Yiscah Smith joins us to reflect on a lifetime of transformation—from the suburban landscapes of 1950s America to the spiritual terrain of modern Israel, where her search for meaning has unfolded across decades.Her latest work, Planting Seeds of the Divine: Torah Commentaries to Cultivate Your Spiritual Practice (University of Nebraska Press), gathers the wisdom of her experience into a meditation on what it means to live consciously. Having spent seventeen years immersed in the ultra-Orthodox Hasidic world, Smith came to recognize that ritual without sincerity leads to silence of the heart. Her decision to leave that world was not a rejection of Judaism, but a return to its essence—a rediscovery of the living spark that connects the individual soul to the Divine.With rare clarity, Yiscah speaks of faith as an embodied awareness—a way of seeing that restores dignity, meaning, and connection in an age of dislocation. Her life’s work is a testament to the quiet strength of authenticity and to the enduring human desire to find God not in heaven, but within the soul’s own language.

Addison Hodges Hart has spent decades writing at the intersection of theology, history, and the contemplative life. Across twelve books—ranging from his studies of the Gospels to his philosophical meditations and even his fictional experiment Confessions of the Antichrist—he has returned again and again to a single question: what remains of faith once the scaffolding of doctrine has been stripped away?In this conversation, Hart draws on his long career as a priest, scholar, and spiritual essayist to examine how belief evolves when it is tested by experience rather than upheld by obligation. He reflects on the tensions he has observed within Christian communities, the limits of dogmatic certainty, and the quiet resilience of a faith grounded in intellectual honesty. With the same clarity that animates his Substack The Pragmatic Mystic, Hart argues that the spiritual life matures only when it learns to breathe outside the structures built to protect it.What emerges is not a dismissal of tradition, but a more demanding version of it—one that asks for depth over compliance, and for courage in the face of unanswerable questions.

Willie Handler has reinvented himself on several occasions throughout his work career. He has been a hospital administrator, a government policy manager, an insurance expert, and consultant. Following his retirement from the government, Willie began a writing career. He has published three fiction novels over the past few years. His latest book is a memoir focusing on growing up as a child of Holocaust survivors.Willie is active in Toronto’s Holocaust second generation and third generation survivor community, participating in educational programs, commemorative events, and group discussions. He is also a volunteer at the Toronto Holocaust Museum, where he assists students and visitors as they make their way through the museum’s gallery. Willie has spoken online and at in-person events on the Holocaust, antisemitism, trauma and his family’s history.He is currently working on a book dealing with intergenerational generational trauma in descendants of Holocaust survivors and have interviewed over 100 descendants.

When Kathleen Johnson’s life fell apart, she didn’t set out to become “Scripture Girl.” She was a woman searching for peace, holding on to faith through divorce, fear, and a diagnosis that left doctors without answers. But when healing came — spirit, soul, and body — so did a new purpose: to show others that the same Spirit who heals also sends.In this conversation with Wade Franson, Kathleen shares her journey from pain to restoration and the message behind her book Healed to Heal. Together they explore the transforming power of surrender, the discipline of Scripture, and what it means to live by the Spirit in a world driven by fear.It’s a testimony of grace, boldness, and the freedom that comes when healing becomes more than a miracle — it becomes a mission.

The original gospel proclamation that the Lord of the nations was a crucified Galilean raised from the dead and that salvation was found in vowing allegiance to Jesus of Nazareth unleashed a shock wave that turned the Roman Empire upside down. Early Christianity was subversive and dangerous—dangerous for Christians and a threat to the keepers of the old order. Most of all, Christianity was countercultural. But what about contemporary American Christianity? Is it the countercultural way of Jesus or merely a religious endorsement of Americanism? In his provocative book, Postcards From Babylon, Brian Zahnd challenges the reader to see and embrace a daring Jesus-centered Christianity that can turn the world upside down again.

Sylvain Horwood, natural health advocate and founder of PURU, joins Wade Franson for a radiant conversation about light — the kind that sustains our biology and awakens our spirit. Through a lifetime of curiosity and research into the relationship between sunlight and human wellbeing, Sylvain has seen the sun as medicine and metaphor — a bridge between the physical and the divine. In this episode, he shares how aligning with the sun’s natural rhythm can restore balance to our health and open a deeper awareness of the creative force behind it all. Together, Wade and Sylvain explore how modern disconnection from nature affects our physical vitality and sense of meaning. Their discussion moves fluidly between science and spirituality, revealing how the energy that sustains life may also illuminate the image of God within us.

David Zahl, founder of Mockingbird Ministries and author of Low Anthropology and Seculosity, joins Wade Franson for a rich conversation on faith, culture, and the power of grace. Drawing from years of work translating theology into everyday language, David shares how Mockingbird’s message — that God’s love is for the real, the flawed, and the weary — continues to resonate in a culture driven by achievement and self-definition. Together, Wade and David explore what it means to proclaim good news in an age that doesn’t think it needs saving, how “low anthropology” opens the door to deeper compassion, and why grace is the most radical message of all.

In Sacred, Not Sinful, Dr. Lyman A. Montgomery provides a bold, biblical, and balanced exploration of the tension between Greek life and Christian discipleship. Drawing on scripture, cultural history, and personal testimony, his book offers clarity, not condemnation, showing believers how heritage can be redeemed, traditions re-examined, and identity rooted firmly in Christ.