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 08s
WEBSITE
BOOKS
Sex, God, and the Conservative Church
SOCIALS
QUOTES
“Your body is the pen that you write the poetry of your life with. You cannot love, serve, or celebrate without being in your body.”
“Christianity did a really unhelpful, if not harmful, thing when it decided that desire itself was dangerous. It’s not dangerous; it just needs to be managed.”
“Many people have been profoundly betrayed by those who spoke for God but did not have a heart for God.”