Priscilla Harvey - Living the Questions on Substack

Get that Sweet Tea ready. So sweet you can stand a spoon up in it? Are you grinnin' like a possum eatin' a sweet tater'? Mmmm Hmmm.

Vanilla Club is in North Queensland, Australia. Yet as strange as it sounds, despite two mountain ranges, the Great Plains, a massive ocean, a great barrier reef, some 1000's of km's of separation, there's a subtle resonance between the two places. Aussies think of "the North" or "FNQ" as a yonder. It is a frontier, something akin to Tacitus' description of Germania, an ill-defined, sometimes scary (see the first scene of Gladiator) "zebra-shaded zone." Climatically we are quite similar (i.e. warmer). We are both less-populated than the big cities in the Northern North and the Southern South respectively, and have relatively more bucolic, outdoorsy settings. The accents in fact both have something of a "lean;" think of the contrast between the American Southern drawl and the clipped, received pronunciation of HRH King Charles whose words fire out like discrete cutout missiles. The Far North Queensland "twang" embraces the back country. It too was born on the bayou. Words sort of bathe in the mangroves, n' ride out in the sunset, like "maaaaate," "bloooody croooocccc." Obviously, there are vast differences, but I invite listeners to try and draw some fun parallels between the host and the guest's respective regions in this episode. Comment below what you think is similar in the South to the "Far North!"

Back to today's show---In this candid episode, writer Priscilla Harvey, 'Living the Questions' on Substack, shares her striking personal journey through addiction, faith, and recovery, offering insights that are as practical as they are heartfelt.

Raised in the American South’s “Bible Belt,” Priscilla describes her early disillusionment with Christianity. Drawing on her widely read essay Why I Call Myself a Christian, and Thich Nhat Hanh’s Living Buddha, Living Christ, she explains how she stopped “skipping across traditions” and returned fully to Christianity. Priscilla speaks candidly about reclaiming Jesus’s radical message of love from the grip of patriarchy, nationalism, and capitalist distortion. She challenges the way many American Christians have merged faith with materialism and fear.

Upon asking Priscilla how motherhood has intersected with her journey, she simply exclaims, "How has it not?!" Motherhood, she explains, became her greatest teacher. She has learnt to release fear, to trust, and to foster a home where questions are welcome rather than punished. Her recent “dumb phone” experiment - thirty days without smartphone scrolling - quickly became a beneficial practice. She observes how, in just days, she began calling loved ones more, and noticing small acts of grace.

We also dig into Priscilla's recovery from alcoholism. She recounts years of denial and shame, and the reluctant walk through the doors of AA. Priscilla doesn't need to warm up to some of the viscera of problem drinking, telling us early about often stirring from blackout drinking episodes with vomit caked on her person. As someone with a history of problem drinking myself, your humble host is in a strong position to discuss with Priscilla about the struggle, "rock bottom," and the road to recovery. Priscilla emphasises how her faith and sobriety are intertwined, and lays a great foundation for us to get excited about her upcoming book on these and other related themes.

Refill that Sweet Tea (by now) and lock into this awesome episode!

We hope you enjoy.