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“Wisdom is not just about knowledge. Wisdom adds to knowledge with discernment, with understanding, with a moral sense of what’s right and wrong.”
We live in a time of overflowing and interweaving crises. A global pandemic exacerbates a mental health crisis caused social media technology. The upheaval of American electoral politics caused by an erosion (or breakdown?) of social and relational trust. The rise of nationalism, the proliferation of war, and longing for justice in the realms of gender and race.
Underneath it all appears to be a crisis of knowledge and its convergence around skepticism of science, a culture of suspicion, and confusion about basic factual information, let alone right and wrong.
We need wisdom. Badly. But in times of crisis and chaos, where are we to turn for wisdom?
In this episode Mark Labberton is joined by longtime friend Francis Collins, physician, researcher, and former director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Known for his leadership in mapping the human genome, his public service at the NIH spanned three presidencies and culminated with overseeing the national response to Covid-19 pandemic.
The author of many books, including his bestselling The Language of God, Collins’s new book is *The Road to Wisdom: On Truth, Science, Faith, and Trust,* a reflection on the crisis of truth, science, faith, and trust, and how the exhausted middle might chart a path toward a better future.
About Francis Collins
Francis S. Collins, MD, PhD, is the former director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). As the longest serving director of NIH—spanning twelve years and three presidencies—he oversaw the work of the largest supporter of biomedical research in the world, from basic to clinical research.
Collins is a physician-geneticist noted for his landmark discoveries of disease genes and his leadership of the international Human Genome Project, which culminated in April 2003 with the completion of a finished sequence of the human DNA instruction book. He served as director of the National Human Genome Research Institute at the NIH from 1993 to 2008.
Collins's research laboratory has discovered a number of important genes, including those responsible for cystic fibrosis, neurofibromatosis, Huntington's disease, a familial endocrine cancer syndrome, and most recently, genes for type 2 diabetes, and the gene that causes Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome, a rare condition that causes premature aging.
Collins received a BS in chemistry from the University of Virginia, a PhD in physical chemistry from Yale University, and an MD with honours from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to coming to the NIH in 1993, he spent nine years on the faculty of the University of Michigan, where he was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. He is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences. Collins was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in November 2007 and the National Medal of Science in 2009.
Show Notes
Get your copy of The Road to Wisdom: On Truth, Science, Faith, and Trust “The crisis behind the crisis. It’s the crisis of culture. It’s the crisis of mind and heart. It’s the crisis of society. It’s the crisis of faith.” Collins occupying various roles through this book: professor, advocate, mentor, philosopher, coach, scientist, pathologist, and perhaps most saliently, cultural diagnostician. Being on the road to wisdom Helping those in the exhausted middle, to offer ways to do something to address cultural crises Collins summarizes the arc of the book TRUTH: “There is such a thing as objective truth. But it is not necessarily very popular in many circumstances.” “Facts—*established facts—*are now sometimes called into question because somebody doesn’t like the fact.” Jonathan Rauch on the “Constitution of Knowledge” “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free. He doesn’t say the counter that lies will imprison you, but you might have to think about that.” Science as a pathway to the truth Anecdotes vs. empirical science “We have to bring faith into this conversation if we’re trying to shape a future that it gives you a chance to tap into all the wisdom that's there.” TRUST: “I found in my own experience, some of the information that turned out to be most life-changing came from a source that I never would have considered as part of my reliable circle of buddies, but I needed to hear it.” “Wisdom is not just about knowledge. Wisdom adds to knowledge with discernment, with understanding, with a moral sense of what’s right and wrong.” “Our society is in trouble.” Where will the solution come from? No politicians, not media, but only us. Empowering people to be part of the solution “Love is your calling. Anger and fear are not your calling.” “Listen to understand.” Don’t distribute information unless you’re sure it’s true. Build bridges with neighbours and within communities. Braver Angels Website “If you put information in front of people that’s well established, they’ll make rational decisions. And I assume that’s what science is all about.” Collins’s experience leading the charge to develop Covid-19 vaccines, and then managing the resistance to vaccines “People of faith in many instances were the most likely to fall into the category of not trusting what science had to say.” The cultural crisis beneath the medical crisis of Covid vaccine skepticism Collins reflects on public health responses to Covid-19 (school closures, mask mandates, etc.) Systemic breakdown caused by fear, anxiety, distrust, and suspicion Collins comments on Anthony Fauci’s public service throughout Covid-19 Discrediting and redefining science, subverting faith Postmodernism and the erasure of objectivity and reason in science “Nothing is true except our perspective.” Francis Collins’s perspectives on the Christian church Christians’ ungrounded fear that this is a war Tim Alberta’s book The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory “Seeing through a glass darkly.” (1 Cor 13) A book of hope and whole human experience “There are profound reasons for each of us to engage. This is an argument about not standing aside. It’s crucial to see that what we are fighting for is great and glorious, and worth every bit of the effort from each of us. Truth, science, faith, and trust are not just sources of relief from a painful period in our country’s life. They represent the grandest achievements and insights of human civilization. They literally hold down the promise of a better life for every person on this planet in material terms, in spiritual terms, and in social and cultural terms. To take up this challenge is therefore not an act one of exhaustion or desperation. But one arising from the hopeful pursuit of the promise of greater flourishing of our entire humandom.”Production Credits
Conversing is produced and distributed in partnership with Comment magazine and Fuller Seminary.
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Is perfection possible? And if so, is it worth the cost to your mental and spiritual health?
The quest for perfection haunts many people: students, athletes, employees, parents—and the children of those parents!
While this quest is often framed as the pursuit of excellence, virtue, and success, perfectionism often results in various maladaptive behaviours—such as procrastination, people-pleasing, relational stress, and mental illnesses, including anxiety and depression disorders.
In this episode, Mark Labberton welcomes Dr. Kenneth Wang, Professor of Psychology at Fuller School of Psychology, to talk about the psychological and spiritual dynamics of perfectionism.
Together, they explore the connections between perfectionism and a range of personal and mental health issues, such as depression, achievement, religiosity, racial identity, and self-esteem. They reflect on the cultural obsession with perfection; the severe psychological and social burdens of trying to be perfect; the toxicity of comparison to others; the meaning of being “good enough”; and the spiritual impact of encouraging perfection in education, career, relationships, and personal life.
About Kenneth Wang
Kenneth Wang is Professor of Psychology at Fuller School of Psychology. He’s an experienced therapist, and has conducted extensive research that spans the psychology of religion, to mindful meditation, to coping with trauma, mental health and race, moral character and virtue formation, diversity, and cross-cultural adjustment. His expertise is in the psychological study of perfectionism in familial, educational, religious contexts—looking at the phenomenon across a variety of cultures. Visit Dr. Kenneth Wang’s website to take an online assessment for perfectionism and consider guidance and coaching from Dr. Wang.
Show Notes
Societal perfectionism and the lure of the perfect through technology Comparing perfectionism in Asia vs America Comparing ourselves to others “Editing for the perfect shot” “There’s no time to relax or rest.” “One thing that's underlying challenges of perfectionism is that we compare ourselves with others and we feel like we're not good enough.” Rank-ordered report cards in Taiwan The psychological weight of pressure to perform Competition and perfectionism The elusive search for contentment The difference between performance and perfectionism Perfectionism’s two core dimensions: (1) striving to meet very high standards of excellence / (2) discrepancy or evaluative concerns—being truly bothered by any amount of imperfections “Extreme perfectionists can’t tolerate any imperfection.” Shame, rumination, and anxiety Kenneth guides Mark through a live perfectionism evaluation “Is your best good enough?” “Adaptive perfectionism” “I did the best I could” vs “I’m sure I always could have done better.” Cross-cultural dimensions of perfectionism: wanting to fit in, the exhaustion of trying to get things right, and language apprehensiveness Timidity and fear to make a mistake Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder and perfectionism The view of oneself: performance achievement mentality, seeking validation, unstable self-worth Perfectionists magnify imperfections Inner critic Kenneth Wang’s recovery as a perfectionism Can perfectionists forgive themselves for displeasing others? How to deal with the emotions that come along with perfectionist catastrophizing Training mental muscles to become more resilient to negative emotions How to “sit with emotions” Japanese Kintsugi practices and the visibility of a history of brokenness: gold paint that highlights brokenness and imperfect repair Theological reflections on perfection: “Only God is perfect.” How does Christianity speak into perfectionism with grace and truth? “I am the vine, you are the branches.” Shame and giving up on our illusions of perfection Coping with inadequacy Allowing God to lead us into the broad place instead of the narrow place Fuller Theological Seminary’s “Imperfect Culture Lab”Production Credits
Conversing is produced and distributed in partnership with Comment Magazine and Fuller Seminary.
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The news media offers a steady drip of audacity, nerve, and offence—something for each end of the political spectrum and every corner of the public square.
But when we integrate audacity with a humble confidence, it can lead to powerful acts of love and justice.
The gospel makes an audacious claim about God’s grace. It makes an audacious demand that we love our neighbours in humility. And that combination of audacity and humility keeps us seeking to engage in real conversations about ultimate things—despite our differences, despite resentments, despite all the reasons to give up on building something together.
In this Conversing Short, Mark Labberton reflects on the meaning of audacity, humility, and courage when the church engages in public life.
About Conversing Shorts
“In between my longer conversations with people who fascinate and inspire and challenge me, I share a short personal reflection, a focused episode that brings you the ideas, stories, questions, ponderings, and perspectives that animate Conversing and give voice to the purpose and heart of the show. Thanks for listening with me.”
About Mark Labberton
Mark Labberton is the Clifford L. Penner Presidential Chair Emeritus and Professor Emeritus of Preaching at Fuller Seminary. He served as Fuller’s fifth president from 2013 to 2022. He’s the host of Conversing.
Show Notes
What is audacity? Virtuous audacity, e.g., The Audacity of Hope (like Barack Obama) Injurious audacity, e.g., preposterous, foolish, offensive, distorting, railroading, steamrolling, shutting down, closing off But an additional form of audacity “has led to the humblest and most sacrificial forms of human service and love and compassion and mercy and justice.” Imagine a crowd of Berkeley, CA, protesters lined up before you, demanding: “How dare you?” Audacity and courage “It actually helped galvanize in my own voice—in my heart, in my lungs, in my mind—a sense of what I hope was humble confidence in proclaiming a gospel that I did and do believe is true.” “How do we actually engage in real conversation about ultimate things?” Adopting a stance of “we are all in this together” “How dare we believe and speak in God’s name?” “Indeed how dare I, and then also how dare I not if this is actually true?!” Integrating humility, confidence, courageProduction Credits
Conversing is produced and distributed in partnership with Comment magazine and Fuller Seminary.
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How should we approach disagreements when our deepest convictions and commitments are challenged or questioned? A healthy society is built around the ability to navigate these kinds of disagreements with responsibility and respect, but in our increasingly polarized society, it’s becoming harder and harder to cultivate the habits, skills, and virtues that can keep us united amid our vehement disagreements.
In this episode Mark welcomes legal scholar and law professor John Inazu to discuss how to approach disagreement with wisdom, care, and a commitment to the well-being of the other. John is the Sally D. Danforth Distinguished Professor of Law and Religion at Washington University in St. Louis. He speaks and writes frequently about pluralism, assembly, free speech, and religious freedom. His latest book is Learning to Disagree: The Surprising Path to Navigating Differences with Empathy and Respect.
Together Mark and John discuss the role of fear management when approaching difficult conversations; how to appreciate the complexity and diversity of perspectives in others; the role of empathy in communication; how to learn to disagree constructively in different life contexts from work to home to politics; how authority, power dynamics, and social roles factor in productive disagreements; the light and dark sides of civility; and how to navigate and negotiate our disagreements with compassion and love.
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 books—including Learning to Disagree: The Surprising Path to Navigating Differences with Empathy and Respect (Zondervan, 2024) and Liberty’s Refuge: The Forgotten Freedom of Assembly (Yale University Press, 2012)—and has published opinion pieces in the Washington Post, The 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
Get your copy of Learning to Disagree: The Surprising Path to Navigating Differences with Empathy and Respect (https://www.jinazu.com/learning-to-disagree) John Inazu’s background as a legal scholar and expert on first amendment rights, including the freedom to assemble peaceably, or “the right to peaceful assembly” How to learn from lawyers about how to disagree How does fear factor into communicating through disagreement? What neuroscience has taught as about fear “I can understand why you feel that…” Well-practiced habits Be prepared to engage differently Learning how to practice communication outside of a toxic social media or online context Empathy and the complexity of others’ views Canadian psychological research on empathy Avoiding abstraction in order to cultivate empathy David Brooks’s book, How to Know a Person How to understand fundamental versus surface-level differences Heated political issues and the social roles we inhabit Power dynamics, authority, and responsibility Power dynamics in the classroom How to approach disagreement in political protests on college campuses, e.g., Columbia University “Part of that responsibility is recognizing that people are hurting in very deep ways. … We’re not talking about abstractions or debating some historical event, we’re talking about real felt emotions.” “I'm aware that the capacity for interpersonal interaction has fallen off and it becomes more and more a school, or an environment, or a culture in which disagreement is not allowed.” Civility as a virtue or a vice? Purely cognitive rationality vs complex, emotional passions Fannie Lou Hamer and playing by a different set of social norms and rules Polarization and political tensions in partisan America “Totalizing positions” and the shrinking possibility of genuine communications Shirley Mullen’s book, Claiming the Courageous Middle How to uphold convictions without surrendering any ultimate truth claims How John Inazu has been shaped, formed, and influenced Curiosity and patience Close relationships that do formative work The Antidote for our cultural moment: “A lot of very small and very personal efforts where individual lives change postures … and contribute to social change with storytelling and exemplars and costly practices.” Small incremental steps: Jesus’s metaphor that the Kingdom of God is like yeast What would happen if American Christians started listening to the global church? What is the role of the imagination in learning to disagree?Production Credits
Conversing is produced and distributed in partnership with Comment magazine and Fuller Seminary.
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“The mystery has great meaning.”
Joy and sorrow don’t have to be dissonant opposites, author Amy Low suggests. There can be harmony in the space between triumph and tragedy. In her recent memoir, *The Brave In-Between: Notes from the Last Room,* she recounts her battle with Stage IV metastatic colon cancer following the end of her marriage.
Her gracious, generous wisdom is beautifully expressed on her book’s back cover: “Through the swirl of prolonged trauma and unbearable grief, a vantage point emerged—a window that showed her the way to relish life and be kinder to herself and others while living through the inevitable loss and heartbreak that crosses everyone’s paths.”
In this episode, Mark Labberton welcomes Amy for a conversation about the lessons she’s learned from living with cancer, including: how to come to terms with our own deaths; dealing with divorce and a traumatic end of a relationship; how to walk the path of forgiveness and humility; the immense complexity and beauty of humanity; how to explore the meaning of mystery without fear; the role of friendship and community in dealing with cancer; and the hope of imagining heaven.
About Amy Low
Amy Low, author of *The Brave In-Between: Notes from the Last Room,* has been a storyteller all her life. She grew up in and continues to live life through parables and metaphors. She sees her life as an invitation to discovering the new every day and even records some of these discoveries in her Substack, Postcards from the Mountain. As the managing director for fellowships and non-profit journalism at the Emerson Collective, she directs efforts to empower individuals and newsrooms to strengthen our shared conversation in the public square. Most important, Amy is mom to Connor and Lucy. Her proudest achievement is raising a son and daughter who are unafraid, grateful, and curious, whether in class, at home, on stage, or especially in the band.
Get your copy of *The Brave In-Between: Notes from the Last Room.*
Follow Amy’s story through her Substack, Postcards from the Mountain.
Being in the last room of one’s life
The profundity and sacredness of discussing one’s “last room”—”the most human place of all”
Bravery, imagination, and generosity
Amy Low’s cancer diagnosis of Stage IV metastatic colon cancer at 48 years old
Discovering metastases
Living in the last room: an unusual place to inhabit in mid-life
There are different ways to live in the last room.
St. Paul’s “last room” as described in the Letter to the Philippians
Lament and levity
Grief and being with people in their last rooms
Being fully alive in the midst of facing one’s death
“I can say with confidence for me that divorce was far harder than cancer. When I had to grapple with the gravity of my disease and the diagnosis and what I was going to face … I had come through a space of the woods that I can say was far more ominous, far harder, far more heartbreaking.”
Divorce
Forgiveness and receiving care from her ex-husband
How to create a new story in the wake of tragedy and trauma
Forgiveness as “releasing people from the negative consequences of their behavior”
“Giving yourself permission to be truly loved, and to be truly released from shame.”
Fear
Amy’s honest, artful, candid expression of her story
“Metaphors are places that hold ambiguity.”
Finding peace with ambiguity and mystery
Joy and purpose
“The worst thing anyone ever said to me was, you know, this whole thing is like so random. … And I thought, ‘No. No. The minute you call this random, the minute this doesn’t have any meaning.”
“The mystery has great meaning.”
Grappling with the tension of purpose and pain
How specific friends stood by Amy in approaching the experience of her cancer diagnosis
“Don’t just do something. Stand there.”
The challenge of receiving without giving much back—and reframing the meaning of “giving back”
The hope of imagining heaven
Heaven on earth as parachuting hot dogs
“The great hope is that we all wake up and we laugh at the good stuff and be brave at the hard stuff.”
Production Credits
Conversing is produced and distributed in partnership with Comment Magazine and Fuller Seminary.
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“A certain degree of faith in Providence and a certain degree of confidence in America … May that combination not be overwhelmed by some disaster.” (New York Times columnist Ross Douthat, offering a blessing for election season)
Contemporary political debate and commentary operates from deeply moral sources. People tend to vote their conscience. Our values and ideals, our sense of right and wrong, and our beliefs about what contributes or detracts from the common good often inform our politics.
And across the political spectrum, Americans of all stripes exercise their citizenship and public engagement through a religious faith that grounds it all. So, what better space to explore this conjunction of faith, morality, and political life than The New York Times Opinion section?
Today on the show, Ross Douthat joins Mark Labberton to discuss how his faith and theological commitments ground his moral and political perspectives. Douthat joined The New York Times as an Opinion columnist in 2009, and regularly appears on the weekly Opinion podcast, “Matter of Opinion.” He’s also a film critic for National Review and was previously senior editor at The Atlantic.
In this episode, they discuss the spiritual and political background of Douthat’s youth and how Roman Catholic Christianity grounded his religious and political views; the challenges for how the Catholic Church and its moral teachings can adapt to contemporary culture; how faith and morality can speak to our dynamic political moment during the 2024 election season; and finally Ross’s hope and faith in divine providence met with confidence in America’s resilience and capacity for good.
About Ross Douthat
Ross Douthat joined The New York Times as an Opinion columnist in 2009, and regularly appears on the weekly Opinion podcast, “Matter of Opinion.” He’s also a film critic for National Review. Previously, he was a senior editor at The Atlantic. He is the author of several books, including The Deep Places: A Memoir of Illness and Discovery (2021), The Decadent Society (2020), To Change the Church: Pope Francis and the Future of Catholicism (2018), Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics (2012); Privilege: Harvard and the Education of the Ruling Class (2005), and, with Reihan Salam, Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream (2008). His newest book, Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious, will be published in early 2025.
Show Notes
Ross Douthat’s spiritual background as Episcopalian, Pentecostal-Evangelical, and eventually Roman Catholic
Our “spiritually haunted environment”
How Catholicism has changed from Pope John Paul II to Pope Francis
Adapting moral teachings to contemporary challenges
“Many, many of the problems in our culture and the reasons for people's unhappiness are related to issues of sex and relationships.”
“Jesus says incredibly stringent and strenuous things in the Gospels about sex.”
“I think if the church stops having some sort of countercultural message on those issues, then it won't actually be speaking to the big challenges and derangements of our time.”
“All of the developed world is heading over this demographic cliff…”
People aren’t getting married anymore. They aren’t forming relationships anymore.”
Pope Francis, pastoral sensitivity, and making moral concessions to contemporary culture
Pope Francis squelching the Latin mass
Commenting on the dynamics and craziness of our political moment
“Over the course of my career, I have tried to spend a lot of time with the idea that Catholicism in particular, and I think Christianity in general, should stand a little bit outside of partisan categories.”
How the Republican Party can address the needs of the working class
Ross Douthat’s views during the Trump Era
Providence and appealing to God’s control
"Man proposes, and God disposes.”
“The world has grown weirder in general, in the last decade, than it was when I was in my twenties.”
Providence and freedom
Ross’s thesis in The Decadent Society: “The Western world and really the whole planet was sort of stuck stagnant. We'd achieved this incredible level of wealth and technological power, we'd filled the earth and subdued it to some degree, but we were suffering from uncertainty, malaise, and ennui because we didn't know what to do next.”
Space travel and Elon Musk
Looking for help from some other power: God, Aliens, or A.I.
The unique perspective Ross Douthat brings to The New York Times
“As the world has grown weirder, I've felt a little more comfortable being weird myself, and that so far hasn't gotten me fired.”
“You know, not to brag, but yeah, I'm probably the weirdest columnist at a major American newspaper.”
Offering a blessing for the nation’s experience between now and election day
“Life in the United States is an underrated good. Americans have become very pessimistic, very unhappy with each other, sometimes unhappy with themselves … And I think actually, beneath that difficult surface, America has a lot of real strengths and real resilience and American culture is better positioned, I think, than a lot of cultures around the world to navigate the next 50 to 100 years of human history. So I think that should give people some confidence.”
“A certain degree of faith in Providence and a certain degree of confidence in America.”
Production Credits
Conversing is produced and distributed in partnership with Comment Magazine and Fuller Seminary.
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Sacred spaces are not secret spaces. The church enacts a gospel reality that is inherently universal and transparent in the world. And what better metaphor than building a church sanctuary made of glass to communicate the invitation of the gospel to the world?
In this Conversing Short, Mark Labberton reflects on the implications of this architectural decision. He also considers the opportunities for community conversation; the invitation to communion, dialogue, and unity; and a fearless, gospel-centered transparency between the church and the world.
About Conversing Shorts
“In between my longer conversations with people who fascinate and inspire and challenge me, I share a short personal reflection, a focused episode that brings you the ideas, stories, questions, ponderings, and perspectives that animate Conversing and give voice to the purpose and heart of the show. Thanks for listening with me.”
About Mark Labberton
Mark Labberton is the Clifford L. Penner Presidential Chair Emeritus and Professor Emeritus of Preaching at Fuller Seminary. He served as Fuller’s fifth president from 2013 to 2022. He’s the host of Conversing.
Show Notes
Preaching in a glass-walled sanctuary at First Presbyterian Berkeley, CA
“It’s one cross, in the world and for the church… but it’s for everyone.”
The “live theater” of preaching in a glass-walled sanctuary
We live in a church and world of both stillness and movement—which is embodied in Jesus’s ministry
“I wanted to feel like what I was doing in the sanctuary would land as much with realistic speech and tone and assumption in the streets of Berkeley as it would land inside the sanctuary.”
“It was a good way to hold my feet to the fire. Would I say this if I was standing exposed as it were on the street outside? Or would I only say this inside the closed walls of, yes, a clear glass wall church? So it became a metaphor—a reality—a vivid visual play that was part of every Sunday.”
Utter transparency of glass over stone walls
In a sacred space there is a transparency.
“The same kind of tyranny against faith exists inside us, but also around us. And now we're together going to share in the celebration of the Lord's table. ‘Come all you who are hungry. Eat and drink of this body and this bread.’ We're doing that in public view.
How do we live the claims of the gospel in a way that’s humble—not arrogant, not presumptuous, not full of pride, not insider-outsider, not us-versus-them… we are the us.”
“The gospel is for all of us.”
Production Credits
Conversing is produced and distributed in partnership with Comment Magazine and Fuller Seminary.
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“When we pursue excellence it doesn’t have to come at the cost of our emotional and relational health.” (Ben Houltberg)
How do we form an identity and sense of self? Do we define ourselves based on the fragile glass shelter of what we achieve or how well we perform? If so, how does that affect our sense of meaning and purpose in life?
With the 2024 Paris Olympics underway, it’s easy to imagine how an elite athlete at the top of her game might form an identity based on her athletic or competitive performance.
In this episode, Mark Labberton welcomes developmental scientist Ben Houltberg to reflect on the pursuit of achievement and excellence, exploring what’s at stake for our psychological and spiritual health when we find our identity and life’s meaning in our performance.
Together they discuss: the glass shelter of athletic achievement and the opportunity that emerges when it inevitably shatters; the various performance contexts of family, relationships, education, sports, career, and religion; the dangers of conditional acceptance based on performance; the performance-enhancing impact of healthy coaching and mentoring relationships; the transformative effects of unconditional love; and ultimately, how to be free from a performance-based identity.
About Ben Houltberg
Benjamin Houltberg is a developmental scientist, experienced marriage and family therapist, and president and CEO of Search Institute. He is associate research professor at the University of Southern California, and was previously associate professor of human development at Fuller Theological Seminary’s School of Psychology. Follow him @benhoultberg, and learn more about Search Institute online.
Show Notes
About Ben Houltberg: developmental scientist, licensed marriage and family therapist, and CEO of Search Institute
About “performance-based identity”
Olympics and athletic performance-based identity
“When we pursue excellence it doesn't have to come at the cost of our emotional and relational health.”
“What is my purpose?”
Olympic athlete Simone Biles’ public breakdown and dominant return to gymnastics
“If you think about the natural trajectory of an elite athlete, it is towards a performance-based identity.”
How elite athletes form their identity in their athletic performance.
“A Glass Shelter” of athletic achievement: what happens when that glass shelter breaks?
When the glass shelter breaks, it becomes a transformative opportunity.
“Whether it was youth sports and training for a marathon, or whether it was in elite athletes or whether it was in different large organizations and their staff employees … the profile emerges that it is in some ways a human condition: that performance-based identity can really trap us into an approach to life and an approach to relationships and approach to competition that is undermining us and will eventually lead to a shattered sense of self.”
Actor vs performer in the world (Action vs. Performance)
Influenced by what other people think we are
How to understand “performance context” across domains of sports, education, career, relationships, family, morality, and society at large
The dangers of limiting our identities to performance
Conditional acceptance based on performance
Human relationships, connectivity, and collectivism as performance enhancing
Coaching and mentoring to deal with the stress of performing
NCAA sports
Helping young people find “the spark”—their passion and potential and purpose
How the Search Institute studies performance-based identity
Christian faith and unconditional love
How to be free from a performance-based identity
Finding our identity in beauty, connection, and commonality
Production Credits
Conversing is produced and distributed in partnership with Comment Magazine and Fuller Seminary.
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People have been given so many reasons to despise Christianity. What would it be to communicate with and for the “cultured despisers of the faith”? This was the audience Friedrich Schleiermacher wrote to in his seminal work, The Christian Faith, and it is the audience Mark Labberton sought to speak to when preaching at First Presbyterian Church in Berkeley, California.
In this Conversing Short, Mark considers the importance of communicating the gospel in its fullness to a culture that understandably despises Christianity, rather than domesticating it as the ecclesiastical industrial complex has.
About Conversing Shorts
“In between my longer conversations with people who fascinate and inspire and challenge me, I share a short personal reflection, a focused episode that brings you the ideas, stories, questions, ponderings, and perspectives that animate Conversing and give voice to the purpose and heart of the show. Thanks for listening with me.”
About Mark Labberton
Mark Labberton is the Clifford L. Penner Presidential Chair Emeritus and Professor Emeritus of Preaching at Fuller Seminary. He served as Fuller’s fifth president from 2013 to 2022. He’s the host of Conversing.
Show Notes
19th-century theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher
"Cultured despisers of the faith” (introduced in The Christian Faith and On Religion: Speeches to Its Cultured Despisers)
Darwin, Freud, and Nietzsche
“If you were a cultured person, you would have abandoned the faith.”
“People's life circumstances have, for understandable reasons, left them in a position to despise the faith.”
Reflecting Jesus or reflecting the “ecclesiastical industrial complex”?
Christian questions about what really matters
“The gospel itself, by God's revelation in Christ, if that's true, is a shocking surprise to the world.”
How the Gospel has been domesticated by the Church
Annie Dillard: if we understood the power of what we’re dealing with, we’d hand out crash helmets and seatbelts in church.
Production Credits
Conversing is produced and distributed in partnership with Comment Magazine and Fuller Seminary.
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“Out of the greatest misery and the most devastating loss can come unimagined growth, and, in some cases, joy and happiness.”
Mark Labberton welcomes pioneering social entrepreneur Mawi Asgedom, an award-winning innovator, author, and advocate for social-emotional learning (SEL). Sharing his story of struggle, resilience, and redemption, Mawi describes his extraordinary journey from war-torn Ethiopia to a Sudanese refugee camp, to a childhood on welfare in an affluent American suburb, to Harvard graduate, to sharing a stage with Oprah Winfrey, to reimagining educational technology to improve youth mental health and thriving.
Together they discuss the essential life lessons Mawi has learned and taught through his remarkable personal history, including the difficult cultural transition as an Ethiopian refugee in the Chicago suburbs, the pain of losing his brother followed by the pain of losing his faith, the power of positivity and mature Christian faith, and his vision for helping children develop social-emotional skills to navigate life.
About Mawi Asgedom
Mawi Asgedom is an award-winning innovator, author, and advocate for social-emotional learning (SEL). He has spent over 20 years helping youth unlock their potential, training millions of educators and students, and collaborating with leading youth development organizations. His book, Of Beetles and Angels: A Boy’s Remarkable Journey from a Refugee Camp to Harvard, is a survival story of overcoming war, famine, suffering, and countless obstacles. He is the creator of Inner Heroes Universe, and his work has been featured by various media outlets, including Oprah Winfrey, who named her interview with Mawi one of her top 20 moments. A father of four school-aged kids, Mawi can often be found coaching youth sports on the weekends.
Show notes
Read Mawi Asgedom’s book: Of Beetles and Angels: A Boy's Remarkable Journey from a Refugee Camp to Harvard
A story of challenge, struggle, pain and suffering; but also a story of God's faithfulness, and Mawi’s resilience, joy, devotion, love, intelligence, and hard work
Mawi’s childhood and origin story
Life in Tigray, Ethiopia
Civil War that led to the establishment of Eritrea
Mawi’s mother’s incredible journey from Ethiopia to Sudan, facing the dangers of hyenas, rebel forces, and homelessness with her three children
The normalcy of suffering
Describing the refugee camp in Sudan
How Mawi understands his personal history and life experience
A Nail Through the Finger: how parents in dire circumstances teach children to survive
“Where I come from, people expect a lot of bad things to happen. It's just part of how life is. In the States, people get really upset if any bad things happen.”
Mawi’s experience of cultural assimilation
His family’s relocation to Wheaton, Illinois, outside of Chicago, through World Relief
“Sweetness passed us by before we called it sweet.”
The cultural shock of moving to the U.S. and being the only Ethiopian family.
Challenges of isolation, language barriers, and racism
"Facing bullying and discrimination tested my resilience."
“That took me quite a long time to be able to step into who I really was and be like, ‘I got nothing to be ashamed of. I am proud of my mom and dad. I'm proud of my background. I'm proud of every part of who I am.’ It took me a long time to be able to feel that and say that. I think that was probably the invisible kind of scar from that experience.”
“On the rise to become an exceptional achiever…”
The greatest poverty is a poverty of relationship: “I spoke one time at a correctional facility outside of Chicago … and he said, ‘I'd rather be a refugee and go through stuff you went through with a family that I was close to who loved me than be in this country by myself.’ And I thought about it and I was like, this student is correct. The greatest poverty really is a poverty relationship. It's when you have no one.”
Mawi’s relationship with his brother
Mawi’s friend, Mark Linz, missionary to Ethiopia
Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ Jesus who gives me strength.”
“I believe that Mark. I believe there's something I could do. I don't have to worry about the fact that I live in a Section 8 housing. I don't have to worry about the fact that my father is unemployed, but these other kids in my school, their parents have great jobs. I believe that the creator of the universe loves me.”
The terror and grief of losing his brother in a drunk driving accident
Maintaining positive momentum through horrific, unimaginable, devastating challenges
“Out of the greatest misery and the most devastating loss can come unimagined growth, and, in some cases, joy and happiness.”
The agony of loss and the healing and learning that came from the experience of grace
Mawi’s Harvard experience
Losing Christian faith at Harvard: “I still remember one of the most shocking moments in my life. It was so shocking to me, Mark. I woke up, I think it was my second day of my sophomore year in my room. And I realized something: I didn't believe in God anymore. And it was a shocking existential moment. One way to think about it is: Losing Jesus was a different version of losing my brother. … When you're a true follower of Christ and you are connected to Christ and you pray every day, read the word every day and you put your faith in him. It's not a small loss. It's a massive loss.”
Depression and hopelessness
Maturing past a faith that had no room for doubt: “My faith now is rooted in doubt. It's rooted in the idea that there's so much I don't know, and, and yet I choose to have faith in Jesus.”
Social-emotional learning
Mawi’s entrepreneurial mindset
Mawi’s adolescent struggle with confidence and self-esteem
Mawi’s foray into working with children
“One of the most important things I learned, Mark, is the best way to help kids is to help the adults in their lives.”
Mawi’s new venture: Inner Heroes Universe, inspired by Pixar’s Inside Out
Using metaphors to make the abstract concrete: “an incredible inner world”
“I believe to reach the next generation, it's not going to work to try to convince them to do less media and to do things the way we had, the old way. We have to go to where they are and create rich media.”
“Imagine if you could only communicate positive psychology using art and storytelling. And you couldn't be didactic and you had to use imagination and creativity.”
Seeing through Mawi’s eyes and background: “a great instance of harvesting pain, of harvesting joy, of harvesting deep cultural difference, of harvesting challenging childhood experiences…”
Production Credits
Conversing is produced and distributed in partnership with Comment Magazine and Fuller Seminary.
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Imagine preaching in front of a crowd of protesters holding a banner: “HOW DARE YOU?” That’s what Mark Labberton did every Sunday preaching in the clear, glass-walled sanctuary of First Presbyterian Church in Berkeley, California.
In this Conversing Short, Mark reflects on this foundational, animating question that defined his public leadership during his sixteen years as senior pastor of First Pres.
About Conversing Shorts: “In between my longer conversations with people who fascinate and inspire and challenge me, I share a short personal reflection, a focused episode that brings you the ideas, stories, questions, ponderings, and perspectives that animate Conversing and give voice to the purpose and heart of the show. Thanks for listening with me.”
About Mark Labberton
Mark Labberton is the Clifford L. Penner Presidential Chair Emeritus and Professor Emeritus of Preaching at Fuller Seminary. He served as Fuller’s fifth president from 2013 to 2022. He’s the host of Conversing.
Show Notes
The clear glass walls of First Presbyterian Church in Berkeley, CA “You’re doing everything that you’re doing in public.” “I wanted to welcome the outside, inside.” Berkeley protestors An imaginary poster: “How dare you?” Accepting responsibility, being held to account by the City of Berkeley Preaching in God’s name Mark on the question, “How dare you?”: “And it felt like the question was legitimate. How dare you get this land? Why should it be given over to this purpose? What is it that you're worth? What are you actually bringing to the city? On what grounds can you make such outlandish claims? What are the implications of it? How will it show up that you actually live what you're saying? And therefore, how dare you do this both intrinsically? How dare you do this existentially? How dare you do it theologically? But also, how dare you do it culturally and politically and socially.” “What does it mean in this place at this time, surrounded by this community of believers and unbelievers, skeptics and critics of every kind?” Preaching to the “Cultured Despisers of the Faith” (a term coined by 19th century theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher in The Christian Faith) “Having grown up largely outside the life of the Church … I was one of the cultured despisers.” Representing classic Christian faith in an entirely unclassical community like Berkeley “I felt like if the Christian faith can't show up and make some kind of intelligent, purposeful, meaningful, transformative difference, then there is no case to be made and I should just walk away.” What’s worth giving your life to?Production Credits
Conversing is produced and distributed in partnership with Comment Magazine and Fuller Seminary.
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“The Constitution is neither a left-wing or right-wing document. It is ultimately about how to hold a society together.”
American political life today is fractured and splintered, but many still yearn for unity. How can we find social cohesion amid sharply felt differences? Political scientist Yuval Levin wants to bring us back to our founding document: the American Constitution. After all, the Preamble identifies as its primary purposes to “form a more perfect union” and “establish justice.”
Yuval Levin is the director of Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, where he also holds the Beth and Ravenel Currie Chair in Public Policy. His latest book is American Covenant: How the Constitution Unified Our Nation—and Could Again. He’s founder of National Affairs, senior editor at The New Atlantis, a contributing editor of National Review, and contributing opinion writer at the New York Times.
Levin joins Mark Labberton to discuss the US Constitution’s purpose in fostering social cohesion and unity; the malfunction of Congress to build coalitions across disagreement; the values of social order and social justice; the fragility of democracy; the difference between a contract and a covenant; and the American aspiration to live up to the covenantal relationship and mutual belonging implied in “We the people.”
About Yuval Levin
Yuval Levin is the director of Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he also holds the Beth and Ravenel Curry Chair in Public Policy. The founder and editor of National Affairs, he is also a senior editor at The New Atlantis, a contributing editor at National Review, and a contributing opinion writer at the New York Times.
At AEI, Levin and scholars in the Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies research division study the foundations of self-government and the future of law, regulation, and constitutionalism. They also explore the state of American social, political, and civic life, focusing on the preconditions necessary for family, community, and country to flourish.
Levin served as a member of the White House domestic policy staff under President George W. Bush. He was also executive director of the President’s Council on Bioethics and a congressional staffer at the member, committee, and leadership levels.
In addition to being interviewed frequently on radio and television, Levin has published essays and articles in numerous publications, including Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, The Atlantic, and Commentary. He is the author of several books on political theory and public policy, most recently American Covenant: How the Constitution Unified Our Nation – and Could Again (Basic Books, 2024).
He holds an MA and PhD from the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago.
Show Notes
Get your copy of Yuval Levin’s American Covenant: How the Constitution Unified Our Nation—and Could Again Yuval Levin’s background as a Jewish American and his childhood immigration to the United States from Israel. Yuval has “the kind of vision that sometimes immigrants have, which combines a really deep gratitude for this country with a sense of what's unique about it, and what's wonderfully strange about it.” Yuval’s religious practice at a Conservative Jewish synagogue in Washington, DC. How Torah has shaped Yuval Levin’s life and thought. Torah is Hebrew for “law.” Annual cycle of reading and immersing oneself in a text. “The American Constitution is not divine. It’s the work of a patchwork of compromises, it has a lot of problems, by no means do I think that it’s analogous to the Hebrew Bible.” Why write a book about the American Constitution? How to understand the constitution as a framework for social cohesion and unity. “Even in the private lives of a lot of Americans, I think the sense of isolation, of alienation, breakdown of social cohesion is very powerful in the lives of a lot of people.” Constitution is intended to unify, but it’s been used to divide. James Madison as a primary figure in Yuval’s new book. “Americans tend to approach politics by thinking of other Americans as the problem to be solved.” “In any free society, there are always going to be divisions.” James Madison in Federalist 10: “He just says, simply: As long as the reason of man continues fallible, and he’s at liberty to exercise it, different opinions will be formed. The fact that we disagree is not a failure. It is a reality. And yet, that doesn’t mean that we can’t be unified.” Unity doesn’t mean thinking alike, it means acting together. “The Constitution compels us into building coalitions with precisely the people we disagree with.” Yuval Levin explains the premises behind his book The Great Debate: Edmund Burke, Thomas Paine, and the Birth of Right and Left Social order versus social justice “There are, as a general matter, more or less two ways of thinking about the purpose of a free society like ours. There is a way of seeing it as intended to address the challenge of chaos and disorder, and there is a way of seeing it as intended to address the challenge of inequality and injustice.” “… the premise of human fallenness, which says that we begin unready for freedom. And we need to be formed and shaped to be capable of freedom.” “I think it’s worth our seeing the Constitution is neither a left-wing or right-wing document. It is ultimately about how to hold a society together, which has these two sides to it. And so it has a lot to offer us.” Social order as “patient to a fault” and “prejudicial toward white or elite culture.” Ideological extremism. “The most dangerous kinds of abuses of the weak happen at the hands of majorities. And therefore, democracy itself has to be constrained by principles of justice that are kept beyond the reach of majorities.” The question of “simple majority rule.” Populism. Two minority parties, rather than a majority party. Coalition building is just not being allowed to play out. Shared action versus shared ideas. Congress is about acting together when you don’t think alike. “Clearly there is something broken about Congress… Everybody agrees the institution is dysfunctional. I don't think everybody agrees about what function it isn't performing.” “Their job is actually to negotiate with the other party.” “I think that's fed a kind of attitude among a lot of prominent politicians in America that says, fighting for my constituents means yelling at the other party, and refusing to give ground, refusing to give an inch. That's actually not what fighting looks like in our kind of democracy. That's what losing looks like. Fighting looks like effectively bargaining and negotiating so as to achieve something of what your voters want or need. Partisanship, reactionary politics, and cynicism “I've come to think that cynicism about politics is actually very naive.” “The people you're dealing with are not cynical Machiavellians. They really believe they're doing good here, and there actually is room to have an argument.” How does justice operate in the political approach Yuval Levin advocates? The first two purposes of the Constitution: form a more perfect union, and establish justice. Who gets to decide what is just? Human equality and dignity as the premises for justice Why wasn’t slavery abolished in the Constitution itself? Native Americans and the abuse of human dignity Analogy: relating to our political or religious tradition as analogous to the child–parent relationship Seeking a mature relationship with our traditions Yuval Levin on the fragility of democracy: “Our democracy is often at risk.” Contract (an agreement that can be broken) vs. Covenant (a relationship of belonging) “’We the people of the United States.’ That “we” is an aspiration.” Yuval Levin’s perspective on the American Church, and how it contributes to the current social crisis American evangelicals coming to identify as an “embattled minority” or a “moral minority” Judging the success of a religious community by their influence as a political block “The particularly Madisonian logic of the Constitution is that everyone is a minority. … And that is not a position of weakness, necessarily, in this society. This is a society that is unusually solicitous of minorities. And when it's at its best, it is especially solicitous of minorities.”Production Credits
Conversing is produced and distributed in partnership with Comment magazine and Fuller Seminary.
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“All of our emotions are there for a good reason. They’re positive. They want to help. And a little anxiety is good. … All of society is saying, ‘Get rid of emotion. It's awful. It's evil.’ It's not true.”
In this episode, Mark welcomes Pete Docter, executive producer of Inside Out 2, and the Oscar-winning director of Monsters, Inc., Up, and Inside Out. Pete joined Pixar Animation Studios in 1990 at twenty-one years old as its third animator, and is now Pixar’s chief creative officer.
Mark and Pete discuss the ins and outs of Inside Out 2, including its themes about emotion, psychology, adolescence, and the discovery and acceptance of who we are. Pete reflects on the power of music to convey unconscious meaning, alongside the subtle and sophisticated animation techniques used by Pixar today. We learn about the new emotion characters (including Anxiety, Embarrassment, and Ennui), as well as those that almost made the cut. And Pete comments on the spiritual and moral dimensions that Inside Out 2 is able to explore.
About Pete Docter
Pete Docter is the Oscar-winning director of Monsters, Inc., Up, and Inside Out, and chief creative officer at Pixar Animation Studios. He most recently directed Disney and Pixar’s Oscar-winning feature film Soul with producer Dana Murray and co-director Kemp Powers, which is now streaming on Disney+.
Starting at Pixar in 1990 as the studio’s third animator, Docter collaborated on and helped develop the story and characters for Toy Story, Pixar’s first full-length animated feature film, for which he also was supervising animator. He served as a storyboard artist on A Bug’s Life and wrote initial story treatments for both Toy Story 2 and WALL•E. Aside from directing his three films, Docter also executive produced Monsters University and the Academy Award–winning Brave.
Docter’s interest in animation began at the age of eight, when he created his first flipbook. He studied character animation at California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in Valencia, California, where he produced a variety of short films, one of which won a Student Academy Award. Those films have since been shown in animation festivals worldwide and are featured on the Pixar Short Films Collection, volume 2. Upon joining Pixar, he animated and directed several commercials, and has been nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Animated Feature–winners Up and Inside Out and nominee Monsters, Inc., and Best Original Screenplay for Up, Inside Out and WALL•E. In 2010, Up also was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Show Notes
Continuity and discontinuity in Inside Out 2 Pete Docter comments on the main character/setting of Inside Out series: Riley and what’s going on inside her head. Some psychologists think there are 27 emotions Puberty and adolescence New emotions: Bringing Anxiety, Embarrassment, and Ennui (Boredom) into the picture Anxiety as the new protagonist Changing body and outgrowing an old sweater Riley’s pimple: “That was something that Kelsey Mann, the director, was big on from the beginning. He would say, we were so used to seeing characters represented in this perfect, idealized way. And yet, when we look at the mirror, we realize, ‘Hey, I don't measure up to that.’ That was kind of the message of the film from the beginning—is learning to accept yourself. You know, the flaws and all, because that's so much of our civilization is measuring ourselves against others. And especially that period in time growing up, you're suddenly socially aware, and where you fit in or don't.” From family to friends as the dominant group “All of our emotions are there for a good reason. They're positive. They want to help. And a little anxiety is good. Lisa L'Amour, who was a consultant on the film, her big thing is like, all of society is saying, ‘Get rid of emotion. It's awful. It's evil.’ It's not true.” Researching the psychology of emotion for the film, and experimenting with various emotions as characters Anxiety as subtly controlling Schadenfreude almost made Inside Out and Inside Out 2 as a gag. Anxiety is not directly related to puberty. “Who are we? What are the things that make us who we are? Is it just our experiences, our beliefs, our actions that we take? And all of those start to get folded into the film.” “For me, the creative process is all about the nitty gritty details.” “So really that's just what I'm trying to do is for us in that room, as we're making it: Are we engaged? Are we emotional?” The complexity of guilt and shame Learning that sincerity—the truth of the character—is the key Special Effects work in Inside Out 2 The subtle and sophisticated storytelling device of Riley’s eyes. How digital animation works today—more like a puppet than a drawing. Music as an unconscious communicator Dr. Paul Ekman: Emotions are largely under the hood. Soul (2020) and the philosophy of dualism as a Greek concept Embodied souls—a colliding, intertwined, inseparable reality Understanding the instrumentality of the brain The amazing amount of goodness that Pixar has injected into the world Pete Docter on working with Amy Poehler, Tony Hale, and Maya Hawke “Our emotions are really on our team.” Fear as a dominant emotion for the era we live in Joy vs Sadness or Joy vs Fear How Pete Docter’s faith informs his approach to Inside Out “One other little bit of research we did that I was shocked by is that there's apparently a part of your brain that lights up especially when you watch animation.” -
“Reconciliation and reparations were never supposed to be two opposite things.” The Church is called to be a repairer of the breach. Drawing on the prophetic texts of Isaiah and Nehemiah, Brenda Salter McNeil joins Mark to discuss her latest book: Empowered to Repair: Becoming People Who Mend Broken Systems and Heal Our Communities.
Together they reflect on the Church’s responsibility for social justice; the call to engage politics for the common good; the nature of systemic injustice and systemic change; empowerment and mutual investment in change; and the importance of moving closer to injustice in order to become a “repairer of the breach.”
Brenda Salter McNeil is a leader in the international movement for peace and reconciliation. She is an Associate Professor of reconciliation studies in the School of Theology at Seattle Pacific University, where she also directs the Reconciliation Studies program. She also serves on the pastoral staff of Quest Church in Seattle, WA. She is the author of numerous books on Christianity, reconciliation, and racial justice. Follower her @RevDocBrenda.
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Mark introduces Brenda Salter McNeil Learn more about Empowered to Repair: Becoming People Who Mend Broken Systems and Heal Our Communities Isaiah 58 and “As If Worship” Isaiah 58:11-12—“And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters do not fail. And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt. You shall raise up the foundations of many generations. You shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in. Repair and reparations Brian Stevenson: “Real reparations would mean to repair what was actually broken.” “We want to see justice. We want to see change. … Reconciliation and reparations were never supposed to be two opposite things.” Why the Old Testament prophetic book of Nehemiah is relevant to the church in this political moment: “I wanted to use a narrative in scripture that showed us how do you actually organize people. That it's not just enough to preach about it on Sundays, there's a way that we've got to bring a diverse coalition of people together and show them that we can rebuild what is broken around us.” “How do we retain our identity and our dignity?” How asking the right questions can generate empathy and motivate action Nehemiah’s Prayer of Confession Honest confession, just telling the truth Brenda’s son Omari’s social post: “We are always left saddened but not shocked. This will happen again. Another black queen or king doing what should be considered a regular activity will be killed just because. Black people will express outrage while everyone else will continue on relatively unchanged. We'll exclaim, hashtag Black Lives Matter, and we will get countless comments about, What about all lives matter? I'm looking at you, white evangelical churches. The shock will wear off for the rest of the world and we'll be left to rebuild again by ourselves. This cycle is so ingrained in the Black American narrative that we have learned to quickly spring into actionable next steps because we've done this before and we will do it again. We've had no choice but to normalize the trauma and carry on. So to those who wonder, I have no hope that I or my future children will ever live in a world that is quote unquote equal or totally safe or fair, even though I will always fight for it. Sadly for me and so many others, I lost that dream as a little boy.” Our own humanity is being diminished in every act of injustice Is systemic change possible? Individualistic vs communal lenses The need to get proximate to injustice in order to become a repairer When does proximity help? What causes proximity to stick and create change? Empowerment and mutual investment The work of justice is ultimately God’s work Fannie Lou Hamer’s activism James Baldwin: “I can’t believe what you say, because I see what you do.” Doing what we say “We might not change everything, but in our little corner of the world, we can make a difference in that spot and people get to see a glimpse of the kingdom. And that's life changing.”About Brenda Salter McNeil
Brenda Salter McNeil is a teacher, preacher, and leader in the international movement for peace and reconciliation. Her mission is to inspire, equip and empower emerging Christian leaders to be practitioners of reconciliation in their various spheres of influence. She is an Associate Professor of reconciliation studies in the School of Theology at Seattle Pacific University, where she also directs the Reconciliation Studies program. She also serves on the pastoral staff of Quest Church in Seattle, WA. Dr. Brenda is recognized internationally as one of the foremost leaders of reconciliation and was featured as one of the 50 most influential women to watch by Christianity Today. She is the author of Roadmap to Reconciliation 2.0, A Credible Witness: Reflections on Power, Evangelism and Race (2008), The Heart of Racial Justice: How Soul Change Leads to Social Change (2005), coauthored with Rick Richardson, *Becoming Brave: Finding the Courage to Pursue Racial Justice Now,* and her latest book, Empowered to Repair: Becoming People Who Mend Broken Systems and Heal Our Communities.
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Anne Snyder joins Mark to discuss the need for deeper listening in the work of genuine encounter and exchange in public life. They reflect on the contributions of public theology to contemporary life, the values of Christian humanism, and the mission and vision of Comment magazine. They also announce an exciting new partnership between Conversing and Comment.
Anne Snyder is the editor-in-chief of Comment magazine, which is a core publication of Cardus, a think tank devoted to renewing North American social architecture, rooted in two thousand years of Christian social thought. Visit https://comment.org/ for more information.
For years, Anne has been engaged in concerns for the social architecture of the world. That is, the way that our practices of social engagement, life, conversation, discussion, debate, and difference can all be held in the right kind of ways for the sake of the thriving of people, individuals, communities, and our nation at large.
Anne also oversees our Comment’s partner project, Breaking Ground, and is the host of The Whole Person Revolution podcast and co-editor of Breaking Ground: Charting Our Future in a Pandemic Year (2022).
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Uli Chi and Mark discuss Uli's new book, "The Wise Leader," and how wisdom manifests in various contexts, from leadership roles to everyday life.
Uli Chi has spent his life practicing leadership in the intersection of for-profit and nonprofit businesses, the theological academy, and the local church. Uli serves as board chair of the Virginia Mason Franciscan Health System, vice chair and senior fellow at the De Pree Center, and a fellow at the Center for Faithful Business at Seattle Pacific University; he is also faculty for Regent College’s MA in leadership, theology, and society.
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Shirley Mullen talks about the work of intentional engagement in our polarized contexts and advocates for actively bridging divides in our society.
Shirley Mullen is president emerita of Houghton College, where she served for 15 years, and author of Claiming the Courageous Middle: Daring to Live and Work Together for a More Hopeful Future.
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W. Thomas Boyce discusses new research on sensitivity and resilience in childhood development and talks about how learning to see our children well helps them flourish and thrive.
W. Thomas Boyce is a pediatrician, professor emeritus of pediatrics and psychiatry at UC San Francisco, and author of The Orchid and the Dandelion: Why Some Children Struggle and How All Can Thrive.
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Liz Jacobsen shares about teaching theater to high schoolers and about the power of art and storytelling to transform us.
Liz Jacobsen is a theater teacher, currently teaching at Stadium High School in Tacoma, Washington.
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Jennifer Wiseman shares about the journey of her finding a career in science, the interactions and connections between science and faith, and the upcoming solar eclipse.
Jennifer Wiseman is an astrophysicist, author, and speaker, and she is director emeritus of the program of Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion (DoSER) for the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
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