Episode 67.03: The Best Music of 2011
Michial Farmer gives a rundown of the best music from the year 2011.
Jan 03, 2012•1 hr 42 min
The Christian Humanist Podcast
Three Christians, teachers, and intellectuals gather digitally to hold forth on literature, theology, philosophy, and other things human beings do well. Taking the question at hand utterly seriously and ourselves not at all, the Christian Humanists attempt to record weekly during the school year and take on some interesting questions. Our website, should you wish to visit us, is http://www.christianhumanist.org, and our email is thechristianhumanist@gmail.com.
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Episodes
Episode 67.02: St. Nicholas at Nicea
David Grubbs recites the new Christmas classic, the Saint Nicholas Smackdown.
Dec 23, 2011•8 min
Episode 67: A Christmas Carol
Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion on the Christmas classic "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. Along the way the discussion ranges from philosophical and literary backgrounds all the way to whether Dickens is an agent of secularization when it comes to the Christian holiday. Among the writers and ideas discussed are Thomas Malthus, Pliny the Younger, Tiny Tim, Genesis, Christ among the children, and when ghosts started carrying chains around.
Dec 20, 2011•1 hr 3 min
Episode 66: Desert Island Books
Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about what books they'd bring with them if they were stranded on a desert island. So that the description doesn't give away the books, this text shall end here.
Dec 13, 2011•1 hr 16 min
Episode 65: Academic Conferences
David Grubbs moderates a discussion with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about the world of the academic conference, digging into their antecedents, their peculiarities, and why Gilmour doesn't much like them. The last third of the episode is dedicated to dreaming up better ways to do conferences. Among the ideas, people, and stereotypes we dig into are Plato's Symposium, the Royal Society, the MLA, the blustering pedant, the perpetual sneer, and the academic conference's drinking problem.
Nov 29, 2011•1 hr 15 min
Episode 63.11: Technical Difficulties
Michial Farmer apologizes for some technical difficulties that have prevented this week's episode from airing and announces some plans for the immediate future.
Nov 15, 2011•57 sec
Episode 64: Environmentalism
Nathan Gilmour moderates the beginning of a discussion with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer (Gilmour had a meeting to make, so the others finished it up) about environmentalism, Christian responses to the same, literary treatments of the natural world, and other groovy stuff. Among the texts and ideas discussed are Genesis, Romans, Augustine, Leonardo da Vinci, Baruch Spinoza, and naive city-slicker environmentalists.
Nov 15, 2011•1 hr 8 min
Episode 63.1: Reality Television
Michial Farmer and Nathan hold forth on Reality Television, demonstrating once more Gilmour's lack of connection with pop culture. We take on the origins in the documentary format, the shift from documentary's high self-regard to reality TV's self-awareness as entertainment, and discuss why it's alright (according to Farmer) to mock a divorce if it's a Kardashian divorce. Among the TV shows, thinkers, and other ideas we take on are An American Family, The Real World, The Weakest Link, The Soup, ...
Nov 08, 2011•1 hr 19 min
Episode 63: The End of the World as We Read it
David Grubbs moderates a discussion with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about the apocalypse, apocalyptic literature, and otherwise about the end of things. Working our way from Biblical apocalyptic to modern-day end-of-the-world stories, we focus on the assumed philosophies of history that inform each sort of apocalyptic. Among the texts, ideas, and writers we discuss are Revelation, Daniel, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Dante's Purgatory, Shakespeare's Henry V, Walker Percy's Love in the Ruins, and...
Nov 01, 2011•1 hr 27 min
Episode 62: Aeschylus
Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about the Greek tragedy Prometheus Bound, traditinally attributed to Aeschylus. Prometheus is a character whose career makes sense in the context of Greek henotheism, becomes unintelligible at the height of Christian literary sensibility, and makes a comeback in some interesting ways as modernity overtakes classical Christianity as the dominant intellectual context in literature. Among the texts, writers, and ideas we dis...
Oct 25, 2011•1 hr 15 min
Episode 61: Euripides
Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about Athenian tragedian Euripides and two of his plays. Euripides is the "bad boy" among Greek playwrights, and we talk a bit about his strange biography before digging into his horrendous pictures of gods. Among the texts, writers, and ideas we engage are comedians as biographers, deus ex machina, gods as allegories, Platonic and Aristotelian readings of tragedies, and Melville.
Oct 18, 2011•1 hr 17 min
Episode 60: Sophocles
David Grubbs moderates a conversation with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about Greek tragedy as a genre and specifically about Sophocles, the most-read artist in the genre. Along the way we focus on the broad range of readings that Sophocles has inspired, all the way from Aristotle to Freud. Among the texts, writers, and ideas we discuss are Oedipus Rex, Antigone, Aristotle's Poetics, Freud's Interpretation of Dreams, Bonhoeffer, and Martin Luther King Jr.
Oct 11, 2011•1 hr 7 min
Episode 59: Godwin's Law
Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about Internet discourse, the vices that seem to inhere in Internet exchanges, and why a long online discussion is probably at some point going to involve Hitler. Although technology is always on the table, rhetoric is really the name of the game. Among the writers, ideas, and other bad habits we discuss are psychologizing one's opponent, posting manifestos on Facebook, making people into devils, exhibiting classical virt...
Oct 04, 2011•1 hr 4 min
Episode 58: Christian Right, Christian Left
Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with (Comrade) Nathan Gilmour and (Ayatollah) David Grubbs about the strange relationships between political parties and Christian confession in America. One of the central questions (that we try really hard to answer) is whether and to what extent partisan identity stunts moral reasoning. Among the ideas and phenomena we discuss are the U.S. Constitution, the Abolition movement, the Social Gospel, Focus on the Family, whether or not the current Christian Le...
Sep 27, 2011•1 hr 22 min
Episode 57: Libraries
David Grubbs moderates a conversation with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about the history, role, and changing face of libraries. Our conversation involves, among other things, Farmer debunking yet another myth about the American founders and Gilmour telling a story involving Touret's Syndrome and a colostomy bag. Among the writers, libraries, andother interesting bits we discuss are Bede, Ben Franklin, academic databases, public libraries, seminary libraries, and the Internet's relationship...
Sep 20, 2011•1 hr 8 min
Episode 56: Civil Wars
nNathan Gilmour moderates a discussion with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about civil wars, starting with the Absalom revolt (which seldom gets called a civil war) and ending with the Sunni/Shi'ite conflicts in Iraq (which erroneously get called civil wars, according to Grubbs). Along the way we wrestle with the tensions between the duty to one's countrymen and dedication to ideas and individuals that characterize each such struggle. Among the wars, people, and other artifacts that we discuss ...
Sep 13, 2011•1 hr 15 min
Episode 55: Enlightenment 101
Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about the fascinating period known as the Enlightenment. Using the theme of compartmentalization, the Humanists attempt to articulate connections between the scientific, philosophical, political, and religious tendencies of thinkers between the late seventeenth and the early nineteenth centuries. Among the texts, ideas, and intellectuals we discuss are Rene Descartes, Blaise Pascal, Adam Smith, David Hume, John Locke, Isa...
Sep 06, 2011•1 hr 15 min
Episode 54: The Brains in the Body
David Grubbs moderates a conversation with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about intellectuals within the Church, some of the ways that intellectuals have related to the Church, and some suggestions about how intellectuals might relate to the Church. We take on the advantages and the drawbacks of the monk, the hermit, and the philosopher-king models along the way, and Gilmour manages to alienate church-planters one more time. Among the texts, authors, and ideas discussed are Plato, Milton, Eme...
Aug 30, 2011•1 hr 13 min
Episode 53: Welcome Back!
Nathan Gilmour moderates a conversation with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about... the Christian Humanist Podcast! We recount the roots of the show, the sorts of episodes that we tend to record, and the fights that always seem to show up when people write nice things about our show. Among the ideas and episodes we discuss are the curator episodes, the triptychs, the Christian Humanist Blog, and the future of the project. See www.christianhumanist.org for an index, by episode number, of the sh...
Aug 23, 2011•1 hr 8 min
Episode 52: Theological Dramatics
Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with Nathan Gilmour and David Grubbs about Nathan's recent book Theological Dramatics: Two Christological Case Studies. Along with some discussions of John Milton's Paradise Regained and Aemelia Lanyer's Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum (the two texts that the book discusses), the conversation ranges into the relationships between poetry, sermon, and criticism; and church and academy. Among the texts, ideas, and writers that we discuss are John Milton, Aemeila Lanye...
Jul 28, 2011•1 hr 5 min
Episode 51: Archaeology
David Grubbs and special guest host Luke Chandler moderate a discussion with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour on the topic of archaeology, especially as it concerns the excavation of Biblical sites and the effects that archaeology has had on the ways that Christians read the Bible and think about the lives of our forebears. Among the texts, ideas, and artifacts that we discuss are the Khirbet Qeiyafa site, the practice and disciplines of archaeology, David and Goliath, the Enuma Elish, the Chro...
Jun 17, 2011•1 hr 17 min
Episode 50.1: Seven Nation Army
Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour have some great news. It won't take long--have a listen!
May 24, 2011•5 min
Episode 50: Christian Humanist University
Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about Christian Humanist University, a Platonic ideal of a college, and what such an ideal might do for the way that we imagine and evaluate real colleges. Among the texts, ideas, and other realities we discuss are core curriculum, the purpose of a university, college athletics, specialization, relationships between college and society, and college architecture.
May 10, 2011•1 hr 26 min
Episode 49: George Herbert
Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about the seventeenth-century English poet George Herbert. In addition to readings from three of his poems, the discussion ranges from the nature of devotional poetry to the current MFA culture of active poets. Among the texts and artists we discuss are George Herbert, "The Pulley," "The Collar," "Holy Scriptures I," The Country Parson, and The Temple.
May 03, 2011•56 min
Episode 48: Literary Canons
David Grubbs moderates a discussion with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about the concept of canon and the ways that it affects the ways that we receive the Bible, teach literature, and otherwise engage important texts. We propose ways to think about the "great books" in our specialty areas and discuss expansions and contractions of the canon. Among the texts, ideas, and writers we engage are the Bible, Beowulf, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Women's Studies, and Derrida.
Apr 26, 2011•1 hr 23 min
Episode 47: Travel
Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about travel, the relationships between home and the road, adn some historical changes in conceptions of travel. Our musings revolve around the imagination of travel, from wilderness wandering to pilgrimage to colonization to vacation. Among the texts, ideas, and historical figures we engage are Deuteronomy, the Vikings, Spring Break, cosmopolitanism on the cheap, truckers, pilgrimage, and Milton.
Apr 19, 2011•1 hr 12 min
Episode 46: Cybernetics
Nathan Gilmour moderates a LONG discussion of cybernetics, those relationships between humanity and technology that define everyday existence. Our conversation ranges from ancient philosophies of technology to movie and comic book bad guys to modern philosophical engagements with the character of technology. Among the artifacts and writers we touch on are Plato, Paul, Edgar Allen Poe, Darth Vader, Captain Hook, Kobo Abe, Neil Postman, Martin Heidegger, and Genesis.
Apr 12, 2011•1 hr 28 min
Episode 45: Language Is Sermonic
David Grubbs moderates a conversation with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about Richard Weaver's essay "Language Is Sermonic." Exploring the particular topoi of rhetorical construction and the philosophy that would elevate rhetoric to a place of prominence among the liberal arts, the Humanists wax analogical and say nice things about teaching composition. Among the texts and other subjects of discussion are "Language Is Sermonic," Richard Weaver, Plato, Thomas Aquinas, and rhetoric.
Apr 05, 2011•1 hr 6 min
Episode 44: Richard Weaver and Ultimate Terms
Michial Farmer moderates a conversation with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about Richard Weaver's essay "Ultimate Terms in Contemporary Rhetoric." The central idea, which the Humanists explore in some detail, is that modern discourse has some peculiarities in terms of our "god terms" and "devil terms" that make dialectic a more important helper to rhetoric than ever. Along the way we discuss Richard Weaver, so-called GI Rhetoric, evangelical devil-terms, and political rhetoric.
Mar 29, 2011•1 hr 2 min
Episode 43: Richard Weaver and the Phaedrus
Nathan Gilmour moderates a conversation with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about Richard Weaver's essay "The Phaedrus and the Nature of Rhetoric." Exploring Weaver's provocative connections between public speech, good and evil, and education, the discussion takes turns into philosophy, education, and all sorts of interesting places. Among the texts and authors we discuss are Richard Weaver, Plato, the Phaedrus, and Derrida.
Mar 22, 2011•1 hr 12 min
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