From the Center
75 episodes - English - Latest episode: almost 3 years ago - ★★★★★ - 23 ratingsDiscussions about ideas, the arts, and culture, with Director John Hodges with friends and faculty of the Center for Western Studies.
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Episodes
The Prudent Use of the Law: Does a Culture of Dignity Flow from Decency?
June 12, 2018 22:35 - 1 hour - 66.7 MB"Human dignity is more than the right to be left alone." What are the limitations of Libertarianism for Christians? Does a decent society require a religious foundation? Surely there are atheists who are kind, but as a society, there needs to be a moral culture that gives definition for freedom. Freedom is not the same as autonomy. Freedom is the ability to do the good. But who is to say what is good without a revelation that comes from a higher authority than man himself? Perhaps gov...
On Immigration in Europe and the US: What About the Call to Love Neighbor?
June 01, 2018 05:30 - 1 hour - 72.5 MBSpun off from the discussion of the Paris Statement, Hodges and Vowell discuss the problem of simultaneously loving our neighbors, and defending national security in the midst of a complicated immigration debate. Can Christians be in favor of assimilation? Can they not be? There are three kinds of immigrant: legal, illegal, and refugee, and each poses a separate set of problems for a country and for the Church. How can we be both nationally secure and able to fulfill our calling to care f...
The True Conservatism: A Third Look at the Paris Statement
May 25, 2018 17:00 - 1 hour - 66 MBWhat is the real definition of Conservatism? Hodges and Vowell continue their analysis of the Paris Statement, addressing the question of whether or not the public square can be "naked" as Richard John Neuhaus wrote. Is there anyone who isn't conservative in some ways? What do the authors mean when they suggest that Europe should secularize the public arena? What is a working definition of sacred and secular?
Nations and Cultures: A Second Look at the Paris Statement
May 15, 2018 15:30 - 1 hour - 64.3 MBWhat the Paris Statement addresses: A False Europe is being built that embraces a secularized pluralism that they claim is neutral. But it is not. It also advocates the goodness of being disconnected from your own land, culture, and traditions -- exiled orphans.
European Conservatives: A Look at the Paris Statement
May 05, 2018 17:10 - 59 minutes - 58 MBEurope has divided, just as the US has become divided. A group of Conservatives from many different countries in Europe have put together a statement that defines the two approaches, and advocates for a "Europe We Can Believe In." Center Director John Hodges and Podcast Host Jack Vowell discuss a few of the points in the document, mainly that deal with economics: Marxism, Socialism, Capitalism, and promise to look into other key elements in future podcasts.
The Importance of Story: Even the Joker Was Trying to Tell the Truth
April 20, 2018 12:10 - 1 hour - 60.9 MBWe have been gone for so long! The Center has spent the better part of the last month preparing for and enjoying a trip to Europe. But we have missed talking with you about issues of culture and faith. In this episode, Director Hodges and host Jack Vowell discuss the importance of stories, especially today, in the lives of "millennials."
What Does A Vote Say? Voting v. Endorsing
March 08, 2018 13:28 - 1 hour - 70.7 MBWhen you vote for a candidate, does it mean you agree with everything he says or does? Or is there a way to vote for someone without endorsing? Hodges and Vowell address a question brought up on a Sunday night Center dinner discussion: If 80% of Evangelicals voted for President Trump, does that prove that 80% of Evangelicals are now OK with divorce and adultery?
The Glory of the Lord: The Beauty of Truth and Goodness
February 24, 2018 23:27 - 1 hour - 65.4 MBIs Beauty the way to reach today's generation with the Gospel? Hodges and Vowell discuss what Beauty is, how it relates to Goodness and Truth, and how intangible ideas and experiences can only be communicated through material means. This is the craft of an art: to be able to shape material things (sound, clay, paint, stone, words, film) into a means of communicating those ideas and experiences. Beauty may very well be the experience of seeing the connection between the two.
Care and Feeding of the North American Millennial
February 17, 2018 13:59 - 1 hour - 64.8 MBWhat exactly is a Millennial? Is a Millennial different than his older and younger relations? What are the myths about this curious creature? How can we best communicate with one? Sign language? Gifts of video games? Just kidding - Hodges picks Vowell's brain (a Millennial brain, by the way), to discern the unique experiences and motivations that come with being born after the fall of the Soviet Union.
On the Organization of Believers: What is an "Institutional Church?"
January 27, 2018 13:05 - 1 hour - 56.1 MBWhat are the pros and cons of Institutions in general? Are they necessary? Is an Institutional Church the same as the Body of Christ? How does the Bible call believers to be organized? Many today deride the Institutional Church, with its organization and its creeds. But don't we need both in some fashion? Director Hodges and Host Jack Vowell discuss the need for both in their right places, and compare "organization" to "organism." This is the second tangential follow-up topic that cam...
On the Organization of Believers: What is an "Institutional Church?"
January 27, 2018 13:05 - 1 hour - 57.9 MBWhat are the pros and cons of Institutions in general? Are they necessary? Is an Institutional Church the same as the Body of Christ? How does the Bible call believers to be organized? Many today deride the Institutional Church, with its organization and its creeds. But don't we need both in some fashion? Director Hodges and Host Jack Vowell discuss the need for both in their right places, and compare "organization" to "organism." This is the second tangential follow-up topic that came...
Place of Politics: Is There Room in Life for Life?
January 21, 2018 14:04 - 1 hour - 66.2 MBIs everything political? Are all communications simply attempts to gain power? Was Nietzsche right that we are all doomed to play a real-life version of SURVIVOR where we are all pitted against each other in a battle to be the last man standing? What is the realm of Politics in God's economy? What is government for? Where does holiness fit in with politics? Hodges and Vowell discuss the possibility that life is far more than politics, and that our politics should serve that larger life....
Borrowing Jesus (or parts of Him)
January 11, 2018 20:50 - 1 hour - 71.7 MBWhat does Liberation Theology do to the Christmas story? Host and Center faculty member Jack Vowell and Center Director John Hodges discuss an article in which the "real" meaning of Christmas is described as liberation from oppressive economic and political forces. The author claims that this can be done without a need for a historical Person of Christ. The article is used only as an example of how ideological politics of all sides always wants to take pieces of Jesus' teaching to support ...
On Advent and Christmas: How Can a Jello Salad Change the World?
December 22, 2017 19:42 - 1 hour - 59.4 MBWhat is the difference between Advent and Christmas? First and Second Comings, and how the Good Samaritan parable speaks of each. Robert Herrick's poetry. Merry Christmas to all our listeners!
What's the Use? Power and the Abuse of the Male Libido
December 12, 2017 17:29 - 1 hour - 80.1 MBThe 60s sexual revolution has come around to bite us. Maybe prudish Christians have something to say after all? With influential members of the Media, Hollywood, and Politics falling right and left by way of accusations of sexual misconduct, are we heading back toward sexual chastity? Probably not...but everyone agrees that there are limits that need to be put on sexual behavior, and no one anywhere condones rape and abuse. A NYT op-ed piece seems to offer only one way out: male libido i...
Music in Worship: Styles, Orchestration, and Liturgy
November 29, 2017 22:07 - 1 hour - 71.2 MBHodges and Vowell discuss the question of purpose of worship: is it primarily for God, for believers, or for unbelievers? The answer to this question can give guidance to such questions as, "what music should we sing in church?" and "what constitutes good music?" and "what exactly is style in music?"
How Nations Go Awry: Relating Faith and Politics
November 17, 2017 13:10 - 1 hour - 75 MBFrustrations with both sides of the political spectrum lead to a discussion of how political solutions cannot address the real problems of a society. We relate the moral and idyllic imaginations (Burke, Eliot), and show how left and right seem to assume the idyllic view. We underestimate the depth of evil in the hearts of men when we think that if we only change political and social systems we will have utopia. But does this mean we can do nothing? Certainly not... Correction: Jack ment...
It Came in a Dream: How the West Was Begun
November 10, 2017 13:08 - 45 minutes - 45.4 MBCould God have had a hand in the birth of Western Civilization? Hodges and Vowell talk about why the Center reads in Western Civ, and how the story in Acts 16 played a part in the history that follows.
Relating Reason and Emotions in Knowing
November 03, 2017 12:04 - 58 minutes - 56.7 MBHodges and Vowell have a conversation with Dr. E. Calvin Beisner, in which they discuss the way truth is understood. Do we follow reason or emotion? Are they two different ways to know? In debates are we missing each other because one side is reasoning and the other is feeling? The problem arises in more than debates about global warming, it becomes a key element of discussions about sex and marriage, abortion, economics, tax plans, sexual abuse of women and children, gun control...each s...
Can Community be like...Cheese? Post-truth and the Human Need to Belong
October 27, 2017 12:08 - 1 hour - 67.2 MBOED names 2016 word-of-the-year, "post-truth". We talk about the influence of this idea on American community, and give some explanation for some of the tribalism we see on the political and social landscapes. Human beings need both unity and diversity at the same time. How can we find it?
Who is this Bill of Rights?
October 20, 2017 14:41 - 1 hour - 63.4 MBWhat can laws accomplish? Are they able to stop evil? The Center discusses the purpose of the Bill of Rights, in light of the recent Las Vegas shooting, and asks the question, can a set of laws hold a civilization together without a transcendent point of reference? Quotes from various founders, and a comparison of law and grace.
Disagreeable Disagreeing: How do we regain the ability to debate?
October 06, 2017 12:30 - 57 minutes - 54.8 MBWe discuss NYT op-ed on The Art of Disagreement, and the many reasons it is important to hear all sides of an issue; and find that the word "immediate" is quite revealing.
The Shape of the Odyssey
September 26, 2017 09:22 - 1 hour - 61.3 MBWe discuss the Odyssey, Ella Fitzgerald, and Camus!
Dragoncon and the debate surrounding the Nashville Statement
September 23, 2017 14:20 - 1 hour - 62.6 MBJack attended the Dragoncon and we comment on the sci-fi/fantasy culture. And we discuss the Nashville Statement on marriage and sexuality.
Statues: are we fer 'em or agin' 'em?
September 16, 2017 14:04 - 1 hour - 68.8 MBA discussion of Charlottesville, Boston, and the question of statue removal between Center faculty members.