Praying While Dying of Pancreatic Cancer

In conversation with the world-renowned economist Russ Roberts, the former U.S. senator Ben Sasse broaches everything from how to improve the functioning of Congress to why suffering from a debilitating and likely fatal illness hasn’t led him to be angry with God. The colloquy between Sasse, a devout Lutheran, and Roberts, an Orthodox Jew, about religion and suffering is both frank and poignant. Also of particular interest is the perspective they bring to higher education, which is at the root of so many of the problems covered in Mosaic—Sasse has served as president of Midland Lutheran College and the University of Florida, while Roberts is currently president of Shalem College in Jerusalem. (Video, 80 minutes. Audio and transcript can be found at the link below and on podcast platforms.)