The cultural ideology of "wokeism" isn't new. It has a pedigree traceable to philosophers of previous centuries, including René Descartes, Immanuel Kant, Karl Marx, and Jacques Derrida.

In this address, Catholic Bishop Robert Barron, one of America's most influential religious leaders, describes how the ideas of such philosophers have formed the foundations of "critical theory" and "woke" ideology.

Bishop Barron serves the diocese of Winona-Rochester in Minnesota and founded Word on Fire Catholic Ministries.

He delivered this address on June 21, 2023, at a conference sponsored by the Acton Institute in Grand Rapids, Mich.