"Coming Out Christian" kicks off a new mini-season, "Scandalous," inspired by the Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis's essay "Scandalous Confrontation: When a Temple Tantrum Is Transformative." In each episode, hosts Siobhan Boyd-Nelson and the Rev. Dr. Ben Huelskamp welcome back a favorite guest to spotlight a "holy tantrum thrower" whose scandalous faithfulness sparked real transformation.

This week, the Rev. Br. Ian Boden, OLF, returns to introduce Saints Francis and Clare of Assisi, two thirteenth-century "young upstarts" whose radical rejection of wealth and status the church could hardly believe. Ben sets the historical stage before Ian dives into the good trouble Francis and Clare stirred up: Francis renouncing his father's fortune, and Clare defying the pope himself to write her own rule of life as the first woman in church history to do so. Along the way, the conversation explores medieval attitudes toward wealth and poverty, gender norms within religious orders, and how Francis' radical embrace of creation still challenges the church today.

For more on Ian's community, check out the Order of Lutheran Franciscans (lutheranfranciscans.org) or follow him on Instagram @ian.boden1.

Ian also recommends Francis: A New Biography by Fr. Augustine Thompson and Light of Assisi by Sr. Margaret Carney, along with the Franciscan Intellectual Tradition website (franciscantradition.org) for further reading.

Follow along at @comingoutchristian_podcast and @loveboldly, and find more at www.loveboldly.org.