This is Speaking of Fates Unheard Cuts. I'm Krista Tippett. You're listening to my

unedited conversation with Jennifer Michael Hecht, author of Doubt a History.

I spoke with her in November 2003, from the studios of American Public Media in St. Paul,

Minnesota. She was in New York City. This interview is included in our program, A History of Doubt,

which was originally broadcast in December 2003 and updated in January 2009. Download the

MP3 of that produced show at speakingoffaith.org. So this program inspired by your book. We

decided to do this program on doubt. And one of the things that we do differently in terms of

method is I don't invite people to speak for traditions or for God or for the Bible or

for all Catholics or Jews or whatever. I do try to say we walk this line of the intersection

between human, between theology and human experience. So I try to encourage people to talk

in the first person about, you know, not only we do talk about big ideas but also how these

big ideas connect with your life. So I may, I may push you on that a little bit or ask you

sometimes to make those connections if you would. So you don't need to, I'll tell you when we,

when we want to go there. Okay, Mitch would like to hear you speaking and no more of me. So

but let's not tell me what you had for lunch. All right, let's see what should I have lunch. I had,

I had a sandwich which I had to run downstairs to the deli downstairs to get a new loaf of bread

in order to eat the sandwich. And let's see, what else can I tell you about the sandwiches?

A pretty simple sandwich but it's satisfying. All right, he says he's got enough. All right,

now we can talk substance. Well, you know, I do, I thought I could, I could give you your own quiz

but I won't do that. But I did want to ask you, you know, how, how did you get into this project,

this history of doubt? Yeah, the, the story I suppose evolves in a lot of different ways,

the clearest way of saying it is that I'm a historian. I got my PhD at Columbia University

...