Joe Carter and the Legacy of the African American Spiritual

Speaking of Faith is one of my favorite NPR programs... always probing interesting dynamics of spiritual life. The following episode, from July 2008, focuses on Joe Carter and the African American spiritual:

The spiritual is celebrated in American culture and beyond. It is the source from which gospel, jazz, blues, and hip-hop evolved. It was born in the American South, created by slaves, bards whose names history never recorded. The organizing concept of this music is not the melody of Europe, but the rhythm of Africa. And the theology conveyed in these songs is a potent mix of African spirituality, Hebrew narrative, Christian doctrine, and an extreme experience of human suffering.

We celebrate the life of Joe Carter, who explored the meaning of the Negro spiritual in word and song — through its hidden meanings, as well as its beauty, lament, and hope.

Check it out here. It is well worth a listen...

Robert Coles and the Inner Lives of Children

It's Sunday and Speaking of Faith had a whole program devoted to a great interview with one of my favorite people, psychiatrist Robert Coles. The interview, which is from 2000, focuses on "the inner lives of children."  Coles "says children are witnesses to the fullness of our humanity; they are keenly attuned to the darkness as well as the light of life; and they can teach us about living honestly, searchingly and courageously if we let them." Righteous. I hope you might make some time and tune in here.

"Play, Spirit and Character"

It's Sunday...

What is the role of "play" in our lives? How is play linked to our spiritual selves?

That is the subject of NPR's Speaking of Faith program, "Play, Spirit and Character." Click here to listen to "Stuart Brown, a physician and director of the National Institute for Play, [who] says that pleasurable, purposeless activity [play] prevents violence and promotes trust, empathy, and adaptability to life's complication. He promotes cutting-edge science on human play, and draws on a rich universe of study of intelligent social animals."

What do you think?

The Spiritual Audacity of Abraham Joshua Heschel

It's Sunday, time for another exploration of some random aspect of spirituality that I find interesting! This week, I hope you might take some time to listen to an audio program by the people who create NPR's "Speaking of Faith" on Abraham Joshua Heschel. Who the heck is that, you ask? Here is what the folks at SoF write:

"Abraham Joshua Heschel insisted that the opposite of good is not evil, it is indifference. Born into an esteemed Hasidic family in Poland in 1907, he was a mystic who wrote transcendent, poetic words about God. At the same time, he marched alongside Martin Luther King Jr. and organized religious leadership against the war in Vietnam, embodying the social activism of the biblical prophets he studied. We explore Heschel's teachings and his prophetic legacy — his "spiritual audacity" — for people in our time."

Check out the whole program. Make it today's meditation. Heschel is a fascinating person with a relevant spiritual perspective for our desperate times...

Any thoughts? What lesser-known spiritual figures do you find insight from?

Politics and Faith in the Democratic Party

It's Sunday! NPR's "Speaking of Faith" looked at the role of faith and spirituality within the Democratic Party this morning and I thought some of you might want to check it out. If you click here, you will find a few different options on how you can listen. Here is their brief intro to the program:

The Religious Right has gotten a fair amount of coverage in recent years, while the political Left has rarely been represented with a religious sensibility. Our guest, a national correspondent for Time magazine is a political liberal and an Evangelical Christian who has been observing the Democratic Party's complex relationship with faith and the little-told story of its response to the rise of the Religious Right.

Any thoughts about the nexus between spirituality, faith, religion and the liberal/left in American politics? I'd be interested to hear what you think...