Give and Take

Episode 187: Miller's Children: Why Giving Teenage Killers a Second Chance Matters for All of Us, with James Garbarino

October 9th, 2019  |  41 mins 40 secs

My guest is James Garbarino. His new book is "Miller's Children: Why Giving Teenage Killers a Second Chance Matters for All of Us." It is a passionate and comprehensive look at the human consequences of the US Supreme Court’s decision in the case of Miller v. Alabama, which outlaws mandatory life-without-parole sentences for juvenile murderers. The decision to apply the law retroactively to other cases has provided hope to those convicted of murders as teenagers and had been incarcerated with the expectation that they would never leave prison until their own death as incarcerated adults.

Episode 186: She Has Her Mother's Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity, with Carl Zimmer

October 4th, 2019  |  1 hr 1 min

My guest is Carl Zimmer. His newest book is "She Has Her Mother's Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity." In it he presents a profoundly original perspective on what we pass along from generation to generation. Charles Darwin played a crucial part in turning heredity into a scientific question, and yet he failed spectacularly to answer it. The birth of genetics in the early 1900s seemed to do precisely that. Gradually, people translated their old notions about heredity into a language of genes. As the technology for studying genes became cheaper, millions of people ordered genetic tests to link themselves to missing parents, to distant ancestors, to ethnic identities...

Episode 185: Exodus Preaching, with Kenyatta Gilbert

October 1st, 2019  |  1 hr 7 mins

My guest is Kenyatta Gilbert. His newest book is "Exodus Preaching: Crafting Sermons about Justice and Hope." Exodus Preaching is the first of its kind. It is an exploration of the African American prophetic rhetorical traditions in a manner that makes features of these traditions relevant to a broad audience beyond the African American traditions. It provides readers a composite picture of the nature, meaning, and relevance of prophetic preaching as spoken Word of justice and hope in a society of growing pluralism and the world-shaping phenomenon of racial, economic and cultural diversity.

Episode 184: What Does It Feel Like to Die?, with Jennie Dear

September 30th, 2019  |  43 mins 44 secs

My guest is Jennie Dear. Her new book is "What Does It Feel Like to Die?: Inspiring New Insights into the Experience of Dying." As a long-time hospice volunteer, Jennie Dear has helped countless patients, families, and caregivers cope with the many challenges of the dying process. Inspired by her own personal journey with her mother’s long-term illness, Dear demystifies the experience of dying for everyone whose lives it touches. She spoke to doctors, nurses, and caregivers, as well as families, friends, and the patients themselves. The result is a brilliantly researched, eye-opening account that combines the latest medical findings with sensitive human insights to offer real emotional support and answers to some of the questions that affect us all.

Episode 183: How Reason Can Lead to God, with Joshua Rasmussen

September 28th, 2019  |  40 mins 16 secs

My guest is Joshua Rasmussen. His newest book is "How Reason Can Lead to God: A Philosopher's Bridge to Faith." Do you seek the truth? Do you value reason, science, and independent thinking? Are you skeptical of beliefs that people maintain merely "on faith," yet you remain interested in the big questions of life? Do you hope there could be a greater purpose to the universe, if only that were realistic? If so, then philosopher Joshua Rasmussen can encourage you in your journey.

Episode 182: Why Church, with Scott Sunquist

September 25th, 2019  |  47 mins 15 secs

My guest is Scott Sunquist. His newest book is "Why Church: A Basic Introduction." Is a church just something we create to serve our purposes or to maintain old traditions? Or is it something more vital, more meaningful, and more powerful? This can be hard to believe when we look at what happens in any one congregation or denomination. Certainly not all churches act like Jesus in the world, and many individual churches in the West are dying. When it's so easy to be confused, frustrated, or simply apathetic about the church, how should we understand its purpose today?

Episode 181: Up In Arms, with John Temple

September 24th, 2019  |  43 mins

My guest is John Temple. His newest book is "Up in Arms: How the Bundy Family Hijacked Public Lands, Outfoxed the Federal Government, and Ignited America’s Patriot Militia Movement." "Up in Arms" chronicles how an isolated clan of desert-dwelling Mormons became the guiding light—and then the outright leaders—of America’s Patriot movement. The nation was riveted in 2014 when hundreds of Bundy supporters, many of them armed, forced federal agents to abandon a court-ordered cattle roundup. Then in 2016, Ammon Bundy, one of Cliven’s 13 children, led a 41-day armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon.

Episode 180: Walter Kaufmann: Philosopher, Humanist, Heretic, with Stanley Corngold

September 24th, 2019  |  52 mins 25 secs

My guest is Stanley Corngold. His new book is "Walter Kaufmann: Philosopher, Humanist, Heretic." Walter Kaufmann (1921–1980) was a charismatic philosopher, critic, translator, and poet who fled Nazi Germany at the age of eighteen, emigrating alone to the United States. He was astonishingly prolific until his untimely death at age fifty-nine, writing some dozen major books, all marked by breathtaking erudition and a provocative essayistic style. He single-handedly rehabilitated Nietzsche’s reputation after World War II and was enormously influential in introducing postwar American readers to existentialism. Until now, no book has examined his intellectual legacy.

Episode 179: The Art of Less Doing, with Ari Meisel

September 19th, 2019  |  55 mins 38 secs

My guest is Ari Meisel. Ari is the best-selling author of “The Art of Less Doing“, and “The Replaceable Founder.” He is a self-described Overwhelmologist whose insights into personal and professional productivity have earned him the title, “The Guru’s Guru.” He can be heard on the award-winning Less Doing Podcast, and on international stages speaking to thought leaders and influencers around the world. We had a wide ranging conversation about everything from time tracking, the why's and how's of living a meaningful and productive life, to comforting the dying. Take a listen for all this and more.

Episode 178: Love Over Fear, with Dan White Jr.

September 17th, 2019  |  35 mins 28 secs

My guest is Dan White Jr. His new book is "Love over Fear: Facing Monsters, Befriending Enemies, and Healing Our Polarized World." Whether it's the news, social media, or well-intentioned friends, we're told daily to fear "others." We fear strangers, neighbors, the other side of the aisle, even those who parent differently. And when we're confronted with something that frightens us, our brain sees only two options: Attack or Avoid.

But either way, polarization intensifies. What if you could defy your own instincts and choose a third option--scandalous, disruptive, unthinkable LOVE?

Episode 177: Sacred and Profane Love, with Jennifer Frey

September 14th, 2019  |  1 hr 14 mins

My guest is Jennifer Frey. She teaches at the University of South Carolina, and hosts The Virtue Blog and the philosophy and literature podcast, Sacred and Profane Love. She writes about virtue, action, practical reason, and what it might mean to live well as a human person.

Episode 175: Two Guys Talk Chesterton in New York City, with David Shields

August 31st, 2019  |  39 mins 25 secs

My guest is David Shields. In this episode we talk about G.K. Chesterton and his insights into the human condition on a beautiful hotel patio in New York City.

Episode 174: Marshawn Lynch: A History, with David Shields

August 31st, 2019  |  1 hr 12 mins

My guest is David Shields, New York Times bestselling author of more than twenty books. He has just written, directed and produced a documentary film, Marshawn Lynch: A History. The film explores the silence that nonconformist NFL star Marshawn Lynch deploys as a form of resistance. Culling more than 700 video clips and placing them in dramatic, rapid, and radical juxtaposition, the film is a powerful political parable about the American media-sports complex and its deep complicity with racial oppression.

Episode 173: Confessions of a Crypto Millionaire, with Dan Conway

August 28th, 2019  |  55 mins 36 secs

My guest is Dan Conway. His new book is "Confessions of a Crypto Millionaire: My Unlikely Escape from Corporate America." When the Financial Times interviewed Dan Conway for a story about cryptocurrency millionaires, he told them the unvarnished truth: "I invested because I wanted the underdogs to win, for once - losers like me who didn't make the rules and didn't have the money... We'd been forced to tweet corporate philanthropy hashtags, and we weren't going to take it anymore."

Episode 172: Color Me In, with Natasha Díaz

August 28th, 2019  |  33 mins 19 secs

My guest is Natasha Díaz. Her debut novel is "Color Me In." In it Natasha Díaz pulls from her personal experience to inform this powerful coming-of-age novel about the meaning of friendship, the joyful beginnings of romance, and the racism and religious intolerance that can both strain a family to the breaking point and strengthen its bonds.

Episode 171: Bless This Mess, with Molly Baskette and Ellen O'Donnell

August 20th, 2019  |  55 mins 37 secs

My guests are Rev. Molly Baskette and Dr. Ellen O’Donnell. Their new book is "Bless This Mess: A Modern Guide to Faith and Parenting in a Chaotic World." When the two first met, they were both new mothers seeking parenting wisdom. They read a lot of books on the topic, but none of them contained practical suggestions that would help their families psychologically and spiritually while maintaining their progressive values: How do we teach the art of forgiving and serving others? How do we raise kids who are tolerant, curious, and honorable? And what about the sex talk? Taking matters into their own hands, Baskette and O’Donnell began creating actionable steps addressing these questions and more. This book is the fruit of their many conversations begun long ago during the daycare carpool, from angsty moments to hallelujahs.