George Fox Talks: An Edifying Podcast
By: Zoditu Schwind
Illustrated by: Carla Cieza Espinoza
The pandemic forced George Fox University (GFU) to revamp its digital presence. As a result, George Fox Digital was created to make classroom lectures easily accessible. With the success of this platform, GFU wants to go further and reach more. Its new YouTube channel and podcast “George Fox Talks” is opening the classroom doors and providing thought-provoking, academic discussions for the public.
“We want to go public with what is great about our faculty and our community,” said Dr. Brian Doak, vice president of George Fox Digital. “George Fox Talks” is for educated and thoughtful Christians who want to learn and be challenged. This burgeoning podcast will highlight topics relevant to GFU’s academic enterprises. Each area is hosted by a member of the GFU community. These areas include Wellness with Dr. Daniel Kang, Theology with Dr. Joseph Clair, Culture with Dr. Abigail Favale, and Leadership with alumni Dave Tussing. Hosts have the freedom to choose the discussion points they feel are engaging and relevant. As different guests are invited, the hope is that the conversations will be organic and flow well.
The most recent podcast was “Texts that Hurt You” with Dr. Favale and English professor Dr. Bill Jolliff. The podcast opened with Dr. Jolliff answering questions about growing up in Magnetic Springs, Ohio. “It’s literally magnetic water,” Dr. Jolliff claimed, and “it has made [him] the picture of health that [he is] today.” His humorous quips help to ease the heaviness of this episode’s topic. In his overall answers, Dr. Jolliff emphasized the importance of articulating one’s own worldview. It is when a book challenges those foundational ideologies that it feels threatening. Instead of ignoring those feelings, readers must become active and ask the questions that move them towards “exploration and edification,” but not necessarily agreement. I was struck by Dr. Joliff’s bluntness when he said, “if you don’t want to read books and engage people who think differently from you in ways that might be hurtful, a university is a lousy place to be.” There was no caustic edge to the statement, only frankness. As difficult as it was to swallow, I found I really couldn’t disagree.
“George Fox Talks” is a podcast created to promote discovery. From listening to last week’s episode, I can testify to the truth of that. It’s a podcast that lets you tap into the expertise and knowledge of the GFU community. Listen to it yourself, be challenged, learn, and share it with others.
Illustrated by Carla Cieza Espinoza.