Give and Take

Conversations at the Heart of the Matter

About the show

Someone once observed that if Howard Stern and Krista Tippett had a love child, it would be Scott Jones. Scott liked that.

At "Give and Take,” Scott Jones talks with artists, authors, theologians, and political pundits about the lens through which they experience life. With empathy, humor, and a deep knowledge of religion, current events, and pop culture, Scott engages his guests in a free-flowing conversation that's entertaining, unexpected, occasionally bizarre, and oftentimes enlightening. He likes people, and it shows.

Past interviewees include Mark Oppenheimer, Melissa Febos, David French, Miroslav Volf, Dan Savage, Nadia Bolz-Weber, Rob Bell, and (yes) Krista Tippett.

Scott is the former host and producer of the popular Mockingcast podcast (https://themockingcast.fireside.fm) and an in-demand consultant on all things “pod.” He’s also the co-host, with Bill Borror, of New Persuasive Words (https://npw.fireside.fm). Scott is also a prolific writer, a frequent conference speaker, a PhD candidate in Theology, and an ordained minister.

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Episodes

  • Episode 57: The American Religious Landscape, with Robert P. Jones

    October 10th, 2017  |  40 mins 40 secs

    My guest today is Robert P. Jones. He's the CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute, and the author of several books, including "The End of White Christian America." The American religious landscape has undergone dramatic changes in the last decade and is more diverse today than at any time since modern sociological measurements began. PRRI’s 2016 American Values Atlas is the single largest survey of American religious and denominational identity ever conducted.

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    Episode 56: Sucking Up: A Brief Consideration of Sycophancy, with Deborah & Mark Parker

    October 5th, 2017  |  46 mins 35 secs

    My guests are Deborah and Mark Parker. Deborah Parker is Professor of Italian at the University of Virginia. Mark Parker is Professor of English at James Madison University. They are coauthors of Inferno Revealed: From Dante to Dan Brown, and most recently, Sucking Up: A Brief Consideration of Sycophancy.

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    Episode 55: How To Think: A Survival Guide For A World At Odds, With Alan Jacobs

    October 2nd, 2017  |  1 hr 6 mins

    My guest is Alan Jacobs. His most recent book is "How To Think: A Survival Guide For A World At Odds." As a celebrated cultural critic and a writer for national publications like The Atlantic and Harper’s, Alan Jacobs has spent his adult life belonging to communities that often clash in America’s culture wars. And in his years of confronting the big issues that divide us—political, social, religious—Jacobs has learned that many of our fiercest disputes occur not because we’re doomed to be divided, but because the people involved simply aren’t thinking.

  • Episode 54: Vintage Saints And Sinners, with Karen Wright Marsh

    September 29th, 2017  |  49 mins 7 secs

    Karen Wright Marsh is executive director and cofounder of Theological Horizons, a university ministry that has advanced theological scholarship at the intersection of faith, thought, and life since 1991. Her new book is "Vintage Saints And Sinners: 25 Christians Who Transformed My Faith."

  • Episode 53: Havana Without Makeup, with Herman Portocarero

    September 26th, 2017  |  58 mins 6 secs

    My guest is Herman Portocarero. He is a Belgian-born writer and diplomat of Spanish and Portuguese descent. He has published more than twenty works of fiction and nonfiction, including the Hercule Poirot Prize-winning crime novel New Yorkse Nachten (New York Nights). He is just finished his term as the European Union ambassador to Cuba. His newest book is "Havana Without Makeup: Inside The Soul Of The City."

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    Episode 52: Midlife: A Philosophical Guide, with Kieran Setiya

    September 22nd, 2017  |  1 hr 16 mins

    My guest is Kieran Setiya. He teaches philosophy at MIT, working mainly in ethics, epistemology, and the philosophy of mind. He's the author of "Reasons without Rationalism" and "Knowing Right From Wrong." His most recent book is "Midlife: A Philosophical Guide." It comes out on October 3, 2017.

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    Episode 51: Abandon Me, with Melissa Febos

    September 21st, 2017  |  1 hr 16 mins

    My guest is Melissa Febos. She's the author of two critically acclaimed memoirs, "Whip Smart" and "Abandon Me". Her work has been widely anthologized and appears in publications including Tin House, Granta, The Kenyon Review, Prairie Schooner, Glamour, Guernica, Post Road, Salon, The New York Times, Elle UK, The Guardian, Vogue.com, Hunger Mountain, Portland Review, Dissent, The Chronicle of Higher Education Review, Bitch Magazine, Poets & Writers, The Rumpus, Drunken Boat, and Goodbye to All That: Writers on Loving and Leaving New York.

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    Episode 50: Reading Jesus's Bible, with John Goldingay

    September 14th, 2017  |  1 hr 19 secs

    My guest is John Goldingay. John is the David Allan Hubbard Professor of Old Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary. He has been at Fuller since 1997. He's author of numerous books, including most recently, "Reading Jesus's Bible: How the New Testament Helps Us Understand the Old Testament." He was married to Ann for 43 years until she died in 2009. He is now married to Kathleen and the two of them are well-known in jazz and other clubs in the Los Angeles area.

  • Episode 49: Recapturing the Wonder: Transcendent Faith in a Disenchanted World, with Mike Cosper

    September 2nd, 2017  |  1 hr 9 mins

    My guest is Mike Cosper. He's the author of "Rhythms of Grace" and "The Stories We Tell" (both published by Crossway Books), the co-author of "Faithmapping. His newest book is "Recapturing the Wonder: Transcendent Faith in a Disenchanted World." He's the host of Cultivated: A Podcast about Faith and Work, and is developing The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, a podcast about faith and culture.

  • Episode 48: Single, Gay, Christian (and celibate), with Gregory Coles

    August 29th, 2017  |  50 mins 56 secs

    My guest is Gregory Coles. He was born in upstate New York, wasraised on the Indonesian island of Java, and is now a PhD candidate studying English in central Pennsylvania. He's the author of "Single, Gay, Christian: A Personal Journey Of Faith And Sexual Identity."

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    Episode 47: The Humanity of God, with Kenneth Tanner

    August 27th, 2017  |  55 mins 7 secs

    The Rev. Kenneth Tanner is pastor of Church of the Holy Redeemer in Rochester Hills, Mich. He writes for numerous websites and magazines, including The Huffington Post and Sojourners.

  • Episode 46: The Brand/Design Connection, with MacKenzie Kuhns

    August 23rd, 2017  |  42 mins 12 secs

    My guest is MacKenzie Kuhns. She is the founder and owner of Stillz Design, a strategic design studio. She has always loved creating, curating and the value of aesthetic and design, which is why she is passionate about helping small business owners communicate their passions and crafts through strategic design.

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    Episode 45: Money Talks, with Evan Money

    August 19th, 2017  |  1 hr 21 mins

    My guest is Evan Money. Evan in a bestselling author, Global Entrepreneur and Executive Producer of the ground breaking film "Words of Art." His most recent book is "Money Talks, Frustration Walks."

  • Episode 44: White Privilege and the Myth of Equality, with Ken Wytsma

    August 17th, 2017  |  42 mins 32 secs

    My guest is Ken Wytsma. He is the lead pastor of global ministries at Antioch Church and is president of Kilns College, where he teaches courses on philosophy and justice. His most recent book is "The Myth Of Equality: Uncovering the Roots of Injustice and Privilege."

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    Episode 43: No Longer Alone, with Melinda Inman

    August 6th, 2017  |  1 hr 21 mins

    Melinda Viergever Inman is a prodigal with a passion to write. She authors fiction illustrating God's love for wounded people, making beauty of ashes. The most recent of her three novels is "No Longer Alone." It's based on a true story.

  • Episode 42: Nurture The Wow, with Danya Ruttenberg

    August 3rd, 2017  |  49 mins 38 secs

    Danya Ruttenberg writes books about the messy business of trying to be a person in the world, and how spirituality can inform and transform that work. Sometimes that’s about parenting, sometimes feminism, sex, God, justice, or joy. Her most recent book, "Nurture The Wow", has just been released in paperback.