The Christian Humanist Podcast: Recent Episodes
Michial Farmer
Three Christians, teachers, and intellectuals gather digitally to hold forth on literature, theology, philosophy, and other things human beings do well. Taking the question at hand utterly seriously and ourselves not at all, the Christian Humanists attempt to record weekly during the school year and take on some interesting questions. Our website, should you wish to visit us, is http://www.christianhumanist.org, and our email is thechristianhumanist@gmail.com.
Michial Farmer and Danny Anderson kick off the network's annual Halloween crossover with a discussion of John Carpenter's seminal slasher Halloween.
Michial Farmer and David Grubbs talk about John Updike's long-ish poem "Americana," airports, and hotel rooms.
Yes, Farmer spelled the name of the podcast wrong in the cover art.
Nathan Gilmour talks to guests Carter Stepper and Katie Grubbs about the last few seasons of the science-fiction series The Expanse.
Nathan Gilmour talks to David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about Dana Gioia's recent First Things essay "Christianity and Poetry."
David Grubbs talks to Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about the deuterocanonical Book of Tobit.
We're back! Michial Farmer talks to David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about a 1979 episode of Sears Radio Theater called, appropriately enough, "The Sabbatical." Come listen as we encounter A FATE WORSE THAN DEATH when Melville Pauley winds his way through Vienna.
Nathan Gilmour is joined by Dan Dawson and Blake Miller to talk about the term "deconstruction" and how its connotations shifted in the twenty-first century. Gilmour keeps drifting back to the twentieth century as Miller adn Dawson try to get him with the times.
Nathan Gilmour is joined by Dan Dawson and Blake Miller in the Christian Humanist Radio Network crossover event on The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill, the Christianity Today podcast series. This squad digs into the philosophy of journalism and history-making, posing how and when and why questions about the project.
Nathan Gilmour is joined by Dan Dawson and Victoria Reynolds Farmer in the network's annual Halloween crossover, discussing Edgar Allan Poe's short story "A Descent Into the Maelstrom."
In this year's season finale, Mathew Block talks to David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about the Grimm Brothers and their fairy tale "Brother and Sister."
Michial Farmer talks to David Grubbs and Mathew Block about Book 3, Chapters 82-85 of Thucydides's "History of the Peloponnesian War," and the three reflect on rebellions and revolutions.
Mathew Block talks to Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about the 2006 Will Ferrell film "Stranger Than Fiction."
Michial Farmer talks to David Grubbs and Mathew Block about Sixpence None the Richer's self-titled 1997 album. Yes, the one with "Kiss Me."
David Grubbs dives into St. Bede's "Ecclesiastical History" to talk to Michial Farmer and Mathew Block about the conversion of King Edwin of Northumbria.
Michial Farmer talks to David Grubbs and Mathew Block about three poems by the recent Nobel laureate Louise Glück.
David Grubbs talks to Michial Farmer and Mathew Block about Aelfric of Eynsham's 10th-century Latin primer "The Colloquy."
Mathew Block talks to David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about Sinclair Ross's bleak short story "The Lamp at Noon."
Michial Farmer talks to Mathew Block and David Grubbs about Pope Leo XIII's 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum.
David Grubbs talks to Michial Farmer and Mathew Block about two Robert Hayden poems, "Those Winter Sundays" and "The Whipping."
The weather in Texas kept us from recording this week, so enjoy our 2017 conversation about the L.S.U. album The Grape Prophet, recently reissued digitally and on vinyl.
Mathew Block talks to David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about the important Lutheran document, the Augsburg Confession.
Michial Farmer talks to David Grubbs and Mathew Block about two David Bowie songs: 1969's "Space Oddity" and 1980's "Ashes to Ashes."
David Grubbs talks to Michial Farmer and Mathew Block about the uses Christian humanism can be put to in the Church.
Michial Farmer discusses Shirley Jackson's 1943 short story "Afternoon in Linen" with David Grubbs and new regular co-host, Mathew Block.
Revisit the talk Michial Farmer had with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about the Longfellow poem "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" and recordings of the poem as a Christmas song.
Victoria Reynolds Farmer talks to Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about three Christina Rossetti poems about Advent.
Michial Farmer talks to David Grubbs and Victoria Reynolds Farmer about four paintings by the American artist Edward Hopper: Night Windows, City Roofs, New York Movie, and Room in New York.
David Grubbs talks to Michial Farmer and Victoria Reynolds Farmer about our relationship to the saints.
Victoria Reynolds Farmer talks with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about their regular habits of prayer.
Michial Farmer talks with Victoria Reynolds Farmer and Todd Pedlar about John Coltrane's album "A Love Supreme."
Nathan Gilmour and David Grubbs talk about the patron saint of Ireland, St. Patrick, in this episode from 2016.
David Grubbs talks with Nathan Gilmour and Michial Farmer about some epistles from St. Ignatius of Antioch.
Michial Farmer talks with Nathan Gilmour and David Grubbs about G.K. Chesterton's novel "The Man Who Was Thursday."
Nathan Gilmour takes Michial Farmer and David Grubbs on a trip down nostalgia lane to mark 11 years and 300 episodes of The Christian Humanist Podcast.
David Grubbs talks with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about Basil the Great's text "On the Right Use of Greek Literature."
Michial Farmer talks with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about Walter Benjamin's essay "Unpacking my Library."
Nathan Gilmour talks with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about the strange migration of critical theory from graduate school classrooms to social media. Along the way they ponder whether the phrase "critical theory" itself has a definite meaning.
David Grubbs talks with Nathan Gilmour and Michial Farmer about about the Venerable Bede's sermon upon the beheading of John the Baptist.
Join the CHP crew for a throwback conversation about an Old English poem, and be ready for our season premier, coming soon, on one of the intellectual giants of medieval England.
On a recent City of Man episode Nathan Gilmour mentioned John Locke's "Letter Concerning Toleration" in a conversation about cancel culture. Join the CHP crew for our conversation on that letter.
The way 2020 is going, synthetic dinosaurs are just around the corner, so join the CHP crew for a throwback to our convesation on 1994's film Jurassic Park.
The CHP finishes our conversation about Jedediah Purdy's 1999 book "For Common Things."
With the DNC and GOP conventions around the corner, the CHP revisits Jedediah Purdy's 1999 book "For Common Things."
Revisit the Christian Humanist Podcast's conversation about Martin Luther King, Jr.'s famous epistle.
In this inaugural episode of Resotration: A Creation Care Podcast, Kim Anderson interviews Beth Bond of the Evangelical Environmental Network. She talks about the importance of creation care (noting that 30% of children in the US today have health conditions impacted by pollution). She speaks with beauty about God’s creation and with deep knowledge about how we can impact this movement as Christians. She reminds us that sustainability and creation care are a journey, not end destinations. And that there are often unintended benefits of our sustainable actions (for example, conducting an energy audit in your church may help save the congregation money).
Revisit the Christian Humanist Podcast's conversation about folk music upon the death of Pete Seeger.
As 2020 sees public conservatives go mad with Trumpism, the CHP revisits a conversation from the Obama years about Sam Tanenhaus's book "The Death of Conservatism."
Michial Farmer talks with Nathan Gilmour and David Grubbs about about the James Baldwin story "Sonny's Blues."
To follow last week's conversation about Sophocles, revisit our recent conversation in which David Grubbs talks with Nathan Gilmour about the Sophocles tragedy "Oedipus at Kolonos."
Nathan Gilmour talks with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about about the Sophocles tragedy "Philoktetes."
David Grubbs talks with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about N.T. Wright's recent Time Magazine editorial "Christianity Offers No Answers about the Corona Virus."
Michial Farmer talks with Katie Grubbs about Sofia Coppola's 2006 film "Marie Antoinette."
Todd Pedlar talks with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about the William Wordsworth poem titled "Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey."
Michial Farmer talks with Nathan Gilmour and David Grubbs about Adam Again's album "Homeboys."
Nathan Gilmour talks with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about David Brooks's recent Atlantic article "The Nuclear Family Was a Mistake."
David Grubbs talks with Nathan Gilmour about Iranaeus's brief text "Demonstration of Apostolic Preaching."
Nathan Gilmour talks with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about W.E.B. DuBois's 1895 essay "The Afro-American."
David Grubbs talks with Nathan Gilmour and Michial Farmer about a series of devotional texts from Anselm of Canterbury.
Michial Farmer talks with Nathan Gilmour and David Grubbs about Dwight MacDonald's essay "Masscult and Midcult" and its main claims.
Michial Farmer talks with Nathan Gilmour and David Grubbs about Dwight MacDonald's essay "Masscult and Midcult" and its main claims.
For the run-up to our episode on MassCult and MidCult, listen as Michial Farmer talks with David Grubbs and Danny Anderson about Lionel Trilling's essay "On the Teaching of Modern Literature."
In a throwback to 2012, Michial Farmer moderates a conversation with David Grubbs, Nathan Gilmour, and special guest hosts Stephen Sandridge and Tim Rhodes (from the Night Cheese podcast) about the television Christmas special. Starting with adaptations of A Christmas Carol and moving through the weirdness of Rankin-Bass, the crossover crew digs into the ways that sentimentality gives way to irony in the course of television's brief Christmas history but never quite overcomes Charlie Brown. Among the television shows and other realities discussed are Mr. Magoo's Christmas, Rudoloph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Alf's Christmas special, and A Claymation Christmas.
Nathan Gilmour talks with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about Washington Irving's Christmas stories from "The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon."
David Grubbs talks with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about a sermon on Matthew 3 by John Chrysostom and one on Luke 3 by Aelfric.
David Grubbs talks with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about two Dorothy Sayers essays connecting theology and aesthetics.
Michial Farmer talks with Nathan Gilmour and David Grubbs about Martin Scorsese's 1976 film Taxi Driver and the recent Internet chatter about what makes films art or something other than art.
Nathan Gilmour talks with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 and space travel as a childhood aspiration.
David Grubbs talks with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about Gregory Nazianzen's first theological oration.
Calling back to 2010, a younger Christian Humanist trio discusses the distinctions and common grounds between Church teaching, certainty in dogmatic pronouncement, and other such meta-theological matters.
As part of our 2019 Halloween Crossover Event, Michial Farmer talks about Stephen King's novel Misery with Christina Bieber Lake and Katie Grubbs . . . you dirty bird.
Michial Farmer talks with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about two Gabriel Marcel essays.
Michial Farmer talks with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about two Gabriel Marcel essays.
Nathan Gilmour talks with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about Woodstock, the legendary and controversial 1969 music festival.
David Grubbs talks with Nathan Gilmour and Michial Farmer about Dante Allighieri's letter to the Veronese nobleman Can Grande (Big Dog).
Michial Farmer talks with Nathan Gilmour and David Grubbs about T.S. Eliot's poem "Ash-Wednesday."
Nathan Gilmour talks with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay "Circles."
In the CHRN's new series, hosts from across the network dive into good books and take our time in them. In the series premier, Michial Farmer, Christina Bieber Lake, and Jay Eldred talk about the opening books of Homer's Iliad.
Michial Farmer talks with Nathan Gilmour and David Grubbs about the traditions and the follies of college graduation ceremonies.
David Grubbs talks with Nathan Gilmour and Michial Farmer about J.R.R. Tolkien's short story "Leaf by Niggle."
Nathan Gilmour talks with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about philosophical problems that emerge when we think about loyalty.
Michial Farmer talks with Danny Anderson, David Grubbs, and Nathan Gilmour about the album "77s" by the 77s.
David Grubbs talks with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about the Old English poem "Guthlac" and a section of Bonhoeffer's "Life Together" on the topic of solitude.
Nathan Gilmour talks with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about the 1999 film "The Matrix."
Michial Farmer talks with Nathan Gilmour and David Grubbs about the modern fascination with walking in large urban crowds.
Nathan Gilmour talks with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about Richard M. Weaver's essay "Education and the Individual."
David Grubbs talks with Nathan Gilmour and Michial Farmer about James Weldon Johnson's poem collection "God's Trombones."
Michial Farmer talks with Nathan Gilmour and David Grubbs about Junichiro Tanazaki's essay "In Praise of Shadows."
Nathan Gilmour talks with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about Malcolm X's famous speech "The Ballot or the Bullet."
David Grubbs talks with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about two Dorothy Sayers episodes connecting theology and aesthetics.
Michial Farmer talks with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about Erik Satie's impressionist composition "Trois Gymnopedies."
Nathan Gilmour talks with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about Charles Duhigg's recent article in The Atlantic, "Why Are Americans So Angry?"
David Grubbs talks with Nathan Gilmour and Michial Farmer about the trio's reading in 2018. Along the way they talk about devotional reading, reading for interviews, research reading, and all sorts of groovy things.
Michial Farmer talks with Nathan Gilmour and David Grubbs about Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's Christmas poem and later Christmas carol "Christmas Bells" or "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day."
Nathan Gilmour talks with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about the 1998 film "The Prince of Egypt."
David Grubbs talks with Nathan Gilmour and Michial Farmer about the 15th-century morality play "Everyman."
Nathan Gilmour talks with David Grubbs about Eugene Peterson, who recently died, and his connections between literature and spirituality.
Are you ready to heat up some leftovers? Victoria Reynolds Farmer, along with other CHRN hosts and listeners, talks turkey and explores one holiday in which food is what human beings do well.
Nathan Gilmour talks with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about the ancient connections between education and intellectual virtues and the ways that they might connect to the life of the Christian college.
David Grubbs talks with Jordan Poss and Todd Pedlar about Alfred Hitchcock's film "The 39 Steps."
David Grubbs talks with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about James Cone's 1975 book "God of the Oppressed."
Michial Farmer talks with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about James Cone's 1975 book "God of the Oppressed."
Nathan Gilmour talks with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about James Cone's 1975 book "God of the Oppressed."
David Grubbs talks with Nathan Gilmour and Michial Farmer about some of the standard texts that tend to populate freshman composition syllabi.
Michial Farmer talks with Nathan Gilmour and David Grubbs about Aretha Franklin's 1967 "I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You."
Nathan Gilmour talks with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about the rhetorical and philosophical maneuver called the Motte and Bailey.
David Grubbs talks with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about Athanasius's letter "On the Interpretation of the Psalms."
Michial Farmer reads Octavio Paz's poem "San Ildelfonso Nocturne" as a supplement to the Christian Humanist Podcast discussion of the poem.
Michial Farmer chats with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about Octavio Paz's poem "San Ildelfonso Nocturne."
Nathan Gilmour talks with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about Eric Bennett's essay "Dear Humanities Profs, We Are the Problem."
David Grubbs chats with Nathan Gilmour about honors programs, the idea of great books, Socratic instruction, and all sorts of groovy things.
Michial Farmer talks with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about Steve Taylor's 1987 album "I Predict 1990."
Nathan Gilmour talks with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about Michael Gerson's recent essay "The Last Temptation" and David French's response to the same.
Michial Farmer talks with David Grubbs and Christina Bieber Lake about the radio program "Donovan's Brain."
David Grubbs talks with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about three Easter homilies from the fifth-century Pope Leo I.
Nathan Gilmour talks with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about the traditions and contradictions of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.
Michial Farmer talks with Nathan Gilmour and David Grubbs about chapters five and six of George Lindbeck's book "The Nature of Doctrine."
David Grubbs talks with Nathan Gilmour and Michial Farmer about chapters three and four of George Lindbeck's book "The Nature of Doctrine."
Nathan Gilmour talks with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about the first two chapters of George Lindbeck's book "The Nature of Doctrine."
Michial Farmer talks with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about the Miles Davis jazz album "Kind of Blue."
David Grubbs talks with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about the deuterocanonical book "The Wisdom of Solomon."
Nathan Gilmour talks with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about the New Testament book Galatians.
Michial Farmer talks with Todd Pedlar and Nathan Gilmour about the long tradition of non-violent resistance to the world's powers, starting with Jesus and wrapping up with a conversation on Antifa.
David Grubbs talks with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about the recent essay "How Podcasting Hurts Preaching" from Christianity Today.
Michial Farmer talks with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about Nobel Prize winner Kashuo Ishigura's novel "The Remains of the Day."
David Grubbs takes Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour on a sea voyage through Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem "Ulysses."
Who's been naughty, who's been nice, and who's been heretical? Settle in for this Christmas season's reading of David Grubbs's "Nick at Nicea!"
Michial Farmer talks with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about T.S. Eliot's essay "The Idea of a Christian Society." This episode comes to you live from the Culture, Criticism, and the Christian Mind conference at Dordt College in Sioux Center, Iowa.
Nathan Gilmour talks with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about Plato's brief dialogue "Ion."
Michial Farmer talks with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about Gadamer's essay "The Universality of the Hermeneutical Problem."
David Grubbs talks with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about the first-century (probably) Christian text 1 Clement.
David Grubbs and the Christian Humanist Crossover Crew talk about the Universal Monster Movie "The Mummy" in the finale of our 2017 Christian Humanist Radio Network crossover.
As David Grubbs battles the monster Laryngitis, Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour answer emails from podcast listeners.
Nathan Gilmour talks with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about "Battle Hymn of the Republic," "Star-Spangled Banner," and other patriotic songs and their place in the life of America and of the Church.
Michial Farmer talks with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about the Messiaen symphony "Quartet for the End of Time."
David Grubbs talks with Nathan Gilmour about the Sophocles tragedy "Oedipus at Kolonos."
Nathan Gilmour talks with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about the 1987 movie and youth-group staple "The Princess Bride."
"Before They Were Live" begins at the beginning, with a discussion of the first Walt Disney feature, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." Josh and Michial discuss the film's conception and production, the technology that had to be invented to make it happen, the marketing innovations surrounding it, J.R.R. Tolkien's hatred of it--and much more.
Like what you hear? Subscribe to Before They Were Live via iTunes, at christianhumanist.org, or at http://feeds.feedburner.com/BeforeTheyWereLive
Nathan Gilmour talks with Dre'as Sanchez, a camper from Theology Beer Camp, about the Superbowl, the world of Christian podcasts, and eventually Reza Aslan's book "Zealot."
Michial Farmer talks with Nathan Gilmour and David Grubbs about the Robin Hood mythology and about three Robin Hood movies: Eroll Flynn's 1938 "Robin Hood," 1973's Disney "Robin Hood," and Kevin Costner's 1991 "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves."
Nathan Gilmour talks with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about Martha Nussbaum's 1997 essay "The Narrative Imagination."
David Grubbs talks with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about John Donne's Holy Sonnets.
Michial Farmer talks with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about L.S. Underground's brief rock opera "The Grape Prophet."
Nathan Gilmour talks with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about Dungeons and Dragons and the changing place of roleplaying games in the life of the Christian Humanist.
David Grubbs talks with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about the first-century Christian text the Didache, or the Teachings of the Twelve Apostles for the Nations.
In the final Theology Beer Camp special, John Cobb talks education and process theology. Then Nathan Gilmour talks with John Cobb. Then Tripp Fuller talks about Nathan Gilmour. Then Nathan Gilmour talks back.
Michial Farmer talks with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about Ray Bradbury's science-fiction anthology "The Martian Chronicles" and the grand human questions that arise when human beings run up against Martians of various sorts.
Nathan Gilmour talks with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about the number six hundred and sixty and six (depending on your manuscript tradition, it could be six hundred and ten and six), its antecedents, and its afterlife.
Hosts from Crackers and Grape Juice, Patheological, Newsworthy with Norsworthy, and The Christian Humanist get together with Eric Hall to talk about formative Christian practices in the age of Trump.
David Grubbs talks with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about riddles from the ancient world all the way up to the As-Seen-on-TV television commercial.
Adam Clark, theology professor from Xavier University, gives a talk to Theology Beer Camp on varieties of salvation and the possibility of a desire-forming, active model of Christian salvation. Then Nathan Gilmour interviews Christian Piatt, podcaster and author; and Adam Clark at the next day of Theology Beer Camp.
Michial Farmer, David Grubbs, and Nathan Gilmour talk about Toni Morrison's lone short story "Recitatif."
Nathan Gilmour talks with Jeffrey Carter, Todd Littleton, and Eric Hall about Christian ethics and the protest culture a few blocks away from Theology Beer Camp.
David Grubbs, Michial Farmer, and Nathan Gilmour talk about John Locke's letter "On Toleration."
Nathan Gilmour interviews James Younger, executive producer of National Geographic's The Story of God, and Homebrewed Christianity's Barry Taylor about The Story of God's recent episode on Heaven and Hell.
David Grubbs, Michial Farmer, and Nathan Gilmour talk about Handel's grand oratorio "Messiah."
Michial Farmer, David Grubbs, and Nathan Gilmour talk about that perennial occupation of academics, grading.
Nathan Gilmour talks with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about Jonathan Edwards's sermon "A Divine and Supernatural Light."
David Grubbs talks with Michial Farmer and Danny Anderson about T.S. Eliot's poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock."
Michial Farmer takes David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour on a track-by-track journey down Bob Dylan's "Highway 61" in honor of his Nobel prize in literature.
Nathan Gilmour talks with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about Desiderius Erasmus's famous "In Praise of Folly."
Michial Farmer talks with guest panelists Christina Bieber Lake and Katie Grubbs about the classic TV series "The Twilight Zone."
David Grubbs talks with Nathan Gilmour and Michial Farmer about museums, what museums are their favorites to visit, and the place of museums in a world of Renaissance veneration and national pride.
David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour serve up some listener emails, Facebook posts, and blog comments.
Michial Farmer talks with Nathan Gilmour and David Grubbs about Franz Kafka's short story "In the Penal Colony."
David Grubbs talks with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about the classroom event that we call the seminar, its historical antecedents, and the benefits and dangers of teaching that way.
Michial Farmer chats with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about Alan Jacobs's recent essay in Harper's, "The Watchmen," and the disappearance of the Christian public intellectual as a national figure.
Nathan Gilmour talks with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about the university lecture, some recent criticisms of the lecture, and some even more recent counter-revolutionary defenses of the lecture.
David Grubbs chats with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about the 1994 film "Jurassic Park."
Michial Farmer talks David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about Gerard Manley Hopkins and his sequence of lament-sonnets that critics call the "Terrible Sonnets."
Nathan Gilmour talks with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about some recent emails, Facebook messages, and blog comments from our listeners.
David Grubbs talks with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about Simone Weil's mystical essay about geometry, Latin verbs, and the love of God.
Michial Farmer talks with Nathan Gilmour and David Grubbs about the final chapters of Jedediah Purdy's 1999 book "For Common Things."
Nathan Gilmour talks with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about the middle chapters of Jedediah Purdy's 1999 book "For Common Things."
David Grubbs leads off this semester's trilogy with a discussion of the first part of Jedediah Purdy's 1999 book "For Common Things."
Michial Farmer talks with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about the 1995 Vigilantes of Love album "Blister Soul."
The CHRN is pleased to offer you City of Man, a new show from Ed Song and Coyle Neal. If you like what you hear, you can hear more by subscribing to City of Man via iTunes!
Nathan Gilmour talks with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about the 1986 movie Top Gun.
Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour respond to listener emails. The time stamps for subject matters are thus: [03:30- 07:40] Fandom email of gratitude [07:45- 10:03] Peter's pronunciation guide [10:05-16:15] Eucharist wars: The Seven Year Battle [16:15- 24:50] Faith and Fiction [24:50- 30:10] The first schism [30:13- 37:30] The honorable Baseball [37:33- 39:17] Lionel Trilling essay, erm, episode [39:19- 45:00] Hitchhiker's Guide
David Grubbs talks with Nathan Gilmour about two texts from the fifth-century Christian writer Saint Patrick.
Michial Farmer talks with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about the Biblical narrative of Joseph, found in the latter chapters of Genesis.
Michial Farmer talks with David Grubbs and Danny Anderson about Lionel Trilling's essay "On the Teaching of Modern Literature."
Nathan Gilmour talks with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about the trio's experiences watching, playing, and thinking about baseball.
Michial Farmer talks with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about Arthur Miller's modern tragedy "All My Sons," and episode dedicated to Baxter Chase.
Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour respond to listeners' emails while David Grubbs tends to a lovely new child and a temperamental old automobile. [2:50- 6:20] Calculus, engineers, and mathematical education [6:20 – 11:40] Oldies and Neo-Calvinism/Emergent [11:40- 16:50] Medieval thinking and interactive sites [16:50- 39:05] Nathan and Michial fight about the Eucharist [39:10- 44:50] The Brothers Karamazov and other novels [44:55- 52:05] Radical Orthodoxy vs. Radical Theology [52:05- 59:30] Ya’ll and forbearance and comments on Silence
David Grubbs talks with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about their own names, names for God, names in the Bible, names in literature, and why David won't reveal potential names for Grubbs baby three.
Nathan Gilmour talks with Michial Farmer and Todd Pedlar about Shusaku Endo's great novel "Silence."
For your Christmas enjoyment, Christian Humanist Podcast brings back David Grubbs reciting his original (mostly) poem "Nick at Nice."
Nathan Gilmour tees up Alexis Neal and Charles Hackney to talk about the cult-classic Joss Whedon show "Firefly."
Michial Farmer talks with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about John Barth's articles "The Literature of Exhaustion" and "The Literature of Replenishment" along with his short story "Title."
Nathan Gilmour, David Grubbs, and Michial Farmer respond to listener emails. The Subject Matter breaks down thus: [02:07-05:50] Speaking about things Greek [05:50-13:30] The Christian Humanist Journal [13:30-16:48] A Defense of a Sequel [16:49-22:25] Christian Existentialism [22:27-26:03] Greetings from Trinity Western [26:05-32:04] Hobbits and Tolkien [32:05-34:34] Tillich and Laches [34:34-37:50] Faustus [37:50-41:16] Silence
Victoria Reynolds Farmer, along with other CHRN hosts and listeners, talks turkey and explores one holiday in which food is what human beings do well.
David Grubbs, Michial Farmer, and Nathan Gilmour consider the trivium as they talk together about her essay "The Lost Tools of Learning."
Michial Farmer, Nathan Gilmour, and David Grubbs talk for a spell about the work and the legacy of J.R.R. Tolkien.
Nathan Gilmour, David Grubbs, and Michial Farmer wax dramatic with a conversation about Christopher Marlowe's "The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus."
David Grubbs, Danny Anderson, and Nathan Gilmour talk about Catholic colleges, seminaries, and universities, tracing their history and talking about parallels with and distinctives from the evangelical colleges that they have served.
Michial Farmer, David Grubbs, and Nathan Gilmour talk about the Back to the Future films.
Todd Pedlar, David Grubbs, and Nathan Gilmour talk about Ingmar Bergman's 1957 film "The Seventh Seal," getting medieval and existential all at once.
Nathan Gilmour, David Grubbs, and Danny Anderson talk back to the listeners as they respond to emails and Facebook messages. The subject matter breaks down thus: 3:00-9:35 [The Excluded Catholic] 9:36-14:33 [Ages Past: Since the Beginning] 14:35-16:05 [Lucrative Project] 16:06- 18:55 [Sex and Children's Tales] 18:56-26:09 [Challenges in Expertise and German Struggles] 26:11-29:45 [The Office] 29:49- 35:09 [Aviation Stories and the Fox in the Desert] 35:10 - 40:18 [Johnathan Dudley Interview] 40:20-43:12 [Praise for the Existentialist]
David Grubbs, Todd Pedlar, and Nathan Gilmour talk about "Hammer of God" and "The Miracle of Moon Crescent," two Father Brown mysteries from G.K. Chesterton.
Danny Anderson holds forth with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour on David Foster Wallace's commencement address "This Is Water."
Nathan Gilmour chats with David Grubbs and Todd Pedlar about Plato's brief dialogue the Laches and alternatives to its concept of courage.
David Grubbs talks with Danny Anderson and Nathan Gilmour about the office as a historical development, an environment in which human existence happens, and the site of battles over air conditioning.
Danny Anderson introduces The Sectarian Review, the network's newest show, dedicated to cultural criticism from a Christian intellectual angle.
Nathan Gilmour talks with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about the book of Amos, a soaring and terrifying oracle from YHWH, God of the Bible.
Michial Farmer takes David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour through a few months' email to the show. The questions we take on and the times when we do so are thus: [0:00] An announcement from David Grubbs! [5:05] Why Christian Existentialism? [9:12] Kierkegaard and Christendom [17:41] John McAdams and academic freedom [27:09] More holy fools [30:15] Episode suggestions [35:43] John Adams insults / Thomas Jefferson and the French Revolution. Also, Assassin's Creed [39:58] The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (and Fuller House) [42:34] Young-earth creationism [55:16] A child's Dream of the Rood [56:46] Half-Handed Cloud and Rex Stout [59:01] The Noble Savage in Star Wars [1:07:41] Funding our educations [1:24:25] More Dream of the Rood [1:26:40] Paradise Lost editions [1:28:35] Rene Girard [1:30:03] Donations? [1:33:16] Did the podcast get us our jobs? [1:35:57] Our new web design [1:37:07] Separating Christianity from fundamentalism
David Grubbs talks with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about the place of books and bookshelves in all three hosts' workplaces, dwellings, and modes of life.
Nathan Gilmour talks with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about Rodney Clapp's 1996 essay "Why the Devil Takes Visa."
Michial Farmer talks with Nathan Gilmour and David Grubbs about Daniel Amos's 1991 album "Kalhoun."
David Grubbs talks with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about Helmut Thielicke's 1959 essay "A Little Exercise for Young Theologians."
Nathan Gilmour talks with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about the 1975 film "Monty Python and the Holy Grail."
Michial Farmer leads Nathan Gilmour and David Grubbs in a discussion of the fool in theology, literature, and culture.
David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour talk about "Dream of the Rood," a fascinating Old English Jesus poem.
Nathan Gilmour chats with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about the late-career correspondence between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams.
David Grubbs chats with Nathan Gilmour about the hymn of Caedmon, a poem from the Old English version of Bede's Ecclesiastical History.
Michial Farmer chats with Nathan Gilmour about the strange history of book-censorship, digging into the particular oddities that make banned books such a fun matter for conversation and for an unearned sense of moral superiority.
Nathan Gilmour brings David Grubbs and Michial Farmer into the wild world of postliberal theology as the trio chats about Stanley Hauerwas's essay "Terministic Screens."
Danny Anderson chats with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about Kenneth Burke's essay "Terministic Screens."
Michial Farmer and Danny Anderson hold forth on Jean-Paul Sartre's twentieth-century play "No Exit." Michial waxes eloquent on what a bad translation "No Exit" is for the title.
Nathan Gilimour and Michial Farmer respond to listener emails. The questions addressed happen at these times: [1:56] How can we conceive of the inconceivable if the Creator of the universe is Himself inconceivable? Do mortal minds break at the sight of God?
[8:00] Robin William's movies
[11:01] Teacher film recommendations
[14:49] Allegory and Dracula
[17:20] Irony and Sincerity in Nostalgia
[21:20] Platonic descent and ascent of the soul
[25:03] Errors in Ancient Aliens on the History Channel
[27:21] What is up with the intro music?
[31:37] Doctrine of Predestination
[36:47] Podcast recommendation: Personal devotions and reflection in the Christian life.
[41:13] Charlie Hebdo: Bravery versus Heroism
Danny Anderson hosts a conversation with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about "A Christmas Story," the movie that has become ubiquitous in the twenty-first century. Nostalgia abounds, and somebody might just shoot his own eye out.
Nathan Gilmour holds forth with Michial Farmer and Danny Anderson on Immanuel Kant's essay "What Is Enlightenment?" The trio digs into the strange paradox of argument and obedience as well as into the piece's vision of history as a progression towards an end.
Michial Farmer hosts a conversation with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about nostalgia. Going back to the word's seventeenth-century roots and exploring its mutating connotations, the trio ponders whether nostalgia is always individual or might also be a cultural phenomenon.
David Grubbs chats with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about Good Will Hunting, the third in our trio of Robin Williams movies. Digging into mentorship and psychology and restaurants, the trio enjoys this third part of our tribute to Williams.
Nathan Gilmour converses with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about Dead Poets Society, the second of the Robin Williams trilogy. The trio takes on the strange truncated readings of poetry in the film as well as the conceptions of conformity and friendship that arise.
Michial Farmer leads David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour into the semester's trilogy of episodes on Robin Williams movies with a conversation about The Fisher King. As the trio digs into a story that's as much a media ecology as a medieval appropriation, Dante resurfaces (again) as the trio explores the salvation of Jack Lucas.
David Grubbs gets spooky with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour as the trio discusses the horror fiction of H.P. Lovecraft. Conversations range from literary influence to biological racism, with some discussions on artistic imagination thrown in for good measure. The stories at the core of the conversation are "The Call of Cthulu," "Arthur Jermyn," and "Pickman's Model."
David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour answer listener emails and such. Highlights are as follows: 04:11 Let your sins be strong? 10:21 Robert Louis Stevenson 13:41 Some episode suggestions from Australia 19:25 Suburban corrections 23:53 Thomas and the Ontological Argument 32:35 Thomas and the Cosmological Argument 38:44 Christian Humanist pilgrimages 44:00 Neil Postman and the value of the academic essay 48:15 Amusing Ourselves to Death cartoon 50:48 A recent iTunes review
Nathan Gilmour chats a spell with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about Psalm 119. The trio ranges from the literary form of the verse to the ways that the Psalm has shaped the identities of monks and Fundamentalists, landing eventually on some pedagogical speculation.
Dan Dawson, Charles Hackney, and Todd Pedlar roll out Book of Nature, the Christian Humanist Radio Network's new science and mathematics show.
Michial Farmer holds court with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about the children's novel "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. The trio digs into the satirical and philosophical character of the book before discovering once again that Gilmour is heartless and Farmer gets sad more easily than most.
David Grubbs holds forth with Nathan Gilmour and Michial Farmer about allegory, both as a mode of reading and as a literary genre. The debate hinges on what terms mean in which contexts: is a literary text defective because it's an allegory, or are there good or bad allegories? Explore that and other possibilities with us.
Nathan Gilmour hosts a conversation with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about the five "proofs of God" from the opening sections of Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologiae. The trio's discussion ranges over what a proof is for, whether the ontology in the proofs holds up post-Kant, whether reason and revelation can really be friends, and all sorts of groovy philosophical things.
Michial Farmer hosts a conversation with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about the suburbs, their history, and their place in ethical reflection. Among the writers, texts, and places engaged are John Cheever, the Roman Empire, the suburbs of Mongomery, Atlanta, and Indianapolis, and the politics of suburbanization.
David Grubbs chats with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about the range of Christian convictions and backgrounds that go into the Christian Humanist project. Among other matters for discussion, the trio discusses why one is an existentialist, why another isn't a Pelagian, and how the Bible relates to what the Christian Humanist project is all about.
Los Tres Humanistas respond to a variety of listener emails. Among the topics covered (and when we cover them) are as follows: [03:05] Mark Heard and listener feedback about listener feedback. [04:29] Karl Barth's Evangelical Theology and "A Primer on Religious Existentialism." [06:41] Spoon River Anthology and A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. [08:47] A case for stupid songs and Grubbs's Dick Van Dyke moment. [12:08] Non-Trinitarian Christianity. [16:05] Postmodernism vs. Bertrand Russell. [20:52] American political theory. [29:44] A defense of Francis Schaeffer. [33:30] The Bible and The Christian Humanist Podcast. [46:33] The best philosophical works? [55:04] Podcast recommendations. [57:09] Jaws and Rabbits. [1:01:11] A physics lesson on Mark Heard. [1:04:09] War and technology.
Nathan Gilmour holds forth with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer on Tertullian's treatise "On Idolatry." The trio digs into the rhetorical performance that marks the piece as masterful prose as well as the concept of complicity that makes it troubling and interesting even eighteen hundred years later.
Michial Farmer hosts a chat with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about influential but little-known Jesus-rocker Mark Heard. Focusing on his final three albums, the Humanists dig into the sound, the content, and themes of love and death in his late work, from the early nineties, conversing as well about other works that hold in common Heard's particular outlook on human existence.
Wrapping up the spring semester, David Grubbs hosts a chat with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about what plays when we listen to the Internet. From politics to Walt Disney World, the trio suggests a wide range of shows for our own listeners to check out.
Nathan Gilmour holds forth with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer on "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" and "The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World," two short stories by recently deceased Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Garcia Marquez was one of the most prominent writers of Spanish-language fiction for a generation, and his pioneering work in realismo magico occupies the Humanists this go-round. Among the writers and other realities engaged are Magical Realism, Borges, hermeneutics, and Kafka.
Michial Farmer chats with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about William Blake's poetic collection "Songs of Innocence and Experience." The trio takes on the standard anthology pieces like "Little Lamb," "The Tyger," and "London," and they also discuss some of the back-catalog poems in the collection and venture on occasion into "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell" and the prophetic poems. Among the poems and other realities discussed are "America: A Prophecy," "The Clod and the Pebble," Romanticism, Milton's Satan, and print-making.
David Grubbs hosts a conversation with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about Cain, the first man born of a woman in Genesis. A figure of subhuman, superhuman, and otherwise inhuman terror through much of literature, Cain contains multitudes, sometimes existing as the figure of urban corruption and other times as the swamp-dweller who shuns cities. Among the texts and other realities discussed are Genesis, City of God, East of Eden, Hebrews, 1 John, and Bruce Springsteen.
Nathan Gilmour hosts a conversation with Michial Farmer, David Grubbs, and Book of Nature host Charles Hackney about psychology. After the quartet looks at the history of the discipline, Hackney introduces the listeners to the field of Positive Psychology, and there's a side trip into Tolkien along the way. Among the theories, theorists, and other realities engaged are Aristotle's De Anima, Patristic psychological theology, Positive Psychology, The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, and why Psychology is really science.
Michial Farmer hosts a conversation with David Grubbs, Nathan Gilmour, and Book of Nature host Todd Pedlar about physics. From Aristotle to Einstein and beyond, human beings have proposed mathematical and metaphorical models for how the universe works, and physicists take as their work to refine and to teach those models. Among the theories, theorists, and other realities engaged are Aristotle's Physics, Edgar Allen Poe, relativity, radioactivity, quantum mechanics, and bad reasons to be a relativist.
David Grubbs hosts a conversation with Michial Farmer, Nathan Gilmour, and Book of Nature host Dan Dawson about meteorology. Starting from the contrast between weather-mythologies and explanations from states of matter, the quartet spend much of the time examining why storms in particular inspires such respect and awe among human beings. Among the writers, ideas, and other phenomena discussed are Aristotle, Job, the water cycle, the synoptic gospels, forecasting, Polar Vortex, and Snowmageddon.
Nathan Gilmour and Michial Farmer hold forth about Neil Postman's 1985 book "Amusing Ourselves to Death." Postman's most widely read book explores the philosophical and psychological implications of the historical shift from a print culture to a televised culture and examines what happens to institutions like political debate and public education when such shifts happen. Among the ideas and other realities engaged are media ecology, cable television news, MTV, Sesame Street, the genre-distinctives of television programming, and Ben Affleck.
Michial Farmer holds a conversation with Nathan Gilmour and David Grubbs about C.S. Lewis. In a survey-style conversation, the trio digs into his children's novels, his forays into science fiction, his popular apologetics, and especially his influence among 21st-century Evangelicals. Among the books and other realities engaged are The Chronicles of Narnia, the Space Trilogy, the Abolition of Man, Surprised by Joy, and The Great Divorce.
Nathan Gilmour hosts a conversation with Danny Anderson, Michial Farmer, and David Grubbs about the 1984 movie "Ghostbusters." Digging into its treatment of the supernatural and its ties to emerging political phenomena, the quartet both appreciates its staying power and wonders at the strange ideas that lie just beyond the screen. Among the religious movements and other realities engaged are Spiritualism, Cold War nuclear weapons anxieities, the Tea Party, the Comedy of Humors, and Bill Murray.
Michial Farmer hosts a conversation with Danny Anderson and Nathan Gilmour about Willa Cather's short story "Neighbour Rosicky." The crew explores the story's complex treatment of city and country and the American work ethic before settling in on a conversation of the ethics of love that moves the story's plot and defines the title character.
Danny Anderson talks with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about the career and films of Alfred Hitchcock. Beginning with their personal histories with Hitchcock's films and Hitchcock's own central role in the rise of film studies as an academic discipline, the Humanists dig into the psychological and literary character of some of his works. Among the movies and other realities discussed are Psycho, Strangers on a Train, Dial M for Murder, The Birds, Notorious, North by Northwest, Vertigo, Spellbound, and Rear Window.
Nathan Gilmour talks with Michial Farmer and Danny Anderson about postmodernism. Exploring in brief the Derridean, Foucaultian, and Gadamerian streams of thish twentieth-century cultural phenomenon, the trio likewise examines some Christian responses to the postmodern. Among the writers, concepts, and other realities tackled are differance, genealogy, progressivism, metanarrative, and relativism.
Michial Farmer moderates a conversation with Danny Anderson and Nathan Gilmour about the American folk music scene in the twentieth century. Focusing on three giants of the genre and the political questions that they raise, the Humanists dig into the grand myth of populist music, the strange mix of radicalism and conservatism that follows folk music, and the recent death of Pete Seeger. Among the singers and other realities discussed are Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, folk-rock, Joseph Stalin, and the Clearwater movement.
Danny Anderson hosts a conversation with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about the concept and examples of the Great American Novel. Starting with a World War and quickly diving into culture wars, the search involves the particularly American genre, the novel, and an ongoing dispute about the character of literary education. Among the novels, novelists, and other realities discussed are Moby-Dick, The Grapes of Wrath, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Philip Roth, Toni Morrison, the New Critics, and differences between market-funded and patronage-funded arts.
Nathan Gilmour talks with Michial Farmer and Danny Anderson about the 1994 movie Pulp Fiction. One of the most recognizable instances of postmodern cinema, Pulp Fiction brings the conversation into matters of cinema violence, nonlinear plots, dramas of interpretation, and the wall-to-wall ego that is Quentin Tarentino.
Michial Farmer interviews Danny Anderson about Danny's recent trip to the Modern Language Association national conference in Chicago.
Nathan Gilmour and Michial Farmer take some time to read and respond to listener emails and Facebook messages.
The Humanists take on John Milton's early poem "Nativity Ode" for this year's Christmas episode. Milton's poem is a theologically and literarily rich take on the birth of Christ differs significantly from post-Puritan versions of Christmas, and its strange blend of idol-smashing and cosmic vision make for a fun Christmas read. Among the ideas, poetic devices, and other realities engaged are the sympathetic fallacy (or pathetic fallacy), mythology theory, Trinitarian theology, and actus dei.
Danny Anderson moderates a conversation with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour on the essay "Politics and the English Language" by George Orwell. A freshman-composition workhorse, "Politics" makes composition a matter of ethical deliberation and insists on truthful language. Among the questions, concepts, and other realities pondered are prescriptive and descriptive grammar; pretentious language; meaningless words; and Orwell's intellectual relationships to the New York intellectuals and to Richard Weaver.
Nathan Gilmour chats with Michial Farmer and Danny Anderson about about the bizarre sentence "God is dead," first written in Nietzsche's The Gay Science, later adapted by Christian theologians, and eventually becoming an evangelical bogeyman. At the core of the conversation is the seeming chasm between philosophical discourse and Christian pop culture. Among the texts, thinkers, and other realities discussed are Friedrich Nietzsche, Thomas Altizer, Steve Taylor, The Newsboys, and "God's Not Dead."
Danny Anderson hosts a a conversation with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about monster movies, focusing on the evolution of the genre from the early Dracula and Frankenstein movies to the self-referential remakes of the twenty-first century. At every turn the trio explores the philosophical implications of the monstrous and the place of such narrative in Christian worlds of thought. Among the movies, ideas, and other realities explored are slasher films, Frankenstein, zombies, Scream, and why low-budget scary movies work better than big-budget blockbusters.
Michial Farmer hosts a a conversation with Danny Anderson and Nathan Gilmour about metamodernism, a philosophical movement described recently in an article by Timotheus Vermeulen and Robin van den Akker. Metamodernism claims to move beyodn postmodernism by giving up the latter's pervasive cynicism, preferring instead to oscillate between naivete and cynicism. A fight over the relative worth or worthlessness of the movement ensues.
Nathan Gilmour hosts a a conversation with Michial Farmer and Danny Anderson on "Star Wars: Return of the Jedi." Taking a close-reading, mythological approach to the final Star Wars episode, the trio dig into images of descending into the underworld, gathering the heroes, watching power lose its grip on order, and other such things. Among the characters, mythological constructs, and other realities engaged are the Orpheus myth, Mon Mothma, redemption of betrayers, the self-destructiveness of evil, and post-colonialism on Endor.
Danny Anderson hosts a a conversation with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour on "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back." Conversation focuses on the changing role and character of the Force, its increasing prominence with the introduction of Yoda, and the ways in which the episodes of Star Wars fit together as parts of a trilogy. Among the characters, plot turns, and other matters discussed are the "I am your father" reveal, the Dagobah cave, the religious character of Yoda, and what giant asteroid monsters eat.
Michial Farmer hosts a a conversation with Danny Anderson and Nathan Gilmour on "Star Wars: A New Hope." Focusing on the movie's place in film history and more specifically in the career of George Lucas, the trio talks about its status as one of the first summer blockbusters; the influence of Joseph Campbell's mythological criticism on the film; and what, despite the film's shortcomings, makes it the sort of movie that shapes a whole generation's sense of the universe. Among the people, scenes, and other realities discussed are John Williams, monomyth, and Harrison Ford.
Nathan Gilmour talks with Danny Anderson and Michial Farmer about Plato's dialogue "Meno." The dialogue's central question is whether arete, a word meaning excellence or virtue, can be taught or whether it's naturally part of some people's character but not others'. Among the questions, concepts, and other realities discussed are the pre-existence of the soul, the nature of "Socratic" pedagogy, relationships between dialectic and rhetoric in education, and whether there is any such thing as "the" Platonic position on anything.
Michial Farmer talks with Danny Anderson and Nathan Gilmour about tradition. Starting with its roots in Roman law and its mixed reputation in the New Testament, the crew digs into the strange designator "traditional music," the relationships between Scripture and tradition, a few hard-hitting books on tradition, and some ways to imagine Christian existence as traditional without being static. Among the texts, traditions, and other realities engaged are Alasdair MacIntyre, Matthew Arnold, Hans-Georg Gadamer, conservatism, globalism, and church organs.
Nathan Gilmour talks with Michial Farmer and Danny Anderson about authenticity. A term with etymological roots in reflexive pronouns and historical roots in art criticism, authenticity has taken on philosophical, cultural-critical and pop-cultural meanings that deserve some exploration. Among the texts, trends, and other realities explored are Heidegger's Being and Time, Lionel Trilling's Sincerity and Authenticity, youth ministry, Emerging Church, and faculty workshop speakers.
Michial Farmer talks with Nathan Gilmour and Danny Anderson about Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "Letter from a Birmingham Jail." A classic piece of American written rhetoric, beloved by Christians and unbelievers alike, King's letter invokes a rich array of philosophical, Biblical, and other intellectual traditions to make the case for immediate, direct, nonviolent resistance to unjust governments. Among the ideas and other realities discussed in the episode are divine law, gradualism, civil disobedience, civil rights, and nonviolent resistance.
Nathan Gilmour talks with Michial Farmer and Danny Anderson about Jewish-American novels. Drawing from the experiences of immigrants and of internationally persecuted minorities, these writers offer readers a side of the human experience that other writers can't see and offer a look at the particularities of being Jewish in a changing america. Among the novelists and other realities discussed are Saul Bellow, Michael Chabon, Philip Roth, E.L. Doctorow, and Woody Allen.
Michial Farmer moderates a conversation with Danny Anderson and Nathan Gilmour on the roots, the heart, and the history of country music. Along the way familiar figures like the Carter family, Waylon Jennings, and even Taylor Swift show up, and the question of genre in popular music is never far away. Among the singers and other realities discussed are the early mixtures of country with blues and folk music; the rise of outlaw country and the question fo what "real" county music might be; George Jones, Garth Brooks, Tammy Wynette, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and a good sampling of other country artists.
Nathan Gilmour moderates a conversation with Michial Farmer and Danny Anderson on the hot topic of socilogical "generations" and specifically the character of Generation Y or the Millennials. Discussing technological changes that drive such "generation gap" moments as the present one, the trio takes on Rachel Held Evans's recent column about Millennials leaving the church by doing what Christian Humanists do so well, situating it in a larger historical frame. Among the texts, generations, and other realities discussed are J.D. Salinger, Saul Bellow, Alice Walker, Generation X, Generation Y, the generation gap, and Russell Moore.
Michial Farmer moderates a conversation with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour on the middle ages, those thousand years in western Europe that gave us scholastic theology, nominalist philosophy, and so many bad stereotypes that they're not worth listing here. Focusing on the historian's task of saying something about the period without saying too much, the trio bring forth some of the great intellectual, poetic, and cultural developments that arise in the shadow of the Roman Empire. Among the texts and other realities discussed are Confessio Amantis, Canterbury Tales, Song of Roland, Islam, homo viator, and the concept of an intellectual system.
David Grubbs conducts a conversation with Nathan Gilmour and Michial Farmer regarding witches, from the ancient Near East all the way up to Broadway musicals. As figures of darkness and danger, witches occupy particular places in the worlds of Egyptian, Roman, medieval Christian, and modern mythologies, and their recent appropriation as figures of heroic resistance makes them even mroe fascinating. Among the texts, witches, and other realities discussed are Medea, Apuleius, the necromancer at Endor, Macbeth, Goethe's Faust, The Crucible, Disney's Cinderella, and the Wizard of Oz.
Nathan Gilmour, Michial Farmer, and David Grubbs chat a spell about "On the Freedom of a Christian," one of Martin Luther's famous 1520 theological treatises. Addressing the central questions of faith and works, the trio digs into the visions of anthropology, interpretations of Scripture, and the ethical innovations that make the text so interesting. Among the other realities discussed in this episode are faith, ritual, rhetoric, Pope Leo, Dante, and the nature of goodness.
Michial Farmer holds forth with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour on the subject of intellectuals. Starting with some historical and lexical discussions of waht an intellectual means as opposed to a philosopher, an academic, a scholar, or a scientist, the trio focuses in on the public intellectual and specifically the Christian public intellectual as a particular character in the story of the life of the mind. Among the texts, intellectuals, and other realities on the table are Augustine, Byron, "The Twilight of the Intellectuals," N.T. Wright, Garry Wills, George Will, David Brooks, and Cornelius van Til.
David Grubbs moderates a conversation with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about Edgar Allen Poe. Exploring popular questions of authors' biography and literary/entertainment celebrity culture, the trio appreciates some of the genuine craft in his short stories, clucks our tongues at his genuinely insufferable verse, and otherwise takes on one of the strange characters of American literature. Among the texts and other realities discussed are "The Raven," "Cask of Amontillado," the Dupin stories, "The Bells," and the 19th-century magazine scene.
Nathan Gilmour moderates a conversation with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about Elijah, the Biblical prophet whose main narratives happen in 1 Kings. Touching on some of the best-known episodes and exploring the literary character of those episodes (and why they're better stories than the children's Sunday school versions would let on), the trio wraps up with a discussion of modern uses of the adjective "prophetic." Among the stories and other realities engaged are the etymology of "Elijah," the Mount Carmel episode, the Still Small Voice, John the Baptist, and the Transfiguration.
Michial Farmer talks with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about Modernism, the moment in 20th-century art, music, philosophy, and literature that is at once a call to "make it new" and a return to some of the forms that the Romantics abandoned. Among the artists, artifacts, and other realities discussed are Futurism, T.S. Eliot, James Joyce, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Picasso, Dali, and Le Corbusier.
David Grubbs talks with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about doxology as a musical and literary genre as well as doxology as a philosophical and theological move. As a nod to "The Old Hundredth," the tune of a common doxology hymn, the trio find something to say about each line as praise relates to the enterprise of doing the Christian Humanist Podcast. Among the questions and other realities addressed are the history and etymology of doxology, relationships between 21st-century Christian intellectuals and those who have gone before, what it means to praise Father and Son and Holy Ghost, and what's best in the podcasting life. (Conan?)
Nathan Gilmour talks with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs on the topic of online education and its worth (or worthlessness) for liberal arts education. Starting with its roots in correspondence courses, the trio takes on the classroom experiences that the online course tries to emulate and transcend, some of the limitations inherent to online education and some arising out of current practice, and the recent craze over MOOCs. Among the ohter realities we take on are the status differences among college degrees, the potential for abuse in all sorts of college settings, and the demographics of college.
Michial Farmer converses with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about John Keats's poem "Ode on a Grecian Urn." After some conversation about the formal innovations of this and other Keats odes, the crew digs into the strong Platonic strains of the poem, its place in the larger phenomenon called "Romanticism," and the poem's particular ideology of art and life. Among the ohter realities we take on are elegiac poetry, ekphrasis, whether the urn ever existed, and the ashtray outside of the University of Georgia English department.
David Grubbs holds forth with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about "Kubla Khan" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Coleridge's particular philosophy of poetry comes across strongly in this conversation, as does the history of the poem and especially its larger-than-verse backstory. Among other things we take on the connections between drug abuse, madness, and art; the category "Romantic Poetry;" the ideology of the prophet-poet; and Orientalism as it manifests in "Kubla Khan."
Nathan Gilmour talks with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about William Wordsworth's poem "Ode: Intimations of Immortality." From its place in the Romantic era to its influence on Latter-Day-Saints theology, our conversation takes on the poem's ideology of childhood and its accompanying passages about the pre-existence of the soul. Among other things we discuss are possible Platonic and Buddhist influences, how Romantic poetry departs from its predecessors and how it doesn't, and the end of childhood.
Michial Farmer moderates a conversation with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about Plato's writings on poetry, painting, music, and other kinds of art. Stepping beyond the standard "Plato hates poets" treatment, the trio starts with a conversation about the state of literary, visual, and musical arts in Athens, then enters into a handful of dialogues in which Socrates and his interlocutors make a complex array of assertions about the places of music and poetry and such in the good life. Among the dialogues and other realities discussed are tragedy, comedy, Republic, Phaedrus, Charmides, Symposium, and allegory.
David Grubbs moderates a conversation with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about the literature, theology, and other fascinating facets of forests. At the heart of the conversation is the shifting conceptions of the woods, from a place of dread to a place of wonder to a vulnerable place that needs human protection. Among the texts, writers, and other realities discussed are Gilgamesh, 2 Samuel, Dryads, Sir Orfeo, The Faerie Queene, Inferno, Macbeth, Henry David Thoreau, environmentalism, and (of course--Grubbs is back!) Tolkien.
Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour converse about musicals on the stage and screen. From European roots to the essentially American stage musical and beyond into Disney movie musicals, the conversation explores the philosophies that inform musicals and the places that musical theater has gone with a catchy tune and a quick rhyme. Among the musicals and other realities discussed are Wagner, Gilbert and Sullivan, South Pacific, Oklahoma!, The Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, Evita!, Rent, The Jungle Book, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat.
Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour converse about Pragmatism, a distinctly American philosophical tradition, and its roots in logic, capitalism, and pluralism. Along the way we discuss the three famous figures of early-twentieth-century pragmatism, the postmodern turn that neo-pragmatism takes in the late twentieth century, and the ways in which pragmatism and Christianity exist uneasily but undeniably together in American thought. Among the philosophers and other realities discussed are C.S. Peirce, William James, John Dewey, Richard Rorty, Stanley Fish, and David Bentley Hart.
Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour respond to some listener feedback from the end of 2012 and the beginning of 2013.
Michial Farmer moderates a conversation with David Grubbs, Nathan Gilmour, and special guest hosts Stephen Sandridge and Tim Rhodes (from the Night Cheese podcast) about the television Christmas special. Starting with adaptations of A Christmas Carol and moving through the weirdness of Rankin-Bass, the crossover crew digs into the ways that sentimentality gives way to irony in the course of television's brief Christmas history but never quite overcomes Charlie Brown. Among the television shows and other realities discussed are Mr. Magoo's Christmas, Rudoloph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Alf's Christmas special, and A Claymation Christmas.
Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about the much-maligned Christian book industry. After a discussion of the Christian bookstore's place in the history of the novel, the trio goes on to take on the apocalyptic thriller and the Christian romance novel, two very popular subsets in the industry, and finishes with some utopian suggestions for the Christian fiction world. Among the books, ideas, and other realities discussed are Janette Oke, Frank Peretti, Tim LaHaye, English department bias, and differences between popular and literary fiction.
David Grubbs moderates a conversation with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about dystopian fiction, mainly novels. After establishing the relationships between utopian and dystopian texts, the trio digs into the peculiarly modern conditions that yield this postmodern genre, digging into the marks of the really good and the notably bad specimens of dystopia. Among the texts, writers, and other realities discusssed are 1984, Brave New World, The Handmaid's Tale, The Hunger Games, William Gibson's Cyberspace trilogy, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, The Handmaid's Tale, and Atlas Shrugged.
Michial Farmer moderates a conversation with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour on the Crusades, the wars of European Christians against Muslims, Jews, and Eastern Christians in the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries. Starting with the wars that preceded Pope Urban's famous sermon and moving forward through a century and a half, the discussion explores the theological as well as the social realities surrounding the first, third, and children's crusades before discussing the rhetorical character of "Crusades" in twenty-first century Christian discourse.
Nathan Gilmour moderates a conversation with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about Flannery O'Connor. A favorite of the academy and of Christian readers, O'Connor presents a vision of reality where the spirit and human agency are just as real as social forces, a revolt of sorts against much fiction of the mid-twentieth century. Among the stories and essays discussed are "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," "The Grotesque in Southern Fiction," "Revelation," and "Good Country People."
David Grubbs moderates a conversation with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about the history and genre of the sermon. Beginning with Biblical examples and moving into the patristic and medieval periods, the conversation involves both sermon-speakers and sermon-hearers as we discuss what happens when a sermon gets preached. Among the texts, preachers, and other realities discussed are "A Divine and Supernatural Light," John Chrysostom, Launcelot Andrews, revision, and the lectionary.
Michial Farmer moderates a conversation with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about death as a concept, running from Biblical takes on death (there are several) and running from Greco-Roman to existentialist conceptions of human demise, with a significant spell spent on the transition from medieval memento-mori traditions into Enlightenment conceptions of medicine as exclusively the art of staving off death. Among the texts, writers, and other realities discussed are Psalm 90, the death of Bede, the death of Caedmon, Tom Paine's "The Age of Reason," Heidegger's "Being and Time," and Paradise Lost.
Nathan Gilmour moderates a conversation with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about chess. Long regarded as the mark of an educated person, skill in chess requires, as the Humanists discover, both a strong grasp of mathematical possibilities and a keen awareness of contingency as the character of human reality. Among the texts, artists, and other realities engaged are the Ruy Lopez chess manual, T.S. Eliot, the Hardy Boys, Thomas Middleton, Garry Kasparov, the etymology of "checkmate," and The Wire.
David Grubbs moderates a conversation with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about some of the Federalist Papers dealing with the presidency. At the heart of the discussion is the gradual evolution of the office in response to technological and other social changes, most notably the rise in the twentieth century of the standing army. Among the writers, texts, and other realities we take on are Alexander Hamilton, Janissaries, standing militaries, the presidential pardon, and Barbary Pirates.
Michial Farmer moderates a conversation with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about some of the Federalist Papers dealing with the House of Representatives and the Senate. After a discussion of relationships between constitutional and casuistic law, the Humanists delve into the particularly Madisonian character of the bicameral legislature, making sure to praise the Enlightenment and take swipes at current Congressmen along the way. Among the texts and other realities discussed are the Constitution, K Street, the First Amendment, the House, and the Senate.
Nathan Gilmour moderates the first of three conversations with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about the Federalist Papers. Some of the best artifacts of political philosophy from the founding of the republic, this week's newspaper articles dig into questions of standing armies; states' sovereignty and national identity; and the roots and control of political factions. Listen in and hear the Humanists say nice things about the Enlightenment!
David Grubbs moderates a conversation with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about the ocean, the sea, and other large bodies of salty water. Digging into the Greco-Roman and Northern-European etymologies before exploring mythological and other literary representations, the trio talks about teh modern oceanographic picture of things as another, interesting, rhetorical presentation of the same reality. Among the texts, artists, and other realities we discuss are Homer, Hokusai, Moby Dick, Dante, Captains Courageous, Debussy, and the rhetoric of science.
Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about realism, a term so nebulous that even literary reference books don't like it. In the course of things we talk about medieval and modern connotations of the word as well as how modern realism spans architecture, painting, sculpture, music, fiction, and all sorts of interesting media. Among the texts, artists, and other realities we discuss are Stephen Crane, Manet, Debussy, Ranke, Henry James, and Dreiser.
Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about pirates, those maurauding sea-robbers who have been with the human race ever since we figured out to move valuable things across the water. At the core of our discussion is the tension between the free-spirited folk hero most recently celebrated in Jerry Bruckheimer movies and the actual, brutal criminals that history give us. Among the pirates, artifacts, and other matters discussed are Treasure Island, Pirates of the Caribbean, Blackbeard, privateering, Tortuga, and Han Solo.
David Grubbs moderates a discussion of Dr. Nathan Gilmour's dissertation Ethical Succession, an exploration of theology and literature. We take on the question of literature as theology, ponder whether Nathan was entirely unfair to Luther and Calvin, and talk about the process of writing and defending a doctoral dissertation. Among the writers, texts, and concepts discussed are Spenser, Shakespeare, Milton, The Rape of Lucrece, David Bentley Hart, Plato, Luther, Calvin, and Erasmus.
Nathan Gilmour hems and haws for eleven minutes, responds to some listener feedback, and otherwise makes a fool of himself. Apologies for the bad sound quality--this didn't go through Michial Farmer.
Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about the transition from being a graduate student to being a faculty member. Drawing on the previous academic year, in which David and Michial joined the ranks of small Christian colleges, the discussion ranges from escaping the departmental "silo" to establishing a persona not as someone who's going to be a professor some day but who is one now. Among the realities discussed are dissertation writing, committee work, teaching loads, becoming a guiding force for an intellectual community, and why David Grubbs has such a cool office.
Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with Nathan Gilmour and David Grubbs about some really terrible movies that claim to be based on some really good books. After trash-talking some real duds, the trio discusses what it means to appropriate a book for the screen and even some of the films and TV series that do so especially well. Among the films discussed are Beowulf, Branaugh's Hamlet, Troy, Robin Hood, King Arthur, Contact, Bram Stoker's Dracula, and Demi Moore's The Scarlet Letter.
Nathan Gilmour and Michial Farmer chat about David Brooks's 2001 essay "One Nation, Slightly Divisible" and the political metaphors of "red" and "blue" America that arose in its wake. At stake in our discussion is the extent to which regional-level sociological analysis emerges from observation and the extent to which it frames observation. Among the texts and other interesting entities discussed are "One Nation, Slightly Divisible," college towns, Mitt Romney, John Kerry, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, and Al Gore. (Wow. We really did get political this time!)
Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour hold forth abut Fyodor Dostoevsky's grand novel The Brothers Karamazov. We dig into the main characters (and every character is a main character in Dostoevsky), the big questions of atheism and miracles, and the consequences of atheism. Among the scenes, characters, and other artifacts discussed are The Grand Inquisitor, Ivan as Christian Atheist, Alyosha the compelling Christian character, and the devil.
Nathan Gilmour and Michial Farmer hold forth abut George Marsden's 1997 book The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship. The main points of discussion are the extent to which the academy that Marsden saw in 1997 has persisted in the fifteen years since and what has changed; the difficulties of prognosticating change in college; and ways and extents to which Christian scholars are making their mark now. Among the writers and artifacts discussed are George Marsden, James Berlin, digital journals, and the Golden Rule.
Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour (until Gilmour has to leave for a meeting) about the genre autobiography, its roots, and what separates the good ones from the mediocre ones. At stake in our discussion are the problems of presenting one's own self and the narration of interiority, and along the way we also dig into questions of the ways in which memoirs should be true. Among the writers and artifacts discussed are Augustine's Confessions, The Autobiography of Ben Franklin, Jean Jacques Rousseau, A Million Little Pieces, and the difference between autobiography and memoir.
David Grubbs moderates a discussion with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about Dante, specifically about some of the background and context that makes Dante a more enjoyable read. We take on the theology, philosophy, poetry, and other influences on the Florentine poet, and we include in the discussion those works after Dante that shed light retrospectively. Among the writers and artifacts discussed are Virgil, Aristotle, St. Thomas, T.S. Eliot, and Hart Crane.
Nathan Gilmour moderates a conversation with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about about the documentary hypothesis, a tool that Bible scholars have used, abused, and disputed for some hundred and thirty years. At stake are the character of Biblical inspiration and the operation of God in the world, and we have a good discussion not only about historical reactions to the theory but also regarding the theological ramifications. Among the writers and artifacts discussed are The Fundamentals, Prolegomenon to the History of Israel, and Biblical Scholarship.
Michial Farmer moderates a conversation with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about about patience, the length of will that Aristotle linked to anger and Paul to persecution. Perhaps the most troubled of the three virtues that we've discussed so far, much of our conversation has to do with why we always feel the need to apologize for patience. Among the writers and artifacts discussed are Job, Aristotle, the Stoics, Fabius Maximus, Chaucer's Clerk's Tale, and Galatians.
David Grubbs moderates a conversation with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about about valor or courage, the virtue of responding well in the face of onrushing danger. Beginning with the grammar of the Hebrew stative verb (it's related, we promise), the conversation moves through medieval conceptions and on into the possibility or impossibility of courage in a world of mechanized war and standing armies. Among the writers and artifacts discussed are Joshua (the biblical book), Summa Theologica, Tolkien, Tennyson, Wilfred Owen, Camus, and the Iliad.
Nathan Gilmour moderates a conversation with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about about humility, that particularly Christian virtue that was a vice to the Greeks and a rot to Nietzsche. The conversation situates medieval conceptions of humility as syntheses of Pauline and Aristotelian teachings and proposes that precisely such a robust medieval moral philosophy stands to correct both the abuses of imposed "humility" and late-modern critiques of the same. Among the texts and thinkers discussed are Philippians, Summa Theologica, Nietzsche's The Antichrist, The Lord of the Rings, Walt Whitman, and Paradise Lost.
Michial Farmer moderates a conversation with David Grubbs and Dr. Nathan Gilmour about epistemology, the philosophical investigation of how we know what we know. A central concern of philosophy since the 17th century and a valid question before that, epistemology comes in a definite range of options. Among the thinkers and ideas discussed are Plato, Thomas Aquinas, Descartes, Locke, Hume, Kant, Hegel, Pierce, Kuhn, and micro-fairies.
David Grubbs moderates a conversation with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about the hero's companion, a figure known in modern comic books as the sidekick. Whether spurring ancient heroes on to great deeds or providing the reader a surrogate in modern fiction, the sidekick is always good for a helping hand (or, in the case of children's movies, actually to save the day). Among the texts and other artifacts discussed are Beowulf, Gilgamesh, The Iliad, the Lone Ranger, Teen Titans, Huckleberry Finn, and Big Trouble in Little China.
Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about the Romantic movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The strong development of nationalism, a deep love for the imagination, the cult of the artist as solitary individual, and other developments stay with us even today. Among the artists, artifacts, and other stuff discussed are the American and French Revolutions, the Enlightenment, Ralph Waldo Emerson, the Grimm Brothers, Lord Byron, the artist's biography and its importance to the Romantics, and other such things.
Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour discuss Phillip Cary's book Good News for Anxious Christians, a popular-press theology book dedicated to countering what Cary calls "The New Evangelicalism." Focusing on their own interactions with high school and college students in the evangelical world, the hosts talk about Cary's particularly timely warnings against moral irresponsibility and the anxiety that comes when consumerism gets together with Christian piety.
Nathan Gilmour and Michial Farmer discuss Scott Crider's book The Office of Assertion, a composition textbook rooted in classical rhetorical traditions. Moving freely between their own teaching practices and the differences between classical and contemporary educational theory, the discussion digs into Aristotle's responses to Plato, the Renaissance of classical rhetoric as a response to rhetoric's decline in the academy, and other matters of education and rhetoric.
Nathan Gilmour preaches a sermon at Athens Christian Church on December 18, 2011 about the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55) and the ways that the songs we sing make the world we inhabit.
Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion on the Christmas classic "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. Along the way the discussion ranges from philosophical and literary backgrounds all the way to whether Dickens is an agent of secularization when it comes to the Christian holiday. Among the writers and ideas discussed are Thomas Malthus, Pliny the Younger, Tiny Tim, Genesis, Christ among the children, and when ghosts started carrying chains around.
Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about what books they'd bring with them if they were stranded on a desert island. So that the description doesn't give away the books, this text shall end here.
David Grubbs moderates a discussion with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about the world of the academic conference, digging into their antecedents, their peculiarities, and why Gilmour doesn't much like them. The last third of the episode is dedicated to dreaming up better ways to do conferences. Among the ideas, people, and stereotypes we dig into are Plato's Symposium, the Royal Society, the MLA, the blustering pedant, the perpetual sneer, and the academic conference's drinking problem.
Michial Farmer apologizes for some technical difficulties that have prevented this week's episode from airing and announces some plans for the immediate future.
Nathan Gilmour moderates the beginning of a discussion with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer (Gilmour had a meeting to make, so the others finished it up) about environmentalism, Christian responses to the same, literary treatments of the natural world, and other groovy stuff. Among the texts and ideas discussed are Genesis, Romans, Augustine, Leonardo da Vinci, Baruch Spinoza, and naive city-slicker environmentalists.
Michial Farmer and Nathan hold forth on Reality Television, demonstrating once more Gilmour's lack of connection with pop culture. We take on the origins in the documentary format, the shift from documentary's high self-regard to reality TV's self-awareness as entertainment, and discuss why it's alright (according to Farmer) to mock a divorce if it's a Kardashian divorce. Among the TV shows, thinkers, and other ideas we take on are An American Family, The Real World, The Weakest Link, The Soup, Survivor, conservative localism, celebrity narcissism, Mythbusters, and Project Runway.
David Grubbs moderates a discussion with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about the apocalypse, apocalyptic literature, and otherwise about the end of things. Working our way from Biblical apocalyptic to modern-day end-of-the-world stories, we focus on the assumed philosophies of history that inform each sort of apocalyptic. Among the texts, ideas, and writers we discuss are Revelation, Daniel, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Dante's Purgatory, Shakespeare's Henry V, Walker Percy's Love in the Ruins, and WALL-E.
Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about the Greek tragedy Prometheus Bound, traditinally attributed to Aeschylus. Prometheus is a character whose career makes sense in the context of Greek henotheism, becomes unintelligible at the height of Christian literary sensibility, and makes a comeback in some interesting ways as modernity overtakes classical Christianity as the dominant intellectual context in literature. Among the texts, writers, and ideas we discuss are Aeschylus, Boethius, Dante, Milton, Shelley, the New Atheism, and Dostoevsky.
Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about Athenian tragedian Euripides and two of his plays. Euripides is the "bad boy" among Greek playwrights, and we talk a bit about his strange biography before digging into his horrendous pictures of gods. Among the texts, writers, and ideas we engage are comedians as biographers, deus ex machina, gods as allegories, Platonic and Aristotelian readings of tragedies, and Melville.
David Grubbs moderates a conversation with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about Greek tragedy as a genre and specifically about Sophocles, the most-read artist in the genre. Along the way we focus on the broad range of readings that Sophocles has inspired, all the way from Aristotle to Freud. Among the texts, writers, and ideas we discuss are Oedipus Rex, Antigone, Aristotle's Poetics, Freud's Interpretation of Dreams, Bonhoeffer, and Martin Luther King Jr.
Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about Internet discourse, the vices that seem to inhere in Internet exchanges, and why a long online discussion is probably at some point going to involve Hitler. Although technology is always on the table, rhetoric is really the name of the game. Among the writers, ideas, and other bad habits we discuss are psychologizing one's opponent, posting manifestos on Facebook, making people into devils, exhibiting classical virtue in online life, and acknowledging just how wise John Mark Reynolds can be when he gets Platonic on your head.
Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with (Comrade) Nathan Gilmour and (Ayatollah) David Grubbs about the strange relationships between political parties and Christian confession in America. One of the central questions (that we try really hard to answer) is whether and to what extent partisan identity stunts moral reasoning. Among the ideas and phenomena we discuss are the U.S. Constitution, the Abolition movement, the Social Gospel, Focus on the Family, whether or not the current Christian Left deserves that title, and some suggestions for how Christians can relate to political parties.
David Grubbs moderates a conversation with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about the history, role, and changing face of libraries. Our conversation involves, among other things, Farmer debunking yet another myth about the American founders and Gilmour telling a story involving Touret's Syndrome and a colostomy bag. Among the writers, libraries, andother interesting bits we discuss are Bede, Ben Franklin, academic databases, public libraries, seminary libraries, and the Internet's relationships with modern libraries.
nNathan Gilmour moderates a discussion with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about civil wars, starting with the Absalom revolt (which seldom gets called a civil war) and ending with the Sunni/Shi'ite conflicts in Iraq (which erroneously get called civil wars, according to Grubbs). Along the way we wrestle with the tensions between the duty to one's countrymen and dedication to ideas and individuals that characterize each such struggle. Among the wars, people, and other artifacts that we discuss are the Roman Civil War, the English Civil War, the American Civil War, and Hank Williams Secundus.
Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about the fascinating period known as the Enlightenment. Using the theme of compartmentalization, the Humanists attempt to articulate connections between the scientific, philosophical, political, and religious tendencies of thinkers between the late seventeenth and the early nineteenth centuries. Among the texts, ideas, and intellectuals we discuss are Rene Descartes, Blaise Pascal, Adam Smith, David Hume, John Locke, Isaac Newton, Immanuel Kant, Emanuel Swedenborg, and Jonathan Edwards.
David Grubbs moderates a conversation with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about intellectuals within the Church, some of the ways that intellectuals have related to the Church, and some suggestions about how intellectuals might relate to the Church. We take on the advantages and the drawbacks of the monk, the hermit, and the philosopher-king models along the way, and Gilmour manages to alienate church-planters one more time. Among the texts, authors, and ideas discussed are Plato, Milton, Emerson, Pope Gregory the Great, John Calvin, church planting, and congregational life.
Nathan Gilmour moderates a conversation with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about... the Christian Humanist Podcast! We recount the roots of the show, the sorts of episodes that we tend to record, and the fights that always seem to show up when people write nice things about our show. Among the ideas and episodes we discuss are the curator episodes, the triptychs, the Christian Humanist Blog, and the future of the project. See www.christianhumanist.org for an index, by episode number, of the shows discussed.
Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with Nathan Gilmour and David Grubbs about Nathan's recent book Theological Dramatics: Two Christological Case Studies. Along with some discussions of John Milton's Paradise Regained and Aemelia Lanyer's Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum (the two texts that the book discusses), the conversation ranges into the relationships between poetry, sermon, and criticism; and church and academy. Among the texts, ideas, and writers that we discuss are John Milton, Aemeila Lanyer, the possibility of Christian literary criticism, New Historicism, and Jesus poems.
David Grubbs and special guest host Luke Chandler moderate a discussion with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour on the topic of archaeology, especially as it concerns the excavation of Biblical sites and the effects that archaeology has had on the ways that Christians read the Bible and think about the lives of our forebears. Among the texts, ideas, and artifacts that we discuss are the Khirbet Qeiyafa site, the practice and disciplines of archaeology, David and Goliath, the Enuma Elish, the Chronicles of Narnia, Augustine, and modern theology.
Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour have some great news. It won't take long--have a listen!
Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about Christian Humanist University, a Platonic ideal of a college, and what such an ideal might do for the way that we imagine and evaluate real colleges. Among the texts, ideas, and other realities we discuss are core curriculum, the purpose of a university, college athletics, specialization, relationships between college and society, and college architecture.
Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about the seventeenth-century English poet George Herbert. In addition to readings from three of his poems, the discussion ranges from the nature of devotional poetry to the current MFA culture of active poets. Among the texts and artists we discuss are George Herbert, "The Pulley," "The Collar," "Holy Scriptures I," The Country Parson, and The Temple.
David Grubbs moderates a discussion with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about the concept of canon and the ways that it affects the ways that we receive the Bible, teach literature, and otherwise engage important texts. We propose ways to think about the "great books" in our specialty areas and discuss expansions and contractions of the canon. Among the texts, ideas, and writers we engage are the Bible, Beowulf, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Women's Studies, and Derrida.
Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about travel, the relationships between home and the road, adn some historical changes in conceptions of travel. Our musings revolve around the imagination of travel, from wilderness wandering to pilgrimage to colonization to vacation. Among the texts, ideas, and historical figures we engage are Deuteronomy, the Vikings, Spring Break, cosmopolitanism on the cheap, truckers, pilgrimage, and Milton.
Nathan Gilmour moderates a LONG discussion of cybernetics, those relationships between humanity and technology that define everyday existence. Our conversation ranges from ancient philosophies of technology to movie and comic book bad guys to modern philosophical engagements with the character of technology. Among the artifacts and writers we touch on are Plato, Paul, Edgar Allen Poe, Darth Vader, Captain Hook, Kobo Abe, Neil Postman, Martin Heidegger, and Genesis.
David Grubbs moderates a conversation with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about Richard Weaver's essay "Language Is Sermonic." Exploring the particular topoi of rhetorical construction and the philosophy that would elevate rhetoric to a place of prominence among the liberal arts, the Humanists wax analogical and say nice things about teaching composition. Among the texts and other subjects of discussion are "Language Is Sermonic," Richard Weaver, Plato, Thomas Aquinas, and rhetoric.
Michial Farmer moderates a conversation with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about Richard Weaver's essay "Ultimate Terms in Contemporary Rhetoric." The central idea, which the Humanists explore in some detail, is that modern discourse has some peculiarities in terms of our "god terms" and "devil terms" that make dialectic a more important helper to rhetoric than ever. Along the way we discuss Richard Weaver, so-called GI Rhetoric, evangelical devil-terms, and political rhetoric.
Nathan Gilmour moderates a conversation with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about Richard Weaver's essay "The Phaedrus and the Nature of Rhetoric." Exploring Weaver's provocative connections between public speech, good and evil, and education, the discussion takes turns into philosophy, education, and all sorts of interesting places. Among the texts and authors we discuss are Richard Weaver, Plato, the Phaedrus, and Derrida.
David Grubbs moderates a conversation about various forms of Biblical and Christian asceticism, including but not limited to monasticism and mendicant orders. As the topics move from historical era to historical era, our focus returns to the possibility of genuine difference from the world that serves the world in its difference. Among the historical figures and texts discussed are Genesis, Leviticus, Saint Anthony, Saint Francis, Chaucer, Martin Luther, Martin Luther King Jr., Saint Jerome, and Freud.
Nathan Gilmour apologizes for another missed episode and encourages listeners to spread the word about the episodes they have enjoyed.
Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with Nathan Gilmour and David Grubbs about the long legacy of Carpe Diem. We get into the history, ideology, and human condition that makes sense of it, and we offer criticisms along the way. Among the texts, authors, and other artifacts discussed are Horace, Epicurus, Ecclesiastes, Thoreau, Herrick, Marvell, Carmina Burana, Bede, Dead Poets' Society, and Glee! (Yes, Gilmour watches Glee.)
Michial Farmer offers an apology for a podcast that never happens. Really the only relevant topic is the widespread Internet outages at UGA last week.
Nathan Gilmour moderates a conversation with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about the King James Bible, which has its 400th anniversary this year. From its literary influence to its translation philosophy, our discussion pays homage to one of the true literary monuments of the English language. Among the texts, authors, and topics discussed are the King James Bible (of course), Lord Byron, The Book of Mormon, Walt Whitman, dynamic equivalence, formal equivalence, metaphors in poetry, and 19th-century American religions.
David Grubbs moderates a conversation with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about the ways that people in different places and moments have distinguished between rural and urban life. The strange relationship between city and countryside has always involved both idealization and demonization, and those dynamics make for some fascinating developments as imperial cities give way to the City of God and eventually become suburbs. Among the texts and authors we discuss are Gilgamesh, Genesis, the Gospels, City of God, the Canterbury Tales, Paradise Lost, Huckleberry Finn, The Great Gatsby, The Return of the King, and Rabbit, Run.
Michial Farmer moderates a lively discussion with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about the history of national identity, beginning with the Greeks and Romans and finishing up with a discussion of post-9/11 American nationalism. Along the way we talk about the Old Testament's and the New Testament's treatments of nation, some legends and propaganda techniques that grow up around the middle ages and Renaissance, and even a bit about Egypt. Among the authors, texts, and historical moments we discuss are William T. Cavanaugh, C.S. Lewis, Philippians, Geoffrey of Monmouth, the Persian Empire, the Tea Party, and the U.S. Constitution (the document, not the sailing vessel).
Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about the Italian Renaissance and the broad spectrum of intellectual and artistic activity that emerges from that period. On the way we focus on the strong continuities between the concrete continuities between this fascinating time and what people in that moment called "the Dark Ages," and that discussion takes us into the realms of sculpture and politics and philosophy as well as poetry. Among the authors, artists, and others discussed are Dante, Petrarch, Machiavelli, Michelangelo, Leonardo, Castiglione, Pico de Mirandola, and the Medicis.
David Grubbs moderates a conversation with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about the doctrine of the incarnation and its relationship with Christmas. Although we just scratch the surface of this complex doctrine, it's a surface well worth scratching. Among the artifacts and artificers we discuss are Arius, St. Nicholas, Isaiah, Zeus myths, the gospels of Matthew and Luke, Christmas carols, John Milton, and Stevie Wonder.
Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about the history, character, and aims of Christian rock and its later Contemporary Christian Music counterparts. Along the way we talk about the history of musical production, and David sees his normal continuity and Nathan insists on historical difference. Among the musicians, historical phenomena, and texts we discuss are Larry Norman, the Jesus Movement, Second Chapter of Acts, Steve Taylor, Audio Adrenaline, Mercy Me, and niche marketing.
Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with David Grubbs, Nathan Gilmour, and special guest host Carla Ewert about Our discussion tackles the nature of allegory, relationships between literary theory and this particular text, and Carla's recent work on Book 3 for her Master's thesis. Among the texts and authors we discuss are Edmund Spenser, the Faerie Queene, John Milbank, [French theorist], C.S. Lewis, and John Bunyan.
Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about the divisions, history, and purposes of what folks call Classical Music. On the way the discussion digs into questions of how symphonic or operatic music stands sacred and why all three Humanists hold up classical music as worthy of a place within a Christian liberal arts education. Among the composers and artifacts we discuss are J.S. Bach, St. Hatthew's Passion, Beethoven's 9th, The Magic Flute, Plato, and Frederic Chopin.
David Grubbs and Michial Farmer continue last week's discussion about emotion and church music. Among the songs and texts discussed are St. Augustine, Karl Barth, that Manwich commercial with "Ode to Joy" in it, Friedrich Schleiermacher, C.S. Lewis, and "In the Secret."
David Grubbs moderates a discussion with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about the music that Christians sing together. At the heart of the discussion is the purpose of congregational singing and historical shifts in what people expect from music. Among the texts, authors, and musical happenings discussed are Caedmon, the Psalms, Ephesians, Martin Luther, Fanny Crosby, the Jesus Movement, and Charles Wesley.
Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about the history, role, use, and abuse of doctrine and dogma. We examine modern and postmodern objections to them and attempt a case for openly partiucular Christian doctrines. Among the texts and authors we discuss are the Nicene Creed, the New Testament, Pope Benedict XVI, George Lindbeck, and a certain unnamed preacher who seems to appear on jumbotron screens.
Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about revenge, the uneasy relationship that Christians have had with revenge, and the literary and pop-culture manifestations of revenge that interest us most. We disagree about whether abstract revenge or complex, literary-realist revenge is more dangerous, but we have fun getting there. Among the texts, authors, and other artifacts we discuss are the Iliad, Genesis 4, Romans, Matthew, Beowulf (with fanfare), The Scarlet Letter, Roger's Version, Ninja Gaiden, Tenchu: Stealth Assassin, the Princess Bride, and Unforgiven.
David Grubbs moderates a discussion with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about the origins of the mentor-protege relationship, why mentee is not a word, and some of the influences that led the three Christian Humanists to the places we are today. Along the way we suggest concrete measures whereby colleges can facilitate mentoring and discuss why mandatory mentorship is probably a bad idea. Among the texts and authors and mentors we discuss are Athena, Mentor, Paul, Timothy, the Odyssey, C.S. Lewis, Walker Percy, and Walter Brueggemann.
Michial Farmer discusses with Nathan Gilmour the work and influence of German philosopher Martin Heidegger. Central to the discussion is the nature, potential goods, and potential dangers inherent in Christians' engagements with thinkers with wildly different politics and beliefs. Among the texts and authors we discuss are Martin Heidegger (of course), Being and Time, Gilgamesh, the Gospel of Luke, and Being and Nothingness.
Nathan Gilmour talks to the faithful listeners of CHP for a minute or two about ways to support our ongoing endeavors.
Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about kings, kingship, and resistance to monarchy in selected spots in history. We range from King David to Richard Petty, and we manage to get Jesus in there along the way as well. Among the texts, authors, and kings discussed are 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 Chronicles, the Iliad, the gospel according to St. Matthew, Beowulf, Charlemagne, and Elvis Presley.
David Grubbs moderates a discussion with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about the superhero, its literary antecedents, and some of its postmodern outgrowths. We go all the way from demigods and cowboys to Watchmen and Incredibles. Among the authors, texts, and heroes discussed are Homer, Gilgamesh, James Fennimore Cooper, John Wayne, Superman, Batman, the X-Men, the Incredibles, Kurt Vonnegut, and Alan Moore.
Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about the practice of friendship, its development from Biblical and Homeric times to modern Facebook "friends," and detours along the way. In addition the discussion ranges from modern short-sightedness regarding friendship and an attempt at a Christian theology of friendship. Among the texts and authors we discuss are Homer, 1 Samuel, Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, Cicero, the Inklings, The Lord of the Rings, Sherlock Holmes and James Watson, Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, Martin Buber, and all sorts of others. We covered a bunch of text this episode.
Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about the Athenian philosopher Plato, the content of his philosophy, and his continuing influence for good and for ill in the Christian era. Along the way we dig into questions of the goodness of creation, the relationships between critical and laudatory versions of great individuals' stories, and how to live with teh ancients. Among the texts and authors we discuss are Plato's Republic, Euthyphro, Apology, Timaeus, and the Laws; C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia; E. Abbot's Flatland, and Allan Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind.
David Grubbs moderates a discussion with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about the history of the podcast, our reasons for continuing the podcast, and what's in store for this year. Among the authors, podcasts, and texts we discuss are the Scriptorium Daily, CWC the Radio Show, John Calvin, and our own podcast.
Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with David Grubbs, Nathan Gilmour, and special guest host Victoria Farmer on what it means to be a fan, distinctions between partisan fandom and expert fandom, fan fiction, and other fantastic things. Among the texts and authors we discuss are Hanson, Tolkien, King's X, Foucault, Hegel, and Shakespeare.
Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion with Michial Farmer and special guest host Dan Dawson on science and faith, faith and science, history and all of the above, and what exactly tornadoes are. Discussions range from the historical illiteracy of the new atheists to the fear and ignorance that humanities types sometimes exhibit towards the laboratory. Among the texts and authors discussed are Carl Sagan, C.P. Snow, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allen Poe, Herman Melville, Averroes, Aristotle, and Sir Isaac Newton.
Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion with Michial Farmer, David Grubbs, and special guest host Ryan Gilmour on stage comedy and its televised descendants. We talk about medieval roots, Renaissance developments, American Vaudeville influences, and a whole mess about Saturday Night Live. We get to the improv, the standup, the sitcom, and all sorts of groovy things. Among the texts and comedy acts discussed are Beowulf, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Dave Chappelle, Richard Pryor, George Carlin, Saturday Night Live, and Second City.
Michial Farmer moderates a discussion of literary criticism's roots, its character as distinctive from Literary Theory, and the place of criticism in teaching and in the creation of artistic works. Along the way the discussion deals with the material conditions that lead to contemporary literary criticism, the movements against which it has tended to react, and its promise for better reading. Among the authors and texts discussed are J.R.R. Tolkien, Cleanth Brooks, John Updike, Sir Philip Sidney, John Milton, and William Wordsworth.
Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion about Judas, the betrayer of Jesus, and his literary life and afterlife. Along the way the Humanists discuss controversial questions such as the nature of the gospels, the relationship between history and literature, and things that make a crucifixion scene worthy of meditation or of scorn. Among the texts, authors, and movies discussed this week are Genesis, Matthew, John, the York Mystery Plays, Dante, The Last Temptation of Christ, the Passion of the Christ, Countee Cullen, and Frederick Buechener.
David Grubbs moderates a discussion with Nathan Gilmour and Michial Farmer about detective fiction, its roots in Romanticism and Victorian literature, and the changes it undergoes as the television age progresses. Along the way we talk about the sidekick figure, the development of the wounded-warrior stereotype in the genre, and why those toys on NCIS don't really exist. Among the authors, texts, and television shows discussed are Edgar Allen Poe, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, G.K. Chesterton, Bones, House, The Wire, and the Talmud.
Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour on sports, their ethical weight, their psychological functions, their place in the history of civilization and of literary enterprise, and why nobody likes the Yankees. Among the contested ideas are the relative merits of civic sporting patriotism, the goods inherent in playing and in watching sports, and the art of televised football. Among the texts and authors discussed are Homer, John Updike, and A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request.
Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about the shape of literary education and especially the fight between Critical Theory and Great Books curricula. Beginning with the Renaissance and moving forward into the age of research universities, they examine and critique various visions of general education. Among the texts and authors discussed are C.S. Lewis, Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, John Henry Newman, George Campbell, Adam Smith, and Thomas Malory.
David Grubbs and Michial Farmer hold forth on scary things, tracing their ancient roots and modern-era American and British flowering and exploring the sorts of things that movies do to scare audiences. Among the movies, texts, and authors discussed are Gilgamesh, Edgar Allen Poe, Horace Walpole, The Shining, H.P. Lovecraft, Jaws, Dracula, and Frankenstein.
Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with David Grubbs, Nathan Gilmour, and special guest co-host Chris Gehrz about the purpose and the future of Christian colleges, our experiences with them, and various theories of education--ranging from Reformed to Pietist--which inform life in the Christian college. Among the authors and texts discussed in this week's show are Arthur Holmes, Chris Gehrz, Will Willimon, and James K.A. Smith.
Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion of youth ministry, its roots in twentieth-century American youth culture, some departures from older ways of thinking about childhood, the different ways that youth ministers have tried to adapt to the cult of the young, and some interesting developments and alternatives. Among the texts, authors, and movements discussed in this episode are J.D. Salinger, Geoffrey Chaucer, Jack Kerouac, homeschooling, Johnson City style youth ministry, and chubby bunnies. (This might be the last time chubby bunnies ever makes the show notes for this podcast.)
David Grubbs moderates a discussion of literary origin stories, starting in the Babylonian and other Levantine predecessors of Genesis, spending a fair bit of time on Genesis, and launching forth (after a detour through the Greeks and Romans, of course) into the Christian era's accounts of creation. Among the authors and texts discussed are Enuma Elish, Genesis, Rig Veda, the Gospel of John, Ovid, Caedmon, Paradise Lost, and the Chronicles of Narnia.
Michial Farmer moderates a discussion of Sam Tanenhaus's recent book The Death of Conservatism, its relative truth and worth, and how the Christian Humanists relate to various iterations of conservatism. Among the authors and texts with which we engage are Sam Tanenhaus, Edmund Burke, Neil Postman, Stanley Hauerwas, Augustine, and Plato.
Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion of the flexible, durable genre of tragedy, the ways that the Greeks thought about it and the Renaissance reinvigorated it, and the movies that take advantage of its power. Among the texts, authors, and movies discussed are Euripedes, Aristotle, Seneca, Chaucer, Shakespeare, The Godfather films, John Updike, Fargo, No Country for Old Men, and The Wire.
David Grubbs moderates a discussion about the varieties of epic, the nationalist ideologies that motivate some of the theories of epic, the relationships between novels and epics, and how all of these discussions inform the Christian Humanists' common sense that most movies claiming to be epic movies are nearly unwatchable. Among the authors, texts, and movies discussed are Homer, Virgil, Beowulf, Hudibras, Troy, King Arthur, Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings movies, Garden State, and 300.
Michial Farmer and David Grubbs hold forth on the character of literary comedy, its place in Christian traditions, and why life is in fact one long Monty Python movie. Among the texts, authors, and movies discussed are Aristophanes, Shakespeare, Monty Python, Weird Al, G.K. Chesterton, Aristotle, and... no, at this point not even we believe this list.
Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion of how life-after-death, especially the unpleasant sort, appears in literary texts, beginning in Classical poetry, moving through a healthy dose of medieval poetry, and finishing with a consideration of some interesting twentieth-century visions of Hell. Among the texts and authors we discuss are Homer, Virgil, Beowulf, Anglo-Saxon homilies, Guthlac, Genesis B from the Junius Manuscript, Dante, Langland, Gower, Milton, C.S. Lewis, and Sartre.
David Grubbs moderates a discussion of the national mythology, the spiritual realities, and the ongoing plight of Haiti, focusing on the comments of Pat Robertson and responses from some of his liberal critics. We delve into theodicy, Providence, apocalyptic, archaeology of knowleddge, and other topics, and the texts we discuss are the Biblical books of 1 Chronicles, Job, Ecclesiastes, and Revelation; Boethius, Calvin, The Wanderer, and Jon Levenson.
Michial Farmer moderates a discussion of the theological enterprise called apologetics, starting from patristic endeavors and moving through high-medieval theology and finishing with the Humanists' suggestions for Christian apologists in the twenty-first century. Among the writers we discuss are Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Anselm, Thomas Aquinas, C.S. Lewis, Kierkegaard, John Milbank, Cornelius van Til, Ken Ham, and Richard Dawkins.
Nathan Gilmour, snotty English teacher, moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer on various attempts to stymie Christmas over the centuries, culminating in a discussion of the 21st century's versions of the same. Among the texts we discuss are Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Morte d'Arthur, Washington Irving's The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, A Christmas Carol, The Grinch who Stole Christmas, and various 24-hour news programs. Listen to hear our favorite story of St. Nicholas.
David Grubbs moderates a discussion with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about modern-era speculative fiction, including fantasy and science fiction. Discussion ranges from our early experiences with the genres to theological and philosophical curiosities within and objections to both. Among the authors we discuss are J.R.R. Tolkien, William Gibson, Philip K. Dick, Kurt Vonnegut, and Walker Percy.
Technical difficulties unfortunately shorten a further discussion of Emergent and New Calvinism, this time focusing on border figures like Clark Pinnock, James K.A. Smith, and Michael Spencer. Further discussions of muti-site churches and book publishing almost get rolling.
Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion about Emergent and New Calvinism, their perceived and real impact, their relationships to history, and other such things. Among other topics, the discussion treats Mark Driscoll, Brian McLaren, Tony Jones, celebrity culture in the church, multisite worship, and the plague of hipness in the Church.
Mchial Farmer moderates a discussion about the relationships between Christianity and American origins, Christian ethics and participation in the state, and resisting evil. Among other topics the hosts discuss Anabaptist politics, the Declaration of Independence, and the problems of being Christian and affirming the American Revolution.
David Grubbs moderates a discussion with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about how Protestants and Catholics relate to the Church Fathers, how the Church Fathers relate to human learning, and how everyone after the Church Fathers keeps wanting to take them where they themselves preferred not to go. In the course of things we treat John Updike's use of Tertullian; the relationships between Augustine, Plotinus, and modern Christian philosophy; Protestant and Catholic "uses" of the Church Fathers, and other interesting things.
Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about the ways that John Calvin affects our scholarship, our theology, and other parts of our life and about Calvin's helpful reminders to 21st-century Christians. Along the way we treat Calvin's early interactions with Seneca, Calvin's attitudes towards worldly learning, and how Calvinism affected the course of medieval studies.
Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with Nathan Gilmour and David Grubbs about what Christian humanism means, how it plays into the life of the Church and of the academy, and how a Christian humanist might respond to common criticisms. In the course of things we trace humanism's roots in Patristic encouters with philosophy and rhetoric; the flowering of Christian Humanism in the Renaissance, especially in the work of Desiderus Erasmus; and some twentieth-century figures who have continued the project.
Michial Farmer and Danny Anderson hold forth about "Dance of the Happy Shades," a short-story collection from 2013 Nobel Prize winner Alice Munro.