The Theology Pugcast

The best kept secrets are the ones that you are keep from yourself. In today's show Glenn shares his thoughts on evangelical secularism--in other words, there are assumptions and biases that many evangelicals have that actually have their origins in a secular outlook. The paradox of this state of mind is evangelicals can unwittingly undermine the Christian faith even as they seek to promote it. Chris and Tom add their thoughts. And as a bonus--the show is recorded in a back room of The Corner Pug, making a marked improvement in the sound. Once the new recording equipment arrives the audio quality should be even better. 

In today's show Chris introduces two virtues that he has written about elsewhere--pietas and gravitas. These virtues are at one and the same time alien to the contemporary world, yet longed for. What's more, there is a sense of recognition when people see them in practice, yet because we've lost the old ways of thinking about them and speaking about them, we no longer know how to promote them. This show is a small attempt to change that. As always, Glenn and Tom enrich the conversation.  Although it isn't mentioned in the podcast, the Pugcast team is pleased to announce that we will be joining the CrossPolitic network of podcasts beginning on June of 2019!

In today's show Tom introduces the subject of technology and its uses and abuses. While technology is an expression of God's image in human beings, it also can be used to deconstruct that image--or at least deface it in some way. So, do we use technology to shape the world, or does technology shape us--or is it both? Glenn and Chris join in, reflecting on the "cultural mandate", the Fall, the Tower of Babel, and more!  

In this episode Glenn Sunshine shares his memories of Notre Dame from his time in Paris, as well as his thoughts on the art of interpreting the meaning embedded in the structure of a cathedral. Following the recent fire at Notre Dame there were disturbing remarks by some Protestants and secularists dismissing the significance and meaning of church buildings. (This is not a coincidence.) In today's show Tom and Chris add their "Amen" to Glenn's assertion that cathedrals matter. The title of today's show is a play on the verse drama, Murder in the Cathedral by T. S. Elliot. 

Today the guys get into a little literary criticism as they discuss an article that Chris wrote for Touchstone Magazine years ago comparing C. S. Lewis and H. P Lovecraft. Most listeners to The Theology Pugcast are likely to be familiar with C. S. Lewis and his fiction--particularly the Chronicles of Narnia and the space trilogy. Fewer are likely to know about Lovecraft and his Cthulhu mythos, nevertheless it is hard to miss Lovecraft's influence on popular culture which can be felt in everything from a film like Alien to the writing of Stephen King. It is Chris's belief that Lewis may have even read Lovecraft for himself (they were near contemporaries and Lewis not only read for pulp magazines, he wrote for them.) This may seem like a far country from recent discussions on the podcast, but as Chris, Tom, and Glenn talk, you'll see that it is not.   Just a couple of corrections, first, Chris erroneously refers to Ark House as the posthumous publisher of Lovecraft's stories--the correct name is Arkham House. (Chris knew that, but you know it goes--aging and all.) And in response to Glenn's question concerning the founders of Arkham House, the publishers were: August Derleth and Donald Wandrei.  Here's a link to the article at Touchstone: https://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=26-01-038-f

Tom continues his reflections on his Oxford mentor's essay on sins of speech. Glenn and Chris speak up when they have something to say, all the while hoping that they are telling the truth. 

In our time of campus speech codes and hectoring for "misgendering" someone, it is tempting to downplay the fact that you really can do harm with your speech. Two of the Ten Commandments prohibit forms of speech--blasphemy and false witness. A case could be made that those are the same thing--just applied to God and man respectively. Today Tom Price shares his reflections on another essay by his mentor at Oxford.  

Today Glenn shares some of his reflections on how the image of God is reflected in creation by the respective roles of men and women. Using the pattern of "forming and filling" from Genesis chapter one, Glenn notes that these correspond to the respective tasks of men and women as God's regents. Naturally this leads to a wide-ranging discussion as Tom and Chris comment on Glenn's thoughts. 

In today's show C. R Wiley raises the question, "Can Christians be Pragmatists?" Quotations from William James and Richard Rorty, two of the 20th centuries greatest pragmatists, show how pragmatism is hostile to the classical Christian understanding of the relationship between words and the world. Words are tools for pragmatists, not windows--they create meaning and can be used to manipulate people. (No wonder people are offended by pronouns! Welcome to Babel.) The problem is most of the popular figures in the evangelical world today are pragmatists. 

Today Tom Price shares an article by the English theologian Oliver O'Donovan entitled, The Natural Ethic. The discussion gets into late medieval developments in philosophy--specifically voluntarism and nominalism. Glenn raises some historical qualifications, but all are agreed that we live in a time when things are falling apart because we've lost the ability to see meaning in nature.