Episode 167: This Is Water
Danny Anderson holds forth with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour on David Foster Wallace's commencement address "This Is Water."
Sep 22, 2015•1 hr 2 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 166: The Laches
Nathan Gilmour chats with David Grubbs and Todd Pedlar about Plato's brief dialogue the Laches and alternatives to its concept of courage.
Sep 15, 2015•1 hr 18 min
Episode 165: The Office
David Grubbs talks with Danny Anderson and Nathan Gilmour about the office as a historical development, an environment in which human existence happens, and the site of battles over air conditioning.
Sep 08, 2015•1 hr 5 min
Special Release: The Sectarian Review Episode 0
Danny Anderson introduces The Sectarian Review, the network's newest show, dedicated to cultural criticism from a Christian intellectual angle.
Aug 19, 2015•3 min
Episode 164: Amos
Nathan Gilmour talks with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about the book of Amos, a soaring and terrifying oracle from YHWH, God of the Bible.
Aug 18, 2015•1 hr 7 min
Episode 163: Listener Feedback
Michial Farmer takes David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour through a few months' email to the show. The questions we take on and the times when we do so are thus: [0:00] An announcement from David Grubbs! [5:05] Why Christian Existentialism? [9:12] Kierkegaard and Christendom [17:41] John McAdams and academic freedom [27:09] More holy fools [30:15] Episode suggestions [35:43] John Adams insults / Thomas Jefferson and the French Revolution. Also, Assassin's Creed [39:58] The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (...
Jun 30, 2015•1 hr 47 min
Episode 162: Our Bookshelves
David Grubbs talks with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about the place of books and bookshelves in all three hosts' workplaces, dwellings, and modes of life.
May 05, 2015•1 hr 14 min
Episode 161: The Devil Takes Visa
Nathan Gilmour talks with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about Rodney Clapp's 1996 essay "Why the Devil Takes Visa."
Apr 28, 2015•59 min
Episode 160: Kalhoun!
Michial Farmer talks with Nathan Gilmour and David Grubbs about Daniel Amos's 1991 album "Kalhoun."
Apr 21, 2015•1 hr 12 min
Episode 159: A Little Exercise for Young Theologians
David Grubbs talks with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about Helmut Thielicke's 1959 essay "A Little Exercise for Young Theologians."
Apr 14, 2015•1 hr 9 min
Episode 158: Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Nathan Gilmour talks with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about the 1975 film "Monty Python and the Holy Grail."
Apr 07, 2015•59 min
Episode 157: Fools
Michial Farmer leads Nathan Gilmour and David Grubbs in a discussion of the fool in theology, literature, and culture.
Mar 31, 2015•58 min
Episode 156.1: Dream of the Rood
David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour talk about "Dream of the Rood," a fascinating Old English Jesus poem.
Mar 24, 2015•1 hr
Episode 156: Adams and Jefferson
Nathan Gilmour chats with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about the late-career correspondence between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams.
Mar 17, 2015•56 min
Episode 155.2: Caedmon's Hymn
David Grubbs chats with Nathan Gilmour about the hymn of Caedmon, a poem from the Old English version of Bede's Ecclesiastical History.
Mar 10, 2015•1 hr 20 min
Episode 155.1: Banned Books
Michial Farmer chats with Nathan Gilmour about the strange history of book-censorship, digging into the particular oddities that make banned books such a fun matter for conversation and for an unearned sense of moral superiority.
Mar 03, 2015•1 hr 1 min
Episode 155: Honor in the University
Nathan Gilmour brings David Grubbs and Michial Farmer into the wild world of postliberal theology as the trio chats about Stanley Hauerwas's essay "Terministic Screens."
Feb 24, 2015•59 min
Episode 154: Terministic Screens
Danny Anderson chats with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about Kenneth Burke's essay "Terministic Screens."
Feb 17, 2015•58 min
Episode 153.2: No Exit
Michial Farmer and Danny Anderson hold forth on Jean-Paul Sartre's twentieth-century play "No Exit." Michial waxes eloquent on what a bad translation "No Exit" is for the title.
Feb 10, 2015•1 hr 5 min
Episode 153.1: Listener Feedback
Nathan Gilimour and Michial Farmer respond to listener emails. The questions addressed happen at these times: [1:56] How can we conceive of the inconceivable if the Creator of the universe is Himself inconceivable? Do mortal minds break at the sight of God? [8:00] Robin William's movies [11:01] Teacher film recommendations [14:49] Allegory and Dracula [17:20] Irony and Sincerity in Nostalgia [21:20] Platonic descent and ascent of the soul [25:03] Errors in Ancient Aliens on the History Channel [...
Feb 03, 2015•50 min
Episode 153: A Christmas Story
Danny Anderson hosts a conversation with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about "A Christmas Story," the movie that has become ubiquitous in the twenty-first century. Nostalgia abounds, and somebody might just shoot his own eye out.
Dec 09, 2014•49 min
Episode 152: What Is Enlightenment?
Nathan Gilmour holds forth with Michial Farmer and Danny Anderson on Immanuel Kant's essay "What Is Enlightenment?" The trio digs into the strange paradox of argument and obedience as well as into the piece's vision of history as a progression towards an end.
Nov 25, 2014•1 hr 3 min
Episode 151: Nostalgia
Michial Farmer hosts a conversation with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about nostalgia. Going back to the word's seventeenth-century roots and exploring its mutating connotations, the trio ponders whether nostalgia is always individual or might also be a cultural phenomenon.
Nov 18, 2014•1 hr 9 min
Episode 150: Good Will Hunting
David Grubbs chats with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about Good Will Hunting, the third in our trio of Robin Williams movies. Digging into mentorship and psychology and restaurants, the trio enjoys this third part of our tribute to Williams.
Nov 11, 2014•1 hr 6 min
Episode 149: Dead Poets Society
Nathan Gilmour converses with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about Dead Poets Society, the second of the Robin Williams trilogy. The trio takes on the strange truncated readings of poetry in the film as well as the conceptions of conformity and friendship that arise.
Nov 04, 2014•1 hr 1 min
Episode 148: The Fisher King
Michial Farmer leads David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour into the semester's trilogy of episodes on Robin Williams movies with a conversation about The Fisher King. As the trio digs into a story that's as much a media ecology as a medieval appropriation, Dante resurfaces (again) as the trio explores the salvation of Jack Lucas.
Oct 28, 2014•1 hr 7 min
Episode 147: H.P. Lovecraft
David Grubbs gets spooky with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour as the trio discusses the horror fiction of H.P. Lovecraft. Conversations range from literary influence to biological racism, with some discussions on artistic imagination thrown in for good measure. The stories at the core of the conversation are "The Call of Cthulu," "Arthur Jermyn," and "Pickman's Model."
Oct 21, 2014•1 hr 13 min
Episode 146.1: Listener Feedback
David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour answer listener emails and such. Highlights are as follows: 04:11 Let your sins be strong? 10:21 Robert Louis Stevenson 13:41 Some episode suggestions from Australia 19:25 Suburban corrections 23:53 Thomas and the Ontological Argument 32:35 Thomas and the Cosmological Argument 38:44 Christian Humanist pilgrimages 44:00 Neil Postman and the value of the academic essay 48:15 Amusing Ourselves to Death cartoon 50:48 A recent iTunes review
Oct 14, 2014•55 min
Episode 146: Psalm 119
Nathan Gilmour chats a spell with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about Psalm 119. The trio ranges from the literary form of the verse to the ways that the Psalm has shaped the identities of monks and Fundamentalists, landing eventually on some pedagogical speculation.
Oct 07, 2014•59 min
Special Presentation: Book of Nature, Episode 1
Dan Dawson, Charles Hackney, and Todd Pedlar roll out Book of Nature, the Christian Humanist Radio Network's new science and mathematics show.
Sep 24, 2014•1 hr 3 min
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