This season is all about character and virtue — and how we can close our “character gaps” to become better people. But, what does it look like to grow more virtuous in a world with pain, trauma, and grief? Our guest for this episode, contemporary artist Makoto Fujimura, approaches this question through the lens of a centuries-old art form: kintsugi. Mako’s most recent book, Art + Faith, is available here. Like what you heard? Rate and review Beyond the Forum on Apple Podcasts to help more people discover our episodes. And, get updates on more ideas that shape our lives by signing up for our email newsletter here. Thanks for listening!
The pandemic upended all of our lives. As a response, we started different habits — and perhaps even formed addictions — that helped us to cope. But, after two years of pandemic living, is it possible to change? In this episode, we talk with Dr. Nii Addy, a researcher at Yale specializing in addiction, depression, and anxiety. And he says we can have hope — according to his research, it is possible to rewire our brains for greater mental health. If you’re curious to hear more from Nii, check out his podcast, Addy Hour, wherever you listen to podcasts! One of his recent episodes on faith, spirituality, and psychiatry is available here. Like what you heard? Rate and review Beyond the Forum on Apple Podcasts to help more people discover our episodes. And, get updates on more ideas that shape our lives by signing up for our email newsletter here. Thanks for listening!
People today reach the standard markers of adulthood — finishing education, getting married, becoming financially independent — later compared to people 50 years ago. Does that mean that kids these days are “behind” in their development? Or should these standard markers be rethought? Our guest today, Dr. Nancy Hill, is a Harvard professor and developmental psychologist. She invites us to consider how attending college might change how we develop — not just in our twenties, but for the rest of our lives. You can order Nancy and her co-author Alexis’s book, The End of Adolescence, here. Like what you heard? Rate and review Beyond the Forum on Apple Podcasts to help more people discover our episodes. And, get updates on more ideas that shape our lives by signing up for our email newsletter here. Thanks for listening!
Career searches often begin with the same question: “What’s my passion?” If you’re in a period of job transition — maybe you’re about to graduate, retire, or have felt like a new job is on the horizon — we want to help. And, we don’t think that “passion” is the best place to start. Join us as we talk with Dave Evans, New York Times best-selling author of Designing Your Life and Stanford professor, about what questions we should be asking when it comes to making our next steps vocationally. You can order Dave’s book, Designing Your Life, here. See more of Dave’s books on his website, https://designingyour.life/ Like what you heard? Rate and review Beyond the Forum on Apple Podcasts to help more people discover our episodes. And, get updates on more ideas that shape our lives by signing up for our email newsletter here. Thanks for listening!
What academic study can help you live a better life today? Medicine, Business, Anthropology, Social Science… Our guest this week, Dr. Meghan Sullivan, argues that philosophy should be on that list. Meghan is a philosophy professor at Notre Dame — she teaches the popular course, God and the Good Life, the freshman intro philosophy course — and she discusses with us four philosophical skills that can help you live a better, happier, even Good, Life. You can order Meghan and her co-author Paul’s new book, The Good Life Method, here. Like what you heard? Rate and review Beyond the Forum on Apple Podcasts to help more people discover our episodes. And, get updates on more ideas that shape our lives by signing up for our email newsletter here. Thanks for listening!
To kick off our third season, we’re starting with the question we’ve all asked ourselves: “Am I a good person?” Our guest, Dr. Christian Miller, has an answer — and it might not be what you think. Christian is a philosophy and ethics professor at Wake Forest University, and he’s spent over a decade studying character and virtue. Starting in 2010, Christian led the Character Project — a research group dedicated to the advancement of the scientific study of character. Recently, he’s honed in on one virtue in particular, honesty, through his direction of the Honesty Project. You can order Christian’s trade book on character and virtue, The Character Gap, here. Like what you heard? Rate and review Beyond the Forum on Apple Podcasts to help more people discover our episodes. And, get updates on more ideas that shape our lives by signing up for our email newsletter here. Thanks for listening!
This season, we’ve talked with people at the intersection of science and God — scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and a historian of science — all of whom are Christians. For them, they see no fundamental conflict between their faith in God and their faith in science. But what about you? Are you skeptical? For our final episode, we talk with Dr. Praveen Sethupathy, a genomics researcher and professor at Cornell University, about his journey to Christianity. Praveen’s interest in Christianity grew as he was developing his skills as a scientist — and he used those skills to approach the Christian faith. Listen to learn how you can reason through what you believe — and why — and what to do when you find yourself with gaps of knowledge in front of and behind you. Like what you heard? Rate and review Beyond the Forum on Apple Podcasts to help more people discover our episodes. And, get updates on more ideas that shape our lives by signing up for our email newsletter here. Thanks for listening!
A recent survey from Pew suggests that 59% of Americans perceive science and religion as “often in conflict.” But, our second season guests have all seen their Christian faith and scientific pursuits work together. In this episode, we try to get to the bottom of this perceived conflict between science and God with our guest, Dr. Ted Davis, a historian of science and religion. Listen to hear how this perceived conflict began and how you can think about the compatibility of science and God going forward. Like what you heard? Rate and review Beyond the Forum on Apple Podcasts to help more people discover our episodes. And, get updates on more ideas that shape our lives by signing up for our email newsletter here. Thanks for listening!
Do you have to follow your passion to have a meaningful career? What if you don’t have a clear direction in mind — or a detailed five-year plan? We talk about finding and pursuing your vocation with MIT researcher and entrepreneur Dr. Cullen Buie. After a chance conversation right out of high school introduced him to engineering, Cullen has asked one key question in his professional journey: “What do I have to lose?” Hear how this question has guided Cullen along his career path and learn how you can apply it to your own life in this week’s episode. Like what you heard? Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts to help more people discover our episodes. And, get updates on more ideas that shape our lives by signing up for our email newsletter here. Thanks for listening!
Should we be worried about robots taking over the world? Dr. Rosalind Picard, an A.I. researcher at MIT, says no. But, there are real things to consider about our relationship with technology. We talk with Dr. Picard about the past, present, and future of machine learning and artificial intelligence and hear how her current work is literally saving lives. Like what you heard? Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts to help more people discover our episodes. And, get updates on more ideas that shape our lives by signing up for our email newsletter here. Thanks for listening!
Does everyone have faith? Dr. John Lennox, theologian and mathematician at Oxford University, thinks so. Join us as we talk with Dr. Lennox about the pursuit of evidence, the nature of God, and the importance of fostering communication across differences. Like what you heard? Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts to help more people discover our episodes. And, get updates on more ideas that shape our lives by signing up for our email newsletter here. Thanks for listening!
Math can often lead to frustration, confusion, and irritation — but might it also lead us to virtue? Join us as we talk with Harvey Mudd professor and author of “Mathematics for Human Flourishing,” Dr. Francis Su. In our interviews with Francis and his friend (and fellow math-explorer) Christopher Jackson, learn how doing math makes us more human and allows us to grow in the virtues of discernment, persistence, and hope. Like what you heard? Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts to help more people discover our episodes. And, get updates on more ideas that shape our lives by signing up for our email newsletter here. Thanks for listening!
Does “the good life” mean that everything in your life is good? For the final episode of our first season, we talk with Yale theologian Dr. Miroslav Volf about the “why” of living — when we’re faced with sorrow and suffering, what keeps us going? Mirsolav helps us explore the tensions between joy and sorrow, justice and mercy, and invites us to consider how having a “why” to life could change us. Like what you heard? Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts to help more people discover our episodes. And, join the conversation on our Instagram, @veritasforum. Learn more about us and the work of The Veritas Forum at veritas.org, and subscribe to our newsletter here.
What happens when you try to solve for something that can’t be solved—like what should you do with your life? Can you find joy even when there’s not an answer? In today’s episode, we talk about curiosity and awe with Dr. Satyan Devadoss, a math professor at the University of San Diego. Satyan *loves* math, but not because it’s useful, or a good problem-solving tool. In fact, he loves math because it leads to many more UNsolved problems. Most of Satyan’s time as a mathematician is spent on difficult, “wicked” problems, and he says that we can’t—and sometimes shouldn’t—solve everything. Like what you heard? Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts to help more people discover our episodes. And, join the conversation on our Instagram, @veritasforum. Learn more about us and the work of The Veritas Forum at veritas.org, and subscribe to our newsletter here.
We know a lot about what makes us healthier. But what about what makes us happier? In this episode, we interview Dr. Tyler VanderWeele, an epidemiologist and the Director of the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University. He and his research team are working towards identifying the behaviors that make our lives better — not just physically, but emotionally, mentally, and relationally, too. Our conversation centers around one of his data’s main findings: regularly attending religious services can help you live seven years longer. Like what you heard? Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts to help more people discover our episodes. And, join the conversation on our Instagram, @veritasforum. Learn more about us and the work of The Veritas Forum at veritas.org, and subscribe to our newsletter here.
Daryl Davis didn’t study conflict resolution or communications in any formal way in a classroom or lecture hall. But, through his extensive travels — first, as the son of diplomats, and then, as a jazz musician — Daryl has become an expert when it comes to cross-cultural communication. Over the past 40 years, Daryl, a Black man, has used his skills to build surprising friendships with white supremacists. So far, over 200 people have left the KKK and denounced its ideology as a result of their friendship with him. In this episode, Daryl shares about his life, his music, and how he found himself doing what he does now. He says it all ties into this one question: How can you hate me when you don’t even know me? Like what you heard? Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts to help more people discover our episodes. And, join the conversation on our Instagram, @veritasforum. Learn more about us and the work of The Veritas Forum at veritas.org, and subscribe to our newsletter here.
Our communities can help us live “the good life.” But what about the people that tick us off? How do we form more resilient relationships that make us healthier and more connected? We discuss these things with Dr. Curt Thompson, psychiatrist and author of The Soul of Shame. He says that repairing broken relationships can actually usher us into a *greater* connection with others than we had previously. * Our modern crisis of mental health (0:28) * What is mental health? (2:53) * Two questions to unlock your mental health journey: What do you want? What is your grief? * Why leaning into hard relationships makes you more resilient * Tips for rituals to help you endure (18:16) Like what you heard? Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts to help more people discover our episodes. And, join the conversation on our Instagram, @veritasforum. Learn more about us and the work of The Veritas Forum at veritas.org, and subscribe to our newsletter here.
If death is a reality, how do we need to live? Dr. Lydia Dugdale, a medical ethicist, general practitioner, and author, joins us to begin our season on The Good Life. In 2020, Lydia worked on the front lines in New York City during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. And, only a few months later, in July 2020, Lydia released her book The Lost Art of Dying. In our conversation, she discusses both her experience on the front lines and her writings on death, inviting us to consider how thinking seriously about our mortality may be key to understanding The Good Life. ? How to approach medical ethics in a pandemic (3:25) * How to live and die well (4:30) * How not to die alone (6:05) * How to accept our death (11:10) * How not to be afraid of dying (16:54) Like this episode? Please subscribe, review us on Apple Podcasts, and share on social media–and tag us @veritasforum! Learn more about us and the work of The Veritas Forum at veritas.org, and subscribe to our newsletter here.
Thanks for joining us for the past three seasons of Beyond the Forum. We’ll be continuing to provide the in-depth content you love — just in a different location! Follow our signature podcast, The Veritas Forum podcast, wherever you listen to podcasts for monthly interviews with your favorite Veritas scholars and for some of our best Forum content. Starting this fall, we’ll be sharing new Beyond the Forum episodes as a part of our regular publishing schedule on The Veritas Forum podcast’s feed. We’ll be asking “What does it mean to be human” — and sharing scholar interviews and our best Veritas Forums that explore this topic. Subscribe to The Veritas Forum podcast on Apple Podcasts here.
The first episode of season three comes out Thursday, May 5th. Join us for our third season on Character & Virtue with our six guests: character researcher Dr. Christian Miller, philosopher Dr. Meghan Sullivan, New York Times best-selling author Dave Evans, developmental psychologist Dr. Nancy Hill, neuroscientist Dr. Nii Addy, and contemporary artist Makoto Fujimura. Be sure to subscribe, rate, and review our podcast on Apple Podcasts. Plus, check out veritas.org to learn more about The Veritas Forum. Thank you!