In All Things Podcast

UNTANGLING Gender with Fellipe do Vale (ep. 53)

On this episode of the podcast, we talk with Dr. Fellipe do Vale about his book Gender as Love. Gender is a topic of ever-increasing complexity, and that complexity requires a guide who can take us into the weeds with conviction and compassion. Among the topics we discuss:

• What it means to pursue a non-reductive account of gender, that takes the body seriously as well as the ways we live socially and culturally. 
• Why it is attractive but also problematic to see gender purely as a social construct
• Why solidarity and justice requires some sort of gender essentialism
• How the category of love can help organize the way that we think about identity, gender, and social goods
• Whether disability is an adequate category for dealing with difficulties in gender
• On what it might mean to move towards "friendship" with our bodies in the midst of the forces of sin and death

Get the book: https://bakeracademic.com/p/Gender-as-Love-Fellipe-do-Vale/516474

More on Dr. Fellipe do Vale: https://www.redeemer.ca/resound/god-at-the-centre/ 

QUOTING Scripture with Presidents and Kaitlyn Schiess (ep. 52)

On this episode of the podcast, we talk with Kaitlyn Schiess about her book The Ballot and The Bible: How Scripture Has Been Used And Abused in American Politics and Where We Go from Here. Among the topics we discuss:

• Distinguishing between better and worse ways of reading ourselves into the biblical story
• Uniquely American habits of reading the nation into the biblical story, taking every promise or command as directed towards national life.
• Worries about the wide range of political perspectives that are credited to the Bible
• What we might learn from comparing presidents' speeches at the National Prayer breakfast
• What it means to cite Scripture in a diverse, religiously pluralistic society
• The faithful use of politics in the pulpit and in public life

Get the book: https://bakerbookhouse.com/products/492154

Follow Kaitlyn Schiess: https://kaitlynschiess.com/ 

GIVING Thanks with Cornelius Plantinga (ep. 51)

On this episode of the podcast, we talk with Dr. Cornelius Plantinga, about his newly released book on Gratitude: Why Giving Thanks is the Key to Our Well Being. Among the topics we discuss:

• What it means to say that giving thanks is the key to our well being
• The relationship between the spontaneity of "feeling thankful" and the intentional practice of "cultivating gratitude"
• How we might learn from others in our lives or biblical characters as an "apprenticeship" of gratitude
• The difference between the biblical virtue of gratitude and gratitude as "self-improvement"
• Gratitude in the Reformed tradition and other streams
• Counsel for those who struggle to be grateful and where we might start.

Get the book: http://bakerpublishinggroup.com/books/gratitude/414400

RECONSIDERING C.S. Lewis with Mark Noll (ep. 50)

On this episode of the podcast, I talk with a living legend, historian Mark Noll. Dr. Noll is best known for work in American church history, especially The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind. In this conversation we talk about a new book about C.S. Lewis’s reception in America, using it as a lens for understanding American culture, then and now. Among the topics we discuss:

• Have American Christians always loved Lewis? How does the reception of Lewis among Catholics, Protestants, and the mainstream press shed light on American religious culture, then and now?
• Why were evangelicals the slowest to appreciate Lewis, and what accounts for the change? How does evangelical enthusiasm for Lewis connect to the "scandal of the evangelical mind"?
• Is there anything interesting about reception of Lewis among the Reformed, Kuyperians and others?
• Could there be another C.S. Lewis in our time? Should we even be looking for such a figure?
• As a historian looking at our contemporary times, what are some reasons for discouragement and what are some reasons for hope?

Get the book: https://www.ivpress.com/c-s-lewis-in-america 

FACING Evil with Ingrid Faro (ep. 49)

On this episode of the podcast I talk with Dr. Ingrid Faro, an Old Testament scholar and the author of a new book on evil in the Bible, Demystifying Evil: A Biblical and Personal Exploration. Among the topics we discuss:

• Why it is important to not separate Bible study from life but to do biblical reflection together with our deepest questions.
• Some of the most significant discoveries about the way that Scripture talks about evil, including one group of words that appears with the word "evil" about 2/3 of the time.
• Questions from my students: why even include the tree in the garden? And why let the serpent roam free? Doesn't this set up humans to fail?
• Counsel on how to name evil in the world and in other humans while also remembering the dignity of our fellow image bearers.
• How we can take responsibility for the evil we've suffered without becoming defined by it. 
• In a world that regularly exposes us to global injustice and atrocity, how do we keep from being overwhelmed?

Get the book: https://www.ivpress.com/demystifying-evil

REFUSING Partisan Identity with David French (ep. 48)

On this episode of the podcast, I’m joined by commentator and NYT columnist David French, to talk about politics and his recent book Divided We Fall. We talk partisan polarization, public witness, and I even ask him to give some predictions for the election cycle ahead. Among the questions we discuss:

• David's journey to becoming "a man without a party" and whether this marginalizes him on both sides or gives him a unique opportunity
• The shifting discourse from "the other side is wrong" to "the other side is evil"
• The possibility of the breakup of the American republic ("Calexit" and "Texit")
• Postures that are necessary to weather the upcoming election cycle
• How to discern "dangerous ideas" and to engage in public witness with compassion and conviction

Get the book: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250201973/dividedwefall

Included music on this episode: "People Are People Too" from the Ruralists album "Trying." Find lyrics and more here: https://www.fullyruralized.com/  

INVENTING Art and Learning to See with Katie Kresser (ep. 47)

On this episode of the podcast, I talk with an art historian, Dr. Katie Kresser, about how art can train our imaginations to look at our neighbors and the world with dignity and love. She is a writer I follow closely, and her book, Bezalel's Body is the most thought-provoking book I’ve read in the last year! I was thrilled to have the chance to ask her some questions about it. Among the topics we discuss:

• "When God died, art was born." How the Christian story - of the death and resurrection of God the Son - made art possible 
• How art can train the imagination to look at the world in the right way, recognizing dignity and not reducing others to ourselves.
• The consequences when we neglect to disciple our imaginations, and some of the unintended results of the Reformation turn from the visual towards the verbal.
• The burden of living in the contemporary "society of the spectacle," where we feel that we must make ourselves.
• What makes something art, what makes for "good art," and how to build bridges between artists and the church.

• “Our destiny is the product of the real work we do amid the secret life of the universe with God’s providential help. We are too foolish to see it. But love sees it.” (201)

Get the book: https://wipfandstock.com/9781532645648/bezalels-body/

Included music on this episode is "Murmur" from the Ruralists album "Trying." Find lyrics and more here: https://www.fullyruralized.com/  

 

MARKING Meaning with Ritual with Amy Davis Abdallah (ep. 46)

On this episode of the podcast, I talk with Dr. Amy Davis Abdallah about her new book, Meaning in the Moment: How Rituals Help Us Move Through Joy, Pain, and Everything in Between. It’s a conversation about the power of ritual and how rituals help us find meaning and direction as we face endings, middles, and new beginnings. Among the topics we discuss:

• Why some people fear and might be suspicious of "ritual" 
• How we already ritualize (though we may not call it that)
• Fascinating psychological research on the power of rituals, and how even calling something a ritual may increase its potency.
• How our rituals may go wrong and become "empty"
• What sorts of things we should ritualize, and what it means to create powerful rituals.

Dr. Abdallah shares a powerful story about living in NY during 9/11, and the role rituals played in the aftermath. She also takes time to lead us in an exercise at the end. 

Get the book: https://bakerbookhouse.com/products/516480

Follow Dr. Abdallah: https://www.amydavisa.com/ 

Included music on this episode is "HereNow" from the Ruralists album "Trying." Find lyrics and more here: https://www.fullyruralized.com/  

 

 

GUIDING the Good Life with Meghan Sullivan (ep. 45)

On this episode of the podcast, I talk with Dr. Meghan Sullivan about her book The Good Life Method. The book, which is based on a wildly popular course at the University of Notre Dame, prescribes philosophy as care for the soul, teaching us to ask stronger questions about God and what makes for a good life. Among the questions we discuss:

• The disconnect between the contemporary practice of philosophy and the deep philosophical crises many are having
• What philosophy can offer that happiness studies or design theory can't
• How to ask stronger questions that move towards contemplation rather than control
• Love as a virtues that requires a greater capacity for attention than action
• How students are wrestling with faith and counsel for parents who worry about them
• The essential task of facing sadness and suffering

About 33 minutes in, Dr. Sullivan reads a passage from the book that is worth the price of admission. Get the book: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/624476/the-good-life-method-by-meghan-sullivan-and-paul-blaschko 

Included music on this episode is "In Between" from the Ruralists album Trying. Find lyrics and more here: https://www.fullyruralized.com/ 

 

PRACTICING Christian Theology with Kevin Hector (ep. 44)

On this episode of the podcast, I talk with Dr. Kevin Hector about his new book Christianity as a Way of Life. The book is an unusual and illuminating approach to writing a systematic theology, explaining Christianity in terms of practices rather than merely an account of beliefs. Among the topics we discuss:

• Why understanding Christianity as a way of life (including practices, beliefs, and experiences) requires a systematic theology
• How to do justice to the diversity of Christian tradition while also emphasizing attention to particular traditions 
• A practical doctrine of Sabbath that understands rest as more than just a cessation of work
• A practical doctrine of creation that starts with a way of caring for creation as God's gift
• The crucial practice of seeing God's image in others
• Why our practices fail, and what we may hope as we practice Christian faith

Note: in the podcast, Dr. Hector references "tongsung kido" a Korean Christian practice of praying aloud at the same time as others.

Get the book: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300244090/christianity-as-a-way-of-life/

Included music on this episode is "Before We Know" from the Ruralists album Trying. Find lyrics and more here: https://www.fullyruralized.com/