The Patočka Booth is a three-part series of interviews on the Czech philosopher and dissident, Jan Patočka (1907–77). Interviews will explore his philosophical and political thought, his biography and context, and his import for theology.

David Lloyd Dusenbury is a philosopher, historian of ideas, and senior fellow at Budapest's Danube Institute. He is also visiting professor at Eötvös Loránd University, and the author of Nemesius of Emesa on Human Nature, The Innocence of Pontius Pilate, and I Judge No One (all published by Oxford University Press). Last year, he held the Chair for Jewish-Christian Relations at the University of Antwerp.  

PODCAST LINKS:

Dr. Dusenbury’s website: https://dldusenbury.com/

Dr. Dusenbury’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/DusenburyDavid

Dr. Dusenbury’s academia.edu page: https://huji.academia.edu/DavidLloydDusenbury

Dr. Dusenbury’s Buda Hills podcast: https://twitter.com/BudaHills

I Judge No One: A Political Life of Jesus: https://www.amazon.com/Judge-No-One-Political-Jesus/dp/0197690513/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1NJBSOJHMSHAX&keywords=david+lloyd+dusenbury&qid=1700698536&sprefix=david+lloyd+dus%2Caps%2C173&sr=8-1

CONNECT:

Website: https://wipfandstock.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/wipfandstock

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wipfandstock

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wipfandstock/

SOURCES MENTIONED:

Derrida, Jacques. The Gift of Death.

Dusenbury, David Lloyd. “Exploring the Underground Writings of Jan Patočka: War and the Fate of Europe.” Lecture.

———. “Jan Patočka’s Dissident Philosophy of History: Human Bondage and the Risk of History.” Lecture.

———. I Judge No One: A Political Life of Jesus.

———. “The Origins of European Unity and Disunity in Jan Patočka’s Heretical Essays.”

Foucault, Michel. The History of Sexuality. 4 vols.

Husserl, Edmund. The Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology: An Introduction to Phenomenological Philosophy.

Jünger, Ernst. Storm of Steel.

———. Heretical Essays in the Philosophy of History.

———. Plato and Europe.

Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre, SJ. “La nostalgie du front.”

OUTLINE:

(01:47) – Discovering Patočka (via Derrida)

(04:35) – Roundtable: Patočka, Derrida, Husserl, Heidegger

(08:28) – Brief biographical sketches

(13:05) – Key ideas: the soul and history, the death of Europe, Christianity

(17:36) – Was Patočka himself religious?

(19:49) – Plato and Europe

(23:17) – Philosopher and dissident (of a sort)

(28:31) – A spiritual reading of European history

(34:17) – The loss of European unity

(37:17) – Russia and the United States

(43:50) – The twentieth century as war

(52:18) – Questioning and mystery

(58:33) – What’s next for Dr. Dusenbury

(59:26) – Where to find Dr. Dusenbury