Spirit Outspoken

How did friendship, grief, faith, and unexpected intuitive experiences lead Rachael and Jaisa to start a podcast? They share the moments that brought them together, and why they’re not afraid to talk about the things others might shy away from.
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The patriarchy didn’t just shape Christianity, it taught women to distrust their bodies, intuition, and spiritual knowing.

In this episode, Chelsea Kim Long, author of Faithfully Dissident Daughters, shares the awakening that led her to rethink purity culture, embodiment, church history, and the divine feminine. This episode provides a deep conversation about what women have been taught to fear, why pregnancy became a turning point in her faith, and what can happen when women begin trusting themselves again.

Chelsea explores how male-centered theology can make God feel distant, how biblical language around birth and being “born again” can open the door to a more feminine understanding of the divine, and why representation matters, in faith, community, and our understanding of God.

The ladies discuss Mary Magdalene, the women surrounding Jesus, and scholarship that questions whether their roles were minimized over time. Chelsea shares the theory that Mary of Bethany and Mary Magdalene may have been the same woman, why that possibility matters, and how scripture can look different when read through the lenses of mysticism, embodiment, and contemplative Christianity.

This conversation is for anyone deconstructing, reconstructing, or wondering whether a more expansive and life-giving Christianity has been there all along.

Our guest:
Chelsea Kim Long is the author of Faithfully Dissident Daughters and a writer, speaker, and spiritual seeker whose work explores Christianity through embodiment, mysticism, and the divine feminine. Her work invites people to approach progressive Christianity with greater honesty, curiosity, and freedom.

Website: https://www.chelseakimlong.com/
Instagram: @chelseakimlong  

If you enjoyed this episode be sure to check out:
Episode 48: Banned from the Bible: The Hidden Gospel of Paul & Thecla w/ Meggan Watterson

Episode 91: Mysticism, Empire & Finding Our Way Back to Love w/ Joash P Thomas

If this conversation lit something up for you, give it a like, subscribe and share it with a friend who's searching for a faith that feels more whole.

#deconstruction #divinefeminine #marymagdalene #christianity #spirituality #exvangelical #christianmysticism
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Join the Spirit 360! Online Community
Spirit Outspoken Website for Events, Resources, and More Info  
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We are excited to launch our new minisode series "Ask Rach & Jais" dropping every Friday! 
You send us your questions, and we’ll talk them through together. Love, life, spirituality, relationships… nothing is off limits (and we definitely don’t have all the answers, just honest thoughts and a little friend-to-friend perspective).
This week, we’re asking: What happens when your spirituality is evolving, but your partner’s isn’t?
Come hang out, join the conversation, and share what you’re navigating too. 
Support the show
Join the Spirit 360! Online Community
Spirit Outspoken Website for Events, Resources, and More Info  
Follow Spirit Outspoken on Instagram  
Follow Spirit Outspoken on TikTok  
Watch Episodes on YouTube 
Subscribe to Spirit Outspoken Apple Podcast  
Subscribe to Spirit Outspoken Spotify Podcast

What happens when you're taught to think critically about everything except your faith? Kristian A. Smith, a pastor, author, public theologian and fifth-generation Baptist preacher, found out on day one of seminary, when a professor told his class the Bible is not the word of God.
In this episode, Jaisa and Rachael sit down with Kristian to talk deconstruction, fear-based religion and what changes when hell is no longer the thing keeping you in line. He shares why Jesus has become a mascot for Christian nationalism, why even Jesus had to evolve, and how honoring lived experience guides the faith community he pastors.
They also dig into his greatest commandment theology, the idea that loving God, loving your neighbor and loving yourself are a package deal, and sit with the big question underneath it all: who is Jesus beyond the way institutions have defined him?
If you've ever been told your questions were dangerous, this one is for you.
Our guest: Kristian A. Smith is a pastor, public theologian, and digital pastor of The Faith Community Virtual, an inclusive, justice-rooted online community where people from all backgrounds can gather, connect, learn, ask big questions, and explore faith together.
He is the author of Question Your Answers: A Deconstruction Survival Guide, a resource for anyone navigating the kinds of questions and shifts this episode explores, as well as his latest book, Breaking All the Rules: An Ancient Framework for Modern Faith, available on Audible and Amazon.
Kristian is also the host (and resident heretic) of Holy Smokes: Cigars & Spirituality, where cigars, laughter, theology, and honest conversation come together to deconstruct harmful beliefs and build beloved community, one cigar at a time.
Faith Community Website
Faith Community You Tube Channel
E-book Link - Question your Answers
Amazon link for Breaking All the Rules
Patreon - Kristian A Smith
Patreon the Faith Community
Instagram @theKristianASmith
TikTok @theKristianASmith
If you enjoyed this episode be sure to check out:
Episode 92 - The 5 Stages of Deconstruction: What Happens When Faith Falls Apart and Comes Back Together
Episode 55 - Decolonizing the Church: The Justice of Jesus w/ Joash Thomas

If this conversation opened something up for you, give it a like, subscribe and share it with a friend who's asking big questions too.
#deconstruction #christianity #spirituality #exvangelical #progressivechristian #lgbtqchristian #christianmysticism
Support the show
Join the Spirit 360! Online Community
Spirit Outspoken Website for Events, Resources, and More Info  
Follow Spirit Outspoken on Instagram  
Follow Spirit Outspoken on TikTok  
Watch Episodes on YouTube 
Subscribe to Spirit Outspoken Apple Podcast  
Subscribe to Spirit Outspoken Spotify Podcast

If God isn't limited to Jesus, why is Jesus limited to Christianity? In the 100th episode, Jaisa and Rachael wrestle with the question that has shaped two years of Spirit Outspoken: can Jesus exist beyond the boundaries of Christianity?

They go back to the receipts. The light that existed before the sun in Genesis. John 1 and the true light that enlightens everyone. Theosis, and a goal of transformation, not just salvation. Justin Martyr calling Socrates a Christian before Christ. Paul and the altar to an unknown God. The Good Samaritan, theologically wrong and still the hero.

This isn't a finished answer. It's a working thesis, built out loud, and you're invited into it: Christ did not begin at Bethlehem, and wherever love is, God is there.

One hundred episodes in, and it feels like they're just getting started.

If you enjoyed this episode be sure to check out:

Episode 32 - The Voice They Tried to Bury: Mary Magdalene, the Hidden Apostle

Episode 34 - Power, Politics and the Bible

Follow the show and leave a review if this one landed for you. It is the single easiest way to help us reach more people.

Support the show
Join the Spirit 360! Online Community
Spirit Outspoken Website for Events, Resources, and More Info  
Follow Spirit Outspoken on Instagram  
Follow Spirit Outspoken on TikTok  
Watch Episodes on YouTube 
Subscribe to Spirit Outspoken Apple Podcast  
Subscribe to Spirit Outspoken Spotify Podcast