The Pocket Contemplative

Val and Tom, in their own ways, are foodies. Dave is not. It turns out that thinking about our perspective on food can do us unexpected good in terms of our spirituality, our connections--and, yes, our weight.

Religious people like Dave, Tom and Val can be tempted to use pop science to bolster their spiritual perspectives. Science explains why church attendance is good for you! Science explains why porn is addicting and escalates, so stay away! Or, most discredited now, science explains why some people are LGBTQ while others are not. Our actual scientist, Tom, lets us know why we might want to be cautious, while also helping us see how some science can really help us.

Dan Damon, the main presenter (British lingo for "anchor") of the BBC's World Update, talks with Val, Dave and Tom about how to think about our current world turmoil, what Christianity looks like in England, and how Britishers look at the rise of Trump.

Father James Alison, calling in from his home in Madrid, is one of today's leading Catholic theologians and is perhaps the world's leading expert on the deep thoughts about victimization and scapegoating (and terrorism and politics) that we associate with the great Rene Girard. Tom, Val and Dave join him in a freewheeling conversation about all of this.

Richard Rohr, among others, teaches us that healthy lives make fundamental changes between their first and second halves. Val, Dave and Tom look at the ins and outs of how that's been true for them and what that has taught them

Friendships are, in the end, right up there as the most important parts of our lives. But they look different in different stages of life. Dave, Val, Tom and Grace Schmelzer--Dave's wife and noted friendship thinker--talk about friendships in all their richness. 

Rene Girard, who died last year, has taken Blue Ocean's leaders by storm with his bold theories about what the Bible and great myths tell us about the stakes of life. Tom, Val and Dave walk you into the awesomeness.

Great artists often come with questionable moral baggage. Woody Allen and Michael Jackson have faced serious charges. Picasso was a womanizer and narcissist. And... You know... Bill Cosby. Val, Dave and Tom kick around the stakes for those of us who love great art and entertainment.

Non-churchgoers stay away from churches, among other reasons, because they're afraid they'll be judged and controlled. This seems particularly true in what, in a podcast a couple weeks back, we called "bounded-set" settings. Is there a whole different way of thinking about sin that works a whole different way?