***This is the special release of the unabridged interview with American Civil Rights hero Reverend James Lawson. You can find the normal shorter produced version in our podcast feed.

The American Civil Rights Movement, like Gandhi's Indian Independence Movement, was famously set apart by its employment of non-violent resistance methods. But have you ever wondered how such a movement was possible on so large a scale?

In this episode, we are honored to have the man who Martin Luther King Jr. called friend, mentor, and the very conscience and architect of the Civil Rights movement: Reverend James Lawson. He discusses America’s past and present, and what it took to organize a whole population across the country to fight back without throwing a punch. “​​We started the public desegregation of the nation,” he says, “and we did it without hating anybody.”

Show Notes:

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The American Civil Rights Movement, like Gandhi's Indian Independence Movement, was famously set apart by its employment of non-violent resistance methods. But have you ever wondered how such a movement was possible on so large a scale?

In this episode, we are honored to have the man who Martin Luther King Jr. called friend, mentor, and the very conscience and architect of the Civil Rights movement: Reverend James Lawson. He discusses America’s past and present, and what it took to organize a whole population across the country to fight back without throwing a punch. “​​We started the public desegregation of the nation,” he says, “and we did it without hating anybody.”

Show Notes:

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What does it mean to live a good life, and how do we start?

On our show, we make it a habit of repeating our tagline: “Exploring what it means to live a good life.” But in this episode, we address the issue head-on like never before, with the help of Notre Dame Professor of Philosophy Meghan Sullivan. We discuss her book “The Good Life Method,” which gives helpful insight about the kinds of questions philosophers and theologians have been asking for millennia: What does it mean to pursue a life worth living? What sort of end ought we keep in mind in all our doing and living and being? And how might we get there?

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Author of The Shack, William Paul Young, joins us on this episode of No Small Endeavor. At age 50, William Paul Young wrote the New York Times Best-selling novel “The Shack.” It went on to sell 25 million copies and was turned into a major motion picture. 11 years prior, Paul’s wife discovered he was having an extra-marital affair. With nothing left to hide, he began a journey toward healing and wholeness: dealing with his being abused as a child, dealing with the toxic “snow covered dung” theology of his inherited religious tradition; and his quest for control of his own image-management and the world around him. Subsequently, he wrote “The Shack” at age 50 for his 6 kids to express to them the nature of what he calls “Divine Love”. Paul shares how love, grace, and healing only happen in the present moment, and share some highly practical life experience that can transform one’s most intimate relationships. 

Show Notes:

Resources mentioned in episode

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How do you forgive someone who committed unspeakable horror against someone you love?

In 2015, 21-year-old white supremacist, Dylann Roof, was welcomed into a bible study at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Minutes later, he opened fire and murdered nine members of the church. At his trial, the family members of those killed got the chance to speak to Roof publicly, voicing their pain; and some, in the midst of such anguish, publicly forgave him.

But Sharon Risher, whose mother was shot and killed by Roof that day, was not immediately ready to forgive her mother's killer; for her, it was a long, hard road to forgiveness. Today, we discuss Sharon’s book entitled "For Such a Time as This: Hope and Forgiveness After the Charleston Massacre," which explores her journey of grief, healing, and grace after her mother’s murder.

Show Notes:

Mentioned in this episode

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In honor of MLK day, we're once again airing our conversation with Martin Luther King's first lawyer Fred Gray. We hope this episode celebrates the progress made toward justice and reminds us of the work yet to be done. Dr. Gray tells stunning stories of his work as a civil rights lawyer standing before the supreme court on multiple occasions, and what it was like to stand beside MLK and Rosa Parks in the fight for racial equity - a fight, he is careful to note, that is still ongoing.

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What do our brains want more than chocolate, sex, or a sports car? What does your memory of long past events have to do with the apparently unrelated arguments and anxiety you are experiencing these days? Psychiatrist Curt Thompson discusses these questions from the perspective of both brain science and theology. A psychiatrist in private practice, Dr. Thompson has expertise in interpersonal neurobiology, and contends that a key to living a good life comes quite simply to this: “being known.” Lee and Curt discuss two of Curt’s books, “The Anatomy of the Soul” and “The Soul of Desire,” with conversation on trauma and anxiety, connection and community, and what your memory of long past events has to do with the apparently unrelated arguments you are having many years later. 

Books discussed in this episode:

Anatomy of the Soul: Surprising Connections between Neuroscience and Spiritual Practices That Can Transform Your Life and Relationships

The Soul of Desire: Discovering the Neuroscience of Longing, Beauty, and Community

Want more from Curt Thompson in conversation with Lee?  Check out our earlier podcast episode with Curt on Curt’s book The Soul of Shame: Retelling the Stories We Believe About Ourselves. 

Additional NSE episodes of related interest:

The Price of the Pursuit of Pleasure: Anna Lembke

The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry: John Mark Comer

What Hath Christianity to do with Psychology? Mark McMinn

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The folk-pop duo Johnnyswim, comprised of married couple Amanda Sudano and Abner Ramirez, discuss their reality television shows, their public marriage, their radically different childhoods, and their opinions about Christianity in America.

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Why are there different narratives around race in America? Some Americans believe that we are a “shining city on a hill” a beacon of truth and justice for the world, but anyone with eyes can see that there are some major contradictions in that narrative. James Baldwin called this “The Lie” and we discuss it in great detail with Dr. Eddie Glaude and his book Begin Again: James Baldwin's America and its Urgent Lessons For Our Own. The book is a powerful reckoning with America’s ongoing failure to confront the lies it tells itself about race. So when justice never seems to come how can we begin again?

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Does religion make us happier? David Desteno discusses his book How God Works, in which he makes the argument, backed by research, that the wisdom of the world’s great religious traditions lines up with recent psychological and neuroscientific findings about what constitutes a good, flourishing life.

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