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 sixth episode in a series of discussions, I'm joined by Robert Alter. Robert Bernard Alter is an American professor of Hebrew and comparative literature at the University of California, Berkeley, where he has taught since 1967. He published his monumental translation of the Hebrew Bible in 2018.  His book The Art of Biblical Narrative won the National Jewish Book Award for Jewish Thought. In 2009, he was the recipient of the Robert Kirsch Award (Los Angeles Times) for lifetime contribution to American letters. He was also awarded an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree by Yale University in 2010 and is a Doctor Honoris Causa of Hebrew University.

Christ is risen! 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 fifth episode in a series of discussions, I'm joined by former guests and friends to discuss Jordan Peterson and the Resurrection of Jesus 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 fourth episode in a series of discussions, I'm joined by the excellent Dr James Alison.  Dr James Alison is a Catholic theologian, priest and author. His principal claim to fame is as one of those who has done most to bring the work of the great French thinker René Girard to a wider public.

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 third episode in a series of discussions, I'm joined by the great Fr Gerry McDermott.  Fr Gerald McDermott retired in May 2020 after serving five years as the Anglican Chair of Divinity at Samford’s Beeson Divinity School. This followed 26 years of teaching undergraduates at Roanoke College in Virginia.  McDermott has written seven books and co-authored another since joining the Beeson faculty in 2015. In all, he has served as author, co-author or editor of 23 books. He has taught in the areas of history and doctrine, world religions, Anglican studies and 18th-century theologian Jonathan Edwards at Beeson.  In retirement, McDermott has also contracted to finish “a big book” modelled after Edwards’ work, History of the Work of Redemption. It will be the eighth book in which he has written about or used the famous preacher as subject matter. His book, Theology of Jonathan Edwards, co-authored with Michael McClymond, won Christianity Today’s Top Book in Theology/Ethics award for 2013.

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.