Best Center for Action and Contemplation Podcasts (2025)

1
Peter Traben Haas on Prayer as a Practice of Centering, Abiding, & Radiating 1:04:42

5M ago1:04:42

1:04:42

On this last episode of Season Five of Contemplify, we welcome Rev., Dr. Peter Traben Haas. Rev., Dr. Peter Traben Haas rises each morning watching the light shade from dark to dawn and the still silence births words. His aim as a pastor and writer is to deepen spiritual fecundity by exploring biblical wisdom, verse by verse. He is an ordained Teac…

1
Transformed by Hope 21:57

5M ago21:57

21:57

I think hope is about eyesight, keeping our eyes on the Holy One who is at work in us and in the world. As we prepare for a brand new season in 2025, Rev. Jacqui wanted to do a series of monologues this fall exploring ways in which we could listen, learn, and lean into peace during these challenging times. In this reflective piece, Jacqui explores …

1
Backporch Advent Outpost with Hadewijch and the Mother of Love 5:41

5M ago5:41

5:41

Backporch Advent Outpost with Hadewijch and the Mother of Love visit contemplify.comBy Paul Swanson | Contemplative Shoveler

1
Katherine May on Enchantment, Building Community, Tasting Words, and a Drink of Lake Water 57:28

6M ago57:28

57:28

"I love Katherine May’s new book, Enchantment.… It’s a beautiful offering of light, truth and charm in these strange, dark times." — Anne Lamott Katherine May is an internationally bestselling author and podcaster living in Whitstable, UK. Her most recent book, Enchantment became an instant New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller. Her internatio…

1
Andrew Krivak on the Inheritance of Loss, Death as a Character, and Like the Appearance of Horses 1:11:18

6M ago1:11:18

1:11:18

"Andrew Krivak is a novelist, poet, and memoirist whose work has been compared to William Faulkner’s in its rich sense of place, to Wendell Berry’s in its attentiveness to natural beauty, and to Cormac McCarthy’s in its deep investigation of violence and myth. Yet all of Krivak’s writing, and especially his fiction, presents a truly singular vision…

1
Love Thy Neighbor 15:12

7M ago15:12

15:12

"You are a theologian in residence in your own life, beloved." As we prepare for a brand new season in 2025, Rev. Jacqui wanted to do a series of monologues this fall exploring ways in which we could listen, learn, and lean into peace during these challenging times. In this monologue, Jacqui explores the power of love as a guiding principle in a wo…

1
Remembering Dr. Barbara Holmes (Replay of 2016 Conversation) 58:24

7M ago58:24

58:24

"Dr. B was passionate about expanding our understanding of the Christian contemplative tradition, reminding us that contemplation isn’t the sole domain of those who can retreat to quiet places. She understood, from her own life and from the traditions she carried forward, that contemplative practices must also arise in the midst of struggle, in the…

1
Amy Leach on Becoming Salt of the Universe 54:01

7M ago54:01

54:01

"I was recently giving a sermon and found myself spontaneously quoting from Amy Leach's singular and surprising new book. I expect many readers will find their own lives troubled (in the Biblical sense) and enlightened by her fresh perceptions. She has lived into a hard-earned and entirely credible wisdom, the best evidence for which is her irrepre…

1
Ben Katt on Getting Quiet, Midlife, and the Power of Ritual (also, we chat about David Hasselhoff) 1:09:41

7M ago1:09:41

1:09:41

Ben Katt has worked with On Being, as an ordained minister, an advanced meditation teacher, and author. His first book, The Way Home: Discovering the Hero’s Journey to Wholeness at Midlife is a guidebook and memoir about the inner journey that calls us further in the midst of life’s busyness. Ben is the founder of the WITHIN Prison Meditation Proje…

1
Jeffrey Martin on Thank God We Left the Garden, Letters, and Literature 1:22:53

8M ago1:22:53

1:22:53

"[Jeffrey Martin writes] Songs that are stark in their simplicity, yet emotionally rich in a way that can catch your breath in your throat or leave your eyes suddenly damp." — Paste Jeffrey Martin is a musician with a number of albums under his belt. His latest, Thank God We Left the Garden, has been playing on repeat in my house since November of …

1
Susan Murphy on Zen Koans for Facing the Climate Crisis, the vast meaning of Country, and Cooling Fires 55:23

8M ago55:23

55:23

“A powerful and important plunge into the reality of the mind and climate.” — Joan Halifax, author of Being with Dying and Standing at the Edge Susan Murphy is an Australian Zen teacher whose passionate feeling of kinship with the natural world began during her early childhood years living near the Great Barrier Reef and the Gondwanaland rainforest…

1
Drew Jackson on Touch the Earth, Poetry as a Lifesaver, and the Importance of Lucille Clifton 1:12:12

9M ago1:12:12

1:12:12

"In Touch the Earth, Drew Jackson's poetry offers a word-weary world a new language of engagement, disruption, and insight. As with all great poetry, the words are spare, but the literary images loom large, creating indelible impressions on the reader. Like echoes that reverberate long after the first sound, the poems stay with you, they dance with…

1
Tracy Cochran on the Art of Presence, Mistakes as Practice, & the Grief of Awakening 1:03:42

9M ago1:03:42

1:03:42

Tracy Cochran is a writer, meditation teacher, and editorial director of Parabola, an acclaimed quarterly magazine that draws on the world’s cultural and wisdom traditions to explore the questions that all humans share. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Psychology Today, O Magazine, and New York Magazine to name a few. Her latest publ…

1
Brian McLaren on Life After Doom, Patient Urgency, & Complexifying Hope 1:06:31

10M ago1:06:31

1:06:31

Brian D. McLaren is an author, speaker, activist, and public theologian. A former college English teacher and pastor, he is a passionate advocate for “a new kind of Christianity” – just, generous, and working with people of all faiths for the common good. He is a core faculty member and Dean of Faculty for the Center for Action and Contemplation an…

1
Cassidy Hall on Queering Contemplation, Letting Go of Thomas Merton, and Expanding Foundations 1:17:14

10M ago1:17:14

1:17:14

Cassidy Hall is an author, award-winning filmmaker, podcaster, ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, and leading voice in contemplative spirituality. She is the cohost of the Encountering Silence podcast and the host of Contemplating Now and Queering Contemplation podcasts. Her latest book is Queering Contemplation, Finding Queerness in…

1
Dr. Larry Ward on America's Racial Karma, the Fragrance of Wisdom, and Learning How To Suffer Less 44:31

11M ago44:31

44:31

Dr. Larry Ward is a senior teacher in Buddhist Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh's Plum Village tradition, the author of the book America's Racial Karma, and co-author with his wife, Peggy, of Love's Garden: A Guide To Mindful Relationships. Dr. Ward brings forty years of international experience in organizational change and local community renewal to his…

1
David James Duncan on the Unintentional Menagerie of Sun House, Friendship, and the Beguines 1:46:49

11M ago1:46:49

1:46:49

David James Duncan is the author of the classic novels The River Why and The Brothers K, the story collection River Teeth, the nonfiction collection and National Book Award finalist, My Story as Told by Water, the best-selling collection of “churchless sermons," God Laughs & Plays. And lest we forget his latest, and what some have called his magnum…

1
Harmonizing In The Empty Fullness 2:07

11M ago2:07

2:07

Season Five Trailer Contemplify.comBy Paul Swanson | Contemplative Shoveler

1
Turn the Morning into Forever 4:44

12M ago4:44

4:44

A musing on time, eternality, and childerenBy Paul Swanson | Contemplative Shoveler

1
Reduced to the Scale of Our Competence 4:55

1y ago4:55

4:55

A musing on limitationsBy Paul Swanson | Contemplative Shoveler

1
Eat the Wild Thing 5:48

1y ago5:48

5:48

A musing on wild things and ingesting GodBy Paul Swanson | Contemplative Shoveler

1
Lo-Fi & Hushed / 2023 Winter Solstice Session / To Know the Dark 32:45

1+ y ago32:45

32:45

Each solstice and equinox Contemplify offers a public Lo-Fi & Hushed contemplative practice session for both free and supporting subscribers of the Non-Required Reading List. For those interested, go tell it on the mountain… The third week of Advent salted on joy. Not because of the circumstances, but despite them. The work remains to create the co…

1
Listen to the Rice, the Rice Will Teach You Everything with Lucien Miller 37:32

1+ y ago37:32

37:32

"Oshida’s life and legacy is an experience of the spiritual senses knowing the mystical voice. Biblical in sources and Buddhist in form, reading this book took me as a reader to the great pause of silence." — Sister Meg Funk, OSB Lucien Miller received his PhD in comparative literature from Berkely and taught Comparative Literature and Chinese at t…

1
In Hard Times, In All Times, Eat Sacred Words 33:23

1+ y ago33:23

33:23

"You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves." — 'Wild Geese' by Mary Oliver Carmen Acevedo Butcher, PhD, is an author, teacher, poet, and award-winning translator of spiritual texts. Today Carmen and I talk …

1
The Transformative Power of Love with Tiq Milan 38:42

1+ y ago38:42

38:42

What if your deepest identity came from God? On this episode, writer and thought leader Tiq Milan joins Jacqui to discuss the transformative power of Love—particularly when we offer it freely and generously to our LGBTQ friends and family. He offers: "My transness and my queerness make me closer to God. It's my gift. I feel present in this life bec…

1
Kim Haines-Eitzen on Practicing the Cello in the Dark and Sonorous Deserts 58:41

1+ y ago58:41

58:41

Dr. Kim Haines-Eitzen is a Professor of Religious Studies with specialties in Early Christianity, Early Judaism, and other ancient Mediterranean Religions at Cornell University. Her book Sonorous Desert: What Deep Listening Taught Early Christian Monks—and What It Can Teach Us explores the dynamic relationships between ambient environmental landsca…

1
Lerita Coleman Brown on Waiting for a Word in the Heart 58:06

1+ y ago58:06

58:06

"I highly recommend What Makes You Come Alive to churches, religious and educational institutions, and spiritual seekers everywhere who are looking for an inward journey that finds its home in the world of nature, people, and things." — Walter Earl Fluker - Editor and Director of the Howard Thurman Papers Project Dr. Lerita Coleman Brown is a retre…

1
Lo-Fi & Hushed Contemplative Practice Session (September 2023 / Autumn Equinox) 31:31

1+ y ago31:31

31:31

Lo-Fi & Hushed is weekly space for the contemplative practice of lectio divina with poetry. This practice is graceful, transformative, and subdued. Lo-Fi & Hushed is available worldwide, on Riverside livestream, and you can participate from the hallows of your own home. “I do not complain of suffering for love, it becomes me always to submit to her…

1
On Repentance and Repair with Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg 48:04

1+ y ago48:04

48:04

What can we do today to prevent a bit more suffering for those around us? An award-winning writer who serves as Scholar in Residence at the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW), Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg joins Jacqui for the latest episode of Love Period, to discuss healing work that is happening around us even amid chaos and uncertainty. She offer…

1
Does Your Work Fulfill Your Spiritual Purpose? with Majora Carter 45:59

1+ y ago45:59

45:59

Does your work fulfill your spiritual purpose? On this episode of Love Period, Majora Carter joins Jacqui to help us understand what it means to be inspired to create a professional life that is fueled by spiritual principles. As a real-estate developer, urban revitalization strategy consultant and MacArthur Fellow, Majora Carter’s thriving profess…

1
David Shumate on When Words Become Thunder 1:00:59

1+ y ago1:00:59

1:00:59

"David Shumate's High Water Mark is absolutely fresh and unpredictable. . . . You will be surprised by your confrontation with the utterly first rate." — Jim Harrison David Shumate is the author of The Floating Bridge and High Water Mark, winner of the 2003 Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize. His poetry has appeared widely in literary journals and h…

1
Douglas E. Christie on Depth Without Resolution 1:03:03

1+ y ago1:03:03

1:03:03

Douglas E. Christie, Ph.D., is Professor of Theological Studies at Loyola Marymount University. He is author of The Word in the Desert: Scripture and the Quest for Early Christian Monasticism; The Blue Sapphire of the Mind: Notes for a Contemplative Ecology; and The Insurmountable Darkness of Love: Mysticism, Loss and the Common Life. He is the fou…

1
Carmen Acevedo Butcher Follows the Mystical Tugs on the Heart 1:13:48

1+ y ago1:13:48

1:13:48

Carmen Acevedo Butcher, PhD, is an author, teacher, poet, and award-winning translator of spiritual texts. If I had to pick a favorite, it would be Brother Lawrence’s Practice of the Presence. Her dynamic work around the evolution of language and the necessity of just and inclusive language has garnered interest from various media, including the BB…

1
In Trembling Boldness with Rev. Natalie Perkins 37:57

2y ago37:57

37:57

What stories do we miss when we only read the Bible at the surface? In this episode, Rev. Natalie Perkins, co-author of the new book In Trembling Boldness, helps us take a deeper look at how we read and experience traditional from the Bible, as well as stories from extra-canonical texts. Natalie offers us this: “We often approach the Bible as fact.…

1
Lisa Wells on Holding a Fierce and Loving Gaze 1:05:19

2y ago1:05:19

1:05:19

Lisa Wells is an author, poet, and co-founder of a small, nonprofit press based in Seattle, Washington called Letter Machine Editions. Her latest work is Believers: Making a Life at the End of the World. In Believers Lisa locates folks who meet the climate catastrophe with a fierce and loving gaze, with their sights on restoring humanity’s relation…

1
Why Our Tears Matter with Rev. Ben Perry 34:40

2y ago34:40

34:40

Do you see weeping as a spiritual experience? On this episode, Rev. Ben Perry joins Jacqui to help us embrace the healing power of tears. Together they explore Ben's new book, Cry, Baby, discuss how scripture inspired it, and what tears have to do with our faith. As Ben explains: “Weeping after acts of violence reminds us that this is not the way G…

1
Scott Avett on Being Here for the Feast 1:12:57

2y ago1:12:57

1:12:57

Scott Avett is a visual artist, musician, and songwriter. No amount of descriptors quite do him justice. Scott’s work was met by my ears before my eyes. His songs slip into the ear stream, reverberate off the rib cage and remind the heart it was born free. Scott’s paintings hold your gaze in absorption, jostle you awake, and drop you off a block la…

1
Living a Spiritually Awakened Life with Otis Moss 48:52

2y ago48:52

48:52

What modern rituals stir your heart? On this episode, Rev. Otis Moss III returns to the show and offers his perspective on what living a spiritually awakened life means for us today. He explains, “Love your neighbor. Love your neighbor as yourself. If you are devoid of self-love, if you hate who you are, then you are incapable of loving your neighb…

1
More Than I Imagined with John Blake 46:21

2y ago46:21

46:21

How have relationships shifted your perspective on life and love? In this episode, Jacqui talks with John Blake, an award-winning journalist who tells the story of his quest to reconcile with his white mother and the family he’d never met. Together, they explore how healing systems—from families to the culture of an entire country—begins with true …

1
Haleh Liza Gafori on Putting Mystery in the Middle 59:00

2y ago59:00

59:00

Haleh Liza Gafori is a translator, vocalist, poet, and educator born in New York City of Iranian descent. Her latest work, is a translation of Rumi poems entitled Gold. I first heard one of her translations of Rumi sitting around a campfire on a Sunday morning in Patagonia, Arizona. I was bit by the passion and this conversation does not disappoint…

1
Scripture and Jesus' Radical Teachings with Rabbi Joshua Stanton 49:08

2y ago49:08

49:08

What if we refused to break anyone’s heart—including our own? In this episode of Love Period, Jacqui Lewis speaks with Rabbi Josh Stanton, getting to the heart of Jesus’ radical teachings. If you have ever wondered how to love those you don’t understand (or even like), this episode offers guidance. Join us for this new season of Love Period where J…

1
Belden Lane on the Unbroken Desert of God 54:16

2y ago54:16

54:16

Belden Lane is Professor Emeritus of Theological Studies at Saint Louis University, author of numerous books including The Solace of Fierce Landscapes: Exploring Desert and Mountain Spirituality and Backpacking with the Saints: Wilderness Hiking as Spiritual Practice. Belden Lane is a true elder, and in our conversation he exhibits that when we tal…

1
Everybody Come Alive with Marcie Alvis-Walker 46:21

2y ago46:21

46:21

Can we be theologians in our own lives? In the first episode of Season 4, Jacqui talks with Marcie Alvis-Walker—author, mother, friend, and theologian who invites us to read the Bible in a way that speaks to our hearts. The author of Everybody Come Alive: A Memoir in Essays, Marcie shares her experience of finding reflections of herself in scriptur…

1
Your Naked Freedom 5:53

2y ago5:53

5:53

Good poetry is inherently spiritual. It is a clown car of interpretation. Once a door of perception is opened, endless and surprising “Ahas” tumble out. When you have a spiritual teacher who embodies a poem, their words become thunder and contemplation soaks you. Get a taste of Season Four of Contemplify. First full episode is out in a week. slide …

1
Spare Me Nothing 5:48

2y ago5:48

5:48

A musing on practice, desire, and its evolutions vist contemplify.comBy Paul Swanson | Contemplative Shoveler

1
James Finley on the Healing Path 1:28:35

2y ago1:28:35

1:28:35

I was overly giddy, strangely nervous, but above all grateful to be in conversation with James Finley about his breathtaking new book, The Healing Path: A Memoir and an Invitation. Each page is a thousand pages deep, that is how Jim walks about the world, drawing from the depths and teaching with winsome grace, poetics, and of course, wisdom. I hav…

1
It's Not About the Beer, It's About the Beer 8:30

2y ago8:30

8:30

A musing inspired by Shawn Askinosie's story about Belgium beer brewing monks and the parables of Jesus from Feb 2023 vist contemplify.comBy Paul Swanson | Contemplative Shoveler

1
Prairie Eye & Woods Eye 4:40

2+ y ago4:40

4:40

A musing on Bill Holm's "Horizontal Grandeur" pulled from his book of essays, The Music of Failure.By Paul Swanson | Contemplative Shoveler

1
Sitting on the Present Moment 7:21

2+ y ago7:21

7:21

A musing on the present moment of awareness that holds everything.By Paul Swanson | Contemplative Shoveler

1
Engaged Contemplation in a Heartbreaking World with Fr. Adam Bucko 1:01:18

2+ y ago1:01:18

1:01:18

Father Adam Bucko has been a committed voice in the movement for the renewal of Christian Contemplative Spirituality and the growing New Monastic movement. He has taught engaged contemplative spirituality in Europe and the United States and has authored Let Your Heartbreak be Your Guide: Lessons in Engaged Contemplation, and co-authored Occupy Spir…

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Center For Action And Contemplation Podcasts

Podcasts Worth a Listen