On Becoming

With this episode, we begin a series examining Evangelicalism using the rubric of 'cult'.  This first episode is designed as an introduction to the notion 'cult'. We consider various things and ways in which they could be said to be 'cultish'.

In this episode, I look back to my years growing up. I hope you'll find my reflections interesting on their own. However, many aspects of this episode will be expanded in episodes to come, so it will give you an idea of where we'll be going.

In this episode, I consider how Jesus deconstructs the religious teachings of his day. We begin with a short excursion on the brain, particularly on how the right hemisphere is where we experience things in context. Then we turn to Jesus' deconstruction. With that example, we then consider deconstruction and its role.

On this episode, we have the treat of hearing from Professor John D. Caputo. As you'll hear in the interview, I've asked him to tell us about his own intellectual and religious development.

Have you ever wondered where all the customs that surround Christmas came from? You likely have heard that Christmas picks up on certain 'pagan' customs. But the story is much more interesting than that. In this episode, we consider how many centuries it took for the celebration of Jesus' birth to take the form it now has. It's a fascinating story.

It's an old question, but there are some fascinating new answers. In this episode, we explore how we make moral judgments. We consider the  evidence for the idea that morality is something we know intuitively. Our moral judgments are strongly affected by our community and tradition. Precisely because morality is based in our emotions (our 'sentiments' as some philosophers called it), having a rational discussion about morality is difficult--both because we make judgments without knowing why and because such judgments are so deeply connected to our emotions.

The French philosopher Michel Foucault spent much of his career analysing how power works in society. In this episode, I unpack his ideas about how 'discourses' (really, anything in which humans interact) work by considering various examples, including a current Supreme Court case.

Perhaps the most effective strategy for silencing someone you don't like is to accuse him or her of being 'demonic' or in league with the devil. It doesn't matter, in such a case, whether the devil is real or not. Calling someone 'satanic' makes meaningful conversation impossible.

In this episode, I discuss the book Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World. It is a long and well informed history of Christianity. But the focus of the author, Tom Holland, is particularly on how deeply western society has been influenced by Christianity, so much so that our current cultural differences are not disagreements between Christianity and the secular but differences between competing ideals for how one lives out Christian values.

How does one find meaning and purpose in life? Is there something like 'the meaning of life'?

Prof. Treanor has written a rich and thoroughly engaging book, one that engages with questions about nihilism and relativism but points us toward hope and love.

In this episode, Dr Treanor elaborates on his idea of joy tinged with melancholy.