Jenny Misslin and Phillip Dieke
115 episodes listed below
Rooted conversations for sacred, earthly faith.
Radical Sacred moves slowly and attentively through faith, nature, embodiment, and the ordinary moments that begin to feel holy. Its guest-led conversations pair poems, personal searching, and Christian language with questions about reciprocity, grief, love, and right relationship.
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Radical Sacred is a contemplative interview show shaped by Christian spirituality, ecological imagination, poetry, and intimate conversation. It moves at a humane pace. Rather than chasing neat answers, it lingers with questions about rootedness, grief, reciprocity, love, justice, and the sacredness of ordinary life. Episodes often open with poetry, and those openings are not ornamental. They give the conversation a threshold, inviting the listener into a field of feeling before the guest begins to speak. Mary Oliver, Bell Hooks, Assata Shakur, Joy Sullivan, Reverend William Holmes Borders Sr., and Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer appear as part of the show’s living vocabulary. The result is earthy and prayerful without becoming slick. Its Christianity is present, but the show’s curiosity keeps widening outward toward land, bodies, online kinship, art, ecology, shalom, and the mystery of connection. Conversations with people such as Rev. Dr. Shidely Smith, David Dalt, Christine Tracy, Lisa Sharon Harper, and Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer show a taste for guests who can speak from lived conviction rather than polished certainty. The show is especially strong when a planned question gives way to surprise. It lets the river bend. That openness matters. Radical Sacred does not treat spirituality as escape from the world; it treats it as a way of entering the world more honestly. Grief becomes a teacher. Poetry becomes practice. Shalom becomes a vision of right relationship rather than private calm. Nature is not backdrop, but kin, guide, and moral witness. The conversations can become grave, especially around loss, injustice, shame, domination, and ecological harm. Still, the tone remains companionable. Radical Sacred is best for listeners who want spiritually serious talk that can hold ache and wonder in the same breath.
Made for: For listeners drawn to contemplative Christian spirituality, poetry, nature, and thoughtful interviews about living with tenderness and moral attention. It will especially suit people who prefer spacious, reflective conversation over quick doctrine or polished self-help.
What sets it apart: Radical Sacred stands apart by letting poetry, nature, and guest-led surprise shape the conversation. Its conversations feel less like a lesson plan and more like shared spiritual attention unfolding in real time.
Remember, you are on sacred ground. Stay rooted.For two years Jenny Misslin and Rev. Phil Dieke have been contemplating a podcast. An opportunity to discuss spirituality, nature, community, and the interconnectedness of it all. All things they love, are very anxious about, and eager to explore. Radical, defined as "the relating to the fundamental nature of something." This term can be divisive, but to Jenny and Phil it is an invitation to connect back to the divine goodness, the sacred, at the core of all creation. Radical Sacred is an invitation to join them in curiosity as they explore...
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Radical Sacred pairs poetry and open-ended conversation to connect Christian spirituality with ecological responsibility, justice, grief, and the search for meaning.
Radical Sacred begins from attention: Phil Dickey and Jenny Mislin often bring poetry into the room before settling into generous guest conversations about faith, nature, grief, justice, and human connection.
Phil and Jenny's forest conversation lets your sense of wonder survive a fact-check.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A reflective conversation about roots, friendship, and the value of being surprised by where the discussion goes.
Radical Sacred centers spirituality, nature, and connection, and the conversation settles into open questions, careful listening, and a steady openness to surprise.
Christine Tracy connects Teilhard's noosphere to grief, sobriety, motherhood, and the sacredness of ordinary life.
Christine Tracy's visit to "Just Trust Life" brings Teilhard's thought down to the scale of lived experience: grief, sobriety, motherhood, fear for a son in law enforcement, and the fragile belief that can keep someone moving through suffering.
A thoughtful take on shalom as relational justice, not just peace.
Radical Sacred presents Lisa Sharon Harper's visit as a study in shalom that reaches past simple peace of mind and into truth, integrity, reciprocity, equity, and justice across God, self, gender, family, and creation.
Poetry, heartbreak, and staying open.
Rosemary Watola Tromer keeps the focus on heartbreak, embodiment, and the work of staying open. The poem moves from fortresses coming down to a body that softens, grows present, and listens for goodness in other people and in herself.
A reflective conversation about how to meet pain with care, justice, and steadiness.
Radical Sacred spends this episode with Liza Rankow in a conversation about what to do once pain has already arrived. It does not try to tidy up grief, diagnosis, loss, or violence.
A reflective forest conversation that balances wonder with correction and keeps love, loss, and responsibility in view.
This Radical Sacred episode uses Mary Oliver's Blackwater Woods as a frame for a conversation about love, loss, and responsibility, with Ethan Tapper helping shift it from reverence toward a more exact view of forests.
Two Bible translators unpack Scripture's hardest passages, from Revelation's 666 to the Witch of Endor.
Doug Pagitt questions whether “America” means land, government, or ideals in Radical Sacred’s July 4th conversation.
Radical Sacred centers spirituality, nature, and connection.
This episode explores the intersection of spirituality and ecology through the lens of Holy Wisdom Monastery, framed by Mary Oliver's poem about living in deeper harmony with nature.
This episode features an interview with Rev.
This episode features an interview with David Dault, a writer and host of 'Things Not Seen', exploring themes of spirituality, love, and faith in culture.
This episode explores the intimacy of online connections through a spiritual lens, featuring hosts Phil Dickey and Jenny Mislen discussing spirituality, nature, and sacred roots.
Radical Sacred speaks with Christine Tracy, a writer, journalist, rhetorician, and grandmother of four, about her book Just Trust Life: A Journey with Teilhard de Chardin.
Radical Sacred opens with I Am Somebody and settles into a conversation with Lisa Sharon Harper about shalom.
Radical Sacred welcomes Rosemary Watola Tromer into a conversation about poetry as a way of staying human.
Radical Sacred opens with an Ash Wednesday note and a Lent invitation.
Mary Oliver sets the frame.
This episode features an interview with Carolyn Whitney-Brown about her book on Henri Nouwen, exploring spirituality through poetry and mythology.
The host introduces the podcast Radical Sacred, shares a poetic reading by Padraig Otuma, and warmly welcomes guest Andrew Wermelskirchen (nicknamed Worm), highlighting their long-standing friendship since he was 17.
This episode features an interview with Missy Buchanan, a United Methodist author and speaker, discussing grief, faith, and her compassionate work with elderly church members.
This episode features Reverend Nathan Webb discussing his digital-first approach to ministry and pilgrimage through Checkpoint Church and the Fidgetal Fellows fellowship.