Nomad Podcast

Pádraig Ó Tuama returns to Nomad for a conversation about the stories we inherit, the desires we’re taught to mistrust, and what happens when religious language gets tangled up with shame. We talk about scripture, poetry, anger, masculinity, friendship and the strange ways God can remain present even after religion has caused harm.
Along the way, Pádraig reflects on exorcisms and reparative therapy, the body’s capacity to know before the mind catches up, and why anger can become a creative energy rather than something to fear. We also explore what it means to become “almost new” — not through a neat story of healing, but through friendship, attention, prayer, birds, and the slow work of learning how to live differently.
After the interview, Nomad hosts Tim and Anna pick up some of the threads Pádraig left dangling: what do we do with anger once it stops being something to fear, why can faith remain strangely compelling even after it has caused harm, and what might our images of God reveal about us?
Interview starts at 12m 22s
Books, quotes, links →
The creation of Nomad’s thoughtful, ad-free content is entirely funded by our equally thoughtful and wonderful listeners. By supporting us, you gain access to Nomad’s online spaces—like the Beloved Listener Lounge, Enneagram Lounge, and Book Club—as well as bonus episodes such as Nomad Contemplations, Homegrown Conversations, and Nomad Revisited.
If you’d like to join our lovely community of supporters, head over to our Patreon page. You might even be rewarded with a Nomad pen or our coveted Beloved Listener mug!
If a monthly commitment isn’t possible right now, a one-off donation is always deeply appreciated—you can do that here.
Looking to connect with others nearby? Check out the Listener Map or join our Nomad Gathering Facebook group.
And if you're up for sharing your own story, we regularly post reflections from listeners on our blog—all with the hope of fostering deeper understanding, connection and supportive relationships. If you'd like to share your story on the blog, contact us for more information here.

In this conversation, bestselling historian Bart Ehrman argues that ideas we now take for granted—caring for strangers, helping those in need and expanding our moral concern beyond family and tribe—were anything but obvious in the ancient world.
Bart has spent much of his career challenging traditional Christian beliefs. But in Love Thy Stranger he makes a surprising historical case for Christianity's positive legacy, while remaining candid about the harm the church has also caused. Along the way we explore Jesus' relationship to Judaism, why the early church may have changed his teaching on forgiveness, whether Christianity transformed the moral imagination of the West, and what—if anything—we stand to lose as faith continues to decline.
After the interview, Nomad hosts Tim and Nick wrestle with what it means to be shaped by Jesus’ moral vision while no longer holding all the beliefs that once came with it.
Interview starts at 11m 44s
Books, quotes, links →
The creation of Nomad’s thoughtful, ad-free content is entirely funded by our equally thoughtful and wonderful listeners. By supporting us, you gain access to Nomad’s online spaces—like the Beloved Listener Lounge, Enneagram Lounge, and Book Club—as well as bonus episodes such as Nomad Contemplations, Homegrown Conversations, and Nomad Revisited.
If you’d like to join our lovely community of supporters, head over to our Patreon page. You might even be rewarded with a Nomad pen or our coveted Beloved Listener mug!
If a monthly commitment isn’t possible right now, a one-off donation is always deeply appreciated—you can do that here.
Looking to connect with others nearby? Check out the Listener Map or join our Nomad Gathering Facebook group.
And if you're up for sharing your own story, we regularly post reflections from listeners on our blog—all with the hope of fostering deeper understanding, connection and supportive relationships. If you'd like to share your story on the blog, contact us for more information here.

What does it mean to become a man? And who teaches us how? In this episode, Tim is joined by author Shannon Kearns to explore the stories, expectations and assumptions that shape masculinity. Drawing on his experience as a trans man, Shannon offers a unique perspective on what it means to consciously navigate a world that many assume comes naturally.
Together they explore male loneliness, friendship, vulnerability, violence, faith, and the quiet fear many men carry of not being enough. Rather than offering another culture-war take on masculinity, this conversation asks a more generous question: what might it look like to improvise a better way of being a man?
After the interview, Nomad hosts Tim and Joy reflect on their own experiences of gender, friendship and vulnerability, and wonder whether some of the familiar stories we tell about men and women are quite as simple as they seem.
Interview starts at 13m 13s
Books, quotes, links →
The creation of Nomad’s thoughtful, ad-free content is entirely funded by our equally thoughtful and wonderful listeners. By supporting us, you gain access to Nomad’s online spaces—like the Beloved Listener Lounge, Enneagram Lounge, and Book Club—as well as bonus episodes such as Nomad Contemplations, Homegrown Conversations, and Nomad Revisited.
If you’d like to join our lovely community of supporters, head over to our Patreon page. You might even be rewarded with a Nomad pen or our coveted Beloved Listener mug!
If a monthly commitment isn’t possible right now, a one-off donation is always deeply appreciated—you can do that here.
Looking to connect with others nearby? Check out the Listener Map or join our Nomad Gathering Facebook group.
And if you're up for sharing your own story, we regularly post reflections from listeners on our blog—all with the hope of fostering deeper understanding, connection and supportive relationships. If you'd like to share your story on the blog, contact us for more information here.

How do you hold onto a spiritual tradition after being deeply disappointed by the people who represent it? That's a question Swami Padmanabha — a Hindu monk, teacher and author of Evolution in Divine Love — has had to wrestle with more than once. Rather than walking away, those experiences led him into a deeper exploration of authority, uncertainty, love and the possibility that healthy traditions are those that continue to evolve.
In this conversation, Tim and Swami explore what it means to stay rooted without becoming rigid, to question without becoming cynical, and to remain open to wisdom wherever it is found. Along the way they discover some surprising resonances between Hinduism and Christianity, and ask whether the future of religion might depend less on having all the answers and more on learning how to keep growing.
After the interview, Tim is joined by Nick to reflect on what stayed with them most. From caring for God as though God were a child, to learning from other faith traditions without losing your own roots, they explore where Swami's vision resonated, where it challenged them, and the questions they're still left pondering.
Interview starts at 12m 48s
Books, quotes, links →
The creation of Nomad’s thoughtful, ad-free content is entirely funded by our equally thoughtful and wonderful listeners. By supporting us, you gain access to Nomad’s online spaces—like the Beloved Listener Lounge, Enneagram Lounge, and Book Club—as well as bonus episodes such as Nomad Contemplations, Homegrown Conversations, and Nomad Revisited.
If you’d like to join our lovely community of supporters, head over to our Patreon page. You might even be rewarded with a Nomad pen or our coveted Beloved Listener mug!
If a monthly commitment isn’t possible right now, a one-off donation is always deeply appreciated—you can do that here.
Looking to connect with others nearby? Check out the Listener Map or join our Nomad Gathering Facebook group.
And if you're up for sharing your own story, we regularly post reflections from listeners on our blog—all with the hope of fostering deeper understanding, connection and supportive relationships. If you'd like to share your story on the blog, contact us for more information here.

For many Christian parents, the message was simple: if you follow the biblical formula, your children will grow into faithful, flourishing adults. But what if those promises were never true? In this episode, Tim speaks with Marissa Burt, co-author of The Myth of Good Christian Parenting, about the rise of the evangelical parenting movement, the fears that fuelled it, and the hidden assumptions about authority, obedience and control that shaped generations of families.
Drawing on historical research and the stories of both parents and adult children, Marissa explores how well-intentioned families were often let down by systems that offered certainty where none could be guaranteed. Together, they discuss the relationship between love and control, the impact of shame and spiritual authority, and what healthier, more hopeful approaches to parenting and faith might look like today.
After the interview, Tim is joined by his wife Hannah to reflect on how the conversation resonated with their own experiences of growing up in evangelical families, and how it has shaped the way they're raising their son, Elliot. Together they explore themes of fear, control, corporal punishment, questioning authority, and what it means to pass on faith without trying to control the outcome.
Interview starts at 16m 19s
Books, quotes, links →
The creation of Nomad’s thoughtful, ad-free content is entirely funded by our equally thoughtful and wonderful listeners. By supporting us, you gain access to Nomad’s online spaces—like the Beloved Listener Lounge, Enneagram Lounge, and Book Club—as well as bonus episodes such as Nomad Contemplations, Homegrown Conversations, and Nomad Revisited.
If you’d like to join our lovely community of supporters, head over to our Patreon page. You might even be rewarded with a Nomad pen or our coveted Beloved Listener mug!
If a monthly commitment isn’t possible right now, a one-off donation is always deeply appreciated—you can do that here.
Looking to connect with others nearby? Check out the Listener Map or join our Nomad Gathering Facebook group.
And if you're up for sharing your own story, we regularly post reflections from listeners on our blog—all with the hope of fostering deeper understanding, connection and supportive relationships. If you'd like to share your story on the blog, contact us for more information here.