The Heart and the Head

In this episode, I look at Psalm 23 - "The Lord is my Shepherd..." and examine it from the lens of what it tells us about faith. Is faith useful and practical for human beings?

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In this podcast, I look at Jesus's conversation with Pontius Pilate. Pilate asks Jesus, "what is truth?" revealing a deeply cynical outlook on the world. I examine that question as a temptation to a philosophy which all of us must reckon with. Will we choose Pilate's philosophy or find another one to call our own?

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On this podcast, I look at Mark 3:1-6, where we read about Jesus healing a man on the Sabbath, and how that affects a group of Pharisees.

In this second part of the two-part series, I look at Jesus's emotional response to the Pharisees' hard hearts. I argue that this tells us something about our emotions on a Biblical view, as well as about what it means for Jesus to be Emmanuel -- "God with us".

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On this podcast, I look at Mark 3:1-6, where we read about Jesus healing a man on the Sabbath, and how that affects a group of Pharisees.

I argue that Jesus attempts to use philosophy to reason with these Pharisees, which shows us the blessedness of philosophy, but that the reaction of the Pharisees reveals the limits of philosophy.

I mention my dissertation (published by ProQuest, 2024) in this podcast. Here's a link to it for those who are curious: https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI31236250/

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In this episode, I continue my discussion of common characteristics in direct experiences with God through examining the account of Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus, and a letter the philosopher Blaise Pascal wrote referencing an experience he had.

This is the second half of the discussion, you can find the first half by looking in the podcast history.

This show contains an impassioned reflection at the beginning of it about the importance of independent, critical thinking in the context of the current geopolitical situation today.

Here is the text of the note Pascal wrote to himself:

The year of grace 1654,

Monday, 23 November, feast of St. Clement, pope and martyr, and others in the martyrology.

Vigil of St. Chrysogonus, martyr, and others.

From about half past ten at night until about half past midnight,

FIRE.

GOD of Abraham, GOD of Isaac, GOD of Jacob

not of the philosophers and of the learned.

Certitude. Certitude. Feeling. Joy. Peace.

GOD of Jesus Christ.

My God and your God.

Your GOD will be my God.

Forgetfulness of the world and of everything, except GOD.

He is only found by the ways taught in the Gospel.

Grandeur of the human soul.

Righteous Father, the world has not known you, but I have known you.

Joy, joy, joy, tears of joy.

I have departed from him:

They have forsaken me, the fount of living water.

My God, will you leave me?

Let me not be separated from him forever.

This is eternal life, that they know you, the one true God, and the one that you sent, Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ.

I left him; I fled him, renounced, crucified.

Let me never be separated from him.

He is only kept securely by the ways taught in the Gospel:

Renunciation, total and sweet.

Complete submission to Jesus Christ and to my director.

Eternally in joy for a day’s exercise on the earth.

May I not forget your words. Amen.

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If you have questions or comments about content from this episode, please send feedback to [email protected]

In this episode, I discuss common characteristics in direct experiences with God through examining the account of Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus, and a letter the philosopher Blaise Pascal wrote referencing an experience he had.

This is only Part I of the discussion, more will be released in the future.

Here is the text of the note Pascal wrote to himself:

The year of grace 1654,

Monday, 23 November, feast of St. Clement, pope and martyr, and others in the martyrology.

Vigil of St. Chrysogonus, martyr, and others.

From about half past ten at night until about half past midnight,

FIRE.

GOD of Abraham, GOD of Isaac, GOD of Jacob

not of the philosophers and of the learned.

Certitude. Certitude. Feeling. Joy. Peace.

GOD of Jesus Christ.

My God and your God.

Your GOD will be my God.

Forgetfulness of the world and of everything, except GOD.

He is only found by the ways taught in the Gospel.

Grandeur of the human soul.

Righteous Father, the world has not known you, but I have known you.

Joy, joy, joy, tears of joy.

I have departed from him:

They have forsaken me, the fount of living water.

My God, will you leave me?

Let me not be separated from him forever.

This is eternal life, that they know you, the one true God, and the one that you sent, Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ.

I left him; I fled him, renounced, crucified.

Let me never be separated from him.

He is only kept securely by the ways taught in the Gospel:

Renunciation, total and sweet.

Complete submission to Jesus Christ and to my director.

Eternally in joy for a day’s exercise on the earth.

May I not forget your words. Amen.

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If you have questions or comments about content from this episode, please send feedback to [email protected]

In this episode, I examine Isaiah, Chapter 11: 6-9 and compare it's depiction of a future paradise to the depiction the Greek philosopher Plato gives in Republic.

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In this episode, I focus my own reflections today on a portion of this well-known passage from Isaiah which often doesn’t get much attention. This is the portion at the beginning of the passage, from verses 2-3, where we learn that this messianic figure, who turns out to be Jesus was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering and familiar with pain,a man whom people hide their faces from, who was despised and held in low esteem.

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In this episode, I look at the account of what is sometimes referred to as "Jacob's Ladder". I argue that this is a depiction of an opposite way of life to what we examined last show, with the tower of Babel.

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The passage I’ll look at for the next show will be Isaiah's account of a messianic figure in Isaiah 53: "He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain."

If you have questions or comments about content from this episode, please send feedback to [email protected]

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If you have questions or comments about content from this episode, please send feedback to [email protected]

In this episode, I look at the story of the tower of Babel found in the Bible's book of Genesis. I argue that the picture of "building monuments" represents an existential act we human beings take to try to try to make meaning for our own lives. I also argue that this is a clear depiction of the nature of sin.

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The passage I’ll look at for the next show will be the account of the Tower of Babel, found in Genesis 11.

If you have questions or comments about content from this episode, please send feedback to [email protected]

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If you have questions or comments about content from this episode, please send feedback to [email protected]