Claim OwnershipReimagining the Good Life with Amy Julia Becker
Subscribed: 47Played: 1,188
Subscribe
© 2024 Reimagining the Good Life with Amy Julia Becker
Description
A podcast about reimagining the good life through the lens of disability, faith, and culture. Host Amy Julia Becker interviews guests in conversations that challenge assumptions about the good life, proclaim the inherent belovedness of every human being, and help us envision a world of belonging.
151 Episodes
Reverse
Send us a Text Message.How do you hold onto hope in the midst of suffering? How can we trust in the goodness of God in a world of pain? What does the good life look like in the midst of disability and uncertainty? Katherine Wolf, author with Alex Wolf of Treasures in the Dark, survived a catastrophic stroke at the age of 26 and continues her recovery to this day. She offers thoughtful answers to these questions as she talks with Amy Julia Becker about: Her personal journey of suffering a...
Send us a Text Message.We are heading into another contentious Presidential election. For people of faith, for people who care about character and gentleness and values, for people who are inclined to disengage from politics altogether, what are we to do? Michael Wear, author of The Spirit of Our Politics, joins Amy Julia Becker to talk about:His work as a staffer in the Obama White House (Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships)How political anger and polarization malform individ...
Send us a Text Message.What's the difference between limitations and brokenness? What does it mean to be blessed? How can a dual diagnosis of Down syndrome and autism be a part of a flourishing life? Micha Boyett, a writer, poet, and mom, joins Amy Julia Becker to talk about her new book Blessed Are the Rest of Us. They explore the intersection of blessing, limits, and longing within the context of the Beatitudes, including:The meaning of 'blessed' and how it relates to the gifts and challeng...
Send us a Text Message.{Please note that we discuss abuse in this episode.}How do we love people across our political and social divides? What are the costs and gifts of loving our political neighbor? Nancy French, author of Ghosted: An American Story, talks with Amy Julia Becker about:Her experiences as a ghostwriter for GOP politicians and her decision to leave the industryPolarization within the church and the political landscapeInadequate responses to abuse from both the church and the cu...
Send us a Text Message.Why does it matter that most churches don’t welcome people with disabilities in leadership? If a church excludes people with disabilities, is it really a church? Rev. Dr. Andrew Draper, coauthor of Disabling Leadership, talks with Amy Julia Becker about:Ways in which churches exclude and marginalize people with disabilitiesWhy it’s essential to centralize people with disabilities in church life and leadershipHow disability inclusion benefits the whole congregationReimag...
Send us a Text Message.Why would a Christian author immerse her stories in darkness? Why would she use violent imagery that directly relates to Christianity, race, class, disability, and illness? And how can this darkness guide us toward the importance of love in the flesh, of personal connection and vulnerability? In this conversation, Dr. Jessica Hooten Wilson, author of Flannery O’Connor’s Why Do the Heathen Rage? A Behind-the-Scenes Look at a Work in Progress, and Amy Julia Becker explore...
Send us a Text Message.Is blindness an incidental characteristic, like hair color? Or is it an identity? What language should we use to talk about disability, and why does it matter? Andrew Leland, author of The Country of the Blind, joins Amy Julia Becker on the podcast for a conversation examining:Blindness and identityThe importance of language and the use of metaphors in relation to disabilityHow the experience of disability can involve beauty, power, and lossThe role of allies in advocat...
Send us a Text Message.This podcast has a new name: Reimagining the Good Life. If you’re asking, “Why a name change?” and “Why now?”—I have answers! Author and teacher Patricia Clarke talks with me about:How disability challenges assumptions about the good lifeAccepting limitations and finding freedom within themHow faith and culture shape our understanding of the good lifeThe power of reimagining what’s possibleWhat all of this has to do with changing the podcast name!_GUEST BIO:Patricia Cla...
Send us a Text Message.Is faith something that should always stay the same? Or is it something that evolves by necessity? Sarah Bessey, author of Field Notes for the Wilderness, talks with Amy Julia Becker about:Her evolving faith journeyHow to adapt and thrive in an evolving faithMaking room for change, in ourselves and othersNavigating the intersection of anger and joyHow to discover what we're hoping for, not just what we’re againstHow to embrace the gifts of an evolving faith__MY LENTEN R...
Send us a Text Message.Holiday culture wars and consumerism bring more chaos than joy to the world. But there’s hope. The countercultural season of Advent offers a different way to prepare for Christmas. Tish Harrison Warren, former New York Times columnist and author, talks with Amy Julia Becker about:How the practices of Advent disarm the culture warsWays that Advent helps us grieve and hopeWhy waiting to celebrate Christmas mattersPLUS why Tish chose to leave the New York TimesGive a book ...
Send us a Text Message.Anxious parents. Anxious families. Anxiety is contagious. How do I know if I’m an anxious parent? And if I am one, how is that affecting my kids? What can I do about it—for their sake and for mine? Therapist and author Sissy Goff, LPC-MHSP, joins Amy Julia Becker on the podcast to talk about:How to identify and stop anxiety loopsWhy failure is good for parents and kidsCommon parenting strategies that DON’T workPractical tools for changing thought and behavior patternsPL...
Send us a Text Message.How do we show up for each other in the midst of pain? Is it possible to hope when we’re suffering? Psychiatrist Curt Thompson, author of The Deepest Place, joins Amy Julia Becker to talk about:How to identify the denial and shame we’ve connected to sufferingHow to form durable hope in the darkest placesHow to help a friend in the midst of suffering__Guest Bio:“Inspired by deep compassion for others and informed from a Christian perspective, psychiatrist Curt Thompson s...
Send us a Text Message.What happens when women receive a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome? How does that diagnosis affect those women and their families? How does it affect our whole society? Stephanie Meredith joins Amy Julia Becker for a conversation about her new report on the bias doctors have when giving a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome, including:The landscape of prenatal testingHow doctors approach it and what they could do betterWhy these conversations matter outside the...
Send us a Text Message.Have you watched the new show on Netflix called Down for Love? It’s a reality dating show for people with Down syndrome, and we’re celebrating the start of Down Syndrome Awareness month with a conversation with the producer of Down for Love, Robyn Paterson. We talk about:How the show was createdThe diversity of the Down syndrome communityThe universal desire for love, relationships, and connectionBONUS CONTENT: At the end of the episode, I talk with Penny, our 17-year-o...
Send us a Text Message.Do you wrestle with anxiety? Are you plagued with worries? Do you think you’ve conquered anxiety? Curtis Chang, author of The Anxiety Opportunity, joins Amy Julia Becker for a conversation that uncovers: what anxiety really is all aboutspiritual practices for facing anxietypractical ways we can grow in the midst of anxiety__Guest Bio:Curtis Chang is a theologian and consulting faculty member of Duke Divinity School and a Senior Fellow at Fuller Theological Seminary...
Send us a Text Message.“Whose stories matter?” Esau McCaulley, author of How Far to the Promised Land, joins Amy Julia Becker for an honest, hopeful conversation about:being Black in Americahonoring the messiness and complexity of our humanityholding on to hope in the goodness of God“How do the people whom we love, who hurt us, shape the kind of people we become? And how do we make peace with that?” _Guest Bio:“Rev. Esau McCaulley, PhD is an author and associate professor of New Testamen...
Send us a Text Message.Love is stronger than fear. What if we really believed it? What if we lived into love and weren’t overcome by anxiety? What if, even in the midst of the harrowing realities of our global catastrophes and the mundane realities of our everyday lives—what if we could live in a way that deepens who we are, that connects us to ourselves, to God, to one another? I’m Amy Julia Becker, and this is a podcast about what it means to be human beings who seek love rather than fear, ...
Send us a Text Message.Is racism baked into our nation’s DNA? Is there any hope for change? John Blake, a CNN journalist and author of More Than I Imagined, explores the personal and social aspects of race as he shares:his own experience as a biracial kid growing up in West Baltimoretime at Howard University and working for CNNunderstanding of race and faith in Americaexperience of learning about his own white family as a young adultreasons for hope_Guest Bio:John Blake is an award-winning jo...
Send us a Text Message.How do we prepare now to die well? Can we reimagine care of the dying in all of its messiness as a gift? Dr. Lydia Dugdale, a medical ethicist, internal medicine doctor, professor, and author of The Lost Art of Dying, talks with Amy Julia Becker about:DisabilityDeathMedical assistance in dyingHonoring all human life as the gift it is without idolizing life__Guest Bio:“Lydia Dugdale MD, MAR, is the Dorothy L. and Daniel H. Silberberg Associate Professor of Medicine ...
1Send us a Text Message.Do you feel like you have to stay strong to survive? Aundi Kolber, a licensed professional counselor and author, talks with Amy Julia Becker about her latest book, Strong Like Water. They discuss how to:become strong in new waysreceive and participate in healinglive with compassion towards ourselves and carry love in our bodies__Guest Bio“Aundi Kolber is a licensed professional counselor (MA, LPC) and author of the critically acclaimed Try Softer. She has received addit...
Comments
Download from Google Play
Download from App Store
United States