Jonathan Tepper on Grief, Addiction, Empathy, and Growing Up Missionary

Jonathan Tepper on Grief, Addiction, Empathy, and Growing Up Missionary

From In Conversation… with Frank Schaeffer by Frank Schaeffer

May 22, 2026 · 57 min · Season 6 · Episode 21

About this episode

Jonathan Tepper discusses his memoir and explores themes of grief, addiction, and empathy with Frank Schaeffer.

Jonathan Tepper joins Frank Schaeffer to discuss his memoir Shooting Up: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Addiction. The conversation explores growing up in Madrid during the AIDS crisis, missionary life among heroin addicts, the loss of Jonathan’s younger brother, literature, homeschooling, faith, suffering, and the role empathy plays in shaping human life. Frank and Jonathan also reflect on Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, prayer, grief, and the troubling loss of compassion inside modern American evangeli...

People in this episode

Host: Frank Schaeffer

Guest: Jonathan Tepper

Topics covered

  • grief
  • addiction
  • empathy
  • missionary life
  • literature
  • faith
  • loss

Keywords

  • grief
  • addiction
  • empathy
  • missionary
  • AIDS crisis
  • literature
  • homeschooling
  • faith
  • loss of compassion

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Shooting Up: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Addiction

More episodes of In Conversation… with Frank Schaeffer

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the In Conversation… with Frank Schaeffer podcast page.