With & For / Dr. Pam King

Dr. Pam King

With & For explores the depths of psychological science and spiritual wisdom to offer practical guidance towards spiritual health, wholeness, and a life of thriving. Hosted by developmental psychologist Dr. Pam King.

  • 2 minutes 16 seconds
    With and For Returns for Season 3

    With & For is back with a brand new season exploring spiritual health. 

    What is healthy  spirituality exactly, and how does it help us thrive? How do spiritual practices connect us to others? And what does it mean to have a calling in life?

     We have some incredible guests this season – leading thinkers from across faith, art and psychology – like author activist Parker Palmer, self-compassion pioneer Kristin Neff, developmental scientist Richard Lerner and How God Works host David DeSteno.

    Hosted by development psychologist, ordained minister and professor Dr. Pam King,  With & For bridges psychology and spiritual wisdom to help you thrive.

     Season three launches January 26th. 


    The Thrive Center is an applied research center that exists to catalyze a movement of human thriving, with and for others through spiritual health.

    Dr. Pamela Ebstyne King is the Executive Director of the Thrive Center and the Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at the School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy at Fuller Seminary. Follow her @drpamking.

    About With and For

    • Host: Pam King
    • Senior Director and Producer: Jill Westbrook
    • Operations Manager: Lauren Kim
    • Social Media & Graphic Designer: Wren Juergensen
    • Senior Producer: Clare Wiley
    • Executive Producer: Jakob Lewis
    • Produced by Great Feeling Studios

    Special thanks to the team at Fuller Studio and Fuller Seminary’s School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy. The podcast was made possible through the support from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the host and guests, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.

    12 January 2026, 10:00 am
  • 16 minutes 36 seconds
    What is Thriving? – Season 2 Wrap Up with Dr. Pam King
    • Thriving is a relational journey that involves being deeply connected to others and the community.
    • The importance of a "true north" and discerning what is most sacred to orient one's life.
    • Understanding thriving as accepting a truer story of yourself, others, and the world.
    • Engaging in mindset and behavior changes for flourishing, with self-compassion.
    • Thriving as having resources built up in various domains (personal, family, social) to buffer from crisis.
    • The concept of thriving begins with the love of God and love of neighbor.
    • The alignment of purpose and practice is central to thriving, regardless of changes over time.
    • Recognizing ourselves as "God's masterpiece" and finding joy and contentment in that.
    • Thriving as a dynamic, meaningful engagement in purposeful living, adapting to changing contexts.
    • The idea that one can be struggling or even mentally ill and still be thriving is a "both/and" process.
    • Thriving as an internal state and relational reality marked by an open heart and meaningful relationships, even on a stressful day.
    • The journey of thriving involves self-discovery and healing, acknowledging both strengths and weaknesses.
    • Being "habituated to doing good" and demonstrating one's "best self" in relationships.

    Dr. Pam King’s Key Takeaways

    • Thriving is relational and happens when we are deeply connected to other people, whether that be through our intimate relationships or our broader community.
    • Thriving involves telling a truer story about life, that there is both beauty and brokenness.
    • Thriving involves understanding who we are as God's masterpieces, that we all have strengths, and we all can thrive and find life in our weaknesses.
    • Thriving involves discovering and pursuing what gets you up in the morning – your true north, what is most sacred to you.
    • Thriving involves self-discovery and healing, which might mean being softer with ourselves so that we can find internal ease.


    About the Thrive Center

     

    About Dr. Pam King

    Dr. Pam King is Executive Director the Thrive Center and is Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy.  Follow her @drpamking.

     

    About With & For

    • Host: Pam King
    • Senior Director and Producer: Jill Westbrook
    • Operations Manager: Lauren Kim
    • Social Media Graphic Designer: Wren Juergensen

    Special thanks to the team at Fuller Studio and the Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy.

    21 July 2025, 1:00 pm
  • 29 minutes 4 seconds
    The Unexpected Benefits of Play, with Dr. Tina Payne Bryson

    Episode Highlights

    1. "When we laugh, when we are sitting in delight, it expands–It not only keeps us in our window of tolerance, but it expands our window of tolerance."
    2. "We also know that play is just a huge protective factor. It allows people to process their experiences, but also build skills for the future."
    3. "Play is really about doing something for the enjoyment of it, for no other reason, but for the enjoyment."
    4. "The more stress you have, the more play you need."
    5. "To hold multiple emotions that more than one thing was true... gives us tremendous capacity to be resilient and have more mental and cognitive, flexibility as well as emotional flexibility."

     

    Helpful Links and Resources

    Books by Dr. Tina Bryson

    Follow Tina Bryson:

    TinaBryson.com

    Instagram

    X

    The Center for Connection


    About the Thrive Center

     

    About Dr. Pam King

    Dr. Pam King is Executive Director the Thrive Center and is Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy.  Follow her @drpamking.

     

    About With & For

    • Host: Pam King
    • Senior Director and Producer: Jill Westbrook
    • Operations Manager: Lauren Kim
    • Social Media Graphic Designer: Wren Juergensen

    Special thanks to the team at Fuller Studio and the Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy.

    7 July 2025, 1:00 pm
  • 48 minutes 16 seconds
    Self-Actualization and Living Your Potential, with Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman

    How can we grow into our full potential?—living up to what we know is the best version of ourselves, actualizing our goals, and expressing our deepest purpose in a life of impact and love?

    Grounded in cognitive science and psychology, best-selling author, podcaster, educator and researcher Scott Barry Kaufman believes that we need to redefine our understanding of greatness and excellence to include our whole selves—our emotions, dreams, failures, and gifts—all to live a life that is fully human, fully yourself.

    In this conversation with Scott Barry Kaufman, we discuss:

    • Education and formation for the whole person, not just our intellect but our bodies, emotions, and spirituality
    • Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and the journey that leads to self-actualization
    • The difference it makes to see the world through growth rather than our deficiencies
    • What it means to thrive even in the midst of mental illness
    • The horizontal dimensions of transcendence
    • And how to connect and align with your deepest values

    Helpful Links and Resources

    About Scott Barry Kaufman

    Scott Barry Kaufman is a cognitive scientist, author, and humanistic psychologist exploring the depths of human potential. He is the founding director of the Center for Human Potential and a the best-selling author, speaker, and podcaster. He hosts The Psychology Podcast. And he is author and/or editor of numerous books, including his celebrated *Transcend: The New Science of Self-Actualization, Ungifted: Intelligence Redefined*, as well as his latest books, Choose Growth: A Workbook for Transcending Trauma, Fear, and Self-Doubt and Rise Above: Overcome a Victim Mindset, Empower Yourself, and Realize Your Full Potential. If you’re interested in more from Scott, visit scottbarrykaufman.com.


    About the Thrive Center

     

    About Dr. Pam King

    Dr. Pam King is Executive Director the Thrive Center and is Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy.  Follow her @drpamking.

     

    About With & For

    • Host: Pam King
    • Senior Director and Producer: Jill Westbrook
    • Operations Manager: Lauren Kim
    • Social Media Graphic Designer: Wren Juergensen

    Special thanks to the team at Fuller Studio and the Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy.

    23 June 2025, 1:00 pm
  • 1 hour 11 minutes
    The Gift of Mutual Relationships, with Dr. Jessica ChenFeng

    Meaningful relationships are mutual. Balanced with give and take, equal influence between partners, and a vibrant dance of loving responsiveness and caring attention.

    Marriage and Family Therapist and professor Dr. Jessica ChenFeng is calling us toward a more justice-oriented approach to relationships and to mental health and well-being, She invites us to open-hearted and empathic perspective taking, and seeking an integrated wholeness that incorporates all of who we are—highlighting the gift of mutuality in our most intimate relationships in marriage and family life.

    In this conversation with Jessica ChenFeng, we discuss:

    • The importance of integrated and whole experience of ourselves—allowing racial, gender, and cultural identities to weave together in our sense of vocation and contribution to the world
    • The importance of mutuality in relationships—but particularly in marriage and family systems.
    • The ways emotional power flows in a relationship and impacts marriage and family dynamics
    • The difference between partners focusing on meeting their individual needs and caring for the health of an intimate relationship
    • And she offers a guided practical exercise to help us lovingly notice and accept our inner experience with a heart open to justice, vulnerability, and the reminder that we are beloved in the eyes of God.

    Helpful Links and Resources

    About Jessica ChenFeng

    Dr. Jessica ChenFeng is Associate Professor at the School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy at Fuller Seminary, and is also Director of the Asian American Well-being Collaboratory at Fuller’s Asian American Center. Prior to her time at Fuller she was a professor at Loma Linda University and California State University, Northridge.

    Jessica is known for her clinical expertise and scholarship integrating socio-contextual lenses of race, gender, and generation into work with minoritized individuals, families, and communities. In the last few years, her primary clinical focus has been the well-being of physicians, especially through pandemic-related trauma and burnout. She’s co-authored two books, Finding Your Voice as a Beginning Marriage and FamilyTherapist, as well as Asian American Identities, Relationships, and Cultural Legacies: Reflections from Marriage and Family Therapists. She received the 2022 American Family Therapy Academy Early Career Award.


    About the Thrive Center

     

    About Dr. Pam King

    Dr. Pam King is Executive Director the Thrive Center and is Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy.  Follow her @drpamking.

     

    About With & For

    • Host: Pam King
    • Senior Director and Producer: Jill Westbrook
    • Operations Manager: Lauren Kim
    • Social Media Graphic Designer: Wren Juergensen

    Special thanks to the team at Fuller Studio and the Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy.

    9 June 2025, 1:00 pm
  • 1 hour 11 minutes
    How to Restore a Relationship, with Dr. Terry Hargrave

    Romantic relationships are sacred, powerful, and life-giving. But I don’t have to tell you how difficult it is to love and let yourself be loved.

    Marriage and family therapist Dr. Terry Hargrave has been helping couples in crisis restore broken relationships for decades, teaching them how to get unstuck, improve communication, and move beyond destructive coping mechanisms—to find reciprocity, self-affirming confidence, emotional regulation, and a joyful, lasting love.

    In this conversation with Terry Hargrave, we discuss:

    • How to turn around a relationship in crisis and get off the emotional rollercoaster
    • How to build security and trust in order to improve or repair a marriage or long-term relationship
    • Coping mechanisms of blame, shame, control, and escape
    • Practical steps to learn emotional self-regulation
    • What to do when only one partner is working on a relationship
    • The role of the brain and neuroplasticity in relational repair
    • And the spiritual underpinnings of Terry’s approach to restoration therapy

    Helpful Links and Resources

    About Terry Hargrave

    Dr. Terry Hargrave. Until he retired recently, he was the Evelyn and Frank Freed Professor of Marriage and Family Therapy at Fuller Seminary, and a nationally recognized therapist known for his pioneering work with intergenerational families.

    He’s most well known as the founder of Restoration Therapy, which combines advantages of Attachment Theory, Emotional Regulation, and Mindfulness—all in an efficient and organized format that allows both the therapist and client to understand old habits and destructive patterns of behavior and promote change in both individual mental and spiritual health, in order to transform our most intimate relationships.

    Terry has authored or co-authored over 35 professional articles and fifteen books including Restoration Therapy: Understanding and Guiding Healing in Marriage and Family Therapy and Families and Forgiveness: Healing Wounds in the Intergenerational Family.

    In his latest book project, he worked with his wife Sharon, also a licensed marriage and family therapist. It’s called The Mindful Marriage: Create Your Best Relationship Through Understanding and Managing Yourself, and it’s a practical manual co-written with Ron and Nan Deal about how they healed their relationship after almost losing it.

    He’s presented internationally on relationship dynamics, family and marriage restoration, the complexities of intergenerational families, healing and reconciliation, and the process of aging.

    His work has been featured on ABC News, 20/20, Good Morning America, and CBS This Morning as well as several national magazines and newspapers.

    You can learn more about Terry Hargrave and his work—and find books, practical resources, and professional training materials at: restorationtherapytraining.com.


    About the Thrive Center

     

    About Dr. Pam King

    Dr. Pam King is Executive Director the Thrive Center and is Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy.  Follow her @drpamking.

     

    About With & For

    • Host: Pam King
    • Senior Director and Producer: Jill Westbrook
    • Operations Manager: Lauren Kim
    • Social Media Graphic Designer: Wren Juergensen

    Special thanks to the team at Fuller Studio and the Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy.

    26 May 2025, 1:00 pm
  • 1 hour 5 minutes
    Why Morality Matters: Gratitude, Loyalty, and Hope, with Dr. Mona Siddiqui

    You can’t be moral on your own. That’s a radical idea in this time of moral outrage, but thriving in public life requires a sense of mutual accountability, belonging, and hospitality for each other.

    Mona Siddiqui is a professor of religion and society, an author, commentator, and public intellectual, and she suggests that the virtues of loyalty, gratitude, hospitality, and hope can lead us through the common struggle of being human together, living forward into a thriving life of public faith and renewed moral imagination.

    • The connection between faith, spirituality, and living a moral life of responsibility and integrity
    • The difference between cultivating virtuous character and doing justice
    • How to thrive in a pluralistic society marked by constant struggle and conflict
    • The promise of gratitude and hospitality in a life of thriving
    • And how to pursue a hopeful, forward-looking approach to restoration in the wake of harm, loss, pain, and suffering.

    Helpful Links and Resources

    About Mona Siddiqui

    Mona Siddiqui is Professor of Islamic and Interreligious Studies, Assistant Principal for Religion and Society, and Dean international for the Middle-East at the University of Edinburgh.

    Her research areas are primarily in the field of Islamic jurisprudence and ethics and Christian-Muslim relations. She’s the author of many books, including Human Struggle: Christian and Muslim Perspectives,Hospitality in Islam: Welcoming in God’s Name, and My Way: A Muslim Woman’s Journey. A scholar of theology, philosophy, and ethics, she’s conducted international research on Islam and Christianity, gratitude, loyalty and fidelity, hope, reconciliation and inter-faith theological dialogue, and human struggle.

    Mona is well known internationally as a public intellectual and a speaker on issues around religion, ethics and public life and regularly appears as a media commentator on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio Scotland’s Thought for the Day and The Moral Maze.

    A recipient of numerous awards and recognition, she is a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, she gave the prestigious Gifford Lectures in Natural Theology. She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences as an International Honorary Member. And Dr. Siddiqui was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire, which is just steps below the highest Knighting—specifically for her public interfaith efforts.

    To learn more, I’d highly recommend her books, but you can also follow her on X @monasiddiqui7.


    About the Thrive Center

     

    About Dr. Pam King

    Dr. Pam King is Executive Director the Thrive Center and is Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy.  Follow her @drpamking.

     

    About With & For

    • Host: Pam King
    • Senior Director and Producer: Jill Westbrook
    • Operations Manager: Lauren Kim
    • Social Media Graphic Designer: Wren Juergensen

    Special thanks to the team at Fuller Studio and the Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy.

    12 May 2025, 1:00 pm
  • 1 hour 8 minutes
    Live Like You Mean It: Emotional and Cognitive Wellness, with Dr. Mary Helen Immordino-Yang

    Applying neuroscience and psychology to education and formation, pioneering researcher Dr. Mary Helen Immordino-Yang draws connections between emotions, relationships, brains, stories, meaning, and purpose to shed light on how we learn, grow, and thrive.

    Her research on the brain shows how we’re woven together in an intricate and glorious network of life, and when we synthesize the neurological, the psychological, the physical, and the social, we’re able to come to a deeper and more impactful understanding of human development and flourishing.

    In this conversation with Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, we discuss:

    • The value of integrating neuroscience with educational, emotional, and moral development
    • The strange and glorious case of the adolescent brain—how we mature, learn how to think, feel, and exercise our agency, and strive to become wise
    • The emotional and relational nature of education and moral development—expressed in nurturing conversation between caring adults and youth
    • The importance of agency, intentionality, and transcendent thinking in human thriving
    • Neural plasticity and the capacity to change our brains throughout our lifespan
    • And, the big picture of thriving, that brings together our mental life, neurobiology, and other physical processes—with relationships, community, and society at large.

    About Mary Helen Immordino-Yang

    Mary Helen Immordino-Yang is the Fahmy and Donna Attallah Professor of Humanistic Psychology at the University of Southern California. And she’s the founding director of the USC Center for Affective Neuroscience, Development, Learning and Education. Candle is just a lovely image for Mary Helen’s work that brings so much light to the world.

    She’s also a member of the National Academy of Sciences and has received several national awards for her ground breaking research and its implications for education

    With a focus on educational psychology and the role of emotions in brain development and growth, she’s an expert on the neuroscience of learning and creativity. And her approach offers insight on how our brains shape human culture, morality, and relationships.

    She works with adolescents and their teachers (particularly in low socio-economic environments) to understand how we build meaning together—looking at abstract, systems-level, and ethical implications of learning complex information, navigating social situations, and narrating our identities.

    Her research underscores the active role youth play in their own brain and psychosocial development through the narratives they construct, and capacities teachers cultivate to support student belonging and deep learning.

    To learn more about Mary Helen and her work, check out candle.usc.edu.


    About the Thrive Center

     

    About Dr. Pam King

    Dr. Pam King is Executive Director the Thrive Center and is Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy.  Follow her @drpamking.

     

    About With & For

    • Host: Pam King
    • Senior Director and Producer: Jill Westbrook
    • Operations Manager: Lauren Kim
    • Social Media Graphic Designer: Wren Juergensen

    Special thanks to the team at Fuller Studio and the Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy.

    28 April 2025, 1:00 pm
  • 1 hour 6 minutes
    Living Artfully: Creativity, Attention, and Making Art, with Makoto Fujimura

    You are a beautiful masterpiece. But the practice of living artfully comes slowly, often through brokenness, weakness, or failure. Contemporary artist Makoto Fujimura integrates traditional Japanese styles with abstract expressionism and Christian theology, to explore the beauty that can emerge from the ashes pain and suffering.

    Makoto Fujimura—renowned artist, writer, and theologian—joins Dr. Pam King to explore the deep connections between art, faith, and flourishing. Fujimura shares how his Japanese heritage and study of traditional Nihonga painting have shaped his understanding of creativity as a sacred act. Through themes of brokenness, beauty, and slow art, he challenges us to rethink success, embrace imperfection, and create from a place of love and abundance.

    In this conversation with Mako Fujimura, we discuss:

    • What art is, what creativity means, and the human capacity for making beauty
    • How we can live artfully through imperfection, brokenness, trauma, and suffering
    • How the practice of a gift economy can lead to mutual thriving
    • The slow art of pausing, stopping, and beholding that contributes to our mental and spiritual health
    • And the connection between knowledge and love in a life of creativity and artmaking.

    Helpful Links and Resources

    About Makoto Fujimura

    Contemporary artist Makoto Fujimura is a painter, an author, a speaker, and an imaginative maker with a gift for theological integration.

    A blend of fine art and abstract expressionism, Mako describes his work as “slow art,” being influenced directly by the distinctively Japanese Nihonga style, which is patient and methodical, using slow drying pigments from ground minerals.

    Mako’s art has been featured in galleries and museums around the world, as well as notable collections in The Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo, The Huntington Library in California, and the Tikotin Museum in Israel.

    Mako is the author of several books, including Refractions: A Journey of Art, Faith, & Culture, Culture Care: Reconnecting with Beauty for Our Common Life, and Silence and Beauty: Hidden Faith Born of Suffering. His most recent is entitled Art and Faith: A Theology of Making. And his next book will be available soon—titled, Art Is: A Journey into the Light. And with his wife Haejin, he’s producing a new work on Beauty and Justice.

    Follow him on X @iamfujimura, and view his beautiful work at makotofujimura.com.


    About the Thrive Center

     

    About Dr. Pam King

    Dr. Pam King is Executive Director the Thrive Center and is Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy.  Follow her @drpamking.

     

    About With & For

    • Host: Pam King
    • Senior Director and Producer: Jill Westbrook
    • Operations Manager: Lauren Kim
    • Social Media Graphic Designer: Wren Juergensen

    Special thanks to the team at Fuller Studio and the Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy.

    14 April 2025, 1:00 pm
  • 1 hour 35 minutes
    Life and Faith After Spiritual Abuse and Religious Trauma, with Dan Koch

    On our path to spiritual health, we need to keep our eyes open to the ways religion and spirituality have been exploited to coerce, control, and create chaos. Focusing on the intersection of religion and psychology, licensed therapist, researcher, and podcaster Dan Koch is creating a public conversation about spiritual harm and abuse, helping victims learn how to deal with spiritual trauma, and offering insight and guidance toward healthy religious and spiritual experiences.

    From his own personal journey of religious trauma to his extensive research on spiritual abuse, Dan shares insights on how faith communities can both wound and restore. The conversation covers the psychological impact of religious trauma, the complexities of self-diagnosis, and practical strategies for self-knowledge and healing for anyone who has wrestled with faith, struggled with past church experiences, or have lost their religion.

    In this conversation with Dan Koch, we discuss:

    • The psychological study of spiritual abuse and harm, including conceptual definitions and the many factors that come along with them.
    • The symptoms and most recognizable patterns that point to spiritual abuse
    • The impact of abuse and trauma on psychological and spiritual health
    • How to reappraise and challenge harmful core beliefs
    • And how to find healing, joy, and transcendence as we deal with past trauma.

    About Dan Koch

    Dan Koch is a licensed therapist supporting patients working through the trauma of spiritual abuse; and his work and insight in this domain emerges from his empirical research. He’s also host of the You Have Permission podcast. With a background in philosophy and theology, he explores questions of faith, doubt, and spiritual well-being. His research focuses on the psychological effects of religious trauma and how individuals can heal from spiritual abuse.

    Find more of his work at dankochwords.com.

    You can find his podcast, You Have Permission wherever you listen to podcasts and find exclusive episodes at patreon.com/dankoch.

    Helpful Links and Resources


    About the Thrive Center

     

    About Dr. Pam King

    Dr. Pam King is Executive Director the Thrive Center and is Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy.  Follow her @drpamking.

     

    About With & For

    • Host: Pam King
    • Senior Director and Producer: Jill Westbrook
    • Operations Manager: Lauren Kim
    • Social Media Graphic Designer: Wren Juergensen

    Special thanks to the team at Fuller Studio and the Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy.

    31 March 2025, 1:00 pm
  • 1 hour 22 minutes
    Recovering the Sacred in an Age of Anxiety, with Dr. Varun Soni

    We need a recovery of the sacred in our secular world. Because the mental, emotional, and psychological struggles haunting society right now can’t be solved without addressing meaning, purpose, and the longing for connection to something beyond ourselves.

    In other words, spiritual health is an essential part of mental health.

    In this conversation with Varun Soni, we discuss:

    • Finding the sacred in our secular culture.
    • Religious pluralism and what it means to build trust that reaches across religious lines of difference.
    • The transformative power of finding your “truth north”—your North Star—to orient our journeys of faith and spirituality.
    • Varun shares six pillars of flourishing; how to align our actions with our values; and the benefit of listening to the cultural narratives and stories we tell.
    • He reflects on the missing elements of spirituality in our understanding of mental health today, evidenced in his work with teens and emerging adults.
    • He offers us a Hindu meditative practice to provide inner clarity, stability, and calm.
    • And he comments on compassion and a cultivation sacred spiritual practices to counteract the loneliness, anguish, and suffering in our world.

    About Varun Soni

    Varun Soni is the Dean of Religious Life at the University of Southern California (USC), bringing a unique and extensive academic background to his role. He holds numerous degrees, including a B.A. in Religion from Tufts University, an M.T.S. from Harvard Divinity School, and an M.A. in Religious Studies from UC Santa Barbara. He also earned a J.D. from UCLA School of Law, where he completed the Critical Race Studies Program, and a Ph.D. from the University of Cape Town, where his doctoral research focused on religion and popular culture. His global perspective was shaped by immersive experiences, including a semester at a Buddhist monastery in India and field research in South Asia through UCSB. Prior to his work at USC, he taught in the Law and Society Program at UCSB.

    Beyond his academic and administrative roles, Dean Soni is an author, a producer, and an active public intellectual. He is the author of Natural Mystics: The Prophetic Lives of Bob Marley and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and has contributed writings to publications like the Washington Post and Huffington Post. His production credits include the graphic novel Tina’s Mouth: An Existential Comic Diary, which is being adapted into a film. He also hosted a radio show showcasing South Asian music and was involved in organizing the 2009 Concert for Pakistan at the United Nations. Dean Soni is currently an Adjunct Professor at the USC School of Religion and serves on the advisory boards for several interfaith and educational organizations.


    About the Thrive Center

     

    About Dr. Pam King

    Dr. Pam King is Executive Director the Thrive Center and is Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy.  Follow her @drpamking.

     

    About With & For

    • Host: Pam King
    • Senior Director and Producer: Jill Westbrook
    • Operations Manager: Lauren Kim
    • Social Media Graphic Designer: Wren Juergensen

    Special thanks to the team at Fuller Studio and the Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy.

    17 March 2025, 1:00 pm
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