For decades, discussions of poverty and inequality in America have tended to focus on cities. That’s understandable—cities are often the places where income disparities are most visible. 

But as poverty researchers Kathryn Edin, H. Luke Schaefer, and Timothy Nelson argue in their recent book The Injustice of Place, traditional income-based indicators of poverty can mask the “deep disadvantage” faced by rural communities across the country. 

On this episode, they join associate editor Regina Munch to discuss how centuries of resource extraction, racism, and “internal colonization” have blocked the advancement of regions like Appalachia, southern Texas, and the “cotton belt” from sharing in American prosperity. 

For further reading:

• Luke Mayville on how progressives can win in rural America 
• An interview with poverty expert Matthew Desmond
• The editors on pandemic-era relief bills

Vinson Cunningham is one of the most dynamic critics working today. Best known as the New Yorker’s theater critic and co-host of the weekly podcast Critics at Large, he’s also the author of the novel Great Expectations, based on his experience working for the Obama campaign in 2008.

On this episode, Cunningham joins Commonweal contributing writer Anthony Domestico for a discussion about criticism—engaging deeply with a work of art on a personal level, and then responding in writing and speech—as a way of life. Along the way, they also touch on the theological dimensions of Great Expectations.

Anybody, Cunningham argues, can be a critic. All it takes is curiosity, and the willingness to share your observations with others. 

For further reading: 

• Vinson Cunningham on Pope Francis’s Fratelli tutti
• William Giraldi on criticism as an act of love
• Paul Baumann reviews Barack Obama’s memoir

We’re all familiar with the tired stereotype of the “God of the Old Testament,” a capricious creator Who subjects His chosen people to endless cycles of punishment and retribution. 

But in her reading of the Book of Genesis, novelist and essayist Marilynne Robinson describes a God of gentleness, one wildly in love with creation and humanity.

In this special episode of the Commonweal Podcast, moderated by senior editor Matt Boudway, poet and memoirist Christian Wiman joins Robinson for a conversation about the Book of Genesis. 

Robinson and Wiman also discuss scripture and theology more generally—especially as the two practice it through fiction and poetry. 

For further reading: 

• Marilynne Robinson on forgiveness in Genesis
• Christian Wiman on the Bible as poetry
• Jack Miles on the Bible and translation

The past year or so hasn’t been the best one for higher education. Debates over affirmative action, free speech, and affordability, combined with recent cuts to the humanities, have led many to wonder what the future holds. 

Here to speak about all of this is Nicholas Dirks, former chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley, and author of City of Intellect: The Uses and Abuses of the University. 

Dirks argues that we certainly need structural change. Even more important is that colleges and universities return to their core functions: the pursuit of free inquiry, reasoning about fundamental human values, and training future generations of engaged citizens. 

For further reading: 

• Zena Hitz on why we need the humanities
• Nancy Dallavalle on whether Catholic colleges have a future
• Our recent editorial on affirmative action and affordability

Recent weeks have seen an intensification of the Republican campaign against Catholic groups that offer assistance to migrants and refugees along the southern border.  

Last month, Texas state attorney general Ken Paxton announced a lawsuit against Annunciation House, a network of houses of hospitality run by Catholic volunteers in El Paso, Texas.

On this special episode, activist Ruben Garcia, director of Annunciation House, speaks with associate editor Regina Munch about the recent controversy—and why we need comprehensive immigration reform. 

For further reading: 

• Brett Hoover on the inadequacies of migration metaphors
• An interview with El Paso bishop Mark Seitz
• Alejandro Nava describes working at a hospitality house in Tucson
• Susan Bigelow Reynolds attends an Easter Vigil in Matamoros

For many religious people, the pandemic accelerated a decline in institutional allegiance and trust that was already well underway. Many Catholics stopped attending Mass and still haven’t returned.

One figure who thinks deeply about the contemporary decline in religious practice and affiliation is Irish poet and theologian Pádraig Ó Tuama, host of the weekly podcast Poetry Unbound and author of the new book Being Here: Prayers for Curiosity, Justice, and Love.

On this episode, he joins associate editor Griffin Oleynick for a conservation sparked by this collection of ‘anarchic’ prayers. Touching on the Church’s difficult relationship with women, LGTBQ people, and abuse victims, Ó Tuama testifies to the peace and freedom made possible by laying down “the burden of belief.”

For further reading: 

• A collection of essays on staying in and leaving the Church
• Christian Wiman on poetry in the Bible
• A profile of the poet Fanny Howe

For the first time, a majority of Americans now live in the suburbs—places that have been transformed over the past several decades by boom-and-bust construction cycles and rapid demographic shifts.

On this episode, associate editor Regina Munch speaks with journalist Benjamin Herold about his new book Disillusioned: Five Families and the Unraveling of America’s Suburbs, which profiles five families in the suburbs of Dallas, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Chicago, and Los Angeles. 

American suburbs were never sustainable, Herold argues. They were built for upwardly mobile white families, who extracted wealth and benefits before moving further out and sticking subsequent generations—often families of color—with the bill. 

Now that we’ve begun reckoning with this painful legacy, Herold invites us to look for seeds of renewal.

For further reading: 

• Bill McKibben explains what’s wrong with the ‘burbs
• Max Holleran on American housing scarcity
• Diane Ravitch on the fight over public education

For decades, Fr. Columba Stewart, a Benedictine Monk of St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota, has traveled the world in an effort to preserve manuscripts belonging to endangered communities. 

On this episode, Fr. Stewart joins Commonweal editor Dominic Preziosi to discuss how he first got involved in this work, the care and attention it requires, and why digitizing ancient manuscripts remains so necessary. 

These texts, Fr. Stewart points out, are in a sense the original “internet of things.” Books and fragile documents carry not just the stories and ideas that connected diverse communities, but also the physical traces of the individual scribes and librarians who cared for them.

For further reading: 

• Luke Timothy Johnson on the earliest Christian manuscripts
• Jonathan Malesic on how monks put work in its place
• A profile of Columba Stewart in Harper’s Magazine 

Last month, Commonweal hosted a book launch in New York City with poet Christian Wiman. The topic was his new book Zero at the Bone: 50 Entries Against Despair, a mixture of poetry, essays, quotations, and close readings. 

The former editor of Poetry magazine and now a professor at Yale Divinity School, Wiman has long been an admirer of Commonweal. As he told the audience, he dutifully reads every issue cover to cover.

On this episode, we’re featuring some of the conversation from that evening—including Wiman reading and discussing his poetry—and his interview with Commonweal senior editor Matthew Boudway.

More from Christian Wiman in Commonweal: 

• The radical vision of poet Lucille Clifton
• Listening to the poetry of the Bible
• On the mystic Etty Hillesum

On this special year-end episode, we’re revisiting four of our favorite conversations from the past year. 

Sociologist Matthew Desmond explains how the United States can choose to abolish poverty. Sr. Helen Prejean and singer Ryan McKinney discuss the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Dead Man Walking. Poet-scholar and slam champion Joshua Bennett talks about the history of spoken word. And philosopher Zena Hitz unpacks the spirit of “wholeheartedness” at the center of religious life. 

Listen to the full conversations here: 

• Matthew Desmond on poverty in America
• Sr. Helen Prejean and Ryan McKinney on Dead Man Walking
• Joshua Bennett on spoken word poetry 
• Zena Hitz on the essence of religious life

American workers have fared poorly in recent decades, suffering the loss not just of purchasing power, but of political power, too. 

On this episode, Commonweal senior editor Matt Boudway speaks with journalist Sohrab Ahmari, a conservative political commentator and editor whose new book Tyranny, Inc critiques corporate power in a way that will resonate with left wing progressives. 

It’s time for a new left-right consensus on labor, Ahmari argues, and enhancing the collective bargaining power of workers is crucial to the project of restoring American democracy. But can the Republican Party really help do that? 

For further reading: 

• Our review of Ahmari’s Tyranny, Inc.
• Regina Munch on corporate consumerism
• Joseph McCartin on the scourge of wage suppression