Krista Tippett (née Weedman; born November 9, 1960)[1][2] is an American journalist, author, and entrepreneur. She created and hosts the public radio program and podcast On Being. In 2014, Tippett was awarded the National Humanities Medal by U.S. President Barack Obama.[3]

Krista Tippett
Tippett in 2012
Born
Krista Weedman

November 9, 1960 (1960-11-09) (age 63)
NationalityAmerican
Alma materBrown University
Yale University
OccupationJournalist
Known forOn Being
Awards
Websitewww.onbeing.org

Career edit

Study and work abroad edit

After graduating from Brown in 1983, Tippett was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study at University of Bonn in West Germany.[4] There she worked in The New York Times bureau in Bonn.[5] She wrote about her experiences in Rostock in "They Just Say 'Over There'" published by Die Zeit.[6] In 1984, she became a stringer for The New York Times in divided Berlin, where she established herself as a freelance foreign correspondent. She reported and wrote for The Times, Newsweek, the BBC, the International Herald Tribune, and Die Zeit.[7]

In 1986, Tippett became a special political assistant to the senior United States diplomat in West Berlin, John C. Kornblum.[citation needed] The next year she became chief aide in Berlin to the U.S. ambassador to West Germany, Richard Burt. She has written that moral questions arising from that experience of seeing "high power, up close" eventually led to the spiritual, philosophical, and theological curiosities that have defined her work since.[8]

Radio and non-profit media edit

Tippett received a master of divinity from Yale University in 1994.[7] While conducting a global oral-history project for the Collegeville Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research at St. John's Abbey of Collegeville, Minnesota, she developed the idea for her radio show.[9]

Tippett proposed a show about religion to Minnesota Public Radio in the late 1990s. The radio program became a monthly series in 2001 and a weekly national program distributed by American Public Media in 2003. In 2013, Tippett left American Public Media to co-found the non-profit production company, Krista Tippett Public Productions, which she described as "a social enterprise with a radio show at its heart."[4][10] Tippett is also the co-creator and convener of the Civil Conversations Project, which she has described as "an emergent approach to healing our fractured civic spaces."[11]

Interview style edit

"The Tippett style," as described by the New York Times, "represents a fusion of all her parts—the child of small-town church comfortable in the pews; the product of Yale Divinity School able to parse text in Greek and theology in German; and, perhaps most of all, the diplomat seeking to resolve social divisions."[12]

Awards edit

 
Host Krista Tippett and producers Kate Moos, Mitch Hanley, Colleen Scheck, and Trent Gilliss accept their Peabody Award for "The Ecstatic Faith of Rumi" at the 67th Annual Peabody Awards in 2008.

In July 2014, Tippett was awarded the 2013 National Humanities Medal at the White House for "thoughtfully delving into the mysteries of human existence." She received a George Foster Peabody Award in 2008, for "The Ecstatic Faith of Rumi,"and three Webby awards for excellence in electronic media.[13] Her book, Einstein's God (2010), was a New York Times bestseller.[10]

Personal life edit

Tippett grew up in Shawnee, Oklahoma.[14] She studied history at Brown University, and spent a year in Bonn, West Germany in 1983 on a Fulbright scholarship.[15] She has two children and is divorced.[16]

Quotations edit

  • "Anger is often what pain looks like when it shows itself in public."[17]
  • "I can disagree with your opinion, it turns out," she says, "but I can't disagree with your experience."[17]

Works edit

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Brussat, Frederic and Maryann. "Book Review". Spirituality and Practice. Retrieved February 4, 2015.
  2. ^ "The Fall of the Wall, JFK's Assassination, and Two Birthdays". On Being. Archived from the original on February 5, 2015. Retrieved February 4, 2015.
  3. ^ White House Office of the Press Secretary (July 22, 2014). "President Obama to Award 2013 National Medal of Arts and National Humanities Medal". whitehouse.gov. Retrieved December 2, 2014 – via National Archives.
  4. ^ a b Thomas, Dylan (August 11, 2014). "On Being More Than Just a Radio Show". The Southwest Journal. Archived from the original on January 6, 2015. Retrieved February 3, 2015.
  5. ^ Porecca, David (December 13, 1985). "New York Times Stringer Reflects on Life in the East" (PDF). The Berlin Observer. Retrieved February 3, 2015.
  6. ^ Die Ziet (October 12, 1984). "Alle reden bloß von "drüben"". Retrieved December 2, 2014.
  7. ^ a b "About On Being". On Being. Retrieved February 3, 2015.
  8. ^ Horn, Vincent. "Carving Out a Life of Meaning". Buddhist Geeks. Archived from the original on February 3, 2015. Retrieved December 3, 2014.
  9. ^ Miller, Kay (November 2, 2002). "Radio for the Soul". The Star Tribune. p. B5.
  10. ^ a b Mook, Ben (September 8, 2014). "Naysayers be Damned, Public Radio's On Being Thrives as 'Social Enterprise'". The Current. Retrieved December 3, 2014.
  11. ^ Zolkover, Adam (July 3, 2014). "The Civil Conversations Project". Retrieved December 3, 2014.
  12. ^ Freedman, Samuel, G. (May 28, 2010). "Radio Program about Faith Defies the Skeptics". The New York Times. Retrieved December 2, 2014.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. ^ "2008 Honoree: Speaking of Faith". Webby Awards. 2008. Retrieved February 2, 2015.
  14. ^ Porecca, David (December 13, 1985). "New York Times Stringer Reflects on Life in the East" (PDF). The Berlin Observer. Retrieved February 3, 2015.
  15. ^ Tippett, Krista (2007). Speaking of Faith: Why Religion Matters--and How to Talk about It. Penguin. pp. 26–27. ISBN 978-0143113188.
  16. ^ "Krista Tippett". WYSU. Archived from the original on March 7, 2021. Retrieved February 3, 2015.
  17. ^ a b Girdharadas, Anand (April 25, 2016). "Healing a Nation After a Season of Vitriol". New York Times. Retrieved May 11, 2016.

Further reading edit

Additional works edit

External links edit