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âWhat are you going through?â
This was one of the central animating questions in Simone Weilâs thought that pushed her beyond philosophy into action. Weil believed that genuinely asking this question of the other, particularly the afflicted other, then truly listening and prayerfully attending, would move us toward an enactment of justice and love.
Simone Weil believed that any suffering that can be ameliorated, should be.
In this episode, Part 2 of our short series on How to Read Simone Weil, Cynthia Wallace (Associate Professor of English at St. Thomas More College at the University of Saskatchewan), and author of The Literary Afterlives of Simone Weil: Feminism, Justice, and the Challenge of Religion and Evan Rosa discuss the risky self-giving way of Simone Weil; her incredible literary influence, particularly on late 20th century feminist writers; the possibility of redemptive suffering; the morally complicated territory of self-sacrificial care and the way that has traditionally fallen to women and minorities; what it means to make room and practicing hospitality for the afflicted other; hunger; the beauty of vulnerability; and that grounding question for Simone Weil political ethics, âWhat are you going through?â
Weâre in our second episode of a short series exploring How to Read Simone Weil. Sheâs the author of Gravity and Grace, The Need for Roots, and Waiting for Godâamong many other essays, letters, and notesâand a deep and lasting influence that continues today.
In this series, weâre exploring Simone Weil the Mystic, Simone Weil the Activist, Simone Weil the Existentialist. And what weâll see is that so much of her spiritual, political, and philosophical life, are deeply unified in her way of being and living and dying.
And on that note, before we go any further, I need to issue a correction from our previous episode in which I erroneously stated that Weil died in France. And I want to thank subscriber and listener Michael for writing and correcting me.
Actually she died in England in 1943, having ambivalently fled France in 1942 when it was already under Nazi occupationâfirst to New York, then to London to work with the Free French movement and be closer to her home.
And as I went back to fix my research, I began to realize just how important her place of death was. She died in a nursing home outside London. In Kent, Ashford to be precise. She had become very sick, and in August 1943 was moved to the Grosvenor Sanitorium.
The manner and location of her death matter because itâs arguable that her death by heart failure was not a self-starving suicide (as the coroner reported), but rather, her inability to eat was a complication rising from tuberculosis, combined with her practice of eating no more than the meager rations her fellow Frenchmen lived on under Nazi occupation.
Her biographer Richard Rees wrote: "As for her death, whatever explanation one may give of it will amount in the end to saying that she died of love.
In going back over the details of her death, I found a 1977 New York Times article by Elizabeth Hardwick, and Iâll quote at length, as it offers a very fitting entry into this weekâs episode on her life of action, solidarity, and identification with and attention to the affliction of others.
âSimone Weil, one of the most brilliant, and original minds of 20th century France, died at the age of 34 in a nursing home near London. The coroner issued a verdict of suicide, due to voluntary starvationâan action undertaken at least in part out of wish not to eat more than the rations given her compatriots in France under the German occupation. The year of her death was 1943.
âThe willed deprivation of her last period was not new; indeed refusal seems to have been a part of her character since infancy. What sets her apart from our current ascetics with their practice of transcendental meditation, diet, vegetarianism, ashram simplicities, yoga is that with them the deprivations and rigorsâare undergone for the payâoffâfor tranquility, for thinness, for the hope of a long lifeâor frequently, it seems, to fill the hole of emptiness so painful to the narcissist. With Simone Well it was entirely the opposite.
âIt was her wish, or her need, to undergo misery, affliction and deprivation because such had been the lot of mankind throughout history. Her wish was not to feel better, but to honor the sufferings of the lowest. Thus around 1935, when she was 25 years old, this woman of transcendent intellectual gifts and the widest learning, already very frail and suffering from severe headaches, was determined to undertake a year of work in a factory. The factories, the assembly lines, were then the modem equivalent of âslavery,â and she survived in her own words as âforever a slave.â What she went through at the factory âmarked me in so lasting a manner that still today when any human being, whoever he may be and in whatever circumstances, speaks to me without brutality, I cannot help having the impression teat there must be a mistake....â
[Her contemporary] âSimone de Beauvoir tells of meeting her when they were preparing for examinations to enter a prestigious private school. âShe intrigued me because of her great reputation for intelligence and her bizarre outfits. ... A great famine had broken out in China, and I was told that when she heard the news she had wept. . . . I envied her for having a heart that could beat round the world.â
âIn London her health vanished, even though the great amount of writing she did right up to the time she went to the hospital must have come from those energies of the dying we do not understandâthe energies of certain chosen dying ones, that is. Her behavior in the hospital, her refusal and by now her Inability to eat, vexed and bewildered the staff. Her sense of personal accountability to the world's suffering had reached farther than sense could follow.â
Last week, we heard from Eric Springsted, one of the co-founders of the American Weil Society and author of Simone Weil for the Twenty-First Century.
Next week, weâll explore Simone Weil the Existentialistâwith philosopher Deborah Casewell, author of Monotheism & Existentialism and Co-Director of the Simone Weil Research Network in the UK.
But this week weâre looking at Simone Weil the Activistâher perspectives on redemptive suffering, her longing for justice, and her lasting influence on feminist writers. With me is Cynthia Wallace, associate professor of English at St. Thomas More College at the University of Saskatchewan, and author of The Literary Afterlives of Simone Weil: Feminism, Justice, and the Challenge of Religion.
This is unique because itâs learning how to read Simone Weil from some of her closest readers and those she influenced, including poets and writers such as Adrienne Rich, Denise Levertov, and Annie Dillard.
About Cynthia Wallace
Cynthia Wallace is Associate Professor of English at St. Thomas More College at the University of Saskatchewan, and author of The Literary Afterlives of Simone Weil: Feminism, Justice, and the Challenge of Religion, as well as **Of Women Borne: A Literary Ethics of Suffering.
About Simone Weil
Simone Weil (1909â1943) was a French philosopher, mystic, and political activist. Sheâs the author of Gravity and Grace, The Need for Roots, and Waiting for Godâamong many other essays, letters, and notes.
Show Notes
Cynthia Wallace (Associate Professor of English at St. Thomas More College at the University of Saskatchewan), and author of The Literary Afterlives of Simone Weil: Feminism, Justice, and the Challenge of ReligionElizabeth Hardwick, âA woman of transcendent intellect who assumed the sufferings of humanityâ (New York Times, Jan 23, 1977)Of Women Borne: A Literary Ethics of SufferingThe hard work of productive tensionSimone Weil on homework: âReflections on the Right Use of School Studies with a View to the Love of GodâOpen, patient, receptive waiting in school studies â same skill as prayerâWhat are you going through?â Then you listen.Union organizerWaiting for God and Gravity & GraceVulnerability and tendernessJustice and Feminism, and âmaking room for the otherâDenise Levertovâs ââMass for the Day of St. Thomas DidymusââLevertov wrote herself into Catholic conversionââafter pages and pages of struggle, she finally says: âSo be it. Come rag of pungent quiverings, âdim star, let's try âif something human still can shield you, spark of remote light.ââAnd so she âargues that God isn't âparticularly active in the world that we have, except for when we open ourselves to these chances of divine encounter.âââHer imagination of God is different from how I think âa lot of contemporary Western â people think about an all powerful, all knowing God. Vae thinks about God as having done exactly what she's asking us to do, which is to make room for the other to exist in a way that requires us to give up power.âExploiting self-emptying, particularly of womenâExposing the degree to which women have been disproportionately expected to sacrifice themselves.âDisproportionate self-sacrifice of women and in particular women of colorAdrienne Rich, Of Woman Borne: ethics that care for the otherThe distinction between suffering and afflictionAdrienne Richâs poem, âHungerâEmbodimentââYou have to follow both sides to the kind of limit of their capacity for thought, and then see what you find in that untidy both-and-ness.âAnnie Dillardâs expansive attentivenessPilgrim at Tinker Creek and attending to the world: ââto bear witness to the world in a way that tells the truth about what is brutal in the world, while also telling the truth about what is glorious âin the world.ââShe's suspicious of our imaginations because she doesn't want us to distract âourselves from contemplating the void.âDillard, For the Time Being (1999) on natural evil and injusticeGoing from attention to creationâReading writers writing about writingâJoan Didion: âI write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means, what I want and what I fear.âWriting as both creation and discoveryFriendship and ââwe let the other person be who they are instead of trying to make them who we want them to be.âThe joy of creativityâpleasure and desireââSimone Weil argues that suffering that can be ameliorated should be.âââWhat is possible through shared practices of attention?âThe beauty of vulnerability and the blossoms of fruit treesâWhat it takes for us to be fedâNeed for ourselves, each other, and the divineProduction Notes
This podcast featured Cynthia WallaceEdited and Produced by Evan RosaHosted by Evan RosaProduction Assistance by Emily Brookfield, Liz Vukovic, and Kacie BarrettA Production of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School https://faith.yale.edu/aboutSupport For the Life of the World podcast by giving to the Yale Center for Faith & Culture: https://faith.yale.edu/give -
This episode is the first of a short series exploring How to Read Simone Weil. The author of Gravity and Grace, The Need for Roots, and Waiting for Godâamong many other essays, letters, and notes, Weil has been an inspiration to philosophers, poets, priests, and politicians for the last centuryâalmost all of it after her untimely death.
She understood, perhaps more than many other armchair philosophers from the same period, the risk of philosophyâthe demands it made on a human life.
In this series, weâll feature three guests who look at this magnificent and mysterious thinker in interesting and refreshing, and theologically and morally challenging ways.
Weâll look at Simone Weil the Mystic, Simone Weil the Activist, Simone Weil the Existentialist.
First weâll be hearing from Eric Springsted, a co-founder of the American Weil Society and its long-time presidentâwho wrote Simone Weil: Late Philosophical Writings and Simone Weil for the Twenty-First Century.
In this conversation, Eric O. Springsted and Evan Rosa discuss Simone Weilâs personal biography, intellectual life, and the nature of her spiritual and religious and moral ideas; pursuing philosophy as a way of life; her encounter with Christ, affliction, and mystery; her views on attention and prayer; her concept of the void, and the call to self-emptying; and much more.
About Simone Weil
Simone Weil (1909â1943) was a French philosopher, mystic, and political activist. Sheâs the author of Gravity and Grace, The Need for Roots, and Waiting for Godâamong many other essays, letters, and notes.
About Eric O. Springsted
Eric O. Springsted is the co-founder of the American Weil Society and served as its president for thirty-three years. After a career as a teacher, scholar, and pastor, he is retired and lives in Santa Fe, NM. He is the author and editor of a dozen previous books, including Simone Weil: Late Philosophical Writings and Simone Weil for the Twenty-First Century.
Show Notes
Eric O. Springstedâs Simone Weil for the Twenty-First CenturyHow to get hooked on Simone WeilâAll poets are exiles.âAndre WeilEmile ChartierTaking ideas seriously enough to impact your lifeWeilâs critique of Marxism: âReflections on the Cause of Liberty and Social Oppressionâ: ââan attempt to try and figure out how there can be freedom and dignity in human labor and actionââUnfortunately she found affliction.âLudwig Wittgenstein: âPhilosophy is a matter of working on yourself.âPhilosophy âisnât simply objective. Itâs a matter of personal morality as well.ââNot only is the unexamined life not worth living, but virtue and intellect go hand in hand. Yeah. You don't have one without the other.âAn experiment in how work and labor is doneThe demeaning and inherently degrading nature of factory workChristianity as âthe religion of slaves.âChristianity canât take away suffering; but it can take away the meaninglessness.George Herbert: âLove bade me welcome / But my soul drew back guilty of dust and sinâWeilâs vision/visit of Christ during Holy Week in Solemn, France: âIt was like the smile on a beloved face.âThe role of mysteryWeilâs definition of mystery: ââWhat she felt mystery was, and she gets a definition of it, it's when two necessary lines of thought cross and are irreconcilable, yet if you suppress one of them, somehow light is lost.âHer point is that whatever good comes out of this personal contact with Christ, does not erase the evil of the suffering.What is âinvolvement in contradictionââShe thought contradiction was an inescapable mark of truth.âContradictions that shed light on life.Why mysticism is important for Weil: âThe universe cannot be put into a box with techniques or tricks or our own scientific methods or philosophical methods. ⊠Mystery instills humility and it takes the question of the knowing ego out of the picture. ⊠And it challenges modern society to resist the idea that faith could be reduced to a dogmatic system.ââFaith is not a matter of the intellect.ââIntellect is not the highest faculty. Love is.ââThe Right Use of School StudiesââMuscular effort of attentionâShe wanted to convert her Dominican priest friend into the universality of graceâthat Plato was a pre-Chrisitan.â (e.g., her essay, ââIntimations of Christianity Among the Ancient Greeksâ)âGrace is universal.âHow school studies contribute to the love of GodPrayer as attentionWeil on Attention: âAttention consists of suspending our thought, leaving it detached, empty, and ready to be penetrated by the object. It means holding in our minds within the reach of this thought, but on the lower level and not in contact with it. The diverse knowledge we have acquired. Which we are forced to make use of. Above all our thought should be empty waiting, not seeking anything but ready to receive in its naked truth. The object that is to penetrate it.âNot âdetached,â but âavailable and ready for useâMaking space for the afflicted other by âattendingâ to themLove that isnât compensatoryâThe void as a space where love can goâWhat is prayer for Simone Weil?Prayer as listening all night longâVoiding oneself of secondary desires and letting oneself be spoken to.âIs Simone Weil ââa self-abnegating, melancholy revolutionaryâ (Leon Trotsky)Humility in Simone WeilâThe Terrible PrayerâWas Simone Weil anorexic?Refusing comfort on the grounds of solidaritySelf-emptying and graceAccepting the entire creation as Godâs willSimone Weil on patience and waitingâWith time, attention blooms into waiting.ââSheâs resistant to the Church, but drawing from Christâs self-emptying.âGodâs withdrawal from the world (which is not deism)âA sacramental view of the worldâââThe very creation of the world is by this withdrawal and simultaneous crucifixion of the sun in time and space.â(Obsessive) pursuit of purity in morals and thoughtIris Murdochâs The Nice and the GoodâNothing productive needs to come from this effort.âââShe put her finger on what's really the heart of Christian spirituality. ⊠We live by the Word ⊠by our being open to listening to the Word and having that transformed into Godâs word.âProduction Notes
This podcast featured Eric O. SpringstedEdited and Produced by Evan RosaHosted by Evan RosaProduction Assistance by Emily Brookfield, Alexa Rollow, Zoë Halaban, & Kacie BarrettA Production of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School https://faith.yale.edu/aboutSupport For the Life of the World podcast by giving to the Yale Center for Faith & Culture: https://faith.yale.edu/give -
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Why do we have countries? Why do we mark this land and these people as distinct from that land and those people? What are countries for? Yii-Jan Lin (Associate Professor of New Testament, Yale Divinity School) joins Matt Croasmun to discuss her new book, Immigration and Apocalypse, which traces the development of distinctly American ideas about the meaning of a country, its borders, and crossing those borders through immigrationâexploring how the biblical book of Revelation has influenced our modern geopolitical map.
Together they discuss the eschatological vision of Christopher Columbus; the Puritanical founding of New Haven, Connecticut to be the New Jerusalem; Ronald Reaganâs America as âCity on a Hillâ; the politics of COVID; the experience of Asian American immigrants in the 19th century; and how scripture shapes the American imagination in surprising and sometimes troubling ways.
About Yii-Jan Lin
Yii-Jan Lin is Associate Professor of New Testament at Yale Divinity School. She specializes in immigration, textual criticism, the Revelation of John, critical race theory, and gender and sexuality. Her book *Immigration and Apocalypse: How the Book of Revelation Shaped American Immigration* (Yale University Press 2024), focuses on the use of Revelation in political discourse surrounding American immigrationâin conceptions of America as the New Jerusalem and of unwanted immigrants as the filthy, idolatrous horde outside the city walls.
Her book The Erotic Life of Manuscripts (Oxford 2016), examines how metaphors of race, family, evolution, and genetic inheritance have shaped the goals and assumptions of New Testament textual criticism from the eighteenth century to the present.
Professor Lin has been published in journals such as the Journal of Biblical Literature, Early Christianity, and TC: A Journal of Biblical Textual Criticism. She is co-chair of the Minoritized Criticism and Biblical Interpretation section of the Society of Biblical Literature, on the steering committee for the Ethnic Chinese Biblical Colloquium, and on the steering committees for the New Testament Textual Criticism and the Bible in America sections of SBL. She also serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Biblical Literature. Professor Lin is a member of the Society of Asian Biblical Studies, the European Association of Biblical Studies, and an elected member of Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas.
Show Notes
Get your copy of *Immigration and Apocalypse: How the Book of Revelation Shaped American Immigration, by* Yii-Jan LinIllustration: âJohn of Patmos watches the descent of New Jerusalem from God in a 14th-century tapestryââmodified and collaged by Evan RosaChristopher Columbusâs eschatological visionThe Book of Revelation and the heavenly cityThe meaning of âapocalypseâNew Haven as New JerusalemJohn Davenport (April 9, 1597 â May 30, 1670) was an English Puritan clergyman and co-founder of the American colony of New Haven.Ronald Reagan and America as a âshining city on a hillâAmerica as Godâs cityRevelation 21, The New JerusalemâA door thatâs always openâ1983 as the âYear of the BibleâExclusion, open gates, and Americaâs immigration policyHospitalityOutside the gatesâFor some reason, the seer doesn't see just an open âlandscape. He sees these definite walls and definite âgates, even though they're open.âThe book of deeds and the book of lifeBureaucracy, and entry and exclusion into heavenThe Good PlaceWhat was immigration like in the Greco-Roman world?Citizenship lists, registrations, and ways of keeping people outâIf Heaven Has a Gate, a Wall, and Extreme Vetting, Why Can't America?âSteve King's tweet in â2019, âHeaven Has a Wall, a Gate, and Strict Immigration Policy, Hell Has Open Borders.âDisease and exclusion (COVID-19)Disease came from colonizersâDisease as a divine act to clear the landâChinese exclusion from AmericaMexican exclusion from AmericaICE was created to enforce laws explicitly excluding Chinese immigrantsFilm: An American TailâThe British InvasionâChina, Enemy of the West, and the Dragon of Revelation 12Buddha and the dragon vs the whore of Babylon riding a beastâDo American political ideas about immigration start to frame American theological imaginations about the world to come?âGodâs kingdom and âEmpireâFears that feed from theological to political registersâWhat should a Christian posture towards contemporary questions of immigration be?âXenophobia and fear of the strangerFinality and satisfactionThe theological error of identifying America with the New JerusalemProduction Notes
This podcast featured Yii-Jan LinEdited and Produced by Evan RosaHosted by Evan RosaProduction Assistance by Alexa Rollow, Emily Brookfield, Zoë Halaban, and Kacie BarrettA Production of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School https://faith.yale.edu/aboutSupport For the Life of the World podcast by giving to the Yale Center for Faith & Culture: https://faith.yale.edu/give -
âFor those of us who are drawn into church âhistory and church tradition and to reading theology, âthere is very little as transformative as realizing that history is populated by women and men like us who tried to follow Christ in their own time and place and culture and circumstances, âsome of whom succeeded. ⊠Looking at the saints, they make me want to be a better Christian. They make me want to be a saint.â (Brad East, from the episode)
In his recent book, Letters to a Future Saint: Foundations of Faith for the Spiritually Hungry, theologian Brad East addresses future generations of the Church, offering a transmission of Christian faith from society today to society tomorrow. Written as a fellow pilgrim and looking into the lives of saints in the past, heâs writing to that post-literate, post-Christian society, where the highest recommendation of faith is in the transformed life.
Today, Drew Collins welcomes Brad East to the show, and together they discuss: the importance of being passed and passing on Christian faithâits transmission; the post-literacy of digital natives (Gen Z and Gen Alpha) and the role of literacy in the acquisition and development of faith; the significance of community in a vibrant Christian faith; the question of apologetics and its effectiveness as a mode of Christian discourse; the need for beauty and love, not just truth, in Christian witness; how to talk about holiness in a world that believes less and less in the reality of sin; the difference between Judas and Peter; and what it means to study the saints and to be a saint.
About Brad East
Brad East (PhD, Yale University) is an associate professor of theology in the College of Biblical Studies at Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas. In addition to editing Robert Jensonâs The Triune Story: Collected Essays on Scripture (Oxford University Press, 2019), he is the author of four books: The Doctrine of Scripture (Cascade, 2021), The Churchâs Book: Theology of Scripture in Ecclesial Context (Eerdmans, 2022), The Church: A Guide to the People of God (Lexham, 2024), and Letters to a Future Saint: Foundations of Faith for the Spiritually Hungry (Eerdmans, 2024).His articles have been published in Modern Theology, International Journal of Systematic Theology, Scottish Journal of Theology, Journal of Theological Interpretation, Anglican Theological Review, Pro Ecclesia, Political Theology, Religions, Restoration Quarterly, and The Other Journal; his essays and reviews have appeared in The Christian Century, Christianity Today, Comment, Commonweal, First Things, Front Porch Republic, The Hedgehog Review, Living Church, Los Angeles Review of Books, Marginalia Review of Books, Mere Orthodoxy, The New Atlantis, Plough, and The Point. You can found out more, including links to his writing, podcast appearances, and blog, on his personal website: https://www.bradeast.org/.
Show Notes
Letters to a Future Saint: Foundations of Faith for the Spiritually Hungry by Brad EastThe importance of being passed and passing on Christian faithâits transmissionSpencer Bogle, the reason Brad East is a theologianThe post-literacy of Gen Z and Gen Alpha and the role of literacy in the acquisition and development of faithThe question of apologetics and its effectiveness as a mode of Christian discourseThe need for beauty and love, not just truth, in Christian witnessChristianity pre-exists you, and pre-existed literate society. So it can survive post-literacyTik-Tok and getting off itâWe have to have a much broader vision of the Christian life.âThe Doctrine of Scripture, by Brad East, Foreword by Katherine SondereggerCartesian Christianity: me alone in a room, maybe with a flashlight and a bibleSpiritual but not religious (H/T Tara Isabella Burton)Weâre not saved individuallyAlice in Wonderland and âbelieving 17 absurd things every dayâIs Christian apologetics sub-intellectual and effective?Gavin Ortlund, taking seriously spiritual and moral questions with pastoral warmth and intellectual integrityââa ministry of Q&AâBishop Robert Barron and William Lane CraigâPeople are not going to âbe won to the faith through argument. They're going to be won by beauty.âBeauty of lives well-lived, integrity, virtue, and martyrdomâWhat lies beyond this world is available in part in this world and so good it's worth dying for.âIs Christian apologetics actually for Christians, rather than evangelism?âA personâs life can be an apologetic argument.âJames K.A. Smith: âWe donât want to be brains on sticks.ââYouâre just going to look bizarre.ââCome and see. ⊠If you see something unique or uniquely powerful here, then stick around.âSaintliness and a cloud of witnessesWhy do the saints matter?The protagonist of Augustineâs Confessions is actually St. Monica.âI want to be like MonicaâŠââFor those of us who are drawn into church âhistory and church tradition and to reading theology, âthere is very little as transformative as realizing that history is populated by women and men like us who tried to follow Christ in their own time and place and culture and circumstances, âsome of whom succeeded. ⊠Looking at the saints, they make me want to be a better Christian. They make me want to be a saint.âHow to talk about holiness in a world that believes less and less in the reality of sin.Is holiness just connected to purity culture?Holiness is very difficult to describe.Hauerwas: âHumans arenât holy. Only God is holy.âHoliness as being like God and being set apart and conformed to his likenessHoliness is, by rights, Godâs alone.Appreciating the âeveryday saintsâ among usSanctification as an utterly passive actThe final words of Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict), âJesus, ich liebe dich!â (âJesus, I love you.â)Peter and JudasLucy Shaw poem, âJudas, Peterâ (see below)âThere is a way to fail as a Christian. Itâs to âdespair of the possibility of Christ forgiving you.âWhat it means to journey as a pilgrim towards holiness is, is not to get everything right.Shusaku Endo, SilenceâWhat I say is we're all Kichichiro. We're all Peter and Judas. We're all bad Christians. There are no good Christians.âKester Smith and returning to baptismâSometimes it might be difficult for me to believe that God loves me.ââJudas, Peterâ
by Lucy Shaw
because we are all
betrayers, taking
silver and eating
body and blood and asking
(guilty) is it I and hearing
him say yes
it would be simple for us all
to rush out and hang ourselvesbut if we find grace
to cry and wait
after the voice of morning
has crowed in our ears
clearly enough
to break out hearts
he will be there
to ask us each again
do you love me?Production Notes
This podcast featured Brad East & Drew CollinsEdited and Produced by Evan RosaHosted by Evan RosaProduction Assistance by Zoë Halaban, Alexa Rollow, Emily Brookfield, and Kacie BarrettA Production of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School https://faith.yale.edu/aboutSupport For the Life of the World podcast by giving to the Yale Center for Faith & Culture: https://faith.yale.edu/give -
"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life.â (Henry David Thoreau, Walden)
In 1845, when he was 27 years old, Henry David Thoreau walked a ways from his home in Concord, MA and built a small house on a small lakeâWalden Pond. He lived there for two years, two months, and two days, and he wrote about it. Walden has since become a classic. A treasure to naturalists and philosophers, historians and hipsters, conservationists and non-violent resistors. Something about abstaining from society and its affordances, reconnecting with the land, searching for something beyond the ordinary, living independently, self-reliantly, intentionally, deliberately.
Since then, Thoreau has risen to a kind of secular sainthood. Perhaps the first of now many spiritual but not religious, how should we understand Thoreauâs thought, writing, actions, and way of life?
In this episode, Evan Rosa welcomes Lawrence Buell (Powell M. Cabot Professor of American Literature Emeritus, Harvard University) for a conversation about how to read Thoreau. He is the author of many books on transcendentalism, ecology, and American literature. And his latest book is Henry David Thoreau: Thinking Disobediently, a brief philosophical biography and introduction to the thought of Thoreau through his two most classic works: âWaldenâ and âCivil Disobedience.â
In todayâs episode Larry Buell and I discuss Thoreauâs geographical, historical, social, and intellectual contexts; his friendship with Ralph Waldo Emerson; why he went out to live on a pond for 2 years, 2 months, and 2 days and how it changed him; the difference between wildness and wilderness; why weâre drawn to the simplicity of wild natural landscapes and the ideals of moral perfection; the body, the senses, attunement and attention; the connection between solitude and contemplation; the importance of individual moral conscience and the concept of civil disobedience; Thoreauâs one night in jail and the legacy of his political witness; and ultimately, what it means to think disobediently.
About Lawrence Buell
Lawrence Buell is Powell M. Cabot Professor of American Literature Emeritus at Harvard University. Considered one of the founders of the ecocriticism movement, he has written and lectured worldwide on Transcendentalism, American studies, and the environmental humanities. He is the author of many books, including Literary Transcendentalism, The Environmental Imagination: Thoreau, Nature Writing, and the Invention of American Culture, Writing for an Endangered World, and Emerson. His latest book is Henry David Thoreau: Thinking Disobediently, a brief introduction to the thought of Thoreau to his two most classic works: Walden and âCivil Disobedience.â
Show Notes
Henry David Thoreau: Thinking Disobediently (Oxford 2023) by Lawrence BuellRead Walden and âCivil Disobedienceâ online (via Project Gutenberg)Production Notes
This podcast featured Lawrence BuellEdited and Produced by Evan RosaHosted by Evan RosaProduction Assistance by Zoë Halaban, Alexa Rollow, Emily Brookfield, and Kacie BarrettA Production of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School https://faith.yale.edu/aboutSupport For the Life of the World podcast by giving to the Yale Center for Faith & Culture: https://faith.yale.edu/give -
Has modern humanity lost its connection to the world outside our heads? And can our experience of art and poetry help train us for a more elevated resonance with the cosmos?
In todayâs episode, theologian Miroslav Volf interviews philosopher Charles Taylor about his latest book, Cosmic Connections: Poetry in the Age of Disenchantment. In it he turns to poetry to help articulate the human experience of the cosmos weâre a part of.
Together they discuss the modern Enlightenment view of our relation to the world and its shortcomings; modern disenchantment and the prospects of reenchantment through art and poetry; Annie Dillard and the readiness to experience the world and what itâs always offering; how to hold the horrors of natural life with the transcendent joys; Charles recites some of William Wordsworthâs âTintern Abbeyâ and Gerard Manley Hopkinsâs âThe Windhoverâ; how to become fully arrested by beauty; and the value we find in human experience of the world.
Production Notes
This podcast featured Charles Taylor and Miroslav VolfEdited and Produced by Evan RosaHosted by Evan RosaProduction Assistance by Emily Brookfield, Alexa Rollow, Kacie Barrett, and Zoë HalabanA Production of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School https://faith.yale.edu/aboutSupport For the Life of the World podcast by giving to the Yale Center for Faith & Culture: https://faith.yale.edu/give -
St. Teresa of Ăvila (1515-1582) was a sixteenth-century Spanish nun and one of the most influential mystics in all of Church history, writing two spiritual classics still read today: The Way of Perfection and The Interior Castle. Her autobiography (more accurately, a confession to Spanish Inquisitors) is The Life of St. Teresa of Avila, detailing her spiritual experiences of the love of God.
In this episode, Evan Rosa welcomes Carlos Eire (T. Lawrason Riggs Professor of History and Religious Studies at Yale University) for a discussion of how to read St. Teresa of Ăvila, exploring the historical, cultural, philosophical, and theological aspects of her life and writing, and offering insights and close readings of several selections from her classic confession-slash-autobiography, known as La Vida, or The Life.
About Carlos Eire
Carlos Eire is T. Lawrason Riggs Professor of History and Religious Studies at Yale University. All of his books are banned in Cuba, where he has been proclaimed an enemy of the state. He was awarded the 2024 Harwood F. Byrnes/Richard B. Sewall Teaching Prize by Yale College, received his PhD from Yale in 1979. He specializes in the social, intellectual, religious, and cultural history of late medieval and early modern Europe, with a focus on both the Protestant and Catholic Reformations; the history of popular piety; the history of the supernatural, and the history of death. Before joining the Yale faculty in 1996, he taught at St. Johnâs University in Minnesota and the University of Virginia, and was a member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He is the author of War Against the Idols (1986); From Madrid to Purgatory (1995); A Very Brief History of Eternity (2010); Reformations: The Early Modern World (2016); The Life of Saint Teresa of Ăvila: A Biography (2019); and They Flew: A History of the Impossible (2023). He is also co-author of Jews, Christians, Muslims: An Introduction to Monotheistic Religions (1997); and ventured into the twentieth century and the Cuban Revolution in the memoir Waiting for Snow in Havana (2003), which won the National Book Award in Nonfiction in the United States and has been translated into more than a dozen languages. His second memoir, Learning to Die in Miami (2010), explores the exile experience. A past president of the Society for Reformation Research, he is currently researching various topics in the history of the supernatural. His book Reformations won the R.R. Hawkins Prize for Best Book of the Year from the American Publishers Association, as well as the award for Best Book in the Humanities in 2017. It was also awarded the Jaroslav Pelikan Prize by Yale University Press.
The Life of Saint Teresa of Ăvila by Carlos Eire (https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691164939/the-life-of-saint-teresa-of-avila )The Book of My Life by Teresa of Ăvila (https://www.icspublications.org/products/the-collected-works-of-st-teresa-of-avila-vol-1 or https://www.shambhala.com/teresa-of-avila-1518.html )A long confession to the Inquisition which had placed her under investigation and read by those who were curious and believed her mysticism might be a fraudThe Spanish Inquisition in the 16th CenturyAutobiography v. Auto-hagiographyThe chief virtue of sainthood was humilityMedieval mysticism in the asceticism of monastic communitiesThe Reformationâs rejection of monastic communities and their practicesâYou can fast as much as you want, and you can punish yourself as much as you want. That's not going to, uh, make God love you any more than he already does. And it's not going to wipe out your sins. Christ has wiped out your sins. So, all of this, uh, Oh, self obsession and posturing, uh, the very concept of holiness is redefined.âDirect experience of the divine in mysticism: purgation (cleansing), feedback from God (illumination), and union with the divine.On Loving God by Bernard of Clairvaux (https://litpress.org/Products/CF013B/On-Loving-God)Surrendering of the self in order to find oneself, and in turn GodInterior Castle by Teresa of Ăvila (https://www.icspublications.org/products/st-teresa-of-avila-the-interior-castle-study-edition)Recogimiento - a prayer in which one lets go of their senses; a form a prayer in which you are just in a chat with a friendThe Cloud of Unknowing by Anonymous (https://paracletepress.com/products/the-cloud-of-unknowing )Meaning that is found without words - recollection and recogimientoFrancisco JimĂ©nez de Cisneros, Archbishop of Toledo - translation of Rhineland mysticism into SpanishStaged approach and a development of spiritualityâYou're doing some transforming of your own, of course, by, you know, being engaged in this, but it's, it's really a gift from God progress and progress. Uh, progress and progress, or, uh, pretty much like an athlete whose skills become better and better and better. Or any artist whose skills improve and improve and improve and improve.Except in this case, there's someone else involved. You're not just working out or rehearsing. It's the other party involved in, in this, uh, phenomenon of prayer.âThe Four Waters as an image for the progression of prayerThe irony of Teresaâs writing and her nods to the inquisition found within her writingsThe experience of mysticism and God cannot be understood - it is beyond languageRepetition in prayer and meditationEdith Stein was inspired by Teresa of ĂvilaMonastic life was very isolated and was filled with hard workThe doubt of her confessors that her visions of Jesus were realResponding to the devil with crudenessMystical marriage with ChristThe Life of Catherine of Siena by Raymond of Capua ( https://tanbooks.com/products/books/the-life-of-saint-catherine-of-siena-the-classic-on-her-life-and-accomplishments-as-recorded-by-her-spiritual-director/ )Physical visions and intellectual visionsHer visions were beyond her controlTransverberation - a vision of an angel with a spear that she is struck with; pain and bliss simultaneously in the woundingGod as a very clear diamondTeresa of Ăvila and the Rhetoric of Femininity by Alison Weber (https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691027449/teresa-of-avila-and-the-rhetoric-of-femininity) - Constant self-humbling of TeresaDevotion to heart imagery in mysticism, Catholicism, and Teresaâs spiritualityThey Flew: A History of the Impossible by Carlos Eire (https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300280074/they-flew/)The bodily effects and physical nature of Teresaâs mysticismmysticism for the masses and books for the laityMysticism is a double edged sword - this is also what makes Jesus threatening in the gospelsSteven Ozment (Mysticism and Dissent: Religious Ideology and Social Protest in the Sixteenth Century?) https://archive.org/details/mysticismdissent0000ozme/page/n295/mode/2upHuman nature and our potentialGreat detail and charming in her writingProduction Notes
This podcast featured Carlos EireEdited and Produced by Evan RosaHosted by Evan RosaProduction Assistance by Alexa Rollow, Emily Brookfield, Kacie Barrett, & Zoë HalabanA Production of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School https://faith.yale.edu/aboutSupport For the Life of the World podcast by giving to the Yale Center for Faith & Culture: https://faith.yale.edu/give -
History reveals a lot of things about human nature: our innate drive towards progress, discovery, relationship, community. Often motivated by a drive to feel safe and flourish. But despite this instinct, history also shows that weâre prone to inflicting and being complicit to grave and violent injustices. We fail, regularly, at living well with our neighbors.
In his new book, The Spirit of Justice, Jemar Tisby opens the centuries long history of resistance to racism in the United States through the mode of story, and with the lens of the Spirit moving for justice. He asks, what manner of people are those who courageously confront racism? Presenting the lives and witness of over 50 individuals, Tisby examines the way faith threads the life work of these advocates together: not only inspiring their resistance in the first place, but continuing to move through the weariness that so often arises in this work.
In this episode, Jemar Tisby joins Macie Bridge on the podcast to discuss the manifestations of the Spirit of Justice in figures such as H. Ford Douglas, Sister Thea Bowman, David Walker, Myrlie Evers-Williams, and many more; the problem of historical appropriation with figures such as Martin Luther King Jr.; the women whose stories too often fall into the shadow of their husbandsâ legacies, like Anna Murray Douglas or Coretta Scott King; and the ever-present question of why we might look to history as we determine our own ways forward.
Jemar Tisby is the New York Times bestselling author of The Color of Compromise and How to Fight Racism. He is a public historian, speaker, and advocate, and is Professor of History at Simmons College, an HBCU in Kentucky.
Photo Credits: Fannie Lou Hamer, Phyllis Wheatley, Charles Morgan Jr., Anna Murray Douglass, David Walker, Sister Thea Bowman, Myrlie & Darrell Evers.
Where to Find Jemar Tisby's Books
The Spirit of Justice *Available now
I Am the Spirit of Justice *Picture book releasing January 7, 2025
Stories of the Spirit of Justice *Middle-grade childrenâs book releasing January 7, 2025
Production Notes
This podcast featured Jemar TisbyHosted by Macie BridgeEdited and Produced by Evan RosaProduction Assistance by Alexa Rollow, Emily Brookfield, Kacie Barrett, & Zoë HalabanA Production of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School https://faith.yale.edu/aboutSupport For the Life of the World podcast by giving to the Yale Center for Faith & Culture: https://faith.yale.edu/give -
In our American quest for a more perfect union, we often mistake unity for sameness. We mistake unity for conformity. But the functional unity of a systemâseems to actually require diversity, distinction, and difference.
In this episode, Christy Vines (Founder/ CEO, Ideos Institute) reflects on the problem of division today; how we increasingly invest our identity in politics instead of faith or spirituality; humility and privilege; the definition of unity and the assumption of diversity in it; the centrality of empathy; and how to cultivate an empathic wisdom grounded in the life and witness of Christ.
The Ideos Institute is currently sponsoring 31 days of Unity leading up to the 2024 election. Visit thereunionproject.us or ideosinstitute.org/31-days-of-unity to learn how to participate.
About Christy Vines
Christy Vines is the founder, President and CEO of Ideos Institute where she leads the organizationâs research on the burgeoning field of Empathic Intelligence and its application to the fields of conflict transformation, social cohesion, and social renewal.
Prior to founding Ideos Institute, she was the Senior Vice President for Global Initiatives and Strategy at the Institute for Global Engagement (IGE) where she served as the managing and coordinating lead for the development of strategic institutional partnerships and global initiatives in support of the IGE mission to encourage flourishing societies and stable states, and promote sustainable religious freedom, human rights and the rule of law globally. During her tenure at IGE she helped expand the organizationâs Center for Women, Faith & Leadership which supports, equips and convenes religious women peacemakers around the globe.
Christy has held senior roles with the RAND Corporation, where she worked with the RAND Centers for Middle East Public Policy, Asia Pacific Public Policy, Global Risk and Security, and the Center for Justice, Infrastructure, and Environment, finally transitioning to interim project manager for the RAND African First Ladies Initiative (now located at the Bush Presidential Center). Christy also held the role of senior fellow at The American Security Project and served as an advisor to the Carterâs Centerâs inaugural Forum on Women, Religion, Violence and Power.
Christy is a published writer, speaker, and the executive producer of the 2022 documentary film, "Dialogue Lab: America," a moving take on the current state of division and polarization in the U.S. She has appeared on podcasts like Comment Magazineâs â**Whole Person Revolution Podcastâ, â**How Do We Fix Itâ and Bob Goff's âDream Big Podcastâ. She has published numerous articles and op-eds with news outlets and publications, including the **Washington Post, Christianity Today,** and Capital Commentary.
Christy received her Master's Degree in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School. She attended both Stanford University and the University of CA, Riverside where she received her B.A. in Sociology and Qualitative Analysis. She currently resides in Pasadena, CA.
Show Notes
Howard Thurman on Unity, Meditations of the Heart (Beacon Press: 1981), 120â121âPlotinus [205â270 CE] wrote, âIf we are in unity with the Spirit, we are in unity with each other, and so we are all one.â (Plotinus, Enneads, VI.5.7.)Sign up for 31 Days of Unity https://www.ideosinstitute.org/31-days-of-unity(Re)Union Project and Ideos InstituteChristy Vinesâs experience with diversity and unity in her family: differences in faith, race, gender, sexuality, and religionHow Christy Vines came to faithThe problem of divisionHow neuroscience illuminates scripture and offers insight into empathic wisdomâThere are so many ways to love God.â (David Dark)How we invest our identity in politics instead of religionMoral absolutism vs moral relativismAbdicating our faith identity for a political identityTechnology and relationshipsâLoving God differentlyââIn the cosmic Christ, you have all of the space you need for the kind of diversity in unity that you're talking about.ââIt's the expectation that in order to work together, we really do have to look exactly the same, that we have to think the same things. That's the only way to collaborate. So until we can get past those of disagreements, there's just no way to work across the aisle. And that is disastrous to the concept of a democracy and the concept of the church.ââThereâs so many ways to be an American. Thereâs so many ways to be human.âHumility and privilegeâThere is something about desperation and need that brings, that illuminates God's beauty, majesty, and importance in such a powerful way that I think so many of us that are born into plenty will never experience until the other side of heaven.âThe definition of unity: grounded in empathyâUnity is about finding ways to be the body of Christ with all of our diversity and difference and saying that with humility, Here is my perspective. Here's how I understand God. Here's how I live out my faith. Here's what that might mean culturally or politically and all of the other ways we express our faith. And to be unified means maybe we can all be moving in the same direction on different paths, coming at it from different directions, but recognizing we're all trying to reach the same goal. And that maybe in that shared experience, And that rubbing against one another is, our pastor used to say, heavenly sandpaper, refining one another. We may never be on the exact same path, But over time, you find that we get closer and closer together as we share our lives with one another and we influence each other from a position of trust and care. And that can only be done when we actually show up recognizing with humility that we can learn and benefit from others.âEmpathy and how to build itEmpathic Intelligence Dr. Rosalind Arnold (University of Tasmania)Empathic intelligence (empathic wisdom) is the lived experience of JesusJesusâs empathyâMost of the time we take our own understanding of Jesus and try to impose that on somebody without ever knowing their story.ââWhat is it like to be you?ââWhy is this so hard to do?âJesus and the woman at the wellAsking questions and listeningEmpathy is contagiousVulnerability, openness, and a space of relational trust(Re)Union Project for ChurchesâBuilding unity in the church across lines of differencethereunionproject.usideosinstitute.orgProduction Notes
This podcast featured Christy VinesEdited and Produced by Evan RosaHosted by Evan RosaProduction Assistance by Alexa Rollow, Emily Brookfield, Kacie Barrett, and Zoë HalabanA Production of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School https://faith.yale.edu/aboutSupport For the Life of the World podcast by giving to the Yale Center for Faith & Culture: https://faith.yale.edu/give -
To true fans, baseball is so much more than a sport. Some call it the perfect game. Some see it as a field of dreams. A portal to another dimension. Some see it as a road to God. Othersââheathenâ we might call themâfind the game unutterably boring. Too confusing, too long, too nit-picky about rules.
In this episode, Yankee fan John Sexton (President Emeritus of New York University and Benjamin F. Butler Professor of Law) joins Red Sox fan Evan Rosa to discuss the philosophical and spiritual aspects of baseball. John is the author of the 2013 bestselling book Baseball as a Road to God, which is based on a course he has taught at NYU for over twenty years.
Image Credit: âThe American National Game of Base Ball: Grand Match for the Championship at the Elysian Fields, Hoboken, N. J.â Published by Currier & Ives, 1866
About John Sexton
John Sexton hasnât always been a Yankee fan. He once was a proud acolyte of Jackie Robinson and the Brooklyn Dodgers. A legal scholar by training, he served as president of New York University from 2001 through 2015. He is now NYUâs Benjamin F. Butler Professor of Law and dean emeritus of the Law School, having served as dean from 1988 through 2002.
He is author of Standing for Reason: The University in a Dogmatic Age (Yale University Press, 2019) and Baseball as a Road to God: Seeing Beyond the Game (Gotham Books, 2013) (with Thomas Oliphant and Peter J. Schwartz), among other books in legal studies.
A fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a recipient of 24 honorary degrees, President Emeritus Sexton is past chair of the American Council on Education, the Independent Colleges of NY, the New York Academy of Science, and the Federal Reserve Board of NY.
In 2016, Commonweal Magazine honored Sexton as the Catholic in the Public Square. The previous year, the Arab-American League awarded him its Khalil Gibran Spirit of Humanity Award; and the Open University of Israel gave him itâs Alon Prize for âinspired leadership in the field of education.â In 2013, Citizens Union designated him as âan outstanding leader who enhances the value of New York City.â
He received a BA in history and a PhD in the history of American religion from Fordham University, and a JD magna cum laude from Harvard Law School. Before coming to NYU in 1981, he clerked for Judges Harold Leventhal and David Bazelon of the DC Circuit and Chief Justice Warren Burger.
He married Lisa Goldberg in 1976. Their two children are Jed and Katie Sexton. And their grandchildren are Julia, Ava, and Natalie.
Production Notes
This podcast featured John SextonEdited and Produced by Evan RosaHosted by Evan RosaProduction Assistance by Alexa Rollow, Emily Brookfield, Kacie Barrett, and Zoë HalabanA Production of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School https://faith.yale.edu/aboutSupport For the Life of the World podcast by giving to the Yale Center for Faith & Culture: https://faith.yale.edu/give -
Thereâs a common misconception that Judaism is a religion of law and Christianity is a religion of love. But the very love commandments at the heart of Jesusâs teaching are direct quotes from Deuteronomy 6. Jesus, after all, was Jewish.
Joining Miroslav Volf in this episode is one of the most important Jewish thinkers alive today: Rabbi Shai Heldâtheologian, educator, authorâis President, Dean, and Chair in Jewish Thought at the Hadar Institute in New York City. He is the author of Abraham Joshua Heschel: The Call of Transcendence and The Heart of Torah, a collection of essays on the Torah in two volumes. His latest book is Judaism is about Love: Recovering the Heart of Jewish Life.
Image Credit: âVienna Genesisâ, 6th century, Manuscript (Codex Vindobonensis theol. graec. 31), 333 x 270 mm, Ăsterreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna
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About Shai Held
Rabbi Shai Heldâtheologian, educator, authorâis President, Dean, and Chair in Jewish Thought at the Hadar Institute in New York City. He is the author of Abraham Joshua Heschel: The Call of Transcendence and The Heart of Torah, a collection of essays on the Torah in two volumes. His most recent book is Judaism Is About Love: Recovering the Heart of Jewish Life.
Show Notes
Get your copy of Judaism Is About Love: Recovering the Heart of Jewish LifeTwo stories that set the course for Judaism Is About LoveDeuteronomy 6 and the Love CommandsIs Judaism really a âloveless religionâ?Christian students who donât realize what wells Jesus drank fromâThe very inclination to dichotomize between love and law leads almost, I think, ineluctably to a misunderstanding of traditional Jewish spirituality, for which law is never an alternative to love, âbut a manifestation of love.ââThe deed is an expression of a posture of love. The deed cannot replace the posture. It has to express it.ââA majority culture telling a minority âculture that it is inferior and loveless.âInterpreting both Judaism and Christianity through a moral or ethical lens, rather than the mystical, affective, and spiritual dimensions of bothUnconditionality of Godâs loveObedience to law vs unconditionality of loveâMy argument is that divine love, biblically speaking, comes without conditions, but with expectations. God does not say, do this or I will stop loving you. God says, I love you and I want you to do this.âAnalogy to parental love for childrenâGod believes in the centrality and urgency of human agency.âEliezer Berkovits: embrace of human agency in JudaismZero sum games and Godâs will and human agencyPerformance-oriented society, and âmeasuring upâCompetition and being better than othersNot earning, but striving to live up toGraceWhat objectives exist for us toJohn LevinsonChosenessMoshe Weinfeld: âyou were not chosen because you were wonderful.âElection isnât earned, but donât let grace become capricious.Abrahamâs blessing and Godâs love for IsraelRabbi Akiva: âEvery human being on the face of the earth is loved simply by being created in the divine image.âCentering theology around creationNoahâs flood and a universal covenant with humanity as a wholeGod and Mosesâs chutzpah to ask for forgiveness because Israel is so stubbornGrace is a Jewish idea, not invented by Christianity or the New TestamentâCulture stripped of graceâArbitrariness of electionExodus 34Psalm 145:9 God is good to âall. God's mercies are upon all of God's âcreations.Mercy on everything that God has made, including animals and all sentient beingsâVery goodâ and Godâs assessment of creationLove for stranger and love for the enemyJudaism and expanding circles of concernâThe temptation âto dehumanize is one that must always and everywhere be resisted. ⊠every human being on the face of the earth is infinitely valuable without exception.âJohn Levinsonâs âuniversal horizon of biblical particularismâJust War TheoryâAt the end of the If the Middle East and the land of Israel are ever to become less blood soaked, âwhat will be required is two âpeoples engaging in profoundly empathic listening to one another's stories. There is no other way.âMoshe Una and the Religious Zionist Peace MovementâJews dreamed of this place for thousands of years, and that this is a unique place where God's commandments can be fulfilled, and this is a place of religious yearning, religious aspiration, historical connection. And the second is, we have to teach our children that there is another people who feels the same way.ââSo much of the protest of this war has, it seemed to me, really lacked empathy and actually perpetuated really destructive ways of thinking about this conflict.âWhat is Rabbi Shai Heldâs vision of a life worth living?Medieval Mishnah on Genesis 1:27: âThe human being âis created in God's image, but whether we become God's likeness is a function of the choices we make.âProduction Notes
This podcast featured Shai HeldEdited and Produced by Evan RosaHosted by Evan RosaProduction Assistance by Alexa Rollow, Kacie Barrett, and Zoë HalabanA Production of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School https://faith.yale.edu/aboutSupport For the Life of the World podcast by giving to the Yale Center for Faith & Culture: https://faith.yale.edu/give -
Problem-solving the crises of the modern world is often characterized by an economy and architecture of exploitation and instrumentalization, viewing relationships as transactional, efficient, and calculative. But this sort of thinking leaves a remainder of emptiness.
Finding hope in a time of crises requires a more human work of covenant and commitment. Based in agrarian principles of stability, place, connection, dependence, interwoven relatedness, and a rooted economy, we can find hope in âLoveâs Braided Danceâ of telling the truth, keeping our promises, showing mercy, and bearing with one another.
In this episode, Evan Rosa welcomes Norman Wirzba, the Gilbert T. Rowe Distinguished Professor of Christian Theology at Duke Divinity School, to discuss his recent book Loveâs Braided Dance: Hope in a Time of Crisis.
Together they discuss love and hope through the agrarian principles that acknowledge our physiology and materiality; how the crises of the moment boil down to one factor: whether young people want to have kids of their own; Godâs love as erotic and how that impacts our sense of self-worth; the âsympathetic attunementâ that comes from being loved by a community, a place, and a land; transactional versus covenantal relationships; the meaning of giving and receiving forgiveness in an economy of mercy; and finally the difficult truth that transformation or moral perfection can never replace reconciliation.
About Norman Wirzba
Norman Wirzba is the Gilbert T. Rowe Distinguished Professor of Christian Theology at Duke Divinity School, as well as director of research at Duke Universityâs Office of Climate and Sustainability. His books include Loveâs Braided Dance: Hope in a Time of Crisis, Agrarian Spirit: Cultivating Faith, Community, and the Land;This Sacred Life: Humanityâs Place in a Wounded World; and Food & Faith.
Listen to Norman Wirzba on Food & Faith in Episode 49: "God's Love Made Delicious"
Show Notes
Norman Wirzba, Loveâs Braided Dance: Hope in a Time of CrisisHow the crises of the moment boil down to one expression: whether young people want to have kids of their own.How Norman Wirzba became friends with Wendell BerryWendell Berry, The Unsettling of AmericaâLoveâs Braided Danceâ from âIn Rainâ, a poem by Wendell BerryâYou shouldnât forget the land, and you shouldnât forget your grandfather.âReturn to agricultural practicesSacred giftsâAn agricultural life can afford doesn't guarantee, I think, but it affords the opportunity for you to really handle the fundamentals of life, air, water, soil, plant, tactile âconnection that has to, at the same time, be âa practical connection, which means you have to to bring into your handling of things the attempt to understand what you're handling.âAnonymityNorman Wirzba reads Wendell Berryâs âIn RainâHyperconnectivity and the meaning of being âbraided togetherâLove as Erotic Hopeââthe first of Godâs love is an erotic love, which is an outbound love that wants âsomething other than God to be and to âflourish. And that outbound movement is generated by God's desire for For others to be beautiful, to be good, and I think that's the basis of our lives, right?âAudre Lorde and patriarchyAffirming the goodness of ourselves and the world as created and loved by GodHow the pornographic gaze distorts the meaning of erotic loveDancing as a metaphor for Godâs erotic loveDeep sympathy and anticipation, and the improvisational movement of danceWoodworking: taking time and negotiationâSympathetic attunementâ and improvisationManaging the unpredictable nature of our worldRevelation of who you are and who the other isâitâs hard to reveal ourselves to each otherHonesty and depth that is missing from relationshipsLearning the skill of self-revealingBelonging and Robin Wall Kimmererâs sense that a people could be âloved by the landâPhysiological, material reality of our dependence on each other, from womb to tombâThe illusion that we could ever be alone or stand alone or survive alone is so dishonest about our living.âDenying our needs, acknowledging our needs, and inhabiting trust to work through struggle togetherâItâs not about solutions.ââSome of the needs âare profound and deep and they take time and they are ânever fully resolved. But it's this experience of knowing that you're not alone, that you're in a context where you are going to be cared for, you'll be nurtured, and you'll be forgiven when you make mistakes means that you can carry on together. And that's often enough.âTransactional vs covenantal approach to relationshipsGranting forgiveness and receiving forgivenessTransformation is not a replacement for reconciliationRather than denying wrongdoing or seeking to eliminate it, focusing on a renewed effort to be merciful with each other.Economy and architectureâSo how is the land supposed to love you back if it has in fact been turned into a toxic dumping zone?ââThink about how much fear is in our architecture.âBuilding was vernacularâpeople were involved in the development of physical structuresJ. R. R. Tolkein, The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers: Ents vs Saruman, natural agrarianism vs technological dominationJoy Clarkson, You Are a TreeRooted economyâIs anything worthy of our care?âWhen a parent chooses a phone and loses a moment of presence with childrenâGo to some one and tell them, âI want to try to be better at being in the presence of those around me.ââBe deliberateProduction Notes
This podcast featured Norman WirzbaEdited and Produced by Evan RosaHosted by Evan RosaProduction Assistance by Alexa Rollow, Kacie Barrett, Emily Brookfield, and Zoë HalabanA Production of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School https://faith.yale.edu/aboutSupport For the Life of the World podcast by giving to the Yale Center for Faith & Culture: https://faith.yale.edu/give -
Can music teach us how to live? In this interview Evan Rosa invites Daniel Chuaâa musicologist, composer at heart, and Professor of Music at the University of Hong Kongâto discuss his latest book, Music & Joy: Lessons on the Good Life.
Together they discuss the vastly different ancient and modern approaches to music; the problem with seeing music for consumption and entertainment; the ways different cultures conceive of music and wisdom: from Jewish to Greek to Christian; seeing the disciplined spontaneity of jazz improvisation fitting with both a Confucian perspective on virtue, and Christian newness of incarnation; and finally St. Augustine, the worshipful jubilance of singing in the midst of oneâs work to find rhythm and joy that is beyond suffering; and a final benediction and blessing for every music lover.
Throughout the interview, weâll offer a few segments of the music Daniel discusses, including Beethovenâs Opus 132 and the Ode to Joy from Beethovenâs 9th symphony, and John Cageâs controversial 4â33ââwhich Daniel recommends we listen to every single day, and which weâre going to play during this episode toward the end.
Show Notes
Music and Joy: Lessons on the Good Life by Daniel Chua (https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300264210/music-and-joy/)Can music teach us how to live?The emotional relationship we have with musicEveryone identifies with musicHow did you come to love music and write on it?MusicologistThe Sound of Music soundtrack (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeSQLYs2U8X0nTi15MHjMAWim3PxIyEqI)Listening to music at a young ageLove of Beethoven as a childWhat about Beethoven in particular spoke to you? Do you have memories of what feeling or challenges or thoughts or kind of ambitions were there?Beethoven as harder to listen to and sit through as it is quite disruptive and intellectual in styleBeethoven and Freedom by Daniel Chua (https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/beethoven-freedom-daniel-k-l-chua/1126575597)What pieces in particular, or what about Beethovenâs composition was particularly moving to you?Beethovenâs final string quartets (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qaq881bwRI)âItâs very strange. Itâs like the most complex and the most simple music. And somehow they speak very deeply to my soul and my heart. And you just want to listen to them all the time.âA Minor String Quartet, Opus 132 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUob2dcQTWA)A piece of thanksgiving to GodMessages sent by music as a young person about how things come togetherMusic interacts with usPlaying to understand how it is that a piece worksHow do we replicate what music communicates in our daily lives?Beethovenâs Ode to Joy (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0EjVVjJraA)Stephen Pinker - music is auditory cheesecakeâIf music is joy, then what is it? What kind of joy is it?âConsuming music is not the same as joy; music is not simply entertainmentThe fanfare of terror in Ode to JoyâHumans are strange. We are very sinful creatures so we tend to weaponize whatever we have to weaponize and we weaponize music too.ââWhatever we do with music as humans, there is something more in music that speaks beyond out puny human point of view of music.âOur view of music and joy today are too human; music is cosmicWe tune ourselves, our virtues, our wisdom to the rhythm of the universe.Joy as something we obey, we listen to.âMusic isnât human. Music is actually creation.âMusic, the Logos, and WisdomMusic as something that teaches us how to live.Wisdom taking delight, joy, in the universe.Music is deeply beautiful; there is profound goodness to itA lesson in flourishing found in music, in the tuning of ourselvesMusic is truthful; Christ as an instrument and salvation as being in tuneSheet music v performance as an analogy for incarnationMusic as an event that is happeningHarmony and coming together - finding oneâs place within the turn; Taoist and Confucian traditionsâJazz offers this fantastic expression of a different kind of wisdom born through suffering and grief.âImprovisation in jazz; an exuberance - the weird and the spontaneous alongside the orderedMusic as an opportunity for emotion and a way to communicate and understand; spirituals and slave hymnsâThe order of the cosmos is basically tragic. Itâs a bad, bad world. And music is a kind of consolation in that.ââMusic canât help but be meaningful.â4'33" by John Cage (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWVUp12XPpU)Whatever we are, music is there.Using music to make sense of things; really attend to the world and its music.Augustineâs Book of Music âDe Musicaâ (https://archive.org/details/augustine-on-music-de-musica/page/159/mode/2up)The spontaneous music of the worldDefiant joy in the music of slave hymns; a joy that will not be crushedA robust understanding of joyMusic tells us something about the world, the cosmos, of creation - Music reflects the heart of God.About Daniel Chua
Daniel K. L. Chua is the Chair Professor of Music at the University of Hong Kong. Before joining Hong Kong University to head the School of Humanities, he was a Fellow and the Director of Studies at St Johnâs College, Cambridge, and later Professor of Music Theory and Analysis at Kingâs College London. He is the recipient of the 2004 Royal Musical Associationâs Dent Medal, an Honorary Fellow of the American Musicological Society, and a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy. He served as the President of the International Musicological Society 2017-2022. He has written widely on music, from Monteverdi to Stravinsky, but is particularly known for his work on Beethoven, the history of absolute music, and the intersection between music, philosophy and theology. His publications include The âGalitzinâ Quartets of Beethoven (Princeton, 1994), Absolute Music and the Construction of Meaning (Cambridge, 1999), Beethoven and Freedom (Oxford, 2017), Alien Listening: Voyagerâs Golden Record and Music From Earth (Zone Books, 2021), Music and Joy: Lessons on the Good Life (Yale 2024), âRioting With Stravinsky: A Particular Analysis of the Rite of Springâ (2007), and âListening to the Self: The Shawshank Redemption and the Technology of Musicâ (2011).
Image Credit: âBeethoven with the Manuscript of the Missa Solemnisâ, Joseph Karl Stieler, 1820, oil on canvas, Beethoven-Haus, Bonn (Public Domain, Wikimedia Link)Ludwig van Beethoven, String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Op. 132: iii. âHeilige Dankgesang eines Genesenden an die Gottheitâ (âHoly song of thanks of a convalescent to the Divinityâ), Amadeus Quartet, 1962 (via Internet Archive)Ludwig van Beethoven, The Symphony No 9 in D minor, Op 125 "Choral" (1824), Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Otto Klemperer, Live Performance, 17 May 1956 (via Internet Archive)Traditional Chinese Music, Instrument: Ehru, âYearning for Loveâ Remembering of The Xiao on The Phoenix Platform (via Internet Archive)John Coltrane, âThe Inch Wormâ, Live in Paris, 1962 (via Internet Archive)4â33â, John Cage, 1960trThe McIntosh County Shouters perform âGullah-Geechee Ring Shoutâ (Library of Congress) -
âThe whole of human existence is like some sweet parable told in the most improbable place and circumstances. ⊠God values our humanity. ⊠One of the things that's fascinating about the Hebrew Bible is that it declared and was loyal to the fact that God is good and creation is good.â
Novelist and essayist Marilynne Robinson joins Miroslav Volf to discuss her latest book, Reading Genesis. Together they discuss why she took up this project of biblical commentary and what scripture and theological reflection means to her; how she thinks of Genesis as a theodicy (or a defense against the problem of evil and suffering); the grace of God; the question of humanityâs goodness; how to understand the flood; the relationship between divine providence and working for moral progress; and much more.
About Marilynne Robinson
Marilynne Robinson is an award-winning American novelist and essayist. Her fictional and non-fictional work includes recurring themes of Christian spirituality and American political life. In a 2008 interview with the Paris Review, Robinson said, "Religion is a framing mechanism. It is a language of orientation that presents itself as a series of questions. It talks about the arc of life and the quality of experience in ways that I've found fruitful to think about."
Her novels include: Housekeeping (1980, Hemingway Foundation/Pen Award, Pulitzer Prize finalist), Gilead (2004, Pulitzer Prize), Home (2008, National Book Award Finalist), Lila (2014, National Book Award Finalist), and most recently, Jack (2020). Robinson's non-fiction works include Mother Country: Britain, the Welfare State, and Nuclear Pollution (1989), The Death of Adam: Essays on Modern Thought (1998), Absence of Mind: The Dispelling of Inwardness from the Modern Myth of the Self (2010), When I was a Child I Read Books: Essays (2012), The Givenness of Things: Essays (2015), and What Are We Doing Here?: Essays (2018). Her latest book is Reading Genesis (2024).
Marilynne Robinson received a B.A., magna cum laude, from Brown University in 1966 and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Washington in 1977. She has served as a writer-in-residence or visiting professor at a variety universities, included Yale Divinity School in Spring 2020. She currently teaches at the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa. She has served as a deacon for the Congregational United Church of Christ. Robinson was born and raised in Sandpoint, Idaho and now lives in Iowa City.
Show Notes
Get your copy of Reading Genesis by Marilynne RobinsonMarilynne Robinsonâs New York Times article, âWhat Literature Owes the Bibleâ (2011)Reading Genesis as the singular ancient literature that it isThe Bible (and Genesis) as theodicyHow Calvin and Luther influenced Robinsonâs approach to GenesisThe benefit of reading Genesis as a wholeThe story of JosephThe fractal nature of the bibleUnsparing, honest descriptions of the charactersâI think that the fact that they are recognizably flawed creatures is, what that reflects is the grace of God. He is enthralled by these people that must have been a fairly continuous disappointment, you know? We have to understand humankind better, I think, in order to understand what overplus there is in a human being that God loves them despite their being so human.ââAn amazing little theater of domestic dysfunction.âAbraham and Isaac: âPoor Isaac ⊠or he could just be a plain old disappointing child.ââThe Bible is a theodicy.âGodâs goodness, and a defense of GodGodâs value of humanity and the conservation of the human selfâGod stands by creation.âHumanism in GenesisâHumanity sinks so deep into evil. that they become near incarnations of evil.âGenesis 6: âEvery inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was Only evil and continually.âTotal depravity and the bleak view of humanityNoah and the Floodâ⊠there's a kind of a strange lawlessness of Genesis.ââWhen God remakes the world after Noah, after the flood, he does not change human beings. He gives them exactly the same blessings and instructions that he did originally, which is simply another statement of his very deeply tested loyalty to us as we are.ââFinding a humane way to deal with the inhumanity of human beings.âGenesis 8: âBecause human beings are evil, I will never destroy them.âGrace as a condition of possibility for all lifeThe similarities between Hebrew Bible as a philosophic text, drawing influences from cultures around themâwhat is a greater question of theodicy than the fact that populations are wiped off the face of the earth every so oftenâit must have been so common in the ancient world with plagues and wars and all the rest of it.ââEvery human, every thought, all the time: evil.ââGenesis is a preparation for Exodus because the solution to human wickedness, which nevertheless does not violate human nature, is law.âWhat is the moral purpose of humanity?The roaring cosmos and modern atheisms: Schopenhauer and Nietzsche on moral purpose is gone, humanity is just a little boat amidst a stormâThe whole of human existence is like some sweet parable told in the most improbable place and circumstances.âCharles Taylorâs Cosmic Connections: Poetry in the Age of DisenchantmentProvidence and moral progressâWeâre still terribly violent. Terribly violent people.â âAnd terribly blind to our violence.âRevelation and Godâs control of an otherwise nasty worldThe possibility of human encounterProduction Notes
This podcast featured Marilynne Robinson and Miroslav VolfEdited and Produced by Evan RosaHosted by Evan RosaProduction Assistance by Emily BrookfieldA Production of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School https://faith.yale.edu/aboutSupport For the Life of the World podcast by giving to the Yale Center for Faith & Culture: https://faith.yale.edu/give -
Rev. William Barber and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove discuss the political, moral, and spiritual dimensions of poverty. Together, they co-authored White Poverty: How Exposing Myths About Race and Class Can Reconstruct American Democracy, and theyâre collaborators at the Center for Public Theology and Public Policy at Yale Divinity School.
About Rev. William Barber
Bishop William J. Barber II, DMin, is a Professor in the Practice of Public Theology and Public Policy and Founding Director of the Center for Public Theology and Public Policy at Yale Divinity School. He serves as President and Senior Lecturer of Repairers of the Breach, Co-Chair of the Poor Peopleâs Campaign: A National Call For Moral Revival, Bishop with The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries, and has been Pastor of Greenleaf Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Goldsboro, NC, for the past 29 years.
He is the author of four books: We Are Called To Be A Movement; Revive Us Again: Vision and Action in Moral Organizing; The Third Reconstruction: Moral Mondays, Fusion Politics, and The Rise of a New Justice Movement; and Forward Together: A Moral Message For The Nation.
Bishop Barber served as president of the North Carolina NAACP from 2006-2017 and on the National NAACP Board of Directors from 2008-2020. He is the architect of the Forward Together Moral Movement that gained national acclaim in 2013 with its Moral Monday protests at the North Carolina General Assembly. In 2015, he established Repairers of the Breach to train communities in moral movement building through the Moral Political Organizing Leadership Institute and Summit Trainings (MPOLIS). In 2018, he co-anchored the relaunch of the Poor Peopleâs Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revivalâ reviving the SCLCâs Poor Peopleâs Campaign, which was originally organized by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., welfare rights leaders, workersâ rights advocates, religious leaders, and people of all races to fight poverty in the U.S.
A highly sought-after speaker, Bishop Barber has given keynote addresses at hundreds of national and state conferences, including the 2016 Democratic National Convention, the 59th Inaugural Prayer Service for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, and the Vaticanâs conference on Pope Francisâs encyclical âLaudato Siâ: On Care for Our Common Home.
He is a 2018 MacArthur Foundation Genius Award recipient and a 2015 recipient of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Award and the Puffin Award.
Bishop Barber earned a Bachelorâs Degree from North Carolina Central University, a Master of Divinity from Duke University, and a Doctor of Ministry from Drew University with a concentration in Public Policy and Pastoral Care. He has had ten honorary doctorates conferred upon him.
About Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove
Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove is an author, preacher, and community-builder who has worked with faith-rooted movements for social change for more than two decades. He is the founder of School for Conversion, a popular education center in Durham, North Carolina, and co-founder of the Rutba House, a house of hospitality in Durhamâs Walltown neighborhood.
Mr. Wilson-Hartgrove is the author of more than a dozen books, including the daily prayer guide, Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals, New Monasticism, The Wisdom of Stability, Reconstructing the Gospel, and Revolution of Values. He is a regular preacher and teacher in churches across the US and Canada and a member of the Red Letter Christian Communicators network.
Show Notes
Center for Public Theology and Public Policyâs ten-session online course: https://www.theologyandpolicy.yale.edu/inaugural-conferenceGet your copy of White Poverty: How Exposing Myths About Race and Class Can Reconstruct American Democracy: https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324094876Production Notes
This podcast featured Rev. William Barber and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, with Ryan McAnnally-LinzEdited and Produced by Evan RosaHosted by Evan RosaProduction Assistance by Kacie BarrettA Production of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School https://faith.yale.edu/aboutSupport For the Life of the World podcast by giving to the Yale Center for Faith & Culture: https://faith.yale.edu/give -
Julian of Norwich is known and loved for the lines revealed to her by God, âAll shall be well and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.â But beyond the comfort of this understandably uplifting phrase, what are theological and philosophical insights we might learn from this anonymous medieval Christian mystic and anchoress?
Ryan McAnnally-Linz joins Evan Rosa to discuss the historical context of Julian of Norwich, her life and vocation as an anchoress, and the story of near-death experience and subsequent mystical visions that led her to write such theologically rich and uplifting wordsâwhich comprise the earliest known writing by a woman in English. Together they have an extended discussion of a rather marvelous segment from the Long Text of the Revelation of Divine Love, sections 46-58, and in particular we look at the revelation Julian herself was most puzzled and mystified by during her own life, discovering understanding only decades after having received the vision: Section 51, the Parable of the Lord and the Servant.
Image Credit: adapted from The Lives of the Saints Gallus, Magnus, Otmar and Wiboradain German, 1451â60. St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 602, p. 303.
Show Notes
âAll shall be wellâ as an introduction to Julian for manyRowan Williams on Julian as one of the greatest English language theologiansWho was Julian? How she thinks and what we can draw from her for the purposes of theological insight and spiritual maturity?Found Julian in a medieval survey course and she has remained with himWhat caught you in Julian? Why did it stick with you?She synthesizes a visionary experience with deep theological reflection: subtle and sophisticated theologian; simplicity, earnestness, and virtuositySo give us a little bit of her biography. I know that we know precious little, but what do we know? And maybe give us some of the historical context of her?Couple of manuscripts of her writing; the short and the long textMargery Kempe visits Julian to make a request in The Book of Margery Kempe (https://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/publication/staley-the-book-of-margery-kempe)Anchoress and is attached to a church in Norwich; 1340s first and second waves of the Black Death; mass loss and traumaThe text is less focused on herself outside of the visions that happen on what she believes is her death bed.What is the spiritual occupation of an anchoress or anchorite?Anchorite as isolated spiritual calling different from monks and hermits; life is in this one cellDo you know what motivations are there for that spiritual vocation in the church? Why would anyone do this?Anchorite ceremonies are like funeral rites; a death to the world, living only for prayerThe showings - 16 visions; prays for mind of the passion, bodily sickness, and three wounds (contrition, compassion, and willful longing for God)The suffering of Christ and his wounds and their popularity in medieval devotional practice16 showings that are intertwined and vary in form (visual, auditory, bodily, mental)The last showing, which she ponders for the rest of her life.What are some of the core philosophical, theological, or other concepts that are most salient for understanding Julian?Julian understands herself as beholden to the church, its teachings, and its tradition - wrestling with these and her visions.A Vision Shown to a Devout Woman by Julian (https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/0-271-02547-6.html)A Revelation of Love by Julian (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/261039/revelations-of-divine-love-by-julian-of-norwich-translated-by-elizabeth-spearing-introduction-and-notes-by-a-c-spearing/)Augustinian tradition is appealed toâhis teachings on evil and sin, Christian PlatonismJulian as a Trinitarian thinkerWhat would you say about her understanding of love?Later visions in life and praying for many years for understanding âLove is THE thing for Julian, itâs the whole thing.Love as joyful communion but also a passionate willingness to sacrifice for oneâs belovedA Short Play: The Lord and the Servant (from the long text)Chapter 51 of the Long TextRed herrings in Julian; the medieval trope of enumeratingThe perplexing vision of the servant in the hole ?Reconciling the goodness of the world with sin; dealing with what she is seeing from God and what the church teaches about sinâwresting with the detailsThe Fall, the âFelix Culpaâ or the âHappy Fault,â and the servant in the holeGod looks without blame and that complicates church teaching on sin; layers in the narrative, God, humanity, ChristBeing drawn into the puzzling and the pondering experienced by Julian inspired by her writing; finding comfort in a loving God that we cannot see clearlyHow God seesâOur life and our being are in God.âChapter 49 of Julianâs ShowingsâSheâs saying, sorry sin, good creatures are good creatures and their goodness qua creatures of God is kept safe and whole in God, regardless of what their concrete existential messed-upness might be.âJulian says: âJesus is all who shall be saved. And all who shall be saved are Jesus and all through God's love along with the obedience, humility and patience and other virtues which pertain to us.âTotus Christi: Jesus as both head and body of the churchJulian says: âAll people who shall be saved while we are in this world have in us a marvelous mixture of both weal and woe. We have in us our risen Lord Jesus. We have in us the misery of the harm of Adam's falling and dying. We are steadfastly protected by Christ, and by the touch of His grace, we are raised into sure trust of salvation. And by Adam's fall, our perceptions are so shattered in various ways, by sins and by different sufferings, that we are so darkened and blinded that we can hardly find any comfort. But inwardly, we wait for God and trust faithfully that we shall receive mercy and grace, for this is God's own operation within us. And in His goodness, He opens the eye of our understanding, and by this we gain sight, sometimes more, sometimes less, according to the ability that God gives us to receive it.âThe servant out of the hole; the mixture of weal and woe within usâShe says at some point, âPeace and love are always at work in us, but we are not always in peace and love.ââEven when we donât feel God, Julian wants us to know the comfort that he is there.Julian writes: âThere neither can, nor shall be anything at all between God and man's soul. He wants us to know that the noblest thing he ever made is humankind and its supreme essence and highest virtue is the blessed soul of Christ. And furthermore, he wants us to know that his precious soul was beautifully bound to him in the making. With a knot which is so subtle and so strong that it is joined into God, and in this joining, it is made eternally holy. ⊠Furthermore, he wants us to know that all the souls which will be eternally saved in heaven are bound and united in this union and made holy in this holiness.âThe Beauty of the Middle English it was originally written in: âone-ingââChrist's union with God is our union with God by virtue of Christ's union with us.âThe meaning of atonement for Julian of NorwichThe soul as an intricately woven knot; one knot that is interwoven with those of others by and through Godâatonement, the one-ing of humans and God; being tied together and pulled in by the incarnationâItâs Julian reminding me that my blindness doesnât have the final say, doesnât actually say anything about whatâs real and true and how God sees.âProduction Notes
This podcast featured Ryan McAnnally-LinzEdited and Produced by Evan RosaHosted by Evan RosaProduction Assistance by Alexa Rollow, Kacie Barrett, and Macie BridgeA Production of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School https://faith.yale.edu/aboutSupport For the Life of the World podcast by giving to the Yale Center for Faith & Culture: https://faith.yale.edu/give -
Dallas Willard (1935-2013) was an influential philosopher and beloved author and speaker on Christian spiritual formation. He had the unique gift of being able to speak eloquently to academic and popular audiences, and itâs fascinating to observe the ways his philosophical thought pervades and influences his spiritual writingsâand vice versa.
In this episode, Steve Porter (Senior Research Fellow and Executive Director of the Martin Institute, Westmont College / Affiliate Professor of Spiritual Formation at Biola University) joins Evan Rosa to explore the key concepts and ideas that appear throughout Dallas Willardâs philosophical and spiritual writings, including: epistemological realism; a relational view of knowledge; how knowledge makes love possible; phenomenology and how the mind experiences, represents, and comes into contact with reality; how the human mind can approach the reality of God with a love for the truth; moral psychology; and Dallasâs concerns about the recent resistance, loss, and disappearance of moral knowledge.
About Dallas Willard
Dallas Willard (1935-2013) was a philosopher, minister and beloved author and speaker on Christian philosophy and spiritual formation. For a full biography, visit Dallas Willard Ministries online.
About Steve Porter
Dr. Steve Porter is Senior Research Fellow and Executive Director of the Martin Institute for Christianity & Culture at Westmont College, and an affiliate Professor of Theology and Spiritual Formation at the Institute for Spiritual Formation and Rosemead School of Psychology (Biola University). Steve received his Ph.D. in philosophy at the University of Southern California and M.Phil. in philosophical theology at the University of Oxford.
Steve teaches and writes in Christian spiritual formation, the doctrine of sanctification, the integration of psychology and theology, and philosophical theology. He co-edited Until Christ is Formed in You: Dallas Willard and Spiritual Formation, Psychology and Spiritual Formation in Dialogue, and Dallasâs final academic book: The Disappearance of Moral Knowledge. He is the author of Restoring the Foundations of Epistemic Justification: A Direct Realist and Conceptualist Theory of Foundationalism, and co-editor of Christian Scholarship in the 21st Century: Prospects and Perils. In addition to various book chapters, he has contributed articles to the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care, Philosophia Christi, Faith and Philosophy, Journal of Psychology and Theology, Themelios, Christian Scholarâs Review, etc. Steve and his wife Alicia live with their son Luke and daughter Siena in Long Beach, CA.
Show Notes
The Martin Institute for Christianity & Culture at Westmont CollegeDallas Willard Ministries (Free Online Resources)Dallas Willard, The Spirit of DisciplinesWillard as both spiritual formation teacher/pastor and intellectual/philosopherGary Moon, Becoming Dallas WillardDallas Willard MinistriesConversatio DivinaPhenomenologyââOne of the principles of phenomenology is you want to kind of help others come to see what you've seen.âWillard âpresenting himself to Godâ while teachingâThe kingdom of God was in the room.âThe importance of finding your own way into your spiritual practicesAn ontology of knowing and epistemological realism: âWe can come to know things the way they are.âWhat does it mean to say that being precedes knowledge or that metaphysics precedes epistemology? What does that imply for spiritutal formation?What is real?Operating on accurate information about realityDallas Willard on Husserl: âWhat is most intriguing in Husserl's thought to me, the always hopeful realist, is the way he works out a theory of the substance and nature of consciousness and knowledge, which allows that knowledge to grasp a world that it does not make.âThe Cambridge Companion to HusserlThe philosophical tradition of âsaving the appearancesâMind-world relationshipThe affinity between concepts and their objectsDallas Willard on concepts and objects: âOn my view, thoughts and their concepts do not modify the objects which make up reality. They merely match up or fail to match up with them in a certain way. Thus, there would be a way things are, and the realism there would be vindicated along with the possibility at least of a God's eye view.âLying as a disconnection from the truth and therefore from the worldAgency in our choice to know God and pursue knowing GodThe role of sincerity and honesty in shared realityRichard Rorty, âSolidarity or Objectivityâ: âbreaking free of the shackles of objectivityâDallas Willard in âWhere Is Moral Knowledge?â: âOne way of characterizing the condition of North American society at present is to say that moral knowledge, knowledge of good and evil, of what is morally admirable and despicable, right and wrong, is no longer available in our world to people generally. It has disappeared as a reliable resource for living.âKnowledge used to justify violence versus knowledge used to counter injusticeMoral relativism vs moral absolutismâwhich is the problem today?Moral absolutism is often not rooted in knowledge, but a feeling of certaintyDallas Willard, *The Disappearance of Moral Knowledge* (also available here)Social causes for moral knowledge having disappeared from public lifeMoral knowledge provides the place to stand for justiceWhat is it to be a good person?Emmanuel Levinas and the face of the otherDallas Willard in The Divine Conspiracy, âThe life and words that Jesus brought into the world came in the form of information and reality.âBecoming a student of JesusWillardâs four fundamental questions: What is real? What is the good life? Who is the good person? How does one become good?Dallas Willard on how to understand Jesusâs words: âIt is the failure to understand Jesus and his words as reality and vital information about life. That explains why today we do not routinely teach those who profess allegiance to him, how to do what he said was best. We lead them to profess allegiance to him, or we expect them to, and we leave them there devoting our remaining efforts to attracting them to this or that.âThe contemporary issue of exchanging becoming more like Jesus for other ways of life.The real cost of changing oneâs lifeFrederica Matthewes Green: âEveryone wants transformation, but no one likes to change.ââThe good news of Jesus is the availability of the Kingdom of God.âSociologist Max Picard, *The Flight From God* and philosopher Charles Taylor on âthe buffered self.âDallas Willard on taking Jesus seriously as a reliable path to growthâIn many ways, I believe that we are at a turning point among the people of Christ today, one way of describing that turning point is that people are increasingly serious about living the life that Jesus gives to us. And not just having services, words, and rituals. But a life that is full of the goodness and power of Christ. There is a way of doing that. There is knowledge of spiritual growth and of spiritual life that can be taught and practiced. Spiritual growth is not like lightning that hits for no reason you can think of. Many of us come out of a tradition of religion that is revivalistic and experiential. But often the mixture of theological understanding and history that has come down to us has presented spiritual growth as if somehow it were not a thing that you could have understanding of. That you could know, that you could teach, that made sense. And so, we have often slipped into a kind of practical mysticism. The idea that if we just keep doing certain things, then maybe something will happen. We have not had an understanding of a reliable process of growth.âJesus on âThe Cure for AnxietyâProduction Notes
This podcast featured Steve PorterEdited and Produced by Evan RosaHosted by Evan RosaProduction Assistance by Alexa Rollow & Kacie BarrettA Production of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School https://faith.yale.edu/aboutSupport For the Life of the World podcast by giving to the Yale Center for Faith & Culture: https://faith.yale.edu/give -
What does it mean to be fully alive and at peace with ourselves and our neighbors in the anxiety and fear of contemporary life?
Joining Evan Rosa in this episode is Elizabeth Oldfieldâa journalist, communicator, and podcast host of The Sacred. Sheâs author of Fully Alive: Tending to the Soul in Turbulent Times.
Together they discuss life in her micro-monastery in south London; the meaning of liturgical and sacramental life embedded in a fast-paced, technological, capitalistic, obsessively popular society; the concept of personal encounter and Martin Buberâs idea that âall living is meetingâ; the fundamentally disconnecting power of sin that works against the fully aliveness of truly meeting the other; including discussions of wrath or contempt that drives us toward violence; greed or avarice and the incessant insatiable accumulation of wealth; the attention-training benefits of gratitude and the identify forming power of our attention; throughout it all, working through the spiritual psychology of sin and topography of the soulâand the fact that we are, all of us, in Elizabethâs words, âunutterably beloved.â
About Elizabeth Oldfield
Elizabeth Oldfield is a journalist, communicator, and author. She hosts a beautiful podcast called The Sacred. And sheâs author of Fully Alive: Tending to the Soul in Turbulent Times. Follow her @esoldfield, and visit her website elizabetholdfield.com
Show Notes
Intentional living community; pulling on monastic lifestyle and framework; read more about Elizabeth Oldfieldâs micro-monastery here.People passing through the micro-monastery and the sharing of a meal and sitting in silence with othersCeltic prayer book - The Aidan Compline (https://www.northumbriacommunity.org/offices/monday-the-aidan-compline/)Fully Alive: Tending to the Soul in Turbulent Times by Elizabeth Oldfield (http://bakerpublishinggroup.com/books/fully-alive/421701)How you see your liturgical life, the rhythms of your life however else you might describe you spirituality as providing the soil of this book?A personal writing experience - communicating something of her tradition with the outside worldWhat it means to be fully alive to you?Everything is about relationships and connection; to be fully alive is to be fully connected with the soulBetween Man and Man (https://www.routledge.com/Between-Man-and-Man/Buber/p/book/9780415278270) and I and Thou by Martin Buber - âall living is meetingâ (https://www.maximusveritas.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/iandthou.pdf)If all living is meeting, how are we failing in that regard?Unapologetic: Why, Despite Everything, Christianity Can Still Make Surprising Emotional Sense by Francis Spufford (https://www.harpercollins.com/products/unapologetic-francis-spufford?variant=32207439626274)Sin is disconnection; a turning inwardâElegy on the Lady Markhamâ by John Donne (https://www.poetrynook.com/poem/elegy-lady-markham-0)âAs I Walked Out One Eveningâ by W.H. Auden (https://poets.org/poem/i-walked-out-one-evening)The Sacred podcast (https://www.theosthinktank.co.uk/comment/2017/12/06/introducing-the-sacred-podcast)Polarization, division, and the splitting of people - homophily and fight or flight responseJesus going to the margins, ignoring tribal boundaries and turning the other cheekSin and ReconciliationThe Givenness of Things: Essays by Marilynne Robinson, âI find the soul a valuable concept, a statement of the dignity of human lifeâ (https://www.brethrenpress.com/product_p/9781250097316.htm)The soul is interesting and difficult to name but is so valuableRoom for uncertainty and poetryâwe beat up our souls, keep ourselves distractedContemporary life is angry and greedyContempt is a poison for our souls and relationships and humanityStress and anxiety as a constantChristian non-violence traditionWe must feel our emotions - process them through the shared rituals of our communitiesDesire by Micheal OâSiadhail (https://www.baylorpress.com/9781481320061/desire/)Would you like to introduce your take on greed?Phyllis Tickle, dogged commitment of the scripture - the love of money is the root of all evilThe Parable of the Sower - Mark 4:19 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark 4%3A19&version=NIV)Made gods of wealth, greed, comfort, and connivenceGratitude is a medicine for greedOf Gratitude by Thomas Traherne? (https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/works-of-thomas-traherne-vii/of-gratitude/161CCCE8293EE4034F65AB436AB4D3F9)âThese are the Days We Prayed Forâ by Guvna B (https://genius.com/Guvna-b-these-are-the-days-lyrics)Notice and give thanks; misplaced desireAcadia, spiritual apathy, and heavy distractionAttention and discipline are formationThe Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt (https://www.anxiousgeneration.com/book)Community as accountability and rituals and set rhythms of lifeDivine Love, ultimate loveBaptism as a reminder of our death - love remainsQuiet space shared with others; honesty, vulnerability, emotional processingProduction Notes
This podcast featured Elizabeth OldfieldEdited and Produced by Evan RosaHosted by Evan RosaProduction Assistance by Kacie Barrett and Alexa RollowA Production of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School https://faith.yale.edu/aboutSupport For the Life of the World podcast by giving to the Yale Center for Faith & Culture: https://faith.yale.edu/give -
Elizabeth Neumann served as the Assistant Secretary for Counterterrorism and Threat Prevention at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security during the Bush Administration, and came back to the White House again in 2017 to serve in the Trump Administration.
Her job was to counter emerging right-wing extremism, fueled by long-standing anger, resentment, white supremacism, and Christian nationalism. By April 2020, she had resigned from the Trump Administration. Citing a failure of leadership and his imperiling of American security, she signed an August 2020 statement with 130 other Republican national security officials, boldly stating in no uncertain terms that Trump was unfit for office.
In this episode, Elizabeth opens up about this experience, told in her recent book Kingdom of Rage: The Rise of Christian Extremism and the Path Back to Peace. As a person of Christian faith with over two decades of experience in public service and national security, she offers a fascinating inside take on the inattention to domestic terrorism; she elucidates the emergence of a new and Christian extremism, grounded in rage and willing to take violent action; she explains the Jan 6 attack through the perspective of homeland security; and she reflects on Christian resources for responding to the chaotic, politicized anger characterized in right-wing extremism and how we might act as instruments of peace.
About Elizabeth Neumann
Elizabeth Neumann served as the Assistant Secretary for Counterterrorism and Threat Prevention at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security during the Bush administration, and came back to the White House again in 2017 to serve in the Trump Administration, publicly resigning in 2020. She is author of Kingdom of Rage: The Rise of Christian Extremism and the Path Back to Peace, and is a frequent guest on national news outlets, and the Chief Strategy Officer at Moonshot. She is based in the Denver, CO area.
Show Notes
Kingdom of Rage: The Rise of Christian Extremism and the Path Back to Peace by Elizabeth NeumannElizabeth Neumannâs faith journey and background in public service.Christian, North Texas/Bible Belt, more theologically conservativeâan âevangelical muttâBody of Christ is made up of different communitiesâpersonally gravitating towards more nerdy churches, an emphasis on Bible studiesPublic service as a way to live out the faithWorking for George W. Bush campaigns for governor and presidentâfederalism, conservative, to the states: faith-based community initiatives and Bushâs compassionate conservative agenda9/11 as a moment of changeWorking in Homeland Security, specifically in the Domestic Terrorism UniteInstances of domestic violent extremism: Pittsburg Tree of Life (2018), Christ Church in New Zealand (2019), and El Paso Walmart (2019)Do you think of them as domestic terrorism? Do you think of it as a kind of violence thatâs brewing from within? How does the Department of Security try to understand threats to America from within?Intelligence is used to inform responses to challenges, yet the means to collect donât work domestically and domestic material support of terrorism is not understood as criminalNo way to designate domestic terrorism groupsThe threat has been there all along; domestic extremists require a shift in the focus - many Americans (3%, roughly 8 million people) believe in the necessity of violence for political aimsWe donât talk about it so people donât know about it, but the church is equipped to discuss and address the underlying drivers that mobilize people to violenceHow did you experience perspective shifts?COVID in 2020, protests against COVID procedures, and the protests surrounding the murder of George FloydWeaponizing of crisis by Trump administration for re-election campaignThe ANTIFA movement; authoritarian responses from Trump that were illegal and unconstitutional; no longer anyone in the room to tell him noJanuary 6 highlighted a security failure that was both day of as well as a result of 20 years of ignoring a threat from withinWould you be willing to share a bit about what motivated your decision to leave the Trump administration?Presidential personnel interviews as a loyalty test; people being pushed out; how far were people willing to go for Donald Trump?Hatch Act: prohibits federal employees, including political appointees, from engaging in political activityChristian nationalist mindsetâHow does Christianity get radicalized?Extremism: when an in-group perceives a threat to its success or survival by an out-group and hostile action is necessaryâthis is the nature of contemporary politics which are saturated in fear and anger.The plausibility of violent actionViolence is not the option taught by Jesus and the ScripturesViolence has a historic presence in the Christian traditionChange in the presence of Christianity in society that is unsettling for some, but cannot be an excuse for extremists and violent actionWhat are the prospects of keeping it a peaceful community?Building protective factors and systems for healing brokennessUnmet needs cannot be allowed to be met by extremist ideology when the Church possesses the answers and the means to meet them; a call to properly investing in our communitiesThe Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan HaidtMotivated by emotions and experienceâcritical thinking is a vital skillWe are in a perpetual state of anger; we are called to not stay angryProcessing anger properly; being better at lament and grieving in a biblical wayTim Keller on idolatry and anger; an interfering with our idols; Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power and the Only Hope that Matters?What is lying more deeply within us when anger is on the surface?The space to lament and grieve in society in a healthy wayThe Lord can meet us in our anger; he will take it when we bring it to him and ask for helpWhat does it mean to be a Christian peacemaker?Intentionally caring for communities; the quiet spaces in which the face of God is seen in others by loving them.Production Notes
This podcast featured Elizabeth NeumannEdited and Produced by Evan RosaHosted by Evan RosaProduction Assistance by Alexa Rollow & Kacie BarrettA Production of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School https://faith.yale.edu/aboutSupport For the Life of the World podcast by giving to the Yale Center for Faith & Culture: https://faith.yale.edu/give -
Genuine disagreement is vanishingly rare. But to disagree with careful listening, empathy, respect, and independent thinkingâitâs an essential part of life in a pluralistic democratic society.
In this episode, legal scholar and author John Inazu joins Evan Rosa to talk about his new book, Learning to Disagree: The Surprising Path to Navigating Differences with Empathy and Respect. Heâs the Sally D. Danforth Distinguished Professor of Law and Religion at Washington University in St. Louis.
Together they discuss the challenge of disagreeing well in contemporary life, replete with the depersonalization of social media; the difference between certainty and confidence; what it means to think for oneself, freely and independently; the virtue of humility in civil discourse; the prospect for political dissent and civil disobedience; how to pursue the truth in a culture of principled pluralism; and practical steps toward empathic and respectful disagreement.
About John Inazu
John Inazu is the Sally D. Danforth Distinguished Professor of Law and Religion at Washington University in St. Louis. He teaches criminal law, law and religion, and various First Amendment courses. He writes and speaks frequently about pluralism, assembly, free speech, religious freedom, and other issues. John has written three booksâincluding Learning to Disagree: The Surprising Path to Navigating Differences with Empathy and Respect (Zondervan, 2024) and *Libertyâs Refuge: The Forgotten Freedom of Assembly* (Yale, 2012)âand has published opinion pieces in the Washington Post, Atlantic, Chicago Tribune, LA Times, USA Today, Newsweek, and CNN. He is also the founder of the Carver Project and the Legal Vocation Fellowship and is a senior fellow with Interfaith America.
Show Notes
"Yeah? Well, you know, that's just like uh, your opinion, man."Get a copy of Learning to Disagree: The Surprising Path to Navigating Differences with Empathy and Respect (https://www.jinazu.com/learning-to-disagree)Disagreement around civility and civil discourse particularlyIdentifying and naming disagreementPractical limits of human relationship as a reality of disagreementWhy you picked up learning to disagree, disagreement in particular? And why is it important to you? What drew you now to make a comment about disagreement?Libertyâs Refuge: The Forgotten Freedom of Assembly (https://www.jinazu.com/libertys-refuge)Right of Assembly in the first amendment and what it means in groups - Madison and factions (Federalist 10?)Confident Pluralism: Surviving and Thriving Through Deep Difference (https://www.jinazu.com/confident-pluralism)Constitutional lawThe First Amendment as what secures the ability to disagree - Freedom of Religion and Freedom of SpeechâOne is, even if that was part of the, original focus, like any ongoing tradition, it can be lost or ignored. And so there's this sense in which each new generation needs to understand and appreciate it for intrinsic reasons and not just because they read it in a book.âIndividual thinking but the reality of not doing anything individually as we are involved in embodied human relationshipsWhat starting points are there? You begin with empathy, what other starting points do you like to introduce to help people understand where youâre trying to take people with this?Complexity and compromise and recognizing that compromise isnât always possibleHumility in competing visions of truth and what is best for the world; no good or bad, just different persuasionsA desire for certainty which fear and laziness underlineI wonder if you could speak a little bit more to the legal background and why you think that is so helpful and so instructive for going through this framework of learning to disagree?âMaybe only prudentially in order to try to defeat it, but the work of understanding the other side's argument in the best light possible is itself a work of empathy that allows you to step into the headspace of the opponent a little bit and allows you to see why someone who is not dumb or is not You know, completely outside of society might actually think differently.âSupreme Court and difficult, political decisionsApplying the approaches that are taught in law schools in every day lifeThree branches of government and checks and balancesLoss of human relationships with colleagues in Congress and the increase of them in the Supreme CourtPolitical dissent and political dissidentsWhen to disagree?Protests, assemblies, and activismThe privilege of dissent in the United StatesSocial pressures, social stigma, and the confidence and responsibility to dissentHow to cultivate respect for the one who you disagree with?Love your enemies and the Christian calling for interpersonal relationship with the person you disagree with; there is no guarantee of reciprocityQuestion of belief, right belief and orthodoxyDifferences matter, especially in theological conversation, but that doesnât mean we should rest in certaintyLearning and granting grace to ourselves and one anotherLesslie Newbigin - confidence not certaintyHow do we cultivate that ability to stay in the middle of it? To hold the tension, being able to live in the complexity, stay invested that the conversation happens without getting disillusioned or apathetic?The differences between Preaching and PersuasionHow you recommended, what they can do today in the disagreements they find themselves in? What they can do at the level of mindset and what they can try to implement?Disagreement is something you have to practice and to know that mistakes will be madeLet conversations linger and take time and happen over multiple meetings - making the commitment to be together and be in conversationBuilding trust in disagreeing well - acknowledging the relationalDonât start with family; practice with others initiallyâBut regardless of sort of the relationship that you start with, go in with a full tank, right? don't don't go in when you yourself are like, impatient or exhausted or hungry, because you should go in kind of anticipating that there'll be some challenges to this. And if you can, on the front end say, you know what, in this conversation, I'm probably going to hear something that is going to offend me or annoy me.âFriends who disagree and the importance of friendshipMixing the serious with the playful and the mundaneFriendship as an important element of discourse and disagreementProduction Notes
This podcast featured John InazuEdited and Produced by Evan RosaHosted by Evan RosaProduction Assistance by Alexa Rollow & Kacie BarrettA Production of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School https://faith.yale.edu/aboutSupport For the Life of the World podcast by giving to the Yale Center for Faith & Culture: https://faith.yale.edu/give - Laat meer zien
