The Theology Pugcast

The Pugsters are pleased to be joined by Ken Boa for today's show.  Ken is the author of many books, and his most recent book is published by IVP. He's also a long-time friend of Glenn. Ken was in town for Glenn's ordination service at First Church of Christ Wethersfield, (a historic congregational church that was once attended by Jonathan Edwards). Ken also earned one of his doctorates at Oxford University--which gives him something to talk about with Tom. (Not that they needed any help talking.) The conversation with Ken took place with a "live audience" and while it centered on the theme of Ken's new book, it was a free ranging one. Here's a link to First Church in Wethersfield (https://www.firstchurch.org/) and here's a link to Ken's latest book at Amazon: Shaped by Suffering Finally, here is a link to Ken's webpage. kenboa.org  

In today's show Glenn takes the Pugcast gang into the folklore and reported sightings of vampires in New England! As Glenn shows, you don't need to visit Transylvania for vampire legends--we have plenty of material to work with in the good ol' USA.  Tom and Chris reflect on the vampire stories from both theological and pastoral perspectives. Glenn informs them that he also has werewolf and witch sightings to share in future episodes of the Pugcast!

In today's show Chris introduces Glenn and Tom to the work of sociologist and paleo-conservative Robert Nisbet.  Nisbet was a sociologist and professor at Columbia, and his work reflects a time when sociologists were liberally educated and could draw on the thinking of the likes of Alexis de Tocqueville and Edmund Burke as well as classical philosophy and theology. Nisbet's best known work, The Quest for Community had a strong influence on Chris's thinking. It is particularly evident in Chris's book, Man of the House.  During the course of the conversation the Pugsters discuss the various schools of thought that are often thrown together under the label "conservatism": libertarianism, classical liberalism, and paleo-conservatism. Seeing as most listeners are unfamiliar with the last of these labels, and that it is also the school of thought Chris, Tom, and Glenn most strongly identify with, they spend some time defining each while explaining why paleo-conservatism is actually genuine conservatism. Here are some helpful links for further study: https://www.amazon.com/Quest-Community-Background-Essential-Conservative/dp/1935191500 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleoconservatism  

Reflecting on the legacy of philosopher Sir Roger Scruton, the hosts dive into his thoughts on beauty and aesthetics, lamenting the current state of the world. They critique the utilitarian trends in contemporary evangelical architecture, examining the shift in church design. Historical perspectives on beauty in art highlight its decline post-1919. The discussion extends to worship aesthetics, exploring the tension between practicality and divine beauty, while urging a return to deeper values to enrich cultural and spiritual understanding.

Glenn is back! And today he brings us the topic of the day--Tolkien and literary realism. Literary realism is one of those question begging movements which advance an argument by assuming the correctness of a particular answer to an unspoken question. Literary realism assumes that the level of the mundane, the prosaic, is what is truly Real, and everything else is just fancy which exists solely in our heads.  If that's your understanding of Reality then you are a modern person--and you're also a rather flat and wooden person too. You probably don't get Tolkien, or you think he's just a teller of adventure stories.  But is that what's truly Real? If Reality is something more--what is it, and how can Tolkien help us see it? Those are the questions addressed in today's show.

Glenn is still on the road, so Tom and Chris invited their friend Tom Plotkin to talk with them about cinema, or film, or the movies--or whatever you want to call the art form. Tom is a former screen-writer and he worked on Buffy the Vampire Slayer as well as other Hollywood productions. Today Tom is a lawyer and a novelist living and working in Hartford, Connecticut.  Join a freewheeling conversation that takes us into Tom's childhood in Manhattan as a child a Jewish atheists to his conversion to Christianity through a remarkable supernatural event in his life. Along the way you'll learn a lot about the rarified world of "art-films"--we know that we did. Enjoy! 

Tom, Glenn, and Chris have the week off this week--but never fear, the Pugcast hasn't let you down! The Pugsters actually have a show that was recorded months ago and had been believed to be lost. But it's been found! The guys can't remember what was about though.  The one thing that they do remember is it was Tom's day for the topic of the day. So, listen in a long with three Pugsters who suffer from memory loss! Enjoy!

Today's show comes to you from deep in the Pugcast bunker. This episode is about the illiberal hostility of liberals directed towards conservatives  in higher education. Glenn is away with family for Christmas, so Tom and Chris invited Racer X to join them. (He's named Racer X because of Chris's nostalgia for Speed Racer--a cartoon he watched as a kid in the early 70s.) Racer X is a conservative and a graduate student currently studying in at an undisclosed secular university. Tom, Chris, and Racer X discuss their experiences as conservatives in academe, and all three agree that things are worse today than when Tom and Chris were in graduate school. BTW, Racer X's voice is distorted for the show. (Yes, things are so bad that we resorted to witness protection techniques to disguise X's identity.)  

Today Glenn rises to defend a holiday that some pagans and certain Christians love to hate: Christmas.  Who could hate Christmas? It is puzzling. There are the folks who claim that there is no justification for December 25th--or January 6th for that matter--so it must have been some sort of appropriation of a pagan holiday. Then there are the folks who just don't think any Christian holidays can be justified, period.  Glenn challenges these conceits and more. You can depend on Tom and Chris to egg him on. 

In today's show Tom, Glenn, and Chris are joined by Aaron Renn, former (but perhaps not), publisher of the newsletter for men with over 5,000 subscribers, The Masculinist.  The guys met in New Haven, Connecticut, right down the street from Yale, at Modern Apizza--one of the top rated pizzarias in America. The conversation was free-flowing and somewhat rambling, but there are a number of gems for you to take away.  Durning the conversation a waitress spills some beer on Chris's laptop, but never fear!--the top was closed and the machine escaped unharmed. (But you'll hear the cry of dismay from the waitress.) Sound is much better than in recent episodes. The Pugsters hope you enjoy the show!