Maybe I'm Amazed

Dr. Howell speaks with Dr. Henry Perry, a physician with graduate training in sociology and anthropology who has three decades of experience in the management and evaluation of health programs in developing countries. He is the founder of the NGO Curamericas Global and talks about giving his life to serving others, global health, and how we are called to address this great moral issue.

Dr. Howell talks to Dr. H. D. "De" Kirkpatrick, forensic psychologist and author of Marse: A Psychological Portrait of the Southern Slave Master and His Legacy of White Supremacy , about genealogy, history, and slavery.

Dr. Howell speaks to John Kilgo, an award-winning newspaper columnist, about basketball, journalism, and Dean Smith.

Dr. Howell talks with Daniel Sokatch, CEO of the New Israel Fund and author of Can We Talk About Israel: A Guide for the Curious, Confused, and Conflicted,  about the history of Israel and how people talk differently about the complex story between Israelis and Palestinians.

Dr. Howell welcomes back Rebekah Eklund, Professor of Christian Scripture, Theology, and Ethics at Loyola U Maryland. Professor Eklund gives us insight into how we pray and the meanings we can find within the Lord's Prayer.

Dr. Howell speaks with Vernon Burton, Professor of History at Clemson University, the Director of its Clemson CyberInstitute, and author of Justice Deferred: Race and the Supreme Court , on the history of race and the Supreme Court and how these issues are impacting current events.

Join us as Dr. Howell talks with Bishop Patrick Streiff, who is working non-stop with Methodists in Poland and Romania fielding refugees from Ukraine.

Dr. Howell talks to Melissa Bernstein, Co-Founder of LifeLines, about mental health and her journey to stay steadfast and balanced in the face of life's ups and downs. 

Dr. Howell talks to Tina Postel, Executive Director of Loaves & Fishes/Friendship Trays, about food insecurity, hunger, and how we can help as a community.

Dr. Howell speaks with Peter Eisenstadt, Affiliate Professor of History at Clemson University, Editor of the Howard Thurman Papers, and the author of Against the Hounds of Hell: A Life of Howard Thurman. Together they look at the work of Howard Thurman, a prolific author, esteemed preacher, and mentor to most of the key Civil Right leaders and their non-violent approach back in the 1950s – and als...

Dr. James Howell speaks with Dr. Willie Jennings, Yale theologian and author, on "Jesus and… Race," looking at race theologically, not politically, as well as how it impacts the church and our lives. 

Dr. James Howell talks to Susan Coppedge, an attorney and former US Ambassador-at-Large to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. Listen as she talks about her amazing work to bring justice and protect vulnerable people.

Dr. James Howell talks to Dr. Amy-Jill Levine, Professor of Jewish Studies and New Testament Studies at Vanderbilt Divinity School. Jesus was Jewish. Did he invent a new religion, asking people not to be Jewish? Why did being Jewish and being Christian split and get complicated? AJ is always smart, witty, and inspiring.

Dr. Howell talks with Professor Ben Witherington, a child of our church and renowned New Testament scholar, on "Jesus and…the Gospels." Are they reliable? Are there others? Should we read them literally or figuratively? Why does the historical Jesus matter?

Host James Howell talks to Kaley Crawford, park ranger at the Reconstruction Era National Park in Beaufort, SC. Kaley tells the incredible story of Robert Smalls, who was born under bondage in Beaufort, but managed to free himself by commandeering a Confederate transport ship and sailing it to Union territory. He would become be a key figure in convincing Abraham Lincoln to enlist African-American...

To celebrate and better observe the season of Advent, host James Howell reaches out to longtime friend and colleague Rev. Alisa Lasater Wailoo to discuss Mary, the Mother of Jesus.  James and Alisa talk about the history of Mary, but also why she matters today - and in what ways. They engage her depictions throughout testaments to identify what makes her such a unique and significant character in...

Barbara McKay is an author, TV personality, fashion and design maven, and former neighbor of host James Howell. McKay joins James on today's episode of Maybe I'm Amazed for a conversation that touches on some of Barbara's favorite topics including cooking, fashion and faith. Barbara has interviewed plenty of famous people, James asks what commonality she sees between them. James and Barbara also d...

Pastor, teacher and author Rev. Dr. Jason Byassee joins host Dr. James Howell on today's episode of Maybe I'm Amazed. Rev. Byassee has deep ties to North Carolina, having studied at Davidson College and Duke Divinity, and having spent several years as the senior pastor at Boone UMC. James and Jason's conversation covers many theological and concepts. Jason speaks about how God appears to groups of...

Frederick Christian "Fritz" Bauerschmidt joins host James Howell on today's episode of Maybe I'm Amazed. Fritz is a professor of theology at Loyola University Maryland, permanent deacon of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, and has published books on great theologians like Julian or Norwich and Thomas Aquinas, and is a popular teacher and speaker. Fritz and James have a conversation about Fritz's lates...

A pastor, author and longtime friend of James Howell joins James on the podcast today. Pastor Harnish served for more than 40 years at the Florida Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. He now enjoys retirement, although he stays busy authoring books like  Make a Difference and  A Disciple's Heart. Jim and James talk about many of the themes of Jim's books, including how one can find th...

Everywhere we look, conflict seems to be around us. Clearly in the political realm, but also the religious world and our own personal space too. Author Amanda Ripley claims that conflict that is healthy is both good but necessary, but far too often falls victim to the emotional and ideological context surrounding it. On today's episode of Maybe I'm Amazed, host James Howell sits down with Amanda t...

Author, poet and educator Clint Smith joins host James Howell on today's episode of Maybe I'm Amazed to talk about the still very present impacts of slavery in modern society, and why the concept of slavery is much more recent in history than we generally believe it to be. Clint Smith is the author of #1 NY Times Bestseller  How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across Am...

Old Testament scholar and Anglican clergyman John Goldingay joins James Howell to break down the book of Isaiah. 

Scholar AJ Levine breaks down the history, language, and meaning of the Lord's Prayer, and what it can mean for today's community of believers. She and host James Howell talk about how s ometimes scholarship can actually be misleading when it comes to the meaning, and how to understand the language of the lord's prayer and biblical language in our own lives. 

Amy Brittain has a voracious appetite for reading. She reads more than 100 books per year, and has worked as a publisher both for a major publishing company and on her own as a freelancer. As an outlet for her reading obsession, Amy created The Bossy Bookworm , a website dedicated to reviewing books that Amy reads. In today's episode of Maybe I'm Amazed, host Dr. James Howell sits down with Amy to...