📚The Good Books: How to Have An Enemy with Melissa Florer-Bixler

The first of two new projects launches in earnest today.

Over the last few months, I’ve been teasing that I would be starting a new series called The Good Books. I’ve been interviewing authors on Exvangelical under the same title for a while now, but it’s remained such a persistent point of interest for me that I have spun it out into its own feed.

I recorded this YouTube Short about my vision for the show.¹

Well, the day has arrived.

With this show, I hope to explore books and ideas beyond the general ‘release window’ of 6 months to a year that most authors and the media that surrounds them—whether it’s podcasts, tv, or general online chatter—adhere to. There are stories and perspectives that we need to engage with right now, regardless of when a book may have come out.

To that end, I’m very excited to share this conversation I had with Melissa Florer-Bixler, author of How to Have an Enemy: Righteous Anger & The Work of Peace. The book was published in 2021, and it has been a source of wisdom for me since I read it. While it is rooted in the Christian tradition, there is a lot to learn from here. I see it as particularly valuable for Christians who wish to find ways to repudiate Christian nationalism in the public sphere and their own communities.

It’s also helpful for anyone who is trying to articulate their feelings of anger, to find ways to identify who the true enemies of the public good are, and to work toward greater peace.

I am also publishing video to YouTube, for both this show and Exvangelical.

I’m still very much learning in public—expect there to be changes to format, lots of changes to video editing (a skill I’m learning on the fly), and so on. But I feel the most comfortable in my self when I’m reading and writing. Writers, artists, activists, and thinkers challenge me.

As always, if you want to support this work, you can do so by subscribing to a paid membership here, and also using my bookshop.org affiliate page to purchase your books.

Go give this episode a watch and let me know what you think.

1. I’ve spent the time since recording this Short learning how to be a bit better on camera, but the words still hold up.