Suzanne Ross on The Wicked Truth and the Myth of “Good Violence”
January and Andrew talk with author, educator and philanthropist Suzanne Ross, whose book "The Wicked Truth: When Good People Do Bad Things" is entering its second edition. Suzanne shares her struggles with the Bible's brutality, her insights into mimetic theory, and how she uses the popular musical "Wicked" to help raise awareness of the mechanisms of human violence.
Episode 1 — The Heroine’s Journey: Eve, Mary, and The Trap of Trying to Do It All “Right”
What if Christian faith isn’t about being correct, but about being creative? January and Andrew explore Maureen Murdock’s Heroine’s Journey through two of history’s most famous women: Eve, the mother of all, and Mary, the mother of Jesus.
Episode 2 — Creativity as Pregnancy: Sarah, Hannah, and Creating Love Instead of Violence
What if the Kingdom of Heaven isn’t a goal to achieve but a gift to receive? January and Andrew unpack the Bible’s quietly subversive use of pregnancy as a metaphor for creativity. Contrasting Sarah’s violence with Hannah’s trust, they follow Saint Paul in imagining a Kingdom born from cooperation instead of control.
Episode 3 — Shame as Internal Violence: Eve, the Serpent, and the Original Sin of Self-Abandonment
What if shame isn’t just a feeling, but an internalized form of violence? January and Andrew explore a reading of Genesis 3 through the eyes of the victim, interpreting humanity’s Fall into sin as an inflicted wound, not a willful disobedience.
Episode 4 — Blame as External Violence: Cain, Abel, and the Temptation to Make Someone Else the Problem
What if blame isn’t a path to justice, but a catharsis for pain we don’t know how to process? January and Andrew continue their reading of Genesis, connecting René Girard’s prohibition, sacrifice, and myth to Internal Family Systems managers, firefighters and exiles.
Episode 5 — Creativity and Trust: Mary the Mother of Jesus and the Upside-Down Power of Vulnerability
What if vulnerability isn’t a weakness to overcome, but a creative power to embrace? January and Andrew turn to Mary, the mother of Jesus, as the counterpoint to Eve — a living model of what it means to trust God despite confusion, risk, and pain.
Episode 6 — Creativity and The Body: The Scapegoating of Embodiment and How Communion Puts an End to Purity Culture
What if your body isn’t a liability to control or escape, but a site of divine revelation and relationship? January and Andrew confront the contamination anxiety that distorts Christian theologies of the body, and explore how the Incarnation contradicts that disgust by encountering, instead of expelling, the Other.