Sister Carino Hodder says the call to chastity applies just as much to spouses and to single people looking for romance as it does to consecrated religious.

Andreas Knapp, a member of the Little Brothers of the Gospel says wealth is not only an unwieldy burden, but is incompatible with love of neighbor.

Dori Moody relates the story of her grandparents marriage. Even though they separated, they remained faithful to one another.

Randall Gauger, a Bruderhof pastor, discusses how lifelong vows make mutual faithfulness possible.

Caitrin Keiper writes of the vows in Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables that brokenness does not erase the hope in any person when the cycle of retribution breaks for grace.

Kelsey Osgood, an Orthodox Jew, writes that we live in an age that glorifies self-care, but any attempt to deny oneself something pleasurable is suspect.

Susannah talks with Zohar Atkins, a rabbi and philosopher, about vows in Nietzsche, in other philosophers, and in the Jewish theological tradition.

Are vows the origin of private conscience and thus the origin of secularism? Can human vows provide the kind of transcendence and eternity that even existentialists seek? Is it presumptuous to take a vow?

Then, Susannah and Peter discuss what they’ve learned from editing the Vows issue of the magazine and doing the Vows season of the podcast.

After that, they take listener questions – is it wrong to vow at all? How can we ensure that vows are made in love? And what are the hosts’ favorite cooking spices?

Peter and Susannah have a long conversation with Professor Robert P. George of Princeton University.

A veteran of the pro-life movement, Robert P. George reflects on the opportunity that we now have to build just laws that support the wellbeing of mothers and their children, and, echoing Lincoln, of the need to heal the division between pro-life and pro-choice Americans as much as possible, without compromising on what we believe to be right.

He discusses his thoughts about the non-libertarian future of pro-life politics, and the need for supporting both private and public aid to mothers and families. 

Peter and Susannah talk to Justin Giboney of The AND Campaign about polarization in American political life. They discuss practical matters: How can we seek common ground without wimping out? How can we work across the aisle?

They also talk about the role of the Black church. What is the unique contribution that that tradition can make to our ongoing discussions of the proper interaction between faith and politics?

Then, Peter and Susannah speak with Lydia S. Dugdale. There are now no doctors in America who are required to take the Hippocratic Oath; generally, if doctors take an oath at all, it is one of their own devising, which changes from year to year. In a medical culture like this, what is lost? What is the purpose of medicine, anyway? Is there a purpose to it beyond treating patients as customers and giving them what they want?

Susannah and Peter speak with Kelsey Osgood about her piece “The Dance of Devotion.” What’s the difference between a figure skater whose sport requires a strict regimen of training and eating, and an observant Jew whose life is also constrained by specific rules? Why is our society more friendly to the one than to the other? Why are we uncomfortable with the concept of a discipline that’s a matter of obedience to God rather than to a trainer or to one’s own choice of lifestyle fad? 

Then, they talk with King-Ho Leung about his piece “The One Who Promises.” What’s the difference between a vow and an oath? How have vows been seen in Jewish and Christian thought? 

He examines the teachings of Philo of Alexandria, of St. Thomas Aquinas, and of Martin Luther in his attempt to understand how our ability to make vows is rooted in God’s own faithfulness, in the nature of language, and in His identification with the Logos, the Word.