In this episode of The Unintentional Heretic, we explore Gnosticism—the ancient Christian movement that taught salvation comes through awakening to the divine spark within—and the profound influence of Platonic philosophy, the Demiurge, Valentinus, Marcion, and the battle for the soul of early Christianity. Along the way, we ask a question that remains surprisingly relevant today: is the goal of spirituality to escape the world, or to discover the sacredness of creation, embodiment, and ordinary human life?

For centuries, Christianity wrestled with a profound question: are our bodies, desires, and passions obstacles to God or places where God is revealed? In this episode of The Unintentional Heretic, we explore how Greek dualism, Augustine, monasticism, and purity culture shaped Christian attitudes toward sex—and why many Christians today are rediscovering the sacredness of creation, embodiment, and desire itself.

In this episode of The Unintentional Heretic, we explore how Christianity gradually shifted from being a movement centered on following the way of Jesus to a religion increasingly focused on worshiping Jesus and defining correct belief about him. While creeds, doctrine, and institutions have great value, their purpose is ultimately to lead us into lives shaped by mercy, compassion, justice, and love—the very things Jesus emphasized when he said, “Follow me.”

In this episode of The Unintentional Heretic, Greg explores the history and evolution of biblical inerrancy, distinguishing it carefully from literalism while examining how modern Christianity came to equate certainty with faithfulness. Drawing on church history, biblical scholarship, theology, and personal experience, the episode argues that Scripture can remain deeply inspired, authoritative, and spiritually transformative without requiring every passage to function as a historically or factually flawless account.

This episode explores the fascinating evolution of Satan from “the accuser” within the divine council of ancient Israel to the cosmic devil of modern Christianity, revealing how ideas about evil, suffering, and spiritual conflict developed across centuries of Jewish and Christian history. Along the way, the episode examines the serpent in Eden, Persian dualism, apocalyptic literature, Revelation, Dante, Milton, psychology, and scapegoating — ultimately arguing that theology evolves as humanity wrestles with the mystery of evil and the deeper call toward love over fear. 

This episode explores the moments in Christian history when long-held “orthodox” paradigms were forced to evolve through crisis, discovery, and changing human understanding — from the fall of Rome and the Copernican Revolution to Darwin, democracy, and modern science. Rather than portraying faith as static certainty, the episode argues that Christianity has always been a living tradition wrestling to reinterpret itself in light of new realities, often resisting change at first before slowly moving toward deeper truth and greater humility. 

In this episode of The Unintentional Heretic, Greg explores immigration through the lens of Scripture, history, and the teachings of Jesus, tracing the Bible’s evolving relationship with outsiders, strangers, and the vulnerable. Challenging the rise of Christian nationalism and the dehumanization of immigrants, the episode asks whether Christians will choose fear and exclusion—or recognize Christ already present in the stranger at the border. 

In this episode of The Unintentional Heretic, Greg explores the long and complex evolution of Christian doctrine surrounding LGBTQ inclusion, tracing the conversation from ancient purity codes and Greco-Roman assumptions to modern understandings of sexuality, human dignity, and the radically expansive love of Jesus. Drawing on Scripture, church history, theology, and lived human experience, the episode asks whether Christianity is ultimately about protecting boundaries of exclusion—or participating in the ever-widening circle of grace revealed in Christ.

In this episode of The Unintentional Heretic, Greg explores the often-contentious relationship between Christianity and evolution, tracing the journey from Darwin and the Scopes Trial to the visionary theology of Teilhard de Chardin, Ilia Delio, and process theology. Rather than seeing evolution as a threat to faith, the episode reframes creation as an ongoing sacred unfolding in which God is not preserving a static universe, but continually drawing all things toward deeper consciousness, compassion, communion, and love.

In this episode of The Unintentional Heretic, Greg explores the illusion of control, humanity’s deep evolutionary longing for certainty, and why Jesus consistently offers presence instead of predictable answers or guaranteed outcomes. Drawing from Scripture, philosophy, mysticism, and personal experiences of crisis and transformation, the episode reflects on how suffering, uncertainty, and even our wounds can become the very places where grace reshapes us into deeper compassion, courage, and Christlikeness.