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StocktonAfterClass — Science
StocktonAfterClass

Ron Stockton was a professor of political science at the University of Michigan-Dearborn for 48 years. His specialty was non-western politics and political change. He taught classes on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Religion and Politics, the Politics of Revolution, Non-Western politics, and American politics. He also taught in the Honors Program, focusing upon foundational readings from the 18th and 19th centuries. He has an interest in religion and politics and in the role of religio-ethnic groups in the political system. The listener can anticipate talks on Arab-Americans, Jews, African-Americans, the Scots-Irish, and Evangelicals. He has lectured and written on American politics, public opinion, and voting behavior and on the role of religious organizations and ideologies in the political system. There will be occasional discussions of books and films that address serious issues. And he has lectured and published and even taught a class on gravestones, especially those of different ethnic and religious groups such as Muslims, African-Americans, Jews, and Native Americans. The goal of the podcast series is to provide analysis and commentary by a political scientist to explain and make accessible political, historical, and cultural developments in the United States and around the world, and to give the listener analytical tools to understand those developments. It is also to entertain the listener.

Copyright: © 2021 StocktonAfterClass

Latest Episodes:

Background to Islam: Not What You Think. May 07, 2022

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This is a multi-part lecture I delivered to students in my class on Religion and Politics. This focuses on the context within which Islam emerged. There is an earlier talk on the Satanic Verses if you are interested.
As I would always do, I asked students for reactions to these lectures Here is what they said.
Many of you were very surprised to learn about the story of revelation and the origin of the Koran.

Regarding the idea of not showing images of Mohammed, there are images of him as a young boy circulating in the Islamic world. But they are before he became a prophet. Hence no problem.

You liked the idea that all prophets were flawed and that all resisted the idea of their prophethood lest they were promoting their unworthy selves and were misunderstanding God’s intentions.

Several of you were struck with the fact that there were 360 Gods in the pantheon. You said you realized the significance of that number from the numerology lecture even before I discussed it. Bravo to you.

Regarding the fact that Islam just means to submit to God’s will some wondered why people were not just called Believers. Interesting point. The original Christians were called followers of The Way, i.e., the example of Jesus. Ironically, that is what the term Sunnah means, the examples or ways of the Prophet.

Several were surprised at the countries where Muslims live. You thought Arabs and Muslims were the same. The fact that there are more Muslims in the US than in Lebanon was a surprise.

Only one person thought Mohammed was considered a God
You were surprised that Mecca was a cosmopolitan city, not a desert. (But dry by Michigan standards).

You were surprised that although Islamic rule was spread by conquest, the Islamic religion was not.

You liked the list of false understandings about the origins and nature of Islam. It is called “unlearning.”

Jinn was a new and interesting concept to you. Local people have stories about a Jinn in the house who rattle around and wakes people at night. Two local guys put up a big billboard in East Dearborn a few years ago advertising themselves as “Jinn Busters.” Is your marriage in trouble? Do you have low self-esteem? Lost your job? A Jinn did it. We can help. (I am not sure they are still in business).

Question: If you are not physically able to fast do you still have to? The answer is no. There are waivers for such people, including pregnant or menstruating women, the ill, soldiers in combat, etc.

Did I tell you the story of my exchange on a pastor’s discussion group? I mentioned the Satanic Verses and said I wished we knew there were three Satanic Verses in the Bible. One person said if this were true, he would renounce his religion because if any part of it is false, then all is false. (Note: This is called Idolatry with a Book). Another said he agreed. Then we would have to examine each verse within the context of an overall divine plan to make sure we were not being deceived by Satan. Hmm.

Some of you may want to read something on this topic. British writer Karen Armstrong wrote a very readable biography of Mohammed. I like that she used primary sources.

Some of you wished you could talk to Muslims. If you seek a beautiful opportunity, look about you. (Note: That is a paraphrase of the Michigan state motto). The people in this class are very friendly and thoughtful. They might also like to talk to you.

Liberation Theology: How Individuals became radicalized. The cases of Archbishop Romero and Che Guevara Apr 24, 2022

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We often assume that radicalism emerges from radical texts. Someone reads the text and becomes a radical. But sometimes it grows from experience and the fact that a efforts at moderate reform are blocked by resistant forces.

Liberation Theology: The Political Background in Latin America, especially the role of US involvement in radicalizing the region. Apr 24, 2022

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This is part I of a two part talk. Part I deals with the political background to Liberation Theology, especially the role of US involvement in Central America as a radicalizing force.
Part II deals with stories about people, particularly Archbishop Romero, who was assassinated during mass, and Che Guevara, and how they were transformed by circumstances from moderates to radicals.

Legendary Dearborn Mayor Orville Hubbard: Controversial, destructive, creative, racist. Apr 14, 2022

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Orville Hubbard: His Life and Career

This is based on a zoom talk I did with Community Conversations, a social activist group associated with Littlefield Presbyterian Church of Dearborn, Michigan in May of 2021. It is a broad discussion of the life and career of Orville Hubbard, for 36 years the creative but extremely controversial mayor of Dearborn. I think Hubbard was one of the most unique political figures in 20th century America.

Because the audience had many Dearborn people, they were good at asking questions based on their experiences. I knew several of these people so we had brief exchanges of greetings. I edited those out. If you notice a jump, that may be the reason.

David Good wrote the definitive biography of Orville Hubbard, based partially on extensive interviews with the mayor. His book is Orvie: The Dictator of Dearborn. Thanks, Dave. I borrowed some of your anecdotes for this talk.

In the two thousand and tens, the issue of statues became a central battle ground in the struggle over racism. Why were there so many statues of people who had devoted their military careers to destroying the union and perpetuating slavery? And why was there a statue of Orville Hubbard in front of the city hall? I discuss my own evolving thinking on this issue, and the controversy over the Hubbard statue.

For a thoughtful discussion of statues Mitch Landrieu is a good source. He was the mayor of New Orleans. He had a statue of Robert E. Lee in the middle of his town square. Given that Robert E. Lee had never visited New Orleans it was not clear why the statue was there. Its presence also caused some distress to Black residents. Landrieu wrote a thoughtful book, In the shadow of Statues, describing the controversy over those statues and how he managed to remove it.

Terms used: Southend (a small, isolated neighborhood in Dearborn near the enormous Ford Rouge Plant; the Ambassador Bridge connects Detroit with Windsor, Canada; Camp Dearborn is about 40 miles west of Dearborn. Dearborn people go there in the summer.

Note that there is another Hubbard podcast focusing on an interview with him and on his reputation as America’s “Meanest Man” in race relations.

The music TakingStock was written by G. Kevin Dewey. Thanks, Kevin.

Populorum Progressio. A papal encyclical renouncing the International Imperialism of Money; declaring that property ownership is not inviolate, and questioning whether free trade is consistent with Christian principles. . Mar 30, 2022

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Populorum Progressio, Pope Paul VI, 1967

This was a class lecture, delivered in late 2020. (Sorry for the occasional distractions) It focuses upon one of the most significant of the papal encyclicals, one that engaged the concept of liberation theology. Paul VI considered himself a Third World Pope, someone whose responsibilities stretched far beyond the Catholic world.

This is an extremely deep, very intellectual encyclical. It would be good if you would download the encyclical and have it in front of you as a reference as you listen.
If we use the word “radical” to mean “going to the roots of a problem” then this document is radical. It is also very sympathetic to the uprisings in Central America at the time.

Pay special attention to the Three New Teachings, i.e., things the pope is saying that pushes church teachings beyond what it had been before.

This was released in 1967 on Easter weekend. The pope read it to an assembled crowd of cardinals and other church leaders.

If you have listened to the podcast on Rerum Novarum, these two go together well, but are quite different.

Some terms you will encounter

Just War

St. Thomas, St. Augustine

Colonialism and imperialism

Finance capital, the international imperialism of money, economic dictatorship

Liberalism as an ideology of capitalism

Two Realms/ Two Plains

Ecclesiastical

Vocation

Humanae Vitae, an encyclical

Natural law

Just wage and just trade agreements

Is Anti-Zionism a form of Anti-Semitism? And what do those terms mean anyway? Mar 18, 2022

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Back in 2019 I was asked by the Jewish News of Detroit to write some thoughts on whether Anti-Zionism was a form of Anti-Semitism. President Macron of France had said that it was. This was an allegation often used to attack and possibly discredit critics of Israel.
But what do those terms even mean? My approach as a professor is to make sure there are clear definitions of controversial terms before we can discuss the topic. My draft essay (which the Jewish News chose NOT to publish) took that approach. I suspect for some people clarification is not a friendly act.
By the way, there are two terms that often converge but are quite different. I did not separate them sufficiently in my talk, and these are two terms that DO require clarification. Deicide is the belief that "the Jews" were collectively responsible for the execution of Jesus and that the responsibility for that crime rests upon the Jewish people today. The Catholic Church renounced this view during the Vatican II conference (on which there is a separate podcast). The Blood Libel is the belief that Jews require the blood of a Christian child for their religious rituals. When Israel is accused of being indifferent to human life in their bombing campaigns, or of being guilty of war crimes, their defenders often say these criticisms are a blood libel. Ariel Sharon used this term when he defended himself from accusations that he was involved in the Sabra and Shatilla massacres. There is also a podcast on this topic (The Kahan Commission Report).
I hope you find these reflections interesting

Liberation Theology: Peruvian Theologian Gustavo Gutierrez and the Social Factor Mar 10, 2022

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This was a class lecture. It discusses Father Gustavo Gutierrez and the concept of liberation theology. Most theology comes down from above, from theologians, from universities, from popes. Liberation Theology grows from the bottom up. The structure of society is essential to understanding this way of thinking. Injustice, inequality, historic structures dating back to colonial times hundreds of years ago.
There will be several lectures in this series. For those wanting to understand a different way of thinking about theology, this series is not only fascinating but extremely informative (if I do say so myself).

The Ukraine War of 2022: More Nuance and Insight than the News Feb 24, 2022

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Background to the Ukraine War of 2022

Back in 2008 there was a crisis in Ukraine. It led to the separation of two regions from Ukraine, and the Russian annexation of the Crimean peninsula. I convened a Faculty Forum on the event, asking my knowledgeable colleagues to help us understand the issues. I delivered some thoughts of my own on the American role and the American interests. This talk is based on my comments at the time, and how they relate to what is happening now. There is also updating to the current situation.

I wrote this podcast on February 23, 2022 in the afternoon. My plan was to record and post it later that evening, but events intervened. By the time I was ready to follow through, the Russian military had initiated its attack on Ukraine. I added a few supplementary comments the morning of February 24 as the world was trying to figure out what was going on. I posted on Facebook a simple statement: “Now we understand how the world felt when we invaded Iraq.”

Two glitches

First, there was a lack of clarity at the point when I explained that NATO was founded with an anti-Russian clause in it but this clause had now been removed. It sounded as if I had said “Not removed.”

Second, twice I mention the wonderful journal Foreign Affairs, but called it Foreign Policy. Foreign Policy is also a good journal but it is not the same as Foreign Affairs.

Some names:

Adam Rapacki

Yanukovich

Zelinski

Samuel Huntington

George F. Kennan

General Giap

John Mearsheimer

Some Terms or places

Maiden Square

Donets, Luhansk, Donbas

Abkhazia and South Osettia

Kiev

Curious Factoid: Maiden Square in Kiev uses a borrowed word from Arabic. Maiden is the same as Medina, the important place in western Saudi Arabia. Medina means city.

Liberation Theology: Some Theological Themes Feb 21, 2022

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Liberation Theology was strong in the 1960s and 1970s and 1980s. It was mostly Catholic, and was concentrated in Latin America, but there were variants of it in South Africa and in the American Black Community, especially in the Detroit area. James C. Cone is a name that stands out. Those interested in an excellent discussion might look at Faith in the City by Angela D. Dillard.
I read extensively in this topic and even met some liberation theologians. This is my summary of their major teachings and themes.
This is Part I of a two part presentation. The next podcast will focus upon Populorum Progressio (The Progress of People), the astonishing 1987 encyclical by Paul VI.
This was a class zoom lecture during the pandemic. Welcome to class.

Valentine's Day: A Mushy Three Minute Love Story Feb 13, 2022

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This is for lovers, for aspiring lovers, and for those who (to quote an old song) gambled for love in the moonlight, but lost.
And if you want a longer love story, check out When Ron Met Jane, an earlier podcast.

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