Cultured Media

Even outside faith, I haven’t seen non-sound byte interviews with both candidates recently. Personal faith, abortion, stem-cells, adoption, patriotism, economics and more are discussed.  Always skeptic, I was pleasantly pleased by the candidness of the impromptu questions and answers (for the most part). As Rick Warren, interviewer and pastor of Saddleback Community Church, said afterward, they displayed their personalities, the straight-talking warrior and the nuanced professor. You can view the four part video online at CNN.com. Here is a link to the first part. You may have to locate the rest.

Obama, McCain interviewed by Rick Warren at Saddleback Church

Why Islamic states thrived for hundreds of years, what led to their downfall, and the some of current challenges of Islamic governments in the modern world. Noah Feldman, professor at Harvard Law School, is a contributing writer for the “New York Times Magazine,” adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and author of “Divided by God, What We Owe Iraq,” “After Jihad” and “The Rise and Fall of the Islamic State.”

Listen on Diane Rehm

For many modern Americans, the very idea of reciting an unchanging creed, composed centuries ago, is troublesome. But, Jaroslav Pelikan, who died on May 13, 2006, was a scholar who devoted his life to exploring the vitality of ancient theology and creeds. He insisted that even modern pluralists need strong statements of belief.

Here, we revisit Krista’s 2003 conversation with him, who, then, in his 80th year, had released a historic collection of Christian faith from biblical times to the present and from across the globe. They discuss the history and nature of creeds, and how a fixed creed can be reconciled with an honest, intellectual faith that changes and evolves.

Listen to interview with Jaroslav Pelikan on Speaking of Faith

In 2005 an American nun was murdered in the Amazonian rain forest in Brazil. For forty years she worked on behalf of the poor, the landless, and the forest. The story of the life and death of Sister Dorothy Stang as told by Binka Le Breton.

Listen to Binka Le Breton tell the story of Sister Dorothy Stang on the Diane Rehm Show

Jim Wallis, the founder of Sojourners magazine and author of “The Great Awakening: Reviving Faith & Politics in a Post-Religious Right America,” participates in a panel discussion entitled “Choosing a President: What do Evangelicals Want?” The panelists include Rev. Cheryl Sanders, Rev. Joel Hunter, Bishop Harry Jackson, Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, Richard Cizik, and Lynne Hybels.? The panel is moderated by Steve Waldman and David Kuo of Belief.net and takes place at George Washington University in Washington, DC.

Watch at this panel discussion, Choosing a President: What do Evangelicals Want, at BookTV

Carolyn Jessop was once a member of a radical polygamist religious sect. She talks about her life as the fourth wife of a man decades older than her, living under the same roof as his other wives and children, and what spurred her to gather her eight children in the middle of the night and leave.

Listen to The Diane Rehm Show with Carolyn Jessop

Evangelicals, once at the periphery of American life, now wield power in the White House and on Wall Street, at Harvard and in Hollywood. How have they reached the pinnacles of power in such a short time? And what does this mean for evangelicals–and for America? Drawing on personal interviews with an astonishing array of prominent Americans–including two former Presidents, dozens of political and government leaders, more than 100 top business executives, plus Hollywood moguls, intellectuals, athletes, and other powerful figures–D. Michael Lindsay shows first-hand how they are bringing their vision of moral leadership into the public square.

D. Michael Lindsay is a member of the sociology faculty at Rice University where he is also the Faculty Associate of Leadership Rice and Assistant Director of the Center on Race, Religion, and Urban Life. He is the author of two books, both with George Gallup, Jr., and has written many scholarly and popular essays.

This Authors@Google event took place October 5, 2007 at Google Headquarters in Mountain View, CA.

YouTube - Authors@Google: Michael Lindsay

The spiritual is celebrated in American culture and beyond. It is the source from which gospel, jazz, blues, and hip-hop evolved. It was born in the American South, created by slaves, bards whose names history never recorded. The organizing concept of this music is not the melody of Europe, but the rhythm of Africa. And the theology conveyed in these songs is a potent mix of African spirituality, Hebrew narrative, Christian doctrine, and an extreme experience of human suffering.

We celebrate the life of Joe Carter, who explored the meaning of the Negro spiritual in word and song through its hidden meanings, as well as its beauty, lament, and hope.

Speaking of Faith Interview with Joe Carter

Rob Gifford, a self-admitted practicing Christian, preached a short message on John 8:12 at a small rural church in China on request from the local congregations.

Rob Gifford spend 6 years as NPR’s Beijing correspondent. In 2004, he traveled all 3,000 miles of a highway traversing China from the Shanghai to the border of Kazahkstan. He writes about his journey and about the future of China.

Diane Rehm Interview with Rob Gifford

I personally haven’t thought about “gay marriage” in over a year, and just like the recent news about partial birth abortion made me reflect on the topic, anew I have new experiences to bring to this discussion since I am now married.

This is a rather old article/podcast (from 2004?) from Speaking of Faith, (which was recommended to me by my friend, Kelli Trujillo) I enjoyed listening to these two interviews from Gay Marriage: Blessed or Broken? even thought I disagree with some of the contents.