My guests are Deborah and Mark Parker. Deborah Parker is Professor of Italian at the University of Virginia. Mark Parker is Professor of English at James Madison University. They are coauthors of Inferno Revealed: From Dante to Dan Brown, and most recently, Sucking Up: A Brief Consideration of Sycophancy.

Special Guest: Deborah & Mark Parker.

My guest is Alan Jacobs. His most recent book is "How To Think: A Survival Guide For A World At Odds." As a celebrated cultural critic and a writer for national publications like The Atlantic and Harper’s, Alan Jacobs has spent his adult life belonging to communities that often clash in America’s culture wars. And in his years of confronting the big issues that divide us—political, social, religious—Jacobs has learned that many of our fiercest disputes occur not because we’re doomed to be divided, but because the people involved simply aren’t thinking.

Special Guest: Alan Jacobs.

Karen Wright Marsh is executive director and cofounder of Theological Horizons, a university ministry that has advanced theological scholarship at the intersection of faith, thought, and life since 1991. Her new book is "Vintage Saints And Sinners: 25 Christians Who Transformed My Faith." Karen directs daily programs, writes resources and curriculum, teaches weekly classes, mentors students, leads the staff, and speaks at retreats, churches, and campus ministries. She holds degrees in philosophy and linguistics from Wheaton College and the University of Virginia. Karen lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, with her husband, Charles Marsh.

Special Guest: Karen Wright Marsh.

My guest is Herman Portocarero. He is a Belgian-born writer and diplomat of Spanish and Portuguese descent. He has published more than twenty works of fiction and nonfiction, including the Hercule Poirot Prize-winning crime novel New Yorkse Nachten (New York Nights). He is just finished his term as the European Union ambassador to Cuba. His newest book is "Havana Without Makeup: Inside The Soul Of The City."

Special Guest: Herman Portocarero.

My guest is Kieran Setiya. He teaches philosophy at MIT, working mainly in ethics, epistemology, and the philosophy of mind. He's the author of "Reasons without Rationalism" and "Knowing Right From Wrong." His most recent book is "Midlife: A Philosophical Guide." It comes out on October 3, 2017. You can buy the book here: bit.ly/midlifeguide.

Special Guest: Kieran Setiya.

My guest is Melissa Febos. She's the author of two critically acclaimed memoirs, "Whip Smart" and "Abandon Me". Her work has been widely anthologized and appears in publications including Tin House, Granta, The Kenyon Review, Prairie Schooner, Glamour, Guernica, Post Road, Salon, The New York Times, Elle UK, The Guardian, Vogue.com, Hunger Mountain, Portland Review, Dissent, The Chronicle of Higher Education Review, Bitch Magazine, Poets & Writers, The Rumpus, Drunken Boat, and Goodbye to All That: Writers on Loving and Leaving New York.

Special Guest: Melissa Febos.

John Goldingay is the David Allan Hubbard Professor of Old Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary. He has been at Fuller since 1997. He was previously principal and a professor of Old Testament at St John’s Theological College in Nottingham, England. He is also priest-in-charge of St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Pasadena. Goldingay says that “For me, being a professor is a subset of being a pastor." He's author of numerous books, including most recently, "Reading Jesus's Bible: How the New Testament Helps Us Understand the Old Testament." He was married to Ann for 43 years until she died in 2009. He is now married to Kathleen and the two of them are well-known in jazz and other clubs in the Los Angeles area.

Special Guest: John Goldingay.

My guest is Mike Cosper. He's the author of "Rhythms of Grace" and "The Stories We Tell" (both published by Crossway Books), the co-author of "Faithmapping. His newest book is "Recapturing the Wonder: Transcendent Faith in a Disenchanted World." He's the host of Cultivated: A Podcast about Faith and Work, and is developing The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, a podcast about faith and culture.

Prior to launching Harbor Media, Mike served as one of the founding pastors at Sojourn Church in Louisville, Kentucky, and launched Sojourn Music – a collective of musicians writing songs for the church.

He lives in Louisville, Kentucky with his wife, Sarah, and their daughters Dorothy and Maggie.

Special Guest: Mike Cosper.

My guest is Gregory Coles. He was born in upstate New York, wasraised on the Indonesian island of Java, and is now a PhD candidate studying English in central Pennsylvania. He's the author of "Single, Gay, Christian: A Personal Journey Of Faith And Sexual Identity."

Special Guest: Gregory Coles.

The Rev. Kenneth Tanner is pastor of Church of the Holy Redeemer in Rochester Hills, Mich. He writes for numerous websites and magazines, including The Huffington Post and Sojourners.

Special Guest: Kenneth Tanner.