Shows / The Commonweal Podcast
The Commonweal 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.
Episodes
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 171 - No War Is Just
According to recent reporting, both the U.S. and Israeli militaries are preparing for renewed missile strikes in Iran in early November, on the heels of…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 170 - The Women Behind Civil Rights
The field of history is under fire these days, and not just from conservatives. Perhaps as a result of a need for unambiguous heroes in dark, unsettled times…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 169 - Love Songs
Readers of Commonweal and beyond will likely recognize Lawrence Joseph, the author of many books of poetry and prose, and whose work has often appeared in the…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 168 - ‘All We Want Is to Live’
By now, many of us are familiar with the realities of the Trump administration’s violent campaign of mass deportations. But how often do we listen to the…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 167 - The Objects We Call Bibles
What happens when we read the Bible? Why do we read it? What does it do to us? There are at least as many answers as there are people. Our interpretations of…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 166 - A Middle Way for AI?
Debates over artificial intelligence tend to vacillate between the poles of blustery optimism and spiraling despair, with AI boosters making stratospheric…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 165 - Is Anti-Vaxx Really Anti-Science?
Vaccines have encountered resistance ever since they were invented in the late eighteenth century. But vaccine skepticism has never been as vocal—or as…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 164 - How to Exit ‘Enemy Mode’ on Immigration
Even as Donald Trump’s approval ratings continue to plummet across the country, voters in the deep-red state of Wyoming, where registered Republicans outnumber…
The Commonweal PodcastThe City and the Cross—Episode 3: Dots on a Map
Following the 1989 parish closures, the infrastructure that had supported Black Catholic leadership in Detroit was largely dismantled. Surviving parishes tried…
The Commonweal PodcastThe City and the Cross—Episode 2: A Padlock on All the Doors
In September 1988, Cardinal Edmund Szoka, the archbishop of Detroit, announced via a closed-circuit television broadcast that the archdiocese would close…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 163 - ‘A Coherent Picture of Reality’
What can I know? What must I do? What may I hope? These questions, originally formulated by philosopher Immanuel Kant, are some of the most essential ones that…
The Commonweal PodcastThe City and the Cross—Episode 1: From the Ground Up
In the first episode of Commonweal's new podcast series, The City and the Cross, host and inaugural Centennial Fellow Aaron Robertson traces the origins and…
The Commonweal PodcastThe City and the Cross—Series Trailer
In Commonweal's first narrative podcast series, inaugural Centennial Fellow Aaron Robertson chronicles the rise, erosion, and defiant survival of Black…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 162 - Subversive Cartography
For as long as humans have been able to write, they’ve made maps. Sometimes maps show paths to the sacred. More often, they depict borders and boundaries…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 161 - Catholicism and Community Organizing
As bad as things have gotten for democracy in America, it no longer suffices to simply denounce those in power. Nor is it enough to march, call members of…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 160 - Humble Work
Catholics have been thinking about vocations for a long time—and not only in terms of becoming a priest or member of a religious order. The Church teaches that…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 159 - Reclaiming Attention
Too many of us spend too much time on our phones. We know by now—through whistleblower reports, congressional hearings, and our daily lived experience—that…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 158 - ‘My First War’
When he was missioned to Beirut last fall, Fr. Doug Jones, a recently ordained Jesuit priest, expected to spend his time conducting research and administering…
The Commonweal PodcastThe Black Church and Progressive Politics: A conversation with Gary Dorrien
Hosts and Commonweal contributors Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins and Nick Tabor chat with Gary Dorrien, professor at Columbia University and Union Theological…
The Commonweal PodcastOn the Altar: A conversation with historian Jonathan Sheehan
Hosts and Commonweal contributors Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins and Nick Tabor chat with Jonathan Sheehan, professor of European history at UC Berkeley, about his…
The Commonweal PodcastRevelation and Reporting: A conversation with journalist Daniel Silliman
Hosts and Commonweal contributors Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins and Nick Tabor chat with reporter Daniel Silliman about his tenure at Christianity Today, his…
The Commonweal PodcastAmerican Charisms: A conversation with 'Spellbound' author Molly Worthen
Hosts and Commonweal contributors Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins and Nick Tabor discuss Spellbound : How Charisma Shaped American History from the Puritans to Donald…
The Commonweal PodcastChristianity's American Fate
Hosts and Commonweal contributors Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins and Nick Tabor introduce the podcast and discuss the book Christianity's American Fate: How Religion…
The Commonweal PodcastAn End-of-the-Year Message
Editor Dominic Preziosi updates listeners of The Commonweal Podcast.
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 157 - The Counterweight: MAGA vs. the World
A central tenet of the MAGA movement is the Trump administration's "America First" foreign-policy agenda. To fulfill this agenda, it has slashed foreign aid…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 156 - The Counterweight: The Common Good & American Liberalism
A little more than eight months into the second Trump presidency, many Americans today find the United States increasingly unrecognizable: a volatile and…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 155 - The Counterweight: Against White Christian Nationalism
One of the most prominent features of the second Trump administration has been its bluntly racist actions and policymaking. Recent examples abound, from the…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 154 - The Counterweight: Reclaiming Catholic Social Teaching
Since becoming pope, Leo XIV has reminded us that the Catholic Church “offers to everyone the treasury of her social teaching.” That tradition is especially…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 153 - It’s Just Wrong
For decades, public support for the death penalty in the United States has been declining. But in recent years, the number of executions has risen sharply—and…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 152 - Crypto-Religiosity
It’s often remarked that America has become less religious, especially during recent decades. But what if that religiosity hasn’t disappeared, but just taken…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 151 - The First U.S. Pontiff
The swift elevation to the papacy of Chicago-born Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost—known simply as ‘Bob’ among his fellow Augustinian friars—defied pundits’…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 150 - Remembering Francis
Three theologians—Massimo Faggioli, Susan Bigelow Reynolds, and Terence Sweeney—reflect with Commonweal editors on the pope’s legacy. More coverage of the…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 149 - When the Good Book Isn’t a Book
Catholics listen to snippets of the Bible read every Sunday, but how many of them actually sit with and ponder the text? It’s long been a truism that Catholics…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 148 - What Novels Do
What should great fiction do for us? That’s the question asked by Edwin Frank, editorial director of New York Review Books and author of Stranger than Fiction…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 147 - The New ‘Preeminent Urgency’
In his first month back in office, Donald Trump has made cruelty toward migrants and refugees central to his agenda, while J. D. Vance has used his flawed…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 146 - Aging in America
Fights over federal spending usually follow a predictable pattern, with Republicans attempting to cut entitlement programs as Democrats seek to expand the…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 145 - Memory Matters
For as long as humans beings have existed, we have had a knack for forgetting—not only when memory proves difficult, but when it becomes inconvenient. We need…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 144 - Best Interviews of 2024
As you probably know by now, 2024 was a big year for Commonweal, marking one hundred years of continuous publication. It was also an important one for the…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 143 - ‘Hope Grows in the Dark’
What does it mean to “have hope,” especially during challenging times? Is it something we can possess, like a talisman to ward off despair? No, argues Norman…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 142 - ‘What Backlash Looks Like’
In the wake of the 2024 election, many are wondering how to make sense of the results—including how a capable, qualified woman could lose to a man like Donald…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 141 - Follow the Money
The invitation-only Catholic prelature known as Opus Dei, founded in Spain in 1927 by the recently canonized priest Josemaría Escrivá, currently counts just…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 140 - Fewer Screens, More Meaning
It’s no secret that there’s a mental health crisis affecting young people in the United States. Rates of anxiety, symptoms of depression, and even suicide…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 139 - Detroit’s Black Christian Utopia
The Trump campaign has made us all too familiar with the ideology of Christian Nationalism, with its violent rhetoric and racist undertones. Far less…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 138 - The Work AI Can’t Do
Corporate boosters of artificial intelligence promise that the technology will vastly improve efficiency in the world of work. But is that actually desirable?…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 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…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 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…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 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…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 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…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 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…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 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…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 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…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 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…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 129 - Judaism’s Loving Heart
One of the misconceptions about Judaism is that the religion is concerned primarily with justice and the law, not love and grace. That’s precisely backward…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 128 - Diagnosing Disadvantage in America
For decades, discussions of poverty and inequality in America have tended to focus on cities. That’s understandable—cities are often the places where income…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 127 - Criticism as a Way of Life
Vinson Cunningham is one of the most dynamic critics working today. Best known as the New Yorker’s theater critic and co-host of the weekly podcast Critics at…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 126 - God, According to Marilynne Robinson
We’re all familiar with the tired stereotype of the “God of the Old Testament,” a capricious creator Who subjects His chosen people to endless cycles of…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 125 - What Are Universities For?
The past year or so hasn’t been the best one for higher education. Debates over affirmative action, free speech, and affordability, combined with recent cuts…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 124 - The GOP Attack on Catholic Shelters at the Border
Recent weeks have seen an intensification of the Republican campaign against Catholic groups that offer assistance to migrants and refugees along the southern…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 123 - The Hall Beside Belief
For many religious people, the pandemic accelerated a decline in institutional allegiance and trust that was already well underway. Many Catholics stopped…
The Commonweal PodcastEp. 122 - The New Suburbia
For the first time, a majority of Americans now live in the suburbs—places that have been transformed over the past several decades by boom-and-bust…