No Small Endeavor with Lee C. Camp

How can you respond to climate change with joy?  Those two words—climate change—can fill us with a sense of dread, anxiety, and doom. Those advocating action are often fueled by a sense of breakneck urgency. But for many, such an outlook isn’t motivating. It’s paralyzing. But what if there was another way filled with joy and satisfaction? “This is the work of our lifetime,” says Ayana Elizabe...

This is our unabridged interview with Edith Hall. What if you’re wrong about what it means to be happy? In spite of unprecedented access to things that give pleasure - buy this pill, eat this food, go on this trip - mental health issues are increasing globally at an astonishing rate. It’s clear that the modern idea of happiness is lacking something. In this episode, Edith Hall offers an ancient de...

What if you’re wrong about what it means to be happy? In spite of unprecedented access to things that give pleasure - buy this pill, eat this food, go on this trip - mental health issues are increasing globally at an astonishing rate. It’s clear that the modern idea of happiness is lacking something. In this episode, Edith Hall offers an ancient definition of happiness from Aristotle that might ju...

This is our unabridged interview with Cyntoia Brown Long. On August 7th, 2019, Cyntoia Brown Long was released from the Tennessee Prison for Women. It was 13 years after she had been sentenced to life without parole for the murder of a man to whom she had been sex-trafficked. In this special episode, Cyntoia tells an uncensored account of the great personal and systemic brokenness which led to her...

On August 7th, 2019, Cyntoia Brown Long was released from the Tennessee Prison for Women. It was 13 years after she had been sentenced to life without parole for the murder of a man to whom she had been sex-trafficked. In this special episode, Cyntoia tells an uncensored account of the great personal and systemic brokenness which led to her imprisonment, and the dramatic, at times hard-to-believe...

This is our unabridged interview with Quincy Byrdsong. How are the world’s poor and oppressed affected by inequity in healthcare systems? In the United States, “health inequity started with slavery,” says Dr. Quincy Byrdsong, himself a longtime healthcare professional. Since slavery was abolished, health inequities have not gone away, but have become more complex and subtle. In this episode, Dr. B...

How are the world’s poor and oppressed affected by inequity in healthcare systems? In the United States, “health inequity started with slavery,” says Dr. Quincy Byrdsong, himself a longtime healthcare professional. Since slavery was abolished, health inequities have not gone away, but have become more complex and subtle. In this episode, Dr. Byrdsong discusses how such cases as the infamous Tuskeg...

This is our unabridged interview with Jerry Mitchell. In the 1990s, investigative journalist Jerry Mitchell started working on a handful of closed murder cases from the Civil Rights Era which he believed were never brought to justice. Since then, Jerry’s work has led to 24 convictions in Civil Rights murder cases. In this episode, he tells some of the most jaw-dropping stories from his life’s work...

In the 1990s, investigative journalist Jerry Mitchell started working on a handful of closed murder cases from the Civil Rights Era which he believed were never brought to justice. Since then, Jerry’s work has led to 24 convictions in Civil Rights murder cases. In this episode, he tells some of the most jaw-dropping stories from his life’s work, from the discovery of sealed spy records which revea...

This is our unabridged episode with Clay Hobbs. What if you knew you had one year left to live? With just 365 days left on earth, how would you spend them?  After a terminal cancer diagnosis, host Lee C. Camp’s friend Clay Hobbs was faced with this exact question. Doctors estimated he would die before the year was out, and Clay took them literally. He chose a date, marked it on a calendar, and beg...

What if you knew you had one year left to live? With just 365 days left on earth, how would you spend them?  After a terminal cancer diagnosis, host Lee C. Camp’s friend Clay Hobbs was faced with this exact question. Doctors estimated he would die before the year was out, and Clay took them literally. He chose a date, marked it on a calendar, and began planning accordingly.  In today’s intimate ep...

Our guest today says that for 50% of our lives, we are not paying attention to what we’re doing. In today’s fast-paced, technology-driven world, many of us are coming to terms with the fact that our capacity for paying attention is laughably weak. Our work, mental health, and relationships suffer because of it. But what if there was a tried-and-true way to change this, something like “push-ups for...

Our guest today says that for 50% of our lives, we are not paying attention to what we’re doing. In today’s fast-paced, technology-driven world, many of us are coming to terms with the fact that our capacity for paying attention is laughably weak. Our work, mental health, and relationships suffer because of it. But what if there was a tried-and-true way to change this, something like “push-ups for...

This is our unabridged interview with Rabbi Shai Held. “I think part of what it means to live in an honest way with a religious tradition is to live with its ragged edges.” It’s not unusual to assume that one of religion's prime functions is to give us answers. But what if some of life’s hardest questions weren’t meant to be answered, but rather perpetually asked? In this episode, Rabbi Shai Held,...

“I think part of what it means to live in an honest way with a religious tradition is to live with its ragged edges.” It’s not unusual to assume that one of religion's prime functions is to give us answers. But what if some of life’s hardest questions weren’t meant to be answered, but rather perpetually asked? In this episode, Rabbi Shai Held, author of the book, "Judaism is About Love: Recovering...

This is our unabridged interview with Pete Enns and Jared Byas. “It was our curiosity about the Bible that is now leading to conclusions that are no longer welcome in these institutions.”Pete Enns and Jared Byas host The Bible for Normal People, a podcast which is loved by some, lambasted by others. They started it as a way to have honest conversations about the Bible, for folks both religious and...

“It was our curiosity about the Bible that is now leading to conclusions that are no longer welcome in these institutions.”Pete Enns and Jared Byas host The Bible for Normal People, a podcast which is loved by some, lambasted by others. They started it as a way to have honest conversations about the Bible, for folks both religious and non-religious -- conversations that cost them both previous job...

This is our unabridged interview with Stanley Hauerwas (Part II). “This is my life. I want no other.” Time Magazine has recognized Stanley Hauerwas as the best theologian in America. But you don’t get that title by making everybody happy. Stanley's enigmatic personality is loved by some, lambasted by others. His dogged pacifism is laced with profanity. He’s a stereotypical Texan, but is a vocal op...

This is our unabridged interview with Stanley Hauerwas (Part I). “This is my life. I want no other.” Time Magazine has recognized Stanley Hauerwas as the best theologian in America. But you don’t get that title by making everybody happy. Stanley's enigmatic personality is loved by some, lambasted by others. His dogged pacifism is laced with profanity. He’s a stereotypical Texan, but is a vocal opp...

“This is my life. I want no other.” Time Magazine has recognized Stanley Hauerwas as the best theologian in America. But you don’t get that title by making everybody happy. Stanley's enigmatic personality is loved by some, lambasted by others. His dogged pacifism is laced with profanity. He’s a stereotypical Texan, but is a vocal opponent of gun ownership. Many think him to be a liberal, but he di...

This is our unabridged interview with Jeffrey Rosen. “In many ways, we're living in the founders’ nightmare,” says Jeffrey Rosen, president of the National Constitution Center. “All of the founders thought that we could not govern ourselves as a democracy unless we first achieved self-government as individuals.” For Independence Day, Rosen shares how the "pursuit of happiness" mentioned in the Dec...

“In many ways, we're living in the founders’ nightmare,” says Jeffrey Rosen, president of the National Constitution Center. “All of the founders thought that we could not govern ourselves as a democracy unless we first achieved self-government as individuals.” For Independence Day, Rosen shares how the "pursuit of happiness" mentioned in the Declaration of Independence is defined differently than...

This is our unabridged interview with Emi Nietfeld. “When I was 13, I went to the psych ward for the first time,” recalls Emi Nietfeld. After a childhood spent in manipulative therapy, institutional facilities, foster care, and even times of homelessness, Emi got into Harvard, and then went on to get a great job at Google. This is the classic American rags-to-riches story, of someone overcoming mi...

“When I was 13, I went to the psych ward for the first time,” recalls Emi Nietfeld. After a childhood spent in manipulative therapy, institutional facilities, foster care, and even times of homelessness, Emi got into Harvard, and then went on to get a great job at Google. This is the classic American rags-to-riches story, of someone overcoming misery to find success and happiness, right? Not exact...

This is our unabridged interview with Charles Duhigg. How do you form a good habit? How do you change a destructive one? “It's up to us to decide which…habits that we wish to embrace,” says Charles Duhigg, author of the longtime bestseller "The Power of Habit." In this episode, he explains how to tackle new and old habits in an empowering way.  Plus, Duhigg discusses his new book "Supercommunicato...