Michael Reneau
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Believer. Executive editor of @thedispatch, editor of Dispatch Faith newsletter. Married to a wonderful woman. Father to three boys and a little girl.
Articles by Michael Reneau
The Tumultuous, Remarkable Middle East | Interview: Simon Sebag Montefiore
While The Remnant has played host to many remarkable historians over the years, few have taken us on a more incredible ride than Simon Sebag Montefiore. As such, we’re proud to bestow on Simon our newly formed, not-really-endowed chair of Middle Eastern history.
Amid Cultural Turmoil, ‘Live Faithfully a Hidden Life’
Turn any article into a podcast. Upgrade now to start listening. Members can share articles with friends & family to bypass the paywall. You’re reading Dispatch Faith, our weekly newsletter exploring the intersection of religion and public life from leading writers of various faiths. Hi and happy Sunday. I spend a lot of time thinking about the next generation—specifically how the milieu forming the next generation (actually, generations) is so different than the one I grew up in.
Our Best Stuff on the Debate Over AI
Turn any article into a podcast. Upgrade now to start listening. Members can share articles with friends & family to bypass the paywall. You’re reading The Weekly, a Saturday morning recap of the best Dispatch content of the week, with some additional commentary from Managing Editor Rachael Larimore. Hello and happy Saturday. It’s been not quite four years since OpenAI released ChatGPT, introducing most of us to AI chatbots. Which we used mostly to make silly photos and ask dumb questions.
What We Got Wrong in September
A list of corrections issued by The Dispatch last month. Turn any article into a podcast. Upgrade now to start listening. Members can share articles with friends & family to bypass the paywall. At the end of every month, The Dispatch publishes a list of all the corrections or clarifications we issued that month. You can read why here. If you see something we missed, please email us at corrections@thedispatch.com. Below are the corrections we made in September.
We Still Don’t Understand St. Francis, 800 Years After His Death
Turn any article into a podcast. Upgrade now to start listening. Members can share articles with friends & family to bypass the paywall. You’re reading Dispatch Faith, our weekly newsletter exploring the intersection of religion and public life from leading writers of various faiths. Hi and happy Sunday. Saturday marked the 800th anniversary of the death of St. Francis of Assisi.
The Point of (Religious) Education
Turn any article into a podcast. Upgrade now to start listening. Members can share articles with friends & family to bypass the paywall. You’re reading Dispatch Faith, our weekly newsletter exploring the intersection of religion and public life from leading writers of various faiths. Hi and happy Sunday.
The Peacemaker of Utah | Interview: Spencer Cox
Music 0:00 [drumming] [screaming] [cymbals crashing] Music 0:14 Ladies and gentlemen. Music 0:16 Can I please have your attention? Can you dig it? [crowd cheering] Jonah Goldberg 0:27 Greetings, dear listeners. This is Jonah Goldberg, host of the Remnant Podcast, brought to you by The Dispatch and Dispatch Media.
What Evangelicals Should Learn From Jimmy Carter and Playboy
Turn any article into a podcast. Upgrade now to start listening. Members can share articles with friends & family to bypass the paywall. You’re reading Dispatch Faith, our weekly newsletter exploring the intersection of religion and public life from leading writers of various faiths. Hi and happy Sunday. I’ll be honest: When we launched this newsletter more than two years ago, I did not anticipate working Playboy into a headline, much less insinuating that Christians have something to learn from it.
The Islamic Introspection That Never Came
Turn any article into a podcast. Upgrade now to start listening. Members can share articles with friends & family to bypass the paywall. You’re reading Dispatch Faith, our weekly newsletter exploring the intersection of religion and public life from leading writers of various faiths. Hi and happy Sunday. September 11 is always a somber day, but Friday’s 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on our country felt, at least to me, particularly heavy. Click sign up to start receiving your newsletters.
The Very Bad Midterms to Come for the GOP
Steve Hayes 0:00 [intro music playing] Welcome to the Dispatch Podcast. I'm your host, Steve Hayes. On today's roundtable, we have a long discussion about the Dispatch editorial and the coming post-Trump reality. Then we'll spend a moment on comments by Steve Witkoff to Vladimir Putin as the US pursues negotiations on an end to the Ukraine war. And finally, not worth your time, Labor Day edition.
The Open Veins of Venezuela | Interview: James Story
Thought we’d forgotten about Venezuela here on The Remnant? Think again! As prone as Jonah Goldberg is to getting distracted by the finer things of life—Old English dialects, zombie movies, etc.—he’s kept a weather eye fixed southward on our Bolivarian neighbor.
Will Politically Moderate Christians of Both Parties Work Together?
Turn any article into a podcast. Upgrade now to start listening. Members can share articles with friends & family to bypass the paywall. You’re reading Dispatch Faith, our weekly newsletter exploring the intersection of religion and public life from leading writers of various faiths. Hi and happy Sunday. If you’re like me, you’ve grown accustomed to writing in candidates in federal elections instead of voting for either major party candidate. Click sign up to start receiving your newsletters.
What We Got Wrong in August
A list of corrections issued by The Dispatch last month. Turn any article into a podcast. Upgrade now to start listening. Members can share articles with friends & family to bypass the paywall. At the end of every month, The Dispatch publishes a list of all the corrections or clarifications we issued that month. You can read why here. If you see something we missed, please email us at corrections@thedispatch.com. Below are the corrections we made in August.
Zombies Need Air Conditioning, Too | Interview: Thomas Chatterton Williams
Jonah Goldberg is not a bigot. Yet, as we all know, there are exceptions to every rule. The French are one of those exceptions. In particular, Jonah sees the cheese-eating surrender monkeys’ refusal to embrace America’s foremost gift to the civilized world—air conditioning—as an offense against all reason and good sense. Nevertheless, being a fair-minded man, Jonah is willing to give the French a hearing.
Jews Shouldn’t Need to Check a Government Box
Turn any article into a podcast. Upgrade now to start listening. Members can share articles with friends & family to bypass the paywall. You’re reading Dispatch Faith, our weekly newsletter exploring the intersection of religion and public life from leading writers of various faiths. Hi and happy Sunday. Pending legislation in California would add “Jewish” to the list of boxes one could check to signify their ethnic background. Click sign up to start receiving your newsletters.
Our Best Stuff on Crossing the $40 Trillion Debt Threshold
Turn any article into a podcast. Upgrade now to start listening. Members can share articles with friends & family to bypass the paywall. You’re reading The Weekly, a Saturday morning recap of the best Dispatch content of the week, with some additional commentary from Managing Editor Rachael Larimore. Hello and happy Saturday. The U.S. has crossed a troubling threshold—our national debt now stands at $40 trillion. That’s enough money to buy about 70 percent of all homes in the United States.
Linguists Are Nihilists | Interview: Colin Gorrie
There’s a certain ache in the bones—no, more like pain behind the eyes brought on by fatigue with the world—that overtakes a man when he’s gone too long without talking about etymology. We here at The Remnant have been feeling that deeply, and we know you have too. That’s why Jonah Goldberg is sitting down with fellow word nerd Colin Gorrie to talk about everything he’s ever wanted to know about language. Jonah and Colin cover Old English dialects, prescriptive vs.
Dolly Parton Was a Real One
Her aspirations were bigger than her background, but she never forgot where she came from. Dolly Parton, seen here on November 13, 1978, died on Tuesday at age 80. (Photo by Christian Rose/Roger Viollet via Getty Images) Dolly Parton, seen here on November 13, 1978, died on Tuesday at age 80. (Photo by Christian Rose/Roger Viollet via Getty Images) Turn any article into a podcast. Upgrade now to start listening. Members can share articles with friends & family to bypass the paywall.
‘The One True Libertarian’ | Interview: Jesse Walker
Jonah Goldberg 0:27 Greetings dear, listeners. This is Jonah Goldberg, host of The Remnant Podcast, brought to you by the Dispatch and Dispatch Media. I'm trying to honor what I think is best practices here, and one of the things I think I should be doing more of, if I keep name-dropping authors or writers that are still alive, um, [laughs] and still active, I should probably try to have them on. I've
Religious Tolerance Isn’t Good Enough
Turn any article into a podcast. Upgrade now to start listening. Members can share articles with friends & family to bypass the paywall. You’re reading Dispatch Faith, our weekly newsletter exploring the intersection of religion and public life from leading writers of various faiths. Hi and happy Sunday. Texas has become ground zero for the new wars of religious toleration, with Republicans and conservatives considering legislation barring Muslims from certain religious practices in the state.
Born Jewish, Became a Christian, and Living in the Tension
Turn any article into a podcast. Upgrade now to start listening. Members can share articles with friends & family to bypass the paywall. You’re reading Dispatch Faith, our weekly newsletter exploring the intersection of religion and public life from leading writers of various faiths. Hi and happy Sunday. A few weeks ago in Dispatch Faith, we published a personal essay by Corey Nathan that garnered more engagement than just about any other edition of the year.
No, Not That Napoleon | Interview: Edward Shawcross
Edward Shawcross 0:24 [crowd cheering] Ladies and gentlemen, listeners, this is Jonah Goldberg, host of the Remnant Podcast, brought to you by the Dispatch and Dispatch Media. Um, I normally don't do this, as you know. I'm recording this intro after I've had the, the forthcoming conversation, um, with Edward Shawcross. I really enjoyed it. He is a distinguished historian. He's written a bunch of books. He has his PhD from the University of College London.
The New Right Is Wrong About the ‘Common Good’
Turn any article into a podcast. Upgrade now to start listening. Members can share articles with friends & family to bypass the paywall. You’re reading Dispatch Faith, our weekly newsletter exploring the intersection of religion and public life from leading writers of various faiths. Hi and happy Sunday. The “common good” has become a common talking point in recent years among many folks on the right—including old-school, Reaganite conservatives and those with a more postliberal bent.
What We Got Wrong in July
A list of corrections issued by The Dispatch last month. Sometimes even we make some duds. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images) Sometimes even we make some duds. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images) Members can share articles with friends & family to bypass the paywall. At the end of every month, The Dispatch publishes a list of all the corrections or clarifications we issued that month. You can read why here.
‘Long Liberalism’ | Interview: Jerusalem Demsas
Detractors frequently accuse Jonah Goldberg of being an irrelevant dinosaur. We at The Remnant are proud to say that only one of those accusations is correct. We are also proud to say that Jonah’s dinosaurness does not prevent him from conversing with young, hip, and cool members of today’s media landscape. “Prove it,” you say? Well, today we bring you a podcast with none other than Jerusalem Demsas, founder of The Argument and one of the coolest center-left pundits.
You Can’t Brainrot Your Way to Hope
Turn any article into a podcast. Upgrade now to start listening. Members can share articles with friends & family to bypass the paywall. You’re reading Dispatch Faith, our weekly newsletter exploring the biggest stories in religion and faith. To unlock the full version, become a Dispatch member today. Hi and happy Sunday.
Yes, Jews Are One People. But They Are Divided.
Turn any article into a podcast. Upgrade now to start listening. Members can share articles with friends & family to bypass the paywall. You’re reading Dispatch Faith, our weekly newsletter exploring the biggest stories in religion and faith. To unlock the full version, become a Dispatch member today. Hi and happy Sunday. In last week’s Dispatch FaithI highlighted an exchange printed in Tablet magazine over the idea of Jewish people, and the degree to which Jews around the world are polarized.
Our Best Stuff From a Big Week in the Middle East
Turn any article into a podcast. Upgrade now to start listening. Members can share articles with friends & family to bypass the paywall. Hello and happy Saturday. The situation in the Middle East added a few layers of complexity this week. As the U.S. and Iran traded strikes, the Yemen-based Houthis said they would impose a naval blockade of Saudi ports. Meanwhile, the Trump administration announced Wednesday it had signed a deal with Saudi Arabia to help it build a civilian nuclear program.
The Development Paradox | Interview: Ronald Bailey
Jonah Goldberg 0:27 Greetings, dear listeners. This is Jonah Goldberg, host of the Remnant Podcast, brought to you by The Dispatch and Dispatch Media. It's a rare treat for me. I literally have today one of my oldest friends, I used to work for, I've remained friends with since... I, I don't wanna put a date on it, but like mid-1990s or something like that.
The Great and Powerful Doug
Turn any article into a podcast. Upgrade now to start listening. Members can share articles with friends & family to bypass the paywall. You’re reading Dispatch Faith, our weekly newsletter exploring the biggest stories in religion and faith. To unlock the full version, become a Dispatch member today. Hi and happy Sunday. We’ve covered evangelical pastor Doug Wilson and his ideas a few times in recent years, especially in light of his affiliation with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Does Trump Derangement Syndrome Have a Cure?
Turn any article into a podcast. Upgrade now to start listening. Members can share articles with friends & family to bypass the paywall. You’re reading Dispatch Faith, our weekly newsletter exploring the biggest stories in religion and faith. To unlock the full version, become a Dispatch member today. Hi and happy Sunday.
Be More Like Benjamin Franklin
Turn any article into a podcast. Upgrade now to start listening. Members can share articles with friends & family to bypass the paywall. You’re reading Dispatch Faith, our weekly newsletter exploring the biggest stories in religion and faith. To unlock the full version, become a Dispatch member today. Hi and happy Sunday. If you’re like me, you might be a bit 250’d out.
What We Got Wrong in June
A list of corrections issued by The Dispatch last month. Even monkeys think it's too hot. (Photo by Arvind Yadav/Hindustan Times via Getty Images) Even monkeys think it's too hot. (Photo by Arvind Yadav/Hindustan Times via Getty Images) Members can share articles with friends & family to bypass the paywall. At the end of every month, The Dispatch publishes a list of all the corrections or clarifications we issued that month. You can read why here.
Does J.D. Vance Fear God?
Turn any article into a podcast. Upgrade now to start listening. Members can share articles with friends & family to bypass the paywall. You’re reading Dispatch Faith, our weekly newsletter exploring the biggest stories in religion and faith. To unlock the full version, become a Dispatch member today. Hi and happy Sunday. It’s common for politicians aspiring to continue their climb to release memoirs as they look to the next election. Click sign up to start receiving your newsletters.
This Father’s Day, Pray ‘Our Father’
Turn any article into a podcast. Upgrade now to start listening. Members can share articles with friends & family to bypass the paywall. You’re reading Dispatch Faith, our weekly newsletter exploring the biggest stories in religion and faith. To unlock the full version, become a Dispatch member today. Happy Sunday, and happy Father’s Day. Such a greeting isn’t merely a rote salutation for scholar Dylan Pahman.
Do We Need A Red Caesar? | Interview: Eli Lake
Some people just don’t mind being a cheap date, and of all the names in Jonah Goldberg’s little black book, Eli Lake is probably the easiest catch. Nonetheless, listeners are in for a raucous good time, as Jonah and Eli jump straight in on their reevaluations of Iran, Donald Trump’s desired deal, Trump’s “own goals,” Eli’s upcoming history deepdive, the Bush family’s unfair legacy, elites, celebrity culture, envy, Michael Anton, immigration and culture, and whether we needed Trump in 2016.
The Jewish Antidote to Our Loneliness Epidemic
Turn any article into a podcast. Upgrade now to start listening. Members can share articles with friends & family to bypass the paywall. You’re reading Dispatch Faith, our weekly newsletter exploring the biggest stories in religion and faith. To unlock the full version, become a Dispatch member today. Hi and happy Sunday. Our loneliness epidemic is real, and the onslaught of media networks and technology masquerading as real community isn’t making things better.
What the Pope’s Encyclical Misses About Language
Turn any article into a podcast. Upgrade now to start listening. Members can share articles with friends & family to bypass the paywall. You’re reading Dispatch Faith, our weekly newsletter exploring the biggest stories in religion and faith. To unlock the full version, become a Dispatch member today. Hello and happy Sunday! Michael Reneau is out on PTO this week, so I, your friendly neighborhood ideas editor, will be taking over this week’s edition of Dispatch Faith.
What We Got Wrong in May
A list of corrections issued by The Dispatch last month. Turn any article into a podcast. Upgrade now to start listening. Members can share articles with friends & family to bypass the paywall. At the end of every month, The Dispatch publishes a list of all the corrections or clarifications we issued that month. You can read why here. If you see something we missed, please email us at corrections@thedispatch.com. Below are the corrections and clarifications we made in May.
Magnifica Humanitas Calls Us to See a Face, Not Function
Turn any article into a podcast. Upgrade now to start listening. Members can share articles with friends & family to bypass the paywall. You’re reading Dispatch Faith, our weekly newsletter exploring the biggest stories in religion and faith. To unlock the full version, become a Dispatch member today. Hi and happy Sunday. Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical was bound to be historic for several reasons: It is the first of his pontificate and the first encyclical of the first American pope.
Liberalism’s Sibling Rivalry | Interview: Michael R.J. Bonner
For nearly three decades, Jonah Goldberg has rightly abused Canada for its many crimes: its adoption of the metric system, slanderous contentions about bacon, and dubious claim to Machias Seal Island, to name a few. Recent events have put Jonah in a more conciliatory mood, however, and he has resolved to bring more of our northern neighbors on the show. Today’s token Canadian, Michael R.J. Bonner, joins The Remnant to talk about his recent book on liberalism.
The World’s Oldest Hatred Surfaces in the San Diego Mosque Shooting
Mustafa Akyol is a contributing writer at The Dispatch and a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, where he focuses on the intersection of public policy, Islam, and modernity.
A Theology Against Culture Warring
You’re reading Dispatch Faith, our weekly newsletter exploring the biggest stories in religion and faith. To unlock the full version, become a Dispatch member today. Hi and happy Sunday. “Pluralism” often is treated as a dirty word. The fiercest culture warriors of any sort view the desire of people of different beliefs, convictions, and worldviews to get along in spite of those differences as nothing but capitulation.
If Your Chatbot Offers Prayer, Shut It Down
Turn any article into a podcast. Upgrade now to start listening. Members can share articles with friends & family to bypass the paywall. You’re reading Dispatch Faith, our weekly newsletter exploring the biggest stories in religion and faith. To unlock the full version, become a Dispatch member today. Happy Sunday and happy Mother’s Day! It’s no longer insightful to acknowledge the myriad ways artificial intelligence is going to shape our lives in the coming years.
A Pope You Don’t Have To Think About Every Day
Then came the U.S. and Israel’s strike on Iran on February 28 and Leo’s public statements condemning war. In the weeks since, both President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance have criticized Leo, politicizing his pontificate in a way that it had not been since the first American pope’s election. But assessing Leo’s first year simply through the lens of the last few weeks is a mistake, journalist George Weigel writes in today’s Dispatch Faith.
What We Got Wrong in April
A list of corrections issued by The Dispatch last month. Members can share articles with friends & family to bypass the paywall. At the end of every month, The Dispatch publishes a list of all the corrections or clarifications we issued that month. You can read why here. If you see something we missed, please email us at corrections@thedispatch.com. Below are the corrections and clarifications we made in April.
Resiliency and Change | Interview: Liz Hoffman
Members can share articles with friends & family to bypass the paywall. What will the war in Iran do to global markets? Does Donald Trump have a consistent approach to the economy? Should Jonah Goldberg invest in Flex Seal? For answers to these questions and more, join Jonah as he sits down with business and finance journalist Liz Hoffman to talk about the state of the economy, AI, the Fed, inflation, Polymarket, crypto, the dollar, bonds, COVID, supply chains, and where the market goes from here.
A State Church Isn’t a Panacea for Cultural Problems
Both Protestants and Catholics proffer their own versions of this argument. Many counterarguments focus on how this would be bad for those who don’t subscribe to the tenets of whatever church is to be established. But in this week’s Dispatch Faith, Daniel Bennett argues (rather convincingly, in my opinion) that establishment would also be bad for those whose beliefs might be reflected in such a church.
War, Terrible and Awful | Interview: Mick Ryan
Members can share articles with friends & family to bypass the paywall. Aussie-Remnant relations have always been strong, so we bring you yet another guest from the antipode continent. Retired Australian Army Maj. Gen.
We Need a New ‘Evangelicals and Catholics Together’ Movement
Turn any article into a podcast. Upgrade now to start listening. Members can share articles with friends & family to bypass the paywall. You’re reading Dispatch Faith, our weekly newsletter exploring the biggest stories in religion and faith. To unlock the full version, become a Dispatch member today. Hi and happy Sunday. In my early adult years, I grew to appreciate and admire Charles Colson.
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