PODCAST · religion
Saved by the City
by Religion News Service
Roxy and Katelyn grew up in the white evangelical American heartland. Both were warned moving to a supposed bastion of secular culture would be dangerous to their faith. While navigating a city where people sleep in on Sunday mornings and the chaste motto “true love waits” isn’t a thing, the two have found a renewed, vibrant faith that has been both strengthened and stretched in the metropolis.
Episodes
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When Deconstructing Means Leaving Your Whole Life
Deconstructing a Reconstructionist childhood... On this episode, Katelyn and Roxy consider what it would take to quit — like really quit — the religions of our childhood. Not just the faith, but the community. And, as two eldest daughters with an outsize sense of responsibility, we find the...
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The Bros Who Want to Replace Democracy with a Monarchy + Bradley B. Onishi
Theocrats and technocrats and autocrats, oh my! The AI apocalypse is nigh and while Katelyn and Roxy are making their end of the world plans, a set of rather strange bedfellows is insisting the real solution to our woes is ... a king? Have we read this story somewhere before? (cough, the Bible,...
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The Girlboss Is Dead. We Are OK with That.
Man buns, dabbing, ombre hair and the #girlboss … all things from 2016 that are now deceased. If a decade ago the girl boss was rising and grinding and leaning in, now she’s on her farm co-op in a prairie dress, warning her Instagram followers about pesticides and Big Pharma. There’s this feeling...
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Live, Laugh, Love ... and Submit? + Kristin Kobes Du Mez
Are you a total woman? We've been waiting literal years for Kristin Kobes Du Mez's new book "Live Laugh Love." And here it is! Just in time for a new season of Saved By the City. One thing that struck us about Kristin’s new book is how much it centers on consumer products marketed to Christian...
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We Asked, You Answered: Why Women Are Leaving Church
Can you imagine a church without women? Us either. For as long as anyone alive today has been going to church, they've found the pews populated with more women than men. It's long been a given in American society that women are more religious than men. They pray more often, they attend church…
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Eat the Rich! Jesus Had Something to Say About That + Malcolm Foley
Is it a sin to be a billionaire? What about to own a house when so many are displaced? We're in a real "eat the rich" moment as tech billionaires flaunt their wealth on red carpets and flex their power behind presidents — all the while the wealth gap keeps growing and the AI boom threatens the...
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The Wedding Industrial Complex
Were Weddings Always This...Extra?In our parents' generation, most weddings took place in a house of worship, followed by a cake and punch reception in the basement or a local VFW hall, and everyone was decked out in polyester. No one was going for a "viral moment," and videographers and photo...
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The Hidden Religion in Your Self-Care Routine + Liz Bucar
The evangelicals were right about yoga (kind of). Meditation, detox cleanses, sound baths, plant-based medicine ... these things were not invented by Gwyneth Paltrow. They did not appear in Brooklyn out of thin air. Many (even most?) of our favorite wellness practices have deep roots in religious...
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What JD Vance and the New Intellectual Right Want
The Brains Behind the Trump Era Vice President J. D. Vance recently criticized Pope Leo online over his criticism of the war in Iran. It was a bold move for a Catholic convert, but perhaps not surprising, given the larger ideological commitments that have shaped Vance and his milieu. In a new…
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It's an AI World, and We're All Just Living In It
Don't worry, ChatGPT told us to just trust the robots...In a shockingly short period of time, AI has gone from tech novelty to a part of our everyday lives. More industries are incorporating AI into daily workflow so that employees have more time for creative work - at least in theory. Roxy's and...
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He Survived Conversion Therapy. The Supreme Court Just Made it Legal Again
A special crossover from our friends at Complexified for you this week! Tim Schrader Rodriguez spent eight years trying to "pray out the gay". He modulated his voice. He stopped listening to music with female lead singers. He sat weekly with a therapist who watched him come apart — and said...
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The Stranger Gospel + Bart D. Ehrman
What if Jesus really meant what he said? Like, including all that love your enemy stuff. The better question maybe is what would happen if Jesus's followers believed he really meant what he said — and acted on it? It could change society and, according to Bart Ehrman, it already has. On this...
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The Manosphere and the Gospel of Self-Optimization
Bro, do you even know your facial thirds? In an era of overexposure, perhaps looksmaxxing was inevitable. Clavicular, the face of this buzzy new internet phenomenon, tells us an uncomfortable truth we probably already knew: physical attractiveness gets you places. And, in true manosphere fashion,...
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Bible Stories That Scared the Hell Out of Us
The Noah's Ark story should come with a content warning. The Beginner's Bible. The Precious Moments Bible. The Jesus Storybook Bible. Children's Bibles remain an incredibly popular way for parents to teach their kids the faith. Roxy and Katelyn both remember the Bible stories that left a deep...
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Something Is Happening ... But Is It a Revival?
Every generation gets its revival story. In 1971, Time Magazine ran "The Jesus Revolution." In 1998, the New York Times wondered if evangelicals were "on the threshold of a huge spiritual revival." And in 2025, headlines screamed that Gen Z was flocking back to church, that young men were leading…
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Epstein, MAHA and the War for Women
Roxy & Katelyn are coming in hot with a deep dive into how the MAGA movement may be losing women. The Justice Department's seemingly reticent release of the Epstein files has led some prominent figures such as Marjorie Taylor Greene to disavow her ties to President Donald Trump, as many women's...
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From Purity Rings to Shooting Your Dog: How Christian Womanhood Went MAGA
A Saved By The City Crossover Event! We're back! ALMOST. We recently joined another RNS podcast to look at how Christian womanhood has changed—and not in the ways we could have expected. In this episode of Complexified, host Amanda Henderson talks with us about the shift from 1990s purity culture...
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The Religion Stories Behind the Headlines: 2025 Recap With Jack Jenkins + Adelle Banks
A Special Episode from The State of Belief! We’re sharing a special episode from The State of Belief — a wide-ranging conversation with Religion News Service reporters Jack Jenkins and Adelle M. Banks on the faith angles you don’t hear in the standard year-end news wrap. From immigration and...
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On Saying Goodbye to Singleness: What You Gain, What You Lose
Can we talk about the beard hair in the sink? Getting engaged is exciting! But saying goodbye to singleness is not so straightforward — especially when you've spent years defending and celebrating the single life. On this episode, Katelyn and Roxy admit letting go of being single felt more...
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From Pulpit to Protest: The Clergy Resisting ICE + Michael Woolf
There's even an ICE Nativity. Baby Jesus in zip ties. Mary and Joseph in gas masks. Roman centurions wearing ICE vests. This December, nativity scenes are getting political. Lake Street Church in Evanston, Illinois sparked national attention with their ICE-themed nativity. Sean Hannity called it...
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God, Glam and the Good Wife: The Rise of the Womanosophere
They’re stylish, savvy, with podcasts, book deals, and massive Instagram followings. And they’re calling women back to the kitchen. A new wave of conservative Christian women, many balancing high-powered platforms and hard-charging careers with old-fashioned family values, are gaining influence…
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Best of SBTC: A Ross Douthat Guide to Fairies, UFOs ... and Church
Exploring the mystical, the skeptical, and the spiritually surprising with Ross Douthat. What’s your woo level? In this episode, Katelyn and Roxy run through their most mystical instincts—angels, ghosts, manifesting, energies, astrology—and ask whether modern Christians have grown a little too...
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Millennial Christians Were Set Up for Burnout + Karen Swallow Prior
Let's call it 'passion fatigue'... In the days of the early 'aughts, as Millennials began embarking into the workplace, companies noticed these young employees wanted a mission — wanted to feel connected to the work they were doing, even inspired by it. No longer was a paycheck enough, these...
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Cosmetic Surgery Today Is Scary Good … and That Scares Us
Is it the holy spirit or is it a ponytail facelift? What does it even mean anymore to age with grace in the era of deep plane facelifts and eyelid surgeries and celebrity procedures that have women looking 40 years younger? On this episode of the podcast, Katelyn and Roxy wrestle with tensions…
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Holy Rizz and the Power of Hype + Molly Worthen
Beware the charismatic pastor? America has long had a love affair with celebrity — be that of the Hollywood variety or the political ilk. From superstar athletes to celebrity chefs, their woo is not wasted on us. And the history of American Christianity was shaped by men (and a few women) who...
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Freaky Friday Edition: The Hot Priest Takeover!
The one where our BoOoOos take over ... We're at the height of spooky season, and what could be spookier than two dudes talking theology? Just kidding, Roxy and Katelyn love the two men who are taking over SBTC this week!John Schmidt, Roxy's husband, returns to talk preaching, Fleabag, and lady...
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The Risks of a Young Evangelical Marriage + Jen Hatmaker
When you're on fire for Jesus — and each other. It's a tale as old as time: young and zealous evangelical co-eds meet in college, fall head over heels, dream of a life in ministry together ... and also of having sex, something they can't do until they get married. So they do — they tie the knot…
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Would You Take Mushrooms To See God? + Rabbi Zac Kamenetz
Are you there God? It's me, Mushrooms ... Katelyn and Roxy are what researchers would call "psychedelically naïve." As in, we've never gone on a hallucinogenic trip before. But we're not necessarily psychedelically negative -- we're fascinated by how many people are using psychedelics for…
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After the Assassination: How the Algorithm Wars Gave Us Two Charlie Kirks
Who is really winning here? In the wake of Charlie Kirk's very gruesome and very public assassination on September 10, the debate over his legacy has played out in real time and online. The responses to his death revealing just how fractured we've become. Some called him a martyr, modern-day St....
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Spanking Is Not a Love Language: Parenting in a Post-Dobson World + Marissa Franks Burt
If every generation of parents has their anxieties, the post-evangelical Millennial parent is perhaps most angsty about how to raise their kids as Christians — without all the baggage. Many parents our age — especially those who grew up evangelical — were raised in a time when Christian parenting...
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From Fringe to Mainstream: Why Doug Wilson Is Having His Moment
Doug Wilson’s name is suddenly everywhere (and his voice too). The 72-year-old pastor from Moscow, Idaho has become the go-to theologian for Christian nationalism, offering what has been framed as a more moderate, more intellectually rigorous case for a Christian nation. One where women can't…
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Best of SBTC: Hillsong and the Scourge of V-Necked Pastors
What the holy heck is happening at Hillsong? The last six weeks have seen a seesaw of scandalous revelations between Hillsong U.S. and Hillsong Australia. The resignation of global senior pastor Brian Houston after revelations of sexual indiscretion. The discovery of allegations of rape by a…
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Best of SBTC: Why I Chose to Have a Baby on My Own + Annie Parsons
When the clock keeps ticking, you gotta get picking ... a sperm donor, that is. Ok, but really, as more and more women are single into their late thirties and early forties, the option to have a child through in vitro fertilization becomes a very live question. As much as forty may be the new...
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Best of SBTC: Rethinking Our Drinking + Sarah Bessey
Let's get a drink sometime! New York's a drinking town. Happy hours. Boozy brunches. Martinis and oysters. The city's social life revolves around artisan cocktails and bubbly toasts and late night dive bars. And while the pandemic may have put a screeching halt to the social side of that life, it...
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Best of SBTC: How We Survived the Great Evangelical Betrayal
From Jesus Freak to freaked out. In this episode, we grapple with "the e-word" and why we struggle to claim the evangelical label. Having grown up fully immersed in that culture and going on to dedicate much of our careers to the movement, we examine our disillusionment and disappointment with…
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Best of SBTC: Asking Better Questions + Krista Tippett
This episode, Katelyn and Roxy are joined by the GOAT, the legend who arguably started the spiritual podcasting genre, the longtime host of On Being, Krista Tippett. This wide-ranging conversation lingers on some of the more salient questions of our time: What is the role of faith in a...
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Q's Shift, Keller's Legacy and Our Negative World + Collin Hansen
Founded in 2007 as a "learning community that mobilizes Christians to advance the common good," Q was part of a broader movement of Christian cultural engagement in the mid-aughts and early teens. Much of it influenced by the late Tim Keller. Today, Q — now THINQ Media — feels emblematic of the...
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Good Breakups, Bad Makeups & the Evangelical Ex
First, we set the scene with our our most movie-worthy post-breakup moments — we're talking ice cream binging, sad song belting, pillow weeping melt downs. Next up, we get into your break-up stories. It's our long-awaited break-up episode and you, dear listeners, delivered. You sent in your sad...
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The Real Trad Wives of Instagram + Kelsey Kramer McGinnis
Have you ever found yourself mid-doomscroll, suddenly enthralled by a beautiful woman baking a pie and arranging an armful of flowers freshly picked from her garden, while in the background her children play with adorable wooden toys on a natural fiber rug? You have stumbled into the trad-wife...
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Don't Pull a 'White Lotus.' Sacred Travel vs. Spiritual Tourism. + Pico Iyer
You don't want to be THAT tourist. We all need a vacation and many of us are seeking more than rest or fun on our next getaway. Pilgrimages, retreats, wellness centers — an industry has grown up around the desire to to find transcendence — or at least a bit of mindfulness — while escaping real...
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The Vibe Shift Is Here. How Do We Stay Engaged in Racial Justice? + Latasha Morrison
It's 2025, and the vibes feel a bit...off. It's been nearly five years since the murder of George Floyd and the national and global protests it sparked. Since then, we've seen local efforts to stop public schools from teaching about racism in America; withdrawal of federal funding for DEI...
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Succession, Vatican Style and the Legacy of Pope Francis + Claire Giangravé
Pope Francis was a man of the people. Will the next pope be? After 12 years as the head of the Catholic church — and the most famous Christian in the world — Pope Francis died on Monday (April 21) at 88. A charismatic reformer, the first Latin American pope and the first Jesuit pope, Francis was...
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It’s Easter. How About That Penal Substitutionary Atonement? + Brian Zahnd
Good Friday and Easter are basically the pinnacle of the Christian calendar. What it all centers on. But in recent years we’ve seen a lot of angst over what Jesus’ death on the cross and his resurrection really mean — and if what people grew up believing about them might be all wrong. We're...
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Is It OK To Not Like Kids?
Chappell Roan says all her friends with kids are in hell. A popular subreddit asks "does anyone else just… not like kids?" A crowd of the usual suspects — pro-natalists, theo bros and mom influencers — pounce on these examples to decry our increasingly "anti-kid" and "childless cat lady" culture....
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So You Married a Priest? + Beth Allison Barr
Did you know there are piles of guidebooks meant to help women excel at being the church's first lady? From how to step out of a car when pulling up to church on Sunday, to preparing the perfect casserole, to keeping the kids smiling and still in the front pew. And those dirty dishes in the sink?...
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A Ross Douthat Guide to Fairies, UFOs ... and Church
What’s the woo-iest thing you believe in? Angels and demons? Ghosts? Astrology? On this episode, Katelyn and Roxy dabble in the metaphysical and get curious about the mystical. We also wonder if maybe we’ve gotten a little too skeptical of the spiritual? Enter our guest today: New York Times...
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A New City Won't Save You + Lydia Sohn
Katelyn and Roxy both moved to New York City with a dream of starting fresh and the promise of a new life with new adventures, new friends and new romance. And, to be honest, New York delivered on pretty much all of that. It's a great city! But it's not the only city — and moving here cost us…
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Truth or Dare: Evangelical Edition + Erin Hicks Moon
Were you more of a truth person or a dare person? On this episode, Katelyn and Roxy revisit some of the Capital T-truths of their youth group days and dare to say "maybe I don't believe that anymore." From hell to dinosaurs to midnight demons, we go there. And we're joined by Erin Hicks Moon, who...
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Empathy Is Now a Sin? Really?
It's toxic. It's sinful. It's compassion corrupted. It's ruining the world and is definitely at the root of all the bad things. What is this fresh evil? Empathy, of course! Or so says a growing faction of Christians with very loud voices. On this first episode of a brand new season, Katelyn and...
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Can We Love the Bible Again? + Kaitlyn Schiess
Core memory: flipping the Bible open to a random page, pointing with eyes closed to a verse, and "claiming" that verse as God's answer to the particular problem of that day. Whew. Where did we get that idea? On this episode, Katelyn and Roxy dig into those formative experiences with the Bible…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Roxy and Katelyn grew up in the white evangelical American heartland. Both were warned moving to a supposed bastion of secular culture would be dangerous to their faith. While navigating a city where people sleep in on Sunday mornings and the chaste motto “true love waits” isn’t a thing, the two have found a renewed, vibrant faith that has been both strengthened and stretched in the metropolis.
HOSTED BY
Religion News Service
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Saved by the City have?
Saved by the City currently has 175 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Saved by the City about?
Roxy and Katelyn grew up in the white evangelical American heartland. Both were warned moving to a supposed bastion of secular culture would be dangerous to their faith. While navigating a city where people sleep in on Sunday mornings and the chaste motto “true love waits” isn’t a thing, the two...
How often does Saved by the City release new episodes?
Saved by the City publishes regularly with 175 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Saved by the City?
You can listen to Saved by the City on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Saved by the City?
Saved by the City is created and hosted by Religion News Service.
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