Reimagining the Good Life with Amy Julia Becker

What's the difference between limitations and brokenness? What does it mean to be blessed? How can a dual diagnosis of Down syndrome and autism be a part of a flourishing life? Micha Boyett, a writer, poet, and mom, joins Amy Julia Becker to talk about her new book Blessed Are the Rest of Us. They explore the intersection of blessing, limits, and longing within the context of the Beatitudes, including:

• The meaning of '...

{Please note that we discuss abuse in this episode.}
How do we love people across our political and social divides? What are the costs and gifts of loving our political neighbor? Nancy French, author of Ghosted: An American Story, talks with Amy Julia Becker about:

• Her experiences as a ghostwriter for GOP politicians and her decision to leave the industry
• Polarization within the church and the political landscape
• Inadequate re...

Why does it matter that most churches don’t welcome people with disabilities in leadership? If a church excludes people with disabilities, is it really a church? Rev. Dr. Andrew Draper, coauthor of Disabling Leadership, talks with Amy Julia Becker about:

• Ways in which churches exclude and marginalize people with disabilities
• Why it’s essential to centralize people with disabilities in church life and leadership
• How disability incl...

Why would a Christian author immerse her stories in darkness? Why would she use violent imagery that directly relates to Christianity, race, class, disability, and illness? And how can this darkness guide us toward the importance of love in the flesh, of personal connection and vulnerability? In this conversation, Dr. Jessica Hooten Wilson, author of Flannery O’Connor’s Why Do the Heathen Rage? A Behind-the-Scenes Look at a Work in...

Is blindness an incidental characteristic, like hair color? Or is it an identity? What language should we use to talk about disability, and why does it matter? Andrew Leland, author of The Country of the Blind, joins Amy Julia Becker on the podcast for a conversation examining:

• Blindness and identity
• The importance of language and the use of metaphors in relation to disability
• How the experience of disability can involve beauty, p...

This podcast has a new name: Reimagining the Good Life. If you’re asking, “Why a name change?” and “Why now?”—I have answers! Author and teacher Patricia Clarke talks with me about:

• How disability challenges assumptions about the good life
• Accepting limitations and finding freedom within them
• How faith and culture shape our understanding of the good life
• The power of reimagining what’s possible
• What all of this has to do with changi...

Is faith something that should always stay the same? Or is it something that evolves by necessity? Sarah Bessey, author of Field Notes for the Wilderness, talks with Amy Julia Becker about:

• Her evolving faith journey
• How to adapt and thrive in an evolving faith
• Making room for change, in ourselves and others
• Navigating the intersection of anger and joy
• How to discover what we're hoping for, not just what we’re against
• How to emb...

Holiday culture wars and consumerism bring more chaos than joy to the world. But there’s hope. The countercultural season of Advent offers a different way to prepare for Christmas. Tish Harrison Warren, former New York Times columnist and author, talks with Amy Julia Becker about:

• How the practices of Advent disarm the culture wars
• Ways that Advent helps us grieve and hope
• Why waiting to celebrate Christmas matters
• PLUS why Tish ch...

Anxious parents. Anxious families. Anxiety is contagious. How do I know if I’m an anxious parent? And if I am one, how is that affecting my kids? What can I do about it—for their sake and for mine? Therapist and author Sissy Goff, LPC-MHSP, joins Amy Julia Becker on the podcast to talk about:

• How to identify and stop anxiety loops
• Why failure is good for parents and kids
• Common parenting strategies that DON’T work
• Practical tools f...

How do we show up for each other in the midst of pain? Is it possible to hope when we’re suffering? Psychiatrist Curt Thompson, author of The Deepest Place, joins Amy Julia Becker to talk about:

• How to identify the denial and shame we’ve connected to suffering
• How to form durable hope in the darkest places
• How to help a friend in the midst of suffering

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Guest Bio:

“Inspired by deep compassion for others and informed from ...

What happens when women receive a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome? How does that diagnosis affect those women and their families? How does it affect our whole society?  Stephanie Meredith joins Amy Julia Becker for a conversation about her new report on the bias doctors have when giving a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome, including:

• The landscape of prenatal testing
• How doctors approach it and what they could do better
• Why ...

Have you watched the new show on Netflix called Down for Love? It’s a reality dating show for people with Down syndrome, and we’re celebrating the start of Down Syndrome Awareness month with a conversation with the producer of Down for Love, Robyn Paterson. We talk about:

• How the show was created
• The diversity of the Down syndrome community
• The universal desire for love, relationships, and connection
• BONUS CONTENT: At the end of th...

Do you wrestle with anxiety? Are you plagued with worries? Do you think you’ve conquered anxiety? Curtis Chang, author of The Anxiety Opportunity, joins Amy Julia Becker for a conversation that uncovers: 

• what anxiety really is all about
• spiritual practices for facing anxiety
• practical ways we can grow in the midst of anxiety

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Guest Bio:

Curtis Chang is a theologian and consulting faculty member of Duke Divinity School an...

“Whose stories matter?” Esau McCaulley, author of How Far to the Promised Land, joins Amy Julia Becker for an honest, hopeful conversation about:

• being Black in America
• honoring the messiness and complexity of our humanity
• holding on to hope in the goodness of God

“How do the people whom we love, who hurt us, shape the kind of people we become? And how do we make peace with that?” 

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Guest Bio:

“Rev. Esau McCaulley, PhD is a...

Love is stronger than fear.

What if we really believed it? What if we lived into love and weren’t overcome by anxiety? What if, even in the midst of the harrowing realities of our global catastrophes and the mundane realities of our everyday lives—what if we could live in a way that deepens who we are, that connects us to ourselves, to God, to one another?

I’m Amy Julia Becker, and this is a podcast about what i...

Is racism baked into our nation’s DNA? Is there any hope for change? John Blake, a CNN journalist and author of More Than I Imagined, explores the personal and social aspects of race as he shares:

• his own experience as a biracial kid growing up in West Baltimore
• time at Howard University and working for CNN
• understanding of race and faith in America
• experience of learning about his own white family as a young adult
• reasons for hope
<...

How do we prepare now to die well? Can we reimagine care of the dying in all of its messiness as a gift? 

Dr. Lydia Dugdale, a medical ethicist, internal medicine doctor, professor, and author of The Lost Art of Dying, talks with Amy Julia Becker about:

• Disability
• Death
• Medical assistance in dying
• Honoring all human life as the gift it is without idolizing life

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Guest Bio:

“Lydia Dugdale MD, MAR, is the Dorothy L. and Danie...

Do you feel like you have to stay strong to survive? Aundi Kolber, a licensed professional counselor and author, talks with Amy Julia Becker about her latest book, Strong Like Water. They discuss how to:

• become strong in new ways
• receive and participate in healing
• live with compassion towards ourselves and carry love in our bodies

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Guest Bio
“Aundi Kolber is a licensed professional counselor (MA, LPC) and author of t...

In an environment of deconstruction, how do we identify what needs to be torn down? And in the midst of the rubble, what are we rebuilding? Dr. Yolanda Pierce, author of In My Grandmother’s House, joins Amy Julia Becker for a conversation about:

• grandmother theology
• deconstructing Christian faith
• Black Jesus and unlearning racial hierarchies
• hope that something true and good and beautiful can be renewed and rebuilt within the churc...