The Christian Humanist Podcast

Episode 106: Witches

Tuesday, 14 May 2013 06:13:56 -0400

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

Tuesday, 30 April 2013 06:13:56 -0400

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

Tuesday, 23 April 2013 06:13:56 -0400

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

Tuesday, 16 April 2013 06:13:56 -0400

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

Tuesday, 9 April 2013 06:13:56 -0400

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

Tuesday, 2 April 2013 06:13:56 -0400

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

Tuesday, 26 March 2013 06:13:56 -0400

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

Tuesday, 19 March 2013 06:13:56 -0400

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.

Episode 98: Ode on a Grecian Urn

Tuesday, 12 March 2013 06:13:56 -0400

Michial Farmer converses with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about John Keats's poem "Ode on a Grecian Urn." After some conversation about the formal innovations of this and other Keats odes, the crew digs into the strong Platonic strains of the poem, its place in the larger phenomenon called "Romanticism," and the poem's particular ideology of art and life. Among the ohter realities we take on are elegiac poetry, ekphrasis, whether the urn ever existed, and the ashtray outside of the University of Georgia English department.

Episode 97: Kubla Khan

Tuesday, 5 March 2013 06:13:56 -0400

David Grubbs holds forth with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about "Kubla Khan" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Coleridge's particular philosophy of poetry comes across strongly in this conversation, as does the history of the poem and especially its larger-than-verse backstory. Among other things we take on the connections between drug abuse, madness, and art; the category "Romantic Poetry;" the ideology of the prophet-poet; and Orientalism as it manifests in "Kubla Khan."

Episode 96: Intimations of Immortality

Tuesday, 19 February 2013 06:13:56 -0400

Nathan Gilmour talks with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about William Wordsworth's poem "Ode: Intimations of Immortality." From its place in the Romantic era to its influence on Latter-Day-Saints theology, our conversation takes on the poem's ideology of childhood and its accompanying passages about the pre-existence of the soul. Among other things we discuss are possible Platonic and Buddhist influences, how Romantic poetry departs from its predecessors and how it doesn't, and the end of childhood.

Episode 95: Platonic Aesthetics

Tuesday, 12 February 2013 06:13:56 -0400

Michial Farmer moderates a conversation with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about Plato's writings on poetry, painting, music, and other kinds of art. Stepping beyond the standard "Plato hates poets" treatment, the trio starts with a conversation about the state of literary, visual, and musical arts in Athens, then enters into a handful of dialogues in which Socrates and his interlocutors make a complex array of assertions about the places of music and poetry and such in the good life. Among the dialogues and other realities discussed are tragedy, comedy, Republic, Phaedrus, Charmides, Symposium, and allegory.

Episode 94: The Forest

Tuesday, 5 February 2013 06:13:56 -0400

David Grubbs moderates a conversation with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about the literature, theology, and other fascinating facets of forests. At the heart of the conversation is the shifting conceptions of the woods, from a place of dread to a place of wonder to a vulnerable place that needs human protection. Among the texts, writers, and other realities discussed are Gilgamesh, 2 Samuel, Dryads, Sir Orfeo, The Faerie Queene, Inferno, Macbeth, Henry David Thoreau, environmentalism, and (of course--Grubbs is back!) Tolkien.

Episode 93.3: Musicals

Tuesday, 29 January 2013 06:13:56 -0400

Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour converse about musicals on the stage and screen. From European roots to the essentially American stage musical and beyond into Disney movie musicals, the conversation explores the philosophies that inform musicals and the places that musical theater has gone with a catchy tune and a quick rhyme. Among the musicals and other realities discussed are Wagner, Gilbert and Sullivan, South Pacific, Oklahoma!, The Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, Evita!, Rent, The Jungle Book, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat.

Episode 93.2: Pragmatism

Tuesday, 22 January 2013 06:13:56 -0400

Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour converse about Pragmatism, a distinctly American philosophical tradition, and its roots in logic, capitalism, and pluralism. Along the way we discuss the three famous figures of early-twentieth-century pragmatism, the postmodern turn that neo-pragmatism takes in the late twentieth century, and the ways in which pragmatism and Christianity exist uneasily but undeniably together in American thought. Among the philosophers and other realities discussed are C.S. Peirce, William James, John Dewey, Richard Rorty, Stanley Fish, and David Bentley Hart.

Episode 93.1: Talking Back to Listeners

Tuesday, 15 January 2013 06:13:56 -0400

Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour respond to some listener feedback from the end of 2012 and the beginning of 2013.

Episode 93: Christmas Specials

Tuesday, 18 December 2012 06:13:56 -0400

Michial Farmer moderates a conversation with David Grubbs, Nathan Gilmour, and special guest hosts Stephen Sandridge and Tim Rhodes (from the Night Cheese podcast) about the television Christmas special. Starting with adaptations of A Christmas Carol and moving through the weirdness of Rankin-Bass, the crossover crew digs into the ways that sentimentality gives way to irony in the course of television's brief Christmas history but never quite overcomes Charlie Brown. Among the television shows and other realities discussed are Mr. Magoo's Christmas, Rudoloph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Alf's Christmas special, and A Claymation Christmas.

Episode 92: Christian Literature

Tuesday, 11 December 2012 06:13:56 -0400

Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about the much-maligned Christian book industry. After a discussion of the Christian bookstore's place in the history of the novel, the trio goes on to take on the apocalyptic thriller and the Christian romance novel, two very popular subsets in the industry, and finishes with some utopian suggestions for the Christian fiction world. Among the books, ideas, and other realities discussed are Janette Oke, Frank Peretti, Tim LaHaye, English department bias, and differences between popular and literary fiction.

Episode 91: Dystopian Fiction

Tuesday, 4 December 2012 06:13:56 -0400

David Grubbs moderates a conversation with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about dystopian fiction, mainly novels. After establishing the relationships between utopian and dystopian texts, the trio digs into the peculiarly modern conditions that yield this postmodern genre, digging into the marks of the really good and the notably bad specimens of dystopia. Among the texts, writers, and other realities discusssed are 1984, Brave New World, The Handmaid's Tale, The Hunger Games, William Gibson's Cyberspace trilogy, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, The Handmaid's Tale, and Atlas Shrugged.

Episode 90: The Crusades

Tuesday, 27 November 2012 06:13:56 -0400

Michial Farmer moderates a conversation with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour on the Crusades, the wars of European Christians against Muslims, Jews, and Eastern Christians in the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries. Starting with the wars that preceded Pope Urban's famous sermon and moving forward through a century and a half, the discussion explores the theological as well as the social realities surrounding the first, third, and children's crusades before discussing the rhetorical character of "Crusades" in twenty-first century Christian discourse.

Episode 89: Flannery O'Connor

Tuesday, 13 November 2012 06:13:56 -0400

Nathan Gilmour moderates a conversation with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about Flannery O'Connor. A favorite of the academy and of Christian readers, O'Connor presents a vision of reality where the spirit and human agency are just as real as social forces, a revolt of sorts against much fiction of the mid-twentieth century. Among the stories and essays discussed are "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," "The Grotesque in Southern Fiction," "Revelation," and "Good Country People."

Episode 88: Sermons

Tuesday, 6 November 2012 06:13:56 -0400

David Grubbs moderates a conversation with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about the history and genre of the sermon. Beginning with Biblical examples and moving into the patristic and medieval periods, the conversation involves both sermon-speakers and sermon-hearers as we discuss what happens when a sermon gets preached. Among the texts, preachers, and other realities discussed are "A Divine and Supernatural Light," John Chrysostom, Launcelot Andrews, revision, and the lectionary.

Episode 87: Death

Tuesday, 30 October 2012 06:13:56 -0400

Michial Farmer moderates a conversation with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about death as a concept, running from Biblical takes on death (there are several) and running from Greco-Roman to existentialist conceptions of human demise, with a significant spell spent on the transition from medieval memento-mori traditions into Enlightenment conceptions of medicine as exclusively the art of staving off death. Among the texts, writers, and other realities discussed are Psalm 90, the death of Bede, the death of Caedmon, Tom Paine's "The Age of Reason," Heidegger's "Being and Time," and Paradise Lost.

Episode 86: Chess

Tuesday, 23 October 2012 06:13:56 -0400

Nathan Gilmour moderates a conversation with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about chess. Long regarded as the mark of an educated person, skill in chess requires, as the Humanists discover, both a strong grasp of mathematical possibilities and a keen awareness of contingency as the character of human reality. Among the texts, artists, and other realities engaged are the Ruy Lopez chess manual, T.S. Eliot, the Hardy Boys, Thomas Middleton, Garry Kasparov, the etymology of "checkmate," and The Wire.

Episode 85: Federalist Papers 67, 69, 74, 77

Tuesday, 16 October 2012 06:13:56 -0400

David Grubbs moderates a conversation with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about some of the Federalist Papers dealing with the presidency. At the heart of the discussion is the gradual evolution of the office in response to technological and other social changes, most notably the rise in the twentieth century of the standing army. Among the writers, texts, and other realities we take on are Alexander Hamilton, Janissaries, standing militaries, the presidential pardon, and Barbary Pirates.

Episode 84: Federalist Papers 52, 54, 62, 66

Tuesday, 9 October 2012 06:13:56 -0400

Michial Farmer moderates a conversation with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about some of the Federalist Papers dealing with the House of Representatives and the Senate. After a discussion of relationships between constitutional and casuistic law, the Humanists delve into the particularly Madisonian character of the bicameral legislature, making sure to praise the Enlightenment and take swipes at current Congressmen along the way. Among the texts and other realities discussed are the Constitution, K Street, the First Amendment, the House, and the Senate.

Episode 83: Federalist Papers 8-10

Tuesday, 2 October 2012 06:13:56 -0400

Nathan Gilmour moderates the first of three conversations with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about the Federalist Papers. Some of the best artifacts of political philosophy from the founding of the republic, this week's newspaper articles dig into questions of standing armies; states' sovereignty and national identity; and the roots and control of political factions. Listen in and hear the Humanists say nice things about the Enlightenment!

Episode 82: The Ocean

Tuesday, 25 September 2012 06:13:56 -0400

David Grubbs moderates a conversation with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about the ocean, the sea, and other large bodies of salty water. Digging into the Greco-Roman and Northern-European etymologies before exploring mythological and other literary representations, the trio talks about teh modern oceanographic picture of things as another, interesting, rhetorical presentation of the same reality. Among the texts, artists, and other realities we discuss are Homer, Hokusai, Moby Dick, Dante, Captains Courageous, Debussy, and the rhetoric of science.

Episode 81: Realism

Tuesday, 18 September 2012 06:13:56 -0400

Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about realism, a term so nebulous that even literary reference books don't like it. In the course of things we talk about medieval and modern connotations of the word as well as how modern realism spans architecture, painting, sculpture, music, fiction, and all sorts of interesting media. Among the texts, artists, and other realities we discuss are Stephen Crane, Manet, Debussy, Ranke, Henry James, and Dreiser.

Episode 80: Pirates

Tuesday, 11 September 2012 06:13:56 -0400

Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about pirates, those maurauding sea-robbers who have been with the human race ever since we figured out to move valuable things across the water. At the core of our discussion is the tension between the free-spirited folk hero most recently celebrated in Jerry Bruckheimer movies and the actual, brutal criminals that history give us. Among the pirates, artifacts, and other matters discussed are Treasure Island, Pirates of the Caribbean, Blackbeard, privateering, Tortuga, and Han Solo.

Episode 79: The Doctor Is In!

Tuesday, 4 September 2012 06:13:56 -0400

David Grubbs moderates a discussion of Dr. Nathan Gilmour's dissertation Ethical Succession, an exploration of theology and literature. We take on the question of literature as theology, ponder whether Nathan was entirely unfair to Luther and Calvin, and talk about the process of writing and defending a doctoral dissertation. Among the writers, texts, and concepts discussed are Spenser, Shakespeare, Milton, The Rape of Lucrece, David Bentley Hart, Plato, Luther, Calvin, and Erasmus.

Episode 78.01: July Apology

Tuesday, 31 July 2012 06:13:56 -0400

Nathan Gilmour hems and haws for eleven minutes, responds to some listener feedback, and otherwise makes a fool of himself. Apologies for the bad sound quality--this didn't go through Michial Farmer.

Episode 78: From Grad Student to Faculty

Tuesday, 26 June 2012 06:13:56 -0400

Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about the transition from being a graduate student to being a faculty member. Drawing on the previous academic year, in which David and Michial joined the ranks of small Christian colleges, the discussion ranges from escaping the departmental "silo" to establishing a persona not as someone who's going to be a professor some day but who is one now. Among the realities discussed are dissertation writing, committee work, teaching loads, becoming a guiding force for an intellectual community, and why David Grubbs has such a cool office.

Episode 77: Great Book, Rotten Movie

Tuesday, 8 May 2012 16:13:56 -0400

Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with Nathan Gilmour and David Grubbs about some really terrible movies that claim to be based on some really good books. After trash-talking some real duds, the trio discusses what it means to appropriate a book for the screen and even some of the films and TV series that do so especially well. Among the films discussed are Beowulf, Branaugh's Hamlet, Troy, Robin Hood, King Arthur, Contact, Bram Stoker's Dracula, and Demi Moore's The Scarlet Letter.

Episode 76.3: Red States and Blue States

Tuesday, 1 May 2012 16:13:56 -0400

Nathan Gilmour and Michial Farmer chat about David Brooks's 2001 essay "One Nation, Slightly Divisible" and the political metaphors of "red" and "blue" America that arose in its wake. At stake in our discussion is the extent to which regional-level sociological analysis emerges from observation and the extent to which it frames observation. Among the texts and other interesting entities discussed are "One Nation, Slightly Divisible," college towns, Mitt Romney, John Kerry, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, and Al Gore. (Wow. We really did get political this time!)

Episode 76.2: The Brothers Karamazov

Tuesday, 24 April 2012 16:13:56 -0400

Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour hold forth abut Fyodor Dostoevsky's grand novel The Brothers Karamazov. We dig into the main characters (and every character is a main character in Dostoevsky), the big questions of atheism and miracles, and the consequences of atheism. Among the scenes, characters, and other artifacts discussed are The Grand Inquisitor, Ivan as Christian Atheist, Alyosha the compelling Christian character, and the devil.

Episode 76.1: The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship

Tuesday, 17 April 2012 16:13:56 -0400

Nathan Gilmour and Michial Farmer hold forth abut George Marsden's 1997 book The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship. The main points of discussion are the extent to which the academy that Marsden saw in 1997 has persisted in the fifteen years since and what has changed; the difficulties of prognosticating change in college; and ways and extents to which Christian scholars are making their mark now. Among the writers and artifacts discussed are George Marsden, James Berlin, digital journals, and the Golden Rule.

Episode 76: Autobiography

Tuesday, 10 April 2012 16:13:56 -0400

Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour (until Gilmour has to leave for a meeting) about the genre autobiography, its roots, and what separates the good ones from the mediocre ones. At stake in our discussion are the problems of presenting one's own self and the narration of interiority, and along the way we also dig into questions of the ways in which memoirs should be true. Among the writers and artifacts discussed are Augustine's Confessions, The Autobiography of Ben Franklin, Jean Jacques Rousseau, A Million Little Pieces, and the difference between autobiography and memoir.

Episode 75: Ante-Dante

Tuesday, 3 April 2012 16:13:56 -0400

David Grubbs moderates a discussion with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about Dante, specifically about some of the background and context that makes Dante a more enjoyable read. We take on the theology, philosophy, poetry, and other influences on the Florentine poet, and we include in the discussion those works after Dante that shed light retrospectively. Among the writers and artifacts discussed are Virgil, Aristotle, St. Thomas, T.S. Eliot, and Hart Crane.

Episode 74: The Documentary Hypothesis

Tuesday, 20 March 2012 16:13:56 -0400

Nathan Gilmour moderates a conversation with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about about the documentary hypothesis, a tool that Bible scholars have used, abused, and disputed for some hundred and thirty years. At stake are the character of Biblical inspiration and the operation of God in the world, and we have a good discussion not only about historical reactions to the theory but also regarding the theological ramifications. Among the writers and artifacts discussed are The Fundamentals, Prolegomenon to the History of Israel, and Biblical Scholarship.

Episode 73: Patience

Tuesday, 13 March 2012 04:13:56 -0400

Michial Farmer moderates a conversation with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about about patience, the length of will that Aristotle linked to anger and Paul to persecution. Perhaps the most troubled of the three virtues that we've discussed so far, much of our conversation has to do with why we always feel the need to apologize for patience. Among the writers and artifacts discussed are Job, Aristotle, the Stoics, Fabius Maximus, Chaucer's Clerk's Tale, and Galatians.

Episode 72: Valor

Tuesday, 6 March 2012 04:13:56 -0400

David Grubbs moderates a conversation with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about about valor or courage, the virtue of responding well in the face of onrushing danger. Beginning with the grammar of the Hebrew stative verb (it's related, we promise), the conversation moves through medieval conceptions and on into the possibility or impossibility of courage in a world of mechanized war and standing armies. Among the writers and artifacts discussed are Joshua (the biblical book), Summa Theologica, Tolkien, Tennyson, Wilfred Owen, Camus, and the Iliad.

Episode 71: Humility

Tuesday, 28 February 2012 04:13:56 -0400

Nathan Gilmour moderates a conversation with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about about humility, that particularly Christian virtue that was a vice to the Greeks and a rot to Nietzsche. The conversation situates medieval conceptions of humility as syntheses of Pauline and Aristotelian teachings and proposes that precisely such a robust medieval moral philosophy stands to correct both the abuses of imposed "humility" and late-modern critiques of the same. Among the texts and thinkers discussed are Philippians, Summa Theologica, Nietzsche's The Antichrist, The Lord of the Rings, Walt Whitman, and Paradise Lost.

Episode 70: Epistemology

Tuesday, 21 February 2012 04:13:56 -0400

Michial Farmer moderates a conversation with David Grubbs and Dr. Nathan Gilmour about epistemology, the philosophical investigation of how we know what we know. A central concern of philosophy since the 17th century and a valid question before that, epistemology comes in a definite range of options. Among the thinkers and ideas discussed are Plato, Thomas Aquinas, Descartes, Locke, Hume, Kant, Hegel, Pierce, Kuhn, and micro-fairies.

Episode 69: Sidekicks

Tuesday, 14 February 2012 04:13:56 -0400

David Grubbs moderates a conversation with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about the hero's companion, a figure known in modern comic books as the sidekick. Whether spurring ancient heroes on to great deeds or providing the reader a surrogate in modern fiction, the sidekick is always good for a helping hand (or, in the case of children's movies, actually to save the day). Among the texts and other artifacts discussed are Beowulf, Gilgamesh, The Iliad, the Lone Ranger, Teen Titans, Huckleberry Finn, and Big Trouble in Little China.

Episode 68: Romanticism

Tuesday, 7 February 2012 04:13:56 -0400

Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about the Romantic movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The strong development of nationalism, a deep love for the imagination, the cult of the artist as solitary individual, and other developments stay with us even today. Among the artists, artifacts, and other stuff discussed are the American and French Revolutions, the Enlightenment, Ralph Waldo Emerson, the Grimm Brothers, Lord Byron, the artist's biography and its importance to the Romantics, and other such things.

Episode 67.2: Good News for Anxious Christians

Tuesday, 31 January 2012 04:13:56 -0400

Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour discuss Phillip Cary's book Good News for Anxious Christians, a popular-press theology book dedicated to countering what Cary calls "The New Evangelicalism." Focusing on their own interactions with high school and college students in the evangelical world, the hosts talk about Cary's particularly timely warnings against moral irresponsibility and the anxiety that comes when consumerism gets together with Christian piety.

Episode 67.1: The Office of Assertion

Tuesday, 24 January 2012 06:13:56 -0400

Nathan Gilmour and Michial Farmer discuss Scott Crider's book The Office of Assertion, a composition textbook rooted in classical rhetorical traditions. Moving freely between their own teaching practices and the differences between classical and contemporary educational theory, the discussion digs into Aristotle's responses to Plato, the Renaissance of classical rhetoric as a response to rhetoric's decline in the academy, and other matters of education and rhetoric.

Episode 67.03: The Best Music of 2011

Tuesday, 3 January 2012 12:13:56 -0400

Michial Farmer gives a rundown of the best music from the year 2011.

Episode 67.02: St. Nicholas at Nicea

Friday, 23 December 2011 17:13:56 -0400

David Grubbs recites the new Christmas classic, the Saint Nicholas Smackdown.

Episode 67.01: Singing Faith

Thursday, 22 December 2011 14:13:56 -0400

Nathan Gilmour preaches a sermon at Athens Christian Church on December 18, 2011 about the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55) and the ways that the songs we sing make the world we inhabit.

Episode 67: A Christmas Carol

Tuesday, 20 December 2011 07:13:56 -0400

Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion on the Christmas classic "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. Along the way the discussion ranges from philosophical and literary backgrounds all the way to whether Dickens is an agent of secularization when it comes to the Christian holiday. Among the writers and ideas discussed are Thomas Malthus, Pliny the Younger, Tiny Tim, Genesis, Christ among the children, and when ghosts started carrying chains around.

Episode 66: Desert Island Books

Tuesday, 13 December 2011 07:13:56 -0400

Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about what books they'd bring with them if they were stranded on a desert island. So that the description doesn't give away the books, this text shall end here.

Episode 65: Academic Conferences

Tuesday, 29 November 2011 17:13:56 -0400

David Grubbs moderates a discussion with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about the world of the academic conference, digging into their antecedents, their peculiarities, and why Gilmour doesn't much like them. The last third of the episode is dedicated to dreaming up better ways to do conferences. Among the ideas, people, and stereotypes we dig into are Plato's Symposium, the Royal Society, the MLA, the blustering pedant, the perpetual sneer, and the academic conference's drinking problem.

Episode 64: Environmentalism

Tuesday, 15 November 2011 17:13:56 -0400

Nathan Gilmour moderates the beginning of a discussion with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer (Gilmour had a meeting to make, so the others finished it up) about environmentalism, Christian responses to the same, literary treatments of the natural world, and other groovy stuff. Among the texts and ideas discussed are Genesis, Romans, Augustine, Leonardo da Vinci, Baruch Spinoza, and naive city-slicker environmentalists.

Episode 63.11: Technical Difficulties

Tuesday, 15 November 2011 17:13:56 -0400

Michial Farmer apologizes for some technical difficulties that have prevented this week's episode from airing and announces some plans for the immediate future.

Episode 63.1: Reality Television

Tuesday, 8 November 2011 17:13:56 -0400

Michial Farmer and Nathan hold forth on Reality Television, demonstrating once more Gilmour's lack of connection with pop culture. We take on the origins in the documentary format, the shift from documentary's high self-regard to reality TV's self-awareness as entertainment, and discuss why it's alright (according to Farmer) to mock a divorce if it's a Kardashian divorce. Among the TV shows, thinkers, and other ideas we take on are An American Family, The Real World, The Weakest Link, The Soup, Survivor, conservative localism, celebrity narcissism, Mythbusters, and Project Runway.

Episode 63: The End of the World as We Read it

Tuesday, 1 November 2011 03:13:56 -0400

David Grubbs moderates a discussion with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about the apocalypse, apocalyptic literature, and otherwise about the end of things. Working our way from Biblical apocalyptic to modern-day end-of-the-world stories, we focus on the assumed philosophies of history that inform each sort of apocalyptic. Among the texts, ideas, and writers we discuss are Revelation, Daniel, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Dante's Purgatory, Shakespeare's Henry V, Walker Percy's Love in the Ruins, and WALL-E.

Episode 62: Aeschylus

Tuesday, 25 October 2011 03:13:56 -0400

Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about the Greek tragedy Prometheus Bound, traditinally attributed to Aeschylus. Prometheus is a character whose career makes sense in the context of Greek henotheism, becomes unintelligible at the height of Christian literary sensibility, and makes a comeback in some interesting ways as modernity overtakes classical Christianity as the dominant intellectual context in literature. Among the texts, writers, and ideas we discuss are Aeschylus, Boethius, Dante, Milton, Shelley, the New Atheism, and Dostoevsky.

Episode 61: Euripides

Tuesday, 18 October 2011 03:13:56 -0400

Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about Athenian tragedian Euripides and two of his plays. Euripides is the "bad boy" among Greek playwrights, and we talk a bit about his strange biography before digging into his horrendous pictures of gods. Among the texts, writers, and ideas we engage are comedians as biographers, deus ex machina, gods as allegories, Platonic and Aristotelian readings of tragedies, and Melville.

Episode 60: Sophocles

Tuesday, 11 October 2011 03:13:56 -0400

David Grubbs moderates a conversation with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about Greek tragedy as a genre and specifically about Sophocles, the most-read artist in the genre. Along the way we focus on the broad range of readings that Sophocles has inspired, all the way from Aristotle to Freud. Among the texts, writers, and ideas we discuss are Oedipus Rex, Antigone, Aristotle's Poetics, Freud's Interpretation of Dreams, Bonhoeffer, and Martin Luther King Jr.

Episode 59: Godwin's Law

Tuesday, 4 October 2011 03:13:56 -0400

Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about Internet discourse, the vices that seem to inhere in Internet exchanges, and why a long online discussion is probably at some point going to involve Hitler. Although technology is always on the table, rhetoric is really the name of the game. Among the writers, ideas, and other bad habits we discuss are psychologizing one's opponent, posting manifestos on Facebook, making people into devils, exhibiting classical virtue in online life, and acknowledging just how wise John Mark Reynolds can be when he gets Platonic on your head.

Episode 58: Christian Right, Christian Left

Tuesday, 27 September 2011 03:13:56 -0400

Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with (Comrade) Nathan Gilmour and (Ayatollah) David Grubbs about the strange relationships between political parties and Christian confession in America. One of the central questions (that we try really hard to answer) is whether and to what extent partisan identity stunts moral reasoning. Among the ideas and phenomena we discuss are the U.S. Constitution, the Abolition movement, the Social Gospel, Focus on the Family, whether or not the current Christian Left deserves that title, and some suggestions for how Christians can relate to political parties.

Episode 57: Libraries

Tuesday, 20 September 2011 05:13:56 -0400

David Grubbs moderates a conversation with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about the history, role, and changing face of libraries. Our conversation involves, among other things, Farmer debunking yet another myth about the American founders and Gilmour telling a story involving Touret's Syndrome and a colostomy bag. Among the writers, libraries, andother interesting bits we discuss are Bede, Ben Franklin, academic databases, public libraries, seminary libraries, and the Internet's relationships with modern libraries.

Episode 56: Civil Wars

Tuesday, 13 September 2011 05:13:56 -0400

nNathan Gilmour moderates a discussion with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about civil wars, starting with the Absalom revolt (which seldom gets called a civil war) and ending with the Sunni/Shi'ite conflicts in Iraq (which erroneously get called civil wars, according to Grubbs). Along the way we wrestle with the tensions between the duty to one's countrymen and dedication to ideas and individuals that characterize each such struggle. Among the wars, people, and other artifacts that we discuss are the Roman Civil War, the English Civil War, the American Civil War, and Hank Williams Secundus.

Episode 55: Enlightenment 101

Tuesday, 6 September 2011 14:13:56 -0400

Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about the fascinating period known as the Enlightenment. Using the theme of compartmentalization, the Humanists attempt to articulate connections between the scientific, philosophical, political, and religious tendencies of thinkers between the late seventeenth and the early nineteenth centuries. Among the texts, ideas, and intellectuals we discuss are Rene Descartes, Blaise Pascal, Adam Smith, David Hume, John Locke, Isaac Newton, Immanuel Kant, Emanuel Swedenborg, and Jonathan Edwards.

Episode 54: The Brains in the Body

Tuesday, 30 August 2011 5:13:56 -0400

David Grubbs moderates a conversation with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about intellectuals within the Church, some of the ways that intellectuals have related to the Church, and some suggestions about how intellectuals might relate to the Church. We take on the advantages and the drawbacks of the monk, the hermit, and the philosopher-king models along the way, and Gilmour manages to alienate church-planters one more time. Among the texts, authors, and ideas discussed are Plato, Milton, Emerson, Pope Gregory the Great, John Calvin, church planting, and congregational life.

Episode 53: Welcome Back!

Tuesday, 23 August 2011 5:13:56 -0400

Nathan Gilmour moderates a conversation with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about... the Christian Humanist Podcast! We recount the roots of the show, the sorts of episodes that we tend to record, and the fights that always seem to show up when people write nice things about our show. Among the ideas and episodes we discuss are the curator episodes, the triptychs, the Christian Humanist Blog, and the future of the project. See www.christianhumanist.org for an index, by episode number, of the shows discussed.

Episode 52: Theological Dramatics

Thursday, 28 July 2011 5:43:56 -0400

Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with Nathan Gilmour and David Grubbs about Nathan's recent book Theological Dramatics: Two Christological Case Studies. Along with some discussions of John Milton's Paradise Regained and Aemelia Lanyer's Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum (the two texts that the book discusses), the conversation ranges into the relationships between poetry, sermon, and criticism; and church and academy. Among the texts, ideas, and writers that we discuss are John Milton, Aemeila Lanyer, the possibility of Christian literary criticism, New Historicism, and Jesus poems.

Episode 51: Archaeology

Friday, 17 June 2011 15:43:56 -0400

David Grubbs and special guest host Luke Chandler moderate a discussion with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour on the topic of archaeology, especially as it concerns the excavation of Biblical sites and the effects that archaeology has had on the ways that Christians read the Bible and think about the lives of our forebears. Among the texts, ideas, and artifacts that we discuss are the Khirbet Qeiyafa site, the practice and disciplines of archaeology, David and Goliath, the Enuma Elish, the Chronicles of Narnia, Augustine, and modern theology.

Episode 50.1: Seven Nation Army

Tue, 21 May 2011 04:43:56 -0400

Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour have some great news. It won't take long--have a listen!

Episode 50: Christian Humanist University

Tue, 10 May 2011 04:43:56 -0400

Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about Christian Humanist University, a Platonic ideal of a college, and what such an ideal might do for the way that we imagine and evaluate real colleges. Among the texts, ideas, and other realities we discuss are core curriculum, the purpose of a university, college athletics, specialization, relationships between college and society, and college architecture.

Episode 49: George Herbert

Tue, 3 May 2011 04:43:56 -0400

Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about the seventeenth-century English poet George Herbert. In addition to readings from three of his poems, the discussion ranges from the nature of devotional poetry to the current MFA culture of active poets. Among the texts and artists we discuss are George Herbert, "The Pulley," "The Collar," "Holy Scriptures I," The Country Parson, and The Temple.

Episode 48: Literary Canons

Tue, 26 April 2011 06:43:56 -0400

David Grubbs moderates a discussion with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about the concept of canon and the ways that it affects the ways that we receive the Bible, teach literature, and otherwise engage important texts. We propose ways to think about the "great books" in our specialty areas and discuss expansions and contractions of the canon. Among the texts, ideas, and writers we engage are the Bible, Beowulf, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Women's Studies, and Derrida.

Episode 47: Travel

Tue, 19 April 2011 05:43:56 -0400

Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about travel, the relationships between home and the road, adn some historical changes in conceptions of travel. Our musings revolve around the imagination of travel, from wilderness wandering to pilgrimage to colonization to vacation. Among the texts, ideas, and historical figures we engage are Deuteronomy, the Vikings, Spring Break, cosmopolitanism on the cheap, truckers, pilgrimage, and Milton.

Episode 46: Cybernetics

Tue, 12 April 2011 05:43:56 -0400

Nathan Gilmour moderates a LONG discussion of cybernetics, those relationships between humanity and technology that define everyday existence. Our conversation ranges from ancient philosophies of technology to movie and comic book bad guys to modern philosophical engagements with the character of technology. Among the artifacts and writers we touch on are Plato, Paul, Edgar Allen Poe, Darth Vader, Captain Hook, Kobo Abe, Neil Postman, Martin Heidegger, and Genesis.

Episode 45: Language Is Sermonic

Tue, 5 April 2011 01:43:56 -0400

David Grubbs moderates a conversation with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about Richard Weaver's essay "Language Is Sermonic." Exploring the particular topoi of rhetorical construction and the philosophy that would elevate rhetoric to a place of prominence among the liberal arts, the Humanists wax analogical and say nice things about teaching composition. Among the texts and other subjects of discussion are "Language Is Sermonic," Richard Weaver, Plato, Thomas Aquinas, and rhetoric.

Episode 44: Richard Weaver and Ultimate Terms

Tue, 29 March 2011 04:43:56 -0400

Michial Farmer moderates a conversation with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about Richard Weaver's essay "Ultimate Terms in Contemporary Rhetoric." The central idea, which the Humanists explore in some detail, is that modern discourse has some peculiarities in terms of our "god terms" and "devil terms" that make dialectic a more important helper to rhetoric than ever. Along the way we discuss Richard Weaver, so-called GI Rhetoric, evangelical devil-terms, and political rhetoric.

Episode 43: Richard Weaver and the Phaedrus

Tue, 22 March 2011 08:43:56 -0400

Nathan Gilmour moderates a conversation with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about Richard Weaver's essay "The Phaedrus and the Nature of Rhetoric." Exploring Weaver's provocative connections between public speech, good and evil, and education, the discussion takes turns into philosophy, education, and all sorts of interesting places. Among the texts and authors we discuss are Richard Weaver, Plato, the Phaedrus, and Derrida.

Episode 42: Asceticism

Tue, 15 March 2011 04:43:56 -0400

David Grubbs moderates a conversation about various forms of Biblical and Christian asceticism, including but not limited to monasticism and mendicant orders. As the topics move from historical era to historical era, our focus returns to the possibility of genuine difference from the world that serves the world in its difference. Among the historical figures and texts discussed are Genesis, Leviticus, Saint Anthony, Saint Francis, Chaucer, Martin Luther, Martin Luther King Jr., Saint Jerome, and Freud.

Episode 41.01: The Christian Humanist Blues

Tue, 8 March 2011 04:43:56 -0400

Nathan Gilmour apologizes for another missed episode and encourages listeners to spread the word about the episodes they have enjoyed.

Episode 41: Carpe Diem

Tue, 1 March 2011 04:43:56 -0400

Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with Nathan Gilmour and David Grubbs about the long legacy of Carpe Diem. We get into the history, ideology, and human condition that makes sense of it, and we offer criticisms along the way. Among the texts, authors, and other artifacts discussed are Horace, Epicurus, Ecclesiastes, Thoreau, Herrick, Marvell, Carmina Burana, Bede, Dead Poets' Society, and Glee! (Yes, Gilmour watches Glee.)

Episode 40.01: Neil Postman Was Right

Tue, 22 February 2011 04:43:56 -0400

Michial Farmer offers an apology for a podcast that never happens. Really the only relevant topic is the widespread Internet outages at UGA last week.

Episode 40: The King James Bible

Tue, 15 February 2011 04:43:56 -0400

Nathan Gilmour moderates a conversation with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about the King James Bible, which has its 400th anniversary this year. From its literary influence to its translation philosophy, our discussion pays homage to one of the true literary monuments of the English language. Among the texts, authors, and topics discussed are the King James Bible (of course), Lord Byron, The Book of Mormon, Walt Whitman, dynamic equivalence, formal equivalence, metaphors in poetry, and 19th-century American religions.

Episode 39: Town and Country

Tue, 8 February 2011 06:43:56 -0400

David Grubbs moderates a conversation with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about the ways that people in different places and moments have distinguished between rural and urban life. The strange relationship between city and countryside has always involved both idealization and demonization, and those dynamics make for some fascinating developments as imperial cities give way to the City of God and eventually become suburbs. Among the texts and authors we discuss are Gilgamesh, Genesis, the Gospels, City of God, the Canterbury Tales, Paradise Lost, Huckleberry Finn, The Great Gatsby, The Return of the King, and Rabbit, Run.

Episode 38: Nationalism

Tue, 1 February 2011 06:43:56 -0400

Michial Farmer moderates a lively discussion with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about the history of national identity, beginning with the Greeks and Romans and finishing up with a discussion of post-9/11 American nationalism. Along the way we talk about the Old Testament's and the New Testament's treatments of nation, some legends and propaganda techniques that grow up around the middle ages and Renaissance, and even a bit about Egypt. Among the authors, texts, and historical moments we discuss are William T. Cavanaugh, C.S. Lewis, Philippians, Geoffrey of Monmouth, the Persian Empire, the Tea Party, and the U.S. Constitution (the document, not the sailing vessel).

Episode 37: The Italian Renaissance

Tue, 24 January 2011 06:43:56 -0400

Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about the Italian Renaissance and the broad spectrum of intellectual and artistic activity that emerges from that period. On the way we focus on the strong continuities between the concrete continuities between this fascinating time and what people in that moment called "the Dark Ages," and that discussion takes us into the realms of sculpture and politics and philosophy as well as poetry. Among the authors, artists, and others discussed are Dante, Petrarch, Machiavelli, Michelangelo, Leonardo, Castiglione, Pico de Mirandola, and the Medicis.

Episode 36.01: Top Songs of 2010

Fri, 31 December 2010 07:43:56 -0400

Michial Farmer discusses the best music releases of 2010 in a solo podcast.

Episode 36: The Incarnation

Tue, 14 December 2010 06:43:56 -0400

David Grubbs moderates a conversation with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about the doctrine of the incarnation and its relationship with Christmas. Although we just scratch the surface of this complex doctrine, it's a surface well worth scratching. Among the artifacts and artificers we discuss are Arius, St. Nicholas, Isaiah, Zeus myths, the gospels of Matthew and Luke, Christmas carols, John Milton, and Stevie Wonder.

Episode 35: Christian Rock

Tue, 7 December 2010 06:43:56 -0400

Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about the history, character, and aims of Christian rock and its later Contemporary Christian Music counterparts. Along the way we talk about the history of musical production, and David sees his normal continuity and Nathan insists on historical difference. Among the musicians, historical phenomena, and texts we discuss are Larry Norman, the Jesus Movement, Second Chapter of Acts, Steve Taylor, Audio Adrenaline, Mercy Me, and niche marketing.

Episode 34: The Faerie Queene

Tue, 23 November 2010 06:43:56 -0400

Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with David Grubbs, Nathan Gilmour, and special guest host Carla Ewert about Our discussion tackles the nature of allegory, relationships between literary theory and this particular text, and Carla's recent work on Book 3 for her Master's thesis. Among the texts and authors we discuss are Edmund Spenser, the Faerie Queene, John Milbank, [French theorist], C.S. Lewis, and John Bunyan.

Episode 33: Classical Music

Tue, 16 November 2010 06:43:56 -0400

Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about the divisions, history, and purposes of what folks call Classical Music. On the way the discussion digs into questions of how symphonic or operatic music stands sacred and why all three Humanists hold up classical music as worthy of a place within a Christian liberal arts education. Among the composers and artifacts we discuss are J.S. Bach, St. Hatthew's Passion, Beethoven's 9th, The Magic Flute, Plato, and Frederic Chopin.

Episode 32.1: Church Music Revisited

Tue, 9 November 2010 06:43:56 -0400

David Grubbs and Michial Farmer continue last week's discussion about emotion and church music. Among the songs and texts discussed are St. Augustine, Karl Barth, that Manwich commercial with "Ode to Joy" in it, Friedrich Schleiermacher, C.S. Lewis, and "In the Secret."

Episode 32: Church Music

Tue, 2 November 2010 06:43:56 -0400

David Grubbs moderates a discussion with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about the music that Christians sing together. At the heart of the discussion is the purpose of congregational singing and historical shifts in what people expect from music. Among the texts, authors, and musical happenings discussed are Caedmon, the Psalms, Ephesians, Martin Luther, Fanny Crosby, the Jesus Movement, and Charles Wesley.

Episode 31: Dogma and Doctrine

Tue, 26 October 2010 06:43:56 -0400

Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour about the history, role, use, and abuse of doctrine and dogma. We examine modern and postmodern objections to them and attempt a case for openly partiucular Christian doctrines. Among the texts and authors we discuss are the Nicene Creed, the New Testament, Pope Benedict XVI, George Lindbeck, and a certain unnamed preacher who seems to appear on jumbotron screens.

Episode 30: Revenge

Tue, 19 October 2010 06:43:56 -0400

Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about revenge, the uneasy relationship that Christians have had with revenge, and the literary and pop-culture manifestations of revenge that interest us most. We disagree about whether abstract revenge or complex, literary-realist revenge is more dangerous, but we have fun getting there. Among the texts, authors, and other artifacts we discuss are the Iliad, Genesis 4, Romans, Matthew, Beowulf (with fanfare), The Scarlet Letter, Roger's Version, Ninja Gaiden, Tenchu: Stealth Assassin, the Princess Bride, and Unforgiven.

Episode 29: Mentors

Tue, 12 October 2010 06:43:56 -0400

David Grubbs moderates a discussion with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about the origins of the mentor-protege relationship, why mentee is not a word, and some of the influences that led the three Christian Humanists to the places we are today. Along the way we suggest concrete measures whereby colleges can facilitate mentoring and discuss why mandatory mentorship is probably a bad idea. Among the texts and authors and mentors we discuss are Athena, Mentor, Paul, Timothy, the Odyssey, C.S. Lewis, Walker Percy, and Walter Brueggemann.

Episode 28.1: Heidegger

Tue, 5 October 2010 07:43:56 -0400

Michial Farmer discusses with Nathan Gilmour the work and influence of German philosopher Martin Heidegger. Central to the discussion is the nature, potential goods, and potential dangers inherent in Christians' engagements with thinkers with wildly different politics and beliefs. Among the texts and authors we discuss are Martin Heidegger (of course), Being and Time, Gilgamesh, the Gospel of Luke, and Being and Nothingness.

Episode 28.01: A Week Off

Tue, 28 September 2010 04:43:56 -0400

Nathan Gilmour talks to the faithful listeners of CHP for a minute or two about ways to support our ongoing endeavors.

Episode 28: Kings

Tue, 21 September 2010 04:43:56 -0400

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

Tue, 14 September 2010 04:43:56 -0400

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

Tue, 7 September 2010 09:43:56 -0400

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

Tue, 31 August 2010 09:43:56 -0400

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

Tue, 24 August 2010 09:43:56 -0400

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

Wed, 28 July 2010 12:43:56 -0400

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

Wed, 23 June 2010 12:43:56 -0400

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

Thu, 20 May 2010 12:43:56 -0400

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

Wed, 28 Apr 2010 11:10:56 -0400

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

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 11:10:56 -0400

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.

Episode 19: Detective Fiction

Wed, 14 Apr 2010 15:10:56 -0400

David Grubbs moderates a discussion with Nathan Gilmour and Michial Farmer about detective fiction, its roots in Romanticism and Victorian literature, and the changes it undergoes as the television age progresses. Along the way we talk about the sidekick figure, the development of the wounded-warrior stereotype in the genre, and why those toys on NCIS don't really exist. Among the authors, texts, and television shows discussed are Edgar Allen Poe, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, G.K. Chesterton, Bones, House, The Wire, and the Talmud.

Episode 18: Sports

Wed, 07 Apr 2010 15:10:56 -0400

Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour on sports, their ethical weight, their psychological functions, their place in the history of civilization and of literary enterprise, and why nobody likes the Yankees. Among the contested ideas are the relative merits of civic sporting patriotism, the goods inherent in playing and in watching sports, and the art of televised football. Among the texts and authors discussed are Homer, John Updike, and A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request.

Episode 17: Great Books and Critical Theory

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 14:10:56 -0400

Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about the shape of literary education and especially the fight between Critical Theory and Great Books curricula. Beginning with the Renaissance and moving forward into the age of research universities, they examine and critique various visions of general education. Among the texts and authors discussed are C.S. Lewis, Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, John Henry Newman, George Campbell, Adam Smith, and Thomas Malory.

Episode 16.1: Horror Movies

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 14:10:56 -0400

David Grubbs and Michial Farmer hold forth on scary things, tracing their ancient roots and modern-era American and British flowering and exploring the sorts of things that movies do to scare audiences. Among the movies, texts, and authors discussed are Gilgamesh, Edgar Allen Poe, Horace Walpole, The Shining, H.P. Lovecraft, Jaws, Dracula, and Frankenstein.

Episode 16: Christian Colleges

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 14:10:56 -0400

Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with David Grubbs, Nathan Gilmour, and special guest co-host Chris Gehrz about the purpose and the future of Christian colleges, our experiences with them, and various theories of education--ranging from Reformed to Pietist--which inform life in the Christian college. Among the authors and texts discussed in this week's show are Arthur Holmes, Chris Gehrz, Will Willimon, and James K.A. Smith.

Episode 15: Youth Ministry

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:01:53 -0500

Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion of youth ministry, its roots in twentieth-century American youth culture, some departures from older ways of thinking about childhood, the different ways that youth ministers have tried to adapt to the cult of the young, and some interesting developments and alternatives. Among the texts, authors, and movements discussed in this episode are J.D. Salinger, Geoffrey Chaucer, Jack Kerouac, homeschooling, Johnson City style youth ministry, and chubby bunnies. (This might be the last time chubby bunnies ever makes the show notes for this podcast.)

Episode 14: Literary Genesis

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:01:53 -0500

David Grubbs moderates a discussion of literary origin stories, starting in the Babylonian and other Levantine predecessors of Genesis, spending a fair bit of time on Genesis, and launching forth (after a detour through the Greeks and Romans, of course) into the Christian era's accounts of creation. Among the authors and texts discussed are Enuma Elish, Genesis, Rig Veda, the Gospel of John, Ovid, Caedmon, Paradise Lost, and the Chronicles of Narnia.

Episode 13: The Death of Conservatism?

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 11:16:59 -0500

Michial Farmer moderates a discussion of Sam Tanenhaus's recent book The Death of Conservatism, its relative truth and worth, and how the Christian Humanists relate to various iterations of conservatism. Among the authors and texts with which we engage are Sam Tanenhaus, Edmund Burke, Neil Postman, Stanley Hauerwas, Augustine, and Plato.

Episode 12: Movies: Tragedy

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 14:57:54 -0500

Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion of the flexible, durable genre of tragedy, the ways that the Greeks thought about it and the Renaissance reinvigorated it, and the movies that take advantage of its power. Among the texts, authors, and movies discussed are Euripedes, Aristotle, Seneca, Chaucer, Shakespeare, The Godfather films, John Updike, Fargo, No Country for Old Men, and The Wire.

Episode 11: Movies: Epics

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 14:17:16 -0500

David Grubbs moderates a discussion about the varieties of epic, the nationalist ideologies that motivate some of the theories of epic, the relationships between novels and epics, and how all of these discussions inform the Christian Humanists' common sense that most movies claiming to be epic movies are nearly unwatchable. Among the authors, texts, and movies discussed are Homer, Virgil, Beowulf, Hudibras, Troy, King Arthur, Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings movies, Garden State, and 300.

Episode 10.1: Movies: Comedy

Michial Farmer, David Grubbs — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 11:32:10 -0500

Michial Farmer and David Grubbs hold forth on the character of literary comedy, its place in Christian traditions, and why life is in fact one long Monty Python movie. Among the texts, authors, and movies discussed are Aristophanes, Shakespeare, Monty Python, Weird Al, G.K. Chesterton, Aristotle, and... no, at this point not even we believe this list.

Episode 10: Literary Hell

Nathan Gilmour, David Grubbs, Michial Farmer — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 11:32:10 -0500

Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion of how life-after-death, especially the unpleasant sort, appears in literary texts, beginning in Classical poetry, moving through a healthy dose of medieval poetry, and finishing with a consideration of some interesting twentieth-century visions of Hell. Among the texts and authors we discuss are Homer, Virgil, Beowulf, Anglo-Saxon homilies, Guthlac, Genesis B from the Junius Manuscript, Dante, Langland, Gower, Milton, C.S. Lewis, and Sartre.

Episode 9: The Haiti Earthquake

Michial Farmer, David Grubbs, Nathan Gilmour — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 11:30:37 -0500

David Grubbs moderates a discussion of the national mythology, the spiritual realities, and the ongoing plight of Haiti, focusing on the comments of Pat Robertson and responses from some of his liberal critics. We delve into theodicy, Providence, apocalyptic, archaeology of knowleddge, and other topics, and the texts we discuss are the Biblical books of 1 Chronicles, Job, Ecclesiastes, and Revelation; Boethius, Calvin, The Wanderer, and Jon Levenson.

Episode 8: Apologetics

Michial Farmer, David Grubbs, Nathan Gilmour — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 11:30:37 -0500

Michial Farmer moderates a discussion of the theological enterprise called apologetics, starting from patristic endeavors and moving through high-medieval theology and finishing with the Humanists' suggestions for Christian apologists in the twenty-first century. Among the writers we discuss are Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Anselm, Thomas Aquinas, C.S. Lewis, Kierkegaard, John Milbank, Cornelius van Til, Ken Ham, and Richard Dawkins.

Episode 7: Wars on Christmas

Nathan Gilmour, David Grubbs, Michial Farmer — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 13:31:00 -0500

Nathan Gilmour, snotty English teacher, moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer on various attempts to stymie Christmas over the centuries, culminating in a discussion of the 21st century's versions of the same. Among the texts we discuss are Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Morte d'Arthur, Washington Irving's The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, A Christmas Carol, The Grinch who Stole Christmas, and various 24-hour news programs. Listen to hear our favorite story of St. Nicholas.

Episode 6: Fantasy and Science Fiction

David Grubbs, Michial Farmer, Nathan Gilmour — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 12:58:33 -0500

David Grubbs moderates a discussion with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about modern-era speculative fiction, including fantasy and science fiction. Discussion ranges from our early experiences with the genres to theological and philosophical curiosities within and objections to both. Among the authors we discuss are J.R.R. Tolkien, William Gibson, Philip K. Dick, Kurt Vonnegut, and Walker Percy.

Episode 5.1: More on New Calvinism and Emergent

Nathan Gilmour, Michial Farmer — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 10:33:47 -0500

Technical difficulties unfortunately shorten a further discussion of Emergent and New Calvinism, this time focusing on border figures like Clark Pinnock, James K.A. Smith, and Michael Spencer. Further discussions of muti-site churches and book publishing almost get rolling.

Episode 5: Neo-Calvinists vs. Emergent

Nathan Gilmour, David Grubbs, Michial Farmer — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:19:46 -0500

Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion about Emergent and New Calvinism, their perceived and real impact, their relationships to history, and other such things. Among other topics, the discussion treats Mark Driscoll, Brian McLaren, Tony Jones, celebrity culture in the church, multisite worship, and the plague of hipness in the Church.

Episode 4: God and Country

Michial Farmer, David Grubbs, Nathan Gilmour — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:09:08 -0500

Mchial Farmer moderates a discussion about the relationships between Christianity and American origins, Christian ethics and participation in the state, and resisting evil. Among other topics the hosts discuss Anabaptist politics, the Declaration of Independence, and the problems of being Christian and affirming the American Revolution.

Episode 3: The Church Fathers and Christian Humanism

David Grubbs, Michial Farmer, Nathan Gilmour — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:09:16 -0500

David Grubbs moderates a discussion with Michial Farmer and Nathan Gilmour about how Protestants and Catholics relate to the Church Fathers, how the Church Fathers relate to human learning, and how everyone after the Church Fathers keeps wanting to take them where they themselves preferred not to go. In the course of things we treat John Updike's use of Tertullian; the relationships between Augustine, Plotinus, and modern Christian philosophy; Protestant and Catholic "uses" of the Church Fathers, and other interesting things.

Episode 2: John Calvin and Christian Humanism

Nathan Gilmour, David Grubbs, Michial Farmer — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:26:54 -0500

Nathan Gilmour moderates a discussion with David Grubbs and Michial Farmer about the ways that John Calvin affects our scholarship, our theology, and other parts of our life and about Calvin's helpful reminders to 21st-century Christians. Along the way we treat Calvin's early interactions with Seneca, Calvin's attitudes towards worldly learning, and how Calvinism affected the course of medieval studies.

Episode 1: The Christian Humanist

thechristianhumanist@gmail.com — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:25:42 -0500

Michial Farmer moderates a discussion with Nathan Gilmour and David Grubbs about what Christian humanism means, how it plays into the life of the Church and of the academy, and how a Christian humanist might respond to common criticisms. In the course of things we trace humanism's roots in Patristic encouters with philosophy and rhetoric; the flowering of Christian Humanism in the Renaissance, especially in the work of Desiderus Erasmus; and some twentieth-century figures who have continued the project.