Here is one on a topic that I addressed in one of my videos a while back.
This has application not only for Lewis' immediate situation (his country was at war, but some were electing not to serve because they were Pacifists), but also to the more general question of the use of violent force to defend justice, or to defend the weak and the helpless from the ravages of wicked actors.
Scripturally, we see that both in his heavenly court (Ps. 82:4) and in his ordaining of human authorities (Rom. 13), God calls upon the strong to use their strength to restrain evil and protect the weak. As Lewis mentions, this has been the consensus understanding of the universal church for many centuries.
Here is a great lecture from Roman Catholic Bishop Robert Barron on the philosophers whose ideas are now expressing themselves - sometimes even violently - on the streets of many American cities. This is a great video and well-worth watching it all. I wish I had access to this back when I was taking courses on Political Philosophy at LSU.
Rod Dreher on Defending and renewing Western and Christian Civilization
This is an interesting video that brings together a number of authors and themes that I've been chewing on in recent years: He talks about Patrick Deneen's thesis in Why Liberalism Failed, about how Christianity has been supplanted in the hearts of many by "spin-off religions" such as "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism" or "Social Justice Warrior-ism." He discusses Alister MacIntyre's After Virtue, and how the Benedictine monasteries preserved Western Civilization as the Roman Empire collapsed and knowledge and technology actually regressed. He discusses practical things that we can be doing to help preserve the legacy of all that is best in Western Civilization (while also being frankly honest about the bad and the ugly).
Definitely alot to chew on here (and maybe a bit some readers may want to spit back out); I certainly think Dreher is on the right track here, and have come to see my role as a parent and as a spiritual father to my church as passing on, first and foremost, the Biblical faith in Christ, and secondly as passing along the very best of the Western tradition to others.
If you've studied (as I have) Church history, you know that the era of the Reformation, which spanned the 16th Century, was not exactly a peaceful or happy time, though it did bring with it many opportunities.
Historian Niall Ferguson shows that the disruption of the public square caused by the advent of the internet has a close analogue in the disruption that was caused by the printing press, and we are now living with similar consequences.
Of course, one of the consequences of that disruption in the 16th Century was long, massive, and continent-wide warfare. Let us learn the lessons of history and work and pray for peace.
Jonathan Haidt explains why everything is crazy now...
Ok, not exactly, but kind of.
Haidt is a Social Psychologist and he is discussing some of the same trends that have alarmed conservative commentators, though Haidt himself comes from the Left.
While I certainly have some political and philosophical disagreements with Dr. Haidt, I've added him to my list of "YouTube Intellectuals" that I'm following, and I think the over-arching point that he makes in this video is critically important.
Jonathan Haidt is a social psychologist and Professor of Ethical Leadership at New York University's Stern School of Business. He is another "YouTube intellectual" I've been following a bit lately.
He has been a prominent voice (and one from the political left, I might add) calling for reform at our universities that are increasingly homogeneous in terms of political perspective or ideology. He is (rightly) concerned that efforts to stifle free expression of ideas and shield students from any and all viewpoints that might be upsetting leads inevitably to a loss of intellectual rigor, both among faculty and students.
If controversial (often simply another word for "conservative") speakers are banned or shouted down when they attempt to share their perspectives on campus, this means that students and faculty never "do business" with their ideas, never examine the claims, never evaluate the evidence.
Far from protecting the students, this intellectual sheltering can only leave them less prepared to evaluate the many new or challenging ideas that they will encounter for the rest of their lives upon leaving the university.
He also shares about the work he and colleagues are doing at https://heterodoxacademy.org/ to bring about reform and also rank schools according to their openness to free inquiry and the free debate of ideas.
Jordan Peterson on the power of Ideology to bring Hell on Earth
Like millions others around the world, I've engaging with the thought of Jordan Peterson in recent years and profited from doing so.
While we do have some philosophical differences, I think Peterson's critique of Ideology-based censorship (sometimes colloquially referred to as "political correctness") and his critique of Intersectional Ideology (also known as Critical Theory, Cultural Marxism, Intersectional Feminism, Grievance Studies, Liberation Theology, Politics of Emancipation, Social Justice Ideology and so on) is extremely timely, important, and perhaps even Prophetic in this particular cultural moment.
I also respect his unswerving commitment to remain civil with his debate opponents, who are not always so civil with him.
So here is a video that describes how radical ideologies, when they become all-consuming (or, as we Christians would say, when they become "idols") also become murderous and deeply de-humanizing. We need only pay attention to history (so difficult to do in our distracted age) to see that this is in fact the case:
Lecture: Ben Myers on the Patristic model of Atonement
Here is another lecture, this time from Ben Myers, on the atonement: addressing the logic of just how the death of Christ saves us. It comes as a surprise to many evangelical Protestants (at least it did to me) that the way the Early Church Fathers most often talked about how Jesus' death and Resurrection save us was rather different than what you find in most evangelical preaching and hymnody. I actually believe that the Bible gives several complimentary perspectives on that question that are all valid (so don't take my sharing of this video to mean I am dismissing other views of the cross and the atonement, for I frequently use other ways - including some 'substitutionary' models - of talking about it myself).
The way that the Fathers often (though not exclusively) talked about the atonement of Christ has come to be known as "Christus Victor." Basically, through the cross Christ gave himself over to death [the consequence (Rom. 3:23) of sin] which he could do as a real man; but because he was also God, very Life Himself, his very presence overwhelmed and destroyed death. The clearest Biblical reference you can find to this idea is Acts 2:24-28 where we are told "it was impossible for death to hold Christ" precisely because of his unique relationship to God the Father. This idea is behind other passages too that talk about Christ "defeating" death by his own Life (such at 1 Cor. 15).
It also clarifies the phrase of the Apostles' Creed (much neglected by Methodists) that Christ descended into Hades, which means (among other things) that he fully entered into death precisely in order to overwhelm it by his life.
The Fathers worked out the implications of that basic idea in detail, and that is what this lecture from Ben Myers is all about. It is a very good lecture laying out the inner logic of this theory of the atonement. I think during the Q & A afterwards there are a couple of things that - to my Wesleyan way of thinking - he could have said to better clarify some of the "difficulties" that are mentioned regarding this (and any) theory of the atonement. But maybe he thought of what he could have said on his way home. That how it usually goes with me.
Rowan Williams tackles the question of "What is Consciousness" and points out some significant problems with the purely "mechanistic" approaches to this question that are popular in many circles of the academy.
Here is a lecture on C.S. Lewis' understanding or interpretation of the classical Christian doctrine of Hell, given by Wheaton professor, Dr. Jerry Root.
As a Methodist I have always found Lewis' understanding especially congruent with Wesleyan theology (which I suppose makes sense as both Wesley and Lewis were Anglicans, nourished by the same liturgical tradition, studying the same theology, Articles of Religion and classical Anglican Divines, etc.).
Certainly this is good food for thought, that - God willing - also prompts a lifestyle of repentance.
Lectures: John Milbank on the Collapse of Secularism
I've had Milbank's book Radical Orthodoxy on my shelf for a while, but it is way down my reading list. Yet I've still been keen to hear and consider some of his ideas. This lecture is called "The Myth of the Secular" in which Milbank discusses the intellectual paucity of contemporary secularism, which is un-moored from the heritage and intellectual content of Western Civilization in terms of religion, virtue, and a compelling vision of the Good.
In this lecture (about 48 minutes, then Q&A), philosopher, Patristics scholar, and Orthodox Christian David Bentley Hart addresses and rebuffs the arguments and errors "the New Atheists" (Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, et. al.).
He points out the mis-understandings of the New Atheists (who argue against a god that they imagine is some very great an object within the universe rather than the ground or foundation of all Being beyond this and any other universes), as well as numerous errors of historical fact that they include in their books. He also laments that the popularity of the New Atheists may itself be indicative of a loss of intellectual depth and integrity in Western cultures more generally (which he points out includes a decline in the quality of religious discourse itself, against which Dawkins et al. are reacting).
Completely fascinating lecture. Well worth your time!
I am planning to spend more of my free time in the morning watching more serious lectures from theologians and thinkers on YouTube rather than cartoons or re-runs. The best or most thought-provoking of these I plan to share on this blog - a "Gloria Deo Lecture Series" if you will. I am not necessarily endorsing all that is said here, but I am holding up some serious thinkers with some deep claims that are worth our attention. If you have the time to engage with some of these lectures, I hope they will get "the wheels turning" in your head.
The First video is a lecture from Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury on the finality and uniqueness or even the exclusivity of Christ (as expressed in John 14:5-6 and Acts 4:11-12) in a "Pluralistic" World.
