The Commonweal Podcast

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The Commonweal Podcast Podcast

Conversations at the intersection of politics, religion, and culture: Commonweal Magazine editor Dominic Preziosi hosts The Commonweal Podcast, a regular compendium of in-depth interviews, discussions, and profiles presented by Commonweal’s editors and contributors.

12 SEPT

Ep. 137 - Epic in the Everyday

Garth Greenwell’s latest novel, Small Rain, is set in a midwestern ICU during the early days of the pandemic, as its unnamed narrator, a writer, experiences a health crisis and lies confined to his bed in excruciating pain. In long pauses between visits with nurses and doctors, amid the weird dilations of ‘hospital time,’ the narrator muses on his suffering and disappointments, but also the nature of art and the ‘adventure’ of domestic life. On this episode, Greenwell joins Commonweal contributor Tony Domestico to talk about the novel. For further reading: A review of Garth Greenwell’s Cleanness Another interview with Garth Greenwell

32 min
29 AUG

Ep. 136 - Are Catholic Colleges Unique?

As the fall semester begins, colleges and universities are bracing for fresh controversies over free speech, affordability, and the disruptive potential of artificial intelligence. On this episode, Tania Tetlow, the first layperson and first woman to serve as the president of Fordham University, joins editor Dominic Preziosi to weigh in on what Catholic colleges and universities can do differently. If entering students increasingly hail from diverse religious backgrounds—or sometimes no faith background at all—that’s an opportunity for “mission,” pursued with openness, inclusivity, and a willingness to be proven wrong. For further reading: Nancy Dallavalle on whether Catholic colleges have a future Susan Bigelow Reynolds on public scholarship An interview with former UC Chancellor Nicholas Dirks

32 min
8 AUG

Ep. 135 - When A Church Dies

Religious disaffiliation, the drifting away of Americans from their churches, isn’t a new story. But it’s certainly a true one. And yet it’s also not the whole story, as veteran New Yorker journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner Eliza Griswold argues in her new book, Circle of Hope: A Reckoning with Love, Power, and Justice in an American Church. Griswold’s is a work of ‘immersion journalism,’ reported by embedding for four years with a progressive evangelical community in Philadelphia. She stuck with the story even as heated conflicts over race, gender, and power threatened the church’s survival. On this episode, Griswold speaks about the book and the future of American Christianity, with Commonweal associate editor Griffin Oleynick. For further reading: Brett Hoover on young Catholics’ waning religiosity Kate Lucky on the ‘ex-vangelicals’ Julia Marley on the ‘Jesus Freaks’

33 min
25 JUL

Ep. 134 - Whose Paris?

The 2024 Paris Olympics have brought massive investment to the City of Light, including the construction of new housing, sports facilities, and public transportation. Yet we shouldn’t let that obscure a more sinister phenomenon: gentrification, which has rapidly transformed many of the city’s former immigrant and working-class strongholds into expensive quarters for the newly affluent. On this episode, Commonweal senior editor Matt Boudway speaks with journalist Cole Stangler, author of Paris Is Not Dead: Surviving Hypergentrification in the City of Light. Stangler, who lives in France, explains Paris’s historical transformation, as well as more recent developments in French politics. For further reading: Cole Stangler’s writing for Commonweal Fran Quigley on social housing Max Holleran on gentrification and the YIMBYs

25 min
11 JUL

Ep. 133 - ‘Live from Death Row’

Alim Braxton, a convicted murderer who admits his guilt, has been incarcerated in North Carolina prison for more than thirty years, spending seven years in solitary confinement and many more on death row. He was once hopeless, but after his conversion to Islam many years ago, he began working for redemption by advocating for prison reform and the exoneration of innocent inmates. Braxton is also a rapper, and just released his first album, along with a book, Rap and Redemption on Death Row, co-written with UNC Chapel Hill musicologist Mark Katz. On this special episode, Commonweal’s Claudia Avila Cosnahan speaks with both Braxton and Katz about Braxton’s spiritual and artistic journey. For further reading: Dominic Preziosi on Biden’s broken death penalty promise David Bentley Hart on Christians and capital punishment Burke Nixon on the Texas prison system

34 min
27 JUN

Ep. 132 - The Glory of ‘Too Much’

Egalitarianism remains one of the core tenets of most liberals and progressives. But does the idea that everyone ought to be equal in the sphere of political economy also hold true for the realm of culture? Absolutely not, argues Becca Rothfeld, nonfiction book critic at the Washington Post and author of the debut collection All Things Are Too Small: Essays in Praise of Excess. The modern insistence that all cultural objects are “equal” is actually a symptom of our failure to create a society in which genuine equality is present. That, Rothfeld insists, is why we need more of everything—more personhood, more sincerity, more critical judgment, and even more chaos. It’s the only way to overcome the ascendance of anodyne minimalism that has stifled contemporary culture. On this episode, Rothfeld joins Commonweal senior editor Matthew Boudway to discuss her book, medieval mysticism, and more. For further reading: Costica Bradatan on the theology of Simone Weil Thomas Merton on whether mysticism is normal Matthew Boudway on the agony of Gerard Manley Hopkins

28 min
13 JUN

Ep. 131 - How to Talk About Having Kids

In the past, having kids was simply taken for granted. It was just a thing a person did, like going to college or getting a job. But now, in the face of rising costs and environmental degradation, more and more millennials and zoomers are questioning whether they should become parents at all. On this episode, Commonweal editor Dominic Preziosi is joined by Rachel Wiseman and Anastasia Berg, editors at The Point and co-authors of What Are Children For? On Ambivalence and Choice. They explain (and lament) how having kids has become so highly politicized in our culture, and offer suggestions for how to make better decisions about becoming a parent. For further reading: Jennifer Banks on reckoning with childbirth Kate Lucky reads to her new baby A symposium on anti-natalism and posthumanism

28 min
30 MAY

Ep. 130 - What Plants Know (And Why We Should Care)

Can trees ‘hear’? Can flowers ‘see’? Are shrubs ‘intelligent’? A decade ago, these questions might have seemed absurd. But an emerging scientific consensus posits that plants are much more like animals than previously thought. On this episode, managing editor Isa Simon speaks with Zoë Schlanger, a staff writer and science reporter at The Atlantic and author of The Light Eaters. Schlanger shows how the study of plants—and the wonder their behaviors inspire—can offer a welcome alternative to the despair induced by climate change. For further reading: Vincent Miller on plant ‘communities’ in old growth forests David Pinault on environmental activism in Cambodia Isa Simon on Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass

31 min

22/09/2018

Trailer: We're Making a Podcast

Commonweal editors Dominic Preziosi, Matthew Sitman, and Griffin Oleynick speak with Executive Producer Meaghan Ritchey about this new project - why we're doing it, and what we hope the experience will be for you, our listeners.

22/09/2018

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3 min

Conversations at the intersection of politics, religion, and culture: Commonweal Magazine editor Dominic Preziosi hosts The Commonweal Podcast, a regular compendium of in-depth interviews, discussions, and profiles presented by Commonweal’s editors and contributors.

Creator

Commonweal Magazine
Years Active

2018 - 2024
Episodes

159
Rating

Clean
Copyright

© Commonweal Magazine
Show Website

The Commonweal Podcast