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Theology Made Podcast

Theology Made

The Theology Made Podcast takes complicated ideas about God and makes them simple. Each episode unpacks theology, church history, or biblical truth in a way that's clear, thoughtful, and actually enjoyable.

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25 episodes
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Thursday · 9 min
The First Christians Didn’t Own Bibles
Did early Christians have Bibles? For the first several centuries of Christianity, almost no believer owned a Bible, most couldn’t read one, and the complete single-volume Bible barely existed before Constantine. This episode does the math nobody does: a hand-copied Gospel cost about a month’s wages, a full Bible ran the price of a small farm, and it took an imperial budget to put fifty Bibles in one city. So how did a movement of cobblers and laundry women become the most Scripture-saturated community in the ancient world? Through trained memory, public reading, and teenage lectors whose ordained job was to be the voice of the Gospel. Featuring the emperor who tried to kill Christianity by confiscating manuscripts, and the clergy who died guarding them, the story behind the word “traitor.” Theology Made is a listener/reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Theology Made at substack.theologymade.com/subscribe
September 3 · 12 min
The First Christians Didn't Have a Pastor
Somewhere this Sunday, a man will walk onto a stage, and everyone will call him the pastor. A Christian from the year 60 would have no idea who he is. The New Testament uses “pastor” for church leaders exactly once, never addresses a letter to one, and describes churches run by teams of elders meeting in living rooms. So where did the job come from? The trail runs through a church manual obsessed with freeloading prophets, a congregation that fired its leaders in 96 AD, and an old man in chains whose letters invented the office on his way to die in the arena. This is the story of how one word in Ephesians became the biggest line in the church budget. Theology Made is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Theology Made at substack.theologymade.com/subscribe
August 27 · 8 min
Nobody Knows What Jesus Looked Like
You can picture his face right now. Long hair, soft beard, calm eyes. That face is not his, and it cannot be, because nobody who knew Jesus wrote down what he looked like or left a picture. The Gospels describe almost everything else and stay silent on this. So where did the face in your head come from? This episode traces it back through a commercial artist in 1940, through Byzantine icons, all the way to a painted wall in a Roman town where Christians had no face to copy and borrowed the one the culture handed them. What we found says more about us than about a carpenter from Nazareth. Theology Made is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Theology Made at substack.theologymade.com/subscribe
August 20 · 10 min
The First Christians Didn’t Say the Sinner’s Prayer
Most people think you become a Christian by praying a prayer. Admit you’re a sinner, believe Jesus died for you, ask him into your heart. It feels ancient, like the oldest thing in the faith. It isn’t. For roughly eighteen centuries, nobody prayed it, because becoming a Christian meant something slower and far more costly, and it ended in a pool of water before dawn. This episode traces how a three-year process became a thirty-second prayer, why a preacher and a piece of furniture in 1830 changed everything, and what quietly got traded along the way. Theology Made is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Theology Made at substack.theologymade.com/subscribe
August 13 · 9 min
The Man Who Calculated Everything, Then Bet on God
In 1662, a servant found something sewn into the lining of a dead man’s coat. He had carried it against his chest for eight years and never told a soul it was there. The man had built one of the first calculating machines in history and helped invent the mathematics of probability, the same math every casino and insurance company still runs on today. He could weigh the air and put a number on the future. Then one night he ran into something he could not measure, and he spent the rest of his life betting on it. This is the story of the genius who could prove almost anything, and what he reached for when proof finally ran out. Theology Made is a listener/reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Theology Made at substack.theologymade.com/subscribe
August 6 · 10 min
The Saint Who Couldn’t Stop Sinning
Sometime around 370, a group of teenage boys in North Africa stripped a neighbor’s pear tree in the middle of the night, carried off more fruit than they could ever eat, and threw most of it to the pigs. Nobody was hungry. The pears weren’t even good. One of those boys spent the next forty years unable to explain why he did it. His name was Augustine, and he would become one of the most influential thinkers in Western history. But this is the part the marble statues leave out: he could see the better life with total clarity, describe it more beautifully than almost anyone alive, and still not make himself walk into it. He once prayed to be made pure, then quietly attached a condition under his breath. Not yet. This episode follows him from a brothel-loud Carthage to a garden in Milan where it finally came apart, and into the theology he built out of the one discovery that changed everything: that he had never been able to save himself. If you’ve ever set an alarm to begin a whole new life on Monday morning, you already know this story from the inside. The pears, it turns out, were never really about the pears. Theology Made is a listener/reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Theology Made at substack.theologymade.com/subscribe
July 30 · 9 min
The Woman the Church Misread for 1,400 Years
For 1,400 years, the church called her a prostitute. She wasn’t. Mary Magdalene is one of the most recognizable figures in Christian history and one of the most misrepresented. The Gospels never describe her as a sinful woman. That story came from a single sermon, preached by Pope Gregory I in 591 AD, in which he conflated three different women into one with no textual basis for doing so. The Eastern church never accepted it. Scholars spent centuries pointing to the actual text. The Catholic Church corrected it in 1969: 1,378 years later. The real Mary Magdalene stood at the cross when most of the disciples had fled. She went to the tomb before dawn. She was the first person the risen Christ chose to speak to, and the first person he sent with a message. The church fathers called her the apostle to the apostles. This episode tells the story the Gospels actually tell and asks why the other version lasted as long as it did. Theology Made is a listener/reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Theology Made at substack.theologymade.com/subscribe
July 23 · 16 min
Why Follow Your Heart is the Oldest Heresy
In the second century, a brilliant theologian named Valentinus nearly became pope. His idea was simple: the truth is inside you. Trust it. Follow it. The church called it heresy. Two thousand years later, it’s the most repeated advice in Western culture. This episode traces “follow your heart” from the Gnostic communities of ancient Rome through Carl Rogers and the therapeutic revolution, through Augustine weeping in a Milan garden and asks the question the phrase never bothers to ask: what exactly is your heart, and who formed it? Topics covered: • Valentinus and the Gnostic system • Irenaeus and Against Heresies • Carl Rogers and the therapeutic self • Philip Rieff’s Triumph of the Therapeutic • Augustine’s Confessions and the restless heart • The desert fathers on discernment vs. suppression • What the Christian tradition actually says about desire Theology Made is a listener/reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. #theology #churchhistory #augustine #gnosticism #christianity #theologyexplained Get full access to Theology Made at substack.theologymade.com/subscribe
July 16 · 10 min
Who Decided Children Mattered
In the Roman world, leaving an unwanted newborn at the base of a public column was legal, common, and considered a reasonable household decision. Aristotle endorsed infanticide for weak children. Seneca described it as rational household management. The Spartans institutionalized it. The idea that a child’s life has inherent worth; that it cannot be assigned or revoked by a father, a state, or a council of elders, is not ancient wisdom. It is a specific invention. It has an origin. This episode traces how one religious movement changed the legal, cultural, and moral status of children across the Western world, built the first orphanages, lobbied the first child protection laws, and generated the intuitions about childhood that modern secular culture now treats as self-evident. The invention of childhood is one of the most consequential and least told stories in Western history. Someone had to say it first. This is who, and why it mattered. Theology Made is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Theology Made at substack.theologymade.com/subscribe
July 9 · 11 min
The Woman the Church Couldn’t Ignore
In the twelfth century, a nun with no formal authority, no official platform, and no institutional power began writing down what she saw. Kings wrote back. Emperors wrote back. The pope read her work aloud to a room full of bishops and told her to keep going. Hildegard of Bingen shouldn’t have had the influence she had. By every rule her world recognized, she was outside the circle of people who got to speak. She had no theological degree, no political office, no inherited title. She had visions she’d been quietly carrying since childhood—and eventually, she stopped keeping them to herself. What followed was one of the strangest careers in church history: composer, scientist, preacher, prophet, and one of the most widely consulted voices in medieval Europe. This episode is about Hildegard—but it’s really about influence. How it moves. Where it comes from. And why the people who aren’t supposed to be heard are sometimes the ones nobody can stop listening to. Theology Made explores the ideas, figures, and moments in Christian history that still have something to say. New episodes every week. Theology Made is a listener/ reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Theology Made at substack.theologymade.com/subscribe
July 2 · 11 min
Faust: The Story That Predicated Modern Life
Five hundred years ago, Europe told a story about a man who sold his soul for unlimited knowledge, unlimited power, and a life without limits. We turned him into a hero. This episode traces the Faust legend from its historical roots in the Holy Roman Empire to Christopher Marlowe’s stage, to Goethe’s radical reinvention of the character — and then straight into the present. Because the Faustian bargain didn’t end in the 16th century. It just changed address. Ray Kurzweil wants to live forever. Peter Thiel is transfusing young blood. Silicon Valley is building what it openly calls a god. And the ancient heresy the early church spent centuries arguing against is back — this time wearing a lab coat. This is an episode about the deal modern civilization is making. What it’s trading. What it’s losing. Theology Made is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Theology Made at substack.theologymade.com/subscribe
June 25 · 10 min
Why Smart People Still Fall For Cults
You think you’d never fall for a cult. Most people do. But the truth is, cults don’t prey on stupidity, they rely on something far more dangerous: intelligence, commitment, and the human need for certainty. This piece explores why smart people aren’t immune to manipulation, how belief systems become self-sealing, and why the real threat isn’t deception from the outside; but the stories we learn to defend from within. Theology Made is a listener/reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. At 18 I decided I wanted to be a pastor. There was one problem. While I grew up in church, I didn’t have a clear understanding of how I thought about God. So, I spent 20 years pursuing that. This framework is the result of those 20 years. You can get it in 40 minutes. The Theology Made Workshop: https://theologymade.mykajabi.com/offers/RqeAzfaY Get full access to Theology Made at substack.theologymade.com/subscribe
June 18 · 9 min
Science vs Religion Is a Myth? What Darwin Actually Changed
In 1859, Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species—and many believed it marked the end of faith. Science had won. Religion had lost. But that story isn’t history. It’s a myth. In this episode, we break down the real relationship between science and Christianity—unpacking the famous Darwin debate, the origins of the “science vs religion” narrative, and why historians now reject it. You’ll discover: * Why the Darwin vs Christianity conflict is largely invented * The truth behind the 1860 Oxford debate * Famous Christian scientists you’ve never heard about * What Darwin actually challenged (and what he didn’t) * Why evolution doesn’t disprove God From Gregor Mendel to Francis Collins, from Augustine to modern theology—this episode explores how faith and science have always been more connected than we’ve been told. Theology Made is a listener/reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. At 18 I decided I wanted to be a pastor. There was one problem. While I grew up in church, I didn’t have a clear understanding of how I thought about God. So, I spent 20 years pursuing that. This framework is the result of those 20 years. You can get it in 40 minutes. The Theology Made Workshop: https://theologymade.mykajabi.com/offers/RqeAzfaY Get full access to Theology Made at substack.theologymade.com/subscribe
June 11 · 9 min
The First Christians Didn't Try to Change the Empire
The first Christians lived under the most powerful political system the world had ever seen. They didn’t lobby it, campaign against it, or try to capture it. They fed the poor, buried the dead, and built a community so stubbornly different that three centuries later, the empire couldn’t explain what had happened. This episode looks at how the earliest church related to power, not by ignoring it, but by operating on an entirely different logic. We trace what it meant to call Jesus “Lord” in a world that already had one, why political strategy wasn’t the church’s instrument of change, and what got quietly lost when the faith began to assume that influence and control were the same thing. Theology Made is a listener/reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Theology Made at substack.theologymade.com/subscribe
June 4 · 9 min
The Bible Wasn't Meant to Be Read Alone
Theology Made is a listener/reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. For most of Christian history, almost no one read the Bible alone. Scripture was heard and read aloud in packed rooms, interpreted together, argued over in real time by people who shared a life, not just a reading plan. This episode traces how the Bible moved from the ear to the eye, from the community to the individual, and what quietly shifted when it did. We look at first-century literacy, the oral culture behind Paul’s letters, and the centuries-long transformation that turned a communal text into a private devotional and ask what that change might still be costing us. If you’ve ever felt like theology is harder than it should be, you’re not alone and you don’t have to stay stuck there. I created a short workshop called “Faith Without Fear: Learning Theology with Confidence” to help you finally make sense of it all. In just under an hour, I’ll walk you through a simple framework that makes theology click—without the overwhelm. https://theologymade.mykajabi.com/offers/RqeAzfaY Get full access to Theology Made at substack.theologymade.com/subscribe
May 28 · 8 min
The First Christians Didn’t Go to Church. Here’s Why.
For the first 300 years of Christianity… there were no church buildings.No services. No “going to church” the way we think of it today. So what were the first Christians actually doing? In this episode, we step into the world of the early church and uncover how something that started in homes and shared meals eventually became something very different. Because the real surprise isn’t that church looked different back then. It’s how much our assumptions about it have changed. Theology Made is a listener/reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Theology Made at substack.theologymade.com/subscribe
May 21 · 10 min
The Man Who Chose to Own Nothing
Theology Made is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. What if security isn’t safety? What if accumulation isn’t freedom? What he found on the other side of that question became one of the most disruptive spiritual movements in church history. And it still has something to say to anyone building a life they’re not entirely sure they want. This episode is about Francis—but it’s really about what we hold onto, and why. Get full access to Theology Made at substack.theologymade.com/subscribe
May 14 · 10 min
Jesus Didn’t Write Anything. So Why Do We Trust the Gospels?
Jesus never wrote a single word. No letters. No books. No firsthand account. And yet, billions of people trust what was written about Him. So why? In this episode, we explore one of the most overlooked questions in Christianity—and why the answer challenges how modern people think about truth, history, and credibility. Because the real issue isn’t that Jesus didn’t write anything. It’s why no one thought He needed to. Theology Made is a listener/reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. At 18 I decided I wanted to be a pastor. There was one problem. While I grew up in church, I didn’t have a clear understanding of how I thought about God. So, I spent 20 years pursuing that. This framework is the result of those 20 years. You can get it in 40 minutes. The Theology Made Workshop: https://theologymade.mykajabi.com/offers/RqeAzfaY Get full access to Theology Made at substack.theologymade.com/subscribe
May 7 · 7 min
You Think You’re Thinking for Yourself. You’re Not.
You probably think your beliefs are your own. That you’ve weighed the evidence, thought it through, and arrived at your conclusions honestly. But what if most of what you believe… was installed? In this piece, we explore the unsettling reality that your worldview may be less independent than you think—and why your brain is wired to defend beliefs you never actually chose. Drawing from psychology, culture, and theology, this isn’t just about how beliefs form. It’s about how they control you. Theology Made is a listener/reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. At 18 I decided I wanted to be a pastor. There was one problem. While I grew up in church, I didn’t have a clear understanding of how I thought about God. So, I spent 20 years pursuing that. This framework is the result of those 20 years. You can get it in 40 minutes. The Theology Made Workshop: https://theologymade.mykajabi.com/offers/RqeAzfaY Get full access to Theology Made at substack.theologymade.com/subscribe
April 30 · 11 min
The Man Who Explained Everything and Then Stopped
Thomas Aquinas spent forty years building the most ambitious intellectual project in Western history, a single unified framework to explain God, creation, evil, the soul, and everything in between. Thousands of pages. Hundreds of arguments. A system so rigorous that the Catholic Church made it their official theology for seven centuries. Then, on December 6th, 1273, he stopped writing. Mid-sentence. Mid-project. And when his secretary begged him to continue, he said: “Everything I have written seems like straw compared to what I have seen.” Not incomplete. Not a rough draft. Straw. In this episode of Theology Made, we trace what Aquinas was actually attempting and what it means that the most disciplined theological mind in history reached the edge of what reason could hold, and found that the edge wasn’t the end. For anyone who has ever understood a great deal about God and still felt like something essential remained just out of reach. Theology Made is a listener/reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. If this episode left you wanting more than information about God, the Faith Without Fear workshop gives you a theological framework for actually interpreting your life, your doubt, and the world around you. It’s not more content to consume, it’s a lens that changes how you read everything. Workshop Get full access to Theology Made at substack.theologymade.com/subscribe

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