In Good Faith

Today, Steve talks with Rabbi Dr. Shaul Praver, a first responder at the tragic Sandy Hook shooting in Newtown, Connecticut on December 14, 2012. Praver was a leader in helping to heal the community in the aftermath. For his community work he has earned the Samaritan Medal of Peace and Humanitarian Accomplishments and was named one of the 50 most influential American Rabbis by Newsweek magazine, both in 2013. We are not going into graphic detail, but be advised, as there are discussions of children dying and gun violence in today's episode.

This week, we hear from Rev. Dr. Grace Ji-Sun Kim and Dr. Susan M. Shaw. They speak with senior producer Heather Bigley about their book, "Surviving God: A New Vision Through the Eyes of Sexual Abuse Survivors." While the interview is not graphic in any way, be aware that we're discussing a difficult topic. Rev. Dr. Grace Ji-Sun Kim is a professor of theology at Earlham School of Religion and author, coauthor, or editor of numerous books, most recently Spirit Life; Invisible; and Intersectional Theology. She has served on the American Academy of Religion's board of directors, is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), and is the host of the Madang podcast from The Christian Century. Dr. Susan M. Shaw is professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Oregon State University. She is author of Reflective Faith: A Theological Toolbox for Women (2014) and God Speaks to Us, Too: Southern Baptist Women on Church, Home, and Society (2008) and general editor of the four-volume Women's Lives Around the World: A Global Encyclopedia (2018).

Steve chats with James Goldberg about his religious heritage and offering charity to those who came before us, as people working to build and experiment in the art of religion. James Goldberg is an American historian, playwright, poet, and writer. He has Jewish, European, and Punjabi ancestors; his grandfather, Gurcharan Singh Gill, was the first Sikh to join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). James is a contributor to the Saints history project with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He is on the board for the Association of Mormon Letters (AML) and served as its president from 2020 to 2021. He has published two novels, four collections of poetry, and two other books and is the 2024 Storymakers Award for his multi-faith writing.

Steve sits down with Oren Jay Sofer and chats about how meditation is needed in tumultuous times, how to develop inner strength, and how the play of small children is an important skill we all should retain. Oren Jay Sofer teaches Buddhist meditation, mindfulness, and communication internationally. He holds a degree in comparative religion from Columbia University and is a Certified Trainer of Nonviolent Communication and a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner for the healing of trauma. Born and raised in New Jersey, he is the author of several books; most recently, "Your Heart Was Made for This: Contemplative Practices for Meeting a World in Crisis with Courage, Integrity, and Love."

We first spoke with Leah Marett in a bonus episode with students at BYU involved in interfaith work. We loved her story, so we invited her back for a full episode! Leah Marett is the host of the The Non-Member Project podcast, drawing from her experiences as a Protestant Christian student at Brigham Young University. Currently, she is earning her Master’s degree in Athletic Training.

Steve speaks with Yasminah Respes Huberman about her family's Jewish heritage, her own experience moving to Israel, and the importance of education. Yasminah Huberman is the host of The Jewish Education Experience Podcast, and the founder of Lamed Learning Center which provides learning opportunities for families. She is originally from Southern NJ where she grew up attending Hebrew School and the Adat Beyt Moshe, the synagogue founded by her grandfather, Rabbi Abel Respes. Currently, she homeschools her three children.

Steven Kapp Perry speaks with Gray Cox about the new age of AI and its influence on religious life. Artificial Intelligence has made its way into nearly every conversation over the last few months. We're wondering, What does this mean for religious practice? Dr. Cox discusses how we train AI matters and reflects our own spiritual concerns. Gray Cox is the author of “Smarter Planet or Wiser Earth?”, a book about dialogue and collaboration in this new age of AI. He teaches courses in philosophy, peace studies, language learning, and artificial intelligence at College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine. He is a cofounder and current Clerk of the Quaker Institute for the Future.

This week, we hear from Alejandra Oliva, author of 'Rivermouth: A Chronicle of Language, Faith and Migration'. She discusses the difference between being interested in an issue, and being involved in the issue. Her conversation with senior producer Heather Bigley covers the spiritual needs at the border. Alejandra Oliva is an essayist, translator, immigrant justice advocate, and embroiderer. Currently she teaches for NYU’s School of Professional Studies. She is a recipient of a 2022 Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant and was a Franke Fellow at the Yale Whitney Humanities Center in 2022. She has also worked at the National Immigrant Justice Center in Chicago in Community Engagement. She holds a Masters of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School.

This week on In Good Faith, Steve speaks with Wendy Goldberg in the first half of the episode and Rabbi Joe Charnes in the second half. Both our guests are passionate in interfaith bridge building, and we were excited to hear what they are accomplishing in their communities. Wendy Goldberg is the executive director of the Tri-Faith Initiative, an interfaith organization that houses a mosque, synagogue, church, and interfaith center all on one campus in Omaha, Nebraska. She helped found the initiative and has been involved ever since. In addition to running the initiative as a whole, Wendy was on the board of trustees for Temple Israel synagogue, the Jewish congregation of the organization, for a decade. Rabbi Joe Charnes received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from California State University, Northridge. He went on to study in traditional Jewish seminaries in Los Angeles, California; Brooklyn, New York; and Jerusalem, Israel, and was ordained by Rabbi Mordechai Finley, PhD, of the Academy for Jewish Religion, California. Rabbi Joe's teachings center around recovering and encountering the inner dimension of sacred, Jewish wisdom. He is also deeply devoted to interfaith dialogue and engagement and has been involved in numerous Jewish-Christian interfaith, and multi-faith events. He has studied Judaism, Christianity, and Buddhism comparatively for over 25 years, and more recently, Islam and Hinduism. He has lectured frequently at seminaries, universities, churches, synagogues, mosques, and military bases across the country.

Our first IGF Book Club of 2024! In this episode, we're reading the Bhagavad Gita, as translated by Laurie Patton. We actually interviewed Laurie on this show in 2020, so if you want to hear her voice, check out episode 77. Professor Ravi Gupta leads host Steven Kapp Perry through a discussion of the Hindu holy scripture; they're joined in studio by producers Heather Bigley, Lia King, and Ashton Rowan. Ravi M. Gupta, PhD, holds the Charles Redd Chair of Religious Studies and serves as Professor and Department Head of the Department of History at Utah State University. He is the author or editor of four books, including an abridged translation of the Bhagavata Purana (with Kenneth Valpey), published in 2017 by Columbia University Press. Gupta has received four teaching awards, a National Endowment for the Humanities summer fellowship, and two research fellowships at Oxford. He is a Permanent Research Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies and a past president of the Society for Hindu Christian Studies. His current research focuses on the Bhagavata Purana's Sanskrit commentaries. He enjoys teaching World Religions, Hinduism, Sanskrit, and Religious Studies Theory and Method.