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The Overthinkers — Leisure
The Overthinkers

A place to have fun thinking deeply! Every week, the hosts of The Overthinkers pose a question having to do with art, faith, philosophy, psychology, literature, pop culture, creativity, and more—then attempt to answer it with the help of New York Times bestselling authors, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists, Oscar-winning Hollywood directors/actors, Grammy-winning musicians, esteemed academics, prolific professors, and many more influential and intriguing guests. This is a place where you can both think well and laugh loudly. All are welcome, so put your thinking caps and your laughing socks on and come on in!

Copyright: © Copyright 2020 All rights reserved.

Latest Episodes:

Why Do We Need Religious Movies? (With Spencer Folmar) Mar 03, 2025

Show notes

Why are there so few religious movies when the majority of the world is religious? Joseph Holmes and Nathan Clarkson welcome back filmmaker Spencer Folmar to discuss.

85.6% of world’s population is religious. 31.6% of world’s population are Christians (majority religion); unaffiliated 14.4%: https://www.statista.com/statistics/374704/share-of-global-population-by-religion/#:~:text=In%202022%2C%20around%2031.6%20percent,of%20global%20populations%20as%20Hindu.

America’s religious/secular demographics: https://news.gallup.com/poll/511133/identify-religious-spiritual.aspx

Atheists 7% of World Population: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-secular-life/201510/how-many-atheists-are-there

History of faith and Hollywood:

https://www.njarts.net/hollywood-rarely-shows-much-faith-in-films-with-prominent-religious-themes/

https://faithlifetv.com/reel-redemption

Objections to Hollywood’s portrayal of Muslims:

https://variety.com/2022/film/news/usc-annenberg-inclusion-initiative-muslim-representation-study-1235362804/

Blesses

Calvary

First Reformed

House of David

Curses

Interstellar

Anora

Mother Teresa & Me

Bless/Curse

Conclave

First Reformed

Websites

Spencer Folmar: hardfaith.org

Overthinkers: theoverthinkersjournal.world

Nathan Clarkson: nathanclarkson.me

Joseph Holmes: josephholmesstudios.com

What's Wrong with Modern Dating? Feb 23, 2025

Show notes

Nobody likes modern dating. But why is it so hard? Joseph Holmes and Nathan Clarkson discuss.

Pew research on modern dating: https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/08/20/nearly-half-of-u-s-adults-say-dating-has-gotten-harder-for-most-people-in-the-last-10-years/

Why Does Modern Dating Suck? https://www.vice.com/en/article/why-dating-sucks-we-asked-experts/

Majority want to get married: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/02/15/among-young-adults-without-children-men-are-more-likely-than-women-to-say-they-want-to-be-parents-someday/#:~:text=Among%20adults%20ages%2018%20to,they%20want%20to%20get%20married.

Global marriage rates dropping/women’s higher standards and men’s dropping performance: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/02/america-marriage-decline/681518/

Lack of church attendance driving singleness: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/04/happiness-recession-causing-sex-depression/586405/

Consumer mentality driving bad dating: https://www.freyaindia.co.uk/p/why-is-modern-dating-so-difficult

Why it’s hard to build community today: https://anunexpectedjournal.com/the-real-reason-you-dont-have-friends-and-how-to-fix-it/

Lies Hollywood teaches us about relationships: https://religionunplugged.com/news/2023/11/5/how-the-sexual-revolution-killed-the-hollywood-rom-com

Bless

500 Days of Summer

Curse

The Idea of You

Bless/Curse

How I Met Your Mother

Websites

The Overthinkers: theoverthinkersjournal.world

Nathan Clarkson: nathanclarkson.me

Joseph Holmes: josephholmesstudios.com

How Does Trauma Affect Our Relationships? (With Tabitha Panariso) Feb 16, 2025

Show notes

How does the experience of hardship in our past affect our ability to have healthy relationships now? Joseph Holmes and Nathan Clarkson discuss with author and licensed counselor Tabitha Panariso to discuss.
Referenced resources

Definition of trauma: https://www.apa.org/topics/trauma#:~:text=Trauma%20is%20an%20emotional%20response,from%20Recovering%20emotionally%20from%20disaster
Attachment Theory: https://labs.psychology.illinois.edu/~rcfraley/attachment.htm

Millennials “reverse cognitive behavior therapy”: https://www.afterbabel.com/p/mental-health-liberal-girls

Gen Z’s “fear of taking part”: https://www.afterbabel.com/p/what-happened-to-fomo

Blesses

Scott Pilgrim vs the World (Movie)

The Fighter
Severance
Curses
Manchester By the Sea

Hollywood
Bless/Curse
Marriage Story
Websites
The Overthinkers: theoverthinkersjournal.world
Nathan Clarkson: nathanclarkson.me
Joseph Holmes: josephholmesstudios.com
Tabitha Panariso: https://substack.com/@tabithapanariso

Will Men and Women Ever Get Along? (With Annie Crawford) Feb 09, 2025

Show notes

Men and women have been involved in a "battle of the sexes" throughout history. What is the source of this conflict, and how do we solve it? We bring on cultural apologist Annie Crawford to discuss.

Growing Gender Divide: https://www.axios.com/2024/09/28/young-men-women-divided-politics-religion

Blesses
The Essential Difference (Book)
Much Ado About Nothing (Play/Kenneth Branagh Movie)
A Guide to Sex in the 21st Century (Books)
Mr. and Mrs. Smith (Movie)
CS Lewis's Ransom Trilogy (Books)
Pride and Prejudice (Book)
Curses
Men (Movie)
Playboy Magazine
The Quiet Man (Movie)
Battle of the Sex (Movie)
Anything that has to do with Andrew Tate
Websites
Overthinkers: theoverthinkersjournal.world
Nathan Clarkson: nathanclarkson.me
Joseph Holmes: josephholmesstudios.com
Annie Crawford: anniecrawford.net

Are Romance Movies and Books Bad for You? (With Keelia Clarkson) Feb 03, 2025

Show notes

The romance genre may be the most popular genre in the world. But is it harmful for us? Does it create unrealistic and harmful expectations? Nathan Clarkson and Joseph Holmes bring on author, actress and podcast host Keelia Clarkson to get some answers.
Links to sources

Popularity of the romance genre: https://www.snhu.edu/about-us/newsroom/liberal-arts/misconceptions-about-the-romance-genre

Popularity of Hallmark movies/problems with romance movies: https://olemiss.edu/news/2024/07/romantic-movies-perception/index.html

Popularity of Bridgerton: https://deadline.com/2024/07/bridgerton-season-3-netflix-most-popular-list-shonda-rhimes-1235999509/

People claim they don’t negatively compare their partners unlesss relationship “already rocky”:

https://www.latimes.com/health/la-xpm-2011-jul-07-la-heb-romance-novels-women-health-20110707-story.html

https://www.npr.org/2011/07/07/137675779/romance-fiction-and-womens-health-a-dose-of-skepticism

People who watch romance movies report greater relationship satisfaction: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/nurturing-resilience/202302/does-watching-romantic-movies-help-your-love-life-flourish

Defending romance novels: https://www.vulture.com/2019/02/why-you-should-be-reading-romance-novels.html

Why people love romances: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/love-them-or-leave-them/202406/this-is-your-brain-on-bridgerton

How the sexual revolution killed the hollywood rom com/how sleeping around to find true love doesn’t work: https://religionunplugged.com/news/2023/11/5/how-the-sexual-revolution-killed-the-hollywood-rom-com

Blesses

The Vow
Meet Cute

Five Feet Apart
Curses

Anyone But You

All Fours

An Affair to Remember
Websites
The Overthinkers: theoverthinkersjournal.world
Nathan Clarkson: nathanclarkson.me
Joseph Holmes: josephholmesstudios.com
Keelia Clarkson: wallflowerjournal.com

Is Anyone Beyond Redemption? Jan 26, 2025

Show notes

In honor of co-host Nathan Clarkson's new Western movie "Bright Sky", Nathan and Joseph discuss whether anyone is beyond redemption, and what that means.

Links to sources cited:

Summary of Thomas Aquinas’s Compilation of Answers to What is Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit (including St. Augustine): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf8pin8x71Y

Psychologists emphasize the capacity to grow and change: https://psychcentral.com/blog/can-people-really-change#can-you-change-habits

Views of personality and neuroplasticity: https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/behavior/can-people-change-or-do-they-just-lie/

The “Beyond Redemption” narrative trope: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BeyondRedemption

The “Moral Event Horizon” which establishes a character as beyond moral redemption: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MoralEventHorizon

People who never change: https://medium.com/@justsomewriter/im-starting-to-truly-think-some-people-are-truly-beyond-saving-5379208baa06

US Office of Justice Programs - Some people are beyond modern science’s ability to rehabilitate: https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/can-everyone-be-rehabilitated#:~:text=There%20are%20persons%20beyond%20the,and%20deranged%20habits%20of%20gratification.

Criticism of abandoning rehabilitation efforts: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3762476/#:~:text=However%2C%20to%20the%20shock%20of,why%20this%20shift%20took%20place.

Blesses:

Red Dead Redemption 1 + 2 (Video Games)

Redeeming Love (Book)

Unforgiven (Movie)
Curses:
Yellowstone (TV Show)

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (Movie)
Websites
The Overthinkers
theoverthinkersjournal.world
Nathan Clarkson:
nathanclarkson.me
Joseph Holmes
josepholmesstudios.com

How Do We Know Our Calling? (With Dr. William Klein) Jan 20, 2025

Show notes

How do we know our calling in life? Nathan Clarkson and Joseph Holmes talk to Biblical scholar Dr. William Klein on the history of the word "calling" and how we might be all--religious and non-religious alike--using the word wrong.
Links to resources mentioned:

Calling Definition: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/calling

More definitions of “calling”: https://www.christianitytoday.com/partners/nav-press/what-is-calling/

Forbes 20 Ways to Find Your Calling: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jessicahagy/2012/06/26/20-ways-to-find-your-calling/

Desire for calling: https://www.letu.edu/alumni/identify-your-calling.html

Oprah “Are You Listening to Your Life?”: https://www.oprah.com/omagazine/what-are-you-meant-to-be-doing-find-your-calling

“It’s Never Too Late to Find Your Calling”: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/fulfillment-at-any-age/202401/its-never-too-late-to-find-your-calling

Desiring God - How to Discern God’s Call: https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/how-do-i-know-gods-calling-for-my-life

Relevant Magazine - “Is This My Calling or Just Something I Enjoy?”: https://relevantmagazine.com/life5/how-to-know-if-your-calling-is-really-from-god/

Academic perspectives on calling: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00187267221095759#bibr24-00187267221095759

Blesses

Hero of a Thousand Faces (Book)

Hero on a Mission (Book)

Sound of Hope (Movie)

Deadpool & Wolverine (Movie)

The Shock of Faith (Article)

Curses

Don’t Waste Your Life (Book)

The Hill (Movie)

Wish (Movie)

The Call (Book)
Websites
Overthinkers: theoverthinkersjournal.world
Nathan Clarkson: nathanclarkson.me
Joseph Holmes: josepholmesstudios.com
Will Klein: https://denverseminary.edu/directory/klein-phd-william/

Should We Read the Classics? (With Faith Moore) Jan 13, 2025

Show notes

Many of us find it hard to read classic literature. But is there value in it worth pushing through anyway? Joseph Holmes and Nathan Clarkson welcome author and podcast host of "Storytime for Grownups" Faith Moore to discuss how she grew to love great old books.

Educators find decline in reading classic literature in 70s: https://www.nytimes.com/1977/05/29/archives/decline-in-reading-of-the-classics-in-public-schools-causes-concern.html

Decline in reading from 1982 to 2002: https://www.arts.gov/sites/default/files/RaRExec_0.pdf

Literature Humanities Professors find fewer read classics in 2020s: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/11/the-elite-college-students-who-cant-read-books/679945/

Why teachers should assign more contemporary books: https://bookriot.com/assign-more-contemporary-books/

Why we focus too much on classics: https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2016/jul/13/stop-pushing-the-same-classic-books-on-children-and-trust-modern-writing

Blesses:

Penguin Classic

Picture of Dorian Gr

Anxious People

Great Expectations

David Copperfield

Jane Eyre (2006 TV Miniseries)

Curses:

Wuthering Heights

We Have Always Lived in a Castle

The Divine Comedy

The Madwoman in the Attic
Websites:
Overthinkers: theoverthinkersjournal.com
Nathan Clarkson: nathanclarkson.me
Joseph Holmes: josepholmesstudios.com
Faith Moore: faithkmoore.com

How Do You Raise a Unique Child? (With Sally Clarkson) Jan 05, 2025

Show notes

How do you raise children to value their uniqueness while also growing in maturity? Sally Clarkson returns to the show to discuss with Joseph Holmes and Nathan Clarkson the new book by Sally and Nathan: "Uniquely You"

Discrimination against left-handed people: https://www.press.jhu.edu/newsroom/stuttering-and-retraining-left-handed-children-mid-century-us#:~:text=By%20the%20second%20decade%20of%20the%20twentieth,retraining%20left%2Dhanders%20had%20negative%20consequences%2C%20especially%20stuttering.&text=Terman%20(1877%2D1956)%20concluded%20that%20a%20third%20to,attempts%20to%20transform%20left%2Dhanded%20children%20into%20right%2Dhanders.

Howard Gardener's Multiple Intelligences: https://www.niu.edu/citl/resources/guides/instructional-guide/gardners-theory-of-multiple-intelligences.shtml

Mental illness vs neurodiversity debate: https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/mental-disorder-or-neurodiversity
"Gentle Parenting" creates unhappy children: https://ifstudies.org/blog/do-your-political-beliefs-affect-your-parenting-
Blesses:

Finding Forrester (Movie)
A Wrinkle in Time (Book)

Anne of Green Gables (Book)

Curses:

A Wrinkle in Time (Movie)

Anti-Family Trends in Pixar Films (Movie)

Websites:
Nathan Clarkson: nathanclarkson.me
Joseph Holmes: josephholmesstudios.com
Sally Clarkson: sallyclarkson.com

Buy "Uniquely You" today: https://www.amazon.com/Uniquely-You-Exploring-Extraordinarily-Distinctive/dp/0802432786/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.FLcU4czIiBsDVW0-BpzfHq3dMhqKT9xdOS7adg1hFrVBwKbNFU303KovJtg_yaYhaHXp8OeXQ9FovH4JL_HdY8IkLJ5kIUGRiHccIXp0L3rMwN3ZroPoO7r0AhYIMfM2DsIz3LIU7UsJejV-zAC-nWCV4nSEE7tPq2oenPkJ9DWVwl6P364nvIjha3VvZCPK0oHEtGjRNtFQJh2Zi-KVcG_j2-xi2rLbGfYC-FDg_jU.Pi6PI6MI84yTG4gWtYRCTE_TobJhNqyCjBhcSXIE0Xs&dib_tag=se&keywords=uniquely+you&qid=1736131771&sr=8-1

How Do We Follow Through on Our Goals? Dec 29, 2024

Show notes

In the first Overthinkers episode of the new season, Joseph Holmes and Nathan Clarkson discuss how to follow through on our goals. Studies show that most people who set goals in the new year don't follow through on them. How do you become the exception? Well, there's studies on that too! Joseph and Nathan go through some of the best strategies on the internet--and their own experience--to help set us all off on the right foot in the new year.
Podcast Sources:

Only 8 percent of adults achieve their goals: https://summer.harvard.edu/blog/how-high-school-students-can-set-and-accomplish-their-goals/#:~:text=But%20a%20recent%20survey%20by,the%20best%20versions%20of%20ourselves.

Only 6.5 percent of adults were still trying for their goals after 6 months: https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/new-study-shows-only-6-of-people-achieve-their-goals-and-reveals-their-secret-formula-1032687000

Less than half of Americans were very satisfied with their lives: https://www.newsweek.com/americans-are-less-satisfied-their-lives-1868560

Arthur Brooks on healthy vs unhealthy goal setting: https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2021/03/how-follow-your-dreams-and-get-happier/618384/?fbclid=IwY2xjawGz3wBleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHdBtSJE1sCkpBIWT2jx47PxvsuteMDLMii2pVMQWWr1GLvABLiQ2q_y3uw_aem_BL6ZVahAoLk4Im8SvCoB1A

Rising rates of depression: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/our-changing-culture/201510/are-mental-health-issues-the-rise

Blesses and Curses:

Bless
Subliminal - Book
Transformers One - Movie

Curse

The Law of Attraction - Book

Reagan - Movie
Blink Twice - Movie

Websites:
Nathan Clarkson: nathanclarkson.me
Joseph Holmes: josephholmesstudios.com

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