Freestyle Theology

Let's Talk About: Original Sin

Most people think original sin means we're born bad. But that's not really what Augustine said. What he actually argued is stranger (and colder) than that, and I explain it in this episode: You aren't bad, you're incapable. Your will is broken at the root. You can see the good, you can want the good, and you still can't do it. Incapable of turning to God. And the evidence Augustine pointed to for that broken will is not what you'd expect... Today I'm talking with Katharyn Havey, a trauma healer and host of The Spiritual Gym, who came to Augustine backwards. Not through history, but through her clients. She kept running into the same wound over and over, and eventually went looking for where it came from. So we made a trade. She brings a working theory of unworthiness built from hundreds of hours sitting with people in real pain. I bring the archaeology: where this doctrine came from, why the Latin West couldn't stop repeating one man for seven hundred years, and how it got re-injected into Protestantism by Luther and Calvin. We also talk about the thing a lot of you will recognize immediately. That moment when someone says "you are worthy, you are powerful," and your head says yes but something deeper down says "No, wait, we can't say that..." I have that reaction on mic and try to be honest about it. Katharyn and I come at this from very different places, but the resulting conversation is rich. Timestamps [00:08] — Intro [05:00] — Why Augustine is in every conversation, whether you like him or not [05:39] — Katharyn on why her page is called "There Is No Sin" [07:29] — One man's wound, universalized into cosmic truth [09:10] — Why Augustine took over the West: lost libraries, lost Greek, one really good album [13:12] — Confessions: real beauty sitting right next to "I am nothing but dust" [15:03] — Augustine invented the self-reflective autobiography, and people felt seen [19:06] — A sample size of one [19:42] — The opportunistic infection [20:28] — The three core wounds: threatening safety, belonging, worthiness [21:44] — Luther was an Augustinian monk, and the Reformation put Augustine back in the bloodstream [26:02] — The early church as trauma context, and why undocumented people are the closest parallel [28:50] — How do you know it was "bad?" The parable of the Chinese farmer [34:44] — Jews in medieval Europe, scapegoating, and trauma passing forward [39:05] — What original sin actually is: bondage of the will, and what Augustine thought proved it [43:07] — "You are powerful" versus "you are incapable," and why one triggers the other [45:54] — The flinch: my head believes it, my body refuses it [48:42] — The heart is deceitful, and why that verse probably says something else [51:02] — The western church as a parentified child [55:45] — Praying for forgiveness with nothing to be forgiven for [57:29] — Baptism, water purification, and a much older ritual [58:39] — Did Paul invent original sin? And what Eastern Orthodoxy does instead [1:00:23] — Epigenetics, generational curses, and trauma passed through culture [1:04:02] — You know a thing by its fruit. And fruit takes generations. [1:07:23] — The cruelty of the catch-22, and how the Middle Ages spent centuries softening it [1:12:08] — Why unworthiness can feel safe [1:13:36] — Where we're picking this up next Find Katharyn Instagram: @there.is.no.sin Podcast: The Spiritual Gym Mentioned Augustine, Confessions Dan McClellan on "the heart is deceitful" The Eastern Orthodox doctrine of ancestral sin My Free course: Ancestral Trauma in the Church, at bradleymelle.com/free Freestyle Theology is a podcast about Christian history, psychology, and the body, exploring power, grief, colonialism, and the faith people inherit. Next week I'm back with Ngofeen for our fifth conversation on the history of the body in western Christianity.

• Transcript

Let's Talk About: Enemies

Let's Talk About: Enemies (with Fr. Joash Thomas) Jesus told his followers to love their enemies. Western Christianity went on to build one of the most sophisticated systems in history for finding them. That chasm is what I come back to again and again. So I sat down with Fr. Joash Thomas to talk it out plainly. We start with a question nobody really asks: Who actually counts as an "enemy?" Because it isn't the neighbour whose dog barks at 7am. It's not the guy who wants to rearrange the pews at church. It's not the commuter who tailgates and flips you the bird. Those hokey, middle-class Christian examples are useless. Those people are your neighbours, not enemies. Joash brings in Palestinian church leaders who say plainly that the Western church has been their enemy. I bring in the early church, where the enemy was defined by belief instead of territory or ethnicity. That meant the enemy was invisible. Which meant you needed a system for finding them, fueled by suspicion and vigiliance. But that system did not get dismantled after the persecution ended. It just got more sophisticated. From there it opens up. The Great Commission as a colonial-era invention. "The world" in the New Testament read as "empire" not "society." Marx in Manchester. Haudenosaunee ceremonies that could turn a stranger into kin. Benedictines who had to open the door to anyone who knocked. St. Francis talking to Brother Wolf, and Joash getting scared of bears in Algonquin Provincial Park. Canadian Settlers who hated the forest. And then something more practical: If loving your enemy is real, it doesn't start with your abuser. Telling a survivor to do that is violent and cruel. Start with the person your culture tells you to fear. Give it time, respect, and gain knowledge. That's how you learn to love a forest, and it's probably how you learn to actually love a neighbour too. I left this one with a bigger heart. And that's always the goal. In this episode [0:24] The chasm between Jesus on enemies and the church's enemies [2:08] Who did we decide our enemies are? Barking dogs, the pews, and Munther Isaac [3:31] Middle-class Christianity and its hokey examples of sin [6:03] "You've been the enemy to us." Palestinian church leaders to the Western church [8:41] Reading the Bible with an empire-informed lens, not just a trauma-informed one [13:04] "The world" as the empire-shaped world [14:22] Two kinds of enemies, and which one you're actually supposed to start with [16:10] Converting your neighbour is treating them like a target [18:10] The Great Commission as a colonial invention [20:30] Love thy trillionaire (!?) and the universalizing move that protects the status quo [24:13] Marx, Manchester, and the opiate of the masses [27:30] Every society has enemies. Not every society builds machinery to find them. [31:22] Why the early church's enemy was invisible, and what happened after Constantine [34:51] St. Francis, Brother Wolf, and Joash's bear [41:10] Settlers and the forest. Time, respect, knowledge. [46:30] Don't start with the abuser [46:59] Celtic ancestors, and decolonization that starts with your own grandmother [55:26] Loving your enemy doesn't mean sparing them the consequences About Joash Father Joash Thomas is the author of The Justice of Jesus. He teaches at St. Stephen's University, writes the Masala Chai Theology Substack, and sits on the advisory council of the Bethlehem Institute for Peace and Justice. The Justice of Jesus Masala Chai Theology on Substack Instagram: @joashpthomas St. Stephen's University: https://www.ssu.ca/ And if this is your kind of thing: I have a free course called Ancestral Trauma in the Church. It's the trauma approach to church history that sits underneath most of what I talk about here. Head over to bradleymelle.com/free to gain access.

• Transcript

Let's Talk About: Cursed Objects

A Christian builder in Texas prays over every house he puts up and stamps John 3:16 into the driveway. A family member rebukes your depression in the name of Jesus. A Congolese aunt tells you not to buy that carving: it's demonic and it can hurt you. Ethnic cleansing in medieval Spain. Ngofeen and I originally sat down to walk from the Black Plague to the eve of the Reformation, and instead we spent an hour on this: what makes an object, a word, a country, or a body tainted, and who gets to decide? This is the fourth conversation in our series on when white people stopped dancing. Something critical clicked for me this time around. Contamination logic is the hinge. It runs from Pentecostal missionaries in Ghana turning old gods into demons, to Ferdinand and Isabella telling Spanish Muslims and Jews to convert or leave, to a ballet teacher saying keep your hips square, to a man who has to do an elaborate handshake before he's allowed to hug his friend. In this episode: -Why we open in 2020, and what the pandemic can and can't tell us about the plague -Pentecostalism as both the most spiritually aggressive and the most anti-traditional Christianity at once, and Birgit Meyer's Translating the Devil -Scripture citation as spell-casting, and what apologetics has in common with a curse -Ngofeen redecorating his bedroom door with raffia and nails, and what his aunties would say -Paul on meat sacrificed to idols, and whether intention permanently taints an object -The Reconquista, 1492, and why Spain arrived in the Caribbean already unable to see what was in front of them -Columbus is the '90s: Luther in 1517 and Columbus in 1492 are the same twenty five years, not two separate histories -The body as a history book, and reading white evangelical worship gestures as appropriated Black movement -Ngofeen on the exhaustion of proving you are not a tainted object -Why congregational singing might be the cry of a person who can't be touched Mentioned Birgit Meyer, Translating the Devil: Religion and Modernity Among the Ewe in Ghana (1999) If you missed registration for my class "The Body of Christ Keeps the Score" and want to be kept in the loop for the next time it's offered, head to https://bradleymelle.com/course and join the waitlist! New here? Freestyle Theology reads the history of Christianity through trauma and the body. Not just what people believed, but what happened to them, and what it did to how they move.

• Transcript

Let's Talk About: My Origin Story (How I Became a Historian of Christian Dysfunction)

I've never been able to explain how I became a historian of Christian dysfunction - until I sat down to record this. This week there's no guest and no lesson plan. It's just me in my office, tracing how church history went from meaning absolutely nothing to me to becoming my life's work, and how I ended up studying the church's dysfunctions instead of its glories. I go back to being a teenager sitting on a 56k modem in 1999, reading about the origins of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam for hours, while never *once* searching for the history of my own Christian faith. I talk about why evangelicalism gave me nothing but a 2,000-year blur where a story should have been: apostles, then static, then a flicker of Constantine, then static, then Luther. The Christian history I'd absorbed was nothing but decay and deviation from the pure New Testament church. There was nothing worth being curious about, so I wasn't. You'll hear about the Moravian church I grew up in - gentle, campfire Christianity - and how stadium megachurch evangelicalism came in loud enough to drown everything else out. About purity culture, about being a good kid who desperately wanted to do what was right, and about the anger I still carry from those years. And I ask the question that I can't get out of my head out loud: how much of what I called "faith" was actually just anxiety, dressed up and given a name, scanning for relief? I describe waking up every morning to pray with my feet ratcheted up tight toward the ceiling, apologizing to God for nothing in particular. I talk about seeing the same anxious energy surfacing in my daughter now, and what's different about the fact that she says it out loud. Then the turn: my history professor at Redeemer teaching Byzantine and Eastern European history. Christianity suddenly has origins, development,and alternatives. Serbs and Croats, one people split by a line between Orthodox and Catholic. Missiology, contextualization, Andrew Walls decentring Western Christianity. My masters on Africa and colonialism, my doctorate on Indigenous peoples and the church, and not finding the beautiful diversity I went looking for but instead a machine built to re-engineer human beings. This process left me with two questions that continue to fuel my work. First: how could Christians have done that and called it God's will? And then the one I'm still living inside everyday: "Church, who hurt you, bro?" That question is why I now read church history the way I've learned to read my own body: not as a record of correct and incorrect belief, but as a record of pain, fear, and protection. Where did it start? What is it trying to tell us? If that's the kind of thing you're interested in: my free online seminar, The Traumatized Church: How Christianity's Painful Past Still Haunts and Harms, is tonight, Tuesday, July 28 at 8pm EST. Register at bradleymelle.com/learn. If you can't make it, register anyway and I'll send you the replay! Registration for the next cohort of The Body of Christ Keeps the Score - my four-week course through the church's trauma history - opens this week. Details at the seminar.

• Transcript

Let's Talk About: The Civilizing Mission

Register now for Dr. Bradley Melle's upcoming online seminar @ bradleymelle.com/learn Let's Talk About: The Civilizing Mission (feat. Ngofeen Mputubwele) What does a civilization do after everything fails? Between 1350 and 1500, the West lived through a genuine polycrisis. The Black Plague, a church with two and then three popes, peasant revolts, the fall of Constantinople, and gunpowder rendering every castle wall obsolete. In this episode, journalist, playwright, and opera singer Ngofeen Mputubwele and I finally name the thing this series has been circling: the civilizing mission. Most commonly associated with colonization, “civilizing” actually began as a massive project of “tidying up” that emerged from the wreckage of the late Middle Ages. Censuses, surnames, etiquette manuals, official languages, manicured lawns, and mandatory daily dance lessons where a sagging elbow was corrected like a moral failure. Along the way: how the Vatican held the official contract for colonial education in the Belgian Congo (Ngofeen's own family story), the man who invented "social studies" as a tool of colonial control on two continents, why the canonical Cinderella was written at Louis XIV's court (and what its actual moral is) and how the Puritan's journal of relentless self-examination is ballet performed on the soul. A traumatized civilization reaching for control in order to feel safe. Sound familiar? Topics discussed in this episode: · Semester recap: from Constantine to the fall of Rome to the medieval world [4:26] · Islam, the Reconquista, and why 1492 sent Columbus [6:14] · The Jesuits: the church's "shock troops" who became its most radical cultural translators including De Nobili in India, Ricci's Confucian Christianity, the Wendat missions [8:11] · Ngofeen's family story: born on a Jesuit mission, how the Vatican held the contract for education in Belgian Congo, and the fifth-grade ceiling unless you entered the priesthood [11:45] · Thomas Jesse Jones: the one man behind colonial education curricula in both Africa and Indigenous America and the invention of "social studies" [14:12] · The polycrisis of 1350-1500: plague, labor collapse, peasant revolts, the printing press as the first internet [23:27] · The Ottoman ascent, the fall of Constantinople, and the terror of the Christian nervous system [~28:00] · The "threshold of visibility": why the medieval church tolerated carnival, festival, and local religiosity and why that world ended [~32:00] · Why the church's system failed during the Black Plague and how the plague birthed individualism [38:03] · Avignon, three popes, and Jan Hus burned at the stake after a promise of safe passage [40:39] · "Make Rome Magnificent Again": the beautification of Rome, the Renaissance as post-catastrophe hope and a surprising 2026 New York analogy [44:54] · Indulgences as "the premium package": exploiting a traumatized population, and what Luther crashed into [49:33] · The Renaissance as golden-age nostalgia, not a turn away from God [52:02] · How civilizing colonized everyday life: the royal court, the prestige shift, and the etiquette explosion [55:51] · Louis XIV's system: Versailles, official French, and the academies that standardized everything including dance [58:57] · "Your dancing master is the most important man in Europe": Lord Chesterfield's letter to his nephew [1:01:19] · Walking turned out, walking like a rustic and why orthopedics was invented to fix noble children [~1:06:00] · Cinderella, written at Louis XIV's court: the real moral is grace [1:08:45] · Rustic, grace, affectation: the chart that sorted humanity [1:10:41] · Is Calvin's grace the same word as the court's grace? An open question we're now chasing [1:11:00] · The medieval body vs. the Reformation body: when going through the motions became illegitimate [1:12:50] · The Puritan journal and the ballet correction: self-examination at the granular scale [1:16:59] · Coming next week: the Reformation and a forecast of dance's death by French Revolution [1:19:26] Resources mentioned in this episode: · The Traumatized Church: my free live seminar, Tuesday, July 28th at 8pm EST on Zoom. Register at bradleymelle.com/learn. Replay sent to everyone who registers · When Did White People Stop Dancing? Ngofeen Mputubwele's play-in-progress, the origin of this series · Becoming a French Aristocrat: the primary-source study of aristocratic child-rearing Ngofeen references [58:57] · Lord Chesterfield's letters to his nephew (1768) [1:01:19] · Register free for The Traumatized Church: Tuesday, July 28th, 8pm EST: bradleymelle.com/learn. Live Q&A included; can't make it live? Register anyway and get the replay · New to the series? Start with Part 1 (Augustine and the medieval body) and Part 2 (the Black Plague and the Danse Macabre) · Follow Freestyle Theology on Instagram: @freestyletheology · Send me a message directly through the link at the top of this episode description

• Transcript

Let's Talk About: Is Christianity Good?

Let’s Talk About: Is Christianity Good? What happens when you stop being able to balance Christianity’s ledger? When “But the church built hospitals” no longer cancels out the crime of residential schools, the crusades, or the doctrine of discovery? In this episode I sit down with my good friend Danielle Steenwyk-Rowaan, who leads Open Homes Hamilton, a multi-church network that welcomes refugee claimants into spare rooms in family homes. We talk honestly about deconstruction, the moment Danielle realized that domination isn’t an aberration in Christian history but a pattern, and why she stopped trying to decide whether Christianity is “net good or net bad.” We get into the ethos of domination, the thing that white Western Christians swim in without noticing, the crusader fantasy behind the “Deus Vult” tattoo, why Canadians don’t get to feel superior to Americans, and the question that won’t leave me alone: Christians have always emphasized Jesus’ identity – but what was his actual method for change? Danielle’s answer runs through radical hospitality: eating with the wrong people, bringing the margins to the centre, and welcoming the stranger into your own house. If you’re carrying the weight of church history and wondering what’s left to hold onto, this conversation is something of a life raft. Topics discussed in this episode: Why I'm done trying to balance the ledger of church history. No more finding a good deed to neutralize every atrocity Danielle's story: doing denominational justice work, and how everything hit a wall during Trump’s 2016 election Aberrations or a pattern? Residential schools, colonization, and the thread that runs all the way back The birth of Open Homes Hamilton: Haitian refugee claimants at the border and a coffee-shop idea that became a life raft for a meaningful faith The Christian penchant for "making the other like us": conversion, crusade, and the doctrine of discovery as one project And why are white people so lame? Cringe, aloofness, and what domination does to a culture Deus Vult: the crusader tattoo and white Christian masculinity's knight fantasy The Canadian “Angel Complex”: America might be in chaos, but Canadians don't get off easy Domination's fragility: why the powerful are so easily triggered Proximity as our teacher: what nine months in West Africa revealed to Danielle about the iceberg under every culture "The way of Jesus" vs. Christianity-the-system Jesus’s method for change Eating with the wrong people: Matthew 25 and hospitality as Jesus’s other way of flipping tables Glimpses of God as gift, not threat: a Sudanese Muslim friend's experience of the divine Calls-to-action: Learn more about Open Homes Hamilton and get involved Follow Freestyle Theology on Instagram: @freestyletheology Got Thoughts? Comments? Questions? Click the link at the top of the description to send me a message directly!

• Transcript

Let's Talk About: The Disastrous 1300s

Let’s Talk About: The Disastrous 1300s What happens to a civilization's relationship with the body when a third of it perishes in a few short years? In part two of my ongoing conversation with journalist, playwright, and opera singer Ngofeen Mputubwele, we enter the catastrophic 1300s: the Avignon Papacy, the Western Schism, and - of course - the Black Plague. I argue that the plague marks one of the great unacknowledged turning points in church history: the moment Western Christianity's understanding of suffering shifted from purgative (cleansing, reparative) to punitive (the raw rage of God poured out on human flesh). Along the way, Ngofeen brings his remarkable personal stew - Congolese Catholicism, the historic Black church, white Reformed evangelicalism, opera, and ballet - to bear on Western Christianity’s suspicion of emotion, movement, and the body itself. We talk Carnival, Calvin's Geneva, the Danse Macabre, rotting tomb sculptures, La Traviata, Hillsong-era worship anxieties, and why there would have been no Reformation without the Plague. Topics discussed in this episode: What’s the West’s deal with emotion? How a high school music course planted a new question Amazing Grace in white church vs. Black church, and Hillsong-era suspicion of embodied worship Calvin's Geneva: the theocratic city-state that explicitly outlawed dancing How the Carnival festival survived: preserved by Black communities in the colonized Americas but not by Europeans Ngofeen's family history: a Jesuit mission in Congo, Gregorian chant and rumba in one household, and the discovery that "the rules of the body are not universal" Emotion as “movement outward”: why cultures of correct doctrine fear what arises without consent The medieval church as a sin-management system and why Hell felt farther away for a medieval peasant than for a Protestant Carnival, inversion, and mockery: what the church tolerated and why The traumatic 1300s: the Avignon Papacy, three rival popes, the Black Plague and Catherine of Siena's prophetic confrontation The Black Death as theological rupture: from purgative suffering to divine punishment Why there would have been no Reformation without the Plague The Danse Macabre: the dance with Death that no one - rich, poor, or pope - could refuse Death dances in opera: La Traviata, Carmen, and the "fallen woman" who must die Rotting bodies on tombs: the transi and the post-plague obsession with mortality, wounds, and blood Ebola, Mpox, COVID, and the modern imagination of "bad death" Questions or Comments? Follow Freestyle Theology on Instagram: @freestyletheology Send me a message directly through the podcast: tap the link at the top of the episode description Have a question or topic you want us to take up in a future episode? Message me and let me know! New to the series? Go back and listen to Part 1: "Let’s Talk About: The Medieval Body"

• Transcript

Let's Talk About: The Medieval Body

Playwright, journalist, and podcaster Ngofeen Mputubwele is writing a play about a deceptively simple question: when did white people stop dancing? What began as a conversation about medieval bodies quickly became something much large: a history of how Western Christianity came to distrust its own flesh, and how that distrust got exported around the world. In this first conversation, Ngofeen and I trace the origins of the Western church's conflicted relationship with the body: the fall of Rome as a civilizational 9/11, Augustine's personal war with his own desire becoming the theological architecture of an entire tradition, and the earthy, embodied fusion of Augustinian theology with the "indigenous" place-based spirituality of ancient Europe that gave medieval Christianity its sensory richness (the relics, pilgrimage, a whole cabinet full of ways to do something with your shame) Then the Reformation arrives and strips it all bare. What's left when you take away the rituals? You turn inward, which has huge implications for the body.

• Transcript

Let's Talk About: Other Religions

Dr. Bradley Melle sits down again with Fr. Joash Thomas - priest, author of The Justice of Jesus, and descendant of the ancient St. Thomas Christians of Kerala, India - for a conversation that reframes everything Western Christians think they know about neighbours of other faiths and the afterlife. Why Western Christianity's fear-driven posture toward other religions is historically contingent (it didn’t have to be that way!) and what the 2000-year-old Indian church reveals about a different way The Synod of Diamper (1599): how the Portuguese Empire burned the ancient documents of the St. Thomas Christians and declared their form of Christian universalism heresy, because it wasn't Christian supremacist enough to serve colonial interests The "Law of St. Thomas" a form of Christian universalist eschatology that predates modern universalist theology by over a millennium, and what its suppression tells us about whose theology gets to count as orthodox What happened to Western Christian theology when Columbus encountered the Americas after 1492 and why the discovery of hundreds of millions of "unevangelized" souls created a psychological and theological crisis that Western Christianity still hasn't fully processed The Reformed tradition's version of Christian supremacy - more sophisticated, less loud, but structurally the same problem A 15-year-old Brad in suburban Edmonton, a Qigong class, and the moment genuine curiosity about other traditions got shut down, and what that cost Kerala, India: the first Indian state to eliminate extreme poverty, with near-100% literacy and what centuries of interfaith minority Christian witness had to do with it This isn't really a conversation about tolerance. It's a conversation about what Christianity looks like when it was never the dominant power, and what the West might learn from that. For anyone who has ever wondered whether there's a Christianity that doesn't require fear of its neighbours (or fear for them...!) to function.

• Transcript

Let's Talk About: Threat & Theology

Brad is back down the rabbit hole, and this time, Augustine is the way in. Why Augustine of Hippo is arguably the real founder of Western Christianity, and what that means for everything you think you know about Paul, original sin, and the gospel The difference between the historical Paul and Augustine's Paul and why most Western Christians have been reading one through the filter of the other without knowing it Theology as historically contingent: what it means that Augustine's system was shaped by his ambition, his mother, his psychology, and his North African Roman world, not just by scripture The meadow vs. the perfume bottle: why extracting doctrine from the gospels might be missing the point entirely Why the gospels function more like cinema than philosophy and what it would mean to encounter them that way again, in community, without needing a final word Why the threat response to historical theology is worth examining and what it's actually protecting This isn't a tidy episode. It's Brad thinking out loud about Augustine, interpretation, and what it might mean to do theology honestly in 2026. For the historically curious, the theologically restless, and anyone who has ever felt vaguely crazy for asking hard questions about what the gospel actually means.

• Transcript

Let's Talk About: Where Am I?

Brad is back, and this episode is an honest account of where he's been. After months of silence, Brad returns to the mic to share what's kept him away: the death of his mother in late October, a brutal flare of his ulcerative colitis, and his daughter's unexpected health issues, all compressed into the same brutal stretch of months He reflects on grief that is "clean but massive." The ache of losing someone you genuinely liked, not just loved Why he couldn't bring himself to theologize at his own mother's funeral, and what that revealed about Christianity's complicated relationship with sitting in pain The slow thaw from creative hibernation: the precipitation cycle that froze, and what it feels like as it starts again A shift in posture: from authoritative teacher to honest processor, and why he no longer needs to cap every thought with hope This one isn't a history episode. But it is human. And it might be what you need to hear if you've also been somewhere dark and quiet lately.

• Transcript

Let's Talk About: Power

Jesus gave away power. What does that actually mean...? What does it really mean to have power—and what happens when we hoard it? In this thought-provoking conversation, historian and theologian Dr. Bradley Melle (Freestyle Theology) sits down with international human rights advocate Rev. Joash Thomas to explore the anatomy of power: why it’s hoarded, how it corrupts, and how Jesus’ life offers a radically different way to use it. Together, we trace power from ancient empires to today’s oligarchs, unpack the fear and fragility behind political and economic dominance, and ask why “more” never feels like enough. Joash shares global perspectives from his work defending the poor from violence, while Brad draws on church history—from the early Christians caring for plague victims in North Africa to the ways Christianity has too often blessed empire instead of resisting it. We wrestle with big questions: Why do the powerful seem so insecure? How does fear drive greed, colonialism, and endless expansion—whether into land, markets, or even outer space? What does it mean when Jesus “gives away” power? How can the church recover the courage to stand with the untouchable and marginalized? This episode blends history, theology, and activism to challenge the way we think about power, from the Roman Empire to Elon Musk, from settler colonialism to the Gaza crisis. It’s a call to move from fear-based hoarding to Spirit-empowered liberation, rooted in love, justice, and the conviction that no one is truly secure until we all are.

• Transcript

Let's Talk About: Meditation

Can meditation heal spiritual wounds? In this episode of Freestyle Theology, Brad and Brielle unpack their journeys with depression, anxiety, meditation, and spiritual growth. They explore how mindfulness, breathwork, and even sung Scripture can help Christians reconnect with their bodies and cultivate a gentler, richer spiritual rhythm, all while healing from religious trauma. Whether you’re in therapy, deconstructing, or simply craving a more authentic connection with God, this conversation will invite you to explore meditation as a practice that bridges faith and nervous system healing—without the baggage of fear-based theology. We also share how meditation helped us rediscover the beauty of prayer, embrace embodied spirituality, and let go of religious perfectionism. Plus, a hint about a resource we've created to help you bring calm, clarity, and connection back into your spiritual life. Tune in and discover a different kind of Christian practice.

• Transcript

Let's Talk About: Today's Evangelical Tantrum

In this raw and wide-ranging episode, Brad is joined again by Rev. Joash Thomas to explore the emotional and spiritual roots of what Brad calls the “evangelical tantrum”—the reactive, fear-fueled backlash of white conservative Christianity in the face of cultural change. Why do some Christians in America act as if they’re being persecuted, even while holding power? What are they so afraid of losing—and have they even lost it? Together, Brad and Joash dive into history, theology, trauma, and personal stories. Joash opens up about his past as a rising political consultant in Georgia’s Republican Party, his moment of reckoning, and the journey that brought him to international human rights work and ordained ministry. Along the way, the two reflect on the immaturity of much of Western Christianity, the seductive illusion of cultural dominance, structural racism, and the healing power of surrendering control. If you’ve ever felt disoriented by white evangelical fragility or longed for a more mature, liberating Christianity—this one’s for you.

• Transcript

Let's Talk About: The New American Theocracy

What if the rise of Christian nationalism in the U.S. isn’t just political—but the fruit of a long, coordinated theological strategy? In this episode of Freestyle Theology, Dr. Bradley Melle sits down with Margaret Bronson, the force behind Deconstruction Doulas, to uncover the disturbing roots of America’s new religious extremism. From growing up in a high-control cult to witnessing those same ideas go mainstream, Margaret brings both lived experience and prophetic insight into what’s really happening beneath the surface of today’s culture wars. Together, we explore: What “theonomy” is—and how it’s reshaping American politics The disturbing return of Christendom logic and crusader theology Why high-control religion thrives in times of cultural insecurity How spiritual abuse warps the body, mind, and soul Why cult logic is quietly infiltrating churches, schools, and legislation What we can learn from people escaping these systems—and how to help Whether you’re tracking Project 2025, rethinking your relationship with church, or trying to understand why so many Christians are choosing authoritarianism over compassion, this episode connects the theological dots behind today’s headlines—and reminds us why curiosity is the opposite of colonialism. 🎧 Listen now and join the conversation. 📬 Got thoughts? Email Brad at freestyletheology [at] gmail.com or DM @freestyletheology on Instagram. 🔗 Learn more about Margaret’s work or support her directly: 🌐 Website: www.deconstructiondoulas.com ❤️ Patreon: Deconstruction Doulas on Patreon 🙏 GoFundMe: Build a Survivor Care Network 📰 Article on Moscow, Idaho church community: Read here

• Transcript

Let's Talk About: Christianity & Colonialism

What If Colonialism Lives On—in Our Bodies, Beliefs, and Churches? In this wide-ranging conversation, Dr. Bradley Melle is joined once again by Rev. Joash Thomas for an in-person deep dive into Christianity, colonialism, and inherited trauma. From intergenerational disease to theological rigidity, they explore how the legacies of empire aren’t just historical—they’re physiological, spiritual, and still deeply active in the life of the church. Together, they ask: What does it mean to decolonize theology without turning it into another empire? Could our inherited ideas of sin and salvation be more about trauma than rebellion? How do colonized peoples carry intergenerational wounds in the body—and how do colonizers carry the trauma of violence, too? Why do some deconstructing evangelicals seek refuge in ancient traditions—and what’s really behind the trend of converting to Eastern Orthodoxy? What can the Law of St. Thomas teach us about pluralism, humility, and the expansive reach of Christ? Whether you're working through religious trauma, questioning the Western church's obsession with control, or just curious about how history shapes theology, this episode invites you into a richer, more embodied conversation about faith, power, and healing. 🎧 Tune in and join the dialogue. 📬 Got thoughts? Email Brad at freestyletheology [at] gmail.com or DM @freestyletheology on Instagram.

• Transcript

Let's Talk About: Modern Fragmentation

Why does everything feel so fractured—and has it always been this way? In this solo episode, Dr. Bradley Melle dives deep into the 500-year story of fragmentation in the Western world, from the shattering of medieval consensus in the Reformation to today’s tribalism, polarization, and nostalgia-fueled politics. But this isn’t just a history lesson—it’s a challenge to embrace the disorientation of modern life as an opportunity for truth, empathy, and a new kind of unity. Today we'll explore: Why modern life feels so fragmented—and why that’s not all bad How nostalgia fuels dangerous political and religious movements What we lost after the medieval world—and what we gained in return Why the longing for “simpler times” can be a trap How fragmentation may actually help us love our neighbour better Whether you're wrestling with Christian nationalism, deconstructing your faith, or just trying to make sense of our chaotic world, this episode offers historical insight with real-world relevance. It's an invitation to face reality as it is—and build something new in the cracks. 🎧 Listen now and join the conversation. 📬 Got thoughts? Email Brad at freestyletheology [at] gmail.com or DM @freestyletheology on Instagram.

• Transcript

Let's Talk About: Christian Supremacy

Church historian Bradley Melle chats with Rev. Joash Thomas about Christian supremacy, colonialism, and trauma in the church. Brad and Joash dive into how Christianity's history—from Constantine to today's Christian nationalism—has often prioritized power, dominance, and control, leading to deep historical wounds and ongoing struggles. Drawing from personal experiences, historical examples, and current events, they unpack how beliefs in Christian supremacy have shaped global Christianity, suppressed spiritual diversity, and contributed to injustice worldwide. They explore stories of colonial missions in India, Christianity's troubling alliance with political power, and how religious trauma continues to influence church communities today. Listeners will discover how intergenerational trauma affects contemporary Christian life and gain practical insights into creating a healthier, more compassionate, and trauma-informed faith. This conversation is perfect for anyone curious about church history, religious trauma, Christian nationalism, and the journey toward a more authentic and humble Christianity.

• Transcript

Let's Talk About: Love & Safety

In this episode of Freestyle Theology, Dr. Bradley Melle and Brielle Goheen dive into the complexities of love and its manifestation within church communities. They explore the idea of love as a multifaceted and often misunderstood concept in religious circles, emphasizing the importance of clear communication, honesty, and dealing with awkward and painful experiences as expressions of love. Melle and Goheen discuss how love is often conflated with service, yet true love involves deeper elements like knowing one's role in the body of Christ and recognizing the diverse ways love can be enacted. They draw parallels between different parts of the body of Christ and the various functions individuals have in expressing love, from being the hands and feet to the less obvious but equally vital roles. The conversation also touches on the fruit of the Spirit, particularly how love is the driving force behind joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. They stress the importance of discipline, not just in a Western sense of self-control but as a holistic approach to structuring one's life to facilitate a gentle, loving existence. A significant part of the discussion revolves around the necessity of creating communities of safety within the church. They argue that historical fear of judgment and rejection has poisoned many church environments, making them unsafe and unwelcoming. By fostering communities where people feel truly loved and accepted, free from fear, shame, and constant adrenaline-driven alertness, churches can become spaces of genuine love and growth. Melle and Goheen also explore practical ways to cultivate such communities, emphasizing the role of clear communication, conflict resolution, and setting up simple, effective systems. They highlight the importance of transparency and accountability, using the metaphor of a Sunday school room with a glass door to symbolize openness and safety. The episode delves into historical and theological insights, discussing how early Christian communities thrived on a story of love and acceptance, contrasting this with the often fear-driven narratives of modern Christianity. They explore how the early church's systems of security and reconciliation contributed to their resilience and appeal, suggesting that contemporary churches can learn from these models to build healthier, more loving communities. Ultimately, Melle and Goheen advocate for a reexamination of how churches operate, encouraging leaders and members alike to prioritize love, discipline, and safety. By doing so, they believe that the church can better reflect the true spirit of Christ and become a beacon of hope and healing in the world. Tune in to hear this enriching conversation that challenges conventional notions of love and discipline in the church and offers practical insights for cultivating communities that truly embody the fruit of the Spirit.

Let's Talk About: Residential Schools as Church History

In this enlightening episode of "Freestyle Theology," Dr. Bradley Melle, a historian of Global Christianity, dives deep into the history of colonialism, Indigenous Christianity, and the impact of residential schools. Joining forces with John Simon and Thomas Duell from the "Church History for Chumps" podcast, Dr. Melle shares his insights from his teaching stint in Arizona, bringing to light the little-known history of American Indian boarding schools amidst Arizona's large Indigenous population. The discussion unveils the dark legacy of colonialism intertwined with Christianity, exploring the phenomenon of residential schools as a grim episode in church history. Through a compelling narrative, the episode addresses the cultural genocide and the physical and emotional abuse inflicted upon Indigenous children, aiming to erase their identity and assimilate them into a dominant culture. Dr. Melle, along with his hosts, navigates through the complex relationship between colonial powers, the church, and Indigenous communities, shedding light on the systemic injustices and the struggle for healing and reconciliation. This episode is a critical examination of the past, encouraging a reflective understanding of Christianity's diverse history and its role in shaping societies. Freestyle Theology is brought to you by Daily Breath, the Christian meditation app that promotes spiritual wellness and growth. Download it for free on the Apple App Store or Google Play. For those seeking to explore the multifaceted history of the church and its impact on global cultures, this episode is a must-listen. Follow Dr. Melle on Instagram at @freestyletheology for more insightful content on church history across different eras and cultures.

• Transcript