Conservative Conversations with ISI

In This Episode:

• Fr. Ben Kiely joins the podcast to discuss his ministry of helping persecuted Christians in the Middle East with Nasarean.org 
• why social conservatism is an essential facet of any conservative worldview
• how nationalist politics is compatible with Catholicism and Catholicism’s approach to politics

Texts Mentioned:

• https://nasarean.org/
• Fr. Kiely’s speech at NatCon 3

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In This Episode:

• Paul Kengor joins the podcast to discuss the late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and his contributions to philosophy and the Church in the Western world

Texts Mentioned:

• Dupes by Paul Kengor
• The Pope and the President by Paul Kengor
• The Divine Plan by Paul Kengor and Robert Orlando
• ISI Debate on Transgenderism and Womanhood - SIGN UP TODAY!
• Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict XVI
• Catechism of the Catholic Church
• Fides et Ratio by St. Pope John Paul II
• Confessionsby St. Augustine
• Humanae Vitae by Pope Paul VI
• Evangelium Vitae by St. Pope John Paul II
• Veritatis Splendor by St. Pope John Paul II
• Commentary on the Third Secret of Fatima by Pope Benedict XVI
• “Vatican Preps for Conclave as ‘Pope is Dying’” by John Gizzi
• “Reversing the Dictatorship of Relativism: Remembering Pope Benedict XVI” by Paul Kengor
• “The Politically Incorrect Pope Francis — 14 Shocking Statements” by Paul Kengor
• Traditionis Custodes by Pope Francis
• Institute for Faith and Freedom

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In This Episode:

• Jon Askonas joins the podcast to discuss how a technological age makes conservative and traditional values obsolete, and how to overcome this problem
• why Karl Marx has to teach conservatives about analyzing and understanding “historical materialism,“ the fundamental material elements of society
• what really drove the disintegration of a shared conception of reality, and how to navigate the “post-real” world

Texts Mentioned:

• “Why Conservatism Failed” by Jon Askonas
• The Market and Other Orders by F.A. Hayek
• Ideas Have Consequences by Richard Weaver
• Revolt of the Public by Martin Gurri 
• “Reality: A Post-Mortem” by Jon Askonas

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In This Episode:

• Aaron Renn joins the podcast to discuss American Reformer’s goal of reinvigorating evangelical intellectual thought within conservatism
• the history and traditions of Evangelicalism in American social and political life, and how evangelicalism needs to respond to hostility to Christianity
• how class, social status, and wokeness shape the disconnect between Protestant elites and the evangelical base that supports nationalist populism

Texts Mentioned:

• “The Three Worlds of Evangelicalism” by Aaron Renn
• aaronrenn.substack.com
• The Benedict Option by Rod Dreher
• Why Liberalism Failed by Patrick J. Deneen
• A Secular Age by Charles Taylor
• The Case for Christian Nationalism by Stephen Wolfe
• americanreformer.org

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In This Episode:

• Sarah Gustafson joins the podcast to discuss the theme of her course at Harvard University, “Anxiety and Restlessness in Democratic Times”
• how America’s “mental health crisis” is driven by the quality of American souls and affected by the American regime
• the legacy of Harvey Mansfield as a scholar, public political philosopher, and intellectual giant at Harvard

Texts Mentioned:

• Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville
• Manliness by Harvey Mansfield
• Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism by Anne Case and Angus Deaton
• Bowling Alone by Robert Putnam
• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Confessions by Augustine of Hippo
• Republic by Plato
• City of God: Against the Pagans by Augustine of Hippo
• Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle
• Politics by Aristotle
• Leisure, the Basis of Culture by Josef Pieper
• Pensees by Blaise Pascal
• Lost in Thought by Zena Hitz
• The Emperor’s Club movie

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In This Episode:

• Rod Dreher joins the podcast to discuss “The Benedict Option,” a program for living an authentically Christian life in an anti-Christian culture that reigns today in the liberal West
• what conservatives in America need to learn from Hungarian conservatives about conserving Christian culture
• why Christians in the post-Christian West need to adopt a new disposition towards state power, evangelization, and interactions with non-Christians

Texts Mentioned:

• The Benedict Option  by Rod Dreher
• “When Gay Rights Clash with Religious Freedom” by Tish Harrison Warren
• “A Small Texas City Gets a Drag-Queen Parade for Christmas” by Kevin E. Stuart
• Live Not by Lies  by Rod Dreher
• The Matter with Things by Iain McGilchrist
• Rod Dreher’s Diary

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In This Episode:

• Matthew Spalding, Professor of Constitutional studies at Hillsdale College in Washington D.C., joins the podcast to discuss the first principles and permanent truths that undergird the American Founding
• how critiques from National Conservatives and Post-Liberal Integralists misunderstand classical liberalism and the “American Enlightenment”
• the common ground between Straussians and Kirkians, and the potential for a principled fusion between the once-warring camps in the conservative movement

Texts Mentioned:

• We Still Hold These Truths by Matthew Spalding
• Heritage Guide to the Constitution by Matthew Spalding and David Forte
• Politics by Aristotle

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In This Episode:

• Jeff Sessions, former Senator from Alabama and 84th Attorney General of the United States, joins the podcast to discuss his accomplished career in politics
• what conservative education reform looks like at the curricular and administrative levels
• how the GOP can reach voters by appealing to the important issues without exaggerating or being demagogic

Texts Mentioned: 

• Federalist No. 10 by James Madison
• The Declaration of Independence

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In This Episode:

• Greg Collins joins the podcast to discuss his book, Commerce and Manners in Edmund Burke’s Political Economy
• how traditional society gave rise to market societies and property rights, and how Burke’s defense of economic liberty differed from that of Adam Smith
• how the rise of capitalism is coterminous with the rise of the modern state and administrative powers

Texts Mentioned:

• Commerce and Manners in Edmund Burke’s Political Economy by Greg Collins
• Reflections on the Revolution in France by Edmund Burke
• Thoughts and Details on Scarcity  by Edmund Burke
• The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith
• Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville
• Memoirs on Pauperism and Other Writings by Alexis de Tocqueville

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In This Episode:

• Alexandra DeSanctis joins the podcast to discuss abortion and building a pro-life agenda after Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and the 2022 Congressional midterm elections
• how support for abortion is rooted in a defective view of what womanhood is
• what pro-lifers can and must do to make abortion unthinkable in America

Texts Mentioned:

• Tearing Us Apart: How Abortion Harms Everything and Solves Nothing  by Alexandra DeSanctis and Ryan T. Anderson
• “Why Big Business Loves Abortion” by Alexandra DeSanctis
• “Congress Has a Role To Play in Limiting Abortion” by Alexandra DeSanctis
• America and the Pill: A History of Peril, Promise, and Liberation by Elaine Tyler May

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