Jua and I begin our discussion with the letter he and other black alumni of Liberty University circulated in response to the actions of Jerry Falwell Jr. that led to Jua experiencing national limelight. We talk about Donald Trump’s un-Christlike behavior and how Christians tend to rationalize or ignore it, the necessity of relationships that can help people contextualize events in the world, the importance of modeling kind behavior, and the challenge of trying to build infrastructure to scale goodness. We then discuss Jua’s trajectory of service and his involvement in the Boston Collaborative, which leads us into a variety of topics including trauma, vulnerability, racism, and the definition of community. We also explore what an unacceptable reality is versus an acceptable one, the enduring significance of Christianity writ large (notwithstanding its entraining problems), and finally Jua shares some of what gives him hope during a time that for many feels increasingly marked by fear, uncertainty, and precarity.
