Ep. 54: Finding God in the Margins w/ Gary Alan Taylor

Show Notes

Episode Summary

We're excited to drop the first episode of Season Three of Holy Heretics with host Gary Alan Taylor!

We are dedicating this year to marginalized voices who have either been muzzled by conventional Christianity or who have been pushed to the periphery of faith. People whose voices, bodies, race, gender, or sexuality make them dangerous to the status quo. 

In this introductory episode, we invite you to go on an adventure into the borderlands of faith, where we seek the real meaning of the spiritual quest, and where we dare to meet the God who stands in solidarity with the marginalized. Along the way, we will be lead by wise guides who know the way through the spiritual wilderness. Following Joseph Campbell’s archetypal “Hero’s Journey,” we’ll wander ancient spiritual pathways toward our final destination with the Divine. What we find is that the God we serve lives on the margins, in the outlandish periphery where She has been banished for being too inclusive, too compassionate, too kind. If God became flesh as the least of these living on the edges of society, then in order to find God now, we need to move to the margins.

In the end, we pause long enough in our quest to ask a few simple but profound questions. What is the end goal of spirituality? Why have humans for thousands of years sought union with the Divine, and what happens when we come face to face with God? What is “Theosis,” and is it possible to obtain intimate union with God in the here and now?

Thanks for joining us on the quest to uncover the heart of faith!

Bio

Gary Alan Taylor is Co-Founder of The Sophia Society and host of Holy Heretics Podcast. He has an undergraduate degree from Milligan University and a Master of Arts in European History and Holocaust Studies from East Tennessee State University before pursuing doctoral work at the University of Tennessee. He served in non-profit organizations and higher educational institutions before starting The Sophia Society with his friend and co-worker Melanie Mudge. Gary Alan began deconstructing white evangelicalism after leaving Focus on the Family in 2010. An “evangelicals evangelical,” Gary Alan began leaving white evangelicalism during his time on staff at Milligan University when he was introduced to pacifism and nonviolence. He credits his time as an undergraduate at Milligan for helping to instill the joy of lifelong learning, and his favorite authors and mentors in the progressive Christian space include Marcus Borg, Joan Chittister, Matthew Fox, Derrick Jensen, Richard Rohr, and Thomas Merton. In 2014, he and his wife joined the Episcopal Church. Through the leading of his wife Jennifer, he is pursuing a more contemplative, mystical Christianity. He has taught more than 15 courses at the university level and along with his role in the deconstruction space, he works at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs as a Development Officer. Gary Alan is married to Jennifer, and they are raising their three children in Monument, Colorado. He loves to travel, and his favorite places to visit include London, Singapore, South Africa, Scotland, Prague, and Hong Kong. He continues to be inspired by novelist and poet Thomas Hardy, and enjoys British literature.

Follow Gary Alan on Instagram @garyalantaylor48. Follow Holy Heretics @holyhereticspodcast on Instagram, and the web: www.sophiasociety.org.

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Credits

This episode was produced by The Sophia Society and written by Gary Alan Taylor. Music is by Faith in Foxholes.