On Being with Krista Tippett

Reinhold Niebuhr was a 20th-century theologian who had crossover appeal among religious and secular Americans. He's now being rediscovered as decision-makers on the right and the left ponder war, nation-building, and the relationship between politics and religion.

In 1965, young Harvard professor Harvey Cox became the best-selling voice of secularism in America with his book "The Secular City." He sees the old thinking in the "new atheism" of figures like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. Cox says that either/or debates between religion and atheism obscure the truly interesting interplay between faith and other forms of knowledge that is unfolding today.

An unusual take on the mind-body connection with author and yoga teacher Matthew Sanford. He's been a paraplegic since the age of 13. He shares his wisdom for us all on knowing the strength and grace of our bodies even in the face of illness, aging, and death.

In this edition of SOF Unheard Cuts, Krista interviewed Sharon Brous, a Conservative rabbi in Los Angeles who is part of a Jewish spiritual renaissance. Here's your chance to listen to their entire, unedited conversation and observe the editorial process. And let us know what you think.

In over 50 years as a Benedictine nun, Joan Chittister has emerged as a powerful and at times uncomfortable voice in Roman Catholicism and in global politics. If women were ordained in the Catholic Church in our lifetime, some say, she should be the first woman bishop.

One in every 150 children is now diagnosed to be somewhere on the mysterious spectrum of autism. We step back from the controversies about the causes and cures of autism and explore one family's experience with an autistic child. Jennifer Elder, an artist, and Paul Collins, a literary historian, have unearthed a vivid history of people grappling with autism, before it had a name. And they share what all of this is teaching them about what it means to be human.

From the Scopes Trial to school board controversies in our day, Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution are portrayed as a refutal of the very idea of God. With Darwin biographer James Moore, we'll learn about the world in which Darwin formulated his ideas and why he delighted in the beauty of the natural world.

Anyone who has a pet can testify that play is not exclusive to humans. And, in the wild, different species often are at odds. But, Stuart Brown witnessed something different. Here, he describes Norbert Rosing's striking images of a wild polar bear playing with sled dogs in the wilds of Canada's Hudson Bay.

Anchee Min has recently published the second book in her fictional account of the last Chinese imperial court and its empress. In her personal story and in her writing, Anchee Min offers a window into spiritual instincts and experiences that mark a rapidly evolving China into the present.

Krista's interview with cardiovascular surgeon Mehmet Oz for "Heart and Soul" underwent some merciless editing in order to fit our hour-long radio format. Here's your chance to listen to their entire, unedited conversation and observe the editorial process. And let us know what you think.

We delve into the world and meaning of the approaching Jewish High Holy Days -- ten days that span the new year of Rosh Hashanah through Yom Kippur's rituals of atonement. Sharon Brous, a young rabbi in L.A., is one voice in a Jewish spiritual renaissance that is taking many forms across the U.S. The vast majority of her congregation are people in their 20s and 30s, who, she says, are making life-giving connections between ritual, personal transformation, and relevance in the world.

Krista's interview with Stuart Brown for "Play, Spirit, and Character" underwent some merciless editing in order to fit our hour-long radio format. Here's your chance to listen to their entire, unedited conversation and observe the editorial process. And let us know what you think.

The word "healing" means "to make whole." But historically, Western medicine has taken a divided view of human health. It has stressed medical treatments of biological ailments. That may be changing. Mehmet Oz, a cardiovascular surgeon, is part of a new generation of doctors who are taking medicine to new technological and spiritual frontiers.

As part of our expanding SoundSeen series, we partnered with Jessica Roberts and the News21 Initiative at the Unversity of Southern California. Here, we expand on Stuart Brand's idea of play by showing you the traveling rings on a beach in Santa Monica. Not only do they offer great exercise and a chance to feel like Spiderman or Tarzan, but, some regulars say, the rings offer a unique spiritual practice that brings together their minds and bodies.

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.