An ancient Christian thinker named Irenaeus said, "The glory of God is a human being fully alive." Some people imagine that religion or Christianity is about getting out of the world and leaving your body, but I think it's actually the most robust humanism because it helps us to realize the fullness of being humans.

I think that sometimes when we look for singular truths or singular answers or silver bullet solutions, it leads us astray. I see my job as an academic as trying to eternally get things less wrong.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done — it's a cadence of the way Christians inhabit the world. And I would say it's precisely because I know the kingdom's not here yet that I don't have to imagine an utter existential loss if this particular nation-state is trembling.

It's a healthy attitude — not just mentally, but healthy for your body — to keep a sense of awe and wonder at the world.

The base reality of the cosmos is that every single one of us is beloved. I can live a life on that.

A few years ago, I wrote a book on the good life where I looked at different conceptions of the good life around the world. And my conclusion was that the good life is a commitment to a project that goes beyond your self-interest. ... You give. You believe in it so much, you give something. That is the key to living the good life.

There's a kind of preparatory experience of stillness and quiet and contemplation. For me to learn to stand before a painting that I don't understand. It's a mystery. I'm perplexed. To be quiet and dwell with that helps build up muscles of resistance that teach us to become the kind of people who can now dwell with our own being.