or wherever you access your favorite podcasts.
In this episode, C. Christopher Smith, founding editor of ERB, speaks with best-selling author Shannan Martin and first-time author Amar Peterman about the intersecting themes of faith, justice, and community in their new books. Their conversation explores the tension between life’s “heavy goodness” and its “undercurrent of grief,” demonstrating that “we can only counter what we’re first willing to weigh,” as Martin puts it. In addition, the authors explore the tension between one’s personal comfort and the call to “draw near in mercy” to our neighbors, especially those who are marginalized, as Peterman points out. Both authors emphasize that meaningful change begins not with grand gestures but with everyday relationships, accompanying our neighbors across lines of difference through joys and struggles. Overall, the episode, like the books, is not prescriptive but rather rooted deeply in how the authors work to cultivate a sense of belonging for everyone in their local neighborhoods.
Shannan Martin is the bestselling author of several books, including Counterweights, Start with Hello, The Ministry of Ordinary Places, and the popular Substack The Soup. Shannan is a wannabe gardener, a news geek, a fighter for justice, and a thrift store stalker. She and her family live as grateful neighbors in Goshen, Indiana, where Shannan is on staff at the local community kitchen.
Amar Peterman is an Indian American scholar working at the intersection of faith and public life. He is an author, sought-after speaker, and consultant for some of the leading faith-based organizations and institutions in the United States. His first book, Becoming Neighbors: The Common Good Made Local released in March with Eerdmans. In all his writing, research, and scholarship, Amar seeks to equip the Christian church to engage faithfully, critically, and constructively in the complex issues of our religious and civic life today through beautiful and compelling theology that emphasizes the nuanced lived reality of Christians and is modeled after the concrete person of Jesus Christ.
Books Mentioned in this Episode:
If you’d like to order any of the following books, we encourage you to do so from Hearts and Minds Books (An independent bookstore in Dallastown, PA, run by Byron and Beth Borger)
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By Shannan Martin:
- Counterweights
- The Ministry of Ordinary Places
- Start with Hello
- Falling Free
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By Amar Peterman
- Becoming Neighbors: The Common Good Made Local
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Other Books Mentioned
- A Theology of Liberation by Gustavo Gutiérrez
- Paul Farmer: Servant to the Poor by Jennie Weiss Block
- Make Your Home in this Luminous Dark by James K. Smith
- God Without Being by Jean-Luc Marion
- Hope for the Mission by Kevin Nye
- Cherished Belonging: The Healing Power of Love in Divided Times by Gregory Boyle
- Kin: A Novel by Tayari Jones
- The Message, a Bible translation by Eugene Peterson
If you’d like to order any of the above books, we encourage you to do so from Hearts and Minds Books (An independent bookstore in Dallastown, PA, run by Byron and Beth Borger)
or wherever you access your favorite podcasts.
 Reading for the Common Good From ERB Editor Christopher Smith "This book will inspire, motivate and challenge anyone who cares a whit about the written word, the world of ideas, the shape of our communities and the life of the church." -Karen Swallow Prior Enter your email below to sign up for our weekly newsletter & download your FREE copy of this ebook! |
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