Maria Weiss finds pain and friendship in the enforced community of outcasts at a Paraguayan leper colony.

Zito Madu describes how his parents’ insistence on reserving an entire room in their small house for books expanded his world.

Leah and Susannah grill Fredrik deBoer on the state of leftist politics.

What happened in 2020 and why have things not changed more? How does a self-described leftist perceive the stakes and priorities of America’s political divide? What happens when labor power is no longer at the center of leftist politics?

They then discuss his 2020 book The Cult of Smart, and Leah presses him on where he derives his sense of the existential worth of each human being.

Maureen Swinger describes what it is like to live in a Bruderhof community where you possess nothing but share everything.

As the Industrial Revolution took off, writes Jack Bell, William Cobbett rose in defense of the cottage economy.

Hannah Long, Leah Libresco Sargeant, Alastair Roberts, and Susannah Black Roberts discuss the Barbie Movie.

Does it have a moral? What is Gerwig trying to say about feminism, men and women, capitalism, and so on? Is it a confused mess or deeply insightful?

The primary problem that the movie is designed to critique is the deeply unsatisfying nature of contemporary masculinity and femininity, and the poverty of the “Girlboss” as a model for female adulthood.

But what does it offer as an alternative? Is there a vision for a way forward for Ken as well as Barbie? And what does it imply about the disembodiment of contemporary life?

Clare Coffey says that in multilevel marketing, friendship is not the means to the sell – it is the thing being sold.

The PloughCast team talks with a philosopher and cultural commentator about money.

David Bentley Hart reflects on how his experience translating the New Testament impacted his understanding of Jesus’ teaching on mammon. How are we supposed to live out these extreme and demanding teachings? What is the role of Proverbs-style Old Testament prudence in the life of a New Testament disciple?

They also discuss why joining a community like the Bruderhof is not enough, and why the separation between private piety and political economy makes no sense. In a world where we are still waiting for the kingdom to finally come, how can we pursue living in that kingdom?

The first chapter of Eugene Vodolazkin’s new novel, A History of the Island, the chronicle of an island from medieval to modern times.

The PloughCast team talk with Paul Kingsnorth about artificial intelligence and demons.

Kingsnorth, an environmental activist, novelist, former Wiccan priest, and recent Christian convert, joins Susannah, Madoc, and Alan to talk about the eternal temptations represented by technological society.

How has his recent conversion changed the way he experiences the world? What insights from his earlier life and work have persisted, which ones have been transformed, and what is the relationship between the worship of Mammon and the dangers posed by AI?

They also discuss how to live well in the coming age, and the lessons to be drawn from the Desert Fathers.