Approach the Bench

WEEK 39: Feminism (with Hannah, Concerned Women for America) We sit down with Hannah, who works for Concerned Women for America — the largest conservative Christian women's policy organization in the country — to take on a question that splits both the culture and the church: should you call yourself a feminist? We open with the number that frames the whole episode: 61% of American women agree wit...

WEEK 38: What Makes America Great — w/ Rear Admiral Putnam Browne We recorded this one at the Iwo Jima Memorial in Washington, DC, in front of the flag-raising — because if you're going to ask whether America is actually great, you should have to answer it standing somewhere that raises the stakes. And we brought backup. Rear Admiral Putnam Browne has done things only Americans can do: over 45...

Congratulations, you've stumbled across a treasure trove of men's fashion wisdom. Consider this your lucky day. WEEK 37: The DEFINITIVE Guide to Men's Fashion. This is a semi-serious, fully opinionated breakdown of what a man should actually wear — and why. We start with the one principle that runs underneath everything: fit beats brand beats price. A $40 shirt that fits will always be...

WEEK 35: We Asked a Dominican Priest How to Date (ft. Father Max, O.P.) We're at a resort with a guest who brings the theology heavy: Father Max, a Dominican priest of the Order of Preachers — the order of Aquinas himself. We start with the man behind the collar: what the Dominican Order actually is, how he discerned a vocation to the priesthood, what celibacy looks like from the inside, and w...

WEEK 35: Something Is Happening to Gen Z | The Campus Revival w/ Josh Moran We're coming to you from Lansdowne, Virginia — outside, golden hour, with a guest whose story we've been wanting to tell for a while. Josh Moran played football for the Georgia Bulldogs. Then he went to law school. Now he's helping lead one of the most remarkable stories in America that almost nobody in the mai...

WEEK 34: DC Summer Is Miserable. We Wouldn't Be Anywhere Else. We're coming to you live from a bench in Washington, DC — and before we get into the summer episode, we have some unfinished business. A New York City influencer said something about DC that we can't let slide. We respond. Briefly. But firmly. Then: the DC Summer Episode. We recorded this one outside, in the heat, surrounde...

WEEK 33: Harvard Business School Has a Morality Problem This week, we're joined by Edward Doan — Harvard Business School student and devout Catholic. And we're once again at Harvard Divinity School, just this time, we're discussing the morally questionable nature of some of HBS's recent activities. Here's what happened: HBS's startup competition — one of the most prestigiou...

WEEK 32: Are Protestants Going to Heaven? Welcome to Harvard Divinity School. This week, we sit down with Edward Doan to take on one of the oldest and most consequential questions in Western Christianity: can Protestants be saved? We start by refusing to treat this as one question when it's really three. Soteriology — can non-Catholics be saved? Ecclesiology — what actually constitutes the Chu...

WEEK 31: Are Men Useless? (REUPLOAD) Welcome to Harvard Stadium. This week, we bring in Daniel Nivens and take on one of the most charged questions in modern culture: are men actually useless? We walk through Olivia Barbulescu's viral Substack piece/IG post arguing that men are no longer needed — only wanted — and that they're struggling to adapt to the difference. We engage the comment se...

WEEK 31: Inside the Life of a Harvard Law Professor. Welcome to Newton, MA. This week, we sit down with Professor Jesse Fried — William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, author of Pay Without Performance, expert witness in major corporate litigation, and a man who has been associated with this institution in some form for nearly four decades. Then we get into the main event:...

WEEK 30: Are Mormons Christians? (Outside an LDS Church) This week, we take the conversation outside—literally. Filmed in front of an LDS church in Cambridge, we sit down with John Warnock for one of the most important questions in modern Christianity: are Mormons Christians? We start with a simple goal: clarity, not cheap shots. This isn’t just a “debate”—it’s a serious attempt to understand wher...

WEEK 29: Sarah Isgur on the War Fracturing the Legal Right Welcome back to Approach the Bench. This week we sit down with Sarah Isgur — SCOTUSblog editor, Advisory Opinions co-host, ABC News legal analyst, and author of Last Branch Standing . Before all of that: Harvard Law '08, Federalist Society president, veteran of three presidential campaigns, DOJ spokesperson during the Mueller investigation...

WEEK 28: How to Get Into Harvard Law (with the Dean of Admissions). Welcome to the Charles River. This week, we sit down with Dean Kristi Jobson—the literal Dean of Admissions—to answer the question everyone wants to know: what does it actually take to get into Harvard Law School? We start with Dean Jobson’s story—how she ended up at Harvard, what law school looked like when she was a student, and...

WEEK 27: Can the GOP Win Women Back? (with Keri Collins). Welcome to the Harvard Salient office. This week, we’re joined by Keri Collins, a freshman at Harvard College, to tackle one of the biggest political questions right now: why are young men and women drifting so far apart—and can the Right actually win women back? We start with a quick reset after last week’s episode, including strong feedba...

WEEK 26: The Gay Marriage Debate (with Ripken). Welcome back to the bench. This week, we’re joined by Ripken Holt for one of our most direct and controversial conversations yet: should gay marriage be legal—and how should Christians think about it? We jump straight into the deep end. No long intro—just the question everyone’s actually asking: what do Christians believe about gay marriage, and what...

WEEK 25: The Singleness Special Welcome to Will’s house. This week, we slow things down after a run of politics-heavy episodes to ask a different kind of question: what if singleness isn’t just a temporary inconvenience—but actually a meaningful, even good, way to live? We kick things off with some spring break recap and listener feedback. Then we jump into a fun but revealing appetizer: Green Fla...

Week 24: The Spring Break Special Shooting at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute, Mason and Will take a bit of a break from the typical content flow to have a heart-to-heart on the bench. They discuss the positives and negatives of podcasting in a social media age and open up about their active debates about what to focus on, how to share their views, and whether to continue doing the podcast at all....

WEEK 23: American Empire & Progressive Christian Nationalism. This week, we take the bench to the Radcliffe Gardens across from Cambridge Common and are joined by Frank, another Harvard student with a sharp interest in politics, law, and the role of religion in public life. We open with a quick introduction to Frank’s background — from Bates College to Harvard — and talk about what drew him in...

WEEK 22: The Pastor Calling Harvard Law Back to Christianity Recorded in Hastings Hall, the oldest dorm at Harvard Law School, this week we sit down with Justin Yim — the pastor serving HLS students — to talk about something that may be quietly happening across American campuses: a renewed hunger for Christianity. We begin with a quick introduction to Justin and how he ended up doing ministry at o...

WEEK 21: Is Modern Dating Rigged? (With Luis Penichet, HBS & Former Marine) This week we’re joined by Luis Penichet — second-year Harvard Business School student, former U.S. Marine, and founder working on a new kind of dating app. And we go straight at one of the biggest cultural questions facing our generation: Is the American dating system fundamentally broken? We begin with a blunt diagnos...

WEEK 20: Inside the Life of Three Protestants at Harvard Welcome to Brian’s apartment. This week, we bring Brian Rath, Harvard Business School student, into the mix and step back from pure politics to talk about something deeper: what it actually looks like to live as Protestants at Harvard. We begin with a breakdown of the differences between Harvard Law and Harvard Business School — the culture,...

WEEK 19: Can You Love Your Country in a Divided Age? This week, we open by reacting to this year’s Super Bowl commercials — what they reveal about American culture, corporate messaging, and the stories companies think will resonate with young people today. From there, we turn to the Supreme Court’s gay marriage decision and its long-term cultural and legal consequences. We discuss how marriage has...

WEEK 18: In this episode, we sit by the frozen-over Charles River and work through listener feedback, campus reactions to the show, and what it’s been like navigating growing recognition — both positive and negative — at Harvard Law. We respond to a thoughtful listener challenge on free will, causality, and moral responsibility, exploring whether human choice can be meaningful in a world shaped by...

WEEK 17: Welcome to Will’s home. In the snow. This week, we open with a long overdue feedback segment — responding to some of the strongest reactions we’ve gotten all season (including the Israel episodes, Larissa Part 1 & 2, and the Gen Z/Ozempic debate). We read comments ranging from thoughtful critiques to outright hostile takes, and we talk about what it means to have real disagreement onl...

WEEK 15 (PART TWO): We’re back at Harvard Law with Larissa Truchan for part two of our conversation, and the discussion gets even sharper. We start by sketching out our ideal third parties, debating what’s missing from the current political landscape, and whether America is locked into a permanent two-party system. From there, we make early predictions for the 2028 election, breaking down who we t...