Virtue In The Wasteland Podcast

Jenn Koiter shares her poetry with us as we discuss her nonprofit work in India, the value of poetry, the problems of poverty tourism and cultural appropriation, suffering, sex trafficking in Asia, Zen, and why one might stick with their Western spiritual heritage through it all.  We did not censor this episode, though even grandma should find it tame overall.  This is episode 106.     virtueinthewasteland.com  

Lending with interest in European history, Adam Smith, social ethics, borrowing, debt, greed, and cash societies.  The song we play at the break is "Gimme Some Money" by the spoof band Spinal Tap.

Shūsaku Endō, his Tanizaki Prize winning novel Silence, when mentors disappoint you, Jesuits, the Catholic mission to Japan in the early modern era, Francis Xavier, Martin Scorsesse, Pure Land Buddhism, Jodo Shu, Jodo Shinshu, faith, doubt, martyrdom, and the silence of God in the midst of suffering and abandonment.  We won't give any spoilers till after the music break.  Check out other wasteland companions if you dig this sort of thing.

What is anti-wisdom?  What is it's purpose?  How does it inform our spirituality, emotions, ethics, and philosophy?  Job and Ecclesiastes are examples in the Hebrew Bible.  They deal with themes that assist us during times when conventional wisdom can't help us.  

We discuss the recent film by James Franco and Seth Rogan, its cultural effects, and its international implications.  We discuss the difficulty of liking things on facebook that have ideological baggage.  We share our new year's resolutions for each other. Episode 102

Shelley, Thoreau, Ferguson, the police, the law, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, ideology, Žižek, and our post-Christmas depression.  

For our hundredth episode, we discuss the sociology and cultural implications of Christmas traditions in the west.  Joining us are Faithful Mask Fellows, Dr. Koenig (a sociologist) and Dr. Armstrong (a classics scholar and occasional pulpit jockey).  This one gets a bit giddy and a tad out of hand, since we recorded at the end of a semester and were celebrating the fact that we hit 100.  

This isn't your normal self-help conversation.  Dr. Lu is brutally honest.  He is all about research and not so much of the fluff.  But we can learn some things about parenting, continuous improvement, setting realistic and motivating goals, and letting go of our egos.

We run down the top 10 christmas films, what they say about our culture, and the message they have for us about life together, overcoming the grinches in our world and virtue. We definitely will hit on It's A Wonderful Life and Christmas Vacation.  Will your favorite make the list?  Will Charlie Brown?

The pagan roots of Christmas and other reflections on the greatest holiday around.

Philosopher of science Dr. Angus Menuge joins us to talk about the vocation of a scientist, especially that of a scientist who is also religious.  Prof. Dan Deen (Concordia University, Irvine), another philosopher of science is along for the expedition.  We talk about new atheism, virtue, epistemology, science, biology, physics, paradigms, theories, and Motörhead (that's right).  Dr. Menuge is professor of philosophy at Concordia University Wisconsin and is the president of the Evangelical Philosophical Society. His research interests include philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, apologetics, and C. S. Lewis. He earned his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a Diploma in Christian Apologetics from the International Academy of Apologetics, Evangelism and Human Rights, Strasbourg. He is editor of C. S. Lewis: Lightbearer in the Shadowlands, Christ and Culture in Dialogue, Reading God's World and of Legitimizing Human Rights (forthcoming). He is author of Agents Under Fire: Mat

We talk NFL, explain why we've been wrestling with immigration, share some stories about our week, and end by applying philosopher of science, Ian Barbour's four transparadigmatic criteria to NFL viewing and other indulgences. Just Dan and Jeff between classes.  Enjoy the expedition.

In anticipation of President Obama's executive action related to immigration and Central American Child Refugees, Joe Laughon of Café Con Leche Republicans returns to the show to discuss the controversial idea of opening the US borders.  Is it possible that it is in our economic and moral interest to do so?  What about communism and radical Islam?  What about drugs?  What about the burden of social service resources?  Come with an open mind and feel free to disagree and remain friends with our show.  Whatever your political position, undocumented (aka illegal) immigrants (aka aliens) are human beings, so we need to consider a virtuous response to our current crisis.

Survivor of the Rwandan genocide of 1994, Alex Nsengimana tells of his experiences during the bloodshed, from the vantage point of the capital city.  He also shares his story of transformation and hope.  He currently works with Operation Christmas Child, a project of Samaritan's Purse.

While Dan is out speaking at the Teigen Reformation Lectures, classicist and biblical scholar, Dr. C. J. Armstrong sits down with Jeff to trace the theme of the hero's journey to the underworld and back.  What does it look like?  Can we fight against death.  Why does the Apostle's Creed say that Jesus descended into hell?  Listen in and find out.

Our second spooktacular. This is a show about stuff you should be more afraid of than you are.  Dan shares the biggest fears of friends and experts. Jeff shares his recipe for a mini-bug-out-bag, should the apocalypse arise.  Dr. CJ Armstrong joins the wasteland gents at the end to bring a word of comfort in the face of fear and death.  Jeff reads a moving passage from Peter Berger's book A Rumor of Angels.

We mail it in.  We were going to a basketball game, so why not?  We talk about mailing it in. If you find the audio quality distracting, come back next week, when we'll be back in studio.  

Tucker Kaas, from Kaas Tailored (kaastailored.com) talks about quality, ethical business practices, beauty, reduction of waste, kai zen, continuous improvement, vocation, Design on Stock, and the good life.

Rapture culture rapping with Dr. Amy Frykholm, writer for and associate editor with the Christian Century, and author of Rapture Culture, Julian of Norwich: A Contemplative Biography,  and See Me Naked: Stories of Sexual Exile in American Christianity. We talk about Nicolas Cage, dispensationalism, the rapture, eschatology, the recent film adaption of the books, the way gender plays into the book series, American religion, popcorn, paper planes, and happiness.  We had a lot of fun with this one.

We explore the nature and history of evil regimes, their ability to kill people on large scales, and how to oppose such things with Marc Thomas Voss, a historian and German language instructor, who is completing his doctoral work on this topic in Germany.  Hitler, Stalin, Polpot, oh my.   Bonus b-sides are shows where we go deep into content with a professor or a professional in some specialized field.