Together for the Common Good Podcast

Susannah Black Roberts, a Senior Editor at Plough Quarterly, dives into profound themes around personhood and the implications of AI on humanity. She discusses the ethical dilemmas posed by AI companions and clarifies the philosophical distinctions between human consciousness and AI imitation. Susannah emphasizes the danger of AI eroding genuine human experience and advocates for a resurgence of authentic, community-oriented practices that reflect Christian values. She also urges a collective re-engagement with intellectual work to nurture human flourishing in an increasingly mechanized world.

In this time of deep change, it is vital to find ways of staying human—and to do so within a constructive story of spiritual and civic renewal. As we recognise the failure of the hyper-liberal philosophy of the past forty years, people are feeling the loss of agency and there a rising sense of discontent. With concentrations of money and state power intensifying, the rapid advance of AI, and the breakdown of trust, our political, cultural, and spiritual life is increasingly marked by confusion.Serious questions lie before us: How can we restore our common life? How can we stay human?In this episode, Jon Cruddas and Maurice Glasman explore Statecraft for the Common Good. Together, they examine how political economy and the state must be organised to address our current crises—and how to do so in light of the challenges and opportunities presented by AI. Rooted in the tradition of Catholic Social Thought, and with deep experience in the mechanics of government, grassroots and parliamentary politics, and as people of faith, they open up the territory for a vital conversation.Download the texts of both lectures here:* From Tragedy to Restoration - Shaping the New Era - Maurice Glasman* From Crisis to Meaning – Renewal and the Spirit of Justice - Jon CruddasJon Cruddas is currently Co-Chair of the Independent Commission on Community and Cohesion, and Co-Leader of the Future of the Left Project at Policy Exchange. Formerly MP for Dagenham for 23 years, Jon is now at the leading edge of the debate around modern industrial relations, work, and employment in the age of artificial intelligence. He is a Senior Fellow at the McDonald Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Life at the University of Oxford and the author of The Dignity of Labour.Maurice Glasman is the Director of the Common Good Foundation and the founder of the Blue Labour movement. Lord Glasman is a life peer and a key figure in the current battle for Labour’s soul, urging the party to reconnect with its founding principles. Alongside his academic and political work, he has for many years been involved in authentic community organising, most recently in Grimsby. He is the author of Blue Labour: The Politics of the Common Good.Just a heads-up: The sound quality in the Q&A part of the recording is a bit patchy. We’re very sorry about this, but we hope you’ll still enjoy this fascinating and informative conversation.This is the second in our Staying Human series. The event was convened and moderated by Jenny Sinclair, Founder Director of Together for the Common Good, and took place on 15 September 2025 in London before an invited audience.Learn more about Together for the Common Good at t4cg.substack.comListen to our sister podcast, Leaving Egypt, where we read the signs of the times and explore what it means to be God’s people in these times of unravelling: leavingegypt.comKnow someone who would like this? Feel free to share this post.This Substack is reader-supported. Please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Together for the Common Good at t4cg.substack.com/subscribe

In this time of deep change, it is vital to find ways of staying human, and to do so within a constructive story of spiritual and civic renewal. Politics is downstream of culture and so there is only so much governments can do - we are all called to play our part in building the common good. In this episode, Luke Bretherton helps the churches to recover the memory of the commons, the God-shaped space where we discover what it means to be human together with others. Framing the challenges ahead within a Christian understanding of political economy, Luke sets out why forms of local association are vital, both as means of staying human, and as a way of resisting the domination of market and state.Luke Bretherton is the Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology at Christ Church, Oxford, where he also directs the McDonald Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Life. This appointment, which was approved by King Charles, also includes ordination – so Luke is a Canon of Christ Church Cathedral and has duties as a Church of England priest. Until recently Luke was the Robert E. Cushman Distinguished Professor of Moral and Political Theology at Duke University in the United States, and Visiting Professor at St Mellitus Theological College, London. He’s written many books, most recently A Primer in Christian Ethics and Christ and the Common Life. Alongside this, Luke draws on his long experience of community organising and from what he has learned from many collaborations with churches, charities and mission agencies.To download the slides that accompany this talk, click hereTo download the text of this talk, click hereThis lecture was held on 19 February 2025 and is the first of our Staying Human Series. Introduced by Jenny Sinclair, founder director of Together for the Common Good, this event was held in partnership with CCLA.Learn more at www.togetherforthecommongood.co.ukListen to our sister podcast, Leaving Egypt where we read the signs of the times and look to local stories of hope in these times of unravelling. Get full access to Together for the Common Good at t4cg.substack.com/subscribe

In this time of seismic change and instability, many of us are finding the scale of injustice overwhelming. It can be inspiring to look to the Christian martyrs for justice whose lives were “written in blood” – extraordinary people whose stories of truth, justice and peace, in the face of indifference and opposition, offered witness to a hope-filled future of solidarity and fraternity. But what are the causes of injustice in our time, and what does it mean to live a life written in blood today? This was the theme set for Jenny Sinclair for the 2023 Justice and Peace Europe General Assembly annual lecture. The lecture was given on 12 November 2023 in the oratory of St John’s co-Cathedral, Valletta, Malta, before the masterpiece the Beheading of St John the Baptist by Caravaggio.Learn more at www.togetherforthecommongood.co.ukListen to our sister podcast, Leaving Egypt where we read the signs of the times and look to local stories of hope in these times of unravelling.Connect with Together for the Common Good: Twitter: https://twitter.com/T4CGFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/TogetherForTheCommonGoodUKInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/t4cg_insta/Connect with Jenny Sinclair:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenny-sinclair-0589783b/ Get full access to Together for the Common Good at t4cg.substack.com/subscribe

Christian social action has grown significantly in the UK over the last two decades. But too often well-intentioned charitable initiatives are disconnected from justice, can deepen dependency and can drift in a secular direction. In a time of profound social and political change and increasing inequality, Jon Kuhrt opens up an honest conversation about impact, power and authentic Christian witness.Watch video here | Download Jon’s text here and a report of the event hereDrawing on the wisdom of the Christian traditions, including Catholic social thought and the theology of Lesslie Newbigin, Jon also reflects on the legacy of Frank Field, in whose honour this talk was given. MP for Birkenhead for forty years, Frank was a committed Christian who put his faith into practice, and was unequalled in his dedication to improving the lives of people trapped in poverty.Jon Kuhrt is Chief Executive of Hope into Action and host of the Grace and Truth Blog. Formerly Jon was the Rough Sleeping Adviser to the UK Government Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, and before that, CEO of West London Mission, and Director of Community Mission for Livability. He lives with his family in South London, and loves cricket.This lecture was held on 15 July 2024, part of our 2024 series exploring the Christian vocation in these uncertain times. You may also be interested in Challenging Power, Changing Practice and Deepening Spirituality: The Future of UK Christian Social Action by Jenny Sinclair and Jon KuhrtListen to our sister podcast, Leaving Egypt where we read the signs of the times and look to local stories of hope in these times of unravelling.Help us continue this work. Please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Together for the Common Good at t4cg.substack.com/subscribe

Matt Petrusek demystifies the new secular ideologies, exploring their origins and features, offering a common good response rooted in the Catholic Social Thought tradition. He shows how this serves as an antidote to identity politics, providing us with not only a worldview shaped around the transcendent nature of the person, but also, in this moment of cultural confusion, an opportunity for evangelisation.Professor Matthew Petrusek is the Senior Director and Professor of Catholic Ethics at the Word on Fire Institute in the US. He writes and lectures on philosophical and theological ethics, Christian theology, politics, social issues and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition. His latest book is Evangelisation and Ideology: How to understand and respond to the political culture.This lecture was held on 1 February 2024 and is part of our 2024 series exploring how Catholic Social Thought helps us stay human and build the common good in these uncertain times. Introduced by Jenny Sinclair, this was held in partnership with Word on Fire UK and CCLA.Learn more at www.togetherforthecommongood.co.ukListen to our sister podcast, Leaving Egypt where we read the signs of the times and look to local stories of hope in these times of unravelling. Get full access to Together for the Common Good at t4cg.substack.com/subscribe

Drawing on Catholic Social Teaching, Sr Helen Alford examines the causes of division from the perspectives of economy, anthropology, truth, freedom and natural law, and explores how the people of the church are called to respond.Sr Helen Alford is president of the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences and Dean of the Faculty for Social Sciences at the Angelicum, Rome’s Pontifical University. An economist, she teaches economic ethics, the history of technology, labour politics, and Catholic social thought. Sr Helen is from England, lives in Rome and is a sister of the Dominican Sisters of Saint Catherine of Siena of Newcastle, Natal.This lecture was given on 27 November 2023 as part a series of nine lectures featuring speakers from different traditions who draw on Catholic Social Thought to explore how the Christian tradition can be a blessing on public life and discourse. Introduced and curated by Jenny Sinclair, these talks were held in partnership with Lincoln Cathedral and CCLA.Learn more at www.togetherforthecommongood.co.ukListen to our sister podcast, Leaving Egypt, where we read the signs of the times and look to local stories of hope in these times of unravelling. Get full access to Together for the Common Good at t4cg.substack.com/subscribe

Drawing on Catholic Social Teaching, Alison Milbank explores the common good approach to the conflicting interests of the environmental crisis and social injustice, and how the local church can be a part of the solution.Alison Milbank is Professor of Theology and Literature at the University of Nottingham and has authored many books. She is Priest Vicar and Canon Theologian at Southwell Minster, and co-founder of the Save the Parish movement. Alison is the author of many books, the latest of which is The Once and Future Parish (SCM, 2023).This lecture was given on 17 October 2023 as part a series of nine lectures featuring speakers from different traditions who draw on Catholic Social Thought to explore how the Christian tradition can be a blessing on public life and discourse. Introduced and curated by Jenny Sinclair, these talks were held in partnership with Lincoln Cathedral and CCLA.Learn more at www.togetherforthecommongood.co.ukListen to our sister podcast, Leaving Egypt, where we read the signs of the times and look to local stories of hope in these times of unravelling. Get full access to Together for the Common Good at t4cg.substack.com/subscribe

Jon Cruddas explores why decent work must be the cornerstone of a politics of the common good and why work is fundamentally a spiritual activity through which people collaborate with God for the redemption of humanity.Jon Cruddas is the Labour MP for Dagenham and Rainham and author of The Dignity of Labour. Jon is an Honorary Professor at the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues at the University of Birmingham. He is also a visiting fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford and a visiting professor at the University of Leicester.This lecture was given on 14 September 2023 as part a series of nine lectures featuring speakers from different traditions who draw on Catholic Social Thought to explore how the Christian tradition can be a blessing on public life and discourse. Introduced and curated by Jenny Sinclair, these talks were held in partnership with Lincoln Cathedral and CCLA. NB. This was rescheduled from 11 July when Jon Cruddas was detained in Parliament.Learn more at www.togetherforthecommongood.co.ukListen to our sister podcast, Leaving Egypt, where we read the signs of the times and look to local stories of hope in these times of unravelling. Get full access to Together for the Common Good at t4cg.substack.com/subscribe

Maurice Glasman addresses the nature of work and how it has changed, how corporations have gained power while workers have lost out. He explores how the framework of Catholic social thought can guide us towards a more just and stable settlement.Lord Glasman is an English political theorist, Labour life peer and Professor of Politics at St Mary’s University. He is author of Blue Labour: the Politics of the Common Good. He is also director of The Common Good Foundation.This lecture was given on 11 July 2023 as part a series of nine lectures featuring speakers from different traditions who draw on Catholic Social Thought to explore how the Christian tradition can be a blessing on public life and discourse. Introduced and curated by Jenny Sinclair, these talks were held in partnership with Lincoln Cathedral and CCLA. NB. Jon Cruddas MP was scheduled to give this lecture, but was detained at the House of Commons. Lord Glasman kindly stepped in and gave this talk off-the-cuff at the last minute. The Jon Cruddas lecture was rescheduled for 14 September 2023 (see below).Learn more at www.togetherforthecommongood.co.ukListen to our sister podcast, Leaving Egypt, where we read the signs of the times and look to local stories of hope in these times of unravelling. Get full access to Together for the Common Good at t4cg.substack.com/subscribe