With his elite background and dashing looks, the man behind the murder of UnitedHealth C.E.O., Brian Thompson, has become a viral superstar. The public reception of Mangione’s actions paints a chilling picture of our nation. In this episode, we explore some of the implications of lionizing a murderer.

In a provocative new book, sociologist Musa al-Gharbi offers a sweeping theory of wokeness as a recurring social phenomenon—that’s right, we’ve been here before, says al-Gharbi—tied to “elite overproduction.” The book is understandably making waves and we decided to enter the fray of the conversation.

We often talk about the importance of civil disagreement on TOL. In this episode, we do our best to model what it looks like as we both explore a major disagreement with a thinker we deeply admire. We hope it’s helpful to you.

Advent is upon us. For Christians, this is a season centered on Christian hope. But in a world that’s increasingly filled with despair, what does Christian hope actually look like? Though there’s nothing wrong with optimism, it’s a good deal less durable than hope. This becomes especially obvious when the world is falling apart. In this episode, we consider the shape of Christian hope today and we draw generously from Scripture to put flesh and blood on our statements.

It’s Thanksgiving week. We’re supposed to be going through the motions of gratitude—a basic mode of orientation that’s conspicuously absent in our consumer culture. Add to that the increasingly suspicious view of positivity and this particular day becomes more of a challenge. In this episode, we explore the underpinnings of this suspicion and consider how gratitude, far from being a shallow affectation, is actually a basic frame of mind for Christians.