In Conversation… with Frank Schaeffer

Frank Schaeffer speaks with Professor Michael D.C. Drout about Tolkien’s work and why it continues to resonate. They explore themes of loss, beauty, and moral clarity, and talk about how Tolkien’s writing reflects the reality that everything meaningful comes with a cost. The conversation also touches on teaching, younger readers, and how grief shapes the way we understand stories. _____ LINKS The...

I joined Melissa Duge Spiers to talk about her upbringing in the Seventh-day Adventist Church and what it means to leave a high-control religious system. We talked about the structure of that world and how it shapes identity, behavior, and relationships. Melissa talked about generational trauma and how it lives in the body, not just in memory. We talked about sexuality, repression, and the ways pe...

Frank Schaeffer talks with Becky Garrison about the deeper cultural forces shaping our moment. They discuss economic insecurity, media collapse, masculinity, and the rise of charismatic leaders. The conversation moves through religion, power, and the growing divide between men and women. At the center is a difficult question: how a society loses its way, and whether it can find it again. LINKS htt...

Keri Ladner joins Frank Schaeffer to discuss her book American Dominion: The Rise and Radicalization of a New Christendom . They talk about how dominionist theology moved from the fringe into mainstream politics, and how that shift helped shape events like January 6th. Keri also shares her personal story and how it changed the way she understands faith. This is a conversation about belief, power,...

This is a conversation with writer Matthew Davis about Mount Rushmore and the story beneath it. What begins as a discussion of a monument turns into something more personal and more complicated. We talk about the Black Hills, the Lakota, broken treaties, and the way history keeps showing up in the present whether we’re comfortable with it or not. Matthew isn’t trying to argue a point. He’s trying...

Leah Libresco Sargeant and I talk about something simple that we spend a lot of time avoiding. We are not autonomous. We talk about women’s bodies, pregnancy, and the way those realities don’t fit a culture built around control and choice. We talk about the idea that a good life is one where everything is chosen, and why that breaks down the moment someone depends on you. And we come back, again a...

I sat down with filmmaker Mike Sheridan to talk about his documentary Amplified: The Exportation of the Culture Wars . It looks at something we don’t often stop to think about. Not just what’s happening in America. But what America is doing to the rest of the world. Mike traces how our culture wars, our politics, our media habits, even our tone, are showing up in places like Ireland. And what that...

This conversation with Dr. Terence Lester begins with his journey from dropout to doctorate, but it quickly becomes something deeper. We talk about growing up with fear, living through trauma, and making the choice not to pass that pain on to your children. Terence shares what it means to sit on a refrigerator in protest of hunger, and why food is about more than survival. We also talk about faith...

In the first hour we get into spiritual narcissism, not as an abstract idea but as something that shapes real communities and does real damage. We talk about MAGA as a kind of cult identity, Trump as a case study in personality-driven power, and how prosperity gospel culture helped prepare the ground for all of it. We also get into religious trauma and why, at least for me, institutional Christian...

I sat down with Gina Goldhammer to talk about her novel Where Snowbirds Play , which is set in 1991 at what she describes as the end of the golden age of Palm Beach, a world of wealth, influence, and powerful people living inside their own closed social orbit. Let me just say this plainly. This is a terrific novel. I love it. What drew me in is not just that setting, but what happens inside it, be...

Dr. Warren Farrell: From The Boy Crisis to Role Mate to Soulmate; Fixing Modern Relationships What Men, Women, and Modern Coupling Are Getting Wrong In this candid conversation, I sit down with Dr. Warren Farrell to explore the cultural and psychological forces reshaping modern relationships. Why do couples who genuinely love each other struggle to stay in love? Why does criticism from a partner h...

Writer Kate Cohen joins Frank Schaeffer to talk about her new Substack “Scratch,” a project devoted to the things we make that keep us human. From cooking and sewing to carpentry and farming, Cohen explores how working with our hands connects us to the material world and to each other. In a culture dominated by algorithms, automation, and AI, these acts of making may be more important than ever. T...

Marianne Leone joins Frank Schaeffer to discuss her novel Christina the Astonishing , growing up Italian-American under Irish Catholic nuns, religious trauma, losing faith after her father’s death, The Sopranos, and why bold girls survive institutions built to silence them. _____ LINKS https://marianneleonecooper.com/ Christina the Astonishing _____ I have had the pleasure of talking to some of th...

In this revealing Conversation, I speak with historian, publisher, and author Andrew Lownie about his investigation into Prince Andrew, the aura of untouchable royal privilege, and the culture that allowed secrecy to fester and rot. We explore the Epstein scandal’s wider implications and the monarchy’s uncertain future in a world that demands transparency. Now that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has b...

Jason G. Green joins me to discuss his memoir Too Precious to Lose . We talk about his years serving President Obama, the lessons he learned from his grandmother, and why community, not chaos, must shape America’s future. _____ Watch the Film  Finding Fellowship Visit Jason G. Green Online _____ I have had the pleasure of talking to some of the leading authors, artists, activists, and change-maker...

Historian and ordained Episcopal priest Randall Balmer joins Frank Schaeffer to discuss his powerful new book, America’s Best Idea . Together they explore the true history of church-state separation, the myth of America as a Christian nation, the Treaty of Tripoli, the Supreme Court’s recent rulings, and why evangelical Christians may lose the most if Christian nationalism succeeds. A truth-tellin...

Why the MAGA movement is far smarter, and far more dangerous, than liberals want to admit. Political theorist Laura K. Field joins me to expose the philosophical, religious, and institutional ideas driving the MAGA New Right. From elite Catholic theorists to post-liberal power strategies, this conversation reveals why Trumpism didn’t come out of nowhere, and why ignoring it is no longer an option....

Journalist William J. Kole joins me to talk about In Guns We Trust and the rise of gun culture inside white evangelical Christianity. We discuss fear, politics, self-defense myths, suicide, and why firearms have come to occupy a moral place once reserved for Jesus. _____ LINKS https://www.billkolebooks.com _____ I have had the pleasure of talking to some of the leading authors, artists, activists,...

Why Play Matters for Children and Families | Making It Up with Christopher Mannino A conversation about play, attention, and why being fully present with children is some of the most important work we do. I’ve spent a lifetime raising children and helping raise grandchildren. In this conversation with Christopher Mannino, I found myself recognizing ideas I’ve learned not from books, but from years...

In this conversation, I speak with Sharon Eubank about what it really means to help other people without stripping them of dignity or agency. Drawing on decades of humanitarian work, Sharon reflects on accountability, choice, faith, and why good intentions alone are not enough. We talk about suffering not as an abstract problem, but as something that asks something of us in our communities, our in...

Novelist TJ Poortinga joins me to discuss Electric Orange , a prophetic satire exposing Christian nationalism, evangelical power, masculinity, and political rage — written by someone who knows the culture from the inside. _____ LINKS Electric Orange by TJ Poortinga https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FRKVT7KX https://bookshop.org/a/99692/9798999882400 I have had the pleasure of talking to some of the lead...

Filmmaker Petra Costa and producer Alessandra Orofino join Frank Schaeffer to explore how evangelical movements fused with authoritarian politics in Brazil—and why the same forces are reshaping democracy in the United States. Watch Apocalypse in the Tropics I have had the pleasure of talking to some of the leading authors, artists, activists, and change-makers of our time on this podcast, and I wa...

What happens when a beagle bred for laboratory research gets a second life—and changes a human forever? Journalist and author Melanie D.G. Kaplan joins me for a conversation about her book Lab Dog: A Beagle and His Human Investigate the Surprising World of Animal Research . It’s also our December pick for It Has to Be Read . At the center of the story is Hammy—a former lab dog who survived isolati...

Frank Schaeffer talks with Tufts University Catholic Chaplain Lynn A. Cooper , author of Embracing Our Time: The Sacrament of Interfaith Friendship , about building real connection across difference in an era of polarization and loneliness. They explore the Interfaith Student Council model, how trauma reshapes a life, the pressure-cooker reality of campus faith after Hamas’ attack and amid Christi...

What happens when the architect of a war knows—deep down—that it cannot be won? In this episode of In Conversation with Frank Schaeffer , I speak with William Taubman and Philip Taubman about their new book, McNamara at War: A New History , which is our December “It Has to Be Read” selection. William Taubman is a Pulitzer Prize–winning historian. Philip Taubman is a longtime journalist and former...