The Living Past: Current events explained through history.

Every Christmas, loving parents deliberately deceive their children. They eat the cookies. Move the presents. Invent the evidence. And everyone calls it magic. That may tell us something important about human nature. We...

We live in a culture obsessed with improving the final 2% while millions of people still haven't secured the first 80%. From peptides, sleep trackers, greens powders, luxury water, recovery devices, and celebrity...

We’ve somehow reached a point where people worry about sleep scores, peptides, special water, and recovery gadgets while barely sleeping, barely exercising, or carrying credit-card debt. This episode asks how that...

How did a faith centered on loving your neighbor become so closely associated with political power and cultural conflict? Jesus spoke constantly about caring for the poor, loving your enemies, welcoming the stranger...

"Love your enemies." "Blessed are the poor." "Judge not." "Sell what you have and give to the poor." Those are some of Jesus' most famous teachings. So how did a faith built on compassion, humility, and caring for the...

The working class feels forgotten. The middle class feels squeezed. Young people feel locked out of the future. Older Americans feel like the country they grew up in is disappearing. Immigrants are angry. Native-born...

Why does it seem like everyone in America is angry? The poor are angry. The middle class is angry. The wealthy are angry. Young people, retirees, immigrants, conservatives, liberals... everyone seems convinced that...

Why do good people stay silent when they see bad behavior? Why do families excuse the child who keeps crossing the line? Why do companies protect toxic employees? Why do churches cover up abuse? Why do political parties...

How does a society go from saying, "That's unacceptable," to "That's just how things are?" It doesn't happen overnight. It happens one excuse at a time. One compromise. One moment where speaking up feels too...

In this episode, we explore the provocative argument that modern news has become immersed in the "machinery of conflict," prioritizing market reactions and geopolitical strategy over the actual lives of ordinary people...

From high school rumors to political parties, California, Cuba, and Vietnam, this episode explores how narratives take on a life of their own. Once a story becomes accepted as reality, facts often stop changing...

From high school rumors to political parties, California, Cuba, and Vietnam, this episode explores how narratives take on a life of their own. Once a story becomes accepted as reality, facts often stop changing...

Let's explore how we can still value cultural icons who vote differently than we do? This podcast explores the "flattening" of human identity, where icons like Hulk Hogan and Taylor Swift are reduced to simple political...

Can we still value cultural icons who vote differently than we do? This podcast explores the "flattening" of human identity, where icons like Hulk Hogan and Taylor Swift are reduced to simple political labels. By...

We're back from our short summer break and ready to dive into yet another topic that runs deep in our society. As the World Cup brings millions of people to the United States, many are discovering a paradox: the country...