Ep 4: Purity Cult(ure) [Jay Hogewood]

Today’s episode of Beyond Religion is a little different from the first three. For those of us moving toward expansive spirituality and away from restrictive religion, part of that process involves acknowledging where religion has caused harm. And not only that, but where the wounds are on and in our bodies. One of the worst offenders is purity culture within the Christian church. The common messaging from evangelical teaching was that salvation had to earned by goodness, by purity, by struggle and suffering. You, O mortal, are too wretched for God to encounter and know without a whole lot of earning blessing and fighting to keep it. And when you grow up hearing that from all kinds of sources, it’s gonna mess you up in ways you’ll still be figuring out in your 40s and 50s. Jay Hogewood and Elizabeth Lott candidly discuss sexuality, evangelicalism, and growing up in a purity cult. It's the church/bible nerdiest of all the episodes and also the one with the most cursing. Go figure. The Rev. Dr. Jay Hogewood. Jay is the senior pastor of Rayne Memorial United Methodist Church in New Orleans, and prior to moving to New Orleans in 2017, he served as pastor of several churches in Baton Rouge, La. Jay received his B.A. in English and history from Samford University in Birmingham (this is where we have a lot of overlap and will settle for a little while in our conversation today). He completed his M.Div. at Truett Theological Seminary at Baylor University. His Ph.D. is in Hebrew Bible/Theological Hermeneutics from Brite Divinity School, Texas Christian University. In this episode we reference: Comedy Sex God by Pete Holmes Shameless: A Sexual Reformation by Nadia Bolz-Weber Missing the Mark: Sin and its Consequences in Biblical Theology by Mark Biddle Jay and Elizabeth both went to Samford University (Birmingham, AL) Pete Holmes attended Gordon College (Wenham, MA)