The Psychedelic Christian Podcast · The Psychedelic Christian Podcast

Episode 033 – Interview: Jonathan Hansen

·1 hr 46 min·5 clips

At 15, Jonathan thought an ambulance ride was an invitation to die during a traumatic LSD trip.

This episode features host Clint interviewing Jonathan Hansen, an Episcopal priest and founder of The Psychedelic Christian ministry. Hansen shares his personal journey exploring psychedelics within a Christian framework, tracing his experiences from adolescence to his current calling. At age 15 in the mid-1990s, Hansen began using psychedelics regularly without spiritual intent or proper guidance. A pivotal experience involved taking "orange sunshine" blotter paper while camping, leading to a friend's encounter with police and a subsequent confrontation with his Baptist parents. Hansen describes entering a state of delusion during this trip, interpreting his family's speech as a divine, coded language he couldn't replicate. He recounts being taken to a hospital in an ambulance, which he interpreted as an invitation to die and a direct passage to judgment. Strapped to a gurney, Hansen felt overwhelming condemnation and vividly recalls praying for salvation aloud in the emergency room, after which he experienced a profound calm. He later spent his 16th birthday in a mental hospital and made a suicide attempt with a pencil, which he theologized as a self-sacrificial act. Hansen credits a large, loving youth group and its "trance state worship services" for helping his recovery and steering him toward ministry. He attended Spurgeon's College in London, where exposure to liturgical prayer and chaplaincy work deepened his Anglican faith and sparked his interest in ordination. After seminary, Hansen served as a priest but faced a crisis following his divorce and a period of sexual misconduct, which led his bishop to place him on sabbatical. He ultimately chose to leave active priesthood rather than comply with a request to separate from his now-wife, resulting in his formal defrocking. Hansen later pastored Methodist churches in California before returning to Iowa, where church authorities repeatedly denied his reinstatement to the Episcopal priesthood without providing clear reasons. A striking insight is Hansen's description of a "bad trip" as a confrontation with his own deep-seated sense of condemnation, which he attributes to his religious upbringing. He notes that traumatic psychedelic experiences can linger for months, referencing researcher Rachel Peterson's work on the subject. Hansen contrasts the Western Christian emphasis on crucifixion and sin with the Eastern Orthodox focus on the glorified, resurrected Christ, suggesting the latter might have offered him more hope in his youth. His early, chaotic use of psychedelics stands in deliberate contrast to the importance he now places on set, setting, and intention. The interview reveals how Hansen's teenage vision of becoming a "Christian missionary" to psychedelic users eventually crystallized into his adult ministry. A memorable moment is his analogy of post-priesthood emptiness feeling like "Frodo without his ring." The tone is deeply personal, confessional, and reflective, as Hansen recounts traumatic and formative life events with vulnerability. The style is a conversational interview, allowing for extended narrative storytelling and theological asides. Listeners interested in personal narratives of faith, crisis, and integration within unconventional spiritual paths will find this episode compelling. Those uncomfortable with detailed accounts of adolescent drug use, mental health struggles, or critiques of conservative Christian upbringing may wish to skip it.

As heard by us

A prayerful, unsettling conversation about vocation, collapse, and the long work of returning.

Episode 33 opens in prayer and settles into a serious conversation about Jonathan Hanson's path through psychedelics, a Baptist upbringing, a deep attachment to liturgical Christianity, and a life spent serving Christ, the Church, and the world.

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Why you'd press play

For faith-and-psychedelics talk that gets personal fast, this one goes deep.

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