Here's a novel idea: you don't need a calling.

That's the title of Damon Garcia's new book.

In this conversation, we talk about what inspired a book that runs straight against the grain of what so many of us have been inundated with since as far back as we can remember: the story that we have to know what our unique gifts are, what our specific calling is, and then figure out how we're going to make a "successful" life out of both.

What if there is a different—and better—story? Damon asks.

And he develops a compelling answer to this question in this book.

Bio

Damon Garcia is a public theologian, writer, video essayist, and author of The God Who Riots: Taking Back the Radical Jesus. He discovered his passion for ministering to spiritual misfits and radicals through evangelical youth and young adult ministry in evangelical spaces. This passion led him out of Evangelicalism and into post-Christian spaces, where he continues to develop a liberative Christianity for a disillusioned generation through video essays and dialogue. Garcia's work is inspired by liberation theology and anti-capitalist politics as he helps people unsettle and untangle oppressive ideologies. He lives in Santa Maria, California.

Links

Damon's new book: https://www.broadleafbooks.com/store/product/9798889832164/You-Dont-Need-a-Calling

Website: linktr.ee/damongarcia

Twitter: @whoisdamon

Instagram: @whoisdamon

Facebook: /TheDamonGarcia/

There’s a widespread perception that faith and science are at war, but I think the reality is much more nuanced than that oppositional positioning.

In this episode, I’m talking with Will Rose and Thomas Johnston. They're two pastors who started a podcast called Your Matter Matters because they share conviction that curiosity is not the enemy of belief. We get into AI, public health, wonder, the pandemic, and what it actually looks like to have honest conversations about faith and science in a community that’s scared of both.

And in case you didn’t notice, we just hit a milestone: episode number fifty of Personalist Manifesto(s). 

For those who have been on this personalist journey from the start, thanks for all your support.

For those who are recent additions, welcome. We’re so glad you’re here.

And for those who might want to join the contemplative revolution, who’s inviting them in? 

Maybe you can help me with that. 

Review, comment, share, subscribe, support financially… you know what I mean.

Your Matter Matters YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mRTwUOJO3Q&list=PLp_AwoZ2W80k8WEWLYYXmJNSZkaYoWRSX

Your Matter Matters Podcast:

https://your-matter-matters.captivate.fm/

Will Rose is an ELCA Lutheran Pastor serving as Parish Pastor at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church and Lutheran Campus Ministry in Chapel Hill NC. Will is a life long surfer and sci-fi/comic book geek who loves to engage at the intersection of both Faith and Science and Pop-culture and Theology. When not shepherding his congregation, surfing, or traveling with family, he helps co-host the podcasts Systematic Geekology and Across the Birfrost, the Mighty Thor Podcast. 

• Holy Trinity Lutheran: https://www.holytrinitychapelhill.org/

• Lutheran Alliance for Faith, Science & Technology: ⁠https://www.luthscitech.org/⁠

Thomas's Bio & Links

Pastor Thomas Johnston serves at St. James Lutheran Church, Rockwell, North Carolina. He enjoys reading about the history of religion and science in North America and looks for ways to bring the conversation into the parish.

• AI & Humanity (essay): https://www.luthscitech.org/ai-and-humanity/

• Handling Religion and Public Policy Conversations With Care (essay): https://www.luthscitech.org/handling-conversations-with-care-where-religion-and-public-policy-meet/

Peace. It sounds simple, right? 

But what happens when the idea of peace becomes a weapon?

In this conversation, my friends Myron Penner and Tripp Fuller pull back the curtain on one of the most quietly complicated tensions in religious community life: the space between preaching peace and practicing it. 

We talk about peace church communities, long celebrated for their pacifist roots, and ask a harder question: when does a commitment to peace cause us to start protecting the wrong things?

And as we wrestle with that question, we talk about what it actually takes to build something real. Peace that's rooted in justice, not just the absence of noise.

This one is going to challenge some assumptions.

Tripp's Bio & Links

Tripp Fuller is a podcaster, theologian, minister and competitive home brewer. Currently, he is visiting Professor of Theology at Luther Seminary. He received his PhD in Philosophy, Religion, and Theology at Claremont Graduate University. For over 12 years Tripp has been doing the Homebrewed Christianity podcast where he interviews different scholars about their work so you can get nerdy in traffic, on the treadmill, or doing the dishes. Last year it had over 3 million downloads. It also inspired a book series with Fortress Press called the Homebrewed Christianity Guides to topics like God, Jesus, Spirit, Church History and so on. Check out Tripp's work at:

Website

Substack

BlueSky

Podcast

Myron's Bio & Links

Myron Penner is Professor of Philosophy and the Director of the Anabaptist-Mennonite Centre for Faith and Learning at Trinity Western University (TWU). He began working at TWU in 2005. He completed his Ph.D. in Philosophy from Purdue University in 2007. Myron's primary research areas are epistemology, metaphysics, and philosophy of religion but also has interests in philosophy of science and twentieth-century analytic philosophy. Check out Myron's work at:

Website

In this episode, I'm joined by two theologians who are asking important questions about technology—including AI: Noreen Herzfeld and Benjamin Chicka. You'll get to know them as our conversation unfolds, but a little context first.

This is actually a follow-up.  The last time the three of us got together publicly was at Theology Beer Camp, and the response was overwhelming. There were so many questions we simply couldn't get to them all.  So, we booked a second conversation to finish what we started. This is that conversation.

Noreen Herzfeld is Reuter Professor of Science and Religion at St. John’s University and senior research associate with ZRS Koper. A theologian and computer scientist, she is the author of several books, including The Artifice of Intelligence: Divine and Human Relationship in a Robotic Age and In Our Image: Artificial Intelligence and the Human Spirit.

Benjamin J. Chicka is Lecturer in Philosophy and Religious Studies at Curry College in Milton, MA. He is a philosophical theologian whose work connects classical American pragmatism, process theology, and ground-of-being theology. Such bridge-building between supposedly incompatible positions reflects his conviction that intrareligious pluralism is as important as interreligious pluralism for the future of theology. He is the author of God The Created and Playing as Others.

Additional Links

Listen to the initial AI panel here.

Learn more about the 2026 Ellul society conference here.

Learn more about Theology Beer Camp 2026 here.

In this episode, I speak with Petre Maican, an Eastern Orthodox theologian who’s applying the richness of his faith tradition to questions about disability—not only to inspire important theological conversations, but also to change how Orthodox churches approach community and disability on the ground.

As you’ll hear in our conversation, Petre’s serious about this work. He’s responsible for two—not one, but two!—books on the topic. The first is one he authored (The Aesthetics of Emotion, the other is one he edited (Disability in the Greek Patristic Tradition).

Bio

Dr. Petre Maican is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Institute for Eastern Christian Studies at Radboud University in the Netherlands. He holds a Ph.D. in Systematic Theology from the University of Aberdeen, along with an M.Th. and B.Th. from the University of Bucharest in Romania. His academic career includes roles as a Teaching Fellow at the University of Aberdeen and as a Postdoctoral Researcher at UCLouvain in Belgium. Dr. Maican has published extensively on ecumenism, ecclesiology, and disability theology. He is the author of Asceticism of Emotions: An Eastern Orthodox Approach to Inclusion and Deification and Modern Orthodox Theology: Introduction to Contemporary Debates, and editor of Disability in the Greek Patristic Tradition.

Links

Asceticism of Emotions (book): https://www.amazon.ca/Asceticism-Emotions-Orthodox-Approach-Inclusion-ebook/dp/B0DYWJCLBD

Disability in the Greek Patristic Tradition (edited book): https://www.bloomsbury.com/ca/disability-in-the-greek-patristic-tradition-9781978717077/

Website: https://www.petremaican.org/

Instagram: @orthodoxdisabilitytheology

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Orthodox-Disability-Theology/61576371389072/

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/orthodoxdisabilitytheology

The Mutant Socialists are back. We’re here to dig deeper into how we became bad leftists, David’s home, power, and appliance troubles, what it means to be mutant socialist, and what this has to do with living in a world on fire right now.

In fact, here’s a quote from something David said near the tail end of our conversation that struck me like a bolt of lightning as I was editing what you’re about hear:

We’re sort of on a knife’s edge. We don’t know what’s going to happen in Greenland. We don’t know what’s going to happen in the United States, whether that country gets torn apart by civil war or other sorts of conflicts—that’s happened before. People think of the United States and think it could never happen, but everything that can happen has and will happen in the United States. We go back through American history. These things that seem so extraordinary and impossible to us now are just written on page after page. - David Moscrop

We recorded this episode on January 29, 2026. So David’s reflections appear to be prophetic. Anything that can happen in the United States will happen, including joining forces with Israel to attack Iran.

And what will happen next?

I ask that question with a fair amount of fear. At the same time, I’m grateful that there are people like Jeff and David in the world to talk to, to make me feel less alone, and to have hope—despite all the dread-inducing things going on in our world—that there actually is something we—them, you, and I—can do that changes the world around us for the better.

I hope this conversation offers you a similar hope.

Bios

David's Book: Too Dumb for Democracy? Why We Make Bad Political Decisions and How We Can Make Better Ones: https://gooselane.com/products/too-dumb-for-democracy

David's Substack: www.davidmoscrop.com

David's Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/davidmoscrop.com

David's Twitter: @David_Moscrop

Jeff's Substack: https://substack.com/@jeffwheeldon

Jeff's blog: https://jeffwheeldon.ca/blog/

Jeff's publications: https://sociologyandchristianity.org/index.php/jsc/article/view/281

In this episode I speak with troubadour, devotional essayist, meme prophet, junk food and soft drink connoisseur, Andy Squyres.

I’ve been listening to Andy’s music for a while and recently picked up a copy of one of his mixed media volume of essays titled Poet/Priest—a great way to describe Andy’s art, or better yet, his vocation.

We cover a lot of ground in this conversation, so I won’t try to summarize everything we talk about. Instead, I’ll let what we talk about speak for itself, as two outsiders like Andy and me get into Mountain Dew, coffee, Steinbeck, music, humour, prophecy, and... faith, hope, and love.

Bio

Andy Squyres is a musician and writer who has a deep appreciation for junk food, sports, theology, largemouth bass, Grapes of Wrath, and The Brothers Karamazov.

Links

Website: https://andysquyres.com/

Music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1zs56l8qWxeDZ5aBAulSJU

Substack: https://substack.com/@andysquyres

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/andysquyres

There is a lot of talk about immigration these days, but Isaac Samuel Villegas, a pastor and author of Migrant God: A Christian Vision for Immigrant Justice, does more than talk about immigration.

He lives his life in a way that takes seriously what Jesus tell us in the gospels: the Incarnate Word of God is not only with the migrant, he is the migrant in our midst.

So Isaac speaks, writes, and acts with a prophetic and pastoral mixture of realism and hope. And in this episode, we talk about Isaac’s book and the stories and theology that shape it.

Bio

Isaac Villegas is an ordained minister in the Mennonite Church USA who is involved in the work of community organizing for immigrant justice. He is the author of Migrant God: A Christian Vision for Immigrant Justice. He is also a contributing editor for The Christian Century. He has served as president of the NC Council of Churches and on the denominational board of the Mennonite Church USA. He grew up in the borderlands of the U.S. southwest as a child of Latin American immigrants. He currently lives in Durham, North Carolina.

Links

Migrant God (book): https://www.eerdmans.com/9781467468695/migrant-god/

Website: https://isaacvillegas.com

In this conversation, fellow theologian and sports commentator Andy Root returns to the show to talk about his latest book Evangelism in an Age of Despair—the title of a book that, for an Ellulian like me who is looking for hope in a world filled with despair, raises my eyebrows and gets me to lean in. My guess is that hearing this title will have a similar effect for a lot of people tuned into Personalist Manifesto(s).

The other thing I should mention is that Andy and I recorded this conversation December 12, 2025 at 1:30pm Pacific time. It is important to mention that date and time because it proves—or at the very least implies—that Andy and I have prophetic giftings when it comes to the National Hockey League. Because, when Andy asks me at the start of our conversation if I think former Canucks defencemen Quinn Hughes will be traded, I confirm my suspicion, with some reasons given for that intuition, as does Andy.

And for those of you how follow hockey, you will know that shortly after this ‘prophetic word’ from Andy and I Quinn Hughes was indeed traded… within hours… to the Minnesota Wild… Andy’s hometown hockey team. So, you know, maybe if this whole theology thing doesn’t work for us, maybe we have promising careers in hockey predictions ahead of us.Whether that’s actually true or not is beside the point, though.

The real point of our conversation is less about hockey trades and more about finding some consolation, and some hope, in world overrun by despair.

Bio

Andrew Root is the Carrie Olson Baalson Professor of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary, USA. He writes and researches in areas of theology, ministry, culture and younger generations. His most recent books are Evangelism in an Age of Despair (Baker, 2025), The Church in an Age of Secular Mysticisms (Baker, 2023), Churches and the Crisis of Decline (Baker, 2022), The Congregation in a Secular Age (Baker, 2021), The End of Youth Ministry? (Baker, 2020), The Pastor in a Secular Age: Ministry to People Who No Longer Need God (Baker, 2019), Faith Formation in a Secular Age (Baker, 2017), and Exploding Stars, Dead Dinosaurs, and Zombies: Youth Ministry in the Age of Science (Fortress Press, 2018).

Links

• Evangelism in an Age of Despair (book): https://bakerpublishinggroup.com/products/9781540968715_evangelism-in-an-age-of-despair
• Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ministry-in-a-secular-age-featuring-dr-andrew-root/id1462822741
• Website: https://www.andrewroot.org/
• Twitter: https://x.com/rootandrewFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/andrew.root/

'Addiction' is a word that conjures up so many images, ideas, and reactions in so many people. And because it has become so politicized, stigmatized, misunderstood, and/or dealt with poorly, it can be difficult to discern the addiction signals from the addiction noise these days.

That's why I find the perspective of Quentin Genius—so helpful and refreshing. Not only is Quentin an ER doctor at Saint Paul’s Hospital in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada—and consequently embedded within a veritable world of addiction—he’s a theologian, ethicist, and an avid reader of Dostoevsky and poetry.

In other words, Quentin is a rare bread; a real Renaissance man who can speak to the realities of addiction in a way that is informed, compassionate, insightful, practical, and even... hopeful.

So, if you find yourself wrestling with the reality of addiction in one way or another, my hope is that you’ll find this conversation helpful. And if you or someone you know are struggling with addiction, reach out to someone you trust, make a call to a crisis line, or jump online and search for support wherever you are.

Because hear me, really hear me, when I say this: there is no such thing as a lost cause. There really is hope. Freedom from addiction is possible. Something as seemingly simple and inconsequential as friendship, friendship with God and other people, really can move us closer and closer to this kind of hope and freedom.

Bio

Dr. Quentin Genuis is an emergency physician and ethicist at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, Canada. He serves as the physician ethicist for Providence Health Care, and is a Sessional Faculty and the Professional in Residence at Regent College in Vancouver, where he teaches on topics including medical ethics and addiction.

Links

Website: https://quentingenuis.com

Recovering People (book): https://wipfandstock.com/9798385231232/recovering-people/