Conversing: What Just Happened in America, with David Brooks
From the podcast notes:
“Our increasingly reactionary political environment doesn’t lend itself to nuanced, patient understanding of events like the 2024 re-election of Donald Trump. What historical and philosophical resources can help us gain insight and wisdom? How can we successfully know and encounter each other in such a divided society?
In this episode, Mark Labberton welcomes David Brooks (columnist, New York Times) for reflections about the 2024 General Election, the state of American politics, and how we got here.
Together they discuss the multi-generational class divide; sources of alienation and distrust; how loss of faith and meaning influences political life; intellectual virtues of courage, firmness, humility, and flexibility; what it means to be a Republican in exile; the capacity for self-awareness and self-critique; and much more.
About David Brooks
David Brooks is an op-ed columnist for the New York Times. His latest book is How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen (Random House, 2023). He is also the author of The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life, Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There, The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement, and founder of Weave: The Social Fabric Project.”
Theology in the Raw: Exiles in Babylon: A Christian Political Identity. Preston Sprinkle
From the podcast notes:
“This episode is a talk I gave at the Center for Pastor Theologians annual conference held in Oak Park, IL, in September 2024. In this talk, I try to unpack what the Bible says about a Christian political identity by looking at the Scriptural themes of exile and Babylon. The talk was received fairly well, espeically by the Anabaptists in the back, who were hootin' and hollerin'. Others had some really thoughtful questions and pushback.“
Theology in the Raw: A History of the Black Church in America: Dr. Walter Strickland
From the podcast notes:
“Dr. Walter R. Strickland II (PhD, University of Aberdeen) assistant professor of systematic and contextual theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of several books including Swing Low volume 1 & volume 2. Dr. Strickland is a pastor at Imago Dei Church in Raleigh, NC and is also a co-host of White Horse Inn. He lives in the Raleigh area with his wife and children.”