Episodes
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Why do we not feel free? As modern liberalism continues to isolate and divide, our common experience is a lack of freedom, of being constrained and enslaved. But, how can true freedom be restored? In this episode of the Politics of Paganism, Alex Denley and Dr. Andrew Jones discuss the New Law and how grace restores true freedom.
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St. Thomas Aquinas presents salvation history in three stages: The Age of Nature, the Age of Law, and the Age of Grace. The pagans are stuck within the age of nature; fallen humanity inevitably declines into idolatry and slavery. But, God has a plan for saving man. From the time of Moses until Christ, God's chosen people are in the Age of Law which points forward to the coming of Christ. In this podcast, Alex Denley and Dr. Andrew Jones discuss salvation history and the culmination of the Age of Law in the Cross.
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Missing episodes?
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The pagan cosmos is a closed world: the city is never truly self-sufficient, requiring natural slaves and war; regimes rise and fall cyclically; the regime's justice is never true justice. In the Treatise on Law (ST I-II, Q.90-108), St. Thomas Aquinas presents a different vision: the open world of grace. God orders the world through the eternal law; rational creatures participate in providence through human law; divine law is necessary to bring man to his final end. In this episode of the Politics of Paganism, Alex Denley and Dr. Andrew Jones discuss how St. Thomas' vision of law answers the closed world of the pagans.
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Plato and Aristotle argue that aristocracy is the ideal regime, but it never lasts for long. What's most powerful wins, and the masses are always the most powerful in number. Eventually, every pagan regime declines into the production of idols and temple slavery---whether Egypt, Greece, or Rome. In this episode of the Politics of Paganism, Alex Denley and Dr. Andrew Jones discuss this decline and what brings it about.
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Medically-assisted suicide bills are being introduced in states all over the country. Proponents say that it allows people to "die with dignity" and that it gives people "autonomy." But, the actual reality is far darker. In states like Oregon and California, people have been denied life-saving treatment and recommended suicide. People with disabilities and depression have been pressured into suicide.
In this podcast, Pat McGeehan, delegate of West Virginia, Marc Barnes, and Alex Denley discuss the dangers of legalized medically-assisted suicide. -
Aristotle's "Politics" is full of deep insight: politics as the architectonic science, the mixed constitution, happiness as the end of the city. But, there's a group which is excluded from human virtue; namely, the natural slave. Alex Denley and Dr. Andrew Jones discuss how the "natural slave" reveals the structure of Aristotle's just city: a limited class of citizens over an unspecified amount of slaves. And, that the despotic relationship extends into the mixed constitution of the citizens. The masses believe they are ruling in a democracy, the notables believe they are ruling an oligarchy, and the one, true philosopher-statesman rules the whole; each class instrumentalizes the other. They discuss how this doesn't vilify Aristotle, or presume nefarious intentions; this is what a science of a pagan political order demands. Ultimately, it is this structure that Christianity transforms from both within and above.
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Ted Benna has been called the "Father of the 401k." But now, he says that he created a monster. He intended for the 401 (k) to help turn spenders into savers, but it has become full of hidden fees and salary reductions that only enrich the financial industry rather than savers. In this podcast, Marc Barnes and Jacob Imam interview Ted Benna for his story of the 401 (k).
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James Donald Forbes McCann returns for a special episode of Good Money. He has more questions for Jacob Imam and Marc Barnes: Why do Americans use cash? What's the marital debt? Why should people sell their stocks?
Check out James's show: https://youtube.com/@jamesdonaldforbesmccann?feature=shared
Subscribe to New Polity Magazine! https://newpolity.com/magazine
Join the conversation on our discord: https://discord.gg/bNJ2uE7as6 -
Plato presents a vicious circle that every regime goes through: from a limited aristocracy, to a timocracy of honor, an oligarchy based on wealth, a democracy based on liberty, and, finally, the tyranny of the one against all. While some regimes may be more just than others, it is bound to collapse eventually. Alex Denley and Dr. Andrew Jones discuss Plato's description of the individual and his regime, the circle of regimes, and how Christianity can provide an answer to the circle.
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Everyone has a sense of what is just and unjust, but what is the source of justice? In this episode of "The Politics of Paganism," Alex Denley and Dr. Andrew Willard Jones discuss Plato's "Republic." Through a discussion of the luxurious city, the myth of the mixture of the elements, the Allegory of the Cave, and finally the Philosopher-King, Alex and Andrew show the tension in Plato between relative and absolute justice; between the shadows of justice in the city and true justice that the philosopher contemplates.
If you want to read ahead, next up is Plato's "Republic." -
Death comes for everyone. For the Christian, death is the passage into eternal life; but, what about for the Pagan? Alex Denley and Dr. Andrew Jones discuss the problem of death for pagan regimes. Using St. Augustine's "City of God," they discuss Cain's murder of Abel, the founding of the city by violence, the inferior law of violence, and the overturning of death by Christ.
If you want to read ahead, next up is Plato's "Republic." -
As the liberal order continues to collapse, rival voices have gained popularity—groups that aren’t content secularizing religion, but rejecting Christianity altogether. Old pagan arguments are resurrecting: the aesthetics of power, might-makes-right, vitalism and tyranny. Alex Denley and Dr. Andrew Willard Jones discuss their new series “The Politics of Paganism” and how Christianity can understand and defeat the pagan attacks against it.
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Gender season 2 has come to a close. Marc Barnes and Maria Brandell answer your questions and discuss the second season of Gender.
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Subscribe to New Polity magazine! https://newpolity.com/magazine
Marc Barnes and Alex Denley discuss the latest New Polity magazine, Issue 5.1. Articles include D. C. Schindler on totalitarianism and America, a debate on the stock market, Marc on the medieval practice of sanctuary, and more. -
Marc and Maria discuss how the Third-Person perspective of pornography changes the way we view sexual difference.
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Euthanasia is becoming legalized across the Western world. Pat McGeehan, Delegate of West Virginia, is fighting against it. Advocates employ slogans like “death with dignity,” and appeal to compassion; but, the actual results are much different. Already, a “suicide tourism” phenomenon has begun, with people flying to states like Oregon to get legal doctor-assisted suicide. Pat tells a story of one of his constituents who, tragically, was a victim of this. Likewise, Canada’s MAID (Medical Assistance in Dying) program has resulted in the deaths of over 40,000 people since 2016; with legislation only being passed recently to curb the amount of suicide tourism. By legalizing euthanasia, the door is open for gross misuse: the elderly who feel they are a burden to their children could be pressured into an untimely death, people with treatable illnesses could elect to end their lives, hospitals and health insurance providers could increase euthanasia recommendations to patients to decrease costs. But, Pat is fighting for the dignity of his constituents in West Virginia. Euthanasia denies the dignity of the person; Pat is working to uphold that dignity by constitutionally banning euthanasia in the state of West Virginia.
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Marc and Maria continue their conversation on Humanae Vitae; specifically on the desire to control the body and its reproduction through abortion. They discuss how abortion not only plays the function of the killing of innocent children, but reshapes the experience of the body as such.
This episode is part 2 of a conversation on the Control of the Body.
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READINGS
Contraception, Abortion Episode (I-II)
Donum Vitae:
https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19870222_respect-for-human-life_en.html
(All hail the parchment background)
Humanae Vitae: https://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae.html
(All mourn the loss of the parchment background) -
Maria and Marc read Humanae Vitae, the Catholic Church's decisive rejection of contraception, as a text which prophesies and makes sense out of the meaninglessness we ascribe to our male and female bodies today.
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Come to our conference! https://newpolity.com/events -
America is sinking into pagan practices and beliefs. While Americans may not use the same language as the ancient pagans, John Daniel Davidson believes that the central pagan creed is present: there is no truth, everything is permitted. Liberalism had attempted to create neutral spaces, but as those spaces become more fought over, the only rationale can be one's own power. Dr. Andrew Willard Jones and John Daniel Davidson discuss the roots of a pagan worldview, the extent to which America is pagan, and how Christians should approach the pagan political order.
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Everywhere is beige. The same beige houses, the same big box department stores, even the exact same food is served everywhere all across the country. What has this monotone sameness done to produce our cultural moment - one that seems to glorify diversity on the one hand, but ship it out en masse with the other? Join Marc Barnes and Maria Brandell as they explore our desaturated modern world and why we look to gender for the way out.
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