248: Unabridged Interview: Curt Thompson

No Small Endeavor with Lee C. Camp

Lee Camp

Philosophy, Society & Culture, Religion & Spirituality

4.8 • 555 Ratings

🗓️ 13 February 2026

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This is our unabridged interview with Curt Thompson. What if the deepest work of love isn’t finding the right person, but becoming someone who can truly be known? Psychiatrist and author Dr. Curt Thompson joins Lee C. Camp for a Valentine’s Day conversation about desire, shame, and suffering, and how each shapes our capacity for authentic relationships. Drawing from neuroscience, theology, and lived experience, Dr. Curt Thompson invites us to consider not just what we want, but who we are becoming as we pursue it. This episode explores how being seen, staying present, and walking together through pain can open the way to healing, beauty, and human flourishing. Key Ideas: Desire Shapes Us Our longings are not just about what we want, but about the kind of people we become in the pursuit of those wants. Learn to Be Seen The human need to be known and soothed never disappears, and our healing begins when we risk letting others see the parts we try hardest to hide. Name Shame Honestly Shame thrives in secrecy, but loses its power when the truth of our lives is spoken and met with presence rather than abandonment. Heal in Community Transformation happens when others see the worst of us, and remain, helping us reconnect to ourselves and one another. Suffering with Meaning Pain does not have the final word. When shared and honored, suffering can become a crucible that forms wisdom, compassion, and courage. ⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Show Notes, Resources and Transcript⁠⁠ for abridged episode with Curt Thompson⁠ Thank you to our sponsors: Boll and Branch: Get 20% off plus free shipping by visiting ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠BollAndBranch.com/NSE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join NSE+⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ — our subscriber-only community — for ad-free listening, member-only bonus content, and early access to live show tickets. Your membership helps make No Small Endeavor sustainable. No Small Endeavor: An award-winning podcast that asks what it means to live a good life. Through conversations with leading thinkers across theology, philosophy, psychology, politics, and the social sciences, we explore human flourishing, meaning and purpose, faith and culture, science and religion, virtue and character, community, and the practices that help shape a good life grounded in truth, beauty, and goodness. Follow ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@nosmallendeavor⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Host Lee C. Camp: Lee has worked as a professor of theology & ethics for more than 25 years, teaching and writing on topics of faith & politics, inter-religious dialog, and human flourishing at the intersection of theology, moral philosophy, and social sciences. Follow ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@leeccamp ⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello friends, Lacey Camp here. You're listening to No Small Endeavor. This is our unabridged
0:06.8	interview with Dr. Kurt Thompson. Kurt now I've got to be friends over the years. He's been on No Small
0:13.9	Endeavor a couple of times. This is, I guess, the second full interview we've done with Kurt and as well.
0:19.6	Some years ago, he was on one of our live shows at the Ryman Auditorium that night, which was a lovely night. There, downtown Nashville, Kurt's a great guy. He's a psychiatrist, and as a psychiatrist and a clinical practitioner, he is working at the intersection of spiritual formation and interpersonal neurobiology.
0:41.7	What I understand of interpersonal neurobiology is basically, I think I would sum it up from what I
0:46.9	understand, is we get shaped in all sorts of ways. Our brain structures themselves get shaped by
0:53.6	relationships, by the people around us,
0:55.7	by the exchanges we have with people around us, the stories we tell, and the stories other
0:59.7	people tell us, our environment, and that we are not just these lone monistic things wandering
1:06.6	around in the universe all by our lonesome, but that even the very structures within us are formed
1:12.8	by the people around us. It's a fascinating claim and lots of interesting research being done
1:18.4	on all of that. And so I always find these conversations with Kurt, especially interesting.
1:24.1	Hope you enjoy it and hope you find it helpful. Peace to you.
1:29.1	Are you curious about the hidden side of everything? Then I have a podcast for you. I'm
1:35.0	Stephen Dubner, host of Freakonomics Radio. Each week we hear from some of the most fascinating
1:40.0	scholars and thinkers as we tackle big topics like how whales became the face of environmental
1:46.1	activism, how to succeed at failing, and whether public transportation should be free.
1:51.8	Go ahead. Listen to Freakonomics Radio wherever you get your podcasts.
1:58.7	Dr. Kurt Thompson, welcome back.
2:03.0	Lee Camp, my man.
2:05.6	Oh, my gracious.
2:06.9	It's so good to see you.
	...

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