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Episode 12: Jesus Made Me Do It: The Spiritual Work of Unlearning

In a week marked by another school shooting, Christians lionizing a man who built his platform on hate, and the devastating news of two Black men found hanging from trees in Mississippi, deaths that many fear echo the terror of lynching, even as officials rush to call them suicides, Kristen reflects on why silence is not an option.

What if the bravest thing you can do in your faith is admit you’ve been wrong?

In this episode, Kristen shares why discipleship isn’t just about adding knowledge; sometimes, the most faithful step is unlearning. From distorted readings of Scripture to the ways churches discourage questions, she explores how humility, courage, and honesty create space for God to reshape us.

Along the way, Kristen names the harm of misused verses like “the poor you will always have with you” and “God won’t give you more than you can handle,” tells stories of angels and unexpected voices in Scripture, and reflects on her own journey of head–heart faith, walking away from church, and parenting through trauma.

Because unlearning isn’t failure. In the Kingdom, unlearning is transformation.

Listen in for:

• Why unlearning takes courage and humility
• How distortions of Scripture wound and what those passages actually mean
• Biblical stories of transformation through unlearning
• The role of unexpected voices in shaping our faith
• Kristen’s personal story of faith beyond control and strength
• Why silence isn’t an option in the face of injustice today

The courage to unlearn is part of the courage to follow Jesus. And every time we release a distortion, we make more room for a faith that looks like justice, mercy, and love.

If you find hope and challenge here, help grow this community by liking, sharing, and leaving a review so more people can join us in pursuing justice and Jesus together.

RESOURCES:

www.kristenannette.com

Holy Disruption: Reclaiming a Justice-Rooted Faith course info and interest list

Justice Coaching options!

"Find your justice mindset" quiz!

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Half a Gospel Is No Gospel at All: Liberation for the poor, resisted by the powerful

Why do churches resist justice? In this episode, Kristen digs into the roots of resistance in our faith communities, beginning with James Cone and the birth of Black Liberation Theology. Cone’s bold claim that the gospel must be interpreted from the perspective of the oppressed still unsettles churches today.

Through the voices of Howard Thurman, Gustavo Gutiérrez, Walter Brueggemann, Albert Raboteau, Susan Rakoczy, and Mae Elise Cannon, Kristen explores the themes of resistance that keep churches clinging to power, privilege, and control instead of embracing the costly call of discipleship.

You’ll hear about:

• James Cone and the radical center of Black Liberation Theology
• Thurman’s vision of Jesus with “the disinherited”
• Gutiérrez and the preferential option for the poor
• Brueggemann’s prophetic imagination against “royal consciousness”
• Raboteau’s witness of the invisible church in slavery
• Rakoczy’s call to a liberationist and feminist gospel
• Cannon’s challenge to evangelical compartmentalization of prayer, Scripture, and justice

Kristen also connects these threads to the resistance we see in today’s church, nationalism, patriarchy, and theologies that justify ignoring suffering, even starving children in Gaza. Against all these distortions, Scripture reminds us that God’s voice has always spoken clearest from the margins: through prophets, through Jesus, through the cross itself.

Reflection Invitation:
Where have you seen resistance in your own community? What theology shaped that resistance? And whose voices were missing in your discipleship? This week, sit with one voice you’ve never been taught in church, maybe Thurman, maybe Rakoczy, maybe Gutiérrez, and notice what resistance it stirs in you, and what new imagination it opens.

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

• God of the Oppressed by James Cone
• Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman
• A Theology of Liberation by Gustavo Gutiérrez
• The Prophetic Imagination by Walter Brueggemann
• Slave Religion and A Fire in the Bones by Albert Raboteau
• In Her Name by Susan Rakoczy
• Just Spirituality and Beyond Hashtag Activism by Mae Elise Cannon

Because costly faith always starts with listening to the voices we’ve been told to ignore.

If you find hope and challenge here, help grow this community by liking, sharing, and leaving a review so more people can join us in pursuing justice and Jesus together.

RESOURCES:

www.kristenannette.com

Holy Disruption: Reclaiming a Justice-Rooted Faith course info and interest list

Justice Coaching options!

"Find your justice mindset" quiz!

Send us a text

What does it really cost to follow Jesus? In this episode of Jesus, Justice + Mercy, Kristen explores the Tariffs of Faith, the price we pay when discipleship is rooted in justice, not cheap grace.

From Moses’ mother and Esther to Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Rosa Parks, we trace the stories of ordinary people whose faith demanded risk, courage, and sacrifice. Along the way, Kristen challenges us to confront erasure in our culture, resist the temptation of comfort, and embrace justice-rooted discipleship that looks like Jesus.

Because the cost of discipleship isn’t imagined persecution or culture wars, it’s the courage to pursue justice. This episode will both challenge and encourage you to move beyond cheap faith and discover the joy of costly grace.

If you find hope and challenge here, help grow this community by liking, sharing, and leaving a review so more people can join us in pursuing justice and Jesus together.

RESOURCES:

www.kristenannette.com

Holy Disruption: Reclaiming a Justice-Rooted Faith course info and interest list

Justice Coaching options!

"Find your justice mindset" quiz!