

No Small Endeavor with Lee C. Camp
Tokens Media
Exploring what it means to live a good life. What does it mean to live a good life? What is true happiness? What are the habits, practices, and dispositions that contribute to authentic human flourishing? No Small Endeavor examines these questions with host Lee C. Camp. You'll hear from best-selling authors, philosophers, scientists, artists, psychologists, theologians and even the occasional politician—courageous, impassioned people taking seriously the question of how to live a good life. Striving for a good life is No Small Endeavor, and we’re here with you on the road. Learn more at nosmallendeavor.com.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Feb 29, 2024 • 55min
145: Tim Alberta: The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory
At No Small Endeavor, we try to talk about the things that really matter to people. Two such things - politics and religion - are notoriously tricky to discuss without generalizing, proselytizing, or stoking division.
But in an election year, we can’t ignore a sub-group in the United States that is adamant about combining faith and nation: Christian Nationalists.
In this episode, we called in Tim Alberta, author of “The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory” and an expert for the job. He shares what it was like growing up around the movement, offers his criticism of a subculture he knows inside and out, and presents the clear and present danger of conflating religious identity with national identity.
Show Notes
Similar episodes:
Kristin Du Mez: Jesus and John Wayne
Kristin Du Mez Sits with David French
David French: Conservatism without Trumpism
Russell Moore: Against, and For, the Tribe
Randall Balmer – name? Link?
Resources mentioned this episode:
The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory by Tim Alberta
Jesus and John Wayne by Kristin Du Mez
PDF of Lee’s Interview Notes
Transcription Link
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Feb 27, 2024 • 1h 14min
144: Unabridged Interview: Eboo Patel
This is our unabridged interview with Eboo Patel.
“Diversity is a treasure,” says President and Founder of Interfaith America Eboo Patel. But what does “diversity” really mean?
The term is found these days in public discourse and political debate, in boardrooms and on athletic fields. But Eboo argues that the way it plays out in the United States often misses the point entirely: instead of honoring identity and leaving room for disagreement, we settle for a flattening of culture, calling it “diversity.”
“Coherent doesn’t mean univocal,” says Eboo. “In a democracy, you actually get to articulate your identity.” In this episode, Eboo describes why we should treasure our differences - especially religious differences - rather than treat them as insignificant, and provides new ways to frame polarizing issues around religion, race, and politics.
Show Notes
Similar episodes:
David Brooks: Can We Save Society by Knowing Each Other?
Eddie Glaude: On James Baldwin’s America
David Desteno: Can Religion Make You Happier?
Kristin Du Mez Sits with David French
Resources mentioned this episode
We Need to Build by Eboo Patel
Acts of Faith by Eboo Patel
Interfaith America’s website
PDF of Lee’s Interview Notes
Transcript for Abridged Episode
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Shop No Small Endeavor Merch: Scandalous Witness Course | Scandalous Witness Book | Joy & the Good Life Course
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Feb 22, 2024 • 54min
144: Eboo Patel: Field Notes for Diverse Democracy
“Diversity is a treasure,” says President and Founder of Interfaith America Eboo Patel. But what does “diversity” really mean?
The term is found these days in public discourse and political debate, in boardrooms and on athletic fields. But Eboo argues that the way it plays out in the United States often misses the point entirely: instead of honoring identity and leaving room for disagreement, we settle for a flattening of culture, calling it “diversity.”
“Coherent doesn’t mean univocal,” says Eboo. “In a democracy, you actually get to articulate your identity.” In this episode, Eboo describes why we should treasure our differences - especially religious differences - rather than treat them as insignificant, and provides new ways to frame polarizing issues around religion, race, and politics.
Show Notes
Similar episodes:
David Brooks: Can We Save Society by Knowing Each Other?
Eddie Glaude: On James Baldwin’s America
David Desteno: Can Religion Make You Happier?
Kristin Du Mez Sits with David French
Resources mentioned this episode
We Need to Build by Eboo Patel
Acts of Faith by Eboo Patel
Interfaith America’s website
PDF of Lee’s Interview Notes
Transcription Link
Subscribe to episodes: Apple | Spotify | Amazon | Stitcher | Google | YouTube
Follow Us: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube
Follow Lee: Instagram | Twitter
Join our Email List: nosmallendeavor.com
Become a Member: Virtual Only | Standard | Premium
See Privacy Policy: Privacy Policy
Shop No Small Endeavor Merch: Scandalous Witness Course | Scandalous Witness Book | Joy & the Good Life Course
Amazon Affiliate Disclosure: Tokens Media, LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 21, 2024 • 47min
For Your Consideration: Your Mama's Kitchen with John Batiste
Sharing an episode of Your Mama’s Kitchen, a podcast about cuisine and culture, ingredients and identities, and the meals and memories that make us who we are.
Every week, host Michele Norris talks to guests like Michelle Obama, Glennon Doyle, José Andrés and more. Together they explore the complexities of family life and how their earliest culinary experiences helped shape their personal and professional lives—and of course, each guest shares a recipe for a favorite dish from their youth so you can taste a bit of their story.
In this episode, singer-songwriter Jon Batiste serenades us with his harmonica-keyboard while reminiscing on the sounds of his childhood kitchen in New Orleans. He describes what it was like to grow up in a big, musical family of jazz legends, and shares some of their favorite Christmas traditions—including competing to see who could make the best and truest gumbo.
You can find more Your Mama’s Kitchen here.
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Shop No Small Endeavor Merch: Scandalous Witness Course | Scandalous Witness Book | Joy & the Good Life Course
Amazon Affiliate Disclosure: Tokens Media, LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 20, 2024 • 1h 20min
143: Unabridged Interview: Anthony Ray Hinton
This is our unabridged interview with Anthony Ray Hinton.
“I don’t care whether you did or didn’t do it. I’m going to make sure you’re found guilty.”
These were the words that Anthony Ray Hinton says put him on Alabama’s death row for nearly 3 decades for a murder he didn’t commit. In 2015, after numerous appeals, he was released after the US Supreme Court vacated the charges, and the State of Alabama dropped the case.
Mr. Hinton is author of the New York Times bestseller, “The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row.” His story recounts his harrowing decades on death row, and his intention to make choices for compassion and joy in the midst of the chaos of prison life, spending 23 hours every day in a 5 x 7 cell, and watching 54 individuals pass his cell on their way to the death chamber.
“You can sit in that cell and be angry with the world,” he says, “or you can sit in that cell and try to find peace and joy. But you can't say you don't have a choice.”
Similar episodes:
Pervis Payne: The Death Penalty
The Architect of the American Civil Rights Movement: James Lawson
Eddie Glaude: On James Baldwin’s America
Jameel McGee and Andrew Collins: Dirty Cop, False Arrest, and Unexpected Consequences
Resources mentioned this episode
The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Ray Hinton
The Sun Does Shine (Young Readers Edition) by Anthony Ray Hinton
Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin
PDF of Lee’s Interview Notes
Transcript for Abridged Episode
Subscribe to episodes: Apple | Spotify | Amazon | Stitcher | Google | YouTube
Follow Us: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube
Follow Lee: Instagram | Twitter
Join our Email List: nosmallendeavor.com
See Privacy Policy: Privacy Policy
Shop No Small Endeavor Merch: Scandalous Witness Course | Scandalous Witness Book | Joy & the Good Life Course
Amazon Affiliate Disclosure: Tokens Media, LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 15, 2024 • 54min
143: Anthony Ray Hinton: An Innocent Man on Death Row
“I don’t care whether you did or didn’t do it. I’m going to make sure you’re found guilty.”
These were the words that Anthony Ray Hinton says put him on Alabama’s death row for nearly 3 decades for a murder he didn’t commit. In 2015, after numerous appeals, he was released after the US Supreme Court vacated the charges, and the State of Alabama dropped the case.
Mr. Hinton is author of the New York Times bestseller, “The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row.” His story recounts his harrowing decades on death row, and his intention to make choices for compassion and joy in the midst of the chaos of prison life, spending 23 hours every day in a 5 x 7 cell, and watching 54 individuals pass his cell on their way to the death chamber.
“You can sit in that cell and be angry with the world,” he says, “or you can sit in that cell and try to find peace and joy. But you can't say you don't have a choice.”
Similar episodes:
Pervis Payne: The Death Penalty
The Architect of the American Civil Rights Movement: James Lawson
Eddie Glaude: On James Baldwin’s America
Jameel McGee and Andrew Collins: Dirty Cop, False Arrest, and Unexpected Consequences
Resources mentioned this episode:
The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Ray Hinton
The Sun Does Shine (Young Readers Edition) by Anthony Ray Hinton
Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin
PDF of Lee’s Interview Notes
Transcription Link
Subscribe to episodes: Apple | Spotify | Amazon | Stitcher | Google | YouTube
Follow Us: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube
Follow Lee: Instagram | Twitter
Join our Email List: nosmallendeavor.com
Become a Member: Virtual Only | Standard | Premium
See Privacy Policy: Privacy Policy
Shop No Small Endeavor Merch: Scandalous Witness Course | Scandalous Witness Book | Joy & the Good Life Course
Amazon Affiliate Disclosure: Tokens Media, LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 13, 2024 • 1h 9min
142: Unabridged Interview: Rob Reiner and Dan Partland
This is our unabridged interview with Rob Reiner and Dan Partland.
What ideas mobilized people to storm the Capitol on January 6th?
The new documentary “God & Country” from acclaimed actor and filmmaker Rob Reiner and director Dan Partland seeks to answer that question. Their journalism explores the motives, philosophies, and ideas behind Christian nationalism, and looks at the implications of those views and how they distort not only our constitutional republic, but Christianity itself.
“We've got to find a way to live and not kill each other,” says Rob, “especially not over our ideas.” The film features interviews with experts from many different realms - including historians, theologians, political pundits, and more - in order to shed light on the intermix of power and religion in our day.
In this episode, Rob and Dan describe their film, why they made it, and what they learned in the process.
Show Notes
Similar episodes:
Kristin Du Mez: Jesus and John Wayne
Randall Balmer: Race and the Rise of the Religious Right
Kristin Du Mez Sits with David French
Russell Moore: Against, and For, the Tribe
Robert Jones: White Too Long
Resources mentioned this episode
”God and Country” Trailer
PDF of Lee’s Interview Notes
Transcription Link for Abridged Episode
Subscribe to episodes: Apple | Spotify | Amazon | Stitcher | Google | YouTube
Follow Us: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube
Follow Lee: Instagram | Twitter
Join our Email List: nosmallendeavor.com
Become a Member: Virtual Only | Standard | Premium
See Privacy Policy: Privacy Policy
Shop No Small Endeavor Merch: Scandalous Witness Course | Scandalous Witness Book | Joy & the Good Life Course
Amazon Affiliate Disclosure: Tokens Media, LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 8, 2024 • 54min
142: Rob Reiner and Dan Partland: Their New Film “God and Country”
What ideas mobilized people to storm the Capitol on January 6th?
The new documentary “God & Country” from acclaimed actor and filmmaker Rob Reiner and director Dan Partland seeks to answer that question. Their journalism explores the motives, philosophies, and ideas behind Christian nationalism, and looks at the implications of those views and how they distort not only our constitutional republic, but Christianity itself.
“We've got to find a way to live and not kill each other,” says Rob, “especially not over our ideas.” The film features interviews with experts from many different realms - including historians, theologians, political pundits, and more - in order to shed light on the intermix of power and religion in our day.
In this episode, Rob and Dan describe their film, why they made it, and what they learned in the process.
Show Notes
Similar episodes:
Kristin Du Mez: Jesus and John Wayne
Randall Balmer: Race and the Rise of the Religious Right
Kristin Du Mez Sits with David French
Russell Moore: Against, and For, the Tribe
Robert Jones: White Too Long
Resources mentioned this episode
”God and Country” Trailer
PDF of Lee’s Interview Notes
Transcription Link
Subscribe to episodes: Apple | Spotify | Amazon | Stitcher | Google | YouTube
Follow Us: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube
Follow Lee: Instagram | Twitter
Join our Email List: nosmallendeavor.com
Become a Member: Virtual Only | Standard | Premium
See Privacy Policy: Privacy Policy
Shop No Small Endeavor Merch: Scandalous Witness Course | Scandalous Witness Book | Joy & the Good Life Course
Amazon Affiliate Disclosure: Tokens Media, LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 6, 2024 • 1h 18min
141: Unabridged Interview: David Brooks
New York Times columnist and bestselling author David Brooks discusses the social crisis, loneliness, and suicide rates. He emphasizes the importance of attention and truly knowing others. His new book, 'How to Know a Person,' explores deep connections and personal storytelling. Brooks also touches on redefining merit, his evolution of political views, and spirituality.

21 snips
Feb 2, 2024 • 39min
For Your Consideration: How God Works with David DeSteno
Renowned psychologist, David DeSteno, hosts a podcast called "How God Works" where he discusses the overlap between scientific research and teachings of faith. In one episode, DeSteno interviews journalist Nicholas Kristof about maintaining hope amid violence and war. He also talks to Roshi Joan Halifax about wise hope and fierce compassion. The episode explores the transformative power of hope, recognizing progress in solving global issues, building empathy, and choosing resilient hope. They also touch upon the connection between hope and fear, emphasizing the importance of community and acceptance in uncertain times.