
76 episodes

Faith Angle Ethics and Public Policy Center
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- Religion & Spirituality
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4.9 • 58 Ratings
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Faith Angle brings together top scholars and leading journalists for smart conversations around some of the most profound questions in the public square. Rather than a current-events debrief, our goal is a substantive conversation one notch beneath the surface, drawing out how religious convictions manifest themselves in American culture and public life.
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America’s Crisis in Social Trust: Yuval Levin
Yuval Levin is the kind of thinker, policy analyst, public servant, and scholar you really want in DC. The talk you’re about to hear is one he gave to a group of 15 Michael Cromartie Forum journalists, a highly promising group of early-career journalists. The topic is declining trust in our politics, in religion, and in American journalism—and it’s a deeply insightful and challenging talk that we hope you’ll feel just as stirred by as our group did.
Guest
Yuval Levin
Additional Resources
A Time to Build: From Family and Community to Congress and the Campus, How Recommitting to Our Institutions Can Revive the American Dream, by Yuval Levin
The Fractured Republic: Renewing America's Social Contract in the Age of Individualism, by Yuval Levin
"The Crisis in America's Institutions: Religion, Journalism, and Politics," full video of Yuval Levin's session at the 2023 Michael Cromartie Forum
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Islam and American Pluralism: Mustafa Akyol and Dalia Mogahed
At the moment, 193 countries in the world hold membership in the United Nations, and, of that group, 50 are currently Muslim-majority countries. This is a data-point referenced by each of this episode's guest scholars, in their thinking about how Islam and liberalism intersect and in their reflections on the future of Islam in the modern era and on Muslim life in America.
First up is Mustafa Akyol, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute’s Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, where he focuses on the intersection of public policy, Islam, and modernity. He is followed by Dalia Mogahed, who is Director of Research at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding. Dalia previously served on President Obama’s Advisory Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, and, prior to that, was for six years Director of Gallup’s Center for Muslim Studies.
Guests
Mustafa Akyol
Dalia Mogahed
Additional Resources
Full video of Faith Angle Miami session on "Islam and American Pluralism"
Reopening Muslim Minds: A Return to Reason, Freedom, and Tolerance, by Mustafa Akyol
Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think, by Dalia Mogahed and John Esposito -
Miroslav Volf and Tim Alberta: Life Worth Living
Miroslav Volf teaches theology at Yale University, where he also directs the Yale Center for Faith and Culture. He is the author of 17 books, and his 1996 book Exclusion and Embrace was named by Christianity Today as one of the 100 Most Influential Books of the 20th Century. This new book, rooted in a popular Yale undergraduate course, is Life Worth Living: A Guide to What Matters Most, co-authored by Matthew Croasmun and Ryan McAnnally-Linz, both fellow teachers. Joining Miroslav for this conversation is Tim Alberta, a brilliant, ascending journalist and bestselling author in his own right, who is a staff writer at The Atlantic and the author of American Carnage. At the moment, Tim is working on a new book, provocatively titled The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism.
Guests
Miroslav Volf
Tim Alberta
Additional Resources
Life Worth Living: A Guide to What Matters Most, by Miroslav Volf, Matthew Croasmun, and Ryan McAnnally-Linz
American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republic Civil War and the Rise of President Trump, by Tim Alberta
"War and Religion in Ukraine," Faith Angle Europe session with Miroslav Volf
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Shaun Casey and Rachel Donadio: Chasing the Devil at Foggy Bottom
In this episode, we are joined by Shaun Casey, former director of the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Religion and Global Affairs, and Rachel Donadio, a Paris-based journalist, a contributing writer for The Atlantic and a former European Culture correspondent for The New York Times. Our guests discuss Shaun's new book, Chasing the Devil at Foggy Bottom, which makes the case that understanding the role of religion in global politics is crucial for effective diplomacy.
Guests
Shaun Casey
Rachel Donadio
Additional Resources
Chasing the Devil at Foggy Bottom: The Future of Religion in American Diplomacy, by Shaun Casey
"Why Is France so Afraid of God?" by Rachel Donadio
"Portrait of Bravery: Ukraine's First Lady, Olena Zelenska," by Rachel Donadio
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Mapping the Faith-Based Initiative: Ryan Streeter and Tevi Troy
In this episode, Ryan Streeter of the American Enterprise Institute and Tevi Troy of the Bipartisan Policy Center join us to discuss the history of the White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, as well as to provide a roadmap for the office's potential growth and impact under future administrations.
Guests
Ryan Streeter
Tevi Troy
Additional Resources
"The False Choices Facing the Republican Party," by Ryan Streeter
"The Life and Times of the Faith-Based Initiative," by Tevi Troy -
Peter Frankopan: China’s New Silk Roads
This episode is lifted directly from one of the most fascinating sessions of November’s Faith Angle Europe, where Dr. Peter Frankopan opened a two-and-a-half-hour session available in its entirety below. Peter is the Professor of Global History at Oxford University’s Worcester College, and alongside Theresa Fallon, the founder of a Brussels think tank focusing on Russia and China, he spoke with 18 transatlantic journalists about trade, culture, and the easily-misconstrued history of the Eastern and Western worlds that have intersected in China for centuries.
Guests
Peter Frankopan
Additional Resources
"Past Is Prologue in China," full length Faith Angle Europe 2022 session with Peter Frankopan and Theresa Fallon
The New Silk Roads: The Present and Future of the World, by Peter Frankopan
Oxford Centre for Byzantine Research
Customer Reviews
Excellent
Consistently thought-provoking. A diverse group of interviewees. Worth your time!
Magnificent
Josh Good and the Faith Angle Forum have created something extraordinary: nuanced conversations about religion. GetReligion’s Terry Mattingly has been shouting from the rooftops about the religion angle in journalism for years and now, someone is helping him fill in that gap.
Good allows journalists, academics, policy makers, and ethicists to converse on their topics of choice. When the two guests get to talking, something magical happens. An honest talk about the issues and fascinations about belief and faith. The guest list includes an astounding number of notable names like Emma Green, Daniel Krauthammer, and David Brooks. This is a podcast that is vital for a functioning society.
Genuine and insightful
Religion in the public square can be contentious with sides dug in on either side of issues. Journalists are often ill equipped to get the depth of concern of faith communities and faith leaders are not always great at illuminating their interests to the general public. With a friendly, conversational, inquisitive and engaged tone these podcasts strike the balance of being faithful to the needs of religionists who are put to answer relevant questions of public concern. Hence they reveal the overlap, as if on a Venn diagram, the humanity transcending and sometimes uniting the interests of people of different faiths and different political (conservative to progressive) persuasions