We did it! We made it to ep 50! We couldn't have done it without all of you good good comrades listening and responding! To celebrate this occasion, we took some of your voicemails and emails and reflected on the past magnificent magnificast year. Intro/transition music by Amaryah Armstrong Outro music by theillalogicalspoon
Matt and Dean hung out with Vincent Lloyd in real life, so we decided to bring him back on the show to talk about his forthcoming book, In Defense of Charisma (Columbia University Press)! We talk about why people are suspicious of charisma, what's good about charisma, how charisma functions in organizing contexts, and more! Also, next week is our 50th episode, and we need your help! Send us your questions, comments, favorite episodes, favorite guests, reflections on the show, etc., and we might ...
Everybody's talking about Black Panther, so we decided to talk about the Black Panthers! Specifically, we looked at two essays by Huey P. Newton, the Minister of Defense for the Black Panther Party, one called "On the Relevance of the Church" and another called "The Son of Man." We talk about how leftists can help Christians see the contradictions in our communities, Huey's mystical theology, and Jesus's popular movement in Judea! Very Good intro music by Amaryah Armstrong. Very Good outro music...
This week we talked with Kaya Oakes (of America Magazine, Religion Dispatches, Killing the Buddha) about the Pope, women's ordination, and the religious left! Dope into by Amaryah Armstrong Dope outro by theillogicalspoon
In the past weeks, we've been focusing on conversations about the extremely bad history embedded in Christianity and how to wrestle with Christian complicity. This week, we continue that theme with Michael Jimenez, author of Remembering Lived Lives(https://wipfandstock.com/remembering-lived-lives.html). In this episode we talk about history, theology, decolonial theory, and we even get back around to Zizek through a patented Magnificast transition! Dope intro by Amaryah Armstrong Dope Outro by t...
"The biggest challenge of the day is: how to bring about a revolution of the heart, a revolution that has to start with each one of us." - Dorothy Day There is no history of the Christian Left in the United States that can be complete without a discussion of the Catholic Worker. Staring in 1933, the Catholic Worker was a network of Catholics, Anarchists, and other Leftists who helped establish newspapers, communal farms, and houses of hospitality. In this Episode, Matt and Dean talk with two Cat...
In the first half of the show, we talk with Marika Rose about her essay "For Our Sins: Christianity, Complicity and the Racialized Construction of Innocence," which looks at the ways Christian appeals to universality troublingly license Christian colonialism and white supremacy. We talk about Christian complicity in domination, whether there's a future for Christianity, how Trump is innocent, and more! On the second half of the show, we talk about Marika's work on Slovenian Marxist Slavoj Zizek,...
Talk about a "religious left" has been swirling in the media ever since Donald Trump was elected. Was it a force to be reckoned with in 2017? Will it be a force in 2018? We take a look at some popular representations of the "religious left," and think through the new Christians for Socialism manifesto as one way of responding to the problem of organizing Christian folks struggling to make sense of their moral injunction to capitalism and Trump's presidency. (Bonus Tradinista content. May God hav...
Pastor and socialist John Thornton Jr. is the first Magnifiguest of 2018! We talk about slogans for the new year, being a socialist in church, debt, pastoral work, and how if folks want to get young people back in the church they should try socialism!
In this episode, Matt and Dean talk about Cornel West's essay Religion and the Left and figure out if religious is too idealistic for Marxist Materialism.
Ho ho ho, it's The Magnificast Christmas special! in this episode, Matt and Dean discuss Christmas presents, Nicaragua, Ernesto Cardenal, reading the gospel alongside peasants and why it's important that Jesus was poor. incredibly dope intro music by Amaryah Armstrong Exquisite outro music by theillogicalspoon
For weeks, Matt and Dean have been promising an episode on anarchism and now, with the help of Katherine, from Friendly Anarchism, we're delivering! In this episode, we discuss Anarchism, Democracy, Direct Action, Violence, Pacifism, Revolution, and Jesus! Very dope Intro Music by Amaryah Armstrong Outro Music by theillogicalspoon (theillalogicalspoon.bandcamp.com/album/theillalogicalspoon-sings-the-last-breath-of-the-luna-moth-under-the-morel-moon)
Human Nature, Dignity, Freedom: these are all right wing buzzwords, but what do they actually mean? In this episode, Matt and Dean talk about these ideas from a Marxist and Christian perspective Intro Music by Amaryah Armstrong Outro Music by theillogicalspoon
You know what sucks? Corporate media and the suppression of leftist ideas. You know what's awesome? Brett O'Shea from The Revolutionary Left Radio (@revleftradio). In this episode, we talk with Brett about the upcoming Net Neutrality vote and a Marxist analysis of media. Check out Brett's podcast out here: https://revolutionaryleftradio.libsyn.com/ Intro music by Amarya Armstrong Outro music by theillogicalspoon (https://theillalogicalspoon.bandcamp.com/album/theillalogicalspoon-sings-the-last-b...
If you're tired of hearing us talk about Christians for Socialism then sorry we're not sorry that we're still on it this week. We're working on getting the rights to digitize and distribute some of the old resources, but in the meantime we looked at a study guide put out by the Inter-Religious Task Force for Social Analysis called "Which Side Are We On? Christian Commitment for the '80s." Specifically, we did an exercise where the guide asks the reader to look at Mao's essay "Combat Liberalism" ...
Churches are supposed to be places of community, hospitality, and refuge, but what about when they're not? Many denominations and congregations routinely exclude LGBTQ people and that totally sucks. In this episode, Matt and Dean talk with Sarah Ngu, a comrade who works with Religious Socialism as well as with an organization called Church Clarity. Sarah explains possible ways to sort out the sheep from the goats of affirming churches and possible solutions to the vague statements concerning the...
Last week we talked about Christians for Socialism, a radical revolutionary contingent of Christians that started in response to the Allende election in Chile. We ended that episode noting that the organization had to disband in Chile after a US-backed coup deposed Allende. But the end of Christians for Socialism in Chile wasn't the end of the organization itself. It was exported to North America, connecting with other Christian groups that were organizing for socialism there. To get a sense of ...
It's no secret that we think Christianity and socialism are Very Good. Over the course of the podcast we've tried to find some ideas and movements that help illuminate the relationship between Christians and socialism. But we're hardly the first to think about that. In Chile in the early 70s, a group of 80 priests founded Christians for Socialism, a contingent of Christians who wanted not just political change, but revolutionary change, supporting the energy behind the Allende government. The gr...
In this episode, Matt and Dean talk about Frei Betto's book "Fidel and Religion," Religion in Cuba, Communism, and Revolution. They also desperately try not to cough into their microphones.
In this episode, Dean and Matt interview George Ciccariello-Maher about Chavismo, Venezuela, dual power, the communes, Maduro and the ways Christianity might have informed Hugo Chavez' political imagination.
When Dean met Dave McKee at a karaoke night hosted by the Communist Party of Canada, he wasn't expecting to find out the provincial leader of the party in Ontario had once studied theology and even spent time with Nicaraguan Christians in base communities. Needless to say, we had to have him on the podcast, and we finally did! We talk about Marxism-Leninism in Canada, how violence and nonviolence factor into the CPC's goals as a revolutionary party, and a bunch of other things we keep circling a...
Different Christian traditions have different potentials for leftist thought. Throughout The Magnificast, we've talked about a number of different Christian and Leftist perspectives, but we've never quite made it to the Orthodox Church. That all changed this week when Matt and Dean talked with Jonathan Murden about the history of the Orthodox Church and its interaction with the Bolsheviks during the Russian Revolution!
Derek Ford is back on the 'cast to defend his title as Most Faithful Guest with a whopping three visits. After talking with Jodi Dean in episode 24 about the People's Congress of Resistance, we wanted to follow up and hear how it went. Derek gives us a full report of some of the most exciting parts of the project, talks about what it might mean for future organizing, and gives a few suggestions about how Christians might get involved! **SPOILER** The Juggalo March makes an appearance.
It's time for another user created episode of the Magnificast! This episode is brought to you by all of you nice folks who send us your questions! Also, later in the episode Matt and Dean dunk on Joe Carter and the Acton Institute and talk a little bit about identity politics.
The late 19th and early 20th century saw an immense struggle between labor and capital in the United States. From the Haymarket Massacre to the Pullman Strike, Chicago was the site of many significant victories and defeats for the labor movement. There are loads of great histories attending to the burgeoning socialist movements in the midst of those struggles, but what were the Christians up to in Chicago, especially following revivals rolling across the country and a strong Catholic presence th...
In this episode, Matt and Dean talk about The People's Congress of Resistance with Jodi Dean. The People's Congress of Resistance is an upcoming event (sept 16-17) in Washington D.C. In this episode, the three discuss what the People's Congress is about, what its demands entail, the importance of organization in politics, and what Christians can contribute to leftist struggle. You can learn more about the People's Congress of Resistance here:http://www.congressofresistance.org/
Christians on the Left are pretty good at being suspicious of things like the state or big business. After all, Jesus got killed by an empire and big businesses aren't exactly known for their sacrificial values. In this suspicion though, a lot of Christians (and even a lot of newly minted Leftists in the wake of Bernie Sanders) don't think very much about the problem of private property itself, which has been one of the grounding problems for radical leftists since Marx, Proudhon, Bakunin, and o...
This week, Dean and Matt circle back to review some user created content that all of you good Magnificasters have sent in over the past few weeks! Also, this episode launches a new segment (#theorytime) featuring The Lit Crit Guy, Jon Greenaway, that gives a 101 level introduction to Marx's theory of revolution!
The face of white supremacy is a manifestation of evil that Christians and leftists should categorically oppose without qualifications. That might seem like an obvious point, but Christians seemed to have trouble responding in a timely way to the Charlottesville tragedy, taken in by the liberal temptation to condemn violence "on all sides." That temptation creates a false equivalence between the systemic violence expressing itself through white supremacy, whether they throw blows or not, and the...
We got a chance to get some of our own #TheoryTime in with The Lit Crit Guy himself, talking about Roland Boer's book Criticism of Heaven, and specifically a chapter Boer wrote on the French communist Louis Althusser's Catholic undercurrents. (You might remember Derek Ford gesturing toward Althusser's Catholicism way back in episode 3.) We try to sort out some different relationships between religion and Marxism as articulated by Boer, and see if we can extend his taxonomy to Christian anarchist...
