When Hannah Malcolm was approached to write a book on climate grief, she chose, instead, to edit a book compiling voices from across the global church. The resulting picture is an extraordinary collage of very different experiences, all of which begin to suggest the many different ways in which everything is connected. In this conversation we glimpse the church as something far richer and more diverse than we thought; we discover the marks of colonialism and extractive capitalism everywhere; and...
Nov 24, 2021•2 hr 12 min•Ep. 261
Claire Gilbert is a theologian, writer, and founding director of Westminster Abbey Institute. When she discovered that she had Myeloma - terminal cancer in the blood - she began her way by writing letters to a circle of trusted friends. The journey drew her home to nature, to her body, and to her long love for the mystic, Julian of Norwich. The letters are now published in the book Miles to Go Before I Sleep . After the interview, Nomad hosts Tim Nash and David Blower chat about how Claire’s exp...
Nov 10, 2021•1 hr 42 min•Ep. 260
Cop26 is a gathering of world leaders, meeting this November in Glasgow to review agreements to reduce carbon emissions. While the meeting was being confirmed, the Young Christian Climate Network planned a relay pilgrimage from Cornwall to Glasgow. In this podcast Rachel Mander talks to us about what’s at stake in this historic gathering, about faith and activism, about how poorer countries are being pushed into debt to the bigger carbon emitters, and about the trials and joys of the political p...
Oct 24, 2021•2 hr 13 min•Ep. 259
In this episode we listen in on a conversation between Alex Clare-Young and Sarah Hobbs about their trans experience. Alex is a transmasculine non-binary minister with the United Reformed Church, currently completing doctoral research into trans theology. Sarah is a trans woman, who leads a consultancy business, and is a speaker and trainer. Together they co-chair the Open Table Network, a partnership of Christian communities which welcome and affirm people who are LGBTQ+. In the conversation Al...
Oct 11, 2021•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 258
In this episode we’re joined by religion and contemporary spirituality commentator, Diana Butler Bass. Diana talks about her latest book Freeing Jesus , in which she tracks the evolution of her understanding and experience of Jesus. From liberal Methodist beginnings, through fundamentalist evangelicalism, to a more progressive Christianity, Diana has never lost her interest in Jesus, or her openness to mystical experiences. But how does she, and indeed the Nomad hosts Tim Nash and Nick Thorley, ...
Sep 24, 2021•2 hr 3 min•Ep. 257
Every month we produce a podcast for our supporters called Nomad Revisited . In each episode Tim Nash and Nick Thorley enter the Nomad archive and chose an episode from the last 12 years, and spend an hour or so reflecting on how their faith has evolved since then. It’s an exercise in self forgiveness and compassion, as they are often confronted with terrible interview technique, poor audio quality and very earnest, evangelical theology! This month we thought we’d put one of these episode on Nom...
Sep 10, 2021•1 hr 40 min•Ep. 256
This episode is a conversation between good friends Emma Morton and Lyn Baylis. Emma is a former pastor, art therapist and activist, whose faith led her towards pagan spirituality and community. Lyn has practiced her pagan spirituality all of her life. She’s been a priestess for 40 years, is a Multi-faith minister, and is the UK Coordinator for LifeRites and Senior teacher on the LifeRites Foundation Course. Here they talk about how their journeys took shape, how they’ve dealt with rejection and...
Aug 24, 2021•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 255
Natalia-Nana is a teacher, trainer, and coach in Equity, Diversity, and Liberation. In this episode we talk about what it means to decolonise our faith, why it is important and how we can go about it. Jemimah and Natalia-Nana explore the relationship between deconstruction and the work of decolonising and dismantling. They discuss the impact of colonisation on the ways we think, relate, and the way that institutions operate including in our spiritual journeys and faith communities. After the int...
Aug 09, 2021•2 hr 25 min•Ep. 254
On this episode we’ve invited Liz Pattison and Jim Robinson to have a conversation around their experiences of death. Jim lost both his parents at quite a young age, and Liz recently lost her partner. They share their experiences of grief and loss, how friends, family and church responded, and how their faith has evolved through these experiences. It’s an honest, real, insightful, moving and hopeful conversation. Conversation starts at 21m 32s Books, quotes, links → The creation of Nomad’s thoug...
Jul 22, 2021•2 hr 2 min•Ep. 253
Miles Irving has been foraging since childhood. Having journeyed through Pentecostalism, he returned to his first passion for wild foods, and began to discover that our relationship to what we eat bears deeply on our relationship to everything. In this episode, Miles and David Blower spend a day eating nothing but foraged food and talking through the joys, trials and transformations that come of eating what grows out of the soil where we live. Interview starts at 15m 15s Books, quotes, links → T...
Jul 09, 2021•1 hr 42 min•Ep. 252
Many of us inherited a faith that had a lot to say about life after death. But as our faith shifted and evolved we were left increasingly unsure whether these beliefs had any basis in reality, or were just fairly tales. Well, it turns out science has an increasing amount to say on the subject. So, we interviewed Dr Bruce Greyson , a self proclaimed “skeptical scientist”, who as well as being a very well respected psychiatrist, has also spent the last 50 years pioneering near death studies. He we...
Jun 23, 2021•1 hr 43 min•Ep. 251
In this episode Jemimah McAlpine talks about her transformative experience of dance and her thinking about the theological significance of dancing. She and David Blower discuss dualism and embodiment and how reconnecting with our bodies can lead to an experience of wholeness and connection with the earth and everyone around us. Jemimah shares how embodiment has changed her understanding of God and enjoyment of life. Interview starts at 12m 32s Books, quotes, links → The creation of Nomad’s thoug...
Jun 11, 2021•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 250
It’s always a pleasure to have author, activist, and public theologian Brian McLaren on Nomad. This time we talk with Brian about the vital role that doubt plays in our faith development. Brian breaks down the faith journey into four stages - simplicity, complexity, perplexity and harmony. He talks about the struggles and joys of each stage, and how it’s only when we embrace our doubts that we can grow and move onto the next stage. After the interview, Nomad hosts Tim Nash and Nick Thorley ponde...
May 23, 2021•1 hr 40 min•Ep. 249
In this podcast, David Benjamin Blower converses with musician, podcaster and activist Samantha Lindo on the subject of music: music as a wisened friend, music as a gatherer of people and radical energies, and music as a kind of prayer that can halt the Powers that Be, even just for a moment. Interview starts at 23m 44s 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...
May 10, 2021•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 248
In this episode we speak with author of The God Who Riots , Damon Garcia . Damon talks to us about how he found meaning in the God of liberation theology after questioning his beliefs and leaving the faith he inherited. We explore the importance of embodiment and community in faithful practice and how our context shapes our ideas about God. We talk about reading the Bible from the perspective of the marginalised through the example of the Magnificat and the call to listen to those on the undersi...
Apr 21, 2021•1 hr 57 min•Ep. 247
Ched Myers is a theologian, and author of the explosive Binding the Strong Man: A Political Reading of Mark's Story of Jesus . We asked Ched to reflect on the theology and ecology of rivers for this extended devotional podcast. He takes us on a journey down the Ventura river, where he lives in California, and goes on to open up the radical political imagination of the many biblical visions of rivers, in a world where colonisation and empire habitually steal water and turn fertile places into des...
Apr 03, 2021•39 min•Ep. 246
Before the October Rebellion of 2019, we interviewed Dr Gail Bradbrook , co-founder of Extinction Rebellion , for the Everybody Now podcast. However, the whole conversation was so utterly fascinating that we wanted to upload it in its entirety, especially at a time when the freedom to protest is under threat. We talked to Gail about climate emergency and civil disobedience, and also about prayer and spirituality, science and wonder, sacredness, love and the radical power of women. We talked to G...
Mar 23, 2021•1 hr 40 min•Ep. 245
In this episode we talk about Jesus with Franciscan friar, founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation and author of The Universal Christ , Richard Rohr. Fr. Richard believes Jesus is the personification of God’s constant, unfolding work in the world. Consequently, he sees faith as being less about proving Jesus was God, and more about learning to recognise the Creator’s presence all around us and in everyone we meet. So we ask Fr. Richard how his faith has been reshaped by this discovery...
Mar 10, 2021•1 hr 41 min•Ep. 244
We live in a death and grief averse culture. Aided by modern medicine and the funeral industry, we’ve created an ever-increasing distance between us and our mortality. So we ask author of Awakened by Death Christiana Peterson what psychological and spiritual impact this is having on us, and how reclaiming a healthy relationship with our own mortality might help us live fuller and richer lives. Following the interview, Nomad hosts Tim Nash and Anna Robinson reflect on their own experiences of dea...
Feb 24, 2021•1 hr 46 min•Ep. 243
Having left behind the Anglican roots of her childhood, Jennifer Kavanagh discovered the Society of Friends - better known as Quakerism - as an adult. We spoke to her about how to be a practical mystic, how to subvert hierarchies by being silent, how to be part of a Christian religion without being a Christian, how to have a church without a leader, and what not to call the Queen. Following the interview, Nomad hosts Tim Nash and David Blower reflect on the faith they inherited, what it means to...
Feb 10, 2021•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 242
Following on from our conversation with Matthew Fox, in this episode Anna Robinson leads us in a meditation that explores the spirituality of the remarkable 14th Century mystic Julian of Norwich. Anna gives us a short introduction to Julian and how she lived through a deadly global pandemic, suffered loss and yet still wholeheartedly pursued God, and received visions that Christians are still pondering nearly seven centuries later. Anna then uses a breathwork technique to help us to become prese...
Feb 01, 2021•27 min•Ep. 241
Matthew Fox is an American priest and spiritual theologian and an activist for gender and eco-justice. His work on creation spirituality and mysticism has given him the reputation of being one of the most challenging religious-spiritual teachers in America. It’s also got him into trouble with the Catholic Church, most notably for rubbing two popes up the wrong way, which eventually got him excommunicated. We speak with Matthew about his latest book Julian of Norwich: Wisdom in a Time of Pandemic...
Jan 25, 2021•2 hr 4 min•Ep. 240
Adele Jarrett-Kerr is a writer and podcaster on compassionate living. Originally from Trinidad and Tobago, she now lives in Cornwall where her family is unschooling and working on a small regenerative farm. We talk to her about her journey towards counter-cultural living, decolonisation, evolving faith and spirituality, and the values behind the decisions she has made for family and work. Books, quotes, links → The creation of Nomad’s thoughtful, ad-free content is entirely funded by our equally...
Jan 11, 2021•2 hr 10 min•Ep. 239
Merry Christmas, beloved listeners! In this episode we hear from Revd Canon Eve Pitts. Having missed Christmas in their church last year, due to repairs, the residents of Birchfield were looking forward carols and candles in their building. But 2020 being what it is, Eve wondered if Christmas might as well be cancelled all together. However, perhaps living in a time of restrictions, precarity and mess is all the more Christmassy. Eve reflects on the humanity of Mary, the messiness of birth, and ...
Dec 22, 2020•32 min•Ep. 238
Singer-songwriter and author Lisa Gungor’s life was all coming together. She’d married her college sweetheart and was establishing herself as a successful musician. But cracks began to form when her husband told her he no longer believed in God and they were asked to leave the Church she helped start, a close friend died, their baby girl was born with two heart defects, and her musical career began to unravel. But through the depression and despair she slowly began to let go of what she thought ...
Dec 10, 2020•1 hr 42 min•Ep. 237
Therapists Justin and Joy get together for a conversation about spiritual abuse and how it can present in a church environment. Reflecting on their personal experiences, they explore the impact of spiritual abuse, describing how they learnt to recognise it and what it was like to walk away from congregations they cared about deeply. They also share some of the healing and growth that has taken place as their lives changed and they began to recover and rebuild in different areas of their lives. C...
Nov 23, 2020•1 hr 49 min•Ep. 236
In this episode David speaks with priest and author Azariah France-Williams about his new book Ghost Ship: Institutional Racism and the Church of England . Azariah reflects on his experience of racism within the church, and how sticking plasters won’t suffice, but instead a wholesale change in structure and mindset is required. Jemimah is then joined by diversity and inclusion trainer Natalia Nana, to reflect on the interview and to speak about anti-racist habits and practices. Interview starts ...
Nov 10, 2020•2 hr 22 min•Ep. 235
We’ve caused a turning point in the Earth’s natural history. Everybody Now is a podcast about what it means to be human on the threshold of a global climate emergency, in a time of systemic injustice and runaway pandemics. Scientists, activists, farmers, poets, and theologians talk bravely and frankly about how our biosphere is changing, about grief and hope in an age of social collapse and mass extinction, and about taking action against all the odds. Everybody Now is being released by podcaste...
Oct 14, 2020•1 hr 45 min•Ep. 234
In this episode we speak with the director of Theos Think Tank and host of The Sacred podcast, Elizabeth Oldfield. Elizabeth is passionate about exploring how we can build healthy friendships and societies in an age characterised by seemingly ever deepening differences, and what role faith can play in this. So we ask Elizabeth why we find it so hard to relate to people who are culturally, politically and religiously different from ourselves, and how we can begin to overcome this. After the inter...
Oct 08, 2020•1 hr 46 min•Ep. 233
In this episode we welcome Rob Bell back to the podcast. Rob’s written a new book - Everything is Spiritual - within which he explores how ideas about creation, love and connection have profoundly shaped his faith journey. We chat with Rob about what it means to embrace who we are and where we’ve come from, our wounds, our pain and our regrets, and how this can deepen and expand our sense of self and connection to the world and the divine. As you’d expect from Rob, it’s a conversation full of hu...
Sep 22, 2020•1 hr 39 min•Ep. 232
