Good Faith Effort

One of the great differences between Athens and Jerusalem is that while Athens was the early master of philosophical inquiry, Jerusalem became the early master of storytelling. The Bible is the source for the greatest stories ever told—what Rabbi Sacks call “philosophy in the narrative mode”. And at least in terms of scale, perhaps the greatest storytelling civilization after ancient Israel is Ame...

Why do celebrity advertisements work? Why do wars happen? What makes the story of Cain and Abel so compelling? What if I told you the answer to all of those questions was…the same? Enter Rene Girard, an atheist-turned-Catholic philosophical anthropologist who was also deeply influential on some of the people who have most shaped our world today—from the biggest tech founders, entrepreneurs and inv...

How did the American Founders read the Bible? What wisdom did they find there? How did their literary sensibilities interact with their political ones in reading the Bible? And how does this history stay with us today? To unpack all this, Ari spoke with Professor at the American University in Washington D.C., and author of “Reading The Bible With The Founding Fathers”, Daniel Dreisbach. They talke...

The Renaissance, the Enlightenment, the Scientific Revolution…this was when we finally kicked religion out of public life, right? In fact, it was precisely in these moments that Western thinkers were most expansive and ambitious in their curiosity about religion—its texts, ideas, and practical implications. This was famously true in the case of the Bible, the greater focus on which prompted the re...

The Bible is the most important work in the history of literature, so it seems like a pretty important priority should be to figure out how to read it well! What strategies can your average person use to uncover the Biblical text’s meaning? Which commentaries are most important to consult? Are there new insights we can, perhaps, discover on our own? If so, how? To unpack all this, Ari spoke with t...

Why are stories important? What exactly makes them so powerful? How should great stories—whether you encounter them in literature, poetry, painting, the cinema—help human beings cultivate the good life? And can great stories, as such, really be an important part of the religious experience? To unpack this, Ari spoke with Jennifer Frey, host of the extremely popular literature, philosophy, and theo...

Who’s the most influential figure in American political history? Washington? Lincoln? Martin Luther King? The answer, for any student of American history, should be clear: it’s Moses. But how does this influence pan out? And how do Moses, and other Biblical figures, help us tell our own stories…even today? To unpack all of this, Ari spoke with bestselling author and New York Times columnist Bruce...

The Bible is the most important and influential work ever. And nothing has been more influential on the development of the English language over the last 500 years than the translation of the Bible into English. And whether from literary, political-institutional, cultural or religious perspectives, the Bible has been deeply formative in shaping the West as we know it. So how should we engage with...

Why does American policy in the Middle East look the way it does? Has it always been this way? How is it intertwined with religious life and literacy in America? And how does the Jewish story—from the Bible to today—help us understand something important about the American story? To unpack all of this, Ari spoke to Walter Russel Mead—Global View columnist at the Wall Street Journal, Professor of F...

The Atlantic ’s Yair Rosenberg is one of the most prominent journalists on the planet covering global antisemitism. He’s also an excellent recording artist in the Jewish music space. How do these two things fit together? As Ari and Yair discuss together, this mix is deeply emblematic of the current moment in Jewish, American, and even world history -- both fraught with existential danger and brimm...

The American experiment—even the future of liberalism—feels exhausted. What’s a theologian to do about this? How can serious thinking about religion contribute uniquely to a flourishing political and moral discourse? How can it be done with both a sense of conviction, but also a spirit of humility? To unpack this, Rabbi Ari spoke to his good friend, fellow podcaster and professor of theology at Ba...

“What’s the biggest problem with America these days?” Imagine if someone answered that question by saying that Americans don’t spend nearly enough time in…cemeteries? Well, on this episode of Good Faith Effort, it’s precisely that thesis that we try to defend! Rabbi Ari had on brilliant up-and-coming writer Chaya Sara Oppenheim to discuss the ‘cemetery culture’ that has grown up around the town of...

One of the climactic moments of the Renaissance was the European rediscovery of the Hebrew language. Knowledge of Hebrew—and intensive study of both the Hebrew Bible and Jewish rabbinic literature—would sweep across Europe, and end up fundamentally reshaping everything from personal spirituality to the nature and structure of politics in the West. And yet, at the very same time all of this was und...

How do we navigate in an age where our access to information is limitless? How do we read better? How do we write well? How do we seek out valuable new things? And why is it also more important than ever to hold on to—or discover!—the virtues of ancient wisdom? To unpack all of this, Rabbi Ari spoke with David Perell—one of the most prolific writers, teachers and podcasters in the world of new med...

If you want to tell the story of popular music globally in the last century, you really can’t do it without telling the story of American pop music. And if you want to tell the story of AMERICAN pop music, well, that story begins and ends with the Black American community: jazz, the blues, gospel music, rock n’ roll, R&B, and hip-hop. And if you want to tell the story of that community, you also n...

Say you’re one of the biggest stars in the world. You’re making hit TV shows and huge movies. You’re influencing millions upon millions of people.  And you’re a kid. How do you deal with the challenges, and how might you seize the opportunities? Is it possible to be deeply mission-driven in such a world? This week, Rabbi Ari spoke with Kel Mitchell, the two-time Emmy-nominated actor and comedian w...

Human equality. Justice for all. Political liberty. Hope in the face of despair. We take all of these for granted as essential components of a good life and virtuous society. But where do they come from? Will you find them in Plato and Aristotle? In Cicero or Plotinus? What if we can’t? On this week’s episode, Rabbi Ari sat down with Dru Johnson, Professor of Biblical Studies and Director of the C...

When we think of the Biblical story, we usually think of a beleaguered population of former slaves fleeing for their lives into a desert. But if you read the Bible’s account of the Israelite story, you’ll see that they’re consistently called upon to take up arms in their own defense. What insight could we gain from interpreting the Bible from a military perspective? On this week’s episode, Rabbi A...

The emperors of Rome traditionally promoted themselves as deities—as human beings who had ascended to godhood by virtue of their political might. In America, of course, we do not have god-kings, nor do we deify the great leaders of our past. But if there were any political figure in American history about whom it could be said that he had achieved some sort of genuine transcendence beyond the usua...

America has now gone through this multi-decade long period where the fashionable belief was that people are at their best when living unfettered lives. Things like community, tradition, religion, are mostly—in this view—just hokey, backward relics of a bygone, credulous era. And while living without these things may make us kind of miserable…at least it’s safe and comfortable! If there’s one thing...

John Selden. A name most people today have never heard. But at one of the most crucial political turning points in the history of the West —17th century England — he was widely known as the most brilliant man in Europe, England’s most accomplished lawyer, and a leading Member of Parliament so respected that both sides of the English Civil War desperately sought to recruit him to their side. His id...

What will it take to build a dynamic future for our society? We talk a lot about infrastructure, manufacturing, supply chains, defense, biotech. But what about restoring a sense of mission, purpose, community and shared values? A truly bright future needs a new Great Awakening—it needs faith. But how do we build that in the world of digital media and tech? To unpack all this, Rabbi Ari brought on...

If there’s one thing Western society needs right now, it’s the rejuvenation of community. But what does it take to rebuild community out of the ashes of COVID, and in the face of a loneliness epidemic sweeping across America and the West at large? To unpack all of this, Rabbi Ari spoke to a man who quite literally does this for a living — David Siegel, CEO of Meetup, the largest social media platf...

We often think of religion as this thing you learn about through texts. Through studying in a seminary. Through quiet contemplation. But as far as the Bible is concerned, religion is so much more than that! It’s embodied, it’s traditional, it reaches every single nook and cranny of our lives. And it’s deeply sensory. It’s about sights, sounds…even smells and tastes! So what can we learn about reli...

What does it take to produce one of the most popular podcasts in the world? Especially when it's about the Bible? Rabbi Ari spoke to Tara Leigh Cobble, host of The Bible Recap podcast, about the importance of daily study; the most underrated characters in the Book of Judges; the Bible's political wisdom; the importance of experiencing the Bible in Hebrew (even for those who don't speak or read it!...