After a quick debrief on their teaching experience this summer, Ante and Oliver share why they have picked this topic at this point in the year, how their mothers have shaped them in their childhood, how we need to give due to the two conflicting archetypes of motherhood, why some contemporary feminists are critical of the burdens of motherhood, how it is difficult to grasp the amount of self-sacrifice and resilience that mothers have, whether it is true that mothers have a harder time of letting go of control than fathers, only to conclude with a poem of praise from the book of Proverbs.

EPISODE QUOTE
One of the frequent tropes in literature is the idea that  "the mother must be overcome because her suffocating embrace is the means of her manipulation. Her presence swells and overwhelms and inhales all the oxygen an independent self needs to breathe. She denies our autonomy with kisses; she steals our self-reliance with hugs. She manages to make us hate ourselves for resenting her, which makes us all the more resentful.... Fathers you can leave, but the reach of mothers transcends geography and chronology. Leaving home and growing up never seems to be enough. Independence is the affront mothers cannot countenance. We saw and saw and saw on this umbilical-cord-cum-tether, frantic to unhook, to achieve ourselves, our independence, only to feel the cord snap taut again, surprised to find it’s reeling us in." (Smith, 106-107). 

EPISODE MATERIAL
Smith, On the Road with Saint Augustine

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In this podcast, we engage in free-ranging conversations on life, faith, philosophy, ethics, relationships, culture, experience, and all matters existential. And as the title of the show points out, we approach these things "in the middle of things," that is, by grabbing hold of them unsystematically and provisionally. Concerning "about us," we are friends and verbal sparring partners who also happen to be colleagues at Andrews University. - Oliver Glanz and Ante Jerončič

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We discuss Oliver's recent trip to British Columbia, the kind of questions he was asked to address, how some people view the Bible as being fundamentally at odds with current ethical sensibilities, how the type of secularity he had experienced in Amsterdam some time ago differs from what he noticed Sasquatch, how he has strong reservations about methods when it comes to mission, why he feels that focusing on the biblical text might be an effective "methods" we can use, and why there is a need for existential-expository preaching.

EPISODE MATERIAL
Smith, How (Not) to Be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor
Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom: The Reading of Genesis

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In this podcast, we engage in free-ranging conversations on life, faith, philosophy, ethics, relationships, culture, experience, and all matters existential. And as the title of the show points out, we approach these things "in the middle of things," that is, by grabbing hold of them unsystematically and provisionally. Concerning "about us," we are friends and verbal sparring partners who also happen to be colleagues at Andrews University. - Oliver Glanz and Ante Jerončič

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In this episode, where both of us find ourselves away from our usual recording "studios," we first chat about Oliver's "missionary trip" to Canada. Then we move to discuss the essential topic of attention, including the effect of attention economies, what attention is, how it connects to meaningful living, how, conversely, its fragmentation has numerous deleterious effects, how the Scriptures put a premium on the proper nurturing of attention, and how for Paul a life of contentment tracks our ability to direct our thoughts to subjects that matter most.

EPISODE MATERIAL
Car, The Shallows
Hari, Stolen Focus
Gallagher, Rapt

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* * * * * NEW TO THE PODCAST?
In this podcast, we engage in free-ranging conversations on life, faith, philosophy, ethics, relationships, culture, experience, and all matters existential. And as the title of the show points out, we approach these things "in the middle of things," that is, by grabbing hold of them unsystematically and provisionally. Concerning "about us," we are friends and verbal sparring partners who also happen to be colleagues at Andrews University. - Oliver Glanz and Ante Jerončič

Send us your comments. We appreciate those!

We start by touching base with our personal and professional lives, only to shift to our approach to learning and memory, the strategies we used to curate our insights, how that has changed with time, why long-term memory matters for creativity and the deep life, why a proper approach to memorization is a key to education and spiritual development, how memories connect to community building and faithfulness, and how the Bible invites to situate, process, and renew our memories in light of the story of Jesus.

As always, we appreciate helpful feedback and your help spreading the news about the podcast. If you want to support IMR, please check out our fledgling Patreon page.

EPISODE MATERIAL
Foer, Moonwalking with Einstein
Petzel & Reck, Erinnern Erkundungen zu einer theologischen Basiskategorie
Volf, The End of Memory
AJ Post on Memory
AJ Post on Memorizing Scripture

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* * * * * NEW TO THE PODCAST?
In this podcast, we engage in free-ranging conversations on life, faith, philosophy, ethics, relationships, culture, experience, and all matters existential. And as the title of the show points out, we approach these things "in the middle of things," that is, by grabbing hold of them unsystematically and provisionally. Concerning "about us," we are friends and verbal sparring partners who also happen to be colleagues at Andrews University. - Oliver Glanz and Ante Jerončič

Support the show

Send us your comments. We appreciate those!

After briefly touching upon the meaning of "resonance" (H. Rosa), we turn to discuss Oliver's article "Serving God across the Divide: A Lesson from Jeremiah." We reference different fissures in our society, how they lead to feelings of outrage, apathy, and tiredness, how Jeremiah himself confronted various types of polarization, what the character of his prophetic critique might be, how it might be relevant to us, how it straddles the dialectic of critique and nurture, the way such critique is both radically honest and marked by relentless solidarity with those that might stand against us, and the kind of community Jeremiah's prophetic vision might commend.

As always, we appreciate helpful feedback and your help in spreading the news about the podcast. If you are interested in supporting IMR, please check out our fledgling Patreon page.

EPISODE MATERIAL
O. Glanz, "Serving God across the Divide: A Lesson from Jeremiah"
H. Rosa, Resonance
H. Rosa, The Uncontrollability of the World
W. Brueggemann, Prophetic Imagination

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* * * * * NEW TO THE PODCAST?
In this podcast, we engage in free-ranging conversations on life, faith, philosophy, ethics, relationships, culture, experience, and all matters existential. And as the title of the show points out, we approach these things "in the middle of things," that is, by grabbing hold of them unsystematically and provisionally. Concerning "about us," we are friends and verbal sparring partners who also happen to be colleagues at Andrews University. - Oliver Glanz and Ante Jerončič

Send us your comments. We appreciate those!

We continue with our conversation on the function and role of philosophy, why philosophy is pertinent even for those who have no interest in it, what some dangers associated with it might be, how to understand Paul's warning against "vain philosophy" and "worldly wisdom," how philosophy can provide us with language and sense of companionship to make sense of our thoughts and experiences, what are some of the ways in which philosophy might be helpful to faith and life and general, how philosophy as a sense-making endeavor is essential for the functioning of society and civilizational development, and how the integrating task of any philosophizing finds its ultimate expression in the One who holds all things together.

As always, we appreciate helpful feedback and your help in spreading the news about the podcast. If you are interested in supporting IMR, please check out our fledgling Patreon page.

EPISODE MATERIAL
Ante Jerončič, "Living Worldviews: The Promises and Perils of Worldview Formation"

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* * * * * NEW TO THE PODCAST?
In this podcast, we engage in free-ranging conversations on life, faith, philosophy, ethics, relationships, culture, experience, and all matters existential. And as the title of the show points out, we approach these things "in the middle of things," that is, by grabbing hold of them unsystematically and provisionally. Concerning "about us," we are friends and verbal sparring partners who also happen to be colleagues at Andrews University. - Oliver Glanz and Ante Jerončič

Send us your comments. We appreciate those!

In this episode, we discuss our frequent references to philosophy on our podcast, why that is the case, how philosophy figures in our faith, how our early life experiences have shaped us in that regard, why we consider philosophy as being essential to the way "we do life," why it can be seen as a helpful tool for making sense of reality, and why it is that some people perceive it as irrelevant or dangerous.

As always, we appreciate helpful feedback and your help in spreading the news about the podcast. If you are interested in supporting IMR, please check out our fledgling Patreon page.

EPISODE MATERIAL
Ante Jerončič, "Living Worldviews: The Promises and Perils of Worldview Formation"

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* * * * * NEW TO THE PODCAST?
In this podcast, we engage in free-ranging conversations on life, faith, philosophy, ethics, relationships, culture, experience, and all matters existential. And as the title of the show points out, we approach these things "in the middle of things," that is, by grabbing hold of them unsystematically and provisionally. Concerning "about us," we are friends and verbal sparring partners who also happen to be colleagues at Andrews University. - Oliver Glanz and Ante Jerončič

Send us your comments. We appreciate those!

We discuss, some more, the idea of identity, the difference between identity and identification, the struggle over the recognition of identity as the key to understanding much of what is going on in the world today, the meaning of narcissism, the difference between grandiose and vulnerable narcissism, narcissism and the ego ideal (Ichideal), the strivings for singularity and uniqueness, whether quests for perfection and improvement are always tinged with narcissism, how the biblical ideal of sanctification might offer a different striving for perfection, and what Ecclesiastes might teach us on these issues.

EPISODE MATERIAL
Wolfram Eilenberger, Time of Magicians
Charles Taylor, Sources of the Self
Scott Barry Kaufman, Transcendence
Isolde Charim, Die Qualen des Narzismuss
Ivan Krastev

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* * * * * NEW TO THE PODCAST? 
In this podcast, we engage in free-ranging conversations on life, faith, philosophy, ethics, relationships, culture, experience, and all matters existential. And as the title of the show points out, we approach these things "in the middle of things," that is, by grabbing hold of them unsystematically and provisionally. Concerning "about us," we are friends and verbal sparring partners who also happen to be colleagues at Andrews University. - Oliver Glanz and Ante Jerončič

Send us your comments. We appreciate those!

The relationship between change and identity, different ways of understanding change, the difference between ethical and phenomenological approaches to change, problems with positivistic thinking about change, the mystery of life, identity, and intentionality, the function of identity archetypes as aspirational life goals, etc.

EPISODE QUOTE
“Human beings are works in progress that mistakenly think they’re finished.” - Dan Gilbert

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* * * * * NEW TO THE PODCAST? 
In this podcast, we engage in free-ranging conversations on life, faith, philosophy, ethics, relationships, culture, experience, and all matters existential. And as the title of the show points out, we approach these things "in the middle of things," that is, by grabbing hold of them unsystematically and provisionally. Concerning "about us," we are friends and verbal sparring partners who also happen to be colleagues at Andrews University. - Oliver Glanz and Ante Jerončić

Send us your comments. We appreciate those!

In this episode, we explore spirituality in a secular context, the nature and shape of personal identity, the problem of moral luck, dimensions of "throwness" in the world, biblical perspectives on identity and will, and the possibilities of becoming a new self.

EPISODE MATERIALS
Sternstunde Philosophie Amos Oz interview (in English)
Hartmut Rosa's book Resonance: A Sociology of our Relationship to the World

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✩ The Craft of Living Podcast (hosted by Ante)

* * * * * NEW TO THE PODCAST? 
In this podcast, we, Oliver Glanz and Ante Jerončić, engage in free-ranging conversations on life, faith, philosophy, ethics, relationships, culture, experience, and all matters existential. And as the title of the show points out, we approach these things "in the middle of things," that is, by grabbing hold of them unsystematically and provisionally. Concerning "about us," we are friends and verbal sparring partners who also happen to be colleagues at Andrews University.

Send us your comments. We appreciate those!