Pepperdine People Podcast

As a senior fellow at the Pepperdine School of Public Policy, Joseph Loconte writes widely about the role of religious belief in strengthening democracy, advancing human rights, and reforming civil society. He has had plenty to write about in the midst of an economic crisis and political climate change in Washington with the recent election of Barack Obama. Loconte sits down with colleague Robert Kaufman, professor of public policy, to discuss "A Christian Vision of Social Justice," a lecture in which Loconte explores social justice and proposes a new vision for Christian engagement.

Bill Szobody has been a professor of dance at Pepperdine University for six years and has directed the dance program, Dance In Flight, for the past five years. As director of the fall 2008 musical, Thoroughly Modern Millie, he takes on the challenge of transporting Pepperdine audiences to Manhattan in 1922 - a time when women were entering the workforce and the rules of love and social behavior were changing forever. Actress Jillian Lawson, a Seaver College junior who plays Millie Dillmount in the play, picks the director's brain about his modern take on Thoroughly Modern Millie.

In 1994, while nearly one million Rwandan Tutsis died at the hands of Hutus, Immaculée Ilibagiza spent three months cramped in the bathroom of a merciful Hutu pastor with seven other terrified women. Her parents, brothers, friends, neighbors had all been killed. Ilibagiza has since authored a book on her experience titled, Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust. Pepperdine's Convocation director Chris Collins shares a dialogue with the genocide survivor and bestselling-author on the bumpy path she's navigated in her pursuit of forgiveness.

James West is a member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes of Oklahoma. As president of Futures for Children, an Albuquerque-based organization, he has dedicated his life to enhancing the educational experiences of American Indian students who live on reservations. Ted Garcia, Pepperdine's director of media relations, speaks with West about issues of American Indian spirituality, to which West has lent his pen in many significant essays, and his path from childhood on a reservation in Oklahoma to becoming a nationally-recognized economic and business development expert.

Lauren Winner, author of the books, Girl Meets God, Mudhouse Sabbath, and Real Sex: The Naked Truth about Chastity, recently sat down with Pepperdine's Jerry Rushford to discuss her writing. She has appeared on PBS's Religion and Ethics Newsweekly and has written for The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post Book World, Publishers Weekly, Books and Culture, and Christianity Today. Her essays have been included in The Best Christian Writing for the years 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006. Winner has degrees from Duke, Columbia, and Cambridge universities, and holds a Ph.D. in history. The former book editor for Beliefnet, Winner teaches at Duke Divinity School, and lives with her husband in Durham, North Carolina.

Robert Clark, Founding President of the Alumni Leadership Council, sat down with Pepperdine's Rick Gibson to talk about the mission of the council and the overall vision and strategy to be used in helping to build affinity and develop community among Pepperdine University Alumni. Mr. Clark also offers specific suggestions as to how alumni can support our current students by providing jobs or internships and acting as mentors as a step to building a stronger alumni base.

Robert Louis Wilken, the William R. Kenan Professor of the History of Christianity at the University of Virginia, spoke on St. Augustine, The Confessions, and the Christian Intellectual Life at Pepperdine University on Jan. 11, 2007. Pepperdine's Paul Contino sat down with Wilken to discuss his most recent work, The Spirit of Early Christian Thought: Seeking the Face of God. During the discussion, Wilken and Contino explore what some of the earliest Christian thinkers have to teach us about the relationship of faith and reason.

Dr. Scot McKnight, the Karl A. Olsson Professor in Religious Studies at North Park University in Chicago, IL, spoke at Pepperdine University on January 9, 2007 as a part of the third annual Frank Pack Distinguished Christian Scholar Lecture Series. Before he spoke, Dr. McKnight sat down with Pepperdine's own Jerry Rushford about his books Jesus Creed and The Real Mary, as well as his thoughts on the emerging church movement.