Context Matters

Dr. Gilha Lee examines Paul’s theology of reconciliation in relation to the social, political, and economic structures of the ancient Mediterranean world, with attention to reciprocal exchange and power. He is especially interested in how reconciliation operates within relationships marked by difference and asymmetry, and in what these dynamics reveal about Paul’s theology and ethics. Today we talk about reconciliation among humans who hold different power dynamics as well as the divine-human reconciliation. Dr. Lee's conclusion, based on the concept of "exchange" in reconciliation, suggests God gives Christ; humans reciprocate by participating in the ministry of reconciliation toward others, creating an expanding loop of peace.Find out more about Dr. Gilha Lee HEREContact Cyndi Parker through Narrative of Place.Learn more about me and sign up for upcoming tours of Israel/Palestine.Join Cyndi Parker's  Patreon Team!  

In this second part of the conversation, Maoz and Aziz go deeper into what it means to have productive conversations with people who have different perspectives from your own. They discuss why empathy doesn't make you weaker, how vulnerability became the heartbeat of their viral TED Talk, and the writing journey behind their New York Times bestseller The Future Is Peace. They also shine a light on the broader peace movement — the coalitions, organizations, and individuals on the ground who are doing the hard, often invisible work of peacemaking in Israel and Palestine.Find out more about Aziz and Maoz and read about the impact of their book The Future is Peace HERE. Their speaking engagements can be found HERE, and opportunity to travel with them is HERE Watch the TED talk HEREExplore the vast resources available through their organization InterAct HEREView their speaking schedules Read about the good work of The Parent Circle HERE and Combatants for Peace HERE and Alliance for Middle East Peace HERE and Protect the Harvest HERE and Rabbis for Human Rights HEREContact Cyndi Parker through Narrative of Place.Learn more about me and sign up for upcoming tours of Israel/Palestine.Join Cyndi Parker's  Patreon Team!

Aziz and Maoz were born and raised in Israel/Palestine. They have both suffered incredible loss of family members because of the conflict. Yet they both strive to create businesses that help people reach across the divide to understand the "other". We also discuss their amazing TED talk that is challenging, compelling, and hopeful. This is a conversation about what it means to truly listen to one another, the courage it takes to choose peace when grief gives you every reason not to, and how two men from opposite sides of one of the world's most entrenched conflicts became chosen brothers.Find out more about Aziz and Maoz and read about the impact of their book The Future is Peace HEREWatch the TED talk HERETravel through Israel and Palestine with Aziz and Maoz! Find out more HEREExplore the vast resources available through their organization InterAct HEREView their speaking schedules HERERead about the good work of The Parent Circle HEREContact Cyndi Parker through Narrative of Place.Learn more about me and sign up for upcoming tours of Israel/Palestine.Join Cyndi Parker's  Patreon Team!

Todd Deatherage who is the Co-Founder of Telos, a Washington D.C. based nonprofit dedicated to the formation of communities of American peacemakers across lines of difference to bring healing to conflict at home and abroad. Telos’ primary area of focus has been on America’s relationship to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, so he has had to explain the history of this conflict many times. It is complex, with each step from European nationalism to secular Zionism and then to religious Zionism adding more layers of hardship and disagreement. That is not the final conclusion, however. This conversation closes with a look at peacemakers on the ground – from the Parents Circle bereaved families to Palestinian Christian theologians — who, despite immense suffering, offer a hopeful path forward through solidarity, reconciliation, and deeper faith.Find out more about Telos and explore their rich resources HEREExplore Peacemaking Immersive Experiences to Ireland/Northern Ireland, Israel/Palestine, the American South, and South Africa HEREContact Cyndi Parker through Narrative of Place.Learn more about me and sign up for upcoming tours of Israel/Palestine.Join Cyndi Parker's  Patreon Team!

Todd Deatherage is the Co-Founder of Telos, a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit dedicated to the formation of communities of American peacemakers across lines of difference to bring healing to conflict at home and abroad. Today, Todd helps us see the value of curiosity to move beyond religious and political divides toward a shared pursuit of human dignity and common good. After all, that curiosity led him to travel to the Middle East, listen to a multiplicity of voices, and sit with the discomfort of stories that don't converge. He discovered that simplicity comes only after doing the hard work of understanding, and that curiosity, not certainty, is what opens the door to real peacemaking.Find out more about Telos and explore their rich resources HEREExplore Peacemaking Immersive Experiences to Ireland/Northern Ireland, Israel/Palestine, the American South, and South Africa HEREListen to previous conversations with Father David Neuhaus  Part 1 and Part 2Contact Cyndi Parker through Narrative of Place.Learn more about me and sign up for upcoming tours of Israel/Palestine.Join Cyndi Parker's  Patreon Team!

In today's conversation, Dr. Felicia helps us understand how technology shapes not just what we do, but what we long for. In reality are our devices creating "burdens of choice" and are they training us to crave all that is possible instead of being present with other humans? What questions do we need to be mindful of when we determine how to use technology: What are we really living for? Where does our worth come from? What if freedom isn't about unlimited access to everything, but the freedom to be fully, messily ourselves and still be loved?And what does a Christian worldview have to contribute to the way we train our imaginations for what is good?Find out more about Dr. Felicia Wu Song HEREFind her book Restless Devices HERE and her previous book Virtual Communities HEREContact Cyndi Parker through Narrative of Place.Learn more about me and sign up for upcoming tours of Israel/Palestine.Join Cyndi Parker's  Patreon Team!

Dr. Felicia Wu Song is a writer and speaker and cultural sociologist who studies the place of digital technologies in contemporary life. In this episode we trace American technological utopianism that optimistically believes every new invention will finally set us free. In reality, technology can lead to a psychological cocktail of pleasures, anxieties, and felt expectations that leave us feeling exhausted. What if we can learn to see the human finiteness as a gift, not a flaw? What if our need for rest, our limits, our embeddedness in time and place, aren't problems to be solved by the next app, but part of what makes us whole? What if the friction we're tempted to automate away is exactly where growth and creativity live?Find out more about Dr. Felicia Wu Song HEREFind her book Restless Devices HERE and her previous book Virtual Communities HEREContact Cyndi Parker through Narrative of Place.Learn more about me and sign up for upcoming tours of Israel/Palestine.Join Cyndi Parker's  Patreon Team!

In Part 2 of the conversation Dr. Warren Kinghorn continues his conversation with Cyndi, unpacking the ideas behind his book on mental health in dialogue with Thomas Aquinas. He challenges modern medicine's tendency to treat people as broken machines to be fixed or bundles of symptoms to be reduced and instead, offers Aquinas's image of the human as a wayfarer on a journey from God to God. This reframes care as accompaniment rather than repair, a shift Warren argues matters for clinicians, pastors, and everyday companions alike. Read more about Dr. Kinghorn HERE Read more about what is available through Duke's  Theology, Medicine, and Culture HERE Explore Dr. Kinghorn's book Wayfairing published with @eerdmans  Explore The Sanctuary Course - a free resource designed for small groups to explore mental health Contact Cyndi Parker through Narrative of Place. Learn more about me and sign up for upcoming tours of Israel/Palestine. Join Cyndi Parker's  Patreon Team!

What does Peacemaking have to do with mental health? Dr. Warren Kinghorn is an excellent guide through the journey of discovery. Dr. Kinghorn challenges modern medicine's tendency to reduce people to "buckets of symptoms" or broken machines to be optimized. Instead he calls for a Christian vision of mental healthcare rooted in the belief that every person matters simply because they are made in the image of God -- not for their productivity and consumption which leads to increased levels of anxiety.  Read more about Dr. Kinghorn HERE Read more about what is available through Duke's  Theology, Medicine, and Culture HERE Explore Dr. Kinghorn's book Wayfairing published with @eerdmans  Explore The Sanctuary Course - a free resource designed for small groups to explore mental health Contact Cyndi Parker through Narrative of Place. Learn more about me and sign up for upcoming tours of Israel/Palestine. Join Cyndi Parker's  Patreon Team!

In Part 2 of the conversation ]about her book Hesed, the Seed of the Biblical Story, Dr. Matheny walks through her own working definition of hesed, describing it as both something God does and a way of being that God's people are invited to embody. She and Cyndi unpack how two-thirds of the word's biblical uses point back to God's character, and how that opens up space for humanity, as image-bearers, to reflect that same quality back into the world. Explore the book Hesed the Seed of the Biblical Story from @bakerpublishinggroup Here Read more about Dr. Jennifer M. Matheny HERE Contact Cyndi Parker through Narrative of Place. Learn more about me and sign up for upcoming tours of Israel/Palestine. Join Cyndi Parker's  Patreon Team!