Welcome to In Search Of, a podcast where we go in search of voices and perspectives that inform and expand a life of faith. In this episode,  journalist Meaghan Saliashvili tells the story of the recently glorified  Orthodox saint, Matushka Olga Michael, an indigenous healer in Alaska long venerated in local communities for her ability to heal victims of sexual abuse. What does Matushka Olga have to teach us about humility, gender, and healing? Find out on this episode of In Search Of.

Welcome to In Search Of, a podcast where we go in search of voices and perspectives that inform and expand a life of faith. In this episode, we learn about the missing history of Black Catholic sisters in the United States with Dr. Shannen Dee Williams–and why that history has been erased. Get to know the Venerable Mother Mary Lange, the Oblate Sisters of Providence, Venerable Henriette Delille, the Sisters of the Holy Family, Sister Mary Antona Ebo and more on this episode of In Search Of.

Welcome to In Search Of, a podcast where we go in search of voices and perspectives that inform and expand a life of faith. In this episode, scholar of early Christianity, Candida Moss, discusses the most recent publication of ancient papyri and what they say about women’s history in Christianity. We also learn about her new book on the role played by enslaved workers in the creation of the New Testament. All this and more on this episode of In Search Of.

Welcome to In Search Of, a podcast where we go in search of voices and perspectives that inform and expand a life of faith. This week, we hear the story of Thecla, an early Christian philosopher. Dawn LaValle Norman tells us about  Thecla’s adventures–including carnivorous seals, and an all-female symposium–and the world of women philosophers in the first few centuries. Find out how Thecla flipped philosophy on its head on this episode of In Search Of.

Welcome to In Search Of, a podcast where we go in search of voices and perspectives that inform and expand a life of faith. This week, we learn more about the many women who influenced St. Augustine, as a man and as a theologian.  Whether it’s a name we know–like Monica or the Empress Justina–or a name lost to history–like Monica’s enslaved childhood companion or Augustine’s concubine–historian of gender and family, Kate Cooper, offers informed speculation on what their lives could have been like as women in the fourth century. All this and more on this episode of In Search Of.

Welcome to In Search Of, a podcast where we go in search of voices and perspectives that inform and expand a life of faith. We continue rediscovering lost Biblical women in this episode with Caryn Reeder about the Samaritan woman. Caryn offers us an interpretation that goes beyond scholarship’s tendency to hyper-sexualize and denigrate the Samaritan woman by offering critical, often lost context about marriage and the role of women in the world behind the story. What if this is an example not of a fallen woman, but of an early female leader in the church? All this and more on this episode of In Search Of.

Welcome to In Search Of, a podcast where we go in search of voices and perspectives that inform and expand a life of faith. Mary Magdalene is one of the most central women in the Christian tradition and yet, we are gradually discovering that we may never have known her at all. In this episode Elizabeth Schrader Polczer and Diana Butler Bass talk about the implications of Polczer’s research on Mary Magdalene and what it means for our own moment in Christianity, as well as how these two scholars from radically different fields combined powers to get Mary’s story out there. All this and more on this episode of In Search Of.

Welcome to In Search Of, a podcast where we go in search of voices and perspectives that inform and expand a life of faith. This special bonus episode is a lecture from host Amy Frykholm on Desert Women and, in particular, Mary of Egypt–the patron saint of this podcast. Amy tells us Mary’s story and gives some context as to what it was like being a desert mother amongst the desert fathers. How were women’s experiences similar to or different from men? What motifs and archetypes shape our understanding of them? All this and more on this episode of In Search Of.

Welcome to In Search Of, a podcast where we go in search of voices and perspectives that inform and expand a life of faith. In this episode, John Thatamanil tells Amy about his interfaith work and identity in a conversation that covers everything from capitalism to philosophy to the definition of religion. Why is “syncretism” a bad word? Why is it okay to be a capitalist Christian, but not a Buddhist Christian? How can we embrace religious diversity instead of fearing it? Explore these questions and more on this episode of In Search Of. 

John Thatamanil is a professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York, where he teaches classes in comparative theology, religious diversity, Hindu-Christian dialogue, the theology of Paul Tillich, theory of religion, process theology, and ecotheology. He’s the author of Circling the Elephant: A Comparative Theology of Religious Diversity and is working on a book provisionally entitled, Desiring Truth: Comparative Theology and the Quest for Interreligious Wisdom.

Welcome to In Search Of, a podcast where we go in search of voices and perspectives that inform and expand a life of faith. In this episode, Amy talks with award-winning journalist and the Century’s news editor Dawn Araujo-Hawkins about truth and journalism. Listen to Dawn explain the differences between objectivity and neutrality, the dangers of internet conspiracy theories, and her approach to handling traumatic stories with care on this episode of In Search Of. 

Dawn Araujo-Hawkins is the Century’s news editor and the vice-president of the Religion News Association. Her reporting has won awards from the American Academy of Religion, the Catholic Press Association, the Religion News Association, and the Great Plains Journalism Awards. She also won the Award of Excellence for in-depth coverage from the Associated Church Press in 2022.

Welcome to In Search Of, a podcast where we go in search of voices and perspectives that inform and expand a life of faith. In this episode, Amy talks with journalist Zeeya Merali about physics. Zeeya explains the science behind creating new universes, determinism and free will, and creating something out of “nothing.” They also discuss how physics can inform one’s inner life and the benefits of making science accessible. Explore these questions and more on this episode of In Search Of. 

Zeeya Merali is a freelance writer based in London and author of A Big Bang in a Little Room. Her writing has been published in Scientific American, Nature, New Scientist, Discover, and on the BBC. Zeeya Merali also edits the Foundational Questions Institute website, where she blogs and co-hosts a physics podcast, and runs thelittlebangtheory.com.

Welcome to In Search Of, a podcast where we go in search of voices and perspectives that inform and expand a life of faith. In this episode, Amy speaks with writer and dreamworker Rodger Kamenetz about understanding the difference between feeling and reaction, reveling in imagination, and how to engage your dreams through poetry and other means. Rodger even walks Amy through a recent dream of hers in this episode of In Search Of. 

Rodger Kamenetz is an award-winning poet, author, teacher, and natural dreamworker. His books include The Jew in the Lotus, Terra Infirma, The History of Last Night’s Dream, and Burnt Books, as well as seven books in poetry. He pioneered the creative writing department at Louisiana State University and now lives in New Orleans, doing spiritual direction and dreamwork.

Welcome to In Search Of, a podcast where we go in search of voices and perspectives that inform and expand a life of faith. In this episode, Amy speaks with author Sofia Samatar about her memoir The White Mosque and her pilgrimage to Uzbekistan in search of  Mennonites who left Russia in the 19th century to follow a charismatic preacher to Central Asia, where Christ was supposed to return. Sofia reckons with her Mennonite and Muslim identities, the history of missions, and what it means to tell stories about yourself and others in this episode of In Search Of. 

Sofia Samatar is the author of several books, including A Stranger in Olondria, an award-winning epic fantasy that was included in Time Magazine’s list of the 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time and Esquire‘s list of the 50 Best Fantasy Books of All Time. Her short story collection Tender features the Hugo and Nebula finalist “Selkie Stories Are for Losers.” Her most recent book is The White Mosque.

– Willie Dwayne Francois III

Welcome to In Search Of, a podcast where we go in search of voices and perspectives that inform and expand a life of faith. In this episode, Amy speaks with Willie Francois  about the intersection of theological education and incarceration. Willie tells us about his incarcerated students, their pursuit of education, the theologies that resonate with them, and the work they do with their degrees. Explore a theological imagination of abolition in this episode of In Search Of. 

Willie Dwayne Francois III is the senior pastor of Mount Zion Baptist Church of Pleasantville, New Jersey. He directs the master of professional studies program at New York Theological Seminary, which is the oldest master’s degree program offered by a theological institution in a US prison setting. The program is active in two New York State prisons: Sing Sing men’s prison and, as of last year, Bedford Hills women’s prison.

Welcome to In Search Of, a podcast where we go in search of voices and perspectives that inform and expand a life of faith. In this episode, Amy speaks with Peter Choi about monuments: what do they mean in American history, especially the history of evangelical Christianity? What does it mean to put monuments up? And what does it mean to tear them down? Listen to Peter and Amy discuss race, myths, and teaching history in this episode of In Search Of. 

Peter Choi is Associate Professor of American Christianity at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley whose areas of study include transatlantic revival religion, early evangelicalism, and world Christianity. He is the author of George Whitefield: Evangelist for God and Empire (2018) and Subverting Faith: Early Evangelicals and the Making of Race (under contract, Oxford University Press).

Welcome to In Search Of, a podcast where we go in search of voices and perspectives that inform and expand a life of faith. In this episode, Amy speaks with singer/songwriter-turned-Biblical scholar Elizabeth Schrader Polczer about Mary Magdalene. Listen as Elizabeth tells Amy the story of the encounter in a garden that led her to enroll in seminary, learn Greek, interrogate norms of textual criticism, and work with the best Biblical scholars all in her search for the truth about Mary Magdalene. All this and more on today’s episode of In Search Of. 

Elizabeth Schrader Polczer is a biblical scholar focusing on textual criticism, Mary Magdalene, and the Gospel of John. She is a doctoral candidate in Early Christianity and New Testament at Duke University and an incoming Assistant Professor of New Testament at Villanova University. 

Laurie Gudim is a spiritual director, religious iconographer, writer, retreat leader, and retired Jungian psychotherapist. Her healing work centers on helping individuals establish a dynamic relationship with the Holy. You can explore her art, retreats and workshops, and more at everydaymysteries.com.

For bonus content, visit www.christiancentury.org/insearchof.

Wendy Farley directs programs in spirituality and the arts at the graduate school of theology at Redlands University. She is the author of numerous books on theology, wisdom, spiritual direction, and contemplative practice. Her most recent book is Beguiled by Beauty: Cultivating A Life of Contemplation and Compassion.

For bonus content, visit www.christiancentury.org/insearchof.

Dan Koski works with the Institute for Ecumenical Research in Sibiu, Romania. 

For bonus content, visit www.christiancentury.org/insearchof.

Yehia El Decken is a self-described tripologist, tour operator, and head of the adventure arm of Holiday Tours. Founded in 1974, Holiday Tours is an Egyptian-based travel agency that helps people explore the world in various locations.

For bonus content, visit www.christiancentury.org/insearchof.

Karen Johnson is a cofounder of the Center for Creative Choice, an organization that works with a Jungian model to help people live soul-directed lives. She also teaches fifth grade at Lake County Intermediate School in Leadville, CO.

For bonus content, visit www.christiancentury.org/insearchof.

Gary Nabhan—also known as Brother Coyote—is an agrarian, ethnobotanist, and an Ecumenical Franciscan Brother who has written more than 30 books on food, ecology, and botany, including Food from the Radical Center and Coming Home to Eat. His most recent book is Jesus for Farmers and Fishers.

A version of this interview was published in the Christian Century.

For bonus content, visit www.christiancentury.org/insearchof.

Mohammad Waheeb is a professor of archaeology at Hashemite University in Jordan and has published more than 50 books and 200 articles on the archaeology of Jordan.

For bonus content, visit www.christiancentury.org/insearchof.

Carmen Acevedo Butcher teaches in the writing program at the University of California Berkeley and is the author of translations of The Cloud of Unknowing and Practice of the Presence. 

For bonus content, visit www.christiancentury.org/insearchof.

In Season One, we’ll go to the desert, a traditional place in the history of Christianity to begin searches. We’re exploring saints and sages, inner and outer landscapes, and the dynamics of searching and finding.

In Search Of is inspired by a line from the poet Rainer Maria Rilke. “You see,” says the poet, “I am one who likes to look for things.” This is a show for searchers and seekers, for those who dream of outlandish quests and those who live as pilgrims to the everyday.