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🎙️ Mad & Crip Theology Podcast – Micah Perez & iowyth ulthiin 

In this episode, Amy Panton and Miriam Spies sit down with two remarkable contributors to the Fall 2024 issue of the Canadian Journal of Theology, Mental Health and Disability: Micah and io. Together, they explore the complexities of embodiment, spirituality, artistic expression, and the deep work of healing.

Io shares reflections on their piece, Before and After Gravity, a series of intimate drawings born out of a need for sacred focus. Yhese works explore the sublime as a site of queer spiritual connection. Through processing intimacy, desire, and the deep ache for alignment, io evokes the fragile power of touch and the repair of closeness as both vital and dangerous: “It is the spice… our vital interdependencies where our life resides.”

Micah offers a powerful narrative of identity and resistance, shaped by her experiences as a neurodivergent, Christian, Filipino-Australian woman living with multiple invisible chronic health conditions. In her work, she traces the long arc of coming into clarity and self-description despite persistent societal and institutional discrimination. 

The conversation ranges from vulnerability in creative and scholarly spaces to the embodied politics of belonging. As always, listeners are invited to contribute to the journal—through poetry, essays, art, teaching reflections, and more.

Read Michah's piece here: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/cjtmhd/article/view/44509

Read io's piece here: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/cjtmhd/article/view/44515

Watch with captions on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/KH0Q2RlPxy4

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In this episode, we sit down with Laura C. Robb and Corey Parish to explore the heart of their contributions to the Canadian Journal of Theology, Mental Health, and Disability.

Laura shares her reflections on holistic care – what it means to treat health and theology as deeply interconnected – and invites us into the layered questions she holds when navigating systems of care as a disabled theologian. She also explores what it might mean to understand the Trinity through the lens of holistic theology.

Corey offers a tender account of receiving an autism diagnosis later in life and how that journey shaped his sense of home and belonging. He speaks to the power of unexpected places, and how his doctoral work seeks to hold space for autistic theologies that emerge from lived experience.

Together, their voices invite us into a theology that is grounded, embodied, and spacious.

Read the full articles here:
Laura’s article: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/cjtmhd/article/view/44508
Corey’s article: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/cjtmhd/article/view/44502

Watch on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/IpBYXApRSt0

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In this episode of the Mad and Crip Theology Podcast, we sit down with Kay Louise Aldred and Kathie Schneider to explore spiritual abuse, belonging, and faith through neurodivergent and disabled lenses.

Kay talks about the urgent need for safeguarding in faith and wellness spaces, especially for neurodivergent women and girls, and shares red and green flags for healthy spiritual communities. Kathie reflects on her life as a blind theologian, her evolving relationship with faith, and how metaphors in scripture can either harm or heal. We ask honest, grounding questions about prayer, interdependence, abuse, and what it means to truly belong.

Based on Kay's piece “Safeguarding Neurodivergent Individuals from Spiritual Abuse” and Kathie’s “Blind Faith: Beyond ‘Amazing Grace’” from the Fall 2024 issue of The Canadian Journal of Theology, Mental Health and Disability.

Watch on YT here: https://youtu.be/kFo3DLU8KLk

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In this episode of the Mad & Crip Theology Podcast, Amy and Miriam are joined by special guest Luna Harlow for a thoughtful, grounded conversation on spiritual trauma and the beauty of storytelling. Together, they explore how faith communities can harm and heal, and how naming our experiences can open up space for care, reflection, and resistance. Expect some Friday brain moments, community updates, and a lot of honesty.

✨ Mentioned in this episode:

-The Canadian Journal of Theology, Mental Health & Disability is accepting new work for our Fall 2025 issue!
-New spring merch from the Press 🎉

-Resources recommended by Luna in the episode:

1. Laura Anderson, When Religion Hurts You: Healing from Religious Trauma and the Impact of High-Control Religion. 
2. Michelle Panchuk, "The Shattered Spiritual Self: A Philosophical Exploration of Religious Trauma" Res Philosophica.

Join us for this gentle, important conversation at the intersections of theology, mental health, and disability justice.

Watch on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/uWSk0NXu5LY

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In this episode, we sit down with Laura and Beth Anne to explore the intersections of grief, disability, memory, and creativity. 

Laura reflects on the complexities of being a sibling to a disabled brother, Matt, and how writing transformed the way she shows up in that relationship. We talk about how medical systems shape our understanding of identity and how memory can both anchor and shift our sense of self and family.

Beth Anne shares how collage has become a spiritual and emotional practice, offering a space to hold absence, womanhood, and the sacredness of embodied life. We talk openly about miscarriage, and how grief and longing show up in their art. This conversation moves through themes of fruitfulness, theological expectations around gender, and the healing power of creating a home for our emotions.

This episode holds space for tenderness, creative expression, and the many ways we find meaning through storytelling and art.

Watch on YouTube with closed captions here: https://youtu.be/TX7ZEz2DQTo

Read Laura's piece here: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/cjtmhd/article/view/44514

Read Beth Anne's piece here: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/cjtmhd/article/view/44511

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🎙️ In this episode of the Mad & Crip Theology Podcast, we sit down with Robbie Walker and Ty Ragan to dive into their work and the larger conversations happening in our community around disability justice and faith.

Robbie reflects on the tensions between Pentecostal theology and disability justice, exploring how healing can be about dignity and agency rather than spectacle. Ty challenges the myth of normalcy in faith communities, pushing for accessibility not just in physical spaces but in leadership, theology, and cultural attitudes. Together, we talk about what it means for churches to move beyond inclusion toward true disability justice. And of course, we couldn't resist bringing Star Trek into the conversation. 🚀🖖

Watch on YouTube with captions here: https://youtu.be/xbH3f5-2zxg

✨ Plus, exciting news: the Mad & Crip Theology Podcast was just named one of FeedSpot’s Best Five Canadian Disability Podcasts! 🎉 Check out the full list here: https://podcast.feedspot.com/canada_disability_podcasts/

📖 Read Robbie’s piece: Is the Beautiful Gate Accessible? here: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/cjtmhd/article/view/44517
📖 Read Ty’s piece: What is Dignity? here: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/cjtmhd/article/view/44507

#MadAndCripTheologyPress #DisabilityJustice #FaithAndJustice #StarTrek #Podcast

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Today we talk with Becky Jones about her piece "Imago Dei Belongs in Community: A Classroom Project that Invites Disabled People to Reflect on Biblical Passages About Disability." 

You can view Becky's paintings here: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/cjtmhd/article/view/42978/32607

Watch on YouTube with closed captions here: https://youtu.be/zZb9rxK83Dw

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We are privileged to be joined today by Zoughbi Zoughbi who wrote "Trauma and Resistance: Wiam Centre in Palestine."  

Read his piece here: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/cjtmhd/article/view/42975

Abstract: There is no nation, community, or individuals without passing through conflict, suffering, stress or trauma. Suffering is very essential for our growth because it is the driving force for change via resistance and vitality. Our resistance is essential to change the situation … and no change without struggling, sacrificing and suffering. Change is not a mechanical or automatic process. It is a life story full of traumas, perseverance, struggle and resistance. As Palestinians, we have four kinds of traumas at least: first, the collective trauma of 1948 NAKBA (Catastrophe) in which 600 villages were levelled and more than 750 thousand people were kicked out from their villages in historic Palestine. Most of those people moved forcefully to live in refugee camps inside the land and in the diaspora. Currently, there are 59 refugee camps around the world, precisely in the Middle East. The population of the Palestinian people is now almost 14 million; half of them are refugees who dream of returning to their homes. Collective trauma is now as a result in what is happening in Gaza as genocide, famine, and all human rights violation unfold. The trauma has been more painful and severe in the light of international states' complicity. 

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On this episode we speak with Vicki Marie and Shauna Kubossek, two contributors to the Spring 2024 issue of The Canadian Journal of Theology, Mental Health, and Disability on Trauma and Resistance.

About her poem, "To Know and To Grow," Vicki shares: I attended Catholic parochial school in the early 1950’s and was the only African American there for six years.  It took me years to dispel the idea that only white people were holy; that only white people were saints.  This wasn’t taught overtly but the messages I received were clear.  This work is about my struggle to believe that God loves me and an invitation for you to love those in your life that are considered outsiders.  Find the full text here: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/cjtmhd/article/view/42980

About her article, "“I Am Weary with Holding it In”: Fight, Flight and Freeze in Jeremiah’s Final Confession," Shauna shares: Over the years I have experienced the tendency of some Christian communities to ignore (at best) and demonize (at worst) those who experience dark nights of the soul. Rather than being embraced, these Dear Ones are told that they must have more faith, that their suffering is God’s will, or (heaven forbid) that they have brought this pain on themselves. I have also seen the church’s deep engagement in the lives of those experiencing trauma. I have heard preachers contend with the difficult parts of Christian scriptures and have seen Christians battle with how to live well while looking the suffering of the world directly in the eyes. This article is an attempt to participate in the latter efforts, to engage theology with and for those experiencing trauma, and to intentionally engage my own pain and the pain of others not only with generosity, humility and kindness, but with deep reflection on the sacred texts of my beloved tradition. I hope that this article contributes to a positive articulation of Christian theology which engages pain rather than overlooks it, one that takes experience and practice seriously, and rejects tradition when engagement with those who suffer requires it. Find the full text here: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/cjtmhd/article/view/42976

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On this episode of the Mad and Crip Theology Podcast we talk with Rev. Dr. Sarah Travis about her Invited Commentary "Of Ghost Stories and Field Hospitals: Worship Leadership Amid Trauma." 

Read Sarah's commentary here: 
https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/cjtmhd/article/view/42973

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