Nuclear Barbarians

John and I are back with our new series. This time we’re working through Wouter Hanegraaff’s Esotericism and the Academy: Rejected Knowledge in Western Culture. Hanegraff’s project looks at the debates over the recovery of ancient texts and their impact on Christian life and thought and what that means for us today, especially when it comes to our weird world of scientism on the one hand and woo-woo New Age-y stuff on the other. The material is dense and you might feel a little overwhelmed listening to the podcast—don’t worry! After the first two episodes (the first half of the series) it gets way easier and more fun, but this episode in the next are necessary listening/reading (if you want to follow along in the book) to appreciate the second half. However, if you haven’t listened to our series on Michael Gillespie’s The Theological Origins of Modernity, don’t listen to this one just yet. You can start the Gillespie series here, as it provides great and more accessible background for the Hanegraaff. Get full access to Nuclear Barbarians at www.nuclearbarbarians.com/subscribe

John and I finish up our series on Michael Gillespie’s Theological Origins of Modernity—offering a break down of his final chapter and our closing thoughts. Get full access to Nuclear Barbarians at www.nuclearbarbarians.com/subscribe

John and I spend this, our penultimate episode in the series, discussing Hobbes—his anthropology, his physics, his politics—and the nature of modernity’s “new science.”If you have questions for our final Q&A episode, please leave a comment! Get full access to Nuclear Barbarians at www.nuclearbarbarians.com/subscribe

John and I return to Gillespie’s book to talk about Luther, Erasmus, and Descartes and to dig into the motivations behind the ideas that inspired the philosophies that brought about the scientific revolution. Get full access to Nuclear Barbarians at www.nuclearbarbarians.com/subscribe

Grant Dever joined me to talk about his recent work on the loss of Indian Point, lowering energy costs in America, the vitality of energy prosperity for America’s future, and more.Autopsy of a Perfect Policy Failure: The Closure of Indian Point by Grant DeverLiberating America: Overcoming Energy Scarcity and Inflation by Grant Dever Get full access to Nuclear Barbarians at www.nuclearbarbarians.com/subscribe

John and I continue our journey through Gillespie’s Theological Origins of Modernity, this time we dig into Petrarch, Martin Luther, the underpinnings of enlightenment humanism, and more. Get full access to Nuclear Barbarians at www.nuclearbarbarians.com/subscribe

John returns for the first installment of another reading series. This time we’re tackling Michael Gillespie’s The Theological Origins of Modernity, a book that aims at getting to the root of some of the major questions we face today as products of both the Industrial Revolution and the Enlightenment. This is also the first in what John and I hope will be a longer project of delving into the history of the philosophy of science. After Gillespie we hope to explore works by Francis Bacon, Descartes, Galileo, Leibniz, Thomas Carlyle, David Hume, Edmund Husserl, and others. We aim to conclude each author with a Q&A episode. So, if you have any questions, please leave a comment on the Substack—we’ll round them up and get to them at the end of each series. Get full access to Nuclear Barbarians at www.nuclearbarbarians.com/subscribe

Rachael Zisk just launched a nuclear energy newsletter — Ignition — which is great. I brought her on to talk about her new venture, the challenges of covering highly technical topics, how the media landscape is changing, and more!Subscribe to Ignition.Subscribe to Payload. Get full access to Nuclear Barbarians at www.nuclearbarbarians.com/subscribe

John and I finish up our discussion of the Machine in the Garden. We reflect on Leo Marx’s contribution—both its successes and failures. And we consider what opportunities there are to think about the American relationship with the Machine. Get full access to Nuclear Barbarians at www.nuclearbarbarians.com/subscribe

Director Tyson Culver joined me to talk about his new docu-series with Robert Bryce —Juice: Power, Politics, and the Grid. We talk about what Tyson learned while making documentaries with Robert about the grid and what’s currently going around with America’s electricity sector. Check it out!You can watch it on YouTube here:And you can watch their first documentary together here: Get full access to Nuclear Barbarians at www.nuclearbarbarians.com/subscribe