If you missed the Summer 2021 Seminar on the economic philosophy of Distributism, but you want to view the videos of the five sessions, you can get the series here for $25 and gain access to all five (as well as a link to the recommended readings) for a year: https://mortckc.square.site/product/Distributism-Seminar/77?cs=true&cst=custom For more information and … More Distributism Summer Seminar Recordings Available
Do you think being grateful while eating your turkey is the best thing you could be doing today? Here are some thoughts to agitate you (and maybe get you to drink one less beer) on this US holiday. Along the way we ponder the “Metaverse” of Mark Zuckerberg’s dreams, why charity might not be the very best thing you could do, and why word vomiting on others is an activity to avoid–maybe particularly today. … More Ten Things to Consider (Thanksgiving Greetings ft. Zuckerberg’s Metaverse)
I discuss Edmund Burke’s views on the “Rights of Man” as advocated by the French Revolution, in contrast with what Burke thought of as the rights of human beings living in various nations and communities. Burke critiques the idea of universal natural rights in favor of inherited rights which can be modified and applied differently over time in response to changing conditions and needs. Burke does supply a list of things that people deserve as members of society and puts them forward as the real rights of men. … More Edmund Burke on “The Rights of Man” (Reflections 4)
After defending the English Revolution of 1688 as a thing of a different and more respectable sort than the French Revolution of 1789, Burke goes on to argue against universal rights in favor of the particular rights of particular people. He believes that people receive their rights through inheritance from past practice, and that the … More Edmund Burke’s Noble Lie (Reflections 3)
The first part of Edmund Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution of France takes on England’s Revolution Society and Rev. Richard Price, whom Burke considered a dangerous and radical agitator. We begin to see that Burke does not like mixing religion and politics, and he dislikes politics practiced with religious zeal. He argues that there is a big difference between the Glorious Revolution in England in 1688 and the French Revolution of 1789. Is he right? … More Edmund Burke: Is Revolution Ever OK? (Reflections 2)
Why read Edmund Burke? In this introduction I explain that his classical conservatism is more of a way of thinking than it is an ideology, and as such it is flexible. It is also practical, and we need more of that in a time in which too many waste their efforts in theorizing for its own sake (or worse) just attacking the “other side.” … More Introduction to Edmund Burke and Reflections on the Revolution in France
A list of resources is below. After reading Walter Brueggemann’s Out of Babylon, it’s only logical to ask “so where would I go to get this type of Christianity?” I’ve put together my own personal shortlist of resources to help anyone who wants to “dip their toe into these waters” as to where to turn … More Dissenting Christianity–Here’s Where to Start
ve all 12 steps, but it does give us at least two steps, and a “serenity prayer” for our particular addiction. In this penultimate episode dealing with Walter Brueggemann’s Out of Babylon I discuss the themes that emerge in the last chapter dealing with accommodation and resistance to empire. Brueggemann is unflinching in his warning to US Christians that they have verged from accommodation, which is sometimes necessary, to capitulation, which is inexcusable and amounts to idolatry and rejection of “local identity” or strong community values. … More 12 Step Program for Christians Addicted to Empire (Out of Babylon 6 audio)
Christian nationalism–the reasons it is wrong but also the possible reasons why it exists. Looking at the Old Testament as a source of iconic, archetypal and enduring truths is discussed as an alternative to the narrative of the US as the new Israel. If people remain captive to Empire, why? Is it partly because they truly have been displaced and are tempted by cooptation? Is it due to their fear of the wilderness and the freedom it represents? … More Christian Nationalism as Stockholm syndrome (Brueggemann 5)
Chapter 4 of Walter Brueggemann’s Out of Babylon discusses the power of poetic imagination to create the conditions for change. Multiple views of God’s position relative to humans, and the human response to God are entertained in poetic language. Brueggemann emphasizes the latter as a strength that shows a way beyond the sectarian infighting that characterizes most religious sects and keeps those within them from being able to act positively to create a better future. The idea of a mutable God is discussed–a God who is able to change his mood and mind in response to changes in relationship to his human fold. In dealing with this kind of God, having a fertile imagination about the future is particularly important, as it fosters hope and cancels despair that tends to occur as people bow down to imperial economics and politics. … More Divine Imagination & Futuring (Brueggemann: Out of Babylon 4)
Political Philosophy 