The Theology Pugcast

Perhaps the most controversial character in all of Tolkien's writing is Tom Bombadil. People seem to either love him or hate him.  But regardless how you feel about him, most people can't figure out why he's even in the Lord of the Rings. What's the point of the man in the blue jacket and the yellow boots? Certainly Peter Jackson thought he was expendable. He isn't even in the film version of the story. Was he inserted to make Tolkien's children happy? Was Tolkien providing a little filler to buy time because he was still working out the plot? Chris thinks that Tolkien was up to far more than people give him credit for when it comes to Bombadil. Chris actually thinks that you don't really understand Tolkien, or the Lord of the Rings, until you receive Bombadil into your heart. Listen in as Chris, Tom, and Glenn discuss the meaning of the mysterious Tom Bombadil!

Glenn introduces consumer-choice as a kind of worldview in today's show.  Consumer choice is a fine thing when it comes to fast-food and designer clothing, but where does it end? Should we get to choose everything? Is consumer choice the apogee of freedom, or in some paradoxical way its denial and a form of slavery? Glenn dares to say that people shouldn't get to chose certain things--their family members for instance, or their religion. When it comes to the most important things we are choosers, we're receivers. And that entails an entirely different logic. 

In today's show, Tom outlines the coup against theology in academe.  Believe it or not, once upon a time theology ran the show. We can still see that in the pomp and circumstance at many college graduations--the theology faculty lead the way, followed by philosophy, then the other disciplines. Here's another fact--those disciplines back in the day were actually branches of theology, working out theological truths within various branches of study.  What happened?  Listen in as Tom, Glenn, and Chris talk about the demise of theology and its relegation to matters pertaining to the inner lives of religious people. 

In some theologies it seems like God is so sovereign there is nothing left for anyone else to do. Secondary causation and creaturely agency appear to be defined right out of existence. While this leaves people wondering about their agency, it also leaves angels with nothing to do. So, in today's show Chris raises the question, what are angels for? In the course of the conversation things gravitate toward the subject of the "principalities and powers" the Apostle Paul mentions in Ephesians and Chris recounts some disturbing personal experiences he's had with palpable evil, as well as one experience he had of a different nature when one of his parishioners lay dying in an Emergency Room because he had been cut open by a snow plow during a blizzard.  Glenn and Chris are joined once again by Dr. Ray Pennoyer, professor of philosophy.  

Just because someone is wrong about one thing, doesn't mean he's wrong about everything. And just because someone is right about many things, doesn't mean he's right about everything. Since the days of the Church Fathers Christians have had mixed feelings when it comes to Plato. It today's show Glenn returns to the theme of Platonism and what is indispensable in it. Perhaps we can even think about philosophical truth in the same way we think about truths that scientists discover concerning the workings of the physical world, philosophy may be able to tell us about immaterial structures and their workings--especially as they pertain to intrinsic meaning and the power of language to convey truth. Glenn is joined by Chris and by special guest, Dr. Ray Pennoyer, professor of philosophy.

In today's show Tom raises the specter of propaganda--the form of communication seen in books like 1984 and totalitarian states, and increasingly the contemporary western world.  It was inevitable considering the fact that our elites no longer believe in metaphysics. Something must be said, but what if truth isn't an option? Propaganda is what you get in the name of truth. One of the thinkers that Tom refers to in the Jacques Ellul, the famous French thinker and aurhor of the book, Propaganda. Glenn Sunshine is away on business, but Dr. Joseph Leake, Beowulf scholar and authority on Old English and Old Norse sits in for Glenn.  

In today's show Chris introduces a subject that he's written a lot about: productive property. Sometimes it is called "real property"--but whatever the name, we're not talking about your tooth brush here. Where talking about what the Founding Fathers had in mind when they limited the franchise to holders of property. They believed that productive property is essential for liberty. It still is. Chris is joined by Glenn and Tom for another wide-ranging discussion. 

In today's episode Glenn introduces listeners to "transhumanism"--a philosophy and engineering project concerned with transcending the given limits of human nature. Transhumanists view the body solely as a machine, and the mind is somehow both dependent upon it, yet utterly distinct. (This should remind listeners a little of Descartes.) But what transhumanism actually is--for all its mechanistic notions--is just one more manifestation of the ancient hydra that has plagued western culture from the start: Gnosticism.  The Pugcast audience continues to grow--Glenn, Tom, and Chris are both pleased and a little surprised. They're grateful. Also, the show has a growing number of financial supporters on the FLF Network. Thanks are in order for those folks, too. If you would like to join this merry band and financially support The Theology Pugcast you can do so through the Fight, Laugh, Feast Network. 

In today's episode Chris begins with a simple truth: since modern welfare states are not the Kingdom of God they will end someday. This leads to a discussion of disincentives for having children in welfare states and why that spells their demise in the long run. Naturally debt is used to keep the state going in the near term, but this only make the eventual collapse that much more devastating. Since we can see evidence of the final failure of the welfare state all around it is a good idea to "short" the welfare state. Whenever you short an asset you're betting that its value will go down. The bet allocates resources into assets that will go up in value in the event of the loss of value in the shorted asset. So, what should we invest ourselves in instead of the welfare state? Chris turns to the book of Ruth in the Old Testament for clues.  Sound quality continues to improve--the Pug has discovered the source of the mysterious background noise that plagued earlier podcasts and it has been addressed. We hope you can enjoy the show better now!

In today's episode Glenn discusses an important distinction that is lost on most people today--the difference between liberty and license. The Founding Fathers of the United States understood the difference, and they did their best to structure American government in order to preserve liberty and inhibit license. We've come a long way, baby.  Is there any hope for responsible freedom, or are we doomed to live in the Servile State, as the Distributists put it?