A podcast about our Sacred values and how we can talk to people who are different from ourselves.
Each episode features a conversation with someone who has a public voice, from academics to journalists, playwrights and politicians. We ask them where they have come from, what they are trying to do and what might help heal our very divided public conversations.
The Sacred is hosted by Elizabeth Oldfield and produced in partnership with Comment Magazine, and with support from The Jerusalem Trust and Open Society Foundation
Latest episodes
Showing 20 · updated from the feed
Art, Friendship and Trust Across the Israeli-Palestinian Divide | FeelBeit Founders
What Does It Take to Create a Shared Home in a Divided City?
In Jerusalem, two women from opposite sides of the Israeli-Palestinian divide, Riman Barakat and Karen Brunw
Oct 7 50 min
Can Bourgeois Values Save Britain? James Vitali on Ownership and Obligation
Can you really vote your way to a good society - or does it have to be built house by house, street by street?
Dr James Vitali - Head of Political Economy at Policy Exch
Sep 23 57 min
Preparing to Die, Then Learning to Live Again with Poet Christian Wiman
What does it mean to prepare to die—and then discover that you need to prepare to live again?
In this conversation, poet Christian Wiman reflects on faith, poetry, love,
Sep 9 1 h 11 min
Why We Need to Be in Our Bodies Together
What are we losing by spending so much of our lives behind screens?
COVID-19 brought the whole world online, and as a podcast we kind of stayed there. This season, we ma
Aug 19 7 min
How to Belong When You’ve Always Been An Outsider with Rabbi Angela Buchdahl
What do you do when you feel like an outsider?
We spoke to Rabbi Angela Buchdahl who turned her experience of being a cultural and religious outsider into a source of st
Aug 5 1 h 12 min
Why Are Our AI Conversations So Divided?
We talk a lot about the harms and benefits of AI, but we don’t talk enough about what the conversations about AI might actually be doing to us.
Perhaps the biggest chal
Jul 29 3 min
The Ancient Wisdom in Fairy Tales | Dr Sharon Blackie
Why do stories matter? Why have human beings always told stories - and what if the oldest stories still have something vital to teach us?
In this episode of The Sacred,
Jul 22 1 h 04 min
The Economics of the Life We Want with Sam Bowman
Whether we know it or not, economics shapes almost every part of our lives - where we live, whether we can afford children, how much time we have with the people we love,
Jul 8 1 h 08 min
"I'm Painfully British": What it Means to be British and Muslim Right Now | Mehreen Khan
What does it mean to be visibly Muslim in British public life right now?
Mehreen Khan has been living that question since she was eleven years old - when 9/11 turned he
Jun 24 1 h 09 min
Boarding School Britain and The Things We Normalise | Hugo Rifkind
Hugo Rifkind has spent his career observing power. He also grew up inside it — and never quite felt he belonged there.
In this episode, he talks about:
The Scottish b
Jun 10 1 h 09 min
Psychedelics, Consciousness and Changing Your Mind | Michael Pollan
Michael Pollan tried psychedelics at 55. What he found changed everything he thought he knew.
Michael is not a mystic or a guru. He is the kind of writer that scientists
May 27 1 h 03 min
Bake Off, Alopecia & Learning to Be Yourself with Jasmine Mitchell
What happens after winning Bake Off?
Jasmine Mitchell joins us to talk about perfectionism, alopecia, self-image, and learning to be fully yourself in a world obsessed
May 13 55 min
Why I’m Still Hooked On This Podcast (After 9 Years!)
Nearly a decade into The Sacred, we’re still doing the same thing: having honest and curious conversations with people who see the world differently.
We're wondering why
Apr 16 11 min
The Myth of the Neutral Human with Leah Libresco Sargeant
The world wasn’t built for everyone. Leah Libresco Sargeant on feminism, care, and the myth of the “neutral” human.
Join our community of people listening curiously to d
Apr 1 1 h 11 min
Are You Living a Life You Didn’t Choose? With Dr Rangan Chatterjee
What actually shapes the life you’re living - your own choices, or the ones you inherited?
In this episode of The Sacred, we are with Dr Rangan Chatterjee exploring the
Mar 18 1 h 00 min
I Don’t Believe in the Sacred | Doubt, Reading and Muddling Through with Stig Abell
We spoke to Stig Abell on how to live if nothing is ultimately sacred.
Elizabeth Oldfield and Stig explore detective fiction and our longing for justice, the consolatio
Mar 4 1 h 06 min
Can We Save the Family by Abolishing It? With Sophie Lewis
In this episode, Elizabeth Oldfield is joined by political theorist and author Sophie Lewis to explore one of the most provocative ideas: the abolition of the family.
Re
Feb 18 1 h 18 min
Why Love, Not Wealth, Changes Everything with Jo Colman
In this episode of The Sacred, Elizabeth Oldfield is joined by Jo Colman - great-great-great grandchild of the founder of Colman’s Mustard and now Chief Mint Officer of t
Feb 4 1 h 04 min
The Cost of Integrity: Inside the Trump Administration with Elizabeth Neumann
Elizabeth Neumann, a former senior official in the Trump Administration, reflects on why she felt called to serve, what she witnessed from inside government, and how her
Jan 21 1 h 24 min
George Monbiot on Exposing Power and the Fight to Save Our Planet
In this episode Elizabeth Oldfield speaks with writer, environmentalist, and activist George Monbiot - a fiercely anti-establishment voice shaped by resistance, trauma, a
Jan 7 1 h 11 min
Chart trend
Position in the Relationships chart (US), last 90 days.
#1#100#199JulAugSepOct
#75
all-time peak
6
days in the top 100 since Nov 2024
Chart positions
Where The Sacred ranks today in each Apple Podcasts chart (US, Oct 11, 2026).
A curated, balanced selection of Apple Podcasts reviews.
In terms of being drawn to people like ourselves: I highly recommend Richard Rohrs teaching/4 podcast series about “The Cosmic Egg”. It’s a paradigm or teaching tool— we need all 3 parts of the Egg. The inner is My Story. The middle part of the Egg is Our Story (all our groups and affiliations) and the outermost part is The Story. Without one or the other we never achieve spiritual wholeness. It’s truly a wonderful map and invitation to grow outside of ourselves and even our groups— to find and revere all of humanity and God’s creation/entire cosmos.
JennyClarkeB · Dec 2024
To me, conversation and communication are sacred, so it does my soul good to hear vulnerable humans-- humans who often come from different worlds-- hold that value up in an effort to grow. Just through listening, I have too.
Stephen Kelly · May 2024
So glad to discover “The Sacred.” I don’t think I realized how much I needed what these conversations offer. In podcast Babylon, these voices cut through. I’m deeply grateful. And as of today, thinking harder about what o hold acts - and how to listen better to voices outside my own tribe. Thank you.
KittyInDc · Jun 2022
love this podcast! it’s thoughtful and deeply peaceful - a moment of meditation in my day to consider what’s really important - a nice break from the horrible news. particularly enjoyed your interview with David Kruger - i have a few new books to add to my reading list now :)
DS4769 · May 2022
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Here you find the Apple Podcasts chart positions of The Sacred, its latest episodes to listen to directly, and reviews from listeners. Rankings are updated daily for the United States.
