What are the pathways of formation required to cultivate the kind of wisdom and forbearance needed for a very real world of constraints and differences? With Anne to reflect on this vital if contested work today are David Katibah and Sarah Sturm, who together serve Telos, an organization that equips civic leaders to help reconcile seemingly intract…

How might an institution cultivate the courage and realism required to accept an imperfect set of choices in this broken world, and to choose wisely and in a timely manner? Today’s conversation with Anne’s Cardus colleagues, Ray Pennings and Brian Dijkema, reflects on the challenges and choices facing institutional leaders seeking to protect the co…

Is it possible for peace to walk in power anymore? This is the question haunting Comment’s work this spring, and launching this new season of The Whole Person Revolution is someone who answers it with a courageous yes. J.S. “Joon” Park is a chaplain at Tampa General Hospital, whose public social media posts about death, grief, trauma, and loss have…

Dolph Westlund and Matt Ritsman were given unusual advice their senior year of college: If you want formative friendships to last, start a shared third thing. They took this to heart and, now seventeen years later, steward a fund pooled with twenty other friends from college. Meeting in person on an annual basis, with punctuated points of contact t…

We are often told to contemplate our mortality, but how often do we contemplate our natality? In this episode, Jennifer Banks, author of the new book Natality: Toward a Philosophy of Birth, and Margarita Mooney Clayton, author of the essay “The Marian Gift of Dependence,” in our fall issue, talk about the ways that gaining a sense of our natality o…

Judaism and Christianity are inextricably bound up in one another. Even when their histories split apart, the dynamics they negotiate in modernity often echo the other’s internal dialogue and communal practice. The case of gender is no exception. In this episode, New York Times columnist David Brooks and attorney and Jewish thinker Yishai Schwartz …

For all the talk about the “crisis of masculinity,” few are providing a healthy vision for what masculinity in the twenty-first century could look like, and, perhaps more important, how men can get there. If becoming a man is better caught than taught, better modelled than talked about, what is going on that the formation seems increasingly rare in…

The buzzword of the day in education is “transformation.” But transformation for what, towards what? Philosopher Douglas Yacek reflects.

The Taylors of Tabernacle have spent a week together seeking spiritual renewal, a practice that started two hundred years ago. Susan Thornton shares about her family tradition with managing editor Beca Bruder, explaining the vision and practical tasks required to sustain a long-enduring spiritual revival.…

When the word “evangelicalism” is mentioned today, few are quiet with their opinions. But just what is its mission and personality, current state and future trajectory? In this episode, Anne talks to Walter Kim, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, and finds her frustrations mollified. Join them as they explore the precise shape o…

The American political system today thrives on division and demonization, forcing politicians to prioritize winning electoral votes over and above solving complex issues through cooperation. In the context of such entrenched dysfunction, is it possible to reshape the incentives? Katherine Gehl is an entrepreneur with a big idea: Final Five Voting. …

How to form a diverse coalition on a volatile topic like immigration reform? Our guest Ali Noorani was tackling this very question while leading the National Immigration Forum for fourteen years. Now, from his new seat in philanthropy at the Hewlett Foundation, Ali continues to explore the processes behind shifts in attitude, values, and public pol…

How are you bringing people into your life, into your space and story? Comment managing editor Beca Bruder welcomes Bri Stensrud, the director of Women of Welcome, to shed light on the shifting attitudes of evangelicals in the United States towards immigrants and refugees. At the heart of their discussion is the transformative power of embracing cu…

When it comes to stirring a movement that will last, is it better to begin by diagnosing a shared problem, or rather to start with the power of possibility and the gifts already present? A seasoned sower of the common good, Peter Block has an opinion.

At what level do vast social and ecological problems begin? Elizabeth Oldfield is host of The Sacred podcast and the former director of Theos, the leading religion and society think tank in the U.K., where she oversaw a range of ambitious attempts to influence legislation, inform journalists, and leaven the cultural atmosphere in public life. She l…

We have as much access to entertainment as we have ever had in history, yet nothing catches our attention. What is really happening when we are bored, and what does it say about us? Kevin Gary is the author of the book Why Boredom Matters and the essay "To the Bored All Things Are Boring." In conversation with our associate editor Jeff Reimer, Gary…

Most of us have a movie in our memory banks that changed, forever after, the way we understand the nature of reality, of life in this world. Award-winning filmmaker Ben Rekhi has committed his talents to the conviction that movies are uniquely equipped to educate our emotions and shape our beliefs. Ben has directed and produced films as wide-rangin…

Real and enduring social change can feel impossible when it seems our society has split into a million fragments. How does collective action succeed when our lenses are so individuated? Christy Vines founded the Ideos Institute to solve just this problem, discovering “empathic intelligence” as a strategic way of living and engaging with the created…

“I try to solve inequality by day while contributing to it by night.” Many a professional do-gooder would have to acknowledge this paradox if forced to be honest. But not David and Amber Lapp, who, years ago, went to a working-class town in Ohio as researchers on love and marriage, only to stay as residents and neighbours. In this episode, they ref…

Transformation happens at the speed of relationships. A familiar adage, maybe, but one we find inconvenient. Perceptive students of movements like Murdock Trust CEO Romanita Hairston live and lead with this truth as baseline. In this episode, Romanita reflects on the wisdom she’s gleaned from those historic patterns of renewal as they’ve typically …

Western democracies are sloughing through the twilight of movement-building strategies built primarily from masculine emphases on quantification and scale, visibility and punchlines. Such impulses should not be cancelled. But it is worth opening our eyes to the role that spiritual mothers also play in nurturing the seedbeds of social change—gestati…

A stressed and divided people tends to live at the surface, responding to reality’s symptoms, not its nature. It’s understandable: we feel forced to move quickly, to act in the face of felt urgencies, to survive. But what if regenerative social change cannot happen without first attending to the seminal, to the seedbeds of life as we know it? What …

How does one begin to think about regenerative culture change? Is there hope for a fractured society to mend? Anne opens this season with an invitation to eavesdrop on her family dinner table. Her husband and New York Times columnist, David Brooks, has been a witness to and an agent of change on a variety of social metrics. Together they reflect on…

We don’t often think of the theatre as a democratic cornerstone, but talk to Oskar Eustis, the acclaimed artistic director at the Public Theater in New York City, and the stage shimmers into focus as the essential art form of a free society. Oskar has produced such award-winning shows as Hamilton, Fun Home and Sweat, and he has become convinced tha…

We’re finite beings with infinite potentialities. Every decision we make adds yet another stroke of paint to the artwork of our lives. So how do we know we’re painting with purpose? Joining Anne is Steven Lawson, the creator of the Monk Manual, who has designed a planner that regularly prompts users to prepare, act, and reflect according to their c…

Why is it that as human beings we so often see our limits as the enemy of the good life, and not as a helpful frame? Whether we’re chafing against 24-hour days, the betrayals of our bodies, our inevitable mortality, or the caps on our relational and psychological energy, it just seems like modern life tempts us to believe that finitude is a weaknes…

Comment is hardly alone in the effort to restore the human. Various philosophical streams have long been animated by the same telos. The question is: Do the differences in priors matter when it comes to working together towards re-humanizing every inch of our common life? Joining Anne to explore this question is the founder of Rehumanize Internatio…

We live in a time when the truth of the present has little authority while the truth of history is emerging in unprecedented fullness. This presents a quandary for the person of integrity: How does one keep growing without succumbing to the violence of one-way redemption? Michelle Browder is an artist, activist and guide based out of Montgomery, Al…

In a uniquely concentrated period of public injustice, from 2020-2021, a community of women found voice in the poetic lines of Psalm 37. Following David’s lead, they reflected on their experiences of heartache and oppression with raw openness and hopeful expectation. Voices of Lament is a rich compilation of these stories that will move you to wail…

How does a society ensure equal and active participation of its members when there is a voice gap between workers and corporations? We start by acknowledging our interdependence and striving to provide mechanisms to amplify workers’ voices. Ensuring collective power not only makes better employees but better civics. Policy expert Chris Griswold hel…

What does it look like to prioritize friendship in an organizational context? Laity Lodge is an ecumenical retreat center in the Texas hill country that welcomes wayfarers into unique journeys of encounter and revelation — with God, with one another, with themselves, with expanding, new paradigms. In this episode, Lodge director Steven Purcell and …

How can we nurture relationships across time, political factions, and the ever-evolving opinions we as human beings invariably have? Bible teacher Beth Moore has had to become familiar with the deeper levels of discernment required to navigate turbulent waters with courage and steadfastness. From new social media friends to long-lasting deep bonds,…

How much does cultural and familial history shape our relationships and inflect our vocations? Best friends Otis Pickett and DeSean Dyson reflect on their respective journeys as historians and educators in the American South, sharing insights on civil religion, hospitality, and the gift of sustaining a friendship through thick and thin.…

It can feel strange to think about applying the logic of do’s and don’ts to the gift of friendship. But as we are fond of saying at Comment, beauty blooms in framed spaces. Mack McCarter understands this frame’s physics from the ground up, having founded one of the most holistic social fabric repairers in the country, Community Renewal Internationa…

Does a healthy marriage have to have friendship at its core? How do rings of relationships, institutions and communities around a marriage support that most intimate of covenants? Humanities greats Mark Schwehn of Valparaiso University and Leon Kass of Shalem College (formerly of the University of Chicago) reminisce about teaching college students …

Friendship is foundational to the good life. But in a mobile and globalized world, how can we nurture deep relationships across distance? Might our friendships offer the rootedness that our roving hearts long for? On today's episode, guest Joy Clarkson shares the practical wisdom that has guided her own enduring friendships both near and far.…

Co-founders are a known relationship in the realm of start-ups and institution-building. But less studied is the dynamic of friendship between those who are building something that intends to have cultural impact and last beyond a generation. Today’s episode digs into that deeper, less transactional realm, as the co-founders of Cardus, Michael Van …

The natural world is one thing we all share. Yet our relationship with creation is as fraught with divisions and political bickering as anything else in our divided times. How might we think through our approach to climate change and other environmental challenges? What obligations do various social spheres have to care for the environment? How mig…

It’s been a tough season for experts. Distrusted by the public if not politicized by the craven, those trained to master a specific domain in service of common goods seem all too divested of their authority; every earned discovery is now subject to the culture war. What is going on? Are any of these dynamics legit? Dr. Francis Collins has lived the…

Since the pandemic, there’s been more clashing between the family and other spheres. Is there a way to move forward without segmenting our society still further? Educational historian Susan Wise Bauer and religious freedom lawyer Angela Wu Howard - both of them also mothers, serious Christians and generous citizens - explore the pathways.…

This spring, Comment is celebrating the civic health that blossoms when we understand distinct spheres of action and the particularities of what each sphere is for. But let’s be honest: Sometimes boundaries aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. They can oppress a people group, numb creativity, flatline the glory of human moral reasoning and sometime…

Comment is getting re-acquainted with the traditional spheres this season, things like the family, education, church, and the workplace. But are these kinds of institutional commitments really all that shape a person? Where do scenes fall? Think of unique subcultures, a city scene, a musical or sports scene. Might scenes like these be more powerful…

Most of us have accepted the skills that a fractured age requires. But what would it take to reknit our disparate selves into wholeness? Might a re-thickening of the boundaries of our civic spheres paradoxically help? Join Anne in exploring these tensions with April Lawson, Director of Debates and Public Discourse at Braver Angels, and Brandon Vaid…

Must we fight one another in every domain of life? Are turbocharged symbols the only way to assert one’s voice in a pluralist republic? David French and Jonathan Rauch are two political observers who have thought long and hard about these questions, and they join Anne today to shed light on how we got to this flat state of affairs, and also how we …

As we wrap up this season’s explorations of the gift logic, it seemed appropriate to zoom out to the tradition that has animated this conversation from the very beginning: Christian humanism. A rich if unfinished tradition that at once informs Comment’s editorial lens and animates our broader work as an ecosystem-builder, we wish to tell a story of…

Rajan Mathews of Nyack College and Dave Hillis of Leadership Foundations each lead institutions that put the primacy of relationship over and above the allure of efficiency. What are the challenges in preserving this commitment in higher education and the social service sector today? What yet fortifies their call?…

What might happen if our criminal justice system ventured into a different set of moral risks? Are those who have been imprisoned for their crimes worthy of a culture of trust? APAC, a revolutionary Brazilian prison system, is making a bet that natural beauty, community, work and trust might just re-awaken prisoners' innate dignity and tap into fre…

We tend to hear “entrepreneur” nowadays and think Silicon Valley, privilege, a preference for tech jargon over and above the humane and the commonplace. But what if its local flowering is worth a second look? Might entrepreneurship as a way of creative response be the embodiment of the gift logic par excellence? Rising Tide Capital is making just t…

Composer and singer-songwriter Alana Levandoski grew up on the Canadian prairies with an awareness of her own reliance on the gifts of the land, giving her an "ecological perspective" on her artistic vocation. "There's a huge difference between seeing something as free and seeing something as a gift," she says. For Levandoski, embracing the interde…

The gift logic at its purest sounds like the height of virtue: self-sacrificing, open-handed, generous, gentle. But how does it square with the demands of justice? Can they co-exist in the same moral galaxy? This week’s episode wrestles with these questions, and our interlocutors come from inside the Comment team: associate editor Heidi Deddens and…