HeyJaredNaming the Real
In an era of polarization, confusion, and "fake news," discerning and naming what is real—what satisfies, what has substance, what is meaningful—is more important than ever.
- Indexed episodes, last 90 days
- 8
- Latest publication
- Sep 28, 2026
- Audience
- Checking…
- Earliest in this view
- Jul 13, 2026
Latest episodes
Exposing Fallen Powers (opens the original)
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The scapegoating mechanism always invites us to return violence for violence. Drawing on Jesus, Nathan the Prophet, James Lawson, and Howard Thurman, Brandon explores how to unmask fallen powers without entering the scapegoating mechanism ourselves. The way out calls for courage and the courage of compassion—of speaking truth to power as an act of kindness, but also of exercising self-compassion. And this may be the hardest path of all.
Powers, Scapegoating & Evangelicalism (opens the original)
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Scapegoating promises peace by making someone else pay. Drawing on René Girard, Brandon explores how the cross exposes this ancient cycle—and how Christian theology can tragically recreate it. Jesus offers another way: forgiveness that refuses vengeance, restores agency, and frees us to face life's pain without passing violence onward.
How Theology Fails (opens the original)
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What happens when salvation becomes a legal transaction rather than an encounter with transforming love? Brandon traces two historic understandings of Jesus' death and examines how punishment-centered theology shaped American evangelicalism. He invites us to ask whether our inherited beliefs are forming us in freedom—or keeping us trapped in shame and fear.
Idolizing Power (opens the original)
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Religious and political movements often begin with transformative vision. But what happens when preserving the institution becomes more important than embodying its values? Using evangelicalism as a case study, Brandon explores fallen powers, institutional loyalty, and freedom, asking when does belonging becomes idolatry—and what our allegiances prevent us from seeing that idolatry has happened to us.
Season 4 Episodes 11-19, Spirituality over Purity Recap (opens the original)
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