The Aaron Renn Show

Georgetown University professor Joseph Hartman joins me to discuss the 20th century theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, and why he still matters today.

Sociologist Brad Vermurlen will join me to discuss his new book Reformed Resurgence: The New Calvinist Movement and the Battle Over American Evangelicalism.

Vermurlen's book is an excellent overview of the New Calvinist movement, the backdrop of Evangelical fracture in which it developed, and the various strategies the movement implemented.

This podcast was recorded two years ago as Youtube only.

Read more about the book at: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/reviews/reformed-resurgence-brad-vermurlen/

Buy the book at: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0190073519/ref=as_li_qf_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=theurban-20

Josh Abbotoy joins me to discuss his projects to built intentional communities of likeminded people in Kentucky and Tennessee.

Ridgerunner USA: https://ridgerunnerusa.com/

Highland Rim Project: https://www.newfounding.com/highland

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One of the key events in the Christianization of the Roman Empire was when the children of the existing Roman elites turned aside from the status system of the Roman imperium in favor of new ways of pursuing and achieving elite status within the church.

Today, in the Negative World, the church operates as a shadow status system that takes its cues from secular elite culture. It will always be dominated by that culture unless and until it creates its own status system again. The Thiel Fellowship is an example of what an attempt at creating an alternative form of status would look like in our society.

Management is about the known. Exploration is about the unknown. Dwight Gibson has studied the techniques of the explorers from the great age of exploration. He will discuss how people and organizations can make use of those oft-forgotten methods to help navigate today's uncertain and unprecedented world.

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John Burtka, president of ISI, joins me to discuss his new book Gateway to Statesmanship: Selections from Xenophon to Churchill. It's a collection of some of the best writing in history about the nature of the statesman.

Buy the book: https://www.amazon.com/Gateway-Statesmanship-Selections-Xenophon-Churchill/dp/1684515432/

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Lexi Hudson joins me to discuss her recent book The Soul of Civility: Timeless Principles to Heal Society and Ourselves.

Buy the book:  https://www.amazon.com/Soul-Civility-Timeless-Principles-Ourselves-ebook/dp/B0B9KTF7BP/

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Too many people today have negative identities - they are defined by what they oppose not by what they are for or hope to create. Negative identities create asymmetries in which you are vulnerable to people with morally expansionist visions. They also make your identity dependent on the very thing you claim to oppose. While there are plenty of bad positive identities, it's much better to base your identity on a positive than negative vision of life.

Notre Dame professor Darren Dochuk joins me to discuss his book Anointed with Oil: How Christianity and Crude Made Modern America. Every aspect of modern political, economic, and cultural development of the 20th century was bound up with various strains of the oil industry and Christianity. Dochuk explains this oft-overlooked history.

Buy the book: https://www.amazon.com/Anointed-Oil-Christianity-Modern-America/dp/0465060862/

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Pragmatism is about what we can do with our own two hands with the material we see in front of us. It's an important perspective on the world - but very limiting as well. Too much devotion to pragmatism can blind us to the possibilities in the world and life.