Wow, that was really powerful and inspired such hope in me that Christianity really can be a force for healing, connection and true love. I am beginning to see many of the Christian faith who are living and practicing the teachings of Jesus rather than the dogma of religion and it is healing my own relationship with the concept of Christianity. Thank you from an agnostic animist.
Thanks for taking the time and having the open mind to check it out. I have to say I REALLY resisted going back to Christianity because of that vast gap between Christ and many Christians. If you’re interested in exploring wild Christianity more, I can't recommend Martin Shaw's Substack enough (though I think he only puts out paid articles).
I'm so happy to find this conversation! Hearing people talk animism makes my heart sing. I connect at SO many places with each of you! Thanks, Amy, for introducing us to Lindsay. And Lindsay, that opening question nags a lot at me too: Where did my root people lose their connection to the sacred Earth? I wrote a memoir about becoming an animist, Kissed by a Fox, and it's partly a cultural memoir too, exploring that question: What happened? My initial response is that empire happened. When people decide that some are better than others and deserve to be on the top or on the bottom, and they arrange their societies to function that way, they lose their connection to each other AND to the land. And in Jesus's part of the world, they arranged themselves into empire very very early, maybe 2000 years before his time. So those attitudes came to pervade the Jesus movement too, and they got kind of baked in when Christianity took over the Roman Empire around Augustine's time. I've been fascinated by Pelagius for a long time—a philosopher like Augustine, but he argued against Augustine that it is NOT inevitable for human beings to sin. He had more faith in us! It is said that he had Celtic roots, so he might have come from a people who were more fringe to empire and preserved more heart connection with Earth. But when the two of them went head to head, Pelagius lost and Augustine's dim view of us ruled (because empire!). And Pelagius got condemned as a heretic. I think about that a lot; I put that story in Kissed by a Fox. So anyway, I would love to have more conversation with each of you. Thanks again for this rich hour!
Wow, that was really powerful and inspired such hope in me that Christianity really can be a force for healing, connection and true love. I am beginning to see many of the Christian faith who are living and practicing the teachings of Jesus rather than the dogma of religion and it is healing my own relationship with the concept of Christianity. Thank you from an agnostic animist.
Thanks for taking the time and having the open mind to check it out. I have to say I REALLY resisted going back to Christianity because of that vast gap between Christ and many Christians. If you’re interested in exploring wild Christianity more, I can't recommend Martin Shaw's Substack enough (though I think he only puts out paid articles).
I'm so happy to find this conversation! Hearing people talk animism makes my heart sing. I connect at SO many places with each of you! Thanks, Amy, for introducing us to Lindsay. And Lindsay, that opening question nags a lot at me too: Where did my root people lose their connection to the sacred Earth? I wrote a memoir about becoming an animist, Kissed by a Fox, and it's partly a cultural memoir too, exploring that question: What happened? My initial response is that empire happened. When people decide that some are better than others and deserve to be on the top or on the bottom, and they arrange their societies to function that way, they lose their connection to each other AND to the land. And in Jesus's part of the world, they arranged themselves into empire very very early, maybe 2000 years before his time. So those attitudes came to pervade the Jesus movement too, and they got kind of baked in when Christianity took over the Roman Empire around Augustine's time. I've been fascinated by Pelagius for a long time—a philosopher like Augustine, but he argued against Augustine that it is NOT inevitable for human beings to sin. He had more faith in us! It is said that he had Celtic roots, so he might have come from a people who were more fringe to empire and preserved more heart connection with Earth. But when the two of them went head to head, Pelagius lost and Augustine's dim view of us ruled (because empire!). And Pelagius got condemned as a heretic. I think about that a lot; I put that story in Kissed by a Fox. So anyway, I would love to have more conversation with each of you. Thanks again for this rich hour!