
Political Philosophy
A podcast devoted to the history of political thought in the spirit of sharing, not perfection. Explanation and discussion of classic and contemporary political ideas. YouTube: YouTube.com/politicalphilosophy
Latest episodes

Feb 5, 2022 • 30min
PMC Decadence: Going ‘Native,’ Radical Liberalism Gone to Seed 1 (Contributor: Spencer)
New contributor.Spencer Hess introduces his take on Native: Identity, Belonging and Rediscovering God by Kaitlin Curtice. How did we get in our own way? SH’s reaction to Kaitlyn Curtice’s book Native begins to indicate the way.
For more from us: https://pmaurin.org
https://lauriemjohnson.com/ https://politicalphilosophy.video.blog/
iTunes podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/political-philosophy-dr-laurie-m-johnson/id1473457784
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Jan 30, 2022 • 24min
The State of University Address
I’m going to change it up a little in the New Year. More to come on what to expect from Spencer Hess, an interviewee and a new contributor to this channel! https://pmaurin.org
On this video: Hauerwas writes about the state of universities and liberal arts colleges, particularly but not exclusively religious colleges. Many of the problems he sees and the aspirations he holds dear can be applied to any modern university or college. I trace key elements of Hauerwas’s argument and sift them through my own perspective as an educator. Universities are not in good shape and do not seem to be poised for a positive turn. What is the point of higher education ideally and really?
For more from me: https://pmaurin.org https://lauriemjohnson.com/
https://politicalphilosophy.video.blog/
iTunes podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/political-philosophy-dr-laurie-m-johnson/id1473457784
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Jan 23, 2022 • 15min
Political and Religious Virtue: Really?
Stanley Hauerwas deals skeptically with both political and religious virtue, but holds out hope for a type of political virtue within church. His treatment in Christian Existence Today is a bit cursory, but it’s thought provoking. The second half of this video deals with the problems of community and political virtue in church. Hint: it doesn’t mean joining team red or blue.
For more from me: https://lauriemjohnson.com/
https://politicalphilosophy.video.blog/
iTunes podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/political-philosophy-dr-laurie-m-johnson/id1473457784
Please fill out this form to be put on the email list for future summer seminars:: https://forms.gle/WxikMpNx1M64GeTEA

Jan 16, 2022 • 18min
Virtue: Ancient, Christian, Bourgeois, Hyper-Bourgeois
Reading Hauerwas on virtue prompted me to do a video discussing different views of virtue that developed at different times in history but are still with us, either as ghosts or as confused and contradictory aspirations. I suggest a new view of virtue has taken over, hyper-bourgeois virtue.
For more from me: https://lauriemjohnson.com/
https://politicalphilosophy.video.blog/
iTunes podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/political-philosophy-dr-laurie-m-johnson/id1473457784
Please fill out this form to be put on the email list for future summer seminars:: https://forms.gle/WxikMpNx1M64GeTEA

Jan 10, 2022 • 20min
Why Not School Prayer? Hauerwas’s Christian Critique of Christian America
In his book Christian Existence Today, “A Christian Critique of Christian America,” Stanley Hauerwas takes on American civil religion. Understanding why most Christian positions toward the state aren’t good enough will help us determine what Christianity might look like if we stopped pursuing it through the state, ideologies and politics.
Wipf & Stock: https://wipfandstock.com
For more from me: https://lauriemjohnson.com/
https://politicalphilosophy.video.blog/
iTunes podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/political-philosophy-dr-laurie-m-johnson/id1473457784
Please fill out this form to be put on the email list for future summer seminars:: https://forms.gle/WxikMpNx1M64GeTEA

Jan 2, 2022 • 24min
Introduction to Stanley Hauerwas
Stanley Hauerwas has been called the best theologian the United States ever produced. Hauerwas is well known for his critique of liberal ideology and his defense of the church as its own community that should be something different than “the world.” His thought lends itself to communitarianism and challenges the growth of Christian Nationalism and Constantinianism in our day. This video introduces Hauerwas’s life and some of his big ideas and is the beginning of a series derived from two of his books: A Community of Character: Toward a Constructive Christian Social Ethic, and Christian Existence Today: Essays on Church, World, and Living In-Between.
Wipf & Stock: https://wipfandstock.com
For more from me: https://lauriemjohnson.com/
https://politicalphilosophy.video.blog/
iTunes podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/political-philosophy-dr-laurie-m-johnson/id1473457784
Please fill out this form to be put on the email list for future summer seminars:: https://forms.gle/WxikMpNx1M64GeTEA

Dec 18, 2021 • 14min
Consider: Receiving is Giving. Real Generosity is Rejecting Transactionalism
In this season we are encouraged to think about giving things, but giving evokes all kinds of feelings, not all of them good for either the giver or receiver. This video focuses on how to be a good receiver, preferably not of Christmas largesse but of giving on a daily basis. To encourage generosity in others, being a positive receiver is necessary. Receiving without guilt and without giving a guilt trip is a way that you can move beyond the liberal capitalist transactional framework in your own life. This is not as easy as it sounds, as you will run very interesting feelings and resistances that will illuminate how messed up our world currently is when it comes to sharing and caring for each other.
For more from me: https://lauriemjohnson.com/
https://politicalphilosophy.video.blog/
iTunes podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/political-philosophy-dr-laurie-m-johnson/id1473457784
Please fill out this form to be put on the email list for future summer seminars:: https://forms.gle/WxikMpNx1M64GeTEA

Dec 5, 2021 • 24min
Edmund Burke vs. US Conservatives. Reading From My Latest Book Project: The Gap in God’s Country
I am working on a new book, The Gap in God’s Country: Towards Repairing Our Rural/Urban Divide. One theory stream I tap into is Burkean conservatism. Because I’m doing a series on Burke right now, I thought I’d read the section from the draft introduction that has to do with classical conservatism.
For more from me: https://lauriemjohnson.com/
https://politicalphilosophy.video.blog/
iTunes podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/political-philosophy-dr-laurie-m-johnson/id1473457784
Please fill out this form to be put on the email list for future summer seminars:: https://forms.gle/WxikMpNx1M64GeTEA

Nov 26, 2021 • 16min
Ten Things to Consider (Thanksgiving Greetings ft. Zuckerberg’s Metaverse)
Do you think being grateful while eating your turkey is the best thing you could be doing on Thanksgiving? 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.
For more from me: https://lauriemjohnson.com/
https://politicalphilosophy.video.blog/
iTunes podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/political-philosophy-dr-laurie-m-johnson/id1473457784
Please fill out this form to be put on the email list for future summer seminars:: https://forms.gle/WxikMpNx1M64GeTEA

Nov 21, 2021 • 16min
Edmund Burke on “The Rights of Man” (Reflections 4)
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.
For more from me: https://lauriemjohnson.com/ https://politicalphilosophy.video.blog/
iTunes podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/political-philosophy-dr-laurie-m-johnson/id1473457784
Please fill out this form to be put on the email list for future summer seminars:: https://forms.gle/WxikMpNx1M64GeTEA