Tom reconnects with Thomas Hibb's book Shows About Nothing to engage topics like the Romantic alternative to Nihilism, Horror films and their critique of American Modernism, and other films- which show how the Enlightenment was too weak a framework to carry the Christian virtue system. Chris and Glenn bring fascinating reflections into the conversation, making for an illuminating conversation about the formative impact of film on contemporary life and places in which the Christian vision can speak with redemptive profundity.

Glenn reflects on the idea that the Creation is sacramental, that is, that it points beyond itself to spiritual realities. He takes his cue from passages in Scripture that point to the Creation as pictures of truths about God and humanity. As always, Chris and Tom chime in with their own insights on nature, philosophy, and theology.

In today's show Chris reads from an essay by Colin Wright the Managing Editor of Quillette, the online journal and podcast. He describes his own experience as a liberal scientist with cancel culture. The experience has alarmed him and he despairs for the future of the sciences. Chris, Tom, and Glenn then reflect on the history of science and how materialists have unwittingly set themselves up for this. They then urge the recovery of transcendent sources of meaning and authority because without them science is doomed.  Article Referenced: https://quillette.com/2020/07/30/think-cancel-culture-doesnt-exist-my-own-lived-experience-says-otherwise/?fbclid=IwAR3S_GITrSSg5owt1kVIQ1XLQ51NUu7J3NKb4u7xkbzu9leYMhTPyWojs0U&v=322b26af01d5

Tom introduces the topic by engaging Thomas Hibb’s book: Shows about Nothing. Chris and Glenn join in with many insights and rich analysis.

In this episode, Glenn contrasts the secular, Enlightenment-inspired French Revolution with the spiritual revolution that transformed England at roughly the same time. The French Enlightenment was an anti-Christian project that provided a radical critique of society and theorized about how to fix it. Once the French internalized Enlightenment ideas, the Revolution became inevitable, though it took a government debt crisis to trigger it. The elite’s theories didn’t solve the problem, resulting in chaos and the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of French citizens. In contrast, the spiritual revolution in England from the Evangelical Revivals reached deep into the lower classes and prevented England from degenerating into the violence of the French Revolution. It also led to Wilberforce and the Clapham sect and the spiritual and moral transformation of English society. Chris and Tom chime in about the philosophical ideas of the Enlightenment and the parallels with America today.

In today’s show Chris introduces the Pugcast crew to Matthew B. Crawford and his book, Why We Drive. Crawford is known for his writing on moral agency and how the manual arts help to develop it. Self-driving cars have the potential for undermining competence and promoting greater dependency on distant institutions. If passivity is already a problem, self-driving cars will only make things worse.

Glenn starts off the discussion with “On Weeds and Fairy Tales,” an article in Touchstone by Vigen Guroian. Guroian argues that reason and imagination work together to help us make sense of the world, but only imagination lets us get beyond facts into the realm of meaning and helping us develop a moral sense. This was one of the functions of fairy tales traditionally. But Guroian notes a number of weeds that can choke out the moral imagination which he labels the Idyllic Imagination, the Idolatrous Imagination, and the Diabolic Imagination. As usual, Tom and Chris join in the exploration of all these ideas and more.

In today's show Chris reads portions of Leon R. Kass's, The Beginning of Wisdom. The book contains Kass's reflections on the book of Genesis. Kass is Jewish, and a conservative scholar teaching at the University of Chicago. His reflections on the impiety of Noah's son Ham, and how Ham's descendant Nimrod, the political leader behind the Bible's first political dystopia--Babel--are quite profound. His thoughts on the connection between impiety and totalitarianism provide the basis for discussion for Chris, Tom, and Glenn.  

This week Tom follows up his topic last week on Presentism. He introduces the topic of 'historicism' and looks at its role in setting the conditions for the current trend of turning against the past in the name of the present. Historicism comes about when the doctrine of providence gets ripped from the doctrine of creation, making human meaning and purpose merely what it is in terms of historical processes. Glenn and Chris add a plenitude of insights as the topic unfolds.

In this episode Tom introduces the topic of the intellectual fashion of making ‘present’ experience that which has utmost significance. He further shows how this idea has been wedded to the notion that the past has little significance other than being an outmoded relic of evil and oppression. This has contributed to current strands of moral zealotry unleashed against symbols and monuments from the past as well as an all out war on civilization. Chris and Glenn add further insights which shed light on this fashion from a variety of angles, making for a fascinating conversation on the topic.