Give and Take

My guest is Mark Oppenheimer. In a recent NY Times piece David Brooks describes his own complex journey of faith. Mark Oppenheimer has written a piece questioning why David Brooks consistently continues to refer to himself as a Jew, despite affirming the central tenets of the Christian faith. Mark returns to the show to discuss his piece and what it tells us about the relationship between Judaism...

My guest is Edward J. Watts. He holds the Alkiviadis Vassiliadis Endowed Chair and is professor of history at the University of California, San Diego. He's the author and editor of several prize-winning books, including The Final Pagan Generation and Mortal Republic . He's been on the show before and he returns to talk about Ridley's Scott's new movie Gladiator 2. Special Guest: Edward J. Watts.

My guest is Thane Rosenbaum . Thane is a law professor, legal and Middle East analyst, novelist, essayist and Distinguished University Professor at Touro University. He's an all around Renaissance man. We talk about a host of issues including antisemitism, identity politics, and the true nature of liberalism. Special Guest: Thane Rosenbaum.

My guest is Leah Paulos. Leah Paulos, the founder of Press Shop PR , has worked at the intersection of books and media for over 25 years. She’s led publicity campaigns for hundreds of authors, helping them line up media attention and events and supporting them as they navigate the (somewhat bizarre) world of publishing. She has long wanted to offer publicity support to more authors than Press Shop...

My guest is Todd McGowan. Todd teaches theory and film at the University of Vermont. In his new book Embracing Alienation , McGowan offers a completely different take on alienation, claiming that the effort to overcome it is not a radical response to the current state of things but a failure to see the constitutive power of alienation for all of us. Instead of trying to overcome alienation and acc...

In this episode best selling author and filmmaker David Shields returns to the show. We have a wide ranging conversation about the recent Presidential election. We consider what it tells us about Trump, the culture, and most importantly ourselves. Click here for David's book, No One Hates Trump More Than Trump. Special Guest: David Shields.

My guest is Beatrice Marovich. She teaches in the Department of Theological Studies, at Hanover College. Her work offers provocative reflections on the way that strange and ancient religious figures and ideas remain at work in our cultures, in our politics, and in our bodies in both beautiful and deeply unsettling ways. We covered a vast array of topics including poltical theology, the nature of d...

My guest is Fabienne Doucet. Her new book is Love Is Still Winning . When a little one sees their parents overwhelmed with the aftermath of distressing news, they remind themselves of the love that still shines through and all of the ways love is showcased in the simplest of actions that we often overlook. Whether helping a neighbor or reminiscing the beauty of a sunset with a loved one, love triu...

In this episode Scott is joined by return guest and friend of the show David Shields. The two talk about the assassination attempt on former President Trump, the messianic response by some, and what it means for the upcoming election. Special Guest: David Shields.

In this episode Scott is joined by return guest and friend of the show David Shields. The two talk about the strange political moment the country faces and what might be the Shakespearean tragic nature of it all. Special Guest: David Shields.

In this episode Scott talks with authors David Shields and Josh Rosenblatt about the cultural politics of the WNBA. Much has been made of the coverage of two of the WNBA's prominent stars: Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese. What are the racial and political implications of the coverage of these two athletes? What do they tell us about wider American culture as a whole in a tense election season? Speci...

In this episode we are joined by Raphael Davidovich. He is the Rabbi of Cleveland's friendliest Orthodox schule. We touch on a host of issues including and especially what it means to be an American Rabbi when Israel is at war. You can find Rabbi Davidovich's podcast here: https://anchor.fm/raphael-davidovich Special Guest: Raphael Davidovich.

My guest is Rabbi Uri Allen. Rabbi Uri Allen is a guitar-playing Abba of three who loves cooking, traveling around the country to see his favorite band Phish and learning Torah. His passions in the rabbinate are in educating and teaching learners of all ages, working with young families like his own, and using music to add contour and depth to Jewish rituals and life. We had a great interfaith con...

My guest is Benyamin Cohen. Benyamin Cohen manages the official social media accounts of Albert Einstein. He is the News Director of the Forward and was the founding editor of both Jewsweek and American Jewish Life magazine. His newest book is The Einstein Effect: How the World's Favorite Genius Got into Our Cars, Our Bathrooms, and Our Minds. It's a fascinating look into how Einstein's genius and...

My guest is Jane Rosenzweig. Jane has spent a career working in the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion field in corporate America. She and I also spend entirely too much time on an app called Clubhouse, which is where we met. Special Guest: Jane Rosenzweig.

Work. Family. Church. Exercise. Sleep. The list of demands on our time seems to be never ending. It can leave you feeling a little guilty--like you should always be doing one more thing. Rather than sharing better time-management tips to squeeze more hours out of the day, Kelly Kapic takes a different approach in You're Only Human. He offers a better way to make peace with the fact that God didn't...

My guest is Kirsten Powers. Her new book is Saving Grace: Speak Your Truth, Stay Centered, and Learn to Coexist with People Who Drive You Nuts. In it this CNN senior political analyst and USA Today columnist offers a path to navigating the toxic division in our culture without compromising our convictions and emotional well-being, based on her experience as a journalist during the Trump era, inter...

My guest is Mathis Bitton. He is a student of political theory at Yale University. His writing focuses on liberalism and its discontents, Confucian and Islamic thought, city-states, and institution-building. You can follow him on Twitter at @mlbitton. His recent piece, The Rise of Post-Liberal Man, sparked the conversation. You can read it here: https://quillette.com/2021/07/22/the-rise-of-post-li...

My guest is Mark Wildes. His newest book is The 40 Day Challenge. Sometimes we are spiritually frozen. This book will thaw you out and heat you up - Nissim Black, Rapper and Businessman Written in an approachable, uplifting, and accessible style, The 40 Day Challenge is an invitation for people who believe there is more to life than the daily grind. It offers the reader easily digestible and compa...

My guest is Steve Krone. In addition to being an entertainment lawyer and a prolific film producer, he also was a Supreme Court clerk for Justices William J. Brennan, Jr. and David H. Souter. We talked about the two significant decisions the Supreme Court handed down this week. We also chatted a bit about film. Special Guest: Steve Krone.

In this episode I talk with Roifield Brown. Roifield Brown is an experienced podcaster and media strategist, with an impressive track record of helping companies enhance and grow their media properties to diverse audiences across a wide range of categories, including politics, history, culture and entertainment. Special Guest: Roifield Brown.

My guest is Rowan Williams. ‘As we contemplate the coming months, not knowing when we can breathe again, it’s worth thinking about how already the foundations have been laid for whatever new opportunities God has for us on the far side of this crisis.’ Rowan Williams offers these words of wisdom and many more in his new book Candles in the Dark . This powerful and timely book brings together the 2...

My guest is James Martin, SJ. His newest book is Learning to Pray: A Guide for Everyone . He is a Jesuit priest, editor at large of America magazine, consultor to the Vatican's Secretariat for Communications, and author of numerous books, including the New York Times bestsellers "Jesus: A Pilgrimage" and "The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything." Among his other books, "My Life with the Saints" an...

My guest is Nathaniel Popkin. His newest book is To Reach the Spring: From Complicity to Consciousness in the Age of Eco-Crisis. In the shadow of an escalating eco-crisis—a looming catastrophe that will dwarf the fallout from COVID-19—how can we explain our society’s failure to act? What will we tell future generations? Are we paralyzed because the problem is so vast in scope, or are there deeper...

As computer technology advances with dizzying speed, human workers face an ever-increasing threat of obsolescence. In Human Work In the Age of Smart Machines, Jamie Merisotis argues that we can—and must—rise to this challenge by preparing to work alongside smart machines doing that which only humans can: thinking critically, reasoning ethically, interacting interpersonally, and serving others with...