From the Center: Recent Episodes
The Center for Western Studies
Discussions about ideas, the arts, and culture, with Director John Hodges with friends and faculty of the Center for Western Studies.
Are there similarities between the decline of the West today and the decline of the Republic of Rome after the Punic Wars? Director Hodges muses about the similarities, and comments on an article written by H. A. Scott Trask, in Chronicles Magazine.
Other important recommendations: Tom Holland's book RUBICON, Will and Ariel Durant's CAESAR AND CHRIST, and the podcasts History of Rome (Mike Duncan), and Hard Core History (Dan Carlin).
We will be going into further detail in future podcasts.
As we continue to consider the cultural works of the West, this is another of our Director's live conference lectures, given in 2011, just months after the death of the composer Henryk Gorecki, a Polish Catholic, who's Symphony #3 became an international hit on the popular song charts of 1993. In this work, Gorecki departs from his more avant-garde styles, and takes up a kind of minimalism, into which he injects his Faith. The recording excerpted here is with Dawn Upshaw singing.
As we continue to investigate the great books, music, and ideas of our Western Civilization, we thought it would be good to offer a live conference lecture from 2010 that Director Hodges gave on Olivier Messiaen's masterful QUARTET FOR THE END OF TIME, for violin, cello, clarinet, and piano. Coming as it did out of his time in a Nazi prison camp during WW II, it is a sobering work, but its purpose is one of liberation of the soul. We hope you like it.
In 1970, Alexandr Solzhenitsyn was awarded the Nobel prize for literature, but due to the repressive regime of the USSR, was not allowed to leave his native Russia to receive it. His speech, written with the intention of reading it in Sweden, was never given -- but it has circulated ever since as a great apology for the true, the good, and the beautiful, and for the importance of the work of the writer. We have it here, and Director Hodges reads it for us. It ends with his famous line "One word of truth shall outweigh the whole world."
In this episode, we dive into the second part of the great myth of Cupid and Psyche, told from the perspective of one of her ugly stepsisters -- and we finally come to the meaning of the title.
Director Hodges and Ben Cumming discuss CS Lewis' marvelous fiction, TILL WE HAVE FACES, a retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche.
In this episode, our culture samplers dive into another of Flannery O'Connors great short stories, REVELATION. In it we compare Mrs. Turpin with Mrs. May of GREENLEAF, and the point of pride that tempts us all to judge one another.
In this episode, Director Hodges, and co-host Ben discuss the great Flannery O'Connor short story GREENLEAF. If you have not read it, we suggest that you take the 20 minutes to read it before you listen, as we give spoilers...who is this Mrs. May, and does she see the world correctly?
Director Hodges and co-host Ben Cumming discuss Joseph Conrad's book HEART OF DARKNESS and address the death of Romanticism and the beginning of the 20th century.
In this episode, Director Hodges and Ben finish off the long series that has investigated the elements of civilization, and come to some conclusions about how we might best preserve ours. Hint: it is not by aiming to preserve civilization...
Jordan Peterson doesn't know us from Adam, but he gave a precise rendering of the points we have been making since last October about the need to recognize Faith as the basis for any rational activity. Director Hodges and Ben discuss "those cheeky French" and how their modern ideas have led the West away from the rich legacy of the Middle Ages where they themselves used to reign. And the discussion leads to how to approach saving Western Civilization.
Here is a speech Director Hodges gave for a fund raising dinner for Classical Education. It places education in the ongoing discussion about civilization and culture. Education is how we pass on the insights of our forefathers to our children, and the best way to do that is through a recovery of the lost telos of education.
In the ongoing process of summarizing the last 6 months of podcasts about civilization, Director Hodges walks us through an essay by Pope Benedict XVI, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, who asks many of the same questions we have been considering in a far more concise way. In it, we assess the place of power, the law, and revelation.
What is the point of the signs in THE SILVER CHAIR if even after muffing three of the four, the children complete the quest anyway? Is Lewis depicting an aspect of the Christian life? What would that be?
In this episode, we discuss CS Lewis' magnum opus. Both Benedict and Lewis argued that without the Tao, civilization will die, and Mankind will be abolished. Destroying all restraints leads not to freedom but to meaninglessness. How does that happen? Have a listen.
What did the late Pope have to say about the importance of the Faith in culture? Director Hodges and Ben Cumming discuss an article Joseph Ratzinger wrote.
Director Hodges comments on an article by Anthony Esolen, found in Chronicles of American Culture magazine, entitled: There Is A Culture War, Like it Or Not.
One of the most important of the ideas that constitute the foundation of a civilization is the idea of beauty. Director Hodges offers one of his recent lectures on our human experience of the beautiful, touching on the field of aesthetics, including thinkers from the Middle Ages to the 20th century. Thomas Aquinas, Hume, Kant, and Hans von Balthasar.
TS Eliot wrote a very pithy essay, The Idea of A Christian Society which addresses something of what we have been talking about for several months: what is a civilization, and what must we do to retain it? Director Hodges and Ben Cumming discuss Eliot's essay, and consider definitions of some of the terms found in Schumpeter's book on Communism and Capitalism.
When God wants to get our attention, He brings suffering, or He brings beauty -- how are we to address beauty?
Can God speak to us through our suffering? In this episode, Director Hodges and Ben discuss how suffering can be used to draw us closer to Him, and how similarly He can use beauty to do the same thing.
Leo Tolstoy wrote a short story about an old man who is visited by Jesus in a dream on Christmas Eve, and He promises to come in person on Christmas Day... Here is our Christmas present to you, a reading of the story by Director Hodges. Merry Christmas to all! We will take a three week break, and post our next episode on January 12th.
In this next episode about Civilization, Director Hodges and Ben extend their discussion about identity, addressing our modern day fixation on self-identity. Can we know who we are when we define ourselves?
It seems that our identities as individuals and as members of a civilization are intermingled. In this episode, Director Hodges and Ben Cumming discuss the notions of identity - how do we teach our children who they are? Includes a description of the track of modern philosophy from Descartes to Nihilism.
In our series on the foundations of civilization, we have come through the Logos, to definitions of words and the importance of a common language, and now to how language leads to stories that give voice to meaning. In this discussion, Director Hodges speaks with Dr. Junius Johnson, scholar and writer, about his book on Fairy Stories and the importance of story to define the identity of a people.
What does it mean to live the "good life"? Director Hodges and Ben discuss the pursuit of happiness, flourishing, and how different civilizations have understood the fulfilled human life.
With Thanksgiving coming up, Director Hodges and Ben discuss the place of giving Thanks in the life of a civilization. GK Chesterton said, on being asked why he was a Christian, "I was happy, and I wanted someone to thank."
In our continuing investigations regarding the foundations of Civilizations, Director Hodges and Ben discuss the common practice of Sacrifice. It seems a strange thing to do, but it seems every civilization has practiced it in one form or another. Some more gruesome than others, but there is an underlying common principle.
What is the essence of language? Director Hodges and Kyle Dillon explore the place of the Logos in the common speech of a Civilization, and how it makes community possible.
How did Western Civilization start, and how was it different than other Middle Eastern Civilizations? In this episode, Director Hodges and Ben Cumming describe the foundations of the West, and compare them to the ways of Mesopotamian Civilizations: Paul's supernatural leading and ideas compared with the Epic of Gilgamesh.
Are all Civilizations the same? In this episode, Director Hodges and Ben discuss whether or not two civilizations can judge each other. Since axioms are, by definition, givens and cannot be arrived at by reason, what criteria are there for discerning between or among the assumptions made by civilizations?
We're back! In this episode, the first of a series on the state of Western Civilization, Director Hodges wades into the definitions of "civilization" and "culture" with Ben Cumming.
We would love you to engage with us! Please send comments and questions to our email, director@centerws.com, and we will interact with you in future episodes!
Starting back in February, we have been attempting to piece together elements that would assist in addressing the large and multi-faceted notion of "Social Justice." We discussed biblical definitions of terms like justice and forgiveness, we reviewed the history of the social justice movement starting in the 19th century, we had a conversation with a philosopher to address the reasons social justice is so persuasive among Evangelicals, and we have tried to find the good in the movement. In this episode, Director Hodges gathers together some of the salient points in those past episodes, and draws 8 conclusions that might serve as a Christian response. We invite you to write us if you would like to ask questions that might arise from these episodes, or debate (serious debate only - we have no time for flaming) with us. We all want to grow in our understanding and to walk in the Spirit, for the glory of our Lord. Director@centerws.com.
In this episode, Director Hodges gives an apology for Fairy Tales. Borrowing extensively on the writings of GK Chesterton, he shows how our present culture often misunderstands the purpose for Fairy Tales, and thus misses out on what can be learned from them.
We live in an interesting time. Christians and Atheists find themselves on the same side in a debate against those who would reject Reason and put the ideology/religion of "Theory" (Critical Theory) in its place. In this episode, Director Hodges and Pastor Kyle Dillon discuss the book "Cynical Theories" written by Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay. These two self-described atheists investigate the various facets of "Theory" -- anti-colonialism, feminism, homosexuality, and critical race theory, among others, and reveal the dangers of embracing them. The fact that SOME Christians and SOME atheists have joined together on the side of Theory, while others of each stripe are against it proves this issue is not an easy one to discern. This episode attempts to show the strengths and weaknesses of the book's arguments.
"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right?" How many times have we heard that? But the implication that beauty is purely a subjective thing is a relatively recent notion. It comes originally from Plato, but Irish novelist Margaret Hungerford may have coined the phrase in the 19th century...but what about the Medieval notions of beauty? Those are pre-modern, pre-Romantic, and quite profound. In this shorter-than-usual podcast, Director Hodges investigates some of the ways beauty has been understood in the long past. The builders of the great cathedrals of the 12th and 13th centuries had some specific ideas about number, light, and symbol that were specially relevant in their day, as they still held that there is an invisible spiritual realm that could be reflected to us in materials like stone, light, music, and space. Perhaps they are still relevant today?
In this, the second part of a discussion with Cal Beisner, Director Hodges and he continue their discussion on the nature of rights. What is justice, and how can it be properly understood? What is the place of forgiveness, and grace, and can they be distributed by a government? And as Christians, do we have any rights before God? Is it wrong to demand that we be treated fairly, or given what we want in life? Director Hodges discusses these questions and more with Dr. Cal Beisner of the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of the Earth. The hope is to clarify what we can and should expect from government and from the Church by considering the government's role in God's economy.
Government, charity, rights, church, critical theory, racism, sexism
Negative rights and positive rights are not the same things. To provide what you do not have is a positive, to keep you from losing what you already have is a negative. Are either of them truly rights in the way that the American Declaration describes unalienable rights? The government is geared to provide the second, that is, protection by law, but completely unable to provide first, that is, charity, without coercion. Director Hodges discusses this aspect of our cultural debate with Dr. Cal Beisner of the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of the Earth. The hope is to clarify what we can and should expect from government and from the Church by considering the government's role in God's economy.
Government, charity, rights, church, critical theory, racism, sexism
Director Hodges sits down with Philip Himebook and talks about Christians in the performing arts, their collaborations (Hodges conducting, Himebook on stage), and their approaches to social media.
The Evangelical Church is struggling to make sense of the Social Justice movement. Why is it so attractive? How does it engage with bible-believing Christians? What does it offer the Church? Director Hodges discusses these questions with Dr. Doug Groothuis, professor of philosophy and apologetics at Denver Seminary. This episode refers to some articles that Dr. Groothuis has written. These can be found here, and here. We also recommend his book TRUTH DECAY.
Director Hodges discusses the roots of what is called "Critical Theory," with faculty member Jonathan (Jack) Vowell, who is working on his PhD in literary criticism. In this second of two parts, they discuss how Marx's ideas have been adjusted to address more generally the entire culture, going beyond economic conflicts alone.
In an ongoing effort to make sense of the ideas that are most influential in our present day, Director Hodges discusses the roots of what is called "Critical Theory," with faculty member Jonathan (Jack) Vowell, who is working on his PhD in literary criticism. In this first of two parts, they discuss the idealism of GWF Hegel and the materialism of Karl Marx and then set the stage for part two, in which these two address how these ideas have influenced the 20th century, and today.
For centuries we held that logical reasoning, supported by Revelation, was the way to get to the truth of any issue. At least to the best our finite minds can accomplish. In the last couple of centuries, while we have lost our communal trust in Revelation, we have at least retained the notion that logic and reasoning is the best way to know what is true. Today, we are hearing that logic and reasoning are only ONE way of many to approach truth, and logical fallacies that used to be "points off" in a debate are now allowed, and even encouraged. One of the most recent and prevalent logical fallacies is a combination of "begging the question" and "ad hominem" that Eric Raymond coined "Kafkatrapping." In this podcast, Director Hodges considers the Kafkatrap, where it is being used in our day, and how it might be addressed.
Since justice is on so many minds these days, we thought it would be good to discuss the call to forgive. Director Hodges has a conversation with world-class bible teacher, writer, missionary, and pastor Ronnie Stevens.
How does the bible approach the idea of Justice? It seems to be on everyone's mind these days, so Director Hodges and Pastor Kyle Dillon discuss how the word is used in the bible, and what implications it might have on our considerations of Social Justice.
This is the second part of a two-part investigation into the history of the ideas that brought us to this place today. It began with Descartes and Rationalism, but in this episode, we begin with Nietzsche at the end of the 19th century and work our way to today. Hodges and Vowell in the continuation of a conversation from last May.
At the end of our year at the Center, we offer an extended lecture on Post-modernism, and set of ideas closely related to Modernism, and to a degree outdated now, as we are moving into a new era, too new to name completely. In this first half of a long episode that we have broken into two parts, we ask faculty member Jack Vowell to give us the highlights of this year's lecture on post-modern thought, and in it Hodges and Vowell consider the effect that the assumptions of Modernism have had on our day, including sowing the seeds of a kind of irrationality that seems to be influencing our debates today.
Continuing the last episode, Hodges continues to lay out his four-points of "paleo-conservative" thought, taken from Burke, Eliot, Kirk, and others. The need for #3 intergenerational community, and for #4, common religion as a pre-requisite for healthy society.
One mistake: In the recommendation portion of the podcast, Hodges refers from memory to a portion of TS Eliot's FOUR QUARTETS, saying that the quote he recalled was in the second section of East Coker - it is in the fourth section of East Coker.
One of our most popular episodes has been the one we did on Socialism. We thought that the word "Conservative" has lost some of its meaning today, so we decided to address the essence of what some have called "Paleo-conservativism" in distinction to "Neo-Conservativism." Hodges and Vowell discuss the essences of Edmund Burke's "moral imagination" which he pits against the "idyllic imagination" found in the works of Rousseau, and lived out in the bloodbath of the French Revolution and the following Reign of Terror. The four points of the moral imagination that Hodges recounts are: the view that man is basically fallen, that life is tragic, that mankind needs a view of community that transcends our own generation, and that society requires a common belief about religion. This episode covers the first two, while the latter two are included in the next episode.
Why would God require that we not covet? Is it for our benefit somehow? Or maybe it is just so that God won't have to listen to us whine? What if the answer to most of our social conflicts today is as simple as keeping the tenth commandment? In another solo podcast, Director Hodges muses about the meaning and application of the call God gives to resist the temptation to desire what others have.
GK Chesterton -- remember him? -- said once, that "Art is like morals: you have to draw the line somewhere." In this episode, Director Hodges goes solo again offering a meditation on drawing moral lines. Are we SURE that we are not falling into traps laid by our Enemy when we demonize others over political and social issues, pointing fingers, claiming injustices, accusing others? How would our Lord have us address injustices and wrongs? They are real. aren't they? Of course they are real injustices and wrongs - otherwise they would not need to be forgiven.
How did we get to the point of skepticism about reason? Do we trust our reason to give us a picture of reality? Or do we allow our fears, passions, concerns, anxieties, and experiences to lead us more than trusting our reason? What is the place for the imagination in reasoning? Are the two in opposition? Director Hodges gives a meditation on Reason and the Imagination, discussing how we can best apprehend the transcendent God through metaphor.
Can we still afford to have children? Are we putting them off for good reasons? What about the future generations? Hodges and Vowell discuss whether children are an asset or a liability in a technological society. What are the benefits of career over homemaking? How have we lost sight of the importance of the home? Could it be this is the fruit (or lack thereof) of the sexual revolution? Lower birthrates, but higher sexual confusions, pornography, sexual slavery, prostitution, divorce rates, and later marriages all because we are bored with sex?
What with several of the candidates for the US Presidency claiming to actually BE Socialists, we thought it would be good to discuss the characteristics of Socialism in all its manifestations. Hodges and Vowell address the misguided assumption that all human problems can be solved by way of the federal government. Once accepted as true, this assumption makes the claims of Socialism far more compelling, as the essence of Socialism is the promise of Utopia here and now. Who can argue against free education, free health care, and a guaranteed basic income for all? To be against these things is to appear self-centered and expose one to all sorts of insulting labels (racist, sexist, homophobe, bigot, et c.). But aren't there two things to consider here? Diagnosis AND Treatment? Can't one agree to a diagnosis without endorsing the latest proposed Socialist solutions?
Hodges recommends Hayek's writings on economics, and Vowell recommends Roger Scruton's writings, in particular, On Beauty (renamed Oxford Very Short Introduction to Beauty.)
Being ironic is the way of our world. But is it possible to be "hip" enough to tell and know the truth? If we "see through" everything, as CS Lewis asks, how is it any different than being blind? When does our cynicism end and our genuine enjoyment begin?
Happy New Year From the Center!
It is Advent, and ALMOST Christmas! So we thought we would do a special Christmas episode where we recall Christmases from years past, discuss favorite recipes, Christmas songs, Christmas movies, do each others' hair...well, ok, not really that... but sometimes we need a break from talking about cultural Marxism and warning of the dangers of land wars in Asia...so come join us! Hear a few tunes, and allow us to wallow a bit in nostalgia!
The problem with giving thanks is that we need someone to thank. In this episode, Hodges and Vowell discuss the importance of giving thanks and never more than for the gift of the Birth at Christmas. It seems even psychologists recognize the need human beings have for gratitude -- instead of complaining about the failings of...well...everything: family, job, country, the other political party, neighbors...perhaps we need to learn to be grateful for the good that we DO have. The family we were born into has given us much...the job we do can be done for the glory of God...the country we live in may have been the source of bad things, but do we take the good things about it for granted? What will it take for each of us to look for the good in whatever aspect of life we consider? Did you create yourself? Raise yourself? Did you find your friends, spouse, co-workers? Did you grow your own food? Build your own house? Install your own plumbing? Most of us have others to thank for those things. And all these things come from the Source, the One who spoke all things into existence. Thanks be to God.
Recommendations: GK Chesterton's A Short History of England, and Winston Churchill's A History of the English Speaking Peoples.
Donations can be made to the Center for Western Studies at centerws.com/donate. Questions and comments on this or any other podcast can be sent to our Director at director@centerws.com. We would love to hear from you!
Director Hodges sat down in the studio recently and recorded the entire book A CHRISTMAS CAROL for the Center. All the great language, humor, horror, and profound truth captured in audio book form! Here we have placed a short excerpt to whet your appetite for the entire thing...
And this book is available to donors to the Center! If you make a donation of $100 or more to the Center for Western Studies this Christmas, we will send you the link with which you can download the entire mp3 file just in time for Christmas! Donations can be made through Pay Pal at www.centerws.com/donate. Or checks can be sent through the mail to the Center's address: 3896 St. Philip Drive, Bartlett, TN 38133. And a Merry Christmas! God bless us every one!
There have been only a few elections in US history in which a presidential candidate won the election without winning the popular vote. The 2016 election was one of those times, and that, combined with the 2020 election coming up, has reignited the debate about the significance of the Electoral College. Does it fairly represent the country? If not, how could it be bettered? If so, how does it answer the accusation that it grants more weight to one man's vote than another's? Hodges and Vowell dig into the "steel man" arguments on both sides, and compare the EC with the Bill of Rights.
Hodges recommends Dorothy Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey/Harriet Vane mysteries (complete with accents): Strong Poison, Have His Carcass, Gaudy Night, and Busman's Honeymoon.
Vowell recommends CGP Grey's video "The Trouble with the Electoral College" as an intelligent anti-EC argument.
Attorney General William Barr recently gave a lecture at the law school at Notre Dame University about the necessity of the Christian faith in establishing but also sustaining civil society. In a plurality of beliefs, where do we turn for the foundation of society? Hodges and Vowell discuss the lecture itself, and whether giving such a lecture breaks the "establishment" clause or is making use of the "free-exercise" clause of the First Amendment, and whether he is right in saying that faith is necessary for freedom.
Send comments to us at director@centerws.com.
Recommendations: AG Barr's ND speech: transcription, and video oppositional viewpoints: Catholic National Reporter, NYT, and Rod Dreher's support here.
Jack recommends you go outside or go grocery shopping for relieving discouragement and to get perspective.
Technology, health care, foreign policy, government - what do we give up to progress? Hodges and Vowell discuss a half-baked idea that the metaphysical cost of giving up our volition for efficiency and lower costs may actually not be worth the trade.
Recommendations: Hodges suggests reading Os Guinness' "Renaissance" book; Vowell suggests a podcast called "The Remnant" episode 138 entitled, 'Half-baked' between Jonah Goldberg and Rep. Mike Gallagher.
Is sex the same as gender? If different, how? Hodges and Vowell start our third season of the From the Center Podcasts by diving into the thorny issue of gender. With no more authority on the subject than speaking as human beings, the two comment on an article that came from the Vatican in July of this year entitled, "Male and Female He Created Them, Toward a Path of Dialogue On the Question of Gender Theory in Education," (which can be read on line here). The document attempts to lay out "steel man" arguments on both sides. While the document is a needed starting point for cultural address, as it intends, Hodges and Vowell discuss its points in some detail, and consider the cultural ramifications of a culture of self-identity.
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Recommendations: Hodges recommends Russell Kirk's "Roots of the American Order", and Vowell suggests Marx' "Communist Manifesto."
How does the study of the Humanities help us become more human? Could it be that the loss of the Humanities has encouraged confusion between humans and computers, robots, AI? Perhaps the more we look like Jesus, the more we become human, and the more we appreciate the Humanities that exhibit the characteristics of humanness? Hodges and Vowell discuss what the Humanities have become, and what they could be.
It has been a while since we posted a podcast! Thanks for sticking with us as we traveled to Europe, sold and bought a house and moved ourselves and the Center to the beautiful retreat house we now have! We hope to get back on our weekly schedule. In this episode, Hodges and Vowell discuss the superiority of history and the arts over law and government for the improvement of life.
The Truth is a Person. As long as we are trying to choose which system of thought is the right one, we are missing the Truth. The problem isn't which system, it is which judge...Hodges and Vowell attempt to follow up on last week's podcast and provide what Christians are FOR rather than what they are against.
There have been so many hoaxes in the last few decades, and they reveal a cultural predisposition toward accepting Narratives and disregarding facts. Or is there a deeper set of Facts that trump Narratives? Hodges and Vowell discuss the present society's fear of "Totalization" of any kind, whether Communism, Totalitarianism, or even Christianity.
With various states presently and recently debating the abortion issue, an article came out arguing that a Christian can be both Pro-life and Pro-choice at the same time. In an attempt to make sense of it, Hodges and Vowell address the article and its assumptions. (Here is a link to the article: https://www.upworthy.com/it-is-possible-to-be-morally-pro-life-and-politically-pro-choice-at-the-same-time)
For a few days there was nothing but discussion about an ad put out by the Gillette shave company (called a "short film" by its creators, 2 minutes long), that was made up of various scenes in which men were depicted as mistreating women or encouraging aggressive behavior. Hodges and Vowell discuss the implications of this view of men, how the term "toxic masculinity" is used in the ad, and whether or not it gave a fair view of men. Since both men wear beards, and thus don't need the products that Gillette makes, they might not have had any contact with the ad except for the fact that everyone and his Aunt Matilda was talking about it. See what you think. (We suggest watching the ad before hearing the podcast.)
Recalling a great discussion from one of our Sunday night dinners, Hodges and Vowell discuss human play. Is it the opposite of work? Is it of use? What part does play play in a biblical understanding of life? The fellas offer a new definition that is more about attitude than action.
Hodges and Vowell discuss the liberal arts and their purpose. What happens to a civilization that loses its understanding of the liberal arts? Why should we return to them in our general education? Professors live for the "fire falling" of inspiration in the hearts of our students, but can it be taught? The loss of the doctrine of the image of God is connected to the loss of the love of the human (or even the definition of the human), and without the human, why study the Humanities?
Seems each side in political world has given up debate in favor of increased ire and insult. We don't think that this is that unusual -- political differences have often come to blows, even on the floor of congress, but what IS unusual is that some have argued that one's political opponents should not be allowed to have peaceful meals in public, or feel secure in their homes in private. What has changed to make this acceptable behavior in a civilized country? Hodges and Vowell describe a question from a Sunday night discussion, and consider the loss of civility from a Christian position.
If the material world is all there is, equal distribution of the world's resources, capital, wealth would make sense. But if material is all there is, where do we get the notion that redistribution is virtuous? And what about those who believe there IS a God? Can Christians embrace Socialism as a virtuous means to fulfill the call to care for the Poor? Why would Socialism be so attractive that so many would forget their arguments for diversity and embrace an old white guy? Hodges and Vowell wade into these and other questions.
"Be in but not of..." The Gospel requires a theological posture that embraces the culture as a single thing that is either influenced by Christians or is not - either is being seasoned with the salt of the Gospel or is not. There are two other approaches. We could form a Christian sub-culture removed from the rest of the world, OR we could offer a full embrace or capitulation to the culture, since there are so many elements that all people have in common. But can we love our culture enough to embrace it with love while also crossing its fallen will with the Truth?
Hodges and Vowell discuss the rise of Social Justice in the culture and in the Church, defining terms, and considering how it relates to the calling that Christians have to care for the poor, sick, and the widow.
We begin our second year of podcasts at the Center! This first episode introduces our new students: Emma Peebles, Kate Korasick, and Ben Thompson. Plus, Hodges and Vowell lay out the philosophy of education at the Center.
Director Hodges chats with Ken Myers at the Circe National Conference in Charleston, SC where they both were speaking. The two talk about the development and redefinition of Reason in the Modern world, since the 16th century, and how even the Church is more influenced by Modern thought than she realizes. Modern Rationalism is not so much the result of unbelieving philosophers, but Christian philosophers who departed from their biblical understanding.
Hodges and Vowell discuss how we communicate, and whether or not technology can limit our ability to communicate.
Hodges and Vowell use our culture's judgment of races as a jumping off point to discuss the place of and means by which judgment is a properly human activity.
Hodges and Vowell discuss the Revoice Conference to be held in late July, a conference to address how the Church can minister to those who are homosexually attracted but celibate. They raise and discuss the question of whether or not it is meaningful to speak of "Gay-Christians." Is there any prefix to "Christian" that contributes to the identity of a faithful believer? Is it meaningful to speak of an "adulterous Christian" or "kleptomaniac Christian"? Where exactly is the sin in sexual sin? Is it in the action but not the predisposition? Is homosexual attraction a sin? Or is it only a temptation? Is there a difference between attraction and temptation?
One of our recent Sunday night discussions was centered on the debate surrounding the upcoming conference on how the Church might engage the so called LGBTQ community. That conversation is discussed here, as well as commentary on the articles pro and con. Is there such a thing as a "gay-Christian"? What does that mean? Hodges and Vowell discuss the details of the Revoice mission statement, vision statement, and those of the Center for Faith, Sexuality, and Gender.
Hodges and Vowell celebrate the end of the Center year by reviewing some of the highlights from the study of books read this year. Marriage and the "Inner Ring" seen in That Hideous Strength; the importance of hospitality in the Odyssey; the relation of sin to punishment in The Inferno; the worst of all sins in Dante and Victor Hugo.
"Human dignity is more than the right to be left alone." What are the limitations of Libertarianism for Christians? Does a decent society require a religious foundation? Surely there are atheists who are kind, but as a society, there needs to be a moral culture that gives definition for freedom. Freedom is not the same as autonomy. Freedom is the ability to do the good. But who is to say what is good without a revelation that comes from a higher authority than man himself? Perhaps government and law cannot make us good, but isn't every sin destructive to society? So shouldn't every sin be legislated? Hodges and Vowell speculate on how to address the law.
Spun off from the discussion of the Paris Statement, Hodges and Vowell discuss the problem of simultaneously loving our neighbors, and defending national security in the midst of a complicated immigration debate. Can Christians be in favor of assimilation? Can they not be? There are three kinds of immigrant: legal, illegal, and refugee, and each poses a separate set of problems for a country and for the Church. How can we be both nationally secure and able to fulfill our calling to care for the stranger among us?
What is the real definition of Conservatism? Hodges and Vowell continue their analysis of the Paris Statement, addressing the question of whether or not the public square can be "naked" as Richard John Neuhaus wrote. Is there anyone who isn't conservative in some ways? What do the authors mean when they suggest that Europe should secularize the public arena? What is a working definition of sacred and secular?
What the Paris Statement addresses: A False Europe is being built that embraces a secularized pluralism that they claim is neutral. But it is not. It also advocates the goodness of being disconnected from your own land, culture, and traditions -- exiled orphans.
Europe has divided, just as the US has become divided. A group of Conservatives from many different countries in Europe have put together a statement that defines the two approaches, and advocates for a "Europe We Can Believe In." Center Director John Hodges and Podcast Host Jack Vowell discuss a few of the points in the document, mainly that deal with economics: Marxism, Socialism, Capitalism, and promise to look into other key elements in future podcasts.
We have been gone for so long! The Center has spent the better part of the last month preparing for and enjoying a trip to Europe. But we have missed talking with you about issues of culture and faith. In this episode, Director Hodges and host Jack Vowell discuss the importance of stories, especially today, in the lives of "millennials."
When you vote for a candidate, does it mean you agree with everything he says or does? Or is there a way to vote for someone without endorsing? Hodges and Vowell address a question brought up on a Sunday night Center dinner discussion: If 80% of Evangelicals voted for President Trump, does that prove that 80% of Evangelicals are now OK with divorce and adultery?
Is Beauty the way to reach today's generation with the Gospel? Hodges and Vowell discuss what Beauty is, how it relates to Goodness and Truth, and how intangible ideas and experiences can only be communicated through material means. This is the craft of an art: to be able to shape material things (sound, clay, paint, stone, words, film) into a means of communicating those ideas and experiences. Beauty may very well be the experience of seeing the connection between the two.
What exactly is a Millennial? Is a Millennial different than his older and younger relations? What are the myths about this curious creature? How can we best communicate with one? Sign language? Gifts of video games? Just kidding - Hodges picks Vowell's brain (a Millennial brain, by the way), to discern the unique experiences and motivations that come with being born after the fall of the Soviet Union.
What are the pros and cons of Institutions in general? Are they necessary? Is an Institutional Church the same as the Body of Christ? How does the Bible call believers to be organized? Many today deride the Institutional Church, with its organization and its creeds. But don't we need both in some fashion? Director Hodges and Host Jack Vowell discuss the need for both in their right places, and compare "organization" to "organism." This is the second tangential follow-up topic that came from the number 13 podcast that addressed how the culture is regularly tempted to take parts of Jesus instead of all of Him in support of our own projects .
Is everything political? Are all communications simply attempts to gain power? Was Nietzsche right that we are all doomed to play a real-life version of SURVIVOR where we are all pitted against each other in a battle to be the last man standing? What is the realm of Politics in God's economy? What is government for? Where does holiness fit in with politics? Hodges and Vowell discuss the possibility that life is far more than politics, and that our politics should serve that larger life. But how?
What does Liberation Theology do to the Christmas story? Host and Center faculty member Jack Vowell and Center Director John Hodges discuss an article in which the "real" meaning of Christmas is described as liberation from oppressive economic and political forces. The author claims that this can be done without a need for a historical Person of Christ. The article is used only as an example of how ideological politics of all sides always wants to take pieces of Jesus' teaching to support their positions instead of embracing Him wholly. This discussion leads to a vow to discuss two tangents in future podcasts, in hopes of clarifying the place of the political in the life of God's economy, and the place of the "institutional Church."
What is the difference between Advent and Christmas? First and Second Comings, and how the Good Samaritan parable speaks of each. Robert Herrick's poetry. Merry Christmas to all our listeners!
The 60s sexual revolution has come around to bite us. Maybe prudish Christians have something to say after all? With influential members of the Media, Hollywood, and Politics falling right and left by way of accusations of sexual misconduct, are we heading back toward sexual chastity? Probably not...but everyone agrees that there are limits that need to be put on sexual behavior, and no one anywhere condones rape and abuse. A NYT op-ed piece seems to offer only one way out: male libido is inherently oppressive and should be done away with. In this issue of FROM THE CENTER, Hodges and Vowell (admittedly male and thereby inherently unreliable sources) discuss the article and offer a perspective that will surely enrage everyone.
Hodges and Vowell discuss the question of purpose of worship: is it primarily for God, for believers, or for unbelievers? The answer to this question can give guidance to such questions as, "what music should we sing in church?" and "what constitutes good music?" and "what exactly is style in music?"
Frustrations with both sides of the political spectrum lead to a discussion of how political solutions cannot address the real problems of a society. We relate the moral and idyllic imaginations (Burke, Eliot), and show how left and right seem to assume the idyllic view. We underestimate the depth of evil in the hearts of men when we think that if we only change political and social systems we will have utopia. But does this mean we can do nothing? Certainly not...
Correction: Jack mentions Robert Sheer interview with Matt Walsh, but the man's name is actually Matt Welsh.
Could God have had a hand in the birth of Western Civilization? Hodges and Vowell talk about why the Center reads in Western Civ, and how the story in Acts 16 played a part in the history that follows.
Hodges and Vowell have a conversation with Dr. E. Calvin Beisner, in which they discuss the way truth is understood. Do we follow reason or emotion? Are they two different ways to know? In debates are we missing each other because one side is reasoning and the other is feeling? The problem arises in more than debates about global warming, it becomes a key element of discussions about sex and marriage, abortion, economics, tax plans, sexual abuse of women and children, gun control...each side thinks he is reasoning, but more often than not, no amount of reasoning will change minds anymore. How can very real emotions be related to very real facts?
OED names 2016 word-of-the-year, "post-truth". We talk about the influence of this idea on American community, and give some explanation for some of the tribalism we see on the political and social landscapes. Human beings need both unity and diversity at the same time. How can we find it?
What can laws accomplish? Are they able to stop evil? The Center discusses the purpose of the Bill of Rights, in light of the recent Las Vegas shooting, and asks the question, can a set of laws hold a civilization together without a transcendent point of reference? Quotes from various founders, and a comparison of law and grace.
We discuss NYT op-ed on The Art of Disagreement, and the many reasons it is important to hear all sides of an issue; and find that the word "immediate" is quite revealing.
Jack attended the Dragoncon and we comment on the sci-fi/fantasy culture. And we discuss the Nashville Statement on marriage and sexuality.
A discussion of Charlottesville, Boston, and the question of statue removal between Center faculty members.