 |
Untidy FaithThe Untidy Faith podcast is where we have honest conversations and gentle encouragement for when following Jesus gets messy. It's hosted by Kate Boyd -- author, speaker, and gentle guide for Christians who are disentangling their faith from culture, rebuilding their relationship with Scripture, and desiring to find joy in following Jesus again. There can be a life of faith after deconstruction. Lets find yours together. Author: Kate Boyd
Transforming faith after fracture The Untidy Faith podcast is where we have honest conversations and gentle encouragement for when following Jesus gets messy. Join your host, Kate Boyd - author, speaker, and gentle guide for Christians who are disentangling their faith from culture, rebuilding their relationship with Scripture, and desiring to find joy in following Jesus again - each week to find your life and faith after deconstruction. kateboyd.substack.com Language: en Genres: Religion & Spirituality, Spirituality Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
Listen Now...
Joash Thomas | Colonized Christianity
Episode 3
Tuesday, 3 February, 2026
In this episode of the Untidy Faith Podcast, I sit down with Joash Thomas, author of The Justice of Jesus, for a conversation about how colonization shaped Western Christianity to resist justice, and what recovering our authentic identities—indigenous, spiritual, and human—has to do with embodying the gospel Jesus actually preached.The Western church’s complicity in colonization didn’t just harm the Global South, it also robbed Western Christians of their own indigenous practices and created theology that privileges the spiritual over the physical in ways Jesus never did, and how prayer can be the formative work that transforms us into instruments of justice.Topics Covered* Understanding colonization not as a political buzzword but as lived reality: India went from 25% of world GDP in 1700 to 1% in 1947 after British extraction, and the Western church was largely on the side of oppressors, excusing colonial theft in theological language* Why the gospel being “more spiritual than physical” is colonized theology that doesn’t come from Jesus of Nazareth, whose ministry in Luke 4 explicitly defined good news as setting captives free both physically and spiritually* How empires steal identity by conditioning us to forget who we are beyond labels like “just American” or “just Christian,” and why recovering indigeneity—whether Celtic Christianity or St. Thomas Indian Christianity—reveals pre-colonial traditions offensive to empire* The prophetic journey from outrage to love: starting angry about injustice (righteous and necessary) but being transformed to see Christ in enemies, transcending trauma to become wounded healers rather than perpetuating violence in words or deeds* Why reimagining prayer as formative rather than just intercessory—praying with marginalized communities, not just for them—creates the sustainable oxygen advocates need for long-term justice work without burnoutTimestamps: 01:00 From India to America: Learning Power from the Margins 09:00 Justice as Gospel in Global South vs. “Woke Marxism” in America 15:00 How Colonization Stole Western Christians’ Identities Too 20:00 Loving the Church While Critiquing It 27:00 The Prophet’s Journey from Outrage to Love 32:00 Can Western Churches Pursue Justice? (Yes, Here’s How) 38:00 Reframing Mission: Encountering Jesus in the Margins 45:00 Prayer as the Formative Work of Justice 49:00 Finding the Book and Connecting with Joash This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kateboyd.substack.com/subscribe
