Attaching to God: Neuroscience-informed Spiritual Formation · Geoff and Cyd Holsclaw

125 A Teachable Spirit Among Strangers and Enemies (with A.J. Swoboda)

·45 min·4 clips

God didn't cause the pain — but He's the master composter who turns a pile of junk into soil.

Jeff Holzclaw opens the episode by welcoming new listeners and restating the show's attachment-based, relationship-focused, Jesus-centered aim. He says the podcast tries to connect brain science to Bible study and points people to the book Landscapes of the Soul and the embodiedfaith.life website. He then sets up the question for the day: should Christians be teachable. The conversation also asks how people learn to discipline desire and hear more stories about becoming deeply attached to God. A.J. Swoboda joins as a professor, writer, and pastor at Bushnell University. The episode keeps circling the experience of becoming more deeply attached with God. One of its main claims is that faith should flow from overflow, not from lack. On that reading, God does not need us to fill a gap or heal a wound in the relationship. That shift lowers anxiety. Jeff notes that many churches and lived experiences teach a different kind of Christianity. That version increases burdens and workloads instead of peace. Swoboda points to Luke 15. He pictures the father going out in joy, welcoming the returning child with a ring, a robe, and a party. That image becomes his picture of abundant life. The conversation also turns toward evangelism. Jeff and Sid describe the gospel as a welcome home and an offer of a new family to people. Swoboda distinguishes between the ontological effects of atonement and its therapeutic effects. He says the cross does something real and mysterious that human language cannot fully capture. At the same time, he argues that the gospel also works pastorally by bringing people into belonging. The episode closes with a mention of the book Slow Theology, which Swoboda is writing with Nijay and which will come out next September.

As heard by us

A steady case for teachability, desire, and a gospel of welcome home.

The episode asks whether Christians can stay teachable and whether desire can be trained instead of defended. Jeff Holzclaw sets up the conversation around attachment, and A.J. Swoboda shifts that into Luke 15 and a gospel shaped by welcome home.

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Why you'd press play

For a steadier, less anxious conversation about teachability and faith, press play.

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