Episode Details

Ciarra Jones, known online as The Gardening Theologian, blends theology, ecology, and storytelling to help people untangle inherited beliefs and cultivate a more liberated, life-giving spirituality. Drawing from her experiences in Pentecostal Christianity, academia, queerness, and gardening, Ciarra explores how systems of power shape the way we understand God, identity, belonging, and collective care. Through the wisdom of plants and natural systems, she invites people to imagine faith beyond rigidity, certainty, and perfectionism.

In this episode, Ciarra shares how gardening became a pathway toward a gentler understanding of God, why ecosystems reveal the limits of individualism, and how uncertainty can become a form of liberation rather than fear. She unpacks the tension between conviction and mystery, the loneliness of leaving harmful systems, and the possibility of rebuilding community, identity, and faith from the ground up.

WATCH EPISODES ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/heatherparady

TOPICS FROM THIS EPISODE:

• Why ecosystems challenge individualism and “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” culture
• What plants teach us about suffering, flourishing, death, and transformation
• Why certainty can become a form of control—and how mystery creates space for growth
• How the earth, plants, and the garden challenge ideas of hierarchy and white supremacy

RESOURCES MENTIONED:

• Lessons from Plants by Beronda L. Montgomery: https://amzn.to/3P87SSV
• Stand Your Ground: Black Bodies and the Justice of God Kelly Brown Douglas https://amzn.to/4tK4rjt
• The Four Vision Quests of Jesus Steven Charleston https://amzn.to/4nvQi7Q
• Aztlán and Arcadia: Religion, Ethnicity, and the Creation of Place https://amzn.to/3PsCQ87
• Matters of the Heart by Thema Bryant Ph.D. https://amzn.to/4drJdk8
• Homecoming by Thema Bryant Ph.D. https://amzn.to/4dRd7Qc

CONNECT WITH CIARRA JONES:

• Website: https://ciarrajonesconsulting.com/
• Instagram: https://www.in