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What happens when an artist becomes the analyst of their own work? In this episode, co-host Alex takes us inside her oil painting of an Australian payphone—examining it through the lens of Hagar's trauma narrative from Genesis. Together, Michael and Alex explore how obsolete infrastructure witnesses to systemic abandonment, how silence encodes theological meaning, and what it means to find redemption not as escape from suffering, but as survival within it.

Drawing on Emily Dickinson's haunting meditation on silence, womanist theology, and trauma hermeneutics, Alex maps four distinct silences in her painting: the absent body, the cradled receiver, the illegible instructions, and the wilderness beyond the steel mesh. Each silence resonates with Hagar's story—an enslaved woman rendered voiceless, expelled into the wilderness, and forced to survive with trauma embedded in her redemption.

This conversation pushes beyond comfortable theology into difficult territory: Who gets declared obsolete when society claims progress? Where is God's face in abandonment? And what does it mean when the church rushes to resurrection while people are still living in Holy Saturday?

Join us for a rigorous, uncomfortable, and ultimately transformative exploration of visual theology as a site of embodied knowledge—where paintings and ancient biblical witnesses speak together about populations rendered invisible, infrastructure that remains for those the system has abandoned, and the God who sees the unseen.

Content Warning: This episode discusses sexual violence, enslavement, child endangerment, and systemic abandonment in both ancient and contemporary contexts.

View the artwork: Find Alex's payphone painting on our Instagram and Facebook (@TheTheologyPod) or purchase limited edition prints at www.thetheologypod.com

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Remember, theology isn't just an academic study—it's the lived experience of wrestling with the divine in our everyday lives. Keep asking the hard questions, keep seeking, and keep engaging with the mystery.

Until next time, may you find grace in the questions and peace in the seeking.