Nomad Podcast

The question ‘who is God?’ used to be the starting point for religious reflection, but increasingly spiritual seekers are concerning themselves with the question ‘where is God?’. We ask historian, religious commentator and author Diana Butler Bass about her faith journey and how her shift from a vertical to a horizontal theology dramatically reshaped her faith […]

Why in our multicultural society is the Church still predominantly led by, and our theology predominantly written by, white men? We head to Birmingham to meet up with one of the UK’s leading black theologians, Anthony Reddie. We ask him if the Church is racist and if so what we can do about it? And, what difference […]

We have a humanitarian disaster unfolding on our doorstep. Many of us feel frustrated at our government’s half-hearted response, yet we feel overwhelmed and powerless to do anything ourselves. In this episode we hear the story of Adel Hamad, a Syrian refugee who made the trip to the UK. We then hear from Naomi Jemmett, […]

Why is the Church divided into over 40,000 denominations? Why do Churches in the same town often have very little to do with each other? Why are Christians always fighting on social media? It doesn’t seem much like the one new humanity Jesus came to establish! To find some answers we quiz social psychologist, Christena Cleveland. Interview […]

Professor Gary Burge joins us on the podcast to help us get our heads round the complexities of Israel/Palestine. Gary was a student at the university of Beirut, he now lecturers in the US on the New Testament and the Theology of the Promised Land. He regularly visits the Middle East and has close connections to Christian leaders […]

Apparently the vast majority of us feel uncomfortable talking about death, and haven’t spoken to anyone about our end of life wishes. Buddhist, Jon Underwood thinks this is having a profoundly negative effect on our society. So he pioneered the Death Cafe movement where people gather together, drink tea, eat cake and talk openly and honestly about death. Interview begins […]

Wayne Jacobsen was a successful pastor. But as his disillusionment with the institutional nature of church grew, he decided to walk away and begin a search for the church Jesus was building. 20 years later he says this was one of the best decisions he ever made. So tune in if you’re curious about the sort of Church Jesus […]

Easter is upon us again, so we thought it was a fine time to look at the atonement again. So we popped over to Bristol to chat with Alan Mann. Alan asks the question, what could the atonement mean for a society that doesn’t consider itself sinful in any traditional sense. Rather than ‘sin’ Alan believes the issue we […]

Robin Parry is a theologian best known for advocating universalism. But more recently he’s turned his attention to writing about The Biblical Cosmos. In this book he systematically lays out all the weirdness of the biblical universe, with its flat earth, the dead residing underneath it and God residing above a solid sky dome. Oh, and there’s sea monsters and angel-stars […]

On Nomad we often talk about the changing nature of culture and how the church has changed (or not) in response. But rather than continuing to rely on our own anecdotal and wildly speculative evidence, we thought it was about time we spoke to someone who actually knows what they’re talking about. Grace Davie is a professor in the sociology […]

Jamie Arpin-Ricci joins us on the latest leg of our Nomadic pilgrimage of hope. Jamie felt called to leave his comfortable middle class life and move to a high poverty and crime inner-city area. Obviously this presented many challenges, but none more so than being confronted by his own vulnerability. So we ask Jamie to reflect on what it means to make […]

The UN said recently that ‘Gender-based violence is perhaps the most widespread and socially tolerated of human rights violations.’ We spoke to philosopher, sociologist and theologian Elaine Storkey about the reasons behind this, and how the church should respond. This led on to a fascinating discussion about what it really means to be a man. Tune in for an eye-opening, challenging and hope-filled conversation. Interview begins […]

Terry Waite travelled to some of the most dangerous places in the world, negotiating with the likes of Idi Amin and Colonel Gaddafi for the release of hostages. Then while working in Lebanon he was taken hostage by Islamic Jihadists. He was held for nearly 5 years, most of it in solitary confinement, was tortured and underwent a mock execution. Tune […]

On this edition of Nomad we thought we’d answer a few of your questions. Everything from ‘Who are you two?’, through to ‘Is there a north-south divide in heaven?’. It’s a marathon 2 hour something ride of beer fuelled banter and ‘profound’ insights! Images by Dave Fry. Used with permission. QUOTES “Hold onto the hope […]

As if building a church of 10,000+, producing an international bestselling DVD series, writing critically acclaimed bestselling books, producing a hugely popular podcast, and having his own TV show wasn’t enough, Rob Bell has decided to write a novel. And much to the frustration of all us lesser talented mortals, it’s really rather good! But what does Millones Cajones reveal about Rob’s own struggle to find himself amidst all this success? Image by Dixon. […]

Ever felt awkward and uncomfortable in Church, like you just don’t fit in? Well, according to Jonny Baker that feeling could be the gift of pioneering. Jonny was pioneering before pioneering was a thing. Most notably he founded the alternative worship community Grace, and more recently he’s pioneered a training course for pioneers. So if you’re dreaming that things could be different, then check out the […]

At the core of author and teacher Brad Jersak’s faith is the belief that God looks like Jesus. Simple enough, right? But what about the violent ‘God of the Old Testament’? What about the parable’s of Jesus that liken God to an angry king? And what about all the suffering in the world that God seems to simply […]

Dave Andrews has lived and worked in intentional communities with marginalised groups of people in Australia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nepal. Through these experiences he developed a passion for seeing Christians and Muslims learning together what it means to follow Jesus. To this end, he proposes that we all observe the Jihad of Jesus. We caught […]

The recent image of a drowned child washed up on a Turkish beach brought the refugee crisis into sharp focus. So to help us better understand the complexities of the situation and how best to respond, we’ve asked Dave Smith to send us a reflection. Dave is the founder of the Boaz Trust, a charity that houses, […]

The idea of beauty has shaped Joanna Jepson‘s life and ministry. Born with a jaw defect she was mercilessly bullied through her childhood and into adulthood. But after successful surgery she then had to figure out how her internal self related to her new external self. She then went on to issue a legal challenge against the […]