The Fascinating Podcast

God has no gender, but we almost always refer to God as 'he'. What do we lose by ignoring the feminine attributes of God? Teresa Kim Pecinovsky joins us to explore her beautiful new book Mother God. …

Why are there so many bad marriage books? Marriage is anything but one-size-fits-all, and it's long past time we had a fresh vision of marriage - one that's good news for every kind of person and sex…

What is Asian America? Can we trace the origins of this distinctive and important pattern in the tapestry of American popular culture? Jeff Yang and Phil Yu say we can, and they join us to show how w…

Your Fascinating pals close out the season (and the year!) by offering up their favorite media pics of 2021. What made our list? And what did we miss?

Remember the National WOMEN'S Football League? You don't? Well, sportswriter Frankie de la Cretaz joins us to share the surprising, thrilling story you've never heard. Plus: the latest feral hog upda…

This one's been a long time coming: your four co-hosts trace key moments in our journey toward becoming LGBTQ+ affirming. What does that term mean? What does it look like to be affirming and faithful…

Jeff Chu joins us to discuss Wholehearted Faith, the last book from Rachel Held Evans. Jeff co-authored the book, and our own Kathy Khang recorded one chapter of the audiobook. We reflect on Rachel's…

Moby Dick turned 170 years old this year, which got us thinking: what books from the last decade will still be around in 150 years? What makes a classic? And should every book strive to be a classic …

What is privilege? Why does talking about it get us so defensive? Dominique Dubois Gilliard returns to the podcast to dive into his new book SUBVERSIVE WITNESS. How is learning to spot our privilege …

Matt Mikalatos is back in the hot seat. His latest book, Journey to Love, explores our deepest need: to live lives that are more full of love. We do a deep dive on what love is not - after all, knowi…

Our Halloween episode features Dr. Brandon Grafius, author of Reading the Bible with Horror. He tells us how using horror as a lens can help us understand the Bible. We dive in deep on the Bible's mo…

Cancel culture seems impossible to escape. But what exactly IS cancel culture? We walk through the history of cancelling and consider the promise and danger of what's ahead. PLUS: Where in the world …

What happens when you make a TV show about Native Americans with a Native show runner and an all-Native writers' room? You get the unparalleled new show Reservation Dogs. Rev. Sonya Brown (Dine/Navaj…

What does theology look like when you don't center white male theologians? Kat Armas has a radical suggestion: it looks like Abuelita Faith. Kat invites us into the kitchens and homes where theology …

After the excitement of 300, your Fascinating buds slow down and spend some time catching up. What big changes did we miss? And what's been fascinating us while we've been gone? It's the gap-episode …

Fall began with a box-office dominated by Shang-Chi. What does this smash-hit mean for the future of fantasy fiction? We interview four experts for their insights. Ken Liu, Fonda Lee, Phil Yu and And…

The Season 6 finale is here... and we're remembering things that turned 21 in 2021 - including the camera phone. Has any other device so accelerated social change, for good and ill?

Matt Mikalatos is in the hot seat again. He has concluded his epic fantasy trilogy The Sunlit Lands. What does it take to bring a world to a satisfying conclusion? What should we expect in this final…

It's summer and with vaccinations, it's time to travel again. We share some of our travel plans, as well as some of our most embarrassing travel faux pas.

How do you deal with trolls? More importantly, how do you even spot a troll? And what about folks who aren't trying to troll, but still don't have good intentions? We do a deep (and wide) dive on how…