Claim OwnershipCallings
Subscribed: 7Played: 87
Subscribe
© 2025 Callings
Description
Conversations on college, career, and a life well-lived. “Callings” explores what it means to live a life defined by a sense of meaning and purpose. It focuses on the process of exploring and discerning one’s vocation, with particular emphasis on mentoring and supporting undergraduate students as they navigate college, career, and a life-well lived. Hosted by the Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education (NetVUE).
56 Episodes
Reverse
Michael Lamb is committed to educating for character through the virtues. In his role as the senior executive director of the Program for Leadership and Character at Wake Forest University, Michael works to encourage students to “live the questions” as part of connecting their interests and talents with the callings of their communities and contexts. Michael discusses how setbacks, crises, and deep listening can help us discern how to “re-enchant purpose,” as part of evaluating our motivation...
Lee C. Camp is host of the podcast and nationally-syndicated radio series No Small Endeavor, which explores what it means to live a good life. He is also Distinguished Faculty Fellow at Lipscomb University, a NetVUE member institution. In this conversation, Lee brings his wealth of experience as well as a personal and honest approach to bear on questions of vocation in higher education. In the process, he challenges notions of “meaningfulness,” encourages us to be good question-askers, and pr...
This bonus episode features highlights from conversations that aired during the fifth season of Callings. In these clips, our guests offer advice for today's students and for anyone who teaches or mentors young adults. Listen to this compilation of insightful and interesting advice from John Inazu, Jason Blakely, Bonnie Miller-McLemore, Emmanuel Katongole, Caryn Riswold, Abel Chavez, Kiran Singh Sirah, Mustafa Akyol, Kwame Anthony Appiah, and Jennifer Herdt.
Jennifer Herdt, professor of Christian ethics at Yale Divinity School, explores the “call to live well” in her writing, teaching, and research. In our conversation, Jennifer discusses what it means to live a virtuous life and how that grounds our sense of genuine happiness and fulfillment. She challenges us to resist the cultural narrative to “get as much out of life as we can,” but rather to pursue a life that considers our obligation to others and to the world. As we do so, Jennifer suggest...
Kwame Anthony Appiah is one of the world’s most influential philosophers and currently serves as president of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Many know his work from the weekly "Ethicist" column in the New York Times. In this episode, he shares both personal and professional aspects of a vocational journey that has carried him from Ghana to Britain, the United States, and beyond. He reflects on current challenges to liberal education, the value of diversity, the power of symbols and...
Mustafa Akyol is a public intellectual and Muslim reformer who emphasizes the importance of being attentive to others and to the world around us. In this conversation, he shares his vocational journey from Turkey to the U.S. as a journalist, an academic, and a political commentator. As the author of books like The Islamic Jesus and The Islamic Moses, Mustafa reminds us of the hard work of respectful collaboration and mutual learning. He also reflects on religious liberty, the importance and f...
Kiran Singh Sirah, an award-winning storytelling artist and folklorist, explores the overlap between vocation and story. In this conversation, we discuss how storytelling deepens human connection as part of our callings. Kiran reminds us of the beauty of sharing our individual and communal stories, along with the power of an inspiring and complex narrative. Stories help foster curiosity about our “whole selves” so that we can build relationships that bridge divides and reveal an expansive, sh...
Abel Chávez sees our callings through this important question: what type of ancestor do we want to be? As the tenth president of Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, Texas, Abel explores the contours of our vocations as change makers in our careers and in our communities. Drawing from his experience with Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), he discusses how we can best serve first-generation students: inviting them to explore new pathways and experiences so that they can return to...
Caryn Riswold believes that conversations about vocation should give greater attention to issues of social justice, identity, and culture. As a professor of religion at Wartburg College, she reminds us that our callings help us to “be human together, better.” In this conversation, Caryn describes how her own dual callings as teacher and public theologian help her pursue such goals. But she also suggests that asking good questions is a key for discerning whether our words shed “heat or l...
Emmanuel Katongole is known for his work on violence and politics in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as theologies of peacebuilding and reconciliation. As a Catholic priest in Uganda and professor of theology and peace studies at the University of Notre Dame, he confronts the complexities of callings in various contexts. He describes his vocational journey as having carried him across different kinds of boundaries, causing him to ask questions such as “where is home?” and “who are my people?...
Bonnie Miller-McLemore’s new book, Follow Your Bliss and Other Lies About Calling, brings forward the nuance and complexities of vocational discernment. She explores the ways our callings can be fractured or blocked, relinquished or conflicted, missed or unexpected. By grounding calling in the realities of everyday life, she reminds us of the importance of being kind to ourselves and practicing forgiveness for self and others. As we realize the myriad ways our callings may be difficult, we co...
Jason Blakely is a political philosopher at Pepperdine University and author of Lost in Ideology: Interpreting Modern Political Life. In this episode, he reflects on his own vocational journey while helping us think about this tumultuous time in modern political life. Through it all, he reminds us that vocations are always based in stories and that political “science” has more in common with literature and the liberal arts than is often assumed.
John Inazu, author of Learning to Disagree: The Surprising Path to Navigating Differences with Empathy and Respect, is Professor of Law and Religion at Washington University in St. Louis. He is also a sought-after speaker who speaks about pluralism, the right of assembly, free speech, religious freedom, and related issues. In this episode, he reflects on his vocation as a lawyer and teacher, and shares insights and examples from the classroom to the courtroom. He highlights the importance of ...
This bonus episode features highlights from conversations that aired during the fourth season of Callings. In these clips, our guests offer advice for today's students and for anyone who teaches or mentors young adults. Listen to this compilation of insightful and interesting advice from Parker Palmer, Norman Wirzba, Katharine Hayhoe, Shirley Hoogstra, Miroslav Volf, Sarah Bassin, Anantanand Rambachan, Kathleen Fitzpatrick, Geoffrey Bateman, and Christi Belcourt.
Christi Belcourt, a Métis artist whose painting “Reverence for Life” appears on the newest volume from the NetVUE Scholarly Resources Project, reflects on the vocation of the artist. In our conversation, she explains how walking gently on the earth is part of learning responsibility and leading a life of integrity. From her perspective, vocation is about recognizing the gifts one is born with, as well as living in awe of the mystery and wonder of life and the natural world. Christi shares wit...
Geoffrey Bateman, a NetVUE faculty fellow and NetVUE scholar, has written extensively on the topic of supporting our LGBTQIA+ students in their vocational journeys. In our conversation, we explore strategies for mentoring queer students and discuss how to build inclusive practices in vocation work, both in classrooms and across campus. By taking action in local environments, listening for shifts in professional pathways, and honoring all facets of identity, educators can help individuals and ...
Kathleen Fitzpatrick, author of Generous Thinking: A Radical Approach to Saving the University, imagines that higher education can innovate for change in ways that allow campuses and communities to flourish. Throughout our conversation, we explore the benefits of public facing scholarship, digital literacy, and discovering new ways for educators, students, and community members to learn and collaborate. Education, as a calling, is a “generous practice” that can be filled with joy when we work...
Anantanand Rambachan’s career as a teacher, scholar, and activist has been grounded in a “thirst for the sacred.” Anant is a scholar of Hinduism and interreligious studies and is professor emeritus of religion, philosophy, and Asian studies at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. In this conversation, he discusses his experience as a Hindu scholar at a Lutheran institution, the importance of dialogue, wisdom for the different stages of life, and our obligations for justice and the commo...
Rabbi Sarah Bassin works for the world’s oldest refugee agency, the nonprofit organization HIAS (originally the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society). In the episode, Sarah reflects on the paradoxes of leadership as part of the call to live for the sake of others. She speaks to the power of seeing and acknowledging others’ pain, even while acknowledging and drawing on one’s own pain. Through the lens of social justice, she explores what it means to be a “boundary crosser,” and addresses contemp...
As Professor of Theology at Yale Divinity School, and Director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture, Miroslav Volf is one of the most influential Christian theologians of this generation. He is also someone who cares deeply about issues of vocation and human flourishing. In this episode, we talk with Miroslav about his latest book, Life Worth Living: A Guide to What Matters Most (co-authored with Matthew Croasmun and Ryan McAnnally-Linz), and the “Life Worth Living” course that they teach...
Comments
Download from Google Play
Download from App Store
United States