Episode Details

🎙️ 20. Brian Recker (Ex-Evangelical Pastor) – Hell Bent on Reclaiming Love

Alexis Rice welcomes Brian Recker (@berecker) — former evangelical pastor, founding voice of Beloved on Substack, and author of Hellbent: How the Fear of Hell Holds Christians Back from a Spirituality of Love (out Sept 30)

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With honesty and pastoral clarity, Brian explores why hell-talk became the center of so many Christian upbringings—and how returning to Jesus’ core command to love can free our faith from fear, control, and gatekeeping.

Alexis and Brian dive into:

• What fear-based theology does to kids and communities
• Gehenna vs. “hell”: context, metaphor, and why it matters
• Deconstruction without losing God—and why Brian stayed Christian
• Leaving inerrancy, re-meeting Jesus, and finding church again
• Worship as deeply human
• Justice now vs. afterlife anxiety: building a world where love is in charge

💡 Key Takeaways

• “Perfect love casts out fear” isn’t optional; fear-built faith produces punishment, not Christlike love
• Reading Scripture with history, genre, and language (Gehenna/Sheol/Hades/Tartarus) expands—not erases—faith
• The Kingdom of God is about this world’s flourishing, especially for the most vulnerable
• Curiosity and honesty are spiritual practices; consent and freedom belong in our faith lives

👤 About Our Guest

Brian Recker is a former evangelical pastor turned writer and creator whose work centers love-forward, justice-rooted Christianity. He speaks widely on faith, deconstruction, and reimagining spirituality beyond fear.

📚 Resources Mentioned (with IG handles)

• James H. Cone (The Cross and the Lynching Tree) 
• Marcus Borg (The Heart of Christianity, Jesus: A New Vision) — @mjbfound
• bell hooks (All About Love) — @bellhooks_
• Rob Bell (Love Wins) — @realrobbell
• Rev. Darrell Goodwin (Executive Conference Minister, UCC) — @revdgoodwin
• United Church of Christ — @unitedchurchofchrist

✨ Beyoncé @beyonce, John Legend @johnlegend, Jon Batiste @jonbatiste — if you’re listening, we’re ready for that Christian worship album. Please and thank you. 🎶🙌

#Christianity #deconstruction #ProgressiveChristianity #Exvangelical #TheSacredSlope

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Where the slippery slope becomes sacred ground.
For the spiritually tender—raised in or rooted in Christianity.
Come explore our global, diverse, inclusive Christian faith, deconstruction, and spiritual identity in a rapidly changing world. Through conversations with clergy, scholars, and cultural voices, the show creates space for people navigating faith after certainty, church harm, or political co-option of religion.

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Fruit of the Spirit:  ❤️ love • 💫 joy • ☮️ peace • 🕊 patience • 💝 kindness • 🌿 goodness • 🙏 faithfulness • 🤲 gentleness • 💪 self-control