{"podcast":{"title":"Saved by the City","slug":"saved-by-the-city-3629845","podcast_index_feed_id":3629845,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/CCELI8494848067","website_url":"https://religionnews.com/saved-by-the-city/","image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/4095453c-5c7f-11ee-bfbb-2f8cf5cc488f/image/2aff5a5e5510982a578673eb76d02d40083c0e19dfe23badda874c38a1dbdbd60d04d319fcd281b311a9ac7bec885597cbea8181f74c275c7c9935f023c4ad53.jpeg?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"Jonathan Woodward","episode_count":168,"summary":"Roxy and Katelyn grew up in the white evangelical American heartland. Both were warned moving to a supposed bastion of secular culture would be dangerous to their faith. While navigating a city where people sleep in on Sunday mornings and the chaste motto “true love waits” isn’t a thing, the two have found a renewed, vibrant faith that has been both strengthened and stretched in the metropolis.","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/saved-by-the-city-3629845"},"episode":{"title":"Holy Rizz and the Power of Hype + Molly Worthen","slug":"holy-rizz-and-the-power-of-hype-molly-worthen","published_at":"2025-11-07T12:30:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/saved-by-the-city-3629845/holy-rizz-and-the-power-of-hype-molly-worthen","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/saved-by-the-city-3629845","url":"https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pdst.fm/e/op3.dev/e/traffic.megaphone.fm/CCELI4653006648.mp3?updated=1762483975","audio_url":"https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pdst.fm/e/op3.dev/e/traffic.megaphone.fm/CCELI4653006648.mp3?updated=1762483975","summary":"Beware the charismatic pastor? America has long had a love affair with celebrity — be that of the Hollywood variety or the political ilk. From superstar athletes to celebrity chefs, their woo is not wasted on us. And the history of American Christianity was shaped by men (and a few women) who possessed that irresistible gravitational pull. They held evangelistic revivals, founded denominations and even new religions, and inspired movements. They also sometimes amassed huge amounts of personal wealth, had scandalous affairs and led their followers to commit deadly acts. Charisma has been a powerful tool in the American church and on this episode of the podcast, Katelyn and Roxy talk to historian Molly Worthen about how that tool has been used for good and evil ... and how charismatic politicians have begun to fill the void as religion declines. Plus: we take a personal Rizz Quiz GUEST: Molly Worthen is a professor of history at the University of North Carolina, where she focuses on North American religious and intellectual history. She is the author most recently of Spellbound: How Charisma Shaped American History from the Puritans to Donald Trump. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices","meta_description":"Beware the charismatic pastor? America has long had a love affair with celebrity — be that of the Hollywood variety or the political ilk. From superstar a…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3459,"processing_state":"processed","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/saved-by-the-city-3629845/episodes/holy-rizz-and-the-power-of-hype-molly-worthen/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/saved-by-the-city-3629845/holy-rizz-and-the-power-of-hype-molly-worthen.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}