Keep Listening with David Crabtree

What does a Brit know about American politics? If that Brit is Luke Bretherton, the answer is quite a lot. Bretherton teaches ethics at Duke Divinity School and has recently published Christ and the Common Life, Political Theology and the Case for Democracy. At a time when many in churches think democracy is either unable or unwilling to address issues such as climate change or are joining authoritarian movements, this book examines why democracy is a key way Christians should understand the command to love their neighbor and explores why democratic politics is a vital way to faithfully struggle for justice. Through Bretherton’s analysis of debates concerning race, class, economics, the environment, interfaith relations and other topics, he develops an innovative political theology of democracy as a way through which Christians can speak and act faithfully within the contemporary context and, at the same time, pursue a just and compassionate common life with others who don’t share their beliefs and practices. It's a fascinating conversation as we Keep Listening to Luke Betherton.​

Zainab Baloch is a former Raleigh City Council and ​​mayoral candidate and the co-founder of Young Americans Protest, which provides avenues for young people to take action through voting and technology regarding policy decisions that affect their future. She works for Even, a startup whose mission is to the end the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle that goes hand in hand with her work with the Poor People’s Campaign, where she engages millennials nationally. Waleed Jarrad is a millennial entrepreneur, manages a young adult mentorship and tutoring program that serves underprivileged communities and is on the board of the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network of the Triangle. We discuss life as a millennial Muslim in the Triangle and what they describe as the two "scariest days" of their lives: 9/11 and the day after the 2016 election.

A bishop in the United Methodist Church, Dr. Will Willimon served as the dean of Duke Chapel and professor of Christian ministry at Duke University for 20 years. He returned to Duke after serving as the bishop of the North Alabama Conference from 2004 to 2012. Willimon is the author of 70 books, which combined have sold more than a million copies. He has taught in Germany, Singapore, New Zealand and Australia in various seminaries. He is a trustee of Wofford College and Emory University and serves on the Dean’s Committee of Yale Divinity School. In early 2017, published Who Lynched Willie Earle? Confronting Racism through Preaching. This episode focuses on two white southern males talking race and why this can be difficult. The conversation is raw, real and enlightening.

Rabbi Eric Solomon was pegged to be a rabbi from a young age by everyone but himself. It took him until the end of college when he began to spiritually seek in earnest that he realized that rabbinical school might be a way for him to both search his soul and save the world. Even in rabbinical school, he was still unsure he made the right choice until he attended services at Congregation B'nai Jeshurun in New York City and became acquainted with his eventual mentors, Rabbis Roly Matalon and Marcelo Bronstein. It was then that he came to realize the enormous blessing and privilege it is to serve God and humanity through the congregational rabbinate. Rabbi Solomon graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Maryland and then entered rabbinical school, spending three years in Jerusalem and three years in New York City.  Rabbi Solomon currently serves as the national Co-Chair of Truah: A Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, and on the board of Urban Ministries of Wake County. Our conversation focuses on anti-Semitism, its current existence, the rise of more open examples of anti-Semitism, and his growing concern.