Julie Hanlon Rubio (photo courtesy of Saint Louis University)
Welcome to the Daily Theology Podcast! This is our very first episode, which features a conversation Stephen Okey had with Julie Hanlon Rubio. We talk about how she went from her interest in theater to studying politics to doing theology, the role of the family in her teaching and research, and her advice for newer theologians. We spoke by phone, so the sound quality could be a little better, but the conversation is absolutely worth it.
Dr. Rubio is a professor of Christian Ethics at Saint Louis University, where she has taught since 1999. Her research focuses on the theology of marriage and the family and on Catholic Social Teaching. She has published two books (A Christian Theology of Marriage and Family
in 2003 and Family Ethics: Practices for Christians
in 2010) and edited another (Readings in Moral Theology No. 15: Marriage
in 2009, co-edited with Charles Curran). Her next book, Between the Personal and Political: Hope for Common Ground is coming from Georgetown University Press in 2016. Dr. Rubio is also a regular contributor at the blog Catholic Moral Theology (you can find her posts here).
You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or you can listen to the episode below!
Podcast music courtesy of Matt Hines of Eastern Sea, whom you can find on Facebook, Twitter, or Spotify
Just listened to your first episode and since you asked for comments I will make a few. This is intended to be helpful and positive not critical and negative.
– First some technical comments – the sound balance was not good: when the volume was set properly for the interviewer the interviewee was too soft, when the volume was set for the interviewee the interviewer was deafening, also apparently the recording was mono, this is difficult to listen to on head phones and many podcast listeners use headphones.
– Second: It was interesting listening to Ms. Rubio’s biography but I was expecting something more theologically substantive.
Thanks for putting in all the hard work and I look forward to the next podcast.
Thanks for the feedback! I’m hoping the technical problems will be a one time issue, since most conversations will be in person rather than by phone. As to the content, as there are already podcasts that look at specific topics and issues, we’re trying to fulfill a different niche in the Catholic podcast-sphere.
Thanks for listening!
I also noticed the sound balance problem.
One area I’d very much like to hear about in future podcasts, especially but not exclusively with lay Catholic theologians, is more about their experience of ecclesial life, and not so much on academic life. To some extent, academia is academia, and its challenges and privileges are pretty standard across disciplines; hearing theologians talk about them doesn’t offer much we can’t get elsewhere.
But hearing people talk about what it’s like to be a lay theologian in a church that hasn’t quite figured out what to do with lay theologians, and a church in which clericalism is pervasive — that would be a really valuable contribution. How, for example, do you navigate being a theologian in the pews when you hear errors, distortions, or oversimplifications from the pulpit? How, if at all, do you participate as a theologian in the life of your local parish church? In your local diocese?
If your podcasts regularly get into questions like these, I will be a very faithful listener! 🙂
Thanks! That’s a great and challenging question. I know some interviews we’ve recorded have that worked in as well, but I’ll try to make sure it’s more commonly included.