More Christ

Welcome to More Christ, where we seek to bring some of the world's most interesting and insightful guests to discuss life's central and abiding questions.  In this forty second episode in a series of discussions, I'm joined by the brilliant Nick Basbanes.  Nicholas Andrew Basbanes is an American author who writes and lectures widely about authors, books and book culture. His subjects have included the "eternal passion for books" (A Gentle Madness); the history and future of libraries (Patience & Fortitude) the "willful destruction of books" and the "determined effort to rescue them" (A Splendor of Letters) "the power of the printed word to stir the world" (Every Book Its Reader) the invention of paper and its effect on civilization (On Paper: The Everything of Its Two-Thousand-Year History) and an exploration of Longfellow's life and art (Cross of Snow: A Life of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow).

Welcome to More Christ, where we seek to bring some of the world's most interesting and insightful guests to discuss life's central and abiding questions.  In this forty first episode in a series of discussions, I'm joined by the magnificent, Dr Michael Martin.  Michael is a philosopher, theologian, poet, musician, songwriter, editor, and biodynamic farmer. He is the editor of the journal 'Jesus the Imagination' and director of The Center for Sophiological Studies.

Welcome to More Christ, where we seek to bring some of the world's most interesting and insightful guests to discuss life's central and abiding questions.  In this fortieth episode in a series of discussions, I'm joined by the magnificent, Dr Michael Martin.  Michael is a philosopher, theologian, poet, musician, songwriter, editor, and biodynamic farmer. He is the editor of the journal 'Jesus the Imagination' and director of The Center for Sophiological Studies.

Welcome to More Christ, where we seek to bring some of the world's most interesting and insightful guests to discuss life's central and abiding questions.  In this thirty ninth episode in a series of discussions, I'm joined by the terrific Dr Carl Trueman.  Carl is a Christian theologian and ecclesiastical historian. He was Professor of Historical Theology and Church History at Westminster Theological Seminary, where he held the Paul Woolley Chair of Church History. In 2018 Trueman resigned his position at Westminster to become a full-time undergraduate Professor at Grove City College, serving as Full Professor in their Department of Biblical and Religious Studies as of the fall semester of that same year.  Among Trueman's books are John Owen: Reformed Catholic, Renaissance Man, The Creedal Imperative, Fools Rush in Where Monkeys Fear to Tread: Taking Aim at Everyone, and Republocrat: Confessions of a Liberal Conservative. He contributes to First Things (Journal of Religion and Public Life) blogs regularly at Reformation21 and co-hosts the Mortification of Spin podcast.

Welcome to More Christ, where we seek to bring some of the world's most interesting and insightful guests to discuss life's central and abiding questions.  In this thirty eighth episode in a series of discussions, I'm joined by the magnificent Mike Aquilina.  Mike Aquilina is a popular author working in the area of Church history, especially patristics, the study of the early Church Fathers. He is executive vice-president and trustee of the St. Paul Centre for Biblical Theology, a Roman Catholic research centre based in Steubenville, Ohio. He is a contributing editor of Angelus (magazine) and general editor of the Reclaiming Catholic History Series from Ave Maria Press. He hosts Way of the Fathers, a podcast produced by CatholicCulture.org.  Aquilina is the author or editor of more than sixty books, including The Fathers of the Church (2006); The Mass of the Early Christians (2007); The Resilient Church (2007); Living the Mysteries (2003); and What Catholics Believe (1999). His books have been translated into many languages, from Croatian and Portuguese to German and Braille. The Grail Code has appeared in ten languages since its publication in 2006. Critics have praised Aquilina's work for making the Fathers accessible to non-academic readers: "Most scholars … study the paper trail — homilies, letters, teaching manuals, works of theological disputation … Aquilina loves the words, too. But he also finds the sermon in the stuff, the theology expressed in the little things that the first Christians left behind — fading murals on catacomb walls, pottery and dishware, pieces of coinage, ancient hymns and Mass prayers, common household items … The point is that for Aquilina, the little things matter — because they tell us big things about what Catholics believe and how they look at the world." Dr. John Grondelski said in the National Catholic Register: "Aquilina has made a vocation and career out of, in many ways, single-handedly popularizing patristics."  Aquilina's 2015 book Ministers and Martyrs was an official companion volume to the NBC series A.D. The Bible Continues. A year later he published The World of Ben-Hur as a guide to MGM’s remake of the Lew Wallace classic Ben-Hur.  Aquilina is also a poet and songwriter. His poems, collected in the volumes Terms and Conditions (2014) and The Invention of Zero (2020), have appeared in U.S. literary journals and in Polish and Spanish translations. His collaborations with Rock and Roll Hall of Fame artist Dion DiMucci include one book (Dion: The Wanderer Talks Truth) and three albums, Tank Full of Blues (2012), New York Is My Home (2016), and Blues with Friends (2020). The title song of New York Is My Home was recorded as a duet by Dion and Paul Simon, launched by Rolling Stone magazine, and released as a single in 2015. It was used in episode 5, season 1, of the drama series “Horace and Pete.” It was also chosen by clothing designer Ralph Lauren as the catwalk theme for his 50th-anniversary show in 2018. The song appears as well in the Deluxe Edition of Paul Simon's album Stranger to Stranger. Dion's 2020 album Blues with Friends, which included twelve songs co-written with Aquilina, debuted at Number 1 on Billboard and U.K. charts and was Billboard's Number 1 Blues Album for 2020. American Songwriter magazine honored “Song for Sam Cooke,” a single from Blues with Friends, as “Greatest of the Great 2020 Songs.” DiMucci-Aquilina songs have also been recorded or performed by Van Morrison, Jeff Beck, Amy Grant, Christy Altomare, Joe Bonamassa, Steven Van Zandt, Brian Setzer, Joe Louis Walker, Billy F. Gibbons, Rory Block, John P. Hammond, Sonny Landreth, and Samantha Fish. Bob Dylan praised these songs for their craft.

Welcome to More Christ, where we seek to bring some of the world's most interesting and insightful guests to discuss life's central and abiding questions.  In this thirty seventh episode in a series of discussions, I'm joined by theologian, Fr John Behr.  Fr John is a British Eastern Orthodox priest and theologian. Since 2020, he has served as the Regius Professor of Humanity at the University of Aberdeen.  He is the former Dean of St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, where he was the Director of the Master of Theology Program and the Father Georges Florovsky Distinguished Professor of Patristics.   He was ordained to the diaconate on 8 September 2001 and the priesthood on 14 September 2001. He is the editor of the Patristic Series released by St. Vladimir's Press.  He was elected dean of the seminary on 18 November 2006 and served from 2007 until 2017 when he was named Father Georges Florovsky Distinguished Professor of Patristics.

Welcome to More Christ, where we seek to bring some of the world's most interesting and insightful guests to discuss life's central and abiding questions.  In this thirty sixth episode in a series of discussions, I'm joined by theologian, William Cavanaugh. William is an American theologian, known for his work in political theology and Christian ethics.

Welcome to More Christ, where we seek to bring some of the world's most interesting and insightful guests to discuss life's central and abiding questions.  In this thirty fifth episode in a series of discussions, I'm joined once more by Matt of Logos Made Flesh and Thomas of Storytellers. Both of these YouTube stars analyse films to reveal their hidden meanings and unveil their symbolic patterns.  We discussed Rod Dreher's recent book, Live Not by Lies and how this ties in with Terrence Malick's masterful film, A Hidden Life. With the aim of encouraging Christians in an increasingly anti-Christian society, and reminding us who we are in Christ and where we are going together.

Welcome to More Christ, where we seek to bring some of the world's most interesting and insightful guests to discuss life's central and abiding questions.  In this thirty fourth episode in a series of discussions, I'm joined once more by the brilliant philosopher Dr. Gerard Casey.   Dr. Casey is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at UCD in Dublin, Ireland and an eminent author of a number of books centred around the idea of freedom. We will discuss his seminal book, 'Freedom's Progress?' in this and further episodes.

Welcome to More Christ, where we seek to bring some of the world's most interesting and insightful guests to discuss life's central and abiding questions.  In this thirty third episode in a series of discussions, I'm joined by William Henry Willimon. William is an American theologian and bishop in the United Methodist Church, retired, who for eight years served the North Alabama Conference.  He is currently Professor of the Practice of Christian Ministry and Director of the Doctor of Ministry program at Duke Divinity School. He is former Dean of the Chapel at Duke University and is considered by many as one of America's best-known and most influential preachers.  A Pulpit & Pew Research on Pastoral Leadership survey determined that he was one of the two most frequently read writers by pastors in mainline Protestantism alongside the Roman Catholic writer Henri Nouwen.  His books have sold over a million copies. He is also Editor-At-Large of The Christian Century. His 2019 memoir Accidental Preacher was released to wide acclaim, described by Justo L. Gonzalez as "An exceptional example of theology at its best."