PBS高端访谈:"总统的献身"的股份圣经启发了奥巴马

 　　HARI SREENIVASAN: Finally tonight: the spiritual nourishing of the president. That's the focus of the new book by the man TIME magazine dubbed¹ the pastor²-in-chief.

　　Joshua DuBois, the former head of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships,has penned The President's Devotional: The Daily Readings That Inspired President Obama.

　　Gwen Ifill spoke³ with DuBois recently, and has our book conversation.

　　GWEN IFILL: Joshua DuBois, you write in this book that God still surprises.

　　JOSHUA DUBOIS, "The President's Devotional: The Daily Readings That Inspired President Obama": That's right.

　　GWEN IFILL: So, how much of a surprise was it that you ended up at the White House writing devotionals for the president?

　　JOSHUA DUBOIS: It was a huge surprise.I know I wasI ever never looking for this. I was a political staffer on his 2008 percent. I had worked for then Senator Obama for a couple years by that time. And one day, I just got a sense in my spirit. He has all sorts of supports around him. He has policy advisers⁴ and political support and even Secret Service protection, but who's looking after his soul?

　　And so I decided⁵ to take a big risk and sent him an e-mail to his BlackBerry. I didn't know if I was going to get fired when I did that. But I shot him a note about the 23rd Psalm⁶ and how to find restoration and rest in the middle of trouble.

　　And I was waiting for a response, and in a few minutes, he wrote back and said it was exactly what he needed. So, it's just -- I just kind of jumped out there.

　　GWEN IFILL: And there are 365 devotionals in this book, one for every day of the year.One of the things you write about at some point is how the president would call you and say, "I need a piece of Scripture⁷ for such and such."

　　JOSHUA DUBOIS: That's right.

　　GWEN IFILL: And you would have to just come up with one.

　　JOSHUA DUBOIS: That's right.

　　Yes, the first time that happened, I was caught off guard a bit. He was giving a speech on the genocide in Darfur, and I got a number -- a call from a number I didn't recognize and had to come up with some Scripture. But, over time, I learned to be ready, both in the very positive moments, like the Scripture that he used in his 2008 DNC speech, but also some really trying times as well, like the Scripturehe uses to comfort a nation after a tragedy.So, it was really great working with him on those things.

　　GWEN IFILL: You know, the president doesn't talk that much about his faith, at least not in front of public audiences. And I wonder if that's a balance that you had to strike.

　　JOSHUA DUBOIS: Yes.

　　Well, you know, I would rather have a leader that lives a sermon, instead of preaches one. And I really think he seeks to live out his faith in a lot of different ways, in the way that he's a father and ahusband and the quiet way he seeks to maintain his integrity and character.

　　But he also cultivates his faith behind the scenes, through reading these devotionals and praying withpastors in the Oval Office. He does a prayer call every year on his birthday, where some pastors⁸ pray over him for the year ahead. And he does goes to church every now and then at St. John's Episcopal, so...

　　GWEN IFILL: But, every now and then, you have to be -- you had to be in the position, especially whenyou worked in the White House, of being there for the bad news, too, like when -- even during the campaign, when his pastor, Reverend Wright, it emerged he had said some very harsh things from his pulpit in Chicago, and they had to -- he had to come up with some sort of a solution or at least some sort ofway to speak to that.

　　JOSHUA DUBOIS: Yes.

　　And I talk about this in the book. It was a very, very difficult moment. But it was also a time where I was able to see the president's integrity. I thought he addressed some really tough issues of race head on in his speech in Philadelphia, and tried to get the country to think about some things we actually haven't talked about in a full way in a very long time.

　　So it was a tough issue. I sort of walk through in the book what that was like. But we eventually madeit to the other side.

　　GWEN IFILL: On the other hand, the White House is also a political environment.

　　JOSHUA DUBOIS: Yes.

　　GWEN IFILL: And you would run head up against some political imperatives⁹, for instance, the conscience clause in the Affordable¹⁰ Care Act.You felt very strongly that churches ought to not have to pay intoa system that they didn't believe in.

　　JOSHUA DUBOIS: Yes.

　　GWEN IFILL: But you lost that fight.

　　JOSHUA DUBOIS: I did, but, you know, the illuminating¹¹ thing about that whole issue -- and it's something I walk through in an essay in the book -- wasn't the policy disagreement.

　　Yes, I had a disagreement with some colleagues about policy. But I initially¹² really approached the relational aspect of that issue in a wrongheaded way. I started demonizing my opponents and questioning their motives¹³. And what I walk through in the book, in The President's Devotional, is how I began to unpack¹⁴ that and realize that people can have sincere disagreements with me, but still be good people, people that God loves, and that I need to figure out a way to love them as well.

　　GWEN IFILL: Even when ultimately the person you disagree with is the president?

　　JOSHUA DUBOIS: Well, and I'm not sure I disagreed with him.I think there was a lot of complexity¹⁵ to the various solutions that were out there. And I actually think the White House ended up in the right place, balancing the rights of women with the rights of religious organizations. But, if there was somedisagreement, I know that it's not on me to question others' motives. And that's not the place I was in at first.

　　GWEN IFILL: Tell us the story about what happened when you went to Newtown, Connecticut, with the president, because that was certainly a stressful time, where one would think you would have to rely on your faith to get through it, looking into the faces of those parents.

　　JOSHUA DUBOIS: It was absolutely devastating¹⁶.

　　You know, I got the call on Saturday that the president wanted me to go with him to Newtown to visit with those families after that horrible day the Friday before. And I was just in these classrooms with hundreds of people, mothers and fathers and little brothers and sisters, who just a few days before had sent their little ones off to first grade or second grade, and expected them to come home, and they never did.

　　And to see the president give each individual full measure of support and care, and have to look fathers in the eyes who were kind of holding up the picture of their daughter or their son, or have to talkto little and brothers and sisters who would never see their big brother or sister again was devastating. But it was also a moment where I really saw the president become a pastor in some ways.

　　GWEN IFILL: This is one of these situations where we know in life you're not supposed to mix religionand politics, and yet you were in the position where you kind of had to do both.

　　JOSHUA DUBOIS: Yes. I could not help in those moments just going in those rooms and just praying overthose folks and speaking words of the Scripture of my faith in those spaces. And that's not to impose it on anyone else, but that's what I relied on in those moments.

　　GWEN IFILL: How did you get permission to publish this? These are private correspondence. Those moments in that Newtown high school were private.

　　JOSHUA DUBOIS: Yes. Well, I had been sending them to the president for years. I have thousands of them for over six years now every day.

　　And I just -- I talked with him. And he agreed that if these had been useful to him in starting his day on the right point and learning how to love God better and begin each day with joy, then maybe they would be useful to other folks. And so he had no problem with it at all.

　　GWEN IFILL: Well, it's not all biblical. You invoke¹⁷ Johnny Cash and Nina Simone.

　　(LAUGHTER)

　　JOSHUA DUBOIS: That's right.

　　GWEN IFILL: You name it. But I would like to end by having you read just this one interesting passage.

　　JOSHUA DUBOIS: Sure. Yes, this is from April 23, and it's called "Outward.""A prayer for perspective.Dear God, let me lift my head off my own chest and focus on the other, my family, my loved ones, my friends, my neighbors, my enemies, those loosely connected to me halfway¹⁸ across the world. These eyes ofmine are so frequently focused inward. Dear lord, today, turn them out andgive me vision to see the needs of others other than my own. Amen."

　　GWEN IFILL: Amen. Joshua DuBois, author of The President's Devotional, thank you so much.

　　JOSHUA DUBOIS: Thank you. It's a pleasure. Thank you.

1 dubbed   

v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

• Mathematics was once dubbed the handmaiden of the sciences. 数学曾一度被视为各门科学的基础。
• Is the movie dubbed or does it have subtitles? 这部电影是配音的还是打字幕的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 pastor   

n.牧师，牧人

参考例句：

• He was the son of a poor pastor.他是一个穷牧师的儿子。
• We have no pastor at present:the church is run by five deacons.我们目前没有牧师：教会的事是由五位执事管理的。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 advisers   

顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• a member of the President's favoured circle of advisers 总统宠爱的顾问班子中的一员
• She withdrew to confer with her advisers before announcing a decision. 她先去请教顾问然后再宣布决定。

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

6 psalm   

n.赞美诗，圣诗

参考例句：

• The clergyman began droning the psalm.牧师开始以单调而低沈的语调吟诵赞美诗。
• The minister droned out the psalm.牧师喃喃地念赞美诗。

7 scripture   

n.经文，圣书，手稿；Scripture:(常用复数)《圣经》，《圣经》中的一段

参考例句：

• The scripture states that God did not want us to be alone.圣经指出上帝并不是想让我们独身一人生活。
• They invoked Hindu scripture to justify their position.他们援引印度教的经文为他们的立场辩护。

8 pastors   

n.（基督教的）牧师( pastor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Do we show respect to our pastors, missionaries, Sunday school teachers? 我们有没有尊敬牧师、宣教士，以及主日学的老师？ 来自互联网
• Should pastors or elders be paid, or serve as a volunteer? 牧师或长老需要付给酬劳，还是志愿的事奉呢？ 来自互联网

9 imperatives   

n.必要的事( imperative的名词复数 )；祈使语气；必须履行的责任

参考例句：

• Nixon, however, had other imperatives. 但尼克松另有需要。 来自辞典例句
• There could be some cultural imperatives in there somewhere! 在公共传播那里，在某些方面，可能有更迫切的文化需要！ 来自互联网

10 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

11 illuminating   

a.富于启发性的，有助阐明的

参考例句：

• We didn't find the examples he used particularly illuminating. 我们觉得他采用的那些例证启发性不是特别大。
• I found his talk most illuminating. 我觉得他的话很有启发性。

12 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

13 motives   

n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• to impeach sb's motives 怀疑某人的动机
• His motives are unclear. 他的用意不明。

14 unpack   

vt.打开包裹（或行李），卸货

参考例句：

• I must unpack before dinner.我得在饭前把行李打开。
• She said she would unpack the items later.她说以后再把箱子里的东西拿出来。

15 complexity   

n.复杂(性)，复杂的事物

参考例句：

• Only now did he understand the full complexity of the problem.直到现在他才明白这一问题的全部复杂性。
• The complexity of the road map puzzled me.错综复杂的公路图把我搞糊涂了。

16 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

17 invoke   

v.求助于(神、法律)；恳求，乞求

参考例句：

• Let us invoke the blessings of peace.让我们祈求和平之福。
• I hope I'll never have to invoke this clause and lodge a claim with you.我希望我永远不会使用这个条款向你们索赔。

18 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。