Glennon Doyle stepped into the spotlight in 2012, like so many, with a single post on her blog, Momastery, entitled “Don’t Carpe Diem.” In a single witty, incisive missive she wrote what every mother thinks silently to herself as she muscles a full cart of children through Target only to be interrupted by well-meaning grandmotherly types who declare, among other things, “I hope you’re enjoying every moment.” You can’t seize the day, she says, that way lies madness. Therein arises Doyle’s undeniable appeal. Tragically, as her first book Carry On, Warrior hit the market Doyle’s husband confessed to serial adultery over the whole course of their marriage. Desperate to rescue her own life, and, she admits in Untamed, her own plot line, she winched her disintegrating marriage back together, leading to her second bestseller, Love Warrior, the story of marital reconciliation no matter the cost, of dealing head on with the heartbreak of betrayal. But in the very first week of the launch of Love Warrior, Doyle saw Abby Wambach across a crowded room and fell in love. Doyle went home, broke up with her husband, and a year later she and Wambach were married. Untamed is that story—how she finally let go of all that “society” taught her to value, how she “burnt it all down” and found her true self. Many Christians have never heard of Doyle, preferring to focus their Christian discipleship within the spiritual confines of the church community rather than the internet. But in a time when Christian identity, like all identity, is up to the individual to craft and shape according to preference and desire, Doyle’s writing is ringing true for those even inside the church.

This Postmodern Realities episode is a conversation with Journal author Anne Kennedy about her online-exclusive article, “Gods, Gold, and Cheetahs: The Theological Vision of Untamed.” 

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