The Christian Humanist Podcast

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Episode 28: Kings Sep 21, 2010

Show notes

Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about kings, kingship, and resistance to monarchy in selected spots in history. We range from King David to Richard Petty, and we manage to get Jesus in there along the way as well. Among the texts, authors, and kings discussed are 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 Chronicles, the Iliad, the gospel according to St. Matthew, Beowulf, Charlemagne, and Elvis Presley.

Episode 27: Superheroes Sep 14, 2010

Show notes

David Grubbs moderates a discussion with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about the superhero, its literary antecedents, and some of its postmodern outgrowths. We go all the way from demigods and cowboys to Watchmen and Incredibles. Among the authors, texts, and heroes discussed are Homer, Gilgamesh, James Fennimore Cooper, John Wayne, Superman, Batman, the X-Men, the Incredibles, Kurt Vonnegut, and Alan Moore.

Episode 26: Friendship Sep 07, 2010

Show notes

Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about the practice of friendship, its development from Biblical and Homeric times to modern Facebook "friends," and detours along the way. In addition the discussion ranges from modern short-sightedness regarding friendship and an attempt at a Christian theology of friendship. Among the texts and authors we discuss are Homer, 1 Samuel, Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, Cicero, the Inklings, The Lord of the Rings, Sherlock Holmes and James Watson, Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, Martin Buber, and all sorts of others. We covered a bunch of text this episode.

Episode 25: Plato Aug 31, 2010

Show notes

Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about the Athenian philosopher Plato, the content of his philosophy, and his continuing influence for good and for ill in the Christian era. Along the way we dig into questions of the goodness of creation, the relationships between critical and laudatory versions of great individuals' stories, and how to live with teh ancients. Among the texts and authors we discuss are Plato's Republic, Euthyphro, Apology, Timaeus, and the Laws; C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia; E. Abbot's Flatland, and Allan Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind.

Episode 24: A Second Start Aug 24, 2010

Show notes

David Grubbs moderates a discussion with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about the history of the podcast, our reasons for continuing the podcast, and what's in store for this year. Among the authors, podcasts, and texts we discuss are the Scriptorium Daily, CWC the Radio Show, John Calvin, and our own podcast.

Episode 23: Fandom and Fanaticism Jul 28, 2010

Show notes

Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with David Grubbs, Nathan Gilmour, and special guest host Victoria Farmer on what it means to be a fan, distinctions between partisan fandom and expert fandom, fan fiction, and other fantastic things. Among the texts and authors we discuss are Hanson, Tolkien, King's X, Foucault, Hegel, and Shakespeare.

Episode 22.1: Science Jun 23, 2010

Show notes

Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion with Michial Farmer and special guest host Dan Dawson on science and faith, faith and science, history and all of the above, and what exactly tornadoes are. Discussions range from the historical illiteracy of the new atheists to the fear and ignorance that humanities types sometimes exhibit towards the laboratory. Among the texts and authors discussed are Carl Sagan, C.P. Snow, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allen Poe, Herman Melville, Averroes, Aristotle, and Sir Isaac Newton.

Episode 22: Stage Comedy May 20, 2010

Show notes

Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion with Michial Farmer, David Grubbs, and special guest host Ryan Gilmour on stage comedy and its televised descendants. We talk about medieval roots, Renaissance developments, American Vaudeville influences, and a whole mess about Saturday Night Live. We get to the improv, the standup, the sitcom, and all sorts of groovy things. Among the texts and comedy acts discussed are Beowulf, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Dave Chappelle, Richard Pryor, George Carlin, Saturday Night Live, and Second City.

Episode 21: Literary Criticism Apr 28, 2010

Show notes

Michial Farmer moderates a discussion of literary criticism's roots, its character as distinctive from Literary Theory, and the place of criticism in teaching and in the creation of artistic works. Along the way the discussion deals with the material conditions that lead to contemporary literary criticism, the movements against which it has tended to react, and its promise for better reading. Among the authors and texts discussed are J.R.R. Tolkien, Cleanth Brooks, John Updike, Sir Philip Sidney, John Milton, and William Wordsworth.

Episode 20: Judas Apr 21, 2010

Show notes

Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion about Judas, the betrayer of Jesus, and his literary life and afterlife. Along the way the Humanists discuss controversial questions such as the nature of the gospels, the relationship between history and literature, and things that make a crucifixion scene worthy of meditation or of scorn. Among the texts, authors, and movies discussed this week are Genesis, Matthew, John, the York Mystery Plays, Dante, The Last Temptation of Christ, the Passion of the Christ, Countee Cullen, and Frederick Buechener.

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