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Ever wondered why you can't remember last week's sermon, but "Amazing Grace" has been stuck in your head for decades? In this episode of The Theology Pod, hosts Alex and Michael dive into the hidden theological power of hymns – those songs that have shaped what billions of Christians actually believe about God, often more profoundly than any sermon or creed.

From the ancient theological battles encoded in your favourite Christmas carols ("begotten, not created" isn't just poetic flourish – it's a fourth-century controversy set to music) to the modern worship wars over changing "the wrath of God was satisfied," this conversation reveals how every hymn is a theological statement, forming us at a level deeper than conscious thought.

Discover why Charles Wesley might be Methodism's greatest theologian (6,000 hymns!), how African American spirituals created liberation theology before it had a name, and why that controversial line about "perfect submission" reveals more about power and gender than about God. Alex and Michael explore everything from Gregorian chant to contemporary worship, from military metaphors to inclusive language, asking the crucial question: what theology are we actually absorbing when we open our mouths to sing?

Whether you're a church musician, a curious sceptic, or someone who just loves a good hymn, this episode will forever change how you hear the songs of faith. Warning: You may never sing "Onward, Christian Soldiers" the same way again.

The Theology Pod brings together two scholar-practitioners for honest, accessible conversations about the questions that matter. No prerequisites required – just curiosity about how theology shapes real life.

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Thanks for joining us on The Theology Pod. We hope today's conversation has given you something meaningful to wrestle with as you continue your own spiritual journey.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave us a review on your favourite podcast platform—it really helps other seekers find our conversations. You can find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.

For show notes, reading recommendations, and to join our ongoing discussion, visit us at TheologyPod.com. You can also follow us on social media @TheologyPod on Facebook for reflections and updates on upcoming episodes.

We love hearing from our listeners. Feel free to send us your questions, topic suggestions, or just let us know how these conversations are impacting your faith journey via our social media platforms.

Remember, theology isn't just an academic study—it's the lived experience of wrestling with the divine in our everyday lives. Keep asking the hard questions, keep seeking, and keep engaging with the mystery.

Until next time, may you find grace in the questions and peace in the seeking.

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What happens when an artist becomes the analyst of their own work? In this episode, co-host Alex takes us inside her oil painting of an Australian payphone—examining it through the lens of Hagar's trauma narrative from Genesis. Together, Michael and Alex explore how obsolete infrastructure witnesses to systemic abandonment, how silence encodes theological meaning, and what it means to find redemption not as escape from suffering, but as survival within it.

Drawing on Emily Dickinson's haunting meditation on silence, womanist theology, and trauma hermeneutics, Alex maps four distinct silences in her painting: the absent body, the cradled receiver, the illegible instructions, and the wilderness beyond the steel mesh. Each silence resonates with Hagar's story—an enslaved woman rendered voiceless, expelled into the wilderness, and forced to survive with trauma embedded in her redemption.

This conversation pushes beyond comfortable theology into difficult territory: Who gets declared obsolete when society claims progress? Where is God's face in abandonment? And what does it mean when the church rushes to resurrection while people are still living in Holy Saturday?

Join us for a rigorous, uncomfortable, and ultimately transformative exploration of visual theology as a site of embodied knowledge—where paintings and ancient biblical witnesses speak together about populations rendered invisible, infrastructure that remains for those the system has abandoned, and the God who sees the unseen.

Content Warning: This episode discusses sexual violence, enslavement, child endangerment, and systemic abandonment in both ancient and contemporary contexts.

View the artwork: Find Alex's payphone painting on our Instagram and Facebook (@TheTheologyPod) or purchase limited edition prints at www.thetheologypod.com

Support the show

Thanks for joining us on The Theology Pod. We hope today's conversation has given you something meaningful to wrestle with as you continue your own spiritual journey.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave us a review on your favourite podcast platform—it really helps other seekers find our conversations. You can find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.

For show notes, reading recommendations, and to join our ongoing discussion, visit us at TheologyPod.com. You can also follow us on social media @TheologyPod on Facebook for reflections and updates on upcoming episodes.

We love hearing from our listeners. Feel free to send us your questions, topic suggestions, or just let us know how these conversations are impacting your faith journey via our social media platforms.

Remember, theology isn't just an academic study—it's the lived experience of wrestling with the divine in our everyday lives. Keep asking the hard questions, keep seeking, and keep engaging with the mystery.

Until next time, may you find grace in the questions and peace in the seeking.

Send us a text

"Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater"—a phrase weaponised against anyone who dares to question harmful systems. International theatre-maker Jamie Garner transforms this warning into art with their play "Babies and Bathwater," which chronicles one woman's escape from religious coercion and her discovery of her own voice. Drawing from their own experience leaving evangelical Christianity, Jamie explores how purity culture grooms young women, how spiritual abuse mirrors domestic violence, and what it takes to rebuild yourself after losing everything—your community, your certainty, your sense of safety. This is theatre as testimony, art as liberation.

Content note: Includes discussion of spiritual abuse, sexual trauma, and religious coercion

Support the show

Thanks for joining us on The Theology Pod. We hope today's conversation has given you something meaningful to wrestle with as you continue your own spiritual journey.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave us a review on your favourite podcast platform—it really helps other seekers find our conversations. You can find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.

For show notes, reading recommendations, and to join our ongoing discussion, visit us at TheologyPod.com. You can also follow us on social media @TheologyPod on Facebook for reflections and updates on upcoming episodes.

We love hearing from our listeners. Feel free to send us your questions, topic suggestions, or just let us know how these conversations are impacting your faith journey via our social media platforms.

Remember, theology isn't just an academic study—it's the lived experience of wrestling with the divine in our everyday lives. Keep asking the hard questions, keep seeking, and keep engaging with the mystery.

Until next time, may you find grace in the questions and peace in the seeking.