Shows
For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureHow to Read Henry David Thoreau / Lawrence Buell"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life.” (Henry David Thoreau, Walden)In 1845, when he was 27 years old, Henry David Thoreau walked a...
2024-11-131h 00
For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureHistory Speaks the Spirit of Justice / Jemar TisbyHistory reveals a lot of things about human nature: our innate drive towards progress, discovery, relationship, community. Often motivated by a drive to feel safe and flourish. But despite this instinct, history also shows that we’re prone to inflicting and being complicit to grave and violent injustices. We fail, regularly, at living well with our neighbors.In his new book, The Spirit of Justice, Jemar Tisby opens the centuries long history of resistance to racism in the United States through the mode of story, and with the lens of the Spirit moving for justice. He asks, wh...
2024-10-2346 min
For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureBaseball as a Road to God / John SextonTo true fans, baseball is so much more than a sport. Some call it the perfect game. Some see it as a field of dreams. A portal to another dimension. Some see it as a road to God. Others—”heathen” we might call them—find the game unutterably boring. Too confusing, too long, too nit-picky about rules.In this episode, Yankee fan John Sexton (President Emeritus of New York University and Benjamin F. Butler Professor of Law) joins Red Sox fan Evan Rosa to discuss the philosophical and spiritual aspects of baseball. John is the author of the 2013...
2024-10-111h 17
For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureAdvent Peace / Non-Violent Resistance & the Uninvited Christ / David DarkPart 2 of 4 in our 2023 Advent Series. David Dark introduces a new way of thinking about non-violent resistance, which he dubs "Robot Soft Exorcism," whereby, in an appeal to our common humanity, we call each other out of the potentially violent power structures and systems we all (knowingly or unknowingly) inhabit. Show NotesHelp the Yale Center for Faith & Culture meet a $10,000 matching challenge for podcast production; click here to donate today.Evan Rosa & Macie Bridge introduce the episodeThomas Merton, “The Time of the End Is the Time of No Room” in Raids on the Unspeakable, pages 51-52 (c...
2023-12-1126 min
For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureFostering the Knowledge and Love of God / Yale Divinity School BicentennialThe mission of Yale Divinity School is "to foster the knowledge and love of God through scholarly engagement with Christian traditions in a global, multifaith context." A variety of Yale Divinity School faculty and alumni have been featured as guests on For the Life of the World, and this episode highlights some of those contributions, including Krista Tippett, Willie Jennings, Keri Day, Kathryn Tanner, and David Kelsey (not to mention Miroslav Volf and Ryan McAnnally-Linz). Current Yale Divinity Student Luke Stringer introduces each highlight segment. Special thanks to Harry Attridge and Tom Krattenmaker.Show NotesOur fi...
2022-10-1543 min
For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureAristotle Papanikolaou / Russian Christian Nationalism and Eastern Orthodoxy (and How Culture Wars Contributed to the War in Ukraine)"Real wars always begin with culture wars." Theologian Aristotle Papanikolaou discusses Eastern Orthodox perspectives on war and violence; the impact of Communism on Eastern Orthodox theology; the complicated ecclesial structures of Eastern Orthodoxy, where bishops, patriarchs, and nation-states interact in unpredictable ways; he reflects on Eastern Orthodoxy in Russia and Ukraine, the ways Christianity is enmeshed and caught up in the authoritarian, nationalist regime under Putin, and the idea of "Russkii Mir" (the Russian world), which has come to motivate and justify a great deal of violence and aggression in the name of peace and unity.About
2022-04-0438 minFor the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureBlack Joy / Howard Thurman's Civil Rights Theology, Stacey Floyd-Thomas on Vicious Humility and Black Joy, and David Walker's Christian AbolitionismSameer Yadav comments on Howard Thurman's Civil Rights Theology, Ryan McAnnally-Linz reflects on the spiritual and moral significance of David Walker's "Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World," and Stacey Floyd-Thomas talks about racial oppression via vicious humility and the life-giving dignity of Black joy. #BlackHistoryMonthShow NotesThree themes that impacted Thurman’s early religious life:Divine common groundSocial injusticeHumanity of Jesus and black joy“ Human life is one, and all humans are members of one another, and this insight is spiritual and it is the hard core of religious experience. My roots are deep...
2022-02-0518 min
For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureDavid Brooks & Miroslav Volf / What Is Human Flourishing?What is the shape of a flourishing human life? Once upon a time this question came pre-answered—by culture or tribe, by religion or philosophy, by tradition or way of life—but these days, given our increasingly individualized world and its emphasis on autonomy and self-expression, given the breakdown of social trust and the increasing degree of polarization and suspicion of the other: we each have to ask and answer these questions for ourselves: What is the good life?What does it mean to live a flourishing life, and how can we actually do it? These are diff...
2021-09-1842 minFor the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureLife Riffs: Improvisation in Poetry, Theology, and Flourishing / Micheal O'Siadhail & David Ford"Be with me, Madam Jazz, I urge you now, / Riff in me so I can conjure how / You breathe in us more than we dare allow." (Micheal O'Siadhail, The Five Quintets)Irish poet Micheal O'Siadhail and theologian David Ford discuss the improvisational jazz that emerges in the interplay of poetry and theology, riffing on life and love, the meaning of covenant, retrieving wisdom from history, and imagining a future by letting go in communion with Madam Jazz. Interview by Drew Collins.About Micheal O'SiadhailMicheal O'Siadhail is a poet. His Collected Poems was...
2021-07-1748 min
For the Life of the World / Yale Center for Faith & CultureViolence, Shame, Fear, Anger, and Lost Civic Friendship / Willie Jennings, David French, Marilynne Robinson, Robert George, and moreWhat is the state of Christianity and Democracy in America? We mined the past 6 months of episodes for the most timely, relevant, and even strangely prescient reflections on faith and politics in America. Past guests Willie Jennings, David French, Marilynne Robinson, Robert George, and Samuel Perry and Andrew Whitehead, and Arlie Hochschild each offer perspectives we need to understand the political moment through the eyes of faith and culture. Here’s the breakdown of our episode today—it’s really a “best of" for faith and politics in America today.Episode Contents / Show Notes3:33 - Theolog...
2021-01-0956 min