Re-enchanting... race, grace and being black in America

Esau McCaulley talks about growing up in Alabama, the racial divides of the past and present in the USA, what difference it makes to read the Bible through the lens of African-American experience.

Nick Jones

Nick is the senior editor of Seen & Unseen.

A man talks to a camera with his hands together palms up and his finger interlaced.

Esau McCaulley on the Re-enchanting podcast.

Esau McCaulley is an author, public theologian and associate professor of New Testament at Wheaton College. His book 'Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope' won numerous awards. His new memoir 'How far to the Promised Land', draws on his life and experiences to question what the American dream looks like for African-Americans.

Justin and Belle talk to Esau about growing up in Alabama, the racial divides of the past and present in the USA, what difference it makes to read the Bible through the lens of African-American experience and whether the Christian vision of reality can re-enchant the conversation on race?

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For Esau McCaulley: https://esaumccaulley.com/
Esau's columns in the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/by/esau-mccau...
For Re-Enchanting: https://www.seenandunseen.com/podcast

There’s more to life than the world we can see. Re-Enchanting is a podcast from Seen & Unseen recorded at Lambeth Palace Library, the home of the Centre for Cultural Witness. Justin Brierley and Belle Tindall engage faith and spirituality with leading figures in science, history, politics, art and education. Can our culture be re-enchanted by the vision of Christianity?

Podcast

Podcasts

Re-enchanting

4 June 2025

1 min read

Re-enchanting... the end of the world - Alex Evans

New episode. In a perma-crisis era do climate change, war, technology, immigration and extremism threaten to destabilise the world?

Nick Jones

Nick is the senior editor of Seen & Unseen.

A video grab of a man talking with text beside him reading: it's not the end of the world.

Alex Evans is the founder and Executive Director of Larger Us - a community of change-makers seeking to bridge divides and bring people together. Alex has previously worked as a think tank researcher, as a special adviser to two cabinet ministers, in the UN Secretary-General’s office and as a consultant for organisations from Oxfam to the US National Intelligence Council.

It’s given Alex a perspective on just how bad things can be in the world. Many have described our era as a ‘polycrisis’ or ‘permacrisis', as climate change, war, technology, immigration and the rise of extremism threaten to destabilise the world.

So how do we deal with 24 hour doom-scrolling? And how can Christian faith speak to a world where everything seems to be falling apart?

Last year Alex began a Substack titled ’The Good Apocalypse Guide’ about how we can survive and thrive to unlock a 'breakthrough' rather than 'breakdown' future.

Alex joins Belle and Justin as they attempt to re-enchant… the end of the world.

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