Love it!!! I find all of your titles interesting and actually quite educational! Keep it coming .

Really loved the first two episodes! They were both philosophically edifying and Blair does an awesome job of asking questions that make that philosophy practical and useful! Has this podcast has progressed, I really enjoy how it helps me work on my own ally ship. thank you Blair for helping me continually check my privilege in a way that is encouraging for me.

I’ve been listening to Blair since his work at the Maxwell Institute. His brilliant questions and thorough understanding of the work of those he interviews makes his conversations exceptional. This particular podcast inspires and expands my world. Spirituality at its finest. Forever a fan. Blair! Blair! Blair!

I met Blair at the Faith Matters conference last year and decided to give the podcast a listen. I love the podcast. It enhances and expands my world view. Blair is the best podcast host that I’ve heard. He’s so good at asking questions and creating genuine, uplifting, and insightful conversation.

Time to recommend Fireside with Blair Hodges again. Listening to the finale of Season 2 evoked my recent musings on wonder and joy, seemingly elusive concepts for many right now. But Blair and Ross Gay made them more relevant, critical really, and caused me to commit to focusing more on cultivating wonder and and joy. Blair consistently creates exceptional, thought-provoking dialogue with his guests, and I eagerly anticipate every podcast. Until next season!

Fireside is high caliber on every level—from the production quality to the subject matter, and the clear care with which Blair crafts his engaging questions. Every episode is a rich conversation with remarkable guests, who bring expertise and lived experiences to a variety of topics. It’s intellectual without being inaccessible. And it’s even made me start looking forward to folding laundry, so I have a chance to listen more!

Blair Hodges has become a premier brand for me. He consistently chooses books I want to know more about, and he’s so good at the interviews, that I now listen to anything Blair does.

Blair was the main reason I started listening to his prior podcast, and I'm so glad he has expanded the scope of books and interviewees and created this incredible place for listening and learning. I have been challenged (in a good way) by so much I have heard. Great authors and insights into life, religion, and things that matter most, and great discussions guided by Blair's thoughtful questions and discussion.

Blair is such a good interviewer. The show is a bit like a mix between Fresh Air and On Being. Blair picks fascinating guests - many of whom I haven’t heard from before - and does a great job relating with them and digging in.

This podcast is gold. It always elevates my thinking and feeling.

Blair is a master questioner. Reminds me of Terri Gross of Fresh Air. Inquisitive, well-prepared, and able to elicit deep, personal answers. I love the guests and topics discussed in Fireside. They are always relevant and teach me things I didn’t know that I needed to know. My perspectives are always broadened. Keep it coming!!

A few episode were kind of interesting, but mostly boring

Fireside with Blair Hodges is such an engaging podcast. Blair is a master interviewer who builds genuine rapport with his guests - cultural anthropologists, religious thinkers, social justice leaders and more. He isn’t afraid to tackle difficult questions with sensitivity and respect, ultimately creating a conversation that pulls you in no matter your background. This podcast takes some of the most pressing issues of our society and makes them inspiring and personal, affirming our shared humanity. Plus, there’s a lot of humor! As a listener, I got introduced to a wide array of new ideas and books and found myself listening to some episodes more than once. Highly recommend !

Love this podcast and Blair Hodges! It has been a great addition to my listening. And I’ve bought and shared some of the books.

I’ve been pleased to have a spiritual podcast I can recommend to anyone and be assured that the quality and focus will be valuable and accessible regardless of where they are or what their background is. I’m grateful for this podcast.

I’ve been listening since season 1, episode 1. Fireside is one of the few podcasts I listen to that I’ve never gotten bored of. Blair is an excellent interviewer who creates something worth listening to with every episode. The authors he interviews are genuinely interesting and Blair extracts the best stories and most compelling nuggets of wisdom from each of them.

Blair Hodges has long been one of my favorite podcasters, from the early years of The Maxwell Institute Podcast to Fireside. Blair is a masterful interviewer. His thorough preparation and probing questions consistently lead me to new insights. Plus, I always end up with at least one new book to read after each episode. I often recommend Fireside episodes to friends and family.

I just found this podcast, and in two days I’ve listened to four episodes. Each episode is so interesting and thought provoking. Blair Hodges is well prepared, asks great questions, and keeps the focus on the guest and not himself. I’m looking forward to listening to all the past episodes as well as the episodes to come. Thank you, Blair, for your work!

Blair Hodges is a great interviewer and has many insightful comments. Great subject matter and very interesting. Thanks for this podcast.

I have loved learning from each of Blair’s guests and desire to learn more from their own writings. The latest from Jeff Chu is no different. As much as I love Rachel Held Evans I even more want to read books from Jeff Chu now. Thank you for introducing me to so many fabulous people and thoughts.

I have so much respect and admiration for Blair Hodges and his incredible gift as an interviewer. He interviews such thoughtful, brilliant guests and he always asks the best questions. He is so well prepared and the discussions are very engaging. I appreciate his expansive mind, thought provoking questions and his ability to lead with love. Each episode connects me to the human family and the things I learn as I listen expand my heart and mind. Thank you Blair Hodges for the great work you are doing!

The content is interesting, and Blair’s interviewing style is engaging, yet Blair keeps the focus on the person being interviewed. You can tell Blair prepares carefully for every episode, and he brings in diverse perspectives that I otherwise might not hear.

Blair’s careful selection of important ideas from accomplished guests, along with his perfect editing work, make this podcast a delight to listen to and a treasure trove of profound insights.

I love this podcast! It’s the perfect mix: a bit cerebral but not dry; looking to broaden minds but it’s not depressing or preachy. Highly recommend!

Blair is one of the best in the podcast business. He has a true talent for generating deep, genuine conversation with everyone he interviews and accomplishes this is part by listening more than he talks. I loved the line-up of Season 1 and so far Season 2 is even better! Fireside features such a fascinating variety of authors and topics, and each episode ends up surprising me with its relevance for my own life and experience.

Blair has the best guests and he has a wonderful way of questioning those guests. I’ve learned a great deal listening to this podcast

Excellent, insightful, and positively gravid with worth-your-whileness, if you have thoughts or an inner life or ever aspire to have or associate with those who do. This show is a positive must if you incline even slightly toward literacy or making sense of the human experience and/or small, squiggly ink-marks on paper (or their digital counterparts). Well there, in a smooth-limbed golden-thighed way, we are. You've been patient, you've been glossy, you've been surprisingly supple. I've enjoyed being fabulous with you. Thank you.

I’m just finishing up the first episode of the new season. I really enjoyed his interview with Ayala Fader. I wasn’t sure how interested I would be in a discussion about Ultra-Orthodox Jews, but it was fascinating. Blair does a great job asking insightful questions and really highlighting the knowledge of Dr. Fader. I’m looking forward to more episodes.

Tough to believe this is technically a side-project. Blair always delivers a meaty interview that also somehow feels like a casual conversation. I find myself thinking back on each episode as I wait for the next to drop. Become a Firesider today!

Success can be measured by a number of metrics, not all of which accomplish the same things. Whether in his previous podcasting enterprises or currently with Fireside, Blair Hodges brings a depth and quality to Mormon-adjacent podcasting that's hard to consistently match. He's a deep reader of the texts, and people, he explores, always engaging with a refreshing level of grace, curiosity, spiritual contemplation, and intellectual rigor. The threads he chases and lessons he offer are accessible to listeners of various faith backgrounds, not just his own Mormonism. Blair is someone who demonstrates an abiding respect and care for his guests and listeners in his commitment to produce high-quality content related to life, religion, the mind, and the heart. Start tuning in if you haven't already!

His interview style and the guests work together to create amazing dialogue that leaves me deeply moved. More please!

Each episode is smart, thoughtful, and insightful, making accessible sometimes complex and/or difficult subjects to a much wider audience. The host and guests are terrific.

This is merely a progressive sociology podcast and has almost nothing at all to do with “religion” proper. It’s delivered in religious discourse, but is nothing more than regurgitated political, social, and cultural preferences and interests of progressive Academia today. Those warm fuzzies are not the Spirit. Listen to this podcast if you’re interested to hear what modern progressives think religion is.

Podcasts have been great - very insightful. Blair does a superb job as a boast and interviewer thanks!!!

Another out of the park cast with Taylor Petrey.

I was excited to follow one of my favorite podcasters to Fireside — and I haven’t been disappointed. I would describe it as brain food for the always curious, never satisfied. What does it mean to always be learning and growing and creating beauty and meaning in the world? Even amidst so much tragedy and oppression? I’m here to find out. Blair’s insightful interviews always inform and entertain—I usually find a few one liners that shift my perspective. I often find myself relistening to episodes to help it sink in. One of my favorite things about the interviews is the ones I know nothing about beforehand end up being my favorites. There’s always a lot to learn from other people’s vulnerability and life experience. Be forewarned: if I know you are a regular listener I will make you ‘my people’ in the least creepy and coolest best friend way possible.

Blair Hodges is my favorite podcast host. He is thoughtful in his questioning and allows for his guests to present their material in a way that engages me as the listener in a way I don’t experience anywhere else other than the Joe Rogan. Joking. I would like Blair to have three working podcasts. That way we can listen all year!

A fantastic podcast. Blair is always well read and articulate. He is one of the best interviewers in the podcast world. His guest are interesting and have important things to say about current social concerns. If you’re looking for something new to listen to and engage with, this podcast is it!

As a non-traditional thinker feeling like I’m always swimming upstream at church, this podcast is comfortably uncomfortable (if that makes sense). I appreciate Blair’s interview style, in addition to the people he chooses to have on the podcast. 10/10.

This is one of the most thoughtful, informative podcasts available. Blair Hodges is an outstanding host and he selects writers and guests who are wise, thought-provoking, and educational. Highly recommend!

Always great discussions and I love ending each interview with a few new book recommendations.

I am only three episodes into this podcast but every episode has been truly thought provoking and I find myself wanting to come back quickly to get to the next episode. I love learning from the authors of the books as if I’m sitting with them face to face. I also love seeing God come more alive to me through each authors perspective. It is very beautiful.

I love this podcast. Blair is an extremely thoughtful and gifted interviewer. His unique insight and commentary has helped me to become less afraid to talk about the growing tension between some of the traditions of my faith and my conscience, and more fully live the Gospel. Five stars!!

Thank you so much for putting this together. I have always enjoyed the work Blair Hodges has done and am very much enjoying this. It is a wonderful view into worlds that I do not know but that I should know and really everyone should to know. If we did know them and worked to really fix the problems the world would be a paradise. Thank you Blair for doing your part.

I’m a stay-at-home mother, desperate for intelligent conversations about faith. Blair Hodges has lifted my spirit and filled my heart with hope as I raise five little girls to understand their value and their potential in our modern world. Blair asks such insightful and empathetic questions, it’s a joy to listen to him allow his guests to be comfortable with how they portray themselves during their conversations. Blair lets us see them at their best, which is refreshing. If anyone is putting intentional effort into being their highest self, into finding God where They are, and being helped along that journey, I can’t recommend this podcast enough. Blair, you’re an answer to my unspoken prayers. Thank you for your work. My five daughters are mothered with more love and holiness because their mother listens to you and your beautiful, light-filled guests.

The Fireside podcast immediately pulls you in – like you are in the middle of a conversation that you absolutely want to be part of. You have so many questions that you desperately want to ask the guests, but you can’t because you aren’t really there – so Blair does it for you, only better. At the end of the episode you think yourself, “Surely, there’s more. Please let there be more!” But there isn’t. Instead, you are left to yourself and your own thoughts, hopelessly trying to reconstruct the insights and experiences shared in the conversation. So you listen again. Wonderfully frustrating (or frustratingly wonderful)? Absolutely - because you are on the outside of some of most insightful and thought-provoking conversations about things that really matter. Thank you, Blair, for bringing this podcast to life!

Great insights into ideas I never even though to even think of. I like everything about this podcast, form the discussions, to the format. The only nitpick I got this the opening theme song but other than five stars!

Can’t recommend this podcast enough. I was a fan of Blair when he was at the Maxwell Institute, and he has somehow found another gear with Fireside. Every episode changes me for the better, not just in the ideas shared but also from the example of engaged, faithful effort, wherever that faith is placed.

I love this podcast and often listen to each episode several times. I always learn things, and often leave a little uncomfortable, in a good way. Thank you, Blair!

The authors featured are excellent, of course, but I am constantly impressed by how prepared and thoughtful the host is. You can tell he does his reading and comes prepared with insightful and thought provoking questions.