#015 Sinners and Saint Teresa of Ávila with Dr. Christia Mercer

Photography By Shot By Rod

Photography By Shot By Rod

To reach something good it is very useful to have gone astray, and thus acquire experience.
— St Teresa of Avila

What can a Catholic Saint teach us about contemplation and grace? What is the correlation between illiteracy and crime? Will women philosophers ever get the credit they deserve? All this and more in today's episode with Dr. Christia Mercer of Columbia University and the work of St Teresa of Avila. #thehappierhour

What is a story you have read that you feel deeply connected to, and what has it taught you about your own life?
— QUESTION OF THE EPISODE

ABOUT CHRISTIA MERCER:

Christia Mercer is the Gustave M. Berne Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University, general editor of Oxford Philosophical Concepts, and co-editor of Oxford New Histories of Philosophy, a book series devoted to making philosophy more inclusive. Professor Mercer has published widely in the history of philosophy. Professor Mercer has become increasingly involved in activist causes with special interest in rethinking criminal justice and access to higher education. She was the first senior professor to teach in prison as part of Columbia University’s Justice-in-Education Initiative and publishes regularly on the need to make higher education more widely available and on justice reform. Among other awards, she is the recipient of Guggenheim, ACLS and Humboldt Fellowships. She has been honored with Columbia’s two most prestigious teaching awards, the 2008 Columbia College Great Teacher Award, and the 2012 Mark van Doren Award, which annually recognizes a professor for “commitment to undergraduate instruction, as well as for humanity, devotion to truth and inspiring leadership.”