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 don’t actually read the Bible — at least not as much or in the same way as their Protestant brethren.
But that doesn’t mean Catholics don’t encounter it, whether in books, films, plays, or popular culture.
On this episode, Fordham theology professor and frequent Commonweal contributor Michael Peppard, author of the new book How Catholics Encounter the Bible, joins editor Dominic Preziosi to discuss how, paradoxically, the Bible shapes Catholic lives—just usually not in the shape of a book.
For further reading:
Michael Peppard on the Bible and Marian art
Christian Wiman on the Bible as poetry
Eve Tushnet on the queer Catholic imagination
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30:31
Ep. 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: Lives of the Twentieth-Century Novel.
Good books—and there were many written during the past hundred years—can entertain, just as they can give us pleasure. But great ones have the ‘power to breach,’ that is, to upset and provoke us, shattering our illusions about the world.
On this episode, Frank speaks with Commonweal contributor and literary critic Tony Domestic about authors like Dostoevsy, Proust, and Virginia Woolf, among others.
For further reading:
Fiction by Alice McDermott
Mollie Wilson O’Reilly on George Eliot’s double life
Tony Domestico’s latest books column
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30:50
Ep. 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 understanding of Catholic social teaching to justify the administration’s plans for mass deportation.
Their actions and remarks have alarmed many in the Church. On this episode, three guests tell us how and why.
Massimo Faggioli, Commonweal contributor and Villanova University professor addresses the challenges for Catholicism in the second Trump era.
Kerry Robinson, the head of Catholic Charities USA, explains the vital work of her organization and who will be most harmed by the freezes in federal funding.
And Cardinal Blase Cupich of the Archdiocese of Chicago speaks about why “the protection and advocacy for the dignity of migrants” is the Church’s new “preeminent urgency.”
For further reading:
Massimo Faggioli on what American regime change means for the Church
Griffin Oleynick on Francis’s rebuke of J. D. Vance’s ethno-nationalism
Terence Sweeney on how the bishops may respond to Trump
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Ep. 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 social safety net.
One thing that’s rarely threatened, though, is Social Security, a testament to the political clout of “older people”—formerly known as “senior citizens” in America.
How did things get that way?
On this episode, historian James Chappel speaks about his recent book Golden Years: How Americans Invented and Reinvented Old Age, which details the creation of Social Security as it criticizes the failure of the political left to make its benefits more broadly available.
For further reading:
Peter Quinn on aging, aging, and gratitude
Rand Richards Cooper on caring for aging parents
James Chappel on material insecurity
Charles Morris on the future of social security
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Ep. 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 only look at Donald Trump’s pardoning of the January 6 “hostages” for the latest, most egregious example.
Why do humans long to forget? Why do we hide the truth from ourselves? What is the function of memory in democratic societies?
On this episode, senior editor Matt Boudway speaks with Mark Lilla, professor of humanities at Columbia University and author of the new book Ignorance and Bliss: On Wanting not to Know.
For further reading:
Matt Boudway on a memoir by Julian Barnes
Tal Howard reviews Mark Lilla’s Shipwrecked Mind
Timothy Snyder on the indignity of voting for Donald Trump
Tomáš Halík on what some in the Church prefer to forget
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.
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