott and songwriter Aaron Bartlett , both of whom are on Imagine’s Lead Team. We recorded this convers...
Apr 05, 2024•58 min
This episode of the pod is me riffing briefly on the waiting that Holy Saturday interposes into the celebration of Easter, followed by a sermon that was part of Moncton Wesleyan ’s “Domino Effect” series . I’m releasing this episode just a few hours after what amounted to a historic Good Friday service in the city of Moncton. Officially 5 churches (and several others “unofficially”) joined together in remembrance, and it was immensely powerful. Right after the service, I got into a brief convers...
Mar 30, 2024•47 min
In this episode of the podcast I am overjoyed to be able to share my recent conversation with none other than Dr W David O Taylor (hereinafter merely “David”). David is the associate professor of theology & culture at Fuller Seminary , the author of a ton of books… oh, and he was the guy responsible for pulling Bono & Eugene Peterson together for this magical conversation a few years back. Relevant to this conversation, David was (for a significant period of time) a pastor in a church th...
Feb 22, 2024•57 min
Guys, this was a suuuuuper fun convo for me!!! Nostalgia + philosophizing = a great day. In this convo, Leah Payne and I take a peek at her forthcoming book ( God God Rock & Roll To You ), geek out a little about her fabulous Weird Religion podcast (before her equally fabulous Rock That Doesn't Roll podcast was even a thing), and reminisce about the bookcase credibility trend which is no more. In actual fact, for the most part, we spend our time asking questions about the rise & fall of ...
Jan 19, 2024•1 hr 4 min
God is a merciful judge. God has granted us mercy. God calls us to grant mercy to others. A few weeks ago I was blessed to have been able to preach in our church’s 2023 advent series, “The God I Want” . I spoke primarily from Matthew 18: “For this reason, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his slaves. As he began settling his accounts, a man who owed 10,000 talents was brought to him. Because he was not able to repay it, the lord ordered him to be sold, along...
Dec 22, 2023•41 min
“In the incarnation, God has deemed the female body - the impure, bleeding female body - worthy to handle the most sacred of all things, the very body of God. “ (Amy Peeler, pg 61, Women & the Gender of God ) In this episode (released oh-so-close to Christmas 2023), I am beyond pleased to be able to share with you a conversation with the Rev Dr Amy Peeler . Amy is a professor at Wheaton College , an associate rector at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church , and the author of (the book we primarily di...
Dec 15, 2023•1 hr 2 min
On this episode of the podcast, we go deeeeeep with Dr Ekaputra Tupamahu about his 2022 book Contesting Languages: Heteroglossia & the Politics of Language in the Early Church . This book is a highly detailed and technical revisitation of the phenomenon typically shorthanded in today’s church as “tongues”, primarily viewed through the lens of 1 Corinthians 14 . Eka was very generous with his time & expertise, and put up no defensive barriers when I probed him pretty deeply about his thes...
Dec 08, 2023•1 hr 21 min
Folks, I am over-the-moon excited to be able to share this conversation with Dr Lester Ruth about his most recent book (co-authored with Lim Swee Hong ), A History Of Contemporary Praise & Worship . This pair did a shorter history on this topic a few years back ( Lovin’ On Jesus ), and in this conversation we get not only the broadstrokes of their findings but also a little bit of the behind-the-scenes work (spoiler alert: there was a LOT of it) that led to their very reasoned and very helpf...
Nov 03, 2023•1 hr 15 min
Ladies & gentlemen, it is with great pleasure (and a touch of trepidation) that I share with you my first podcast conversation with not one but TWO guests at a time! Don’t worry; it’s double the fun! Sarah Kathleen Johnson and Anneli Loepp Thiessen are the co-authors of a recently-published journal article in Worship called “Contemporary Worship Music As An Ecumenical Liturgical Movement”, which we use as a launchpad to be able to discuss things like the Taizé worshiping community , their wo...
Oct 16, 2023•1 hr 2 min
