Miroslav Volf is the Founder and Director of Yale Center for Faith and Culture and Henry B. Wright Professor of Theology, Yale University Divinity School, New Haven, CT. He was educated in his native Croatia, United States, and Germany. He earned doctoral and post-doctoral degrees (with highest honors) from the University of Tuebingen, Germany. He has written or edited 15 books and over 70 scholarly articles. His most significant books include Exclusion and Embrace (one of Christianity Today’s 100 most important religious books of the 20th century); After Our Likeness (1998) in which he explores the Trinitarian nature of ecclesial community; Allah: A Christian Response (2011), whether Muslims and Christians have a common God; and A Public Faith: On How Followers of Christ Should Serve the Common Good (2011). He is actively involved in many top-level initiatives concerning Christian-Muslim relations and is a member of the Global Agenda Council of the World Economic Forum.
What happens when our bodies face chronic stress? The alarming rise of stress-related conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes, and depression, show the price we’re paying for our high-pressure living and increased stressors in the world, but what can we do about it? The Reverend Connor Gwin explores these questions with https://med.uc.edu/landing-pages/profile/index/pubs/wulsinlr, a professor of Psychiatry and Family Medicine at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine specializing in psychosomatic medicine. Wulsin is the author of Toxic Stress: How Stress Is Making Us Ill and What We Can Do About It (April 2024), which explores the fascinating medical and social mysteries of our stress response system and how stress affects illness. Lawson Wulsin has been a professor at the University of Cincinnati for the past 35 years. His writings explore the lifelong dance between the mind and body, and the power of human attachments in everyday life and healing. Here he shares these explorations collected from the lessons of clinical care, teaching, and research. In addition to his most recent book, Wulsin is also the author of Treating the Aching Heart: A Guide to Depression, Stress, and Heart Disease (2007).
Are you discouraged by our divided, angry culture, where even listening to a different perspective sometimes feels impossible? If so, you’re not alone, and it doesn’t have to be this way. John Inazu and The Reverend Chip Edens discuss the surprising path to learning how to disagree in ways that build new bridges with our neighbors, coworkers, and loved ones — and help us find better ways to live joyfully in a complex society. https://www.jinazu.com/ is the Sally D. Danforth Distinguished Professor of Law and Religion at Washington University in St. Louis. His latest book is Learning to Disagree: The Surprising Path to Navigating Differences with Empathy and Respect (Zondervan, 2024). He is also the author of Liberty’s Refuge: The Forgotten Freedom of Assembly (Yale University Press, 2012) and Confident Pluralism: Surviving and Thriving Through Deep Difference (University of Chicago Press, 2016), and co-editor (with Tim Keller) of Uncommon Ground: Living Faithfully in a World of Difference (Thomas Nelson, 2020). Inazu is the founder of The Carver Project and the Legal Vocation Fellowship and a Senior Fellow at Interfaith America and the Trinity Forum. He holds a B.S.E. and J.D. from Duke University and a Ph.D. in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His weekly newsletter, “Some Assembly Required,” can be found https://johninazu.substack.com/
There is a young adult mental health crisis in America. So many 20-somethings are struggling — especially with anxiety, depression, and substance use — yet, as a culture, we are not sure what to do about it. Meg Jay and The Reverend Elizabeth Walker discuss why the 20’s are the most challenging time of life and essential skills for handling the uncertainties surrounding work, love, friendship, mental health, and more during that decade and beyond. https://megjay.com/, is a developmental clinical psychologist who specializes in twentysomethings. She is the author of The Twentysomething Treatment: A Revolutionary Remedy for an Uncertain Age, the cult classic The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter and How to Make the Most of Them Now, and Supernormal: The Secret World of the Family Hero. Her books have been translated into more than a dozen languages and her work has appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, and on NPR, BBC, and – maybe most important for her audience – TikTok.
As we launch our new Center for Wellbeing and Care, Becca Stevens will help us think about how we sharpen our focus on community wellbeing and what we as a church can do, based on her own story as a survivor, her experience with abused women, and her belief that love is the strongest force for change in the world. Becca Stevens is a nonprofit leader, entrepreneur, priest, survivor, and founder and President of https://thistlefarms.org/. She has founded 13 nonprofits and justice enterprises, mentored another 60, and has raised over $75 million to support them. Becca has authored 12 books and sold over 300,000 copies. She has served as chaplain at St. Augustine’s Chapel on Vanderbilt’s campus for almost 30 years. Becca has been featured on PBS NewsHour, The Today Show, CNN, ABC World News, named a CNN Hero and White House Champion of Change, and holds five honorary doctorates. Drawn from 25 years of leadership in mission-driven work, Becca leads important conversations across the country with an inspiring message that love is the strongest force for change in the world.
Is it possible to embrace suffering as a privilege, rather than a punishment? After surviving a near-fatal brainstem stroke at age 26, life for Katherine Wolf changed forever, and so did the way she viewed God, the world, and herself in it. She encourages us to trust a known God with an unknown future, and offers practical insights into surviving anything by redefining how we think about everything. https://hopeheals.com/ is a survivor and advocate who leverages her redemptive story to encourage those with broken bodies, broken brains, and broken hearts. She and her husband, Jay, live in Atlanta with their 2 sons, James and John. Together, Katherine and Jay have co-authored three books, Hope Heals, Suffer Strong, and Treasures in the Dark: 90 Reflections on Finding Bright Hope Hidden in the Hurting.
