Attaching to God: Neuroscience-informed Spiritual Formation – Details, episodes & analysis

In this final Lent episode on Jesus’ temptations, Geoff and Cyd Holsclaw explore the third temptation as an attack on Jesus’ agency—shifting from anxiety-driven hyperactivation to independence-driven deactivation of attachment. They discuss how modern pressures like hustle culture, comparison, and radical self-reliance can pull people toward building “lesser kingdoms” instead of using their agency to love God and others. Jesus refuses Satan’s offer of power and chooses worship and service to God alone, modeling a “self with others” rooted in love as action.

Dive deeper in our new book, Landscapes of the Soul: How the Science and Spirituality of Attachment Can Move You into Confident Faith, Courage, and Connection, and learn about our trainings and other resources at embodiedfaith.life.

Stay Connected: 

• Check out our Attaching to God 6-Week Learning Cohort.
• Join the Embodied Faith community to stay connected and get posts, episodes, & resources.
• Support the podcast with a one-time or regular gift (to keep this ad-free without breaking the Holsclaw's bank).

The Attaching to God podcast continues a three-week Lenten series on the Temptations of Jesus.

This episode reframes Jesus’ second temptation as an attack on his secure attachment to the Father—an attack on FAITH, provoking anxiety and testing whether God is really available. Geoff and Cyd talk about all the different reasons we develop “trust issues” and how they come out in our lives. They define faith as embodied reliance and lived loyalty, they share practical examples, and offer a practical Lenten practice. 

Dive deeper in our new book, Landscapes of the Soul: How the Science and Spirituality of Attachment Can Move You into Confident Faith, Courage, and Connection, and learn about our trainings and other resources at embodiedfaith.life.

Stay Connected: 

• Check out our Attaching to God 6-Week Learning Cohort.
• Join the Embodied Faith community to stay connected and get posts, episodes, & resources.
• Support the podcast with a one-time or regular gift (to keep this ad-free without breaking the Holsclaw's bank).

Should Christians be teachable, and how can we discipline desire, that’s what we are talking about today, and stories learning to attach more deeply with God. 

In this episode of the Attaching to God podcast, host Geoff Holsclaw welcomes Dr. A.J. Swoboda to discuss the virtue of having a teachable spirit. The conversation explores the challenges of remaining teachable in a culture that often discourages vulnerability and humility.

Dr. A. J. Swoboda is a professor, writer, and pastor. He is the Associate Professor of Bible, theology, and world Christianity at Bushnell University and leads the Doctorate program in Christian Formation and Soul Care at Friends University. He is the author of many books, recently The Gift of Thorns: Jesus, the Flesh, and the War for Our Wants and A Teachable Spirit: The Virtue of Learning from Strangers, Enemies, and Absolutely Anyone.

Dive deeper in our new book, Landscapes of the Soul: How the Science and Spirituality of Attachment Can Move You into Confident Faith, Courage, and Connection, and learn about our trainings and other resources at embodiedfaith.life.

Stay Connected: 

• Check out our Attaching to God 6-Week Learning Cohort.
• Join the Embodied Faith community to stay connected and get posts, episodes, & resources.
• Support the podcast with a one-time or regular gift (to keep this ad-free without breaking the Holsclaw's bank).

I want to pursue God. But part of would rather not. Another part is a little afraid of God. And anther is worried that God is just done with me.  Is God big enough for all our parts?

Embodied Faith host Dr. Geoff Holsclaw sits down with spiritual director and trained IFS (Internal Family Systems) practitioner Brian Hohmeier. 

Brian serves as director of curriculum development for the Order of the Common Life, which is reimagining religious vocations for 21st century at orderofthecommonlife.org.

RESOURCES:

IFS Episodes:
• Why the Lost Art of Paying Attention Is Everything in the Spiritual Life (with Jared Boyd)
• How To Welcome the Parts Warring Within Us (Jenna Riemersma)

IFS Resources:
• No Bad Parts  - Richard Schwartz
• Internal Family Systems Therapy - Richard Schwartz

Dive deeper in our new book, Landscapes of the Soul: How the Science and Spirituality of Attachment Can Move You into Confident Faith, Courage, and Connection, and learn about our trainings and other resources at embodiedfaith.life.

Stay Connected: 

• Check out our Attaching to God 6-Week Learning Cohort.
• Join the Embodied Faith community to stay connected and get posts, episodes, & resources.
• Support the podcast with a one-time or regular gift (to keep this ad-free without breaking the Holsclaw's bank).

Is there something between being SELFISH and SELFLESS? Between CODEPENDENCY and total INDEPENDENCY? How do I stop painful patterns in my life? How can we mend the past and life in the present? And how can I make joyful connect with others, God, and myself.

Embodied Faith host, Geoff Holsclaw, talks with Dr. Alison Cook about discovering your true self in God. Check out her new book, The Best of You: Break Free from Painful Patterns, Mend Your Past, and Discover Your True Self in God, and find her here.

If you would like coaching or spiritual direction that aligns with this podcast, then connect with Cyd Holsclaw here.

Get the FREE ebook, The Brain God Gave Us, when you join the Embodied Faith community (connecting you to new episodes, posts, and other resources).

Please subscribe and review on iTunes, Spotify, YouTube.

Dive deeper in our new book, Landscapes of the Soul: How the Science and Spirituality of Attachment Can Move You into Confident Faith, Courage, and Connection, and learn about our trainings and other resources at embodiedfaith.life.

Stay Connected: 

• Check out our Attaching to God 6-Week Learning Cohort.
• Join the Embodied Faith community to stay connected and get posts, episodes, & resources.
• Support the podcast with a one-time or regular gift (to keep this ad-free without breaking the Holsclaw's bank).

Maybe you’ve heard of spiritual disciplines, or spiritual practices.  But why should we focus on them being embodied? What difference do our bodied make in the spiritual life?

Micro-church pastor Josh Wilson join us to talk abut why his church focuses on embodied spiritual practices. 

Get the FREE ebook, The Brain God Gave Us, when you join the Embodied Faith community (connecting you to new episodes, posts, and other resources).

Please subscribe and review on iTunes, Spotify, YouTube.

If you would like coaching or spiritual direction that aligns with this podcast, then connect with Cyd Holsclaw here.

Dive deeper in our new book, Landscapes of the Soul: How the Science and Spirituality of Attachment Can Move You into Confident Faith, Courage, and Connection, and learn about our trainings and other resources at embodiedfaith.life.

Stay Connected: 

• Check out our Attaching to God 6-Week Learning Cohort.
• Join the Embodied Faith community to stay connected and get posts, episodes, & resources.
• Support the podcast with a one-time or regular gift (to keep this ad-free without breaking the Holsclaw's bank).

Is navigating the realities of trauma a (if not THE) defining context of mission and witness for the church in North America? And if so, what does that mean for pastors, leaders, and church members?

Pastor, community organizer, and contextual theologian Fred Liggin talks about creating spaces of "security, support, voice and choice" as necessary aspects of witnessing to God's kingdom come as we seek to be trauma-informed and trauma-based churches.
 
Also see the earlier episode with Fred on "What is a Trauma-Informed Church?"

Get the FREE ebook, The Brain God Gave Us, when you join the Embodied Faith community (connecting you to new episodes, posts, and other resources).

Please subscribe and review on iTunes, Spotify, YouTube.

If you would like coaching or spiritual direction that aligns with this podcast, then connect with Cyd Holsclaw here.

Dive deeper in our new book, Landscapes of the Soul: How the Science and Spirituality of Attachment Can Move You into Confident Faith, Courage, and Connection, and learn about our trainings and other resources at embodiedfaith.life.

Stay Connected: 

• Check out our Attaching to God 6-Week Learning Cohort.
• Join the Embodied Faith community to stay connected and get posts, episodes, & resources.
• Support the podcast with a one-time or regular gift (to keep this ad-free without breaking the Holsclaw's bank).

Why do certain things seem to set me off? Why do I sometimes turn on the people I love? Where do these too big thoughts and feelings come from? 

Often it is past trauma invading the present.  Can anything be done about it? And how can Jesus be involved?

I'm talking with Dr. Karl Lehman about catching the past as it invades the present,  how we can get better at it, and how we can allow Jesus to heal us from trauma. 

Dr. Lehman is a board-certified psychiatrist with thirty years and more than forty thousand hours of clinical experience, all seeking to integrate faith-based emotional healing with insights provided by psychological and neurological research.

Dr. Lehman's Personal Website: https://www.immanuelapproach.com/
The Immanuel Approach: https://www.immanuelapproach.com/

Get the FREE ebook, The Brain God Gave Us, when you join the Embodied Faith community (connecting you to new episodes, posts, and other resources).

Please subscribe and review on iTunes, Spotify, YouTube.

If you would like coaching or spiritual direction that aligns with this podcast, then connect with Cyd Holsclaw here.

Dive deeper in our new book, Landscapes of the Soul: How the Science and Spirituality of Attachment Can Move You into Confident Faith, Courage, and Connection, and learn about our trainings and other resources at embodiedfaith.life.

Stay Connected: 

• Check out our Attaching to God 6-Week Learning Cohort.
• Join the Embodied Faith community to stay connected and get posts, episodes, & resources.
• Support the podcast with a one-time or regular gift (to keep this ad-free without breaking the Holsclaw's bank).

People who are wounded, suffering, or traumatized need the Gospel.  They need the liberation of Jesus.  But what if HOW we share the gospel HURTS more harm HELPS?

Charles Kiser joins the show to talk about trauma-informed evangelism so that we can keep from place unnecessary stumbling blocks in front of the freedom that comes through knowing Jesus.

Get the FREE ebook, The Brain God Gave Us, when you join the Embodied Faith community (connecting you to new episodes, posts, and other resources).

Please subscribe and review on iTunes, Spotify, YouTube.

If you would like coaching or spiritual direction that aligns with this podcast, then connect with Cyd Holsclaw here.

Dive deeper in our new book, Landscapes of the Soul: How the Science and Spirituality of Attachment Can Move You into Confident Faith, Courage, and Connection, and learn about our trainings and other resources at embodiedfaith.life.

Stay Connected: 

• Check out our Attaching to God 6-Week Learning Cohort.
• Join the Embodied Faith community to stay connected and get posts, episodes, & resources.
• Support the podcast with a one-time or regular gift (to keep this ad-free without breaking the Holsclaw's bank).

Can we move from just surviving to thriving? Why do we always feel so out of sorts with the world? How does human nature (biology) and niche construction (culture) work together (or not)?

Perhaps instead of opposing human "being" and "doing", a focus human "becoming" can help us understand the biological and cultural aspects of discipleship.

This is what we are talking about with Dr. Justin L. Barrett. He previously held positions at Fuller Graduate School of Psychology as Professor of Psychology, as well as the Thrive Center for Human Development prior to that.  And most recently he has written Thriving with Stone Age Minds: Evolutionary Psychology, Christian Faith, and the Quest for Human Flourishing.

Get the FREE ebook, The Brain God Gave Us, when you join the Embodied Faith community (connecting you to new episodes, posts, and other resources).

Please subscribe and review on iTunes, Spotify, YouTube.

If you would like coaching or spiritual direction that aligns with this podcast, then connect with Cyd Holsclaw here.

Dive deeper in our new book, Landscapes of the Soul: How the Science and Spirituality of Attachment Can Move You into Confident Faith, Courage, and Connection, and learn about our trainings and other resources at embodiedfaith.life.

Stay Connected: 

• Check out our Attaching to God 6-Week Learning Cohort.
• Join the Embodied Faith community to stay connected and get posts, episodes, & resources.
• Support the podcast with a one-time or regular gift (to keep this ad-free without breaking the Holsclaw's bank).