Ep. 73: Rewilding Christianity w/ Gary Alan Taylor
Show Notes
Episode Summary
Do you feel spiritually and physically domesticated? Are you struggling to free yourself from the long-term impacts of spiritual colonization? Do you feel disconnected from the natural world? Are you longing for something more than merely reconstruction? If so, spiritual rewilding might be the next step in your faith seeking journey.
Though an environmental term—meaning letting nature take care of itself and referring to conservation strategies that reintroduce species to their natural environment, restore wilderness areas and the land to its original state, and create corridors to connect these lands and species with each other—rewilding is a concept that just makes sense at a soul level.
The faith deconstruction movement has provided an unprecedented opportunity to rediscover the untamable within, to decolonize our souls, and to free ourselves from a fenced-in faith domesticated by dogma, ideology, whiteness, patriarchy, power, purity culture, and rationalism. We have the opportunity to trade in our certainty for wonder and our literalism for mystery. As stewards of a once-wild faith that has all but been domesticated, we have a duty to free our faith from some of the repressive, world-denying, and destructive practices that have facilitated our spiritual stagnation.
This episode with Holy Heretics host Gary Alan Taylor is an introduction to spiritual rewilding through the re-introduction of indigenous spirituality and Creation-centered Christianity. Along the way, we’ll look back at the history of our faith tradition and find examples of how our spiritual ancestors responded to spiritual domestication through their pursuit of a primeval faith.
This episode borrowed extensively from writings of Matthew Fox as well as a wonderful article on Patheos by Tom Rapsas. You can learn more about Creation centered spirituality in Matthew Fox’s book Original Blessing. More importantly, this conversation was birthed from conversation after conversation with my friend and spiritual mentor Father Brendan E. Williams who continues to impact my spiritual journey and perspective on what it means to follow Jesus in the modern world. If you are interested in learning more about indigenous spirituality and rewilding you faith, check out his book Seeds From the Wild Verge which truly is the backdrop and impetus of this conversation.
Bio:
Gary Alan is the host and co-creator of Holy Heretics Podcast. He spent the first-half of his life in evangelicalism before beginning his faith deconstruction journey in 2020. He started Holy Heretics and The Sophia Society with his friend Melanie to serve the thousands of other individuals leaving toxic Christianity. Gary Alan has an undergraduate degree in History from Milligan University and a Master of Arts degree from East Tennessee State University. An international speaker, content creator, and writer, Gary Alan has over 26 years experience working in nonprofit ministry and higher education. He is in recovery from fundamentalist Christianity and his passion is to see others free themselves from toxic expressions of faith. He and his family live in Monument, Colorado and he works for the University of Colorado Colorado Springs.
Please follow us on social media (use the buttons below) and help us get the word out! Better yet, subscribe to our Substack for articles, community, and early access to each podcast episode. Simply Click here to subscribe!
Support Us on Patreon or Substack!
And get access to every episode 5 days early! In addition, your financial support gives us the time we need to be able to create and produce amazing content, including Patreon-exclusive content. Please consider joining our team of patrons by clicking the button below. Thank you! Substack subscribers gain access to notes, articles, our e-newsletter, online classes, and even one-on-one conversations with our hosts! Find us at Substack Now!
If you prefer just giving with no strings attached, you can also just buy us a coffee! Any amount helps us cover the costs of creating this show.
Credits
This episode was produced by The Sophia Society and written by Gary Alan Taylor. Music is by Faith in Foxholes.
Don’t just reconstruct your faith, ReWild your faith by trading in certainty for wonder and literalism for mystery. This episode with Holy Heretics host Gary Alan Taylor is an introduction to spiritual rewilding through the re-introduction of indigenous spirituality and Creation-centered Christianity.