Jennifer Michael Hecht: Doubt A History

05/16/19 • 83 min

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My guest today is Jennifer Michael Hecht. Jennifer is a poet, an author, an award winning academic and an intellectual historian. She has written numerous books from a secular perspective. I asked Jennifer to come on the show to discuss her book Doubt: A History and its profound effect on me post-deconversion. She is one of my intellectual heroes. It is hard to express how much this book has influenced other secular writers and thinkers. This book has strongly influenced my other two favorite books Greg Epstein's Good Without God and Katherine Ozment's Grace Without God. Both of which quote Doubt throughout. Jennifer proved to be as profound a thinker as her reputation makes her out to be. It was my privilege to attempt to keep up with her in this interview. I am indebted to Jennifer for coining the term "graceful life philosophy." My concept of Secular Grace is an attempt to live a graceful life philosophy. "Great believers and great doubters seem like opposites, but they are more similar to each other than to the mass of relatively disinterested or acquiescent men and women. This is because they are both awake to the fact that we live between two divergent realities: On one side, there is a world in our heads— and in our lives, so long as we are not contradicted by death and disaster— and that is a world of reason and plans, love, and purpose. On the other side, there is the world beyond our human life—an equally real world in which there is no sign of caring or value, planning or judgment, love, or joy. We live in a meaning-rupture because we are human and the universe is not." -- Jennifer Michael Hecht Links: Jennifer Michael Hecht's website: http://www.jennifermichaelhecht.com/ Books: Doubt: A History https://www.amazon.com/Doubt-Doubters-Innovation-Jefferson-Dickinson/dp/0060097957/ The Happiness Myth https://www.amazon.com/Happiness-Myth-Expose-Jennifer-Hecht-ebook/dp/B000PDZFTS/ Stay: A history of suicide and the philosophies against it https://www.amazon.com/Stay-History-Suicide-Philosophies-Against/dp/0300186088/ Review: My review of Doubt: A History https://gracefulatheist.wordpress.com/2017/01/16/review-doubt-a-history/ Recommendation: My story on the Deconversion Therapy Podcast https://deconversiontherapypodcast.com/2019/05/09/15-remembering-the-humor-of-rachel-held-evans/ Attribution: "Waves" track written and produced by Makaih Beats http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Makaih_Beats Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/

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Kathleen B. Shannon: Religious Trauma

We throw around the term religious trauma but what exactly does the term actually mean? On today's show, my guest is Kathleen B. Shannon. Kathleen is a physiotherapist. She is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in Washington state and a Listened Professional Counselor in North Carolina. I asked Kathleen to be on the show to talk about religious trauma from an expert's perspective. What does psychology have to say on the subject and what does she sees in her practice? We discuss Kathleen's experience in bible college, religious trauma, outrage exhaustion and what Kathleen calls equanimity. Kathleen's advice for those deconstructing: "Find a space that is safe to ask the questions, preferably one where they will not give you the answers." -- Kathleen B. Shannon Links: Connect with Kathleen B. Shannon: http://kbshannon.com/http://spiritualtraumarecovery.com/https://www.facebook.com/spiritualtraumarecovery/ Shout outs: I want to give Mandy Nicole (@ThatMandyNicole) credit for coining the term "Prayer Reflex." Mandy coined the term after the recording of the show but it eloquently describes a feeling I was attempting to articulate in the episode. https://twitter.com/ThatMandyNicole/status/1123629084733349888 Ryan Bell (@ryanjbell) for pointing me to the A Great Big World's song, "Say Something," as perfectly describing the deconversion experience. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2U0Ivkn2Ds RHE: The intro points out that we recorded the conversation with today's guest, Kathleen B. Shannon, before the passing of Rachel Held Evans on May 4th, 2019. The absence of mention of Rachel and her work would have felt awkward. So, I make a few statements about Rachel's impact on the world of progressive Christianity and I read a statement from Kathleen about Rachel's impact on her. Rachel Held Evans' family's Go Fund Me page: https://www.gofundme.com/supporting-rachel-held-evans

Next Episode

Sassy Atheist: Deconversion Anonymous

Today's show is a Deconversion Anonymous episode. Sassy Atheist is on the show. Sassy has a YouTube channel where she honestly describes her deconversion and her earnest desire to help others through the process. Hear her heart breaking story of a broken relationship with a loved one because of her deconversion. Sassy's search for truth included Episcopalianism, Catholicism, Evangelicalism and eventually atheism. She also was on a search for community which she is now finding in the atheist community. Sassy exemplifies the themes of the podcast: deconversion, Secular Grace and self honesty. [To god] "Just do something to tell me that you are here and that you know that I am in pain." -- Sassy Atheist Links: Get in touch with Sassy Atheist: Twitter: https://twitter.com/SassyAtheist19 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf7XYBo2Lp54h4VU_lcfZXg Deconversion Anonymous episodes: https://gracefulatheist.wordpress.com/category/podcast/deconversion-anonymous/ Send in a voice message to the podcast: https://anchor.fm/gracefulatheist/message Attribution: "Waves" track written and produced by Makaih Beats http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Makaih_Beats Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/