Today Chris takes the Pugs into the dark recesses of social status and asks questions few are willing to ask. For example: Why do so many women who apply to rent Chris's apartments have so much student loan debt, and such low credit scores? Why do young men in the trades with no debt and good income still lose out to flashy guys with tons of debt who flash shiny objects? And, can contemporary culture change its ways of measuring worth to reflect reality and not the image-generated fantasies...

Today’s show builds on the conversation about imagination and C. S. Lewis last week. Tom and the guys continue the interaction with Lewis’ rich sacramental vision and its implications for how our human created natures are enriched and helped to come into their own principally by the vertical, our relation to God, but secondarily by the good gift of others that God has supplied for us to transcend and yet become ourselves in the rich fabric of created reality. Listen in!     Support the...

C.S. Lewis said, “Reason is the natural organ of understanding, but imagination is the organ of meaning.” "Working off Holly Ordway's book "Apologetics and the Christian Imagination," the guys discuss what imagination is, how it connects to meaning, and how it is foundational to reason. They also discuss the role of imagination in Lewis’s conversion, the “good dreams” of paganism, and how these things can help lead people to Christ.   Support the Pugcast in Oxford on Indiegogo:...

Listen in for a short Q&A session following our previous episode.   Support the Pugcast in Oxford on Indiegogo: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-pugcast-goes-to-oxford/x/6893861#/   Support the Pugcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thetheologypugcast?fbclid=IwAR17UHhfzjphO52C_kkZfursA_C784t0ldFix0wyB4fd-YOJpmOQ3dyqGf8   The Theology Pugcast is a ministry of Trinity Reformed Church in Huntsville Alabama. To view more media from TRC, visit their website:...

It's Chris's show today and he returns to a theme he's addressed a number of times--how can we resist the inhuman forces of the new totalitarianism? We're up against a Borg-like globalist cabal that uses artificial intelligence, surveillance technology, and psyops to manipulate us. Surprisingly, Chris suggests Saint Anthony of the Desert as a guide. Chris maintains there are a number of things he can teach us about resistance--in particular, getting the hook out, and discerning spirits. Chris...

As new forms of immodesty become fashionable and impact our everyday wolds in innumerable ways, dimensions of what is broken in us often remain what is 'hidden' or ignored. Tom and the guys engage this topic, especially from the insight that as image bearers we are imitative by nature, and when this is broken in us, we imitate badly, and also want to be imitated in our broken image.   Support the Pugcast in Oxford on Indiegogo:...

In this episode, Glenn talks about four causes of civilizational collapse: mass migration combined with corrupt and ineffectual government; sexual license; loss of belief in society and its values, and massive deficit spending. The guys talk about each of these, and, given that they are all are in place in America right now, discuss how we should be responding in our families and churches.   Support the Pugcast in Oxford on Indiegogo:...

Today we are joined by Annie Crawford, a cultural apologist, a classical educationalist, and home-school mom. Today we discuss the incredible C. S. Lewis, a Pugcast favorite, and the wealth of his contribution to preserving ancient wisdom as it was received and refashioned in accordance with the Christian faith, especially its sacramental vision of reality in Christ. We cover a wide range of topics, including home-school education, classical Christian education, and how Lewis has been and...

Richard Niebuhr's classic, Christ and Culture has shaped the way we understand the relationship of the church and culture by assuming that what we mean by "Christ" when we discuss Christ and culture is Christian ethics. But is that the right place to start? Shouldn't ontology be the starting place since all things were created by Christ and for him? (Col. 1:15-17) If we take this as our starting point, what becomes of Niebuhr's famous archetypes of Christ and Culture? Join the Pugs today as...

Culture, especially its charged symbolism. After unpacking insights from church fathers like Tertullian and Augustine, in their Christian critiques of Public Spectacle Events, the gang enters into important discussion about the impact, function, and role of current Celebrity, Popular Culture, and Spectacles like the Super Bowl, and ponder Christian ways of reading, relating to, going to war with the spiritual character in which these are cloaked.   Article about ‘Adult AI’ mentioned by CR:...

Today’s episode was prompted by responses to an admittedly provocative post Glenn put up on Facebook that generated some virulently antisemitic remarks from Christians. The guys explore the problem of antisemitism, the common ground between the far right and the progressive left, group identity, and a range of related topics.   Support the Pugcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thetheologypugcast?fbclid=IwAR17UHhfzjphO52C_kkZfursA_C784t0ldFix0wyB4fd-YOJpmOQ3dyqGf8   The Theology...

Today the Pugs are joined by the Executive Editor of American Reformer, Timon Cline. Timon is a lawyer, and a writer, and a deep thinker about the political implications of the Christian faith. Political theology might be a new term for you, and if you had a public school education--and even a certain form of Christian education--the term might even seem sinister to you. But hopefully by the time the conversation is done you'll see that Christianity is public truth and that necessarily means...

Today the Pugs are a little short-handed--Tom isn't feeling well. But we do have Rosaria Butterfield with us to discuss her new book, Five Lies of Our Anti-Christian Age. It was a wonderful and free-ranging discussion that touched on many things, among them the subject of what time it is. And while it was a sober assessment on the sorry state of Big Eva and the heretical trends in that world, it was hopeful because of the invincible Christ of the Gospel. Tune in and enjoy the show!   Order...

Today the Pugcast welcomes Dr. David Talcott, professor of philosophy at New Saint Andrews College and all around good guy to the show. David has a new book on Plato published by Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing. Today on the show we ask David to clear up a number of falsehoods people believe about Plato. It was an enjoyable conversation and we welcome you to listen in!   Order Dr. Talcott’s Book: https://www.prpbooks.com/book/plato   Support the Pugcast on Patreon:...

Today Chris shares some fascinating passages from a book entitled: Intellectual Appetite--A Theological Grammar by Paul J. Griffiths. In the book Griffiths contrasts two forms of intellectual appetite: "curiositas" and "studiositas" and why one form of knowledge enriches the soul while the other degrades it. Join us as we discuss forbidden knowledge!   Support the Pugcast on Patreon:...

In this episode, Glenn gives a quick history of Islam’s Golden Age in Spain and its role in spreading Greek thought into Europe. The guys talk about the impact of Aristotelian texts coming out of Spain, the roots of nominalism and voluntarism in Islamic thought, and the end of the Hellenistic Islam of the Golden Age due to a resurgence of conservative Islam.   Support the Pugcast on Patreon:...

Have you ever wondered why evangelical elites when they get a platform in The New York Times, or The Atlantic Monthly never have anything good to say about their fellow evangelicals? We have too. Turns out Andrew T. Walker, Opinions Page Editor at World Magazine is wondering why too. So, he wrote about it in National Review. Andrew is one of the editors that Chris works with regularly, and Andrew has asked him to write about it as well. So these two things led the Pugs to think aloud about...

Today’s show looks at the topic of ‘glory’ and suffering in light of the Incarnation of Christ. Tom introduces the topic and draws upon Augustine’s early chapters of the City of God, where Augustine engages the topic of suffering and glory as he contrasts the Christian vision with Pagan (especially Roman) notions. Glenn and Chris help unpack this important topic as the gang draws out a wealth of wisdom and insight form Augustine from his encounters with various challenges to the Christian...

In this episode, the Pugsters talk about the Christmas sermons preached by St. Augustine, focusing particularly on his descriptions of all of the paradoxes of the Incarnation. Christ’s Incarnation combines the infinite and the finite, the transcendent and the immanent, and so provides lots of fodder for discussion and especially for wonder. Merry Christmas!   Sermon’s referenced by Glenn: https://wesleyscholar.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Augustine-Sermons-184-229.pdf   Support the...

The 20th century might go down as the most horrific century of them all with hundreds of millions killed by their own governments. But there were authors who predicted that things would get even worse. There was George Orwell, of course, and 1984, and Aldous Huxley, and Brave New World, and even Ray Bradbury, and Fahrenheit 451. But each of those visions has a blind spot. But the most prescient may well be C. S. Lewis's, That Hideous Strength. There was so much Lewis had right, and best of...

On today's show Tom introduces a timely topic about the birth of Christ and some of its historical consequences. Chris and Glenn jump in with a host of insights and reflections. What exactly did the angelic announcement of 'peace on earth and goodwill towards men' mean now that the Prince of Peace has arrived? What does it mean for us? Also, how are we encouraged by the biblical imagery to revamp our reality vision and recognize that the Peace of Christ and His triumph over evil does not...

Kemper Crabb joins the Pugsters once again for a conversation about mysterious creatures mentioned in the Bible, including particularly satyrs (Hebrew sa’iyr) and dragons (Hebrew taninim or leviathan), with cameos by behemoth and Lilith. The conversation then turns to how Christians can recover a supernatural worldview and the necessity to do so, given that much of the culture is already moving in that direction.   Support the Pugcast on Patreon:...

Today Chris reflects on an OpEd he wrote for World Magazine responding to an article in the Wall Street Journal: "What if Men Could Make Their Own Egg Cells?" While the title seemed entirely speculative the article revealed that some scientists are actually making "progress" when it comes to this. Why is it that so many people--including some Christians--can't see the down side to technological developments? And if there are down sides, how can Christians help their neighbors see them? Are we...

On today's show Tom introduces the topic through a few articles written in response to Adam Kirsch's new book: The Revolt Against Humanity, where Kirsch unpacks and positively promotes the case for welcoming 'the end of humanity's reign'. Two writers from a symposium respond to this disturbing trend: Noel Gertz and Gilbert Meilaender. The guys interact with the content and engage the trend from a variety of their own insights. At the core: reject the true God, the bearer of the 'image of God'...