The Theology Pugcast
302 episodes - English - Latest episode: 6 days ago - ★★★★★ - 401 ratingsThe Theology Pugcast is three over-educated Reformed guys grumbling about what bugs them, and sometimes even barking about what they like. The show usually is recorded in a pub--that's why there is some background noise on occasion. The topics can vary widely seeing as the Pugsters have different spheres of knowledge and interest, but common themes which appear regularly include the transcendence of God and the meaningfulness of His creation.
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Episodes
Bonus Q&A: Owen Barfield’s ‘Saving the Appearances’
November 09, 2021 09:00 - 21 minutes - 49.5 MBListen in for a short question and answer session following yesterday's live episode on Owen Barfield’s ‘Saving the Appearances.’
Owen Barfield’s ‘Saving the Appearances’
November 08, 2021 09:00 - 1 hour - 166 MBThis week, the Pugsters turn to another Touchstone article by Louis Markos, this one on Owen Barfield. Barfield was one of the Inklings along with C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien and helped nudge Lewis toward Christianity. He also was heavily influenced by Rudolph Steiner’s esoteric thought and tried to Christianize it. In this episode, the Pugsters discuss Barfield’s ideas about the relationship of human beings and the natural world, which argued that in the past people had a simple, spiritua...
A Monk Without a Monastery
November 01, 2021 10:00 - 1 hour - 147 MBTom introduces an article by Louis Markos entitled: Detectives of Significance. This article addresses an earlier time in Christian history which had a much deeper and wider view of reality and meaning. Part of the task of theology was to interpret such deeper meanings guided by the richly layered meanings communicated in the Bible and in creation. Markos then turns to detective stories, Sherlock Holmes and The Name of the Rose, to show how even rationalist characters desire something more t...
Tolkien’s “On Fairy Stories:” Escape
October 25, 2021 09:00 - 1 hour - 147 MBIn this episode the Pugsters return to Tolkien’s essay “On Fairy Stories,” focusing particularly on the legitimacy of escape as a function of fantasy literature. Tolkien pointed out that “escape” is a positive term in all contexts except literary criticism, which points to a problem with the critics’ use of the word. The guys also get into discussions of the metaphysics of fantasy building off of Tolkien’s comments in the essay.
The Slavery Show
October 18, 2021 09:00 - 1 hour - 139 MBEvidence indicates that slavery was a universal institution. It was practiced on every inhabited continent. It isn’t a particularly western institution at all. What has been peculiar to the West is the effort to abolish it. That effort has been largely successful when it comes to legislation—nevertheless slavery is still with us. Why is that? What are the conditions in which slavery spontaneously emerges, and how can a culture address those? And what is it about Christianity that got the eff...
Technology, Wisdom, and Virtue
October 11, 2021 09:00 - 1 hour - 139 MBTom returns to the big topic of technology and addresses the rapid changes to our conceptions and interactions with its impingement upon reality. Glenn and Chris jump into the topic with Tom by supplying various insights into how the riches of Christian wisdom and virtue provide a path through the thickets of changes which allows us to use and relate wisely to the increasing impingement of technology in all aspects of our lives.
Pilgrimage
October 04, 2021 09:00 - 59 minutes - 95.4 MBThis week, the guys discuss pilgrimage. Glenn summarizes the early history of pilgrimage, noting both the practice and the arguments against it even in the early church. From there, the guys discuss more of the history of pilgrimage and talk about whether there are “thin places” made somehow holy by long centuries of prayer, or alternatively, made evil by great evil done in them in the past.
The Soul of Man Under Socialism
September 27, 2021 09:00 - 1 hour - 97.2 MBToday Chris introduces the guys to Christopher Lasch and a chapter in his book, The Revolt of the Elites and the Betrayal of Democracy. The chapter is, The Soul of Man Under Secularism. In the chapter Lasch riffs on Oscar Wilde’s, The Soul of Man Under Socialism. Wilde believed that Socialism would free people from the responsibilities of property and manual labor so that they could pursue the development of “personality”. If that sounds self-indulgent and unrealistic, that’s because it is. ...
Magic, Enchantment, and Worldview
September 20, 2021 10:00 - 1 hour - 87.1 MBIn today’s show Tom introduces themes from Paul Tyson’s book - 7 Brief Lessons in Magic. In the book, Paul defines classical ways of seeing reality beyond the reductive naturalism of our modern way of thinking. Unpacking these classical ways, Paul engages magic and enchantment, and the ways in which they related to meaning, value, and other realities which modern reductionism cannot make intelligible within the narrow confines of its worldview. Glenn and Chris join in with various aspects of...
The Philosophy of the Vampire
September 13, 2021 08:00 - 1 hour - 89.3 MBWith Halloween merch already showing up in stores, it’s a good time to do a Pug take on vampires, so this week, the Pugsters riff off an article by John Schuler looking at the implicit philosophical ideas in Bram Stoker’s Dracula. They start off with a discussion of the difference between modernity and the “old centuries” before moving on to scientism, the nature of evil, natural and artificial symbols (in Schuler’s terms), meaning, natural law and the supernatural, and a bunch of other rabb...
Welcome to the Metaverse!
September 06, 2021 09:00 - 1 hour - 84.8 MBToday Chris introduces the "Metaverse"--what's that? you may ask. According to Wikipedia it is: "...the sum of all virtual worlds, augmented reality, and the Internet." Or as Robin Phillips in a recent blog post at Salvo put it, "Imagine that the relationship between the real world and the internet becomes so porous that it is impossible to tell which is which." Regardless of whether or not the masters of the universe in Silicon Valley can pull it off, the very idea that something that furth...
Sophistry Past and Present
August 30, 2021 15:42 - 1 hour - 90.4 MBTom introduces a classic debate between Truth, reality, and language and the removal of language from truth and reality (sophistry). He engages the ancient debate and sees similarities between it and today's deconstructive tendencies and political use of language to manipulate people. Chris and Glenn bring into the conversation many insights which help illuminate the sinister aspects of sophistry and their ever present danger in undermining the relation of truth and language. Learn more abo...
The Rise and Fall of Heroes
August 23, 2021 09:00 - 1 hour - 83.8 MBThis week, the guys look at the idea of heroes. Back in Homer’s day, “hero” was almost synonymous with the heavily armed and armored warriors that were the subjects of the Iliad, and not just the big names like Odysseus, Achilles, or Ajax. They exemplified the warrior virtues: prowess, toughness, courage, loyalty, and honor, understood as recognition and deference by others. The Middle Ages saw a major change in this largely under the influence of Christianity: humility, generosity, protecti...
Darwinian Conservatism?
August 16, 2021 08:00 - 1 hour - 85.1 MBIn today's show Chris presents an article that was published by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI), entitled, Darwinian Conservatism Versus Metaphysical Conservatism. The article is something of a departure for ISI, but it addresses a significant debate within conservative circles--can Darwin's evolutionary theories be used to support conservative social ethics, and conservative politics. The author, Larry Arnhart, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Northern Illinois Univers...
Meaning in History: Part Three
August 09, 2021 09:00 - 1 hour - 83.3 MBHow emancipatory views of history draw upon yet distort Christian views of teleology in history. The guys discuss Hegel, Marx, Wokeness, liberation theology and more.
The Rise of Biblical Criticism
August 02, 2021 09:00 - 1 hour - 82.7 MBThe guys are back in the seventeenth century again, looking at the beginnings of challenges to biblical authority. Progressive thinkers of the day starting with the Jewish philosopher Spinoza attacked Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch as a way of undermining orthodox Christianity: since Jesus referred to Moses as the human author of the Law, if Moses didn’t write it, then either Jesus lied or he didn’t know. Either answer would challenge the idea that he was God incarnate. After discussing...
Is Politics Everything?
July 26, 2021 09:00 - 1 hour - 83.4 MBYou may have heard feminists say, “The personal is political”—but are they right? Is the relationship between a mother and her child really a political relationship—or is it something else? In today’s show the guys discuss what else relationships like this could be. The term that they use is “pre-political”. Along the way the guys discuss the Kuyperian doctrine of “sphere sovereignty” as well as the Roman Catholic social doctrine of “subsidiarity” among other things. Enjoy!
Meaning in History: Part Two
July 19, 2021 09:00 - 1 hour - 89.6 MBIn this episode Tom returns to the topic of Meaning in History (a three show aim) by looking at ways Modernity rejected classical Christian understanding of history and meaning and developed alternatives which borrowed from Christianity while introducing radical alternative notions which still impact us today, often unwittingly. This show has the guys discussing Vico and Herder, along with many other important themes.
Guilds, Craftsmanship, and Excellence
July 12, 2021 10:00 - 1 hour - 88 MBJumping off another suggested topic from our faithful listeners, the Pugsters talk about the medieval guild system. The guilds were a way to protect customers and, with export goods, the reputation of the city by guaranteeing the quality of products. They also guaranteed a level playing field for producers. Along with their economic role, the guilds performed social and spiritual functions, with the process of mastering your craft seen as a metaphor for the process of spiritual growth. Glenn...
Ideologies That Are Out to Get Your Family
July 05, 2021 09:00 - 1 hour - 91.9 MBToday Chris introduces listeners to Political Scientist, Scott Yenor’s new book, The Recovery of Family Life: Exposing the Limits of Modern Ideologies. Just what is an ideology anyway? Is it merely a philosophy in different clothes? Listen in and find out why it isn’t.
Meaning in History
June 28, 2021 10:00 - 1 hour - 89 MBThis week the guys discuss how many contemporary views of history assume or draw upon aspects of Christian historical understanding, inadvertently borrowing its teleological character, even when they undermine other essential aspects of it. Christian faith altered conceptions of history and brought to the fore a notion of history as being meaningful and being directed towards culminating purposes. Secular emancipatory views which see history as progressing toward justice, or utopia, are exam...
Aesthetics: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
June 21, 2021 10:00 - 1 hour - 86.2 MBWorking from the articles in the link, the Pugsters talk about aesthetics—the philosophical field focused on questions of beauty and taste. Rather than beauty being purely in the eye of the beholder, the guys agree that beauty is objective and rooted in the transcendence of God. And that means that there is a right and wrong way to respond to beauty or the lack thereof. In this way, aesthetics is a moral issue. From there, the Pugsters explore a variety of ways that beauty is defiled, whethe...
Aesthetics: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
June 21, 2021 10:00 - 1 hour - 86.2 MBWorking from the articles in the link, the Pugsters talk about aesthetics—the philosophical field focused on questions of beauty and taste. Rather than beauty being purely in the eye of the beholder, the guys agree that beauty is objective and rooted in the transcendence of God. And that means that there is a right and wrong way to respond to beauty or the lack thereof. In this way, aesthetics is a moral issue. From there, the Pugsters explore a variety of ways that beauty is defiled, whethe...
You're Special, Just Like Everyone Else!
June 14, 2021 10:00 - 1 hour - 90.6 MBIn our time everyone is obligated to create an identity for himself. We're supposed to "self-create"--making ourselves into works of art that are utterly original, you know, like snow flakes. So why is it that people increasingly think alike and are so fearful of disapproval? In today's show the guys discuss the paradoxical relationship between mimesis (mimicry) and poesis (creation, or making). They arrive at the conclusion that only people who have mastered skills through mimesis are capab...
Restoring the Transcendent Frame
June 07, 2021 11:00 - 1 hour - 84.3 MBIn this episode, the guys engage with fresh insights the contemporary vision of reality, human nature and purposes as they are understood from a radically immanent, materialist frame. After noting how Christian themes are often ripped from their transcendent frame and redefined with an immanent one, the pugsters evaluate not only the problems and limits of such a move but also ways in which the rich transcendental vision of Christianity has become almost foreign in this over familiar materia...
Revelation, Reason, and Romanticism
May 31, 2021 10:00 - 1 hour - 92.5 MBThe Pugsters return to a topic they’ve touched on before: the problems with the Enlightenment. Glenn starts off with a summary of changing ideas of authority, focusing on the transition from Reason and Revelation to Reason over Revelation to Reason without Revelation. That gets the guys into the Enlightenment, autonomous reason, and some of the problems associated with it. Glenn then looks at Romanticism as a reaction against the Enlightenment and other stress points in the period, noting bo...
It's a Mystery! Can Every Mystery be Solved?
May 24, 2021 10:00 - 1 hour - 92 MBIn today's episode Chris introduces the subject of mystery and the ways modern people and ancient people used the term--surprise, surprise, they didn't mean the same thing--at times, they even mean things that contradict each other. Chris also delves into the way in the modern outlook in general can mystify people and keep them from seeing the truth of things; he uses Carl Trueman's new book as a good use of reason to demystify modern ways of thinking.
Soul Sickness and Society: Plato and Christ: Part Two
May 17, 2021 10:00 - 1 hour - 84.6 MBThe guys finish unpacking the discussion of Plato from Ed Feser's article Woke Ideology is a Psychological Disorder. After noting how Plato understands the sick society, where democracy as a social disorder leads to tyranny, the guys engage Plato's insights, noting positives and yet critiquing the limits of Plato's vision in light of the the riches of the Christian understanding of the virtue. The aim is to retrieve the riches of Christian moral reflection as it engaged classic visions of mo...
Soul Sickness and Society, Part One: Plato and Christ
May 10, 2021 10:00 - 1 hour - 91.7 MBIn today’s episode the guys unpack Plato's understanding of human psychology and social order. They note his positive insights as well as limits as they set forth fuller Christian insights into the ways in which improper ordering of our desires tends toward destructive political orderings. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-theology-pugcast/support
Soul Sickness and Society: Plato and Christ: Part One
May 10, 2021 10:00 - 1 hour - 91.7 MBIn today’s episode the guys unpack Plato's understanding of human psychology and social order. They note his positive insights as well as limits as they set forth fuller Christian insights into the ways in which improper ordering of our desires tends toward destructive political orderings.
Warriors in the Garden: Martial Virtues and the Christian Man
May 03, 2021 09:00 - 1 hour - 69.6 MBToday the Pugcast is joined by Nate Spearing, highly decorated combat veteran with 14 years and 12 deployments in Army Special Operations. Nathan has a broad range of experiences domestically and overseas and has spent his entire professional life walking out a theology of violence as a Christian in war. Nate was homeschooled, and today is the father of five children. Along with his wife, they are educating their children at home. Since leaving the military in 2016, Nathan has started sev...
Heiser’s Unseen Realm
April 26, 2021 10:00 - 1 hour - 163 MBThis week, the Pugsters look at some of the themes in Michael Heiser’s books dealing with the worldview of the biblical authors. Glenn leads the discussion, which revolves around two big ideas: the idea of a heavenly court, with angelic beings having authority over areas such as nations; and the account of the Nephilim in Genesis. For the latter, Heiser uses 1 Enoch, a document that shaped much of the Jewish worldview at the time of the New Testament and had a direct influence on 2 Peter and...
The Hermeneutic of Suspicion
April 19, 2021 10:00 - 58 minutes - 133 MBIn today’s show Chris introduces a term coined by the French intellectual, Paul Ricouer—the hermeneutic of suspicion. In the 19th century, theorists including Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud promoted the idea that rationality was nothing more than rationalization. Beneath the surface of any argument was something selfish and irrational. They believed that interpretation should begin with suspicion. One of the bitter fruits of this approach is the shift from persuasion through argument to identify...
The Return of the Metanarrative?!
April 12, 2021 10:00 - 1 hour - 149 MBEarly postmodern promoters argued that the end of metanarratives like Christianity and the Enlightenment would lead to a peaceful plurality of group narratives, without the aim of any to dominate. This would lead to an end of oppressive worldviews with totalitarian aims. But mutations in postmodern thinking, those connected with Critical Theory, have taken a totalitarian turn, positing new absolutes along with a dominating aim. Tom leads the topic and Chris and Glenn contribute much to the d...
The Irish Saints: Redeemed Paganism
April 05, 2021 10:00 - 1 hour - 147 MBIn an earlier episode, the Pugsters talked about Tolkien’s ideas of the value of pagan myth and the need to Christianize it. In this episode, Glenn picks up on that and applies it not to mythology but to culture, specifically, the religion of pre-Christian Ireland and what happened when it was Christianized. In pagan Ireland, the Druids were walking encyclopedias of everything related to the culture—religion, rituals, magic, law, history, music, …. When Ireland converted to Christianity, the...
Individualisms: Which Sort of Individual are You?
March 29, 2021 10:00 - 1 hour - 154 MBIn today's show, Chris introduces an important study of individualism that was published back in 1985 by Robert Bellah and a team of sociologists, entitled: Habits of the Heart--Individualism and Commitment in American Life". A best-seller at the time, the book is almost forgotten today, which is a shame since the world we live in is the world they warned us about and hoped we'd avoid. The team, through field research identified four forms individualism can take in the American tradition--tw...
Christianity’s Favorite Beverage?!
March 22, 2021 10:00 - 1 hour - 154 MBCelebratory fun highlights this Pugcast. As the gang records on St Patrick’s day, Tom thought it would be great to share in the celebrations by highlighting some fun-filled facts from Stephen Mansfield’s book In Search for God and Guinness. The book is far more than a story of the relation of Christianity and the Guinness family and beer. It also covers the long history of beer and the divine, and the way in which Christianity transformed and renewed the relation, as can be seen by the devou...
Sanctifying Myth
March 15, 2021 10:00 - 1 hour - 144 MBWorking off the introduction to Bradley Birzer’s J.R.R. Tolkien’s Sanctifying Myth, the Pugsters talk about Tolkien, Lewis, and Chesterton and their ideas about myth and faerie. Tolkien believed that just like pagan philosophers grasped truths that were most perfectly expressed in the Gospel, the stories of myth and faerie were bits of “splintered light” that pointed beyond themselves to deeper reality. For Tolkien, pagan myths presented an almost sacramental vision of the world, though the ...
Esoteric and Exoteric Teachings
March 08, 2021 11:00 - 1 hour - 146 MBToday the guys discuss the vexed topic of esoteric teaching and interpretation. Esoteric teaching is teaching intended to sort people into two groups--those who understand and those who do not. Why would anyone want to do that? Isn't that elitist? Isn't it undemocratic? Well, yes, it is those things--and Jesus undeniably spoke esoterically when he told parables--he said so in Matthew 13:10-17. The problem of esoteric teaching leads to a free-ranging conversation in which the guys get into wh...
Why Have So Many In the World Gone Seemingly Mad?
March 01, 2021 11:00 - 1 hour - 142 MBIn this show, Tom addresses a listeners question with reflections from past shows as well as recent insights. Tom looks at various realities, forces, and trends that have led culture to the present moment of sweeping madness. Chris and Glenn penetrate the topic with perspicacity and wisdom. René Girard shows up in the conversation, adding a fascinating gloss to the topic.
Barometers and Worldview
February 22, 2021 11:00 - 1 hour - 140 MBGlenn introduces concepts from medieval epistemology (i.e. the branch of philosophy dealing with knowledge and truth) and how these got challenged in the sixteenth and seventeenth century, particularly through the recovery of the ideas of the ancient Greek skeptic Pyrrho. After a foray into Descartes, who tried to answer Pyrrho, we look at Blaise Pascal, the father of probability theory. Pascal used a barometer to short-circuit Pyrrho’s approach and in the process laid the foundation for a n...
Morgoth's Ring!
February 15, 2021 11:00 - 1 hour - 157 MBLittle by little, the notes and reflections of J. R. R. Tolkien have been published posthumously by his son, Christopher. Among the many volumes is the Tenth Volume in The History of Middle-Earth, entitled Morgoth's Ring. The book contains many of Tolkien's reflections on the nature of evil, mortality, and the eschatology of Middle-Earth. Among the gems is the publication of the conversation between Finrod (an Elf-Lord, the Eldar) and Andreth (a wise-woman from among the Edain--aka men). The...
Jonathan Edwards and War
February 08, 2021 11:00 - 1 hour - 151 MBThis week the Pugsters are joined by Jonathan Edwards scholar Dr. Christian Cuthbert to discuss his research at Yale on the preaching of Jonathan Edwards on the subject of warfare. In the 18th century the Connecticut River Valley was on the frontier. It wasn't unusual for Native American warrior bands to attack colonial villages--add to this the rival claims of the French and English powers in the New World and war wasn't merely a matter of debate regarding the justness of a conflict half-wa...
Contrasting Cultures: One Which Affirms and Celebrates Life, One That Centralizes Death
February 01, 2021 11:00 - 1 hour - 143 MBTom introduces two contrasting cultures by talking about the Gospel and its role in shaping a culture of life. He then draws off of Benjamin Wiker's book 'Architects of the Culture of Death'. The leads into one of the core figures discussed in the book, the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer and his contribution to nihilism and pessimism. Chris and Glenn add substantive insights and reflections throughout the discussion.
Science, Art, and Worldview
January 25, 2021 11:00 - 58 minutes - 133 MBGlenn, our intrepid historian, takes us back to the twelfth century to show how a new worldview developed that shaped how we study the natural world (i.e. what we call “science” but they called “natural philosophy” or “natural theology”) and changed the aesthetics of the era, leading both to early empiricism and to realism in art. Chris and Tom move the conversation into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and the undoing of the medieval ideas Glenn had explained. The nineteenth century s...
Social Darwinism: The Legacy of Darwinism for Culture and Politics
January 18, 2021 11:00 - 1 hour - 140 MBWhen the legacy of Charles Darwin is considered discussion generally focuses on the his account of human origins and whether or not evolution is a "blind watchmaker". But Darwin's influence has bled over into ethics, politics, philosophy, and other facets of human culture. Today the Pugsters discuss his broader legacy and how that influence can be resisted. As an added bonus, Chris recommends Thomas Hooker Brewing Company! https://hookerbeer.com/
Athens and Jerusalem
January 11, 2021 11:00 - 1 hour - 143 MBIn today’s show the Pugsters explore Christianity’s relationship with Classical Culture and Tom explains the impact of von Harnack’s incorrect thesis, which placed the two in opposition. The guys then explore contemporary examples of the problematic application of von Harnack in theology and the Christian life.
The Via Positiva and the Via Negativa: The Positive and Negative Ways of Doing Theology
January 04, 2021 11:00 - 1 hour - 159 MBGlenn introduces us to the medieval distinction between the Via Positiva, an approach to thinking about God that emphasizes the things we can affirm about God, and the Via Negativa, an approach that focuses on the limitations of finite creatures to understand the infinite Creator. In general, Western Christianity has put more emphasis on the Via Positiva, also known as Kataphatic theology, while Eastern Orthodox Christianity has emphasized the Via Negativa, or Apophatic theology. Chris point...
Ecology and the Libel of Christianity: The Legacy of Lynn White Jr.
December 28, 2020 10:00 - 1 hour - 168 MBWhile many apologists for the Christian faith have focused on defending the intellectual integrity of Christianity's factual claims, for example historicity of the resurrection of Jesus, over the last 100 years opponents of the faith have criticized the moral legacy of the faith. One of the most potent has been that Christianity has contributed to the degradation of the ecosystem. Perhaps the most significant article published in the last 50 years or so has been Lynn White, Jr.'s The Histori...
Imperturbable Joy
December 21, 2020 11:00 - 1 hour - 146 MBTom engages the timely topic of Christian Joy in the light of Christmas. Beginning with the Good News of great joy announced to the shepherds from the heavenly hosts, Tom turns to discuss the Christian notion of Joy. What is it? What is its significant to life and flourishing? What is its place in Christian existence? Chris and Glenn bring fascinating reflections into the discussion. C. S. Lewis shows up in the conversation with his rich and penetrating contemplations on the topic. Overall, ...