Speaking of Faith

The host of public radi‛s Speaking of Faith explores the role of faith in the world and in human life today

Krista Tippett is the creator and host of public radi‛s phenomenally popular program Speaking of Faith, a weekly conversation about religion, meaning, ethics, and ideas. As a journalist and then as a diplomat in Berlin, Tippett was enthralled by the promise of political solutions to divisive issues. When politics did not provide worthy answers, Tippett attended Yale Divinity School to pursue larger questions about what makes a meaningful life. In her quest for fait‛s illumination of lif‛s complexities, passions, and frailties, she developed a compelling style of discourse—a“life of conversatio”—that she now shares with millions of people every week. Tippet‛s unique, in-depth conversations with theologians, scientists, ethicists, and seekers who share their experiences, combined with her engaging style, are revolutionizing the way many think and speak of faith in their families and communities and in the larger world.

Speaking of Faith is the story of this conversational journey and what it yields. Tippett draws on her life experiences and her studies, as well as on conversations with Elie Wiesel, Karen Armstrong, Thich Nhat Hanh, and other renowned figures, to explore such complex subjects as justice, science, fundamentalism, evil, love, and mystery, all within the context of spirituality. In the tradition of Kathleen Norris and Anne Lamott, Krista Tippett here shares a life of conversation that anyone, secular or religious, will find thought provoking about what faith does— and can—mean to us today.

"Tippett, host of the weekly NPR radio show Speaking of Faith, offers a challenging book that is part intellectual autobiography, part rumination on the issues of the day. It begins with a fairly detailed discussion of the death of 'secularization theory' as outlined by Harvey Cox and others — not a typical opening salvo for a spiritual memoir — and then reveals Tippett's own intellectual and spiritual formation. She discusses at length how her views were shaped not only by her Southern Baptist grandfather in Oklahoma, or by her adolescent rejection of his rigidity, but by the time she spent in East and West Germany in her 20s, first as a journalist and then as a diplomat. She followed this period with marriage and a stint in England before taking the plunge and enrolling in divinity school in the early 1990s. More than a personal chronicle, however, this is a rigorously brainy piece of work, as informed by the theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Reinhold Niebuhr, Charles Darwin and Annie Dillard as it is by Tippett's fascinating interviews with figures like Elie Wiesel and Karen Armstrong. As Tippett takes on issues from the science-and-religion debates to the future of progressive Islam, she shows herself to possess the same 'imaginative intellectual approach' that she admires in some of her interview subjects." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"In a day where religion — or, rather arguments over religion — divide us into ever more entrenched and frustrated camps, Krista Tippett is exactly the measured, balanced commentator we need. Her intelligence is like a salve for all thinking people who have felt wounded or marginalized by The God Wars. This is a book not only about the universal need for prayer, but also about the ever-more-rare human virtue of thought." --Elizabeth Gilbert, author of EAT, PRAY, LOVE

Praise for Krista Tippett and her public radio program Speaking of Faith:

“The brilliance of Krista Tippet‛s idea is to trust people to use the first person singular, to commit themselves with passion and clarity as they enlarge our urgent national conversation”

—Martin Marty, Emeritus Professor of American Religious History, University of Chicago

“Speaking of Faith is‛t just a good idea and a welcome concept for a muchneeded forum on religion, belief and spirituality in contemporary life—it already is that forum”

—Patricia Hampl, Poet, memoirist, and MacArthur“Geniu” Grant recipient

From the creator and host of public radios "Speaking of Faith," this book offers the story of the conversational journey of discourse among theologians, scientists, ethicists, and seekers who explore such complex subjects as justice, evil, and love--all within the concept of spirituality.

Krista Tippett is the creator and host of Speaking of Faith from America Public Media, heard on public radio stations across the country and worldwide. A journalist and former diplomat, she is a graduate of the Yale Divinity School. She lives in St. Paul, Minnesota.