Language of God

Octopuses and humans have been evolving separately for more than 500 million years, but still, we have a few things in common. We explore what this means about the octopus, what it means about humans, and what it tells us about the Creator of All Things. As we dive into the science of octopus cognition and behavior we find the questions get more and more interesting. To help us sort through it, we are joined by Sy Montgomery (author of Soul of an Octopus and Secrets of the Octopus) who introduced us to two giant Pacific Octopuses at the New England Aquarium. 

Thanks to the New England Aquarium for hosting our visit. 

Theme song and credits music by Breakmaster Cylinder. Other music in this episode by Evan MacDonald, Mattijs Muller, Titan Sound, Klimenko Music, Ricky Bombino, Sirius Music, Northern Points, and Paradiso Music courtesy of Shutterstock, Inc. 

This episode originally aired on March 13, 2025

In the summer of 2022 Dawn Wright became only the 27th person ever, the fifth woman, and the first Black person to descend into the deepest part of the ocean, a place called Challenger Deep. As a scientist, Dawn has been studying and helping to map the depths of the ocean, but being there in person uncovered a new dimension and deepened her connection with the mysterious underwater world. In the episode, Colin and Dawn talk about the science of mapping, the world of deep sea submersibles, and how finding trash in the most remote places of our planet might spark a renewed sense of stewardship for all of God’s creation. 

Theme song and credits music by Breakmaster Cylinder. Other music in this episode by Nick Petrov, courtesy of Shutterstock, Inc. 

Additional Resources:

Story map of Dawn's Challenger Deep Dive
GIS Map of Challenger Deep Dive
Animated video of Alvin Dive 

This episode originally aired on May 18, 2023

Coral reefs are easy to mistake for rock or plant life. But corals are animals—colonies of tiny polyps living in partnership with algae, building vast reef structures over generations. They are complicated creatures and they stretch our normal categories for living things. 

In this episode, we try to really get a grasp on this creature, with the help of coral biologists, writers, filmmakers and those who have been working to care for corals as they face many challenges. These experts see coral not just as an individual creature, but as a community—one built through symbiosis, cooperation, grief, and hope.

Along the way, the episode wrestles with climate change, extinction, restoration, and the spiritual weight of loving something vulnerable enough to disappear within a lifetime. Coral may look like rock from a distance. Up close, it becomes something much harder to categorize—and much harder to forget.

Theme song and credits music by Breakmaster Cylinder. Other music in this episode by Kyle Booth, Pink Marble, Ricky Bombino, Simba Music, Mattijs Muller, & Pavel Yudin, courtesy of Shutterstock, Inc. 

Links and Resources: 

Learn about the work at the Frost Aquarium
Reef Keepers Film and Trailer 
Rachel Jordan's Website and Book
Learn about the work at SECORE International

In this episode of Language of God, Colin Hoogerwerf and Jim Stump sit down in Oxford, England with writer, veterinarian, barrister, and philosopher Charles Foster to explore a provocative idea at the center of his newest book, The Edges of the World: that everything truly significant happens at the edges.  

From the margins of geography and culture to the borders of science, religion, and human consciousness, Foster argues that creativity, transformation, and spiritual insight emerge not from comfortable centers of power, but from places of uncertainty, encounter, and risk. Along the way, the conversation ranges widely through questions about why humans are drawn toward certainty and control, whether Christianity has lost its “edgy” character, and how science can become too attached to its own paradigms. The discussion also explores language, embodiment, morality, and whether modern humans have become disconnected from the physical world in ways that earlier humans—and perhaps even nonhuman creatures—were not.  

Together, they reflect on Paleolithic hunter-gatherers, evolutionary biology, the Eucharist, modern scientific culture, and the role of language in shaping human consciousness. Foster makes the case that paying deeper attention to our embodied lives—to touch, scent, place, relationship, and the more-than-human world—may help recover something essential about what it means to be human.

In a world that often feels relentlessly exhausting, weariness can seem like something to fix, escape, or push through. But what if it’s also a place where something deeper is happening?

In this episode, Anglican priest and writer Tish Harrison Warren helps us explore the spiritual reality of “dry seasons”—times that aren’t marked by crisis or tragedy, but by a quiet sense of fatigue, distance, or disorientation. Drawing on the wisdom of the desert fathers and mothers, Tish reflects on how Christians across history have understood these experiences not as failures of faith, but as essential parts of it.

The conversation explores how ancient practices like stability, repetition, and embodied prayer can quietly shape a life over time, even when nothing seems to be happening. And it offers a different vision of growth—one that doesn’t depend on constant energy or clarity, but unfolds slowly, often beneath the surface. Through the lens of her own experience, Tish reflects on how these dry seasons can become places of meaning, where growth isn’t just possible, but necessary.

If you’ve ever felt stuck in the “long middle,” weary of being weary, or unsure what God is doing in a dry season, this conversation offers a language—and a hope—for the journey.

Theme song and credits music by Breakmaster Cylinder. Other music in this episode by Vesper Tapes, courtesy of Shutterstock, Inc.

Additional Resources:
Find Tish's new book here.
Listen to Tish's previous conversation on the Language of God podcast.