As Matthew Becklo asserts, “The Catholic faith is full of paradoxes, but its greatest paradox is this: that all of its both/ands unleash this ultimate either/or, and all of its communion compels this unavoidable decision.” Are we with Christ or against him? And how do we balance the dynamic tensions (faith or reason, discipline or passion, spirit or flesh) that risk pulling us too far in one direction or another? Join me and Matthew Becklo as we consider his new book, The Way of Heaven & Earth: From Either/Or to the Catholic Both/And, on the Evangelization & Culture Podcast. 

Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

What happens when a young man with an entrepreneurial heart and gifted piano-playing hands writes a letter to renowned public intellectual William F. Buckley, Jr. offering to play a concert for him out of gratitude? A lifelong friendship of shared musical appreciation and warm conversation begins. Join me and Lawrence Perelman as we unfold his unique and ennobling relationship with William F. Buckley, Jr. in his book American Impresario on the Evangelization & Culture Podcast. 

Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

How are we to look at the world? Through a brilliant lens of hope, wonder, and gratitude? Or through a shadowy lens of despair, cynicism, and selfishness? The journalist, wit, and Catholic convert G.K. Chesterton is an extraordinary model who mastered the art of a marveling Catholic vision. Join me and Dr. Duncan Reyburn as we explore his excellent book, Seeing Things As They Are: G.K. Chesterton and the Drama of Meaning on the Evangelization & Culture Podcast. 

Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

When you consider the story of Pinocchio, you are flooded with visions of a Disney-fied wooden boy with big blue eyes, a lengthening nose, and a mischievous heart. But reading the original Pinocchio (and its theological underpinnings perceived by Franco Nembrini), you are shocked by the misanthropic boy, his violent experiences, and his perpetually merciful father. Join me, Marcie Stokman, and Colleen Hutt as we revisit the original tale of Pinocchio, re-released by Wiseblood Books/Well-Read Mom, on the Evangelization & Culture Podcast.

Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Blair Witch Project, and The Exorcist have scared the daylights out of a generation of moviegoers. And even though viewers startle and jump, chill and scream, they keep coming back for more. What is it that makes us crave a good scare? And where is God in the fright of such horror movies? Join me and Fr. Ryan Duns as we seek God in the darkness in his new book, Theology of Horror: The Hidden Depths of Popular Film on the Evangelization & Culture Podcast.  

Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

Flannery O’Connor once prayed, “I do not know you God because I am in the way. Please help me to push myself aside.” Is there any meaningful relationship in life that can survive without an element of selflessness, dedicated time, and earnest conversation? Why would a meaningful relationship with God be any different? The prophets prayed, the saints prayed, and most of all, Christ himself prayed. But how do we do it? How do we know there is a God on the other end of our entreaties, and how can we understand God’s answers? Join me and Bishop Robert Barron as we explore the brilliant yet vexing, humbling yet heartening art of prayer on the Evangelization & Culture Podcast.

Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

What happens when we live our lives through mediating technologies? We take countless pictures but don’t look at our kids. We film vacations but are never fully present. We search for answers online but rarely puzzle over the questions. And we distract ourselves from difficult emotions, but we never take on the cross-bearing work of the soul. In the early twentieth century, French Catholic novelist Georges Bernanos worried that such a superficial existence would create little more than “stumps of men.” Join me and Christine Rosen as we explore her book The Extinction of Experience on the Evangelization & Culture Podcast.

Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

We want what other people have. We conjure up rivalries. And we scapegoat our enemies in the process. What on earth are we doing? Join me and Fr. Elias Carr as we unpack philosopher René Girard’s mimetic theory and the “scapegoat mechanism” on the Evangelization & Culture Podcast.

Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

What exactly is the “life of the mind”? Is it merely a matter of being bookish, bespectacled, and (*gasp*) potentially boring? Or is the “life of the mind” awash with limitless wonder, captivating wisdom, and life-changing vocation? Join me and St. John’s College tutor Dr. Zena Hitz as we dive deeply into the joyful adventure of intellectual formation as told in her award-winning book, Lost in Thought: The Hidden Pleasures of an Intellectual Life. 

Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

In his new book, Dr. Carl Trueman writes, “The very rhetoric and concepts of critical theory, the other, intersectionality, and their like have become influential tools of wielding power rather than dismantling it. And so—as Frankfurt School members Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno themselves would no doubt point out—things have become their opposite; the liberator has become the tyrant, the tools of freedom have become the weapons of oppression.” Perhaps Goethe’s Mephistopheles captures critical theory best when he uttered to Faust, “I am the spirit that negates.” Join me and Dr. Carl Trueman as we discuss the philosophy and the danger of critical theory in his new book To Change All Worlds: Critical Theory from Marx to Marcuse.

Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.