{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Episode 98 \u2013 The Deep Places with Ross Douthat","description":"New York Times columnist Ross Douthat joins Josh Lewis to talk about his recent memoir The Deep Places.  His book tells of his recent journey in battling chronic Lyme disease and his reflections on illness, discovery, and hope.   Ross\u2019 story begins prior to the illness in which he was attempting to build the life he\u2019d always dreamed of.  \u201cAt that moment in my life I only really believed in upside\u2026I wrote my share of words on the problem of evil\u2026usually making the case that much of American Christianity offers people the wrong answers, encouraging them to believe that actually bad things shouldn\u2019t happen if you\u2019re good, that the American Dream should be yours if you just stay in God\u2019s good graces and follow the paths that He\u2019s marked out.\u201d   \u201cI had a similar critique of the secular meritocracy in which I had been educated: that because it asked its climbers to work so hard and jump so high, it encouraged an idea that we had somehow earned all our privileges, that our SAT scores and extracurricular accomplishments meant that we genuinely deserved to rule.\u201d   \u201cBut despite these critiques, there was still a sense in which I believed exactly these ideas myself\u2014or at least for myself\u2014as I passed through college into adulthood, achieved the career as a writer that I wanted, won the wife I wanted, the job I wanted, the kids I wanted, and now the house and country life I wanted, too.\u201d   Yet life had other plans for Ross as he\u2019s spent the past six years battling an invisible enemy that\u2019s robbed much of the life he\u2019d built.  His book offers profound insights into what we can make of our sufferings and how to keep hope in hopeless situations.   About Ross Douthat Ross Douthat joined The New York Times as an opinion columnist in April 2009.  His column appears every Tuesday and Sunday.  Previously, he was a senior editor at The Atlantic and a blogger on its website.  He is also a nonresident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he studies American politics, culture, religion, and family life.   A prolific writer, Ross has written for The Atlantic and National Review and has been published widely in the popular press.  In addition to The Deep Places, he is also the author of five other books: \u201cThe Decadent Society: How We Became the Victims of Our Own Success\u201d; \u201cTo Change the Church: Pope Francis and the Future of Catholicism\u201d; \u201cBad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics\u201d; \u201cGrand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream\u201d, which he coauthored with Reihan Salam; and \u201cPrivilege: Harvard and the Education of the Ruling Class\u201d.   Ross has a BA in history from Harvard University.  He lives with his wife and four children in New Haven.  You can follow Ross on Twitter @DouthatNYT   ","author_name":"Saving Elephants | Millennials defending & expressing conservative values","author_url":"https:\/\/www.savingelephantsblog.com\/","html":"