Another Life with Joy Marie Clarkson

The Good Samaritan and the effective Altruist meet in the retelling of Luke 10:30–37.The movement that most recently hit the headlines with the downfall of Sam Bankman-Fried deserves a more sympathetic treatment than it had on the last PloughCast we covered it on. What are its tenets, and how does it work as an ethical system?Leah, who considers herself an effective altruist, leads Phil, Susannah, and Pete on a tour of Effective Altruism and its affiliated movements, including extreme long-termism and the mysterious world of the “postrats.”

Peter Mommsen tells the story of Pinianus and Melania, a wealthy fifth-century couple who gave it all away.

Alastair Roberts discusses the virtue of magnificence, the relationship between money and love, and what we can learn from Mary of Bethany’s gift.

Eugene McCarraher and Peter Mommsen speak about why Modern capitalism is anything but secular. They discuss Christianity’s compromise with mammon – and the visionaries who have resisted it.Then they talk about the power of mammon, whether it’s enchanted, and the reason we venerate it.

A new faith proclaimed one man's agonizing death as history's turning point — and utterly changed the meaning of suffering.

Why an issue on money? What is money for? Peter and Susannah discuss.They begin with the story of Pinianus and Melania, two married Roman patricians who gave away their enormous fortune in obedience to Christ’s commands. What was the world of the early church that would have made this seem like an appropriate thing to do?And what did Saint Augustine say about it? They discuss his complex role in Christianity’s changing attitude to wealth. That attitude evolved to the point that eventually Max Weber could claim that Protestantism had been a major support in the development of capitalism itself.How can we understand this teaching about wealth, and what is its relationship to our new status as sons and daughters of the King? They tease these ideas and some of the upcoming pieces and episodes.

In an interview with Plough, Eugene McCarraher discusses Christianity’s compromise with mammon and how to resist modern capitalism.

After her father died, Esther Maria Magnis thought she found freedom from her pain in nihilism. In that emptiness, eventually, God found her.

Marianne Wright discusses C. S. Lewis’ prescient science fiction novel. Peter Mommsen’s sister comes on the pod with Pete and Susannah to discuss That Hideous Strength, the third book in Lewis’s space trilogy, and its eerily accurate critiques of transhumanism.From questions of academic vocation to Arthurian legend to tame bears to head transplantation, this novel is a rich exploration of what it means to be human in the face of a conspiracy against the human. It’s also one of Susannah and Marianne’s favorite novels.The gang examines Lewis’s treatment of these themes, with many spoilers. They also solve, once and for all, the Jane Problem.

Lisabeth Button describes her friendship and shares letters from Ellen, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s.