On Being with Krista Tippett

Diane Winston appreciates good television, studies it, and brings many of its creators into her religion and media classes at the University of Southern California. In what some have called a renaissance in television drama, we examine how TV is helping us tell our story and work through great confusions in contemporary life. And, we play clips from "The Wire," House," "Lost," and "Battlestar Galactica".

In a few breathtaking months, we've culturally moved from seeing Wall Street as an icon of thriving civil society to discussing its workings with book titles like "House of Cards" and "Animal Spirits." As part of our ongoing Repossessing Virtue series, we'll talk to pioneering neuroeconomist Paul Zak. We look at what science is learning about trust, fair play, and empathy -- and what these qualities have to do with human character and economics.

Stuart Brown, a physician and director of the National Institute for Play, says that pleasurable, purposeless activity 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.

Xavier Le Pichon has been part of revolutionary advances in our understanding of how the Earth works. He also spent decades living in community with people and families facing disabilities. He has emerged with a rare perspective on the meaning of humanity -- a perspective equally informed by his scientific and personal encounters with fragility as a fundament of vital, evolving systems.

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. 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.

Ellen Williams, a retired lay pastoral associate from Richmond, Virginia, submitted an essay about her reflections on the moral and spiritual aspects of the economic crisis. Ellen Williams experienced a health crisis at the same time the current meltdown was happening. She looks to the words of other writers from various fields as a way to understand and connect disparate events so that we can learn to love one another.

Iranian-American political scientist Darius Rejali is one of the world's leading experts on torture, and in particular on how democracies change torture and are changed by it. We'll explore how his knowledge might deepen public discourse about practices in U.S. military prisons in recent years -- and inform our collective reckoning with consequences yet to unfold.

Lia Hadley has lived in Lubeck, Germany for more than 20 years now, and has personally been affected by the IT bust nearly 10 years ago now. She submitted an essay about her reflections on the moral and spiritual aspects of the economic crisis. Through her experiences as an computer technologist who needs to find new contracts regularly, she has had to reevaluate the meaning of trust and also finds new ways of forming local community in her village and through virtual socially-based programs to improve the lives of women in other villages around the globe.

Forcibly exiled from his native country, Zen master and poet Thich Nhat Hanh recently visited Vietnam for the first time in nearly 40 years. In 2003, Speaking of Faith took a radio pilgrimage with the Buddhist monk at a Christian conference center in a lakeside setting of rural Wisconsin. Thich Nhat Hanh offers stark, gentle wisdom for living in a world of anger and violence. Here, he discusses the concepts of "engaged Buddhism," "being peace," and "mindfulness."

Marc Mullinax, a professor of Religion and Philosophy at Mars Hill College in North Carolina, submitted an essay about her reflections on the moral and spiritual aspects of the economic crisis. Through the season of Lent and the instruction of his students, he has found ways to live a more sustainable life and be more conscientious of the community around him during these difficult fiscal times and into a new era of the next American dream.

A live public conversation with Joshua DuBois -- the 26 year-old political strategist and Pentecostal Minister who is heading the Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships in the Obama White House. We'll explore what is being retained from the Bush years, what will change -- and how the experience of the Obama campaign shaped Joshua DuBois' vision of what is possible.

Emily Muschinske, a graphic designer and illustrator of children's books who was recently laid off while working in New York City, submitted an essay about her reflections on the moral and spiritual aspects of the economic crisis. She has become more skeptical of terms such as family, loyalty, and trust when used in corporate settings and discusses how comedy is one of the best ways of coping with this economic crisis.

We seek fresh insight into the history and the human and religious dynamics of Islam's Sunni-Shia divide. Our guest Vali Nasr says that it is not so different from dynamics in periods of Western Christian history. But he says that by bringing the majority Shia to power in Iraq, the U.S. has changed the religious dynamics of the Middle East.

Abeer Raazi, a student living in Columbus, Ohio, submitted an essay about his reflections on the moral and spiritual aspects of the economic crisis. He talks about his unease about the disconnect between his field of study, Economics, and social concerns; the wisdom he finds in his Islamic tradition; and the need for optimism and problem-solving in this new economic present.

A new installment in our ongoing series, Repossessing Virtue, bringing the voices of our listeners into the conversation we've been building online and on-air since the economic downturn began last year. Many are grappling with the shame that comes in American culture with the loss of a job, and many are seeking community in old places and new. For some, economic instability -- a kind of life on the edge -- is not new. They've been cultivating virtues of patience, self-examination, service and good humor that might help us all.