#70 - Who’s Afraid of Dependence? with Leah Libresco Sargeant

“ In our society is a big assumption that what it means to be truly, fully human is to not need other people… So you face a choice: is it fundamentally a bad thing to be a person? Or, is our account of a person as ‘someone who’s independent and autonomous’ fundamentally untrue? And [if so] we have to make room for our genuine neediness in our account of what it means to be human and what we owe to each other.”

Author Leah Libresco Sargeant joined New Kinship to talk about building community, relationships, and need. We discussed practical ways of building Christian community from her second book, Building the Benedict Option: A Guide to Gathering Two or Three Together in His Name. And we dived into her just-released third book, The Dignity of Dependence: A Feminist Manifesto, about an anthropology of need, justice, and care.

Vulnerability, it turns out, isn’t just for women/children/elders/the weak. It’s for all of us.

★ About Our Guest

Leah Libresco Sargeant is the author of The Dignity of Dependence (as well as Arriving at Amen and Building the Benedict Option). She runs the Substack Other Feminisms, which focuses on how to advocate for women as women in a world that makes an idol of autonomy. She lives in Maryland and works in family policy in D.C.

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★ Timestamps

(00:00) #70 - Who’s Afraid of Dependence? with Leah Libresco Sargeant

(05:09) Overview: Building the Benedict Option - generating community

(16:28) Catholic resources for building neighborhood community

(26:50) What we give up, for community

(30:08) Overview: The Dignity of Dependence

(33:27) “Personalism” and recommended sources

(36:12) Equality of men and women ≠ interchangeability

(40:47) Does dependence rely on hierarchy relationships?

(43:19) How we measure labor with market logic (and shouldn’t)

(49:44) Women’s “porous” experience of the world, and our theology of the church as feminine

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★ Send us feedback, questions, comments, and support!

Email: communionandshalom@gmail.com | Instagram: @newkinship | Substack: @newkinship | Patreon: @newkinship

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★ Credits

Creators and Hosts: David Frank, TJ Espinoza, Tyler Parker | Audio Engineer: Carl Swenson, carlswensonmusic.com | Podcast Manager: Elena F. | Graphic Designer: Gavin Popken, gavinpopkenart.com ★

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