Krista Tippett, Creator and Host of American Public Media's Being, Publishes Challenging New Book
Contact: Brad Robideau
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Krista Tippett, Creator and Host of American Public Media's Being, Publishes Challenging New Book
Tippett describes "a new imagination for a new century" in which religious ideas, people and passions are front and center in U.S. and global culture
(St. Paul, Minn.) February 14, 2007—On March 7, Viking will publish Krista Tippett's first book, Being, about her formation and her perspective as a thinker, journalist and public radio conversationalist. Tippett is widely lauded for her vibrant, intelligent and non-polarizing mode of conversation about the most challenging issues of our day.
Being chronicles Tippett's path from a childhood in an evangelical culture to the corridors of power as a Cold War diplomat in Berlin, to the deep questions that compelled her to create and launch the nation's premiere public radio program on religion, meaning and ethics. Tippett describes how her understanding of religion and spirituality as a force in the modern world have been shaped by her conversation partners and intellectual heroes from Elie Wiesel and Dietrich Bonhoeffer to the Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh and Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai.
In an early review, Publishers Weekly wrote, "As Tippett takes on issues from the science-and-religion debates to the future of progressive Islam, she shows herself to possess the same 'imaginative intellectual approach' that she admires in some of her interview subjects."
"The book is more reflective and personal than I can be on the air," said Tippett. "I wrote Being, in part, to answer questions that listeners have persistently asked me over the years—how I came to care about large questions of meaning, and how I'm changed by my radio conversations with people across the world's traditions. This book is also my answer to battle cries like 'the end of faith' and 'the God delusion.' Terrible damage is being done in the name of religion in our time. But religious traditions themselves contain the strongest critique and corrective we have to religious excesses. And my conversations week after week teach me that sacred traditions are among our richest sources for deep thought, creative engagement, and hope in the 21st Century world."
Tippett begins her Being book tour at Minnesota Public Radio's® Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, Minn. on March 1. For information about when and where to hear her speak, visit http://speakingoffaith.org/events.shtml.
Biography of Krista Tippett
A journalist and former diplomat, Tippett came up with the idea for Being while consulting for the Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research at Saint John's Abbey and University in Collegeville, Minn. She has hosted and produced the program at American Public Media™ since it began as an occasional feature in 2000, before taking on its current form as a national weekly program in 2003. Tippett is a graduate of Yale Divinity School and a former Fulbright Scholar. She has reported and written for The New York Times, Newsweek, the BBC and other international news organizations, and served as special assistant to the U.S. ambassador to the former West Germany.
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About American Public Media's Being
Produced and distributed by American Public Media in St. Paul, Minn., Being is an hour-long program that explores how perspectives of faith can illuminate the important issues of American and global life—from how we raise our children to how we wage war. Tippett's interviews with theologians and scientists, activists and writers have been called a new paradigm for discussion about religion, ethics and meaning in modern life.