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I Read Something Bad

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by I Read Something Bad

5.0(8 reviews)
31 episodes
Updated Daily
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Podcast Overview

I Read Something Bad is where spicy romantasy books meet spiritual formation and discipleship. We're the podcast for everyone who's ever felt like they needed to hide their steamy book covers from their small group or found themselves daydreaming about dragons in the middle of a women’s conference.  We think it’s time to take the shame out of your TBR pile, empower you to love what you love unapologetically, and talk about the issues that matter most to you by thoughtfully engaging with the best romantasy series. This is a book club for the folks who wonder what parts of the Bible are morally grey and what the top romantasy books can teach us about our faith. Whether you’re here for the spicy faeries or the spiritual formation (or both — we don’t judge), this is a safe space so grab a seat. <br/><br/><a href="https://irsbpodcast.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast">irsbpodcast.substack.com</a>

Language

🇺🇲

Publishing Since

12/18/2024

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Recent Episodes

Episode thumbnail for 030 The Escapism Episode: Why Reading Romance Isn't the Real Issue

May 8, 2026

030 The Escapism Episode: Why Reading Romance Isn't the Real Issue

<p>Today your matron saints of spice are tackling the topic of escapism—because apparently reading our silly little books is unhealthy coping, but planning to literally escape all worldly suffering via the Rapture is fine and normal theology. We’re unpacking how escapism is actually a natural human response to systemic oppression (not just a character flaw) and why the most prevalent form of escapism is doomscrolling social media (not romance novels). </p><p><strong>Topics Covered:</strong></p><p>* Escapism as a natural survival strategy and self-regulation tool—not just an individual coping mechanism </p><p>* When escapism is restorative versus harmful </p><p>* The most prevalent form of escapism in our culture </p><p>* How we’re encouraged to escape into culturally appropriate things that get a check mark even though they’re equally or more harmful than books</p><p>* The wild irony of people upset at us escaping for an hour a day into books while they’re theologically planning to escape all horrors forever via dispensationalist Rapture theology</p><p>* Why 30-second rage-bait and Christian aesthetic scrolling are both escapism</p><p>* How the “in it not of it” mentality taken to extremes creates homeschool cult bubbles that escape the world by refusing to engage neighbors or integrate with the broader church</p><p>* Jeremiah 29 as the balance of hopeful future vision paired with embodied presence now</p><p>* Why institutions don’t want to give up spiritual authority and teach discernment</p><p>* The goal is creating church spaces safe enough that people don’t need to escape from them instead of creating harmful hierarchies that generate the escape loop then demonize the escaping</p><p>If escapism doesn’t lead to embodiment, it’s not doing you favors. 📚🌱</p><p><strong>Timestamps:</strong> </p><p>02:00 Escapism as Natural Survival Strategy vs Character Flaw </p><p>05:00 Culturally Appropriate Escapism: Work, Family, Church Service </p><p>08:00 Social Media Scrolling Is the Most Prevalent Escapism </p><p>11:00 Passive Consumption and the Death of Engagement Online </p><p>14:00 How Platforms Keep Us Dysregulated and Triggered On Purpose </p><p>16:00 Chronically Online: Your Brain Wasn’t Designed for This Much </p><p>18:00 Christian Aesthetic Scrolling Is Still Escapism (Just Prettier) </p><p>21:00 Rapture Theology as Theological Escapism (The Irony!) </p><p>23:00 “In It Not Of It” Taken to Cult-Level Extremes </p><p>25:00 Dispensationalism Killed Our Motivation to Care for Neighbors </p><p>27:00 Jeremiah 29: Hopeful Vision Paired with Embodied Presence</p><p> 29:00 Exodus and Exile: Two Sides of the Escapism Coin </p><p>31:00 Planting Gardens at Church Without Heavy-Handed Evangelism </p><p>33:00 We Got Rid of Third Spaces and Made the Internet the Only One </p><p>36:00 The Inconvenience of Community vs 100% Comfort at Home </p><p>38:00 Demonizing Escapism Instead of the Thing You’re Escaping From 40:00 Individual Blame vs Systemic Marketing and Exploitation </p><p>43:00 Checklists Over Tools: Why We Don’t Teach Discernment </p><p>46:00 Institutions Want to Keep Spiritual Authority Over You </p><p>49:00 Creating Safe Spaces People Don’t Need to Escape From </p><p>53:00 Severe Religious Psychosis from Scrolling (Clinical Reality) </p><p>55:00 Your Phone Is a Tool, Not Your Bedfellow</p> <br/><br/>This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://irsbpodcast.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_1">irsbpodcast.substack.com</a>

Episode thumbnail for 029 Quicksilver by Callie Hart

April 24, 2026

029 Quicksilver by Callie Hart

<p>Today we’re diving into Callie Hart’s Quicksilver.</p><p><strong>Topics Covered:</strong></p><p>* Why Zilvaren’s city structure is secretly showing us exactly how power keeps us fighting each other instead of the real problem</p><p>* That Artemis astronaut said WHAT about Earth right before going dark for 40 minutes—and how it connects to fantasy城 cities</p><p>* The theological move fantasy authors can pull that nonfiction writers can’t touch (and why it matters for how we see power)</p><p>* Madra’s quicksilver addiction and why protecting yourself at everyone else’s expense always ends in catastrophic instability</p><p>* The billionaire problem isn’t what you think—and why your individual experience is lying to you about the actual issue</p><p>* Our FMC is just trying to get water and that’s exactly why we should be paying attention to her</p><p>* How to build power structures that don’t turn you into the villain (spoiler: “we’ve always done it this way” is a trap)</p><p>* Kingfisher’s quicksilver is destroying him from the inside and it’s the perfect metaphor for the hidden cost of power nobody talks about</p><p>* Why an alchemist FMC hits different than another battle warrior—plus the moment the quicksilver asked for a song and we all cried</p><p></p><p><strong>Timestamps:</strong> </p><p>02:00 Zilvaren’s Wheel Structure: Separate Wards, Same Suffering </p><p>04:00 Astronaut’s Message: We’re All on One Planet </p><p>06:00 Fantasy World-Building as Theological Exercise </p><p>08:00 Othering and Physical Barriers Highlighting Emotional Ones </p><p>10:00 Madra’s Hoarded Quicksilver and Systemic Power Exploitation </p><p>12:00 Individualism vs Collectivism: Looking Beyond Our Experience </p><p>15:00 Paying Attention to the Margins: Who’s Struggling for Water? </p><p>16:00 The Desire to Live Forever and Power That Won’t Let Go </p><p>18:00 Building Structures That Pass Down vs Clinging to Control </p><p>20:00 Economic Instability When Power Gets Too Consolidated </p><p>22:00 What Happens in People’s Brains When They Get That Much Power </p><p>25:00 Kingfisher’s Quicksilver: The Physical Cost of Unwanted Power </p><p>27:00 Why the Hero Being an Alchemist (Not a Warrior) Matters </p><p>29:00 The Quicksilver Has Agency</p><p>30:00 When the Quicksilver Asks for a Song (Pastoral Intervention) </p><p>32:00 Labyrinth Appreciation Moment: Escaping the Horrors </p><p>33:00 Faithful Today: What Does It Look Like in This Moment?</p> <br/><br/>This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://irsbpodcast.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_1">irsbpodcast.substack.com</a>

Episode thumbnail for 028 FMCs of the Bible: Mary Magdalene

April 3, 2026

028 FMCs of the Bible: Mary Magdalene

<p>Today we’re diving into Mary Magdalene—the biblical FMC who got completely wrecked by centuries of patriarchal mythmaking that turned her from “apostle to the apostles” into either a prostitute or Jesus’s secret lover. </p><p><strong>Topics Covered:</strong></p><p>* How we got the myth that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute or sexually sinful woman</p><p>* How conflating all the Marys (Mary of Bethany, Mary mother of Jesus, the sinner woman) into one person significantly reduces Jesus’s interactions with women in Scripture</p><p>* The discovery that might make Mary Magadalene a parallel to Peter the Rock</p><p>* Why Mary wasn’t Plan B when the boys were hiding scared—Jesus chose her specifically to be the first witness and first apostle, which matters theologically</p><p>* The problem with readily accepting Paul’s apostleship while dismissing Mary’s </p><p>* Why pastors skip over Mary entirely on Easter Sunday to get to the punchline about John being the fastest disciple</p><p>* Jesus and Mary’s sibling relationship as a model for devotion without sexualization, and how purity culture destroyed our ability to have close platonic friendships</p><p>* Why spiritual siblinghood (brothers and sisters) is the New Testament’s favorite term for disciples</p><p></p><p><strong>Timestamps:</strong> </p><p>02:00 The Prostitute Myth: How Pope Gregory Wrecked Mary’s Story </p><p>05:00 Conflating All the Marys Reduces Jesus’s Interactions with Women </p><p>08:00 Jesus Christ Superstar and Pop Culture Mary Mythmaking </p><p>10:00 What We Should Actually Remember About Mary Magdalene </p><p>12:00 Mary Wasn’t Plan B—Jesus Chose Her Specifically </p><p>14:00 Mary Identifies Jesus as Gardener: Eden Parallels and Reversal </p><p>17:00 Mary the Tower, Not Mary from Magdala </p><p>19:00 What If the Church Had Embraced Both Tower and Rock? </p><p>21:00 Why We Accept Men’s Certainty but Question Women’s Authority </p><p>23:00 Pastors Skip Mary to Get to “John Is the Fastest” Punchline </p><p>26:00 Looking With Mary, Not At Mary—She Points to Jesus </p><p>27:00 The Women Stayed at the Cross When the Men Ran Away </p><p>29:00 Jesus and Mary’s Sibling Relationship: Devotion Without Sexualization </p><p>31:00 How Purity Culture Killed Platonic Friendship and Chosen Family </p><p>34:00 Jesus Isn’t Ashamed to Call Us Brothers and Sisters </p><p>36:00 Spiritual Siblinghood: The Model Without Hierarchy </p><p>38:00 In Resurrection Life We’re All Siblings Forever—Why Not Live Like It Now?</p> <br/><br/>This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://irsbpodcast.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_1">irsbpodcast.substack.com</a>

31 total episodes available

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What is I Read Something Bad?

I Read Something Bad is where spicy romantasy books meet spiritual formation and discipleship.

We're the podcast for everyone who's ever felt like they needed to hide their steamy book covers from their small group or found themselves daydreaming about dragons in the middle of a women’s conference. 

We think it’s time to take the shame out of your TBR pile, empower you to love what you love unapologetically, and talk about the issues that matter most to you by thoughtfully engaging with the best romantasy series. This is a book club for the folks who wonder what parts of the Bible are morally grey and what the top romantasy books can teach us about our faith.

Whether you’re here for the spicy faeries or the spiritual formation (or both — we don’t judge), this is a safe space so grab a seat. <br/><br/><a href="https://irsbpodcast.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast">irsbpodcast.substack.com</a>

How often does this podcast release new episodes?

This podcast updates daily.

Where can I listen to this podcast?

This podcast is available on 4 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.

Does this podcast accept guests?

Yes, this podcast regularly features guests.

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