In this episode, Frank Schaeffer speaks with Leah Libresco Sargeant about her book The Dignity of Dependence.

They explore the cultural pressure to be independent and the reality that human life is built on care, responsibility, and connection.

From women’s experiences of the body to broader questions about family, politics, and faith, this conversation looks at what it means to live honestly in a world that values autonomy over relationship.

In this episode, Frank Schaeffer speaks with Dr. Terence Lester, PhD about his journey from hardship to scholarship, and the deeper work of becoming a healing presence for your children.

They discuss trauma, race, poverty, and faith, along with Lester’s Project Open Fridge and his commitment to addressing food insecurity.

The conversation moves beyond biography into something more personal. What do we carry from our past, and what do we choose not to pass on?

I talked with Becky Garrison about her new book Gaslighting for God in this 2 part conversation, starting with spiritual narcissism, MAGA, Trump, and religious trauma, and why both conservative and progressive spaces can become shaped by control and image. Then we shift to what comes next, including hope, the limits of satire, the collapse of celebrity leadership, and why real change may be happening in smaller, more local, more human ways.

I sat down with Gina Goldhammer to talk about her novel Where Snowbirds Play, which is set in 1991 at what she describes as the end of the golden age of Palm Beach, a world of wealth, influence, and powerful people living inside their own closed social orbit.

Why do couples who genuinely love each other struggle to stay in love? Why does criticism from a partner hurt so deeply? And why do defensiveness and misunderstanding so often replace real communication? And how have changing expectations between men and women complicated marriage in ways our parents and grandparents never experienced?

Writer Kate Cohen discusses her new Substack “Scratch,” exploring the human need to cook, build, sew, and create in a world increasingly dominated by algorithms and AI.

Marianne Leone joins Frank Schaeffer to discuss her novel Christina the Astonishing, growing up Italian-American under Irish Catholic nuns, religious trauma, losing faith after her father’s death, The Sopranos, and why bold girls survive institutions built to silence them.

Frank Schaeffer talks with Andrew Lownie about Prince Andrew, the Epstein scandal, and the monarchy’s uncertain future after Entitled.

I sat down with Jason G. Green to talk about his memoir Too Precious to Lose. He served in the Obama White House, but this book is about something deeper; family, race, memory, and the kind of community that shapes a life. It’s a thoughtful conversation about where we are as a country and what we risk losing.

Historian and ordained Episcopal priest Randall Balmer joins Frank Schaeffer to discuss his powerful new book, America’s Best Idea. Together they explore the true history of church-state separation, the myth of America as a Christian nation, the Treaty of Tripoli, the Supreme Court’s recent rulings, and why evangelical Christians may lose the most if Christian nationalism succeeds. A truth-telling conversation about democracy, faith, and the First Amendment.

Why the MAGA movement is far smarter, and far more dangerous, than liberals want to admit.

Political theorist Laura K. Field joins me to expose the philosophical, religious, and institutional ideas driving the MAGA New Right. From elite Catholic theorists to post-liberal power strategies, this conversation reveals why Trumpism didn’t come out of nowhere, and why ignoring it is no longer an option.

Frank Schaeffer speaks with William J. Kole about guns, fear, and how white evangelical Christianity drifted away from the teachings of Jesus.

A conversation about play, attention, and why being fully present with children is some of the most important work we do.

I’ve spent a lifetime raising children and helping raise grandchildren. In this conversation with Christopher Mannino, I found myself recognizing ideas I’ve learned not from books, but from years of showing up. This is about play, imagination, and why presence — not performance — is what children remember.

Drawing on decades of humanitarian work, Sharon reflects on accountability, choice, faith, and why good intentions alone are not enough. We talk about suffering not as an abstract problem, but as something that asks something of us in our communities, our institutions, and our daily lives.

Novelist TJ Poortinga joins me to talk about Electric Orange, a darkly comic, theologically sharp warning written from inside evangelical culture. We unpack Christian nationalism, masculinity, media rage, and why secular America keeps misreading religious power.

Filmmaker Petra Costa and producer Alessandra Orofino join Frank Schaeffer to explore how evangelical movements fused with authoritarian politics in Brazil—and why the same forces are reshaping democracy in the United States.