The Christian Humanist Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Episode 108: Millennials Aug 29, 2013

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Nathan Gilmour moderates a conversation with Michial Farmer and Danny Anderson on the hot topic of socilogical "generations" and specifically the character of Generation Y or the Millennials. Discussing technological changes that drive such "generation gap" moments as the present one, the trio takes on Rachel Held Evans's recent column about Millennials leaving the church by doing what Christian Humanists do so well, situating it in a larger historical frame. Among the texts, generations, and other realities discussed are J.D. Salinger, Saul Bellow, Alice Walker, Generation X, Generation Y, the generation gap, and Russell Moore.

Episode 107: Middle Ages 101 Jul 25, 2013

Show notes

Michial Farmer moderates a conversation with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour on the middle ages, those thousand years in western Europe that gave us scholastic theology, nominalist philosophy, and so many bad stereotypes that they're not worth listing here. Focusing on the historian's task of saying something about the period without saying too much, the trio bring forth some of the great intellectual, poetic, and cultural developments that arise in the shadow of the Roman Empire. Among the texts and other realities discussed are Confessio Amantis, Canterbury Tales, Song of Roland, Islam, homo viator, and the concept of an intellectual system.

Episode 106: Witches May 14, 2013

Show notes

David Grubbs conducts a conversation with Nathan Gilmour and Michial Farmer regarding witches, from the ancient Near East all the way up to Broadway musicals. As figures of darkness and danger, witches occupy particular places in the worlds of Egyptian, Roman, medieval Christian, and modern mythologies, and their recent appropriation as figures of heroic resistance makes them even mroe fascinating. Among the texts, witches, and other realities discussed are Medea, Apuleius, the necromancer at Endor, Macbeth, Goethe's Faust, The Crucible, Disney's Cinderella, and the Wizard of Oz.

Episode 105: On the Freedom of a Christian Apr 30, 2013

Show notes

Nathan Gilmour, Michial Farmer, and David Grubbs chat a spell about "On the Freedom of a Christian," one of Martin Luther's famous 1520 theological treatises. Addressing the central questions of faith and works, the trio digs into the visions of anthropology, interpretations of Scripture, and the ethical innovations that make the text so interesting. Among the other realities discussed in this episode are faith, ritual, rhetoric, Pope Leo, Dante, and the nature of goodness.

Episode 104: Intellectuals Apr 23, 2013

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Michial Farmer holds forth with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour on the subject of intellectuals. Starting with some historical and lexical discussions of waht an intellectual means as opposed to a philosopher, an academic, a scholar, or a scientist, the trio focuses in on the public intellectual and specifically the Christian public intellectual as a particular character in the story of the life of the mind. Among the texts, intellectuals, and other realities on the table are Augustine, Byron, "The Twilight of the Intellectuals," N.T. Wright, Garry Wills, George Will, David Brooks, and Cornelius van Til.

Episode 103: Edgar Allen Poe Apr 16, 2013

Show notes

David Grubbs moderates a conversation with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about Edgar Allen Poe. Exploring popular questions of authors' biography and literary/entertainment celebrity culture, the trio appreciates some of the genuine craft in his short stories, clucks our tongues at his genuinely insufferable verse, and otherwise takes on one of the strange characters of American literature. Among the texts and other realities discussed are "The Raven," "Cask of Amontillado," the Dupin stories, "The Bells," and the 19th-century magazine scene.

Episode 102: Elijah Apr 09, 2013

Show notes

Nathan Gilmour moderates a conversation with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about Elijah, the Biblical prophet whose main narratives happen in 1 Kings. Touching on some of the best-known episodes and exploring the literary character of those episodes (and why they're better stories than the children's Sunday school versions would let on), the trio wraps up with a discussion of modern uses of the adjective "prophetic." Among the stories and other realities engaged are the etymology of "Elijah," the Mount Carmel episode, the Still Small Voice, John the Baptist, and the Transfiguration.

Episode 101: Modernism Apr 02, 2013

Show notes

Michial Farmer talks with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about Modernism, the moment in 20th-century art, music, philosophy, and literature that is at once a call to "make it new" and a return to some of the forms that the Romantics abandoned. Among the artists, artifacts, and other realities discussed are Futurism, T.S. Eliot, James Joyce, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Picasso, Dali, and Le Corbusier.

Episode 100: Doxology Mar 26, 2013

Show notes

David Grubbs talks with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about doxology as a musical and literary genre as well as doxology as a philosophical and theological move. As a nod to "The Old Hundredth," the tune of a common doxology hymn, the trio find something to say about each line as praise relates to the enterprise of doing the Christian Humanist Podcast. Among the questions and other realities addressed are the history and etymology of doxology, relationships between 21st-century Christian intellectuals and those who have gone before, what it means to praise Father and Son and Holy Ghost, and what's best in the podcasting life. (Conan?)

Episode 99: Online Education Mar 19, 2013

Show notes

Nathan Gilmour talks with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs on the topic of online education and its worth (or worthlessness) for liberal arts education. Starting with its roots in correspondence courses, the trio takes on the classroom experiences that the online course tries to emulate and transcend, some of the limitations inherent to online education and some arising out of current practice, and the recent craze over MOOCs. Among the ohter realities we take on are the status differences among college degrees, the potential for abuse in all sorts of college settings, and the demographics of college.

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