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How do we attend to diverse voices in our churches and society without silencing or patronizing each other? Author and professor Esau McCaulley, PhD, joins Amy Julia Becker to discuss The New Testament in Color: A Multiethnic Bible Commentary. They talk about:

• the importance of connecting church and culture
  
  
• the insights provided by scholars from diverse backgrounds and ethnicities
  
  
• the harm caused by limiting biblical interpretation to a Western-centric lens
  
  
• the role of the church in today's society
  
  
• the transformative power of listening and learning from each other

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AMY JULIA'S Books
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ON THE PODCAST:

NYT essays by Esau McCaulley

The Esau McCaulley Podcast

Reading While Black: book; podcast episode

How Far to the Promised Land: book; podcast episode
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CONNECT with Dr. McCaulley on his website (esaumccaulley.com) and on social media (@esaumccaulley)
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Watch this conversation on YouTube by clicking here. Read the full transcript and access detailed show notes by clicking here or visiting amyjuliabecker.com/podcast.
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ABOUT:

Esau McCaulley, PhD, is an author and The Jonathan Blanchard Associate Professor of New Testament and Public Theology at Wheaton College. His writing and speaking focus on New Testament Exegesis, African American Biblical Interpretation, and Public Theology. He has authored numerous books including, Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope, which won numerous awards including Christianity Today’s Book of the Year. Esau also served as the editor of New Testament in Color: A Multi-Ethnic Commentary on the New Testament.

On the popular level, Esau’s recent memoir, How Far to the Promised Land, was named by Amazon as a top five non-fiction book of 2023. He has also penned works for children, including Josey Johnson’s Hair and the Holy Spirit and Andy Johnson and the March for Justice. Esau is a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times, and senior editor for Holy Post Media as well as the host of a new podcast with the Holy Post. His writings have appeared in places such as The Atlantic, Washington Post, and Christianity Today.
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How do we decide who has a life worth living? Author and professor emerita Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, PhD, joins Amy Julia Becker to discuss what it means to:

• be human
  
  
• live in community
  
  
• care for one another
  
  
• navigate the complicated ethics of selective abortion
  
  
• find the language and stories to talk about a life worth living

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ADVENT DEVOTIONAL: Prepare Him Room: Advent Reflections on What Happens When God Shows Up

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ON THE PODCAST:

Plough essay: “The Body She Had” by Rosemarie Garland-Thomson

Book: About Us: Essays from the New York Times about Disability by People with Disabilities

Sara Hendren’s episode: “Who Belongs? Disability and the Built World”
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CONNECT with Dr. Garland-Thomson on her website: rosemariegarlandthomson.com
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Watch this conversation on YouTube by clicking here. Read the full transcript and access detailed show notes by clicking here or visiting amyjuliabecker.com/podcast.
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About:
Rosemarie Garland-Thomson is professor emerita of English and bioethics at Emory University. She works in disability culture, bioethics, and health humanities. She is a Hastings Center Senior Advisor and member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is co-editor of About Us: Essays from the New York Times about Disability by People with Disabilities and author of Staring: How We Look and several other books.
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Political divides don't just disappear after elections. If you long for a hopeful way forward, this conversation is for you. Pastor Corey Widmer talks with Amy Julia Becker about how to navigate political polarization with humility, love, and a commitment to Jesus' way of life.

Corey and Amy Julia discuss:

• Political engagement and identity formation
  
  
• The dangers of political idolatry and hyperindividualism 
  
  
• How to embody love and curiosity in political discourse
  
  
• Living out the way of Jesus in a polarized world
  
  
• How to respond to the election results 

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FREE DOWNLOAD: 5 Ways to Experience God's Love and Practice Peace
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ON THE PODCAST:

Sermon on the Mount

The Beatitudes

Rich Villodas on the podcast

The AND Campaign

How to Be Christian in the Election | White Paper

How to Be Christian in the Election | Sunday School series

The Good Life of the Kingdom | Sermon

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Watch this conversation on YouTube by clicking here. Read the full transcript and access detailed show notes by clicking here or visiting amyjuliabecker.com/podcast.
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Guest Bio:

Rev. Corey Widmer is Senior Pastor of Third Church, a Presbyterian congregation in Richmond, VA. A graduate of University of Virginia and Princeton Theological Seminary, he also has a Ph.D. in theology from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Corey is married to Sarah, a public health nurse, and they have 4 teenage daughters.  Corey loves reading, exploring the outdoors, and pickleball! 
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What freedom could we offer one another as humans if we weren’t so stuck on the "treadmill of achievements and quantified learning"? Pepper Stetler, PhD, is the author of A Measure of Intelligence: One Mother's Reckoning with the IQ Test. She joins Amy Julia Becker on the podcast to share her personal journey navigating the world of IQ testing with her daughter Louisa, who has Down syndrome. Amy Julia and Dr. Stetler explore: 

• the historical roots of these intelligence assessments
  
  
• IQ testing's societal implications
  
  
• the ethical dilemmas the tests present for parents and educators
  
  
• how IQ tests shape our understanding of intelligence and the pursuit of a fulfilling life
  
  
• ways to challenge conventional notions of achievement and success

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Noonday Lucky Few bracelet (in celebration of Down Syndrome Awareness month): https://noondaycollection.com/products/lucky-few-bracelet
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On the Podcast:

A Measure of Intelligence: One Mother's Reckoning with the IQ Test by Pepper Stetler

Alfred Binet

DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders)

Henry Goddard

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Connect with Dr. Stetler on her website (pepperstetler.com) or X (@PepperStetler).

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Watch this conversation on YouTube by clicking here. Read the full transcript and access detailed show notes by clicking here or visiting amyjuliabecker.com/podcast.

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The way we tell the stories of our past plays a crucial role in shaping our imagination for the future. Author and historian Jemar Tisby, Ph.D., insists in his work that we tell a fuller story of our past, especially when it comes to the history of race and justice within the United States. Jemar joins Amy Julia Becker to discuss his latest book, The Spirit of Justice. Their conversation includes:

• The persistent spirit of justice in the Black Christian experience in America
• The historical and ongoing struggles against racism
• How faith and storytelling fuel resilience and hope

Amy Julia's book:
White Picket Fences: Turning toward Love in a World Divided by Privilege

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Guest Bio:

Jemar Tisby, PhD, is the author of new book The Spirit of Justice, and he also wrote the New York Times bestselling The Color of Compromise, and the award-winning How to Fight Racism. He is a historian who studies race, religion, and social movements in the twentieth century and serves as a professor at Simmons College of Kentucky, a historically Black college.
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Connect Online with Dr. Tisby:

Website: https://jemartisby.com/ | Instagram | Facebook | Substack/Newsletter
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On the Podcast:

• The Spirit of Justice: True Stories of Faith, Race, and Resistance by Jemar Tisby
• The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism by Jemar Tisby
• Mississippi Civil Rights Museum
• Amy Julia’s previous conversations with Jemar:
  S5 E10 | How Kids Can Fight Racism with Jemar Tisby, PhD
  S4 E1 | How Do We Fight Racism? with Jemar Tisby
  S3 E6 | Now Is the Time for Justice with Jemar Tisby

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TRANSCRIPT here
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YouTube video here with closed captions
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Let’s Reimagine the Good Life together. Find out more at amyjuliabecker.com.

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What does it mean to be human? Who counts as a human being and why? Anthropologist Tom Pearson has been asking these questions for a living for a long time, and then his daughter was born and diagnosed with Down syndrome, prompting him to ask the questions all over again in his book An Ordinary Future. 

Amy Julia and Tom discuss:

• Normalcy, disability, and the human experience
• Cultural perceptions of disability and the historical context of eugenics and institutionalization 
• How prenatal testing influences societal views of disability
• Interdependence and its relationship to the human experience
• The ways disability is a source of innovation and community, not just an inevitability

FREE RESOURCE: 10 Ways to Move Toward a Good Future {especially for families with disability}

Guest Bio:

Tom Pearson is a cultural anthropologist with wide-ranging interests in the fields of environmental justice and disability studies. He teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, where he also chairs the social science department. His writing has appeared in numerous scholarly journals and other public outlets. The birth of his daughter Michaela and her diagnosis with Down syndrome thrust him into an unfamiliar world of disability and difference. His book An Ordinary Future: Margaret Mead, the Problem of Disability, and a Child Born Different examines this experience in relation to Margaret Mead's path to disability rights activism. It confronts the dominant ideas, disturbing contradictions, and dramatic transformations that have shaped our perspectives on disability over the last century.

Connect Online:

Website | Twitter

On the Podcast:

• Washington Post: A mystery illness stole their kids’ personalities. These moms fought for answers.
• An Ordinary Future: Margaret Mead, the Problem of Disability, and a Child Born Different by Thomas Pearson

TRANSCRIPT: amyjuliabecker.com/tom-pearson/

YouTube Channel: video with closed captions

Let’s Reimagine the Good Life together. Find out more at amyjuliabecker.com.

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The ways we have envisioned success—whether it’s more wealth, social media followers, recognition, or power—might actually lead us away from an abundant, spacious life. Pastor Rich Villodas, author of The Narrow Way, joins Amy Julia Becker on the podcast to examine how the Sermon on the Mount challenges prevailing notions of success and the good life and invites us to reimagine faithfulness to Jesus.

Amy Julia and Rich discuss:

• Reimagining success, morality, and individualism
• Interior examination and the integration of love
• The paradox of the narrow path and the spacious life in Jesus’ words
• Practices for reimagining the good life in a world of distractions
• Embracing grace and seeking transformation

Check out Amy Julia's live, online WORKSHOP: Reimagining Family Life with Disability. Use code FAMILY24 at checkout and take 30% off!

Guest Bio:

Rich Villodas is the author of 4 books, including his latest The Narrow Path: How the Subversive Way of Jesus Satisfies Our Souls. He is the lead pastor of New Life Fellowship, a large multiracial church with more than 75 countries represented, in Elmhurst, Queens, and Long Island, New York. He is the co-host of the Resilient Pastor podcast. He’s been married to Rosie since 2006, and they have two beautiful children, Karis and Nathan.

Connect Online with Rich: Website | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter

On the Podcast:

• Matthew 5-7
• BibleProject Podcast: Sermon on the Mount series
• Hope Heals Camp
• Matthew: A Commentary, Volume 1 by Dale Bruner
• Pete Scazzero

TRANSCRIPT: amyjuliabecker.com/rich-villodas-2024/

YouTube Channel: video with closed captions

Let’s Reimagine the Good Life together. Find out more at amyjuliabecker.com.

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How do we envision the good life in a way that is hopeful and human and freeing and good?

My name is Amy Julia Becker. I help people reimagine the good life through my writing and speaking on disability, faith, and culture.

My hope for the work I do, and for this show, is that we would:

–Challenge the assumptions about what makes life good
–Proclaim the inherent belovedness of every human being
–And envision a world of belonging
–Where everyone matters

Discover captivating conversations with leading authors, professors, and experts who delve into what it truly means to be human and what makes life good. If you're ready to explore helpful, beautiful perspectives on belonging and belovedness and mattering, now is the perfect time to join.

Subscribe today to catch new episodes every other week, beginning September 10. Let’s reimagine the good life together.

Mark your calendar, and make sure you’re subscribed. You won’t want to miss this.

REIMAGINING THE GOOD LIFE is available wherever you get your podcasts.

Also, check out my live, online WORKSHOP: Reimagining Family Life with Disability. Use code FAMILY24 to take 30% off registration! It begins September 18th!

YouTube Channel: video with closed captions

Let’s Reimagine the Good Life together. Find out more at amyjuliabecker.com.

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What does it mean to live a good life? How do we find meaning and happiness in our everyday lives? In this episode, Amy Julia Becker sits down with Meghan Sullivan, co-author of The Good Life Method and philosophy professor at Notre Dame, to explore:

• The narrow American understanding of the good life
• How to help students (and all of us) explore the big questions about life, purpose, and meaning
• How individuals with intellectual disabilities contribute to our understanding of humanity
• The relationship between love, attention, and the good life
• Expanding our conceptions of work and vocation 

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SUBSCRIBE to Amy Julia's Reimagining the Good Life newsletter.

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Guest Bio:

Meghan Sullivan is the Wilsey Family College Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. She serves as Director of the University-wide Ethics Initiative and is the founding director of Notre Dame’s Institute for Ethics and the Common Good, which will launch in the summer of 2024. In 2022, Sullivan published The Good Life Method with Penguin Press (co-authored with her teaching collaborator Paul Blaschko) based on a wildly popular introductory philosophy course she developed at Notre Dame called “God and the Good Life.” Sullivan has degrees from the University of Virginia, Oxford University, and Rutgers University, where she earned a PhD in philosophy. She studied at Balliol College, Oxford University, as a Rhodes Scholar.
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Connect Online:

• Website: meghansullivan.org
• Facebook: @sullivan.meghan

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On the Podcast:

• The Good Life Method: Reasoning Through the Big Questions of Happiness, Faith, and Meaning by Meghan Sullivan, Ph.D. and Paul Blaschko
• Questions for a Life Worth Living with Matt Croasmun (Yale)
• Young Minds in Critical Condition by Michael Roth 

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TRANSCRIPT: amyjuliabecker.com/meghan-sullivan/
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YouTube: video with closed captions
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Let’s Reimagine the Good Life together. Find out more at amyjuliabecker.com.

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In a society often obsessed with intelligence, can we reimagine a good life that encompasses joy, meaning, and respect for all? What does it mean to respect and support individuals with profound intellectual disabilities? What role do those most intimately involved in providing care have in advocacy? Professor Amy Lutz, Ph.D., author of Chasing the Intact Mind, joins Amy Julia Becker to discuss:

• How the severely autistic and intellectually disabled were excluded from the debates that affect them most
• Controversy and misconceptions about sheltered workshops/14(c) programs
• The importance of meaningful relationships and community
• Building a caring and committed workforce of caregivers
• Listening to caregivers and families

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FREE RESOURCE: 10 Ways to Move Toward a Good Future (especially for families affected by disability)
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GUEST BIO

Professor Amy Lutz, Ph.D., is a historian of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research locates at the intersection of disability history and bioethics. She is a founding board member of the National Council on Severe Autism (NCSA) and the author of Chasing the Intact Mind and several other books. She lives outside Philadelphia with her husband and five children, including Jonah, her 25-year-old son with profound autism.
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CONNECT ONLINE

• Website: amysflutz.com/

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ON THE PODCAST

• Chasing the Intact Mind: How the Severely Autistic and Intellectually Disabled Were Excluded from the Debates That Affect Them Most by Amy Lutz, Ph.D.
• The Lancet Commission on the future of care and clinical research in autism
• Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act
• United States Commission on Civil Rights 2020
• John Swinton
• Amy Julia’s essay about the spiritual lives of people with intellectual disabilities

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TRANSCRIPT: amyjuliabecker.com/amy-lutz/
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YouTube Channel: video with closed captions

Let’s Reimagine the Good Life together. Find out more at amyjuliabecker.com and subscribe here to receive my weekly thoughts and reflections.

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