Is racism baked into our nation’s DNA? Is there any hope for change? John Blake, a CNN journalist and author of More Than I Imagined, explores the personal and social aspects of race as he shares:

• his own experience as a biracial kid growing up in West Baltimore
• time at Howard University and working for CNN
• understanding of race and faith in America
• experience of learning about his own white family as a young adult
• reasons for hope

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Guest Bio:

John Blake is an award-winning journalist at CNN.com and an author. He has been honored by the Associated Press, the Society of Professional Journalists, the American Academy of Religion, the National Association of Black Journalists, the Religion Communicators Council and with the GLAAD Media Award…He has spoken at high schools, colleges, symposiums and in documentaries about topics such as race, religion and politics.  Blake is a native of Baltimore, Maryland and a graduate of Howard University.

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Connect Online:

• Website
• Twitter
• Facebook

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On the Podcast:

• More Than I Imagined by John Blake
• Cry of the Beloved Country by Alan Paton 
• Beloved by Toni Morrison

Transcript available at: amyjuliabecker.com/john-blake/

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Season 6 of the Love Is Stronger Than Fear podcast connects to themes in my latest book, To Be Made Well, which you can order here! Learn more about my writing and speaking at amyjuliabecker.com.
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A transcript of this episode will be available within one business day on my website, and a video with closed captions will be available on my YouTube Channel.

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How do we prepare now to die well? Can we reimagine care of the dying in all of its messiness as a gift? 

Dr. Lydia Dugdale, a medical ethicist, internal medicine doctor, professor, and author of The Lost Art of Dying, talks with Amy Julia Becker about:

• Disability
• Death
• Medical assistance in dying
• Honoring all human life as the gift it is without idolizing life

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Guest Bio:

“Lydia Dugdale MD, MAR, is the Dorothy L. and Daniel H. Silberberg Associate Professor of Medicine and Director of the Center for Clinical Medical Ethics at Columbia University. Prior to her 2019 move to Columbia, she was Associate Director of the Program for Biomedical Ethics and founding Co-Director of the Program for Medicine, Spirituality, and Religion at Yale School of Medicine. She is an internal medicine primary care doctor and medical ethicist. Her first book, Dying in the Twenty-First Century (MIT Press, 2015), provides the theoretical grounding for this current book. She lives with her husband and daughters in New York City.”
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Connect Online:

• Website: lydiadugdale.com

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On the Podcast:

• Book: The Lost Art of Dying: Reviving Forgotten Wisdom

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Interview transcript and more: amyjuliabecker.com/lydia-dugdale

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Season 6 of the Love Is Stronger Than Fear podcast connects to themes in my latest book, To Be Made Well, which you can order here! Learn more about my writing and speaking at amyjuliabecker.com.

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*A transcript of this episode will be available within one business day on my website, and a video with closed captions will be available on my YouTube Channel.

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Do you feel like you have to stay strong to survive? Aundi Kolber, a licensed professional counselor and author, talks with Amy Julia Becker about her latest book, Strong Like Water. They discuss how to:

• become strong in new ways
• receive and participate in healing
• live with compassion towards ourselves and carry love in our bodies

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Guest Bio
“Aundi Kolber is a licensed professional counselor (MA, LPC) and author of the critically acclaimed Try Softer. She has received additional training in her specialization of trauma- and body-centered therapies and is passionate about the integration of faith and psychology. Aundi regularly speaks at local and national events, and she has appeared on podcasts such as The Lazy Genius with Kendra Adachi, Typology, Go and Tell Gals, and The Next Right Thing with Emily P. Freeman. As a survivor of trauma, Aundi brings hard-won knowledge about the work of change, the power of redemption, and the beauty of experiencing God with us in our pain.”
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Connect Online:

• Aundi’s website
• Aundi on Instagram
• Aundi on Twitter

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On the Podcast:

• Small Talk Audiobook
• Book: Strong like Water: Finding the Freedom, Safety, and Compassion to Move through Hard Things--and Experience True Flourishing 
• Dr. Gabor Maté

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Transcript:
For transcript and more, go to: amyjuliabecker.com/aundi-kolber/
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Season 6 of the Love Is Stronger Than Fear podcast connects to themes in my latest book, To Be Made Well, which you can order here! Learn more about my writing and speaking at amyjuliabecker.com.

*A transcript of this episode will be available within one business day on my website, and a video with closed captions will be available on my YouTube Channel.

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Connect with me:

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In an environment of deconstruction, how do we identify what needs to be torn down? And in the midst of the rubble, what are we rebuilding? Dr. Yolanda Pierce, author of In My Grandmother’s House, joins Amy Julia Becker for a conversation about:

• grandmother theology
• deconstructing Christian faith
• Black Jesus and unlearning racial hierarchies
• hope that something true and good and beautiful can be renewed and rebuilt within the church and within our world

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Guest Bio:
“Yolanda Pierce, PhD, is a scholar, writer, womanist theologian, and accomplished administrator in higher education. She was appointed the Founding Director of the Center for African American Religious Life at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). And she currently serves as Professor and Dean of the Howard University School of Divinity.” Dr. Pierce will soon be Dean of Vanderbilt Divinity School.
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Book: In My Grandmother’s House: Black Women, Faith, and the Stories We Inherit
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Connect Online:

• Website: yolandapierce.com
• Twitter: @YNPierce

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For the transcript, go to: amyjuliabecker.com/yolanda-pierce
The transcript will be available within one business day on my website, and a video with closed captions will be available on my YouTube Channel.
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Season 6 of the Love Is Stronger Than Fear podcast connects to themes in my latest book, To Be Made Well, which you can order here! Learn more about my writing and speaking at amyjuliabecker.com.

We want to hear your thoughts. Send us a text!

Connect with me:

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How do we step into the good work of kingdom justice? In this episode:

•  hear the story of Michelle Ferrigno Warren, a faith-rooted justice advocate and activist
• learn how to be a faithful ally in this life-giving, transformative justice work

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Guest Bio:
Michelle is the president and CEO of Virago Strategies, a consulting group that provides strategic direction and project management for civic engagement campaigns alongside communities affected by racial and economic injustice. She helped found Open Door Ministries in downtown Denver to address poverty, addiction, and homelessness. She is also the author of a new book, Join the Resistance.
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Connect Online:

• Website: michelleferrignowarren.com
• Instagram: @michelleferrignowarren
• Facebook: @michelle.f.warren.1
• Twitter: @mcfwarren

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On the Podcast:

• Michelle’s books: Join the Resistance and The Power of Proximity
• Open Door Ministries
• I John 3:18
• Nicholas Wolterstorff 
• Micah 6:8
• Hebrews 11
• Amos 5:24

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Transcript and more: amyjuliabecker.com/michelle-ferrigno-warren
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Season 6 of the Love Is Stronger Than Fear podcast connects to themes in my latest book, To Be Made Well, which you can order here! Learn more about my writing and speaking at amyjuliabecker.com.
__
*A transcript of this episode will be available within one business day on my website, and a video with closed captions will be available on my YouTube Channel.

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Connect with me:

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What should you hope for? What’s worth investing your life in? How do you define and create a flourishing life? Matt Croasmun, coauthor of Life Worth Living, joins me to discuss:

• How to ask life’s big questions
• Why pursuing those questions matters 
• How to disagree with respect, friendship, and kindness in the midst of those questions

“Matt Croasmun is an Associate Research Scholar and the Director of the Life Worth Living program at the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School and a Lecturer of Divinity and Humanities at Yale University. He is also a staff pastor at the Elm City Vineyard Church, a dynamic, diverse, urban church.”

Connect Online:

• Website: matthewcroasmun.com
• Twitter: @mattcroasmun

On the Podcast:

• Life Worth Living: A Guide to What Matters Most by Miroslav Volf, Matthew Croasmun, and Ryan McAnnally-Linz 
• Education's End: Why Our Colleges and Universities Have Given Up on the Meaning of Life by Anthony Kronman

Transcript and more: amyjuliabecker.com/matt-croasmun/

Season 6 of the Love Is Stronger Than Fear podcast connects to themes in my latest book, To Be Made Well, which you can order here! Learn more about my writing and speaking at amyjuliabecker.com.

*A transcript of this episode will be available within one business day on my website, and a video with closed captions will be available on my YouTube Channel.

We want to hear your thoughts. Send us a text!

Connect with me:

• Instagram
• Facebook
• YouTube
• Website

Thanks for listening!

In an anxious, rational world, is there a place for enchantment? Katherine May, New York Times bestselling author of Wintering and Enchantment, talks with Amy Julia Becker about awakening wonder, relearning enchantment, connecting to the natural world, and living every day with a continual sense of the presence of God.
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Guest Bio:
“Katherine May is an internationally bestselling author and podcaster living in Whitstable, UK. Her journalism and essays have appeared in a range of publications including The New York Times, The Observer and Aeon. Katherine lives with her husband, son, two cats and a dog. She loves walking, sea-swimming and pickling slightly unappealing things.”
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Connect Online:

• Website: katherine-may.co.uk/
• Instagram: @katherinemay_

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On the Podcast:

• Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age
• Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times
• New Yorker essay: The End of the English Major
• Genesis 1
• Zen Peacemakers 

For transcript and more, go to: amyjuliabecker.com/katherine-may/

Season 6 of the Love Is Stronger Than Fear podcast connects to themes in my latest book, To Be Made Well, which you can order here! Learn more about my writing and speaking at amyjuliabecker.com.
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*A transcript of this episode will be available within one business day on my website, and a video with closed captions will be available on my YouTube Channel.

We want to hear your thoughts. Send us a text!

Connect with me:

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• Website

Thanks for listening!

On World Down Syndrome Day, Jillian Benfield, author of The Gift of the Unexpected, talks with me about whether it is hard to be the parent of a child with a disability, how our perspective on ourselves, faith, and the world has changed through our experiences as parents, and about the gift of the unexpected.
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Guest Bio:
“Jillian Benfield is a former journalist and news anchor. She holds a broadcast journalism degree from the University of Georgia. Her essays about living an unexpected life have appeared on sites such as TODAY, Good Morning America, Yahoo! News, and ABC News. Jillian regularly advocates for the full inclusion of people with disabilities in her writings, in her community, and as a part of the National Down Syndrome Congress’s National Down Syndrome Advocacy Coalition. Jillian and her husband, Andy, and their three children make their home on Florida’s Space Coast.”
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Connect Online:

• Website: jillianbenfield.com
• Instagram: @JillianBenfieldBlog
• Facebook: @jillianbenfield
• Twitter: @JillianBenfield

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On the Podcast:

• Book: The Gift of the Unexpected: Discovering Who You Were Meant to Be When Life Goes Off Plan
• The Journey by Adam Hamilton
• Down Syndrome Diagnosis Network

Transcript* and more are available at: https://amyjuliabecker.com/jillian-benfield/
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Season 6 of the Love Is Stronger Than Fear podcast connects to themes in my latest book, To Be Made Well, which you can order here! Learn more about my writing and speaking at amyjuliabecker.com.

*A transcript of this episode will be available within one business day on my website, and a video with closed captions will be available on my YouTube Channel.

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Connect with me:

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What do our bodies tell us about ourselves and our world? And how do we listen? Lyndsey Medford, author of My Body and Other Crumbling Empires, talks with Amy Julia Becker about physical and social healing and the beauty of limitations and interdependence. They discuss how healing connects to slowing down, technology, food banks, capitalism, and more.
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Guest Bio:
“Lyndsey Medford lives with a rare autoimmune disorder in the American South and is the author of My Body and Other Crumbling Empires: Lessons for Healing in a World That is Sick. She writes and speaks about spirituality and justice from a disabled and feminist perspective, through loves of friendship and land passed down by her family, in the tradition of the Christian mystics.”

More about My Body and Other Crumbling Empires: Lessons for Healing in a World That is Sick: “We live in a world that is sick. Both literally sick, with chronic illness on the rise, and figuratively sick, facing ever increasing rates of burnout, disconnection, and disaster. Lyndsey Medford draws on her experience living with a rare autoimmune disease to offer broader lessons we need to heal what ails us, both individually and communally. Whether our burnout stems from illness, systemic racism, poverty, or simply sin’s separation, we’re all in need of hope, and we are called to heal together.”
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Connect with Lyndsey online: 

• Website: lyndseymedford.com
• Instagram: @lyndseymedford
• Twitter: @lyndseymedford

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For show notes, transcript, and more: amyjuliabecker.com/lyndsey-medford/
Coming soon
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Season 6 of the Love Is Stronger Than Fear podcast connects to themes in my latest book, To Be Made Well, which you can order here! Learn more about my writing and speaking at amyjuliabecker.com.

*A transcript of this episode will be available within one business day on my website, and a video with closed captions will be available on my YouTube Channel.

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Connect with me:

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Thanks for listening!

What is casual racism? And how did a non-fiction writer end up writing a mystery series? Author Patricia Raybon talks with Amy Julia Becker about faith and “casual racism,” Black history month, and the beauty and truth that emerge from creative storytelling.
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Giveaway:  Share this episode on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter by February 26th and tag me when you share. You’ll be entered for a chance to win a copy of Patricia’s latest book, Double the Lies.
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Guest Bio:
“A writer of faith by day and mystery by night, Patricia Raybon is an award-winning Colorado author, essayist, and novelist who writes daring and exciting books and novels at the intersection of faith and race. After a notable career in newspaper journalism and journalism education, Patricia turned to fiction with release of a 1920s mystery series about a prim, poor but clever Black female theologian—a fan of Sherlock Holmes—who solves murder and crime in Colorado’s dangerous Klan era.”
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Connect Online:

• Website: www.patriciaraybon.com
• Instagram: @patriciaraybon
• Facebook: @patricia.raybon
• Twitter: @patriciaraybon

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On the Podcast:

• Patricia’s 1st interview on Amy Julia’s podcast: S3 E3 | Our Different Stories Divide Us
• All That Is Secret by Patricia Raybon 
• Double the Lies by Patricia Raybon
• White Picket Fences by Amy Julia Becker
• Story by Robert McKee 
• https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/

For full show notes, transcript, and more, go to: amyjuliabecker.com/patricia-raybon/
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Season 6 of the Love Is Stronger Than Fear podcast connects to themes in my latest book, To Be Made Well, which you can order here! Learn more about my writing and speaking at amyjuliabecker.com.
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*A transcript of this episode will be available within one business day on my website, and a video with closed captions will be available on my YouTube Channel.

We want to hear your thoughts. Send us a text!

Connect with me:

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Thanks for listening!