Winsome Conviction

You’re enjoying some festive fare and then it happens: you hear an offensive comment or a family member says something disagreeable and your emotional heat begins to boil. What do you do? How do you respond? Is there anything you can do preemptively to help yourself and the situation in that moment? On this episode, Tim and Rick discuss spiritual discipline exercises you can do to prepare for hard conversations with family and friends during the holidays.Show notes and a full transcript are available.

The holidays can be a meaningful time with friends and family, but gathering at the holiday table can also be trying and fraught with difficult conversations on hot-button issues. On this episode, Tim and Rick discuss how to navigate difficult conversations this holiday season in the hope of preserving relationship and deepening connection with others.  Show notes and a full transcript are available.

American theologian philosopher Richard Mouw has been championing a call to civil discourse on religious, political, and other social issues for well over four decades. On this episode, he resumes the conversation with Tim and Rick on a distinctly Christian approach to civility. Dr. Mouw shares personal experiences in interfaith dialogues and other exchanges involving pointed disagreement where he needed to simultaneously hold fast to his faith convictions while honoring and even demonstrating a willingness to learn from those with whom he disagreed. They highlight wisdom we can take into our own disagreements with others. This is part 2 of a 2-part conversation with Dr. Richard Mouw on civility.Show notes and a full transcript are available.

Can we think about civility from a distinctly Christian perspective? American theologian philosopher Richard Mouw joins the podcast to explore this question with Tim and Rick. Dr. Mouw has been thinking about civility and helping religious and political parties engage in civil discourse for over 40 years, and he sits down to share stories and insights gained. The conversation ranges over the biblical mandate to be civil, the difference between gentleness and civility, and how to keep things civil during disagreement. This is part 1 of a 2-part conversation with Dr. Richard Mouw on civility.Show notes and a full transcript are available.

Tim and Rick resume the conversation with Andrew Sullivan on civility and its vital role in a healthy democracy. In this episode, Andrew reflects on the quality of generosity in many Americans, a bright spot in dark times of the argument culture; the discussion then turns to the topic of cancel culture where Andrew candidly shares his experience of being cancelled; and they round out the discussion on two ideas for practicing civility – the method of the dialectic and a lesson from Britain’s House of Commons. This is part 2 of a 2-part conversation with Andrew Sullivan on civility.Show notes and a full transcript are available at: https://www.biola.edu/blogs/winsome-conviction/2022/episode-56-civility-matters-with-andrew-sullivan-part-2  

Civility is a requirement for a healthy republic. But we seem to be losing faith in civility, and people are confused on what civility involves and when to be civil. Andrew Sullivan joins the podcast to speak with Tim and Rick on a range of social issues that bear on civility. In this episode, they discuss the danger of labels and the importance of humanizing others before mining the secret of a health democracy. This is part 1 of a 2-part conversation with Andrew Sullivan on civility. Show notes and a full transcript are available at: https://www.biola.edu/blogs/winsome-conviction/2022/episode-55-civility-matters-with-andrew-sullivan-part-1  

Tim resumes the discussion with Stephanie Bennett (PhD) on her new book, “Silence, Civility, and Sanity: Hope for Humanity in a Digital Age.” They take a deeper look at silence as a set of practices for counteracting unhealthy and uncivil discourse. Dr. Bennett unpacks two types of silence - contemplative silence and ontological silence - to help us reclaim civil communication and healthy public conversation. They round out the conversation discussing Dr. Bennett’s trilogy of novels, “Within the Walls,” where she employs fiction to explore the future of digital media and relational sustainability. This is part 2 of a 2-part discussion with Dr. Stephanie Bennett on silence and civility.  Show notes and a full transcript are available at: https://www.biola.edu/blogs/winsome-conviction/2022/episode-54-silence-and-civility-part-2 

Stephanie Bennett (PhD) joins Tim to discuss her new book, “Silence, Civility, and Sanity: Hope for Humanity in a Digital Age.” In this episode, they discuss features of the fallout from digital culture on our communication, including the dangers of immediacy, the prevalence of noise, and other dynamics in our speech that prevent or erode healthy, meaningful, and civil dialogue. They begin to explore practices involving silence, including a media fast, as one antidote. This is part 1 of a 2-part discussion with Dr. Stephanie Bennett on silence and civility. Show notes and a full transcript are available at: https://www.biola.edu/blogs/winsome-conviction/2022/episode-53-silence-and-civility-part-1 

Arthur C. Brooks (PhD) joins the podcast to talk about our culture of contempt and how it is contributing to the polarization in America today. What is contempt? How is it different from anger? And how does contempt affect us and our relationships? Do the social sciences and the Bible provide insight on the pitfalls of contempt and how to steer clear from danger? Tim and Arthur discuss these questions and more today on the podcast. They also unpack the importance of choosing to love one another as a vital corrective to the culture of contempt and provide ways we can begin to put these ideas into practice.Show notes and a full transcript are available at: https://www.biola.edu/blogs/winsome-conviction/2022/episode-52-on-contempt-with-arthur-brooks

Tim and Rick continue going back through the archive of episodes on the podcast and highlight ideas, practices and moments with guests that stand out. In this episode, they discuss Shane Hurley's grassroots approach to helping people talk about race (Episode 13, Mar 1, 2021); Russell Moore on issues polarizing the generations in the Church (Episode 38, Feb 14, 2022); Theon Hill on what to do when people don't want to listen to what you have to say (Episodes 34-35, beginning on Dec 20, 2021); and variations of upbringings with the Reverend James White (Episodes 7-8, beginning Dec 14, 2020). This is part 2 of a 2-part conversation.Show notes and a full transcript are available at: https://www.biola.edu/blogs/winsome-conviction/2022/episode-51-that-impressed-me-part-2