On Being with Krista Tippett

David Blankenhorn and Jonathan Rauch — The Future of Marriage

16 Apr 2015

Contributed by Lukas

What would it take to make our national encounter with gay marriage redemptive rather than divisive? David Blankenhorn and Jonathan Rauch came to the ...

[Unedited] David Blankenhorn and Jonathan Rauch with Krista Tippett

16 Apr 2015

Contributed by Lukas

David Blankenhorn is founder and president of the Institute of American Values. He’s also co-director of The Marriage Opportunity Council. His books...

Bruce Kramer — Forgiving the Body: Life with ALS

26 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

From the moment of his diagnosis with ALS, Bruce Kramer began writing — openly, deeply, and spiritually — about his struggle, as he puts it, to li...

[Unedited] Bruce Kramer with Krista Tippett

26 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Bruce Kramer was the creator of “The Dis Ease Diary” a blog about his life with ALS and “We Know How This Ends: Living While Dying.” He was th...

[Unedited] Alan Dienstag with Krista Tippett

19 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Alan Dienstag is a clinical psychologist in private practice in New York City and Westchester County. This interview is edited and produced with music...

Alan Dienstag — Alzheimer's and the Spiritual Terrain of Memory

19 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Alzheimer’s disease has been described as “the great unlearning.” But what does it reveal about the nature of human identity? What remains when ...

[Unedited] Arthur Zajonc and Michael McCullough

12 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Arthur Zajonc is president of the Mind and Life Institute. He is emeritus professor of physics at Amherst College, where he taught from 1978 to 2012. ...

Arthur Zajonc and Michael McCullough — Mind and Morality: A Dialogue`

12 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

For several hundred years, much of scientific advance has been about exploring human beings, including their actions and choices, in terms of mechanis...

[Unedited] Eve Ensler with Krista Tippett

05 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Eve Ensler is a Tony Award-winning playwright, performer, and activist. She is the author of “The Vagina Monologues” and “The Good Body.” Her ...

Eve Ensler — The Body After Cancer

05 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Eve Ensler has helped women all over the world tell the stories of their lives through the stories of their bodies. Her play, “The Vagina Monologues...

[Unedited] Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons and Lucas Johnson with Krista Tippett

19 Feb 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons is assistant professor of religion at the University of Florida. She is also a member of the National Council of Elders. Her...

Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons and Lucas Johnson — The Movement, Remembered Forward

19 Feb 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Wisdom for how we can move and heal our society in our time as the Civil Rights Movement galvanized its own. Lucas Johnson is bringing the art and pra...

Brené Brown — The Courage to Be Vulnerable

29 Jan 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Courage is borne out of vulnerability, not strength. This finding of Brené Brown’s research on shame and “wholeheartedness” shook the perfectio...

[Unedited] Brené Brown with Krista Tippett (2013)

29 Jan 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Brené Brown is Research Professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work. Her books include: “The Gifts of Imperfection” an...

[Unedited] Reza Aslan with Krista Tippett

20 Nov 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Reza Aslan is the founder of Aslan Media, a social media network for news and entertainment about the Middle East and the world. A scholar of religion...

Reza Aslan — Islam's Reformation

20 Nov 2014

Contributed by Lukas

In a probing and personal conversation, Reza Aslan opens a refreshing window on religion in the world and Islam in particular. It’s a longer view of...

[Unedited] Bernard Chazelle with Krista Tippett

13 Nov 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Bernard Chazelle is Eugene Higgins Professor of Computer Science at Princeton University. He is a fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery, t...

Bernard Chazelle — Discovering the Cosmology of Bach

13 Nov 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Computer scientist Bernard Chazelle has an original take on what music works in us — especially the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Just as mathemat...

Nadia Bolz-Weber — Seeing the Underside and Seeing God: Tattoos, Tradition, and Grace

23 Oct 2014

Contributed by Lukas

She’s the tattooed, Lutheran pastor of the House for All Sinners and Saints in Denver, a church where a chocolate fountain, a blessing of the bicycl...

[Unedited] Nadia Bolz-Weber with Krista Tippett

23 Oct 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Nadia Bolz-Weber is the pastor and founder of the Denver-based church the House for All Sinners and Saints. Her spiritual memoir is “Pastrix: The Cr...

[Unedited] Scott Atran with Krista Tippett

16 Oct 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Scott Atran is director of research at the National Center for Scientific Research in Paris, visiting professor at the University of Michigan, senior ...

Scott Atran — Hopes and Dreams in a World of Fear

16 Oct 2014

Contributed by Lukas

For over a decade, the French-American anthropologist Scott Atran has been listening to the hopes and dreams of young people from Indonesia to Egypt. ...

[Unedited] Michel Martin with Krista Tippett

02 Oct 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Michel Martin is a journalist with NPR. She previously reported for The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and ABC’s “Nightline.” She was...

Michel Martin — The Fabric of Our Identity

02 Oct 2014

Contributed by Lukas

If journalism is a primary way we tell the story of ourselves and our time, Michel Martin is a person helping us tell that story — and take part in ...

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, Jonathan Sacks, Katharine Jefferts Schori, Et. Al. — Pursuing Happiness

25 Sep 2014

Contributed by Lukas

The XIV Dalai Lama seems to many to embody happiness — happiness against the odds, a virtue that is acquired and practiced. Before a live audience i...

[Unedited] The Dalai Lama, Jonathan Sacks, Katharine Jefferts Schori, and Seyyed Hossein Nasr with Krista Tippett

25 Sep 2014

Contributed by Lukas

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet is the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet. He is the author of many books, including “Ethics for a New Mille...

[Unedited] Richard Rodriguez with Krista Tippett

18 Sep 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Richard Rodriguez is a journalist and essayist. He won a Peabody Award for his original commentary on The NewsHour and received the National Humanitie...

Richard Rodriguez — The Fabric of Our Identity

18 Sep 2014

Contributed by Lukas

After September 11, 2001, Richard Rodriguez traveled to the Middle East to explore his kinship, as a Roman Catholic, with the men who stepped onto air...

Imani Perry — The Fabric of Our Identity

11 Sep 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Imani Perry is a scholar of law, culture, race — and hip hop. She acknowledges wise voices who say that we will never get to the promised land of ra...

[Unedited] Imani Perry with Krista Tippett

11 Sep 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Imani Perry is a professor of African-American Studies at Princeton University. Her scholarly books include “Prophets of the Hood: Politics and Poet...

[Unedited] Dan Barber with Krista Tippett

21 Aug 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Dan Barber is chef and co-owner of Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns. He’s received James Beard Awards for best chef in 2006 and 2009, and was ...

Dan Barber — Driven By Flavor

21 Aug 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Dan Barber is a celebrated young chef — but his passionate ethics and intellect have made him much more. He’s out to restore food to its rightful ...

[Unedited] Adele Diamond with Krista Tippett

07 Aug 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Adele Diamond is a professor of developmental cognitive neuroscience at the University of British Columbia. This interview is edited and produced with...

Adele Diamond — The Science of Attention

07 Aug 2014

Contributed by Lukas

What Adele Diamond is learning about the brain challenges basic assumptions in modern education. Her work is scientifically illustrating the education...

Anita Desai and Andrew Robinson — The Modern Resonance of Rabindranath Tagore

06 Aug 2014

Contributed by Lukas

He bestowed the title “Mahatma” on Gandhi. He debated the deepest nature of reality with Einstein. He was championed by Yeats and Pound to become ...

[Unedited] Andrew Robinson with Krista Tippett

06 Aug 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Andrew Robinson is a biographer and writer. He is the co-author of “The Myriad-Minded Man,” a biography of Rabindranath Tagore. This interview is ...

[Unedited] Anita Desai with Krista Tippett

06 Aug 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Anita Desai is an Indian novelist of Bengali descent. Her novels include “Clear Light of Day,” “The Village by the Sea,” and “Fasting, Feast...

[Unedited] Seane Corn with Krista Tippett

31 Jul 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Seane Corn is the National Yoga Ambassador for YouthAIDS and cofounder of “Off the Mat, Into the World.” This interview is edited and produced wit...

Seane Corn — Yoga, Meditation in Action

31 Jul 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Yoga has infiltrated law schools and strip malls, churches and hospitals. This 5,000-year-old spiritual technology is converging with 21st-century med...

Philip Hamburger and Steven Waldman — The Long Experiment of American Democracy

03 Jul 2014

Contributed by Lukas

For the Fourth of July, a refreshing reality check about the long road of American democracy. We remember forgotten but fascinating, useful history as...

[Unedited] Steven Waldman with Krista Tippett

03 Jul 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Steven Waldman is the author of “Founding Faith: How Our Founding Fathers Forged a Radical New Approach to Religious Liberty.” He is the founder a...

[Unedited] Stuart Brown with Krista Tippett

19 Jun 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Stuart Brown is founder and president of the National Institute for Play near Monterey, California. He is co-author of “Play: How It Shapes the Brai...

Stuart Brown — Play, Spirit, and Character

19 Jun 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Who knew that we learn empathy, trust, irony, and problem solving through play — something the dictionary defines as “pleasurable and apparently p...

[Unedited] Rosanne Cash with Krista Tippett

05 Jun 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Rosanne Cash is a Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter and author of several books. Her latest album is “The River & the Thread.” This inter...

Rosanne Cash, Time Traveler

05 Jun 2014

Contributed by Lukas

As the daughter of Johnny Cash, singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash describes her life as “circumscribed by music.” But, it’s through her love of lan...

Maria Tatar — The Great Cauldron of Story: Why Fairy Tales are for Adults Again

08 May 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Fairy tales don’t only belong to the domain of childhood. Their overt themes are threaded throughout hit TV series like “Game of Thrones” and “...

[Unedited] Maria Tatar with Krista Tippett

08 May 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Maria Tatar is the John L. Loeb Professor of Germanic Languages and Literatures at Harvard University, where she also chairs the Program in Folklore a...

[Unedited] Jaroslav Pelikan With Krista Tippett

24 Apr 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Jaroslav Pelikan was professor of history at Yale University for four decades. He authored many books “Christian Tradition: A History of the Develop...

Jaroslav Pelikan — The Need for Creeds

24 Apr 2014

Contributed by Lukas

The idea of reciting an unchanging creed sounds suspicious to modern ears. But the late, great historian Jaroslav Pelikan illuminated ancient traditio...

[Unedited] Janna Levin with Krista Tippett

03 Apr 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Janna Levin is an astrophysicist and writer. She has contributed to an understanding of black holes, the cosmology of extra dimensions, and gravitatio...

Janna Levin — Mathematics, Purpose, and Truth

03 Apr 2014

Contributed by Lukas

An astrophysicist who studies the shape of the universe, Janna Levin has also explored her science by writing a novel about two pivotal 20th-century m...

Desmond Tutu — A God of Surprises

20 Mar 2014

Contributed by Lukas

“There’s no question about the reality of evil, of injustice, of suffering, but at the center of this existence is a heart beating with love.” S...

[Unedited] Brian McLaren with Krista Tippett

13 Mar 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Brian McLaren is a leading Evangelical pastor and author of several books including “A Generous Orthodoxy,” “Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, a...

Brian McLaren — The Equation of Change

13 Mar 2014

Contributed by Lukas

“Let’s go back and look at our faith before it was reduced to a system, before it was reduced to a system of abstractions and beliefs. How can we ...

[Unedited] Sherwin Nuland with Krista Tippett

06 Mar 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Sherwin Nuland was a clinical professor of surgery at Yale University, where he also taught bioethics and medical history. His books include “How We...

Sherwin Nuland — The Biology of the Spirit

06 Mar 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Dr. Sherwin Nuland died this week at the age of 83. He became well-known for his first book, “How We Die,” which won the National Book Award. For ...

[Unedited] Bobby McFerrin with Krista Tippett

27 Feb 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Bobby McFerrin is a ten-time Grammy Award winner. He is one of the world’s best-known vocal innovators and improvisers, a world-renowned classical c...

Bobby McFerrin — Catching Song

27 Feb 2014

Contributed by Lukas

He is a genius of improvisation; a genre-bending vocal magician and conductor. And he sings the territory between music, mystery, and spirit. Who bett...

[Unedited] Paul Elie with Krista Tippett

20 Feb 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Paul Elie is a senior fellow with the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs and the director of the American Pilgrimage Project. His b...

Paul Elie — Faith Fired by Literature

20 Feb 2014

Contributed by Lukas

The writers Flannery O’Connor and Walker Percy, social activist Dorothy Day, and the Trappist monk Thomas Merton — all four shared a complex Catho...

David Hartman — Hope in a Hopeless God

06 Feb 2014

Contributed by Lukas

David Hartman died a year ago this week. The Orthodox rabbi was a charismatic and challenging figure in Israeli society, called a “public philosophe...

[Unedited] David Hartman with Krista Tippett

06 Feb 2014

Contributed by Lukas

David Hartman was an Orthodox rabbi and founder of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. He authored many books, including “A Heart of Many Roo...

[Unedited] Ursula King with Krista Tippett

23 Jan 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Ursula King is Professor Emerita of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Bristol. This interview is edited and produced with music and ...

Ursula King, Andrew Revkin, and David Sloan Wilson — Teilhard de Chardin's Planetary Mind and Our Spiritual Evolution

23 Jan 2014

Contributed by Lukas

The coming stage of evolution, Teilhard de Chardin said, won’t be driven by physical adaptation but by human consciousness, creativity, and spirit. ...

Patrick Bellegarde-Smith — Living Vodou

09 Jan 2014

Contributed by Lukas

The word “Vodou” evokes images of sorcery and sticking pins into dolls. In fact, it’s a living tradition wherever Haitians are found based on an...

[Unedited] Patrick Bellegarde-Smith with Krista Tippett

09 Jan 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Patrick Bellegarde-Smith is a professor at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee and author of many books about Vodou. This interview is edited and...

Phil Donahue — Transformation, On-Screen and Off

12 Dec 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Talk show pioneer Phil Donahue opens up on his remarkable perspective on the last half century of America and who we are now. He shares his personal t...

[Unedited] Interview with Phil Donahue and Krista Tippett

12 Dec 2013

Contributed by Lukas

In this unedited interview, talk show pioneer Phil Donahue opens up on his remarkable perspective on the last half century of America and who we are n...

Vincent Harding and Phyllis Tickle — Racial Identity in the Emerging Church and the World

28 Nov 2013

Contributed by Lukas

What might words like repentance or forgiveness mean, culturally, in this moment? These are questions of the emerging church, a loosely-defined moveme...

[Unedited] Vincent Harding and Phyllis Tickle with Krista Tippett

28 Nov 2013

Contributed by Lukas

This is the unedited version of On Being’s produced show, “Racial Identity in the Emerging Church and the World.” Emerging church elder Phyllis ...

[Unedited] Lord Martin Rees with Krista Tippett

21 Nov 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Some of the biggest philosophical and ethical questions of this century may be raised on scientific frontiers — as we gain a better understanding of...

Martin Rees — Cosmic Origami and What We Don't Know

21 Nov 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Parallel realities and the deep structure of space-time sound like science fiction. These are matters of real scientific inquiry. Lord Martin Rees is ...

Ira Byock — Contemplating Mortality

07 Nov 2013

Contributed by Lukas

What if we understand death as a developmental stage — like adolescence or mid-life? Dr. Ira Byock is a leading figure in palliative care and hospic...

[Unedited] Ira Byock with Krista Tippett

07 Nov 2013

Contributed by Lukas

What if we understand death as a developmental stage — like adolescence or mid-life? Dr. Ira Byock shares how we can understand dying as a time of l...

[Unedited] Esther Sternberg with Krista Tippett

24 Oct 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Krista Tippett spoke with immunologist Esther Sternberg on March 30, 2012. This unedited interview is included in our show, “The Science of Healing ...

Esther Sternberg — The Science of Healing Places

24 Oct 2013

Contributed by Lukas

The light and smells in places like hospitals can often depress us. And, our favorite room at home keeps us sane. But why? Immunologist Esther Sternbe...

David Sloan Wilson — Evolving a City

17 Oct 2013

Contributed by Lukas

David Sloan Wilson believes that evolution is not just a description of how we got here. He says it can also be a tool kit for improving how we live t...

[Unedited] David Sloan Wilson with Krista Tippett

17 Oct 2013

Contributed by Lukas

David Sloan Wilson believes that evolution is not just a description of how we got here. He says it can also be a tool kit for improving how we live t...

[Unedited] Keith Devlin with Krista Tippett

19 Sep 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Keith Devlin is a mathematician and executive director of H-STAR at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. Krista Tippett spoke with him on Jul...

Keith Devlin — The Joy of Math: Learning and What It Means To Be Human

19 Sep 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Mathematical equations are like sonnets says Keith Devlin. What most of us learn in school, he says, doesn’t begin to convey what mathematics is. An...

Arthur Zajonc — Holding Life Consciously

12 Sep 2013

Contributed by Lukas

What happens when you bring together science and poetry on something like color or light? Arthur Zajonc is a physicist and contemplative. And he says ...

[Unedited] Arthur Zajonc with Krista Tippett

12 Sep 2013

Contributed by Lukas

What happens when you bring together science and poetry on something like color or light? Arthur Zajonc is a physicist and contemplative. And he says ...

Natalie Batalha — Exoplanets and Love: Science That Connects Us to One Another

29 Aug 2013

Contributed by Lukas

A mission scientist with NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope, Natalie Batalha hunts for exoplanets — Earth-sized planets beyond our solar system that mi...

[Unedited] Natalie Batalha with Krista Tippett

29 Aug 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Natalie Batalha is a research astronomer at NASA Ames Research Center and a mission scientist with the Kepler Space Telescope. Krista Tippett spoke wi...

[Unedited] Kwame Anthony Appiah with Krista Tippett

15 Aug 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Krista Tippett’s unedited interview with Kwame Anthony Appiah was recorded in 2011 and is included in our show, “Kwame Anthony Appiah — Sidling ...

Kwame Anthony Appiah — Sidling Up to Difference: Social Change and Moral Revolutions

15 Aug 2013

Contributed by Lukas

How can unimaginable social change happen in a world of strangers? Kwame Anthony Appiah is a philosopher who studies ethics and his parents’ marriag...

[Unedited] David Montgomery with Krista Tippett

01 Aug 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Krista Tippett interviewed geologist David R. Montgomery on July 3, 2013. This interview is included in the show ‘Reading the Rocks.’ Download the...

David Montgomery — Reading the Rocks: Flood Stories and Deep Time

01 Aug 2013

Contributed by Lukas

The push and pull between religion and science has shaped advances in geology from the beginning. David Montgomery set out to debunk Noah’s Flood; i...

[Unedited] David Gushee and Frances Kissling with Krista Tippett

25 Jul 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Krista Tippett spoke with Christian ethicist David P. Gushee and abortion-rights activist Frances Kissling on September 26, 2012 in front of a live, p...

David Gushee and Frances Kissling — Pro-Life, Pro-Choice, Pro-Dialogue

25 Jul 2013

Contributed by Lukas

No issue is more intractable than abortion. Or is it? Most Americans fall somewhere between the absolute poles of “pro-life” and “pro-choice.”...

Meredith Monk's Voice

27 Jun 2013

Contributed by Lukas

A kind of archeologist of the human voice, singer and composer Meredith Monk says that “the voice could be like the body” — flexible and fluid w...

[Unedited] Meredith Monk and Krista Tippett

27 Jun 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Krista Tippett’s unedited interview with Meredith Monk, award-winning, composer, singer, director and choreographer. She spoke with her on January 1...

[Unedited] Sarah Kay and Krista Tippett

13 Jun 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Krista Tippett interviewed spoken word poet Sarah Kay on April 12, 2012. This interview is included in the show ‘Sarah Kay’s Way with Words.’ Do...

Sarah Kay's Way with Words

13 Jun 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Sarah Kay says that listening is the better part of speaking. A spoken word poet who’s become a role model for teenagers around the world, she share...

[Unedited] S. James Gates Jr. and Krista Tippett

06 Jun 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Krista Tippett interviewed S. James Gates Jr., Toll Professor of Physics and Director of the Center for String and Particle Theory at the University o...

S. James Gates — Uncovering the Codes for Reality

06 Jun 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Are we in the matrix? Physicist James Gates reveals why string theory stretches our imaginations about the nature of reality. Also, how failure makes ...

[Unedited Tami Simon with Krista Tippett

30 May 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Krista Tippett interviewed entrepreneur Tami Simon on April 4, 2013 via ISDN. Ms. Simon is publisher, CEO, and founder of Sounds True. This interview ...

Tami Simon — Inner Life at Work: Business, Meditation, and Technology

30 May 2013

Contributed by Lukas

You might call Tami Simon a spiritual entrepreneur. She’s built a successful multimedia publishing company with a mission to disseminate “spiritua...

Andrew Zolli — A Shift to Humility: Resilience and Expanding the Edge of Change

15 May 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Disruption is around every corner by way of globally connected economies, inevitable superstorms, and technology’s endless reinvention. But most of ...

Lawrence Krauss — Our Origins and the Weight of Space

09 Apr 2013

Contributed by Lukas

One of the values of science is to make us uncomfortable says Lawrence Krauss. The particle physicist explains why we should all care about dark energ...