Faith Angle brings together top scholars and leading journalists for smart conversations around some of the most profound questions in the public square. Rather than a current-events debrief, our goal is a substantive conversation one notch beneath the surface, drawing out how religious convictions manifest themselves in American culture and public life.
Episodes
Wednesday May 24, 2023
Wednesday May 24, 2023
Yuval Levin is the kind of thinker, policy analyst, public servant, and scholar you really want in DC. The talk you’re about to hear is one he gave to a group of 15 Michael Cromartie Forum journalists, a highly promising group of early-career journalists. The topic is declining trust in our politics, in religion, and in American journalism—and it’s a deeply insightful and challenging talk that we hope you’ll feel just as stirred by as our group did.
Guest
Additional Resources
A Time to Build: From Family and Community to Congress and the Campus, How Recommitting to Our Institutions Can Revive the American Dream, by Yuval Levin
The Fractured Republic: Renewing America's Social Contract in the Age of Individualism, by Yuval Levin
"The Crisis in America's Institutions: Religion, Journalism, and Politics," full video of Yuval Levin's session at the 2023 Michael Cromartie Forum
Thursday May 04, 2023
Thursday May 04, 2023
At the moment, 193 countries in the world hold membership in the United Nations, and, of that group, 50 are currently Muslim-majority countries. This is a data-point referenced by each of this episode's guest scholars, in their thinking about how Islam and liberalism intersect and in their reflections on the future of Islam in the modern era and on Muslim life in America.
First up is Mustafa Akyol, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute’s Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, where he focuses on the intersection of public policy, Islam, and modernity. He is followed by Dalia Mogahed, who is Director of Research at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding. Dalia previously served on President Obama’s Advisory Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, and, prior to that, was for six years Director of Gallup’s Center for Muslim Studies.
Guests
Additional Resources
Full video of Faith Angle Miami session on "Islam and American Pluralism"
Reopening Muslim Minds: A Return to Reason, Freedom, and Tolerance, by Mustafa Akyol
Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think, by Dalia Mogahed and John Esposito
Monday Apr 03, 2023
Monday Apr 03, 2023
Miroslav Volf teaches theology at Yale University, where he also directs the Yale Center for Faith and Culture. He is the author of 17 books, and his 1996 book Exclusion and Embrace was named by Christianity Today as one of the 100 Most Influential Books of the 20th Century. This new book, rooted in a popular Yale undergraduate course, is Life Worth Living: A Guide to What Matters Most, co-authored by Matthew Croasmun and Ryan McAnnally-Linz, both fellow teachers. Joining Miroslav for this conversation is Tim Alberta, a brilliant, ascending journalist and bestselling author in his own right, who is a staff writer at The Atlantic and the author of American Carnage. At the moment, Tim is working on a new book, provocatively titled The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism.
Guests
Additional Resources
Life Worth Living: A Guide to What Matters Most, by Miroslav Volf, Matthew Croasmun, and Ryan McAnnally-Linz
American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republic Civil War and the Rise of President Trump, by Tim Alberta
"War and Religion in Ukraine," Faith Angle Europe session with Miroslav Volf
Friday Mar 03, 2023
Friday Mar 03, 2023
In this episode, we are joined by Shaun Casey, former director of the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Religion and Global Affairs, and Rachel Donadio, a Paris-based journalist, a contributing writer for The Atlantic and a former European Culture correspondent for The New York Times. Our guests discuss Shaun's new book, Chasing the Devil at Foggy Bottom, which makes the case that understanding the role of religion in global politics is crucial for effective diplomacy.
Guests
Additional Resources
Chasing the Devil at Foggy Bottom: The Future of Religion in American Diplomacy, by Shaun Casey
"Why Is France so Afraid of God?" by Rachel Donadio
"Portrait of Bravery: Ukraine's First Lady, Olena Zelenska," by Rachel Donadio
Friday Feb 10, 2023
Friday Feb 10, 2023
In this episode, Ryan Streeter of the American Enterprise Institute and Tevi Troy of the Bipartisan Policy Center join us to discuss the history of the White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, as well as to provide a roadmap for the office's potential growth and impact under future administrations.
Guests
Additional Resources
"The False Choices Facing the Republican Party," by Ryan Streeter
"The Life and Times of the Faith-Based Initiative," by Tevi Troy
Monday Jan 16, 2023
Monday Jan 16, 2023
This episode is lifted directly from one of the most fascinating sessions of November’s Faith Angle Europe, where Dr. Peter Frankopan opened a two-and-a-half-hour session available in its entirety below. Peter is the Professor of Global History at Oxford University’s Worcester College, and alongside Theresa Fallon, the founder of a Brussels think tank focusing on Russia and China, he spoke with 18 transatlantic journalists about trade, culture, and the easily-misconstrued history of the Eastern and Western worlds that have intersected in China for centuries.
Guests
Additional Resources
"Past Is Prologue in China," full length Faith Angle Europe 2022 session with Peter Frankopan and Theresa Fallon
The New Silk Roads: The Present and Future of the World, by Peter Frankopan
Monday Dec 19, 2022
Monday Dec 19, 2022
Recently, President Biden signed into law the Respect for Marriage Act, requiring all US states and territories to recognize same-sex and interracial civil marriages. But that isn’t all the new law does: it also fortifies religious liberty protections. As today’s guests describe, it’s perhaps because the Respect for Marriage Act does both things that it garnered bipartisan congressional support. In this episode, we're joined by Tim Schultz, president of the 1st Amendment Partnership, a DC advocacy organization that has worked for the last decade to advance religious freedom in state legislatures. Tim worked closely with leaders of diverse religious minority organizations—and national gay rights lobby organizations—to help foster the conditions needed to make this law and its commitment to Christian pluralism possible. Joining him is Tim Dalrymple, president and CEO of Christianity Today, one of the country's most influential evangelical publications.
Guests
Additional Resources
"Everything You Need to Know About the Respect for Marriage Act," by Carl Esbeck in Christianity Today
Wednesday Nov 30, 2022
Wednesday Nov 30, 2022
In this episode, we are joined by Rev. Russell Levenson, Rector of St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston, TX. In conversation with Kelsey Dallas of Deseret News, Levenson discusses his new book, Witness to Dignity, about the life and faith of George H.W. and Barbara Bush who attended St. Martin’s for over fifty years.
Guests
Additional Resources
Witness to Dignity: The Life and Faith of George H.W. and Barbara Bush, by Russell Levenson
"People of faith, pessimism and American politics," by Kelsey Dallas
Friday Nov 11, 2022
Friday Nov 11, 2022
Today's conversation is about the leadership, faith, historical record, and implications of the national security policy of Ronald Reagan. This exchange between two seasoned national security officials with unusual expertise is rooted in a hot-off-the-press new book, The Peacemaker: Ronald Reagan, the Cold War, and the World on the Brink, by Will Inboden, who is joined for this episode by Elliott Abrams of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Guests:
Additional Resources:
The Peacemaker: Ronald Reagan, the Cold War, and the World on the Brink, by Will Inboden
"Remembering Mikhail Gorbachev," by Will Inboden
Monday Oct 31, 2022
Monday Oct 31, 2022
Anne Snyder is one of Faith Angle’s newest Advisory Board members. She currently hosts The Whole Person Revolution podcast, and earlier this year she co-edited a volume entitled Breaking Ground, with over 45 short essays published throughout the pandemic. Spurring today’s conversation, since May 2019 Anne has served as Editor in Chief of Comment Magazine. She is joined by one of its current contributors, Greg Thompson, who is the co-director of Voices Underground, a Pennsylvania-based, HBCU-affiliated initiative that promotes African American cultural history through scholarly research, community experiences, and historical memorialization. This conversation explores themes from Greg's regular Comment column, "The Welcome Table", which weaves together history, race, memory, hospitality, and a theology of belonging.
Guests
Additional Resources
Reparations: A Christian Call for Repentance and Repair, by Gregory Thompson and Duke Kwon
The Whole Person Revolution Podcast , with Anne Snyder