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.

Give and Take on social media

Episodes

  • 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.

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    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.

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    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."

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    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.

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    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.

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    Episode 170: Know-It-All Society: Truth and Arrogance in Political Culture, with Michael Patrick Lynch

    August 16th, 2019  |  1 hr 5 mins

    My guest is Michael Patrick Lynch. His newest book is "Know-It-All Society: Truth and Arrogance in Political Culture." Taking stock of our fragmented political landscape, Michael Patrick Lynch delivers a trenchant philosophical take on digital culture and its tendency to make us into dogmatic know-it-alls. The internet―where most shared news stories are not even read by the person posting them―has contributed to the rampant spread of “intellectual arrogance.” In this culture, we have come to think that we have nothing to learn from one another; we are rewarded for emotional outrage over reflective thought; and we glorify a defensive rejection of those different from us.

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    Episode 169: 100 Times: A Memoir of Sexism, with Chavisa Woods

    August 13th, 2019  |  55 mins 32 secs

    My guest is Chavisa Woods. Her newest book is "100 Times: A Memoir of Sexism." In it it this award winning author presents one hundred true stories of sexism, harassment, discrimination, and assault.

  • Episode 168: Reading Romans Backwards, with Scot McKnight

    August 6th, 2019  |  47 mins 36 secs

    My guest is Scot McKnight. His newest book is "Reading Romans Backwards: A Gospel of Peace in the Midst of Empire." In it he argues that to read Romans from beginning to end, from letter opening to final doxology, is to retrace the steps of Paul. To read Romans front to back was what Paul certainly intended. But to read Romans forward may have kept the full message of Romans from being perceived. Reading forward has led readers to classify Romans as abstract and systematic theology, as a letter unstained by real pastoral concerns.

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    Episode 167: The Year of Return, with Nathaniel Popkin

    August 3rd, 2019  |  1 hr 1 min

    Set against the backdrop of 1976 Philadelphia, his new novel "The Year of the Return" follows the path of two families, the Jewish Silks and African American Johnsons, as they are first united by marriage and then by grief, turmoil, and the difficult task of trying to live in an America failing to live up to its ideals.

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    Episode 166: Addiction Nation, with Timothy McMahan King

    July 31st, 2019  |  43 mins 39 secs

    My guest is Timothy McMahan King. His new book is "Addiction Nation: What the Opioid Crisis Reveals about Us." When a near-fatal illness led his doctors to prescribe narcotics, media consultant Timothy McMahan King ended up where millions of others have: addicted. Eventually King learned to manage pain without opioids—but not before he began asking profound questions about the spiritual and moral nature of addiction, the companies complicit in creating the opioid epidemic, and the paths toward healing and recovery.

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    Episode 165: The Meaning of Protestant Theology, with Phillip Cary

    July 29th, 2019  |  1 hr 20 mins

    My guest is Phillip Cary. His newest book is "The Meaning of Protestant Theology: Luther, Augustin, and the Gospel That Gives Us Christ." This book offers a creative and illuminating discussion of Protestant theology. Veteran teacher Phillip Cary explains how Luther's theology arose from the Christian tradition, particularly from the spirituality of Augustine.

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    Episode 164: In Search of there Common Good, with Jake Meador

    July 24th, 2019  |  43 mins 35 secs

    My guest is Jake Meador. His new book is "In Search of the Common Good: Christian Fidelity in a Fractured World." Common life in our society is in decline. Our communities are disintegrating, as the loss of meaningful work and the breakdown of the family leave us anxious and alone―indeed, half of all Americans report daily feelings of loneliness. Our public discourse is polarized and hateful. Ethnic minorities face systemic injustices and the ever-present fear of violence and deportation. Economic inequalities are widening. In this book, Jake Meador diagnoses our society's decline as the failure of a particular story we've told about ourselves: the story of modern liberalism. He shows us how that story has led to our collective loss of meaning, wonder, and good work, and then recovers each of these by grounding them in a different story―a story rooted in the deep tradition of the Christian faith.

  • Episode 163: How to Make a Plant Love You, with Summer Rayne Oakes

    July 8th, 2019  |  51 mins 5 secs

    My guest is Summer Rayne Oakes. Her new book is "How to Make a Plant Love You: Cultivate Green Space in Your Home and Heart." She's an urban houseplant expert and environmental scientist, is the icon of wellness-minded millennials who want to bring nature indoors, according to a New York Times profile. Summer has managed to grow 1,000 houseplants in her Brooklyn apartment (and they're thriving!) Her secret? She approaches her relationships with plants as intentionally as if they were people.

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    Episode 162: Elie Wiesel: An Extraordinary Life and Legacy, with Nadine Epstein

    June 26th, 2019  |  36 mins 39 secs

    Elie Wiesel (1928-2016) is best known as the author of Night, survivor of Auschwitz and a powerful, enduring voice of the Holocaust. A recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, he was a hero of human rights, professor and author of more than 50 books. Among his accomplishments, Wiesel co-founded Moment Magazine with Leonard Fein in 1975 to be a place of conversation for America’s Jews. For editor-in-chief Nadine Epstein, he became a mentor and friend after she took over the magazine in 2004. In this striking volume, Epstein shares her memories of Wiesel and brings together 36 interviews with friends, colleagues and others who knew him.

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    Episode 161: Against French-ism, with David French

    June 25th, 2019  |  51 mins 2 secs

    My guest is National Review writer and NY Times best selling author David French. He was the subject of a recent piece in First Things by NY Post op-ed editor Sohrab Ahmari entitled "Against David French-ism." In it Ahmari decries French's commitment to classical liberalism and civility, which make one unable "to fight the culture war with the aim of defeating the enemy and enjoying the spoils in the form of a public square re-ordered to the common good and ultimately the Highest Good."