We are living through times that often feel like one long commentary on Joni Mitchell’s line “you don’t know what you got till it’s gone.” From quotidian encounters on the street to public sacraments, hospitality in the flesh to basic truth-telling from our leaders,...
Politics
Politics and Political Service
Oliver O'Donovan
The fabric of common speech that binds us together is vulnerable… What recourse do we have when we face a breakdown in political discussion, when everyone speaks to themselves and nobody listens?
Illiberal Feminism
Leah Libresco Sargeant, Jennifer Frey, Susannah Black
“Free is not your right to choose, it’s answering what’s asked of you, to give the love you’ve found until it’s gone.”
In this event, co-sponsored by Breaking Ground and Sargeant’s newsletter Other Feminisms, Sargeant is joined by Susannah Black and Jennifer Frey to discuss what the politics of dependence looks like, and how our present culture asks women to reject their own nature.
Praying Through the Political Divides in the Family
Aryana Petrosky Roberts
“I knew we were about to enter the point where we both had deaf ears, loud mouths. I knew then, as I know now, that political debate doesn’t change minds. I knew that I loved him. I knew that I don’t know everything. I knew that I might easily be a fool.
So, on a whim, I asked my dad if he wanted to pray with me.”
The Politics of Friendship and Thanksgiving
Susannah Black
This year’s Thanksgiving is a strange one: it comes amid what continues to feel like a penitential season, both because of COVID and because of America’s ongoing reckoning with its own past, and with its future together. COVID had originally seemed to me as though it...
Politics Strike Back: Survival in a Pandemic
Jake Meador
The flourishing of individuals is premised on relationships of mutual care and fidelity that radiate outward. COVID-19 exposes the death of our current order and calls us back to that mutual love, writes Jake Meador.
Leadership in Uncertain Times
Ed O'Malley
Uncertainty reigns. The pandemic and associated economic strife define the era. We face collective questions: What do we value most? What is the connection between health and the economy? Personal questions are ever present too. Should I attend the funeral? Should we...
In Search of Some Political Humility
Anne Snyder
“Take a breath,” most of us were probably told as kids. “Slow down.” It’s rarely bad advice. In a high-stakes political battle like this week’s presidential election, I found myself grateful for some days of uncertainty, a chance for a hysterical nation to press pause...
Become America
Eric Liu, Michael Gerson
Michael Gerson: Eric, I really enjoyed your timely and important book. One of the most remarkable things about it is its form. I want to start off by asking: Why wrap civic engagement in the form of religion? Eric Liu: First of all, I’m so grateful we’re having this...
What to an Immigrant Is the Third of November?
Dhananjay Jagannathan
A nationalism rooted in values encourages us to be fierce in our opposition to injustices that lie outside our immediate gaze. It tends to foster fellow-feeling beyond the bonds of immediate affinity. It gives us orientation when difficult political questions face us, while also inspiring us to reject the politics of friend and enemy.