Protect Your Noggin

As a couple of kids who grew up in American evangelicalism, Tarot cards were a taboo we never even considered violating in our youth. Now, we discuss the ways in which Jungian understanding of archetypes of the collective unconscious helped us make use of Tarot for personal healing and growth. Part 1: Our uneasy relationship with tarot, CG Jung’s idea of the archetypes of the collective unconscious, how we got into using these cards for self exploration rather than fortune telling, and why we think this all might be helpful for folks extracting themselves from unhealthy religious landscapes. Part 2: Exploration and demonstration of the newish phenomenon of Neo-shamanistic, New Age oracle cards, which tend to involve inspirational messages for transformation and growth. BTW: If you are an expert in tarot or oracle cards and think we’ve got something wrong, feel free to reach out and help us get it right. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/t

In this part, we discuss the history of nudist spirituality in Christian movements from the second century till the present. Adamites ancient and revived, and the Christian connections to the founding of the naturist movement in America are discussed. Stacie answers whether she went on the World Naked Bike Ride. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/support

Nudism in American culture, reflections on nudity in the Garden of Eden, a recent news story about a French nudist who shot someone at the beach, the history of Christian naturism, the Christian nudist sect called the Adamites, hot springs culture, & our experience with various opportunities to be naked in public, including at least Jeff’s participation in Portland’s World Naked Bike Ride. Part one focuses on our personal stories and how our church upbringing affected our body images and comfort with being naked. TW: Brief mention of sexual trauma. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/support

In part 2 Jeff answers: What do we think of the historical arguments for the resurrection of Jesus? This is all about apologetics and philosophy of religion over the Christian centuries and whether the evidentialist arguments are viable these days. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/support

Jeff answers listener questions about our current take on the concept of Jesus’ resurrection and the nature of belief in the bodily resurrection of humans. This is not an exhaustive manifesto but presents candid reflection on twenty years of teaching and researching the historical development of Christianity and philosophical and historical arguments for Jesus’ resurrection. We discover that the biblical texts and early Christian teaching on the subject is more complicated than we might expect. P1: What do the biblical texts and the early Christian community think about the nature of Jesus’ resurrection and the resurrection bodies of humans? --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/support

Though we’ve been talking a lot lately about things we are glad to shed about our conservative Christian background, we reflect on some of the healthy and helpful things we experienced in non-denominational youth programming. This discussion is not meant to suggest that parents should uncritically send their kids to church programs, but rather to reflect on ways that folks who are leaving organized religion can ensure that their children find opportunities for friendship, fun, learning, and service.  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/support

We draw from the radical life and thought of anarchist Emma Goldman to frame contemporary conversations about abortion and reproductive rights. We discuss the ways in which women’s bodily autonomy is intimately connected to full spectrum emancipation. Topics include Christian nationalism, the weaponization of anti-abortion for the sake of supporting unchecked capitalism, the history of contraception, and the differences between Margaret Sanger and Emma Goldman on the nature of sexual and gender liberation. CW: sexual assault, abortion, explicit language --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/support

A discussion of books to to read this summer, especially for those who have left or are thinking of leaving fundamentalist or toxic forms of religion. We offer suggestions related to spirituality, but they do not involve joining a religion or accepting some claim to special revelation. We offer suggestions for folks who want to get up to speed on science, find balance in their lives, unpack their thinking on sexuality, and rethink the history of America. [Note: we seem to have misnumbered somewhere along the way] This is a great episode for you if you are an ex-evangelical, ex-fundamentalist, newly progressive Christian, or post-evangelical. CW: Sexual abuse, racism, explicit language --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/support

Our go-to psychology prof Dr. Betsi Little helps us unpack the ways in which attribution theory can help us understand why people tend to defend creepers in religious circles. It also leads to a discussion of the ways in which we can survive and heal the social sicknesses of our time. A key takeaway: it just takes one person to subvert conformity. CW: Sexual abuse, domestic violence, racist and homophobic violence --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/support

Jeff and Stacie respond to listener emails and voice messages, largely unpacking our perspectives on the Bible, inerrancy, LGBT inclusion, and traditional social values within conservative Christianity. We also weigh in on the leaked letter from LCMS president Matthew Harrison to the board of regents at Concordia University Wisconsin. If you have known us in our old lives within the orbit of American evangelicalism and conservative Lutheranism, this may infuriate you, but we mean only to share with you honestly what we’re thinking and experiencing these days. Stick through hour and ten minutes of banter to hear a discussion of whether sex-positive BDSM dungeons are safer than Christian summer camp. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/support

An examination of atheistic strands of anarchism, focusing on Mikhail Bakunin (1814–1876), author of God and the State. This episode is content packed, with just Jeff this time. If you don’t want so much academic content, feel free to skip to another episode.  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/support

He who’s full of Te is like a baby. Scorpions don’t sting him. Ferocious beasts don’t eat him. Eagles don’t carry him off.  His bones are supple. His muscles are soft. But his grip is tight. He doesn’t know what sex is yet, but he gets erections. That’s how much vitality is in him. He can wail all day without losing his voice. He knows the heights of harmony. Knowing harmony is called high fidelity. Knowing fidelity is called clarity. Fretting about longevity is unfortunate. It taxes the mind and heart, needlessly wasting vital energy. When folks think that it’s important to be rigid in order to be a responsible adult, they go against the Tao. Whatever goes against the Tao will end in ruin. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/support

What happens when you reject the state’s official paperwork and driver’s licenses? When did you begin, and why does that matter politically and spiritually? Who owns you and your biological material? We explore these questions with our old pal Jon David Johnson, with whom Jeff played music back in the day as The Bloodhound Shuffle. He has a unique interpretation of the Bible and political history that you may not agree with, but we found interesting and helpful as a sort of thought experiment, through which we can reframe our origins as biological beings and the relationship between our understanding of that question and the question of who owns us. By going back to before conception, Jon David ties the human being back to oneness with the creative source of existence, something that predates the claims states and churches and parents make over us. CW: police violence, racism, explicit language. Note: Neither we or our guest offer medical or legal advice on this episode. --- Send in a voice message: https:

Jeff lays out his take on Jesus and freedom, and lays out a summary of the biblical narrative from a Christian Anarchist perspective. One need not commit to a particular perspective on how to apply these ideas to contemporary life. There is value in first examining the moral ideal of Jesus, which invalidates the way of domination, injustice and inequality, and then taking a while to ponder how we might work toward the mission of the radical sage from Galilee. We discuss the ways in which the concept of inerrancy presents problems for intellectual life within church-related higher education. This should be an interesting exploration for anyone interested in libertarian themes in the Hebrew Bible and Christian New Testament. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/support

We explore various stories in the news and our lives, including journals found in our recovered stolen truck camper from a person who wanted to take it to Slab City in California.  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/support

Ancient Chinese philosophers in the Taoist tradition envisioned a beautiful world that is a template for just the sort of spiritual anarchism we find attractive. We discuss the importance of libertarian thought within the Tao Te Ching and begin to explore whether it is viable for our context today. Later episodes will examine Jesus anarchy and more recent atheistic forms of this perspective on politics. It is all part of our season's them of full spectrum emancipation, which focusses on the ways in which we need to seek freedom in various aspects of our lives if we want to be free in any particular piece of our lives.  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/support

Where you live affects your perspective on the worlds that are possible. Our new season's theme is full spectrum emancipation and the interrelation between financial, spiritual, and emotional freedom. We start with the question of how where we live affects our happiness and freedom. We discuss where and why people are moving to new states in the US, the concept of cultural hegemony, the problems of our economic system, and the theft of our truck camper St. George.  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/support

In the aftermath of our son Auggie’s death, we took a few months off from the pod. We are back with a season finale to share with you where we’ve been and how we’ve been doing. We are joined by Auggie’s fiancé Sydnie who is living with us now. We share news about big life changes and how we’ve been working toward spiritual, emotional and financial emancipation. This is a show in which we process our grief along with you. Part way through we sing a song (The Czars “Paint the Moon”) that we sang when we had a private viewing of Auggie’s body. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/support

This show is a collection of recordings with Jeff and Stacie's son Auggie, who died recently. It includes free form speculation about spirituality, the mythologies behind popular culture artifacts, and what Auggie thought the point of life was. As you'll see, there's a consistency from start to finish. At the end, you can hear a song written by Jeff and Auggie, and performed by the whole family many years ago. It too captures our family's general perspective on life. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/support

Instead of becoming overwhelmed with the sicknesses that infect the world and its structures, Lao Tzu urges us to start with ourselves and our immediate communities, and allow this to spread throughout the world naturally.  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/support