The Magnificast

The face of white supremacy is a manifestation of evil that Christians and leftists should categorically oppose without qualifications. That might seem like an obvious point, but Christians seemed to have trouble responding in a timely way to the Charlottesville tragedy, taken in by the liberal temptation to condemn violence "on all sides." That temptation creates a false equivalence between the systemic violence expressing itself through white supremacy, whether they throw blows or not, and the liberating actions of resistance, and it relies on a kind of moral posturing that assumes it's above the fray precisely because it misunderstands the fray in the first place. In the episode, we try to think through problems of violence and nonviolence, making an appeal for a more differentiated understanding of violence that we think helps parse out some of these problems. To help us out, Amaryah Armstrong offered some thoughts to get us going, and we interact with Dr. Cornel West's reflections on the presence of antifa and anarchists at the event. If you're still not convinced, we try to throw pacifists a bone by considering how John Howard Yoder, the arch-pacifist Mennonite theologian, looked at revolutionary theologies form his own perspective. At the end, we suggest Christians need to be more creative in their responses to white supremacy, whether pacifist or not--if nothing else, the Charlottesville rally should be a wake up call for a church that can't seem to make sense of the unadulterated and obvious oppressive form of violence that is white supremacy.

We got a chance to get some of our own #TheoryTime in with The Lit Crit Guy himself, talking about Roland Boer's book Criticism of Heaven, and specifically a chapter Boer wrote on the French communist Louis Althusser's Catholic undercurrents. (You might remember Derek Ford gesturing toward Althusser's Catholicism way back in episode 3.) We try to sort out some different relationships between religion and Marxism as articulated by Boer, and see if we can extend his taxonomy to Christian anarchists, too. We then chat a little about Althusser's "Catholic Marxism" (as Boer calls it) and how Christianity really does seem to lead down the path of communism (surprise!).

Matt and Dean are joined by Amaryah Shaye Armstrong to talk about her article "Of Flesh and Spirit: Race, Reproduction, and Sexual Difference in the Turn to Paul." The three talk about the failures of universalism, reconciliation, Rod Dreher and Pizza.

In this episode, Matt and Dean talk with Matt Sitman of Commonweal Magazine about his recent essay "Against Moral Austerity: On the Need for a Christian Left." The conversation outlines the failure of the Democratic party to engage politics morally and what the left could gain from using moral language.

Matt and Dean talk with Daniel Camacho about evangelicalism and the legacy of the Christian left.

Dean is back! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJtx9xQQEx4) In this episode, Matt and Dean talk with Drew Van't Land about his trip to the Socialism 2017 conference in Chicago. The three discuss Christianity, socialism, race, class and socializing daycare.

Dean is still on vacation, so Zach Dimiele steps in as a guest co-host. Matt and Zach discuss Leonardo Boff's Ecclesiogenesis and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's integral role in the history of the church.

Dean's away on vacation, so John Brittingham is filling in as a co-host. Matt and John have a very Foucaultian conversation about the disciplinary structures of Christian summer camps.

In this episode, Matt and Dean do some 101 level socialism and Christianity talk. There is a history of folks on the left and right that assume Christianity and socialism are antithetical, but in this episode Matt and Dean disprove this garbage take through the immortal science of historical materialism.

We regret to inform you Matt and Dean are at it again! In this episode of The Magnificast, Derek Ford joins the discussion again and they explore Lenin's essays on the communist party and religion alongside Herbert McCabe's essay on Christian Love and Class Struggle.