The Good Life

The Piety of Uriah

We normally think of piety as only applying to our spiritual lives, i.e. reading our Bibles, prayer, etc. But for the ancients, piety was a matter of fulfilling responsibilities to others, a way of discharging debts owed to our authorities and those who have gone before us. In today's podcast, I talk about how Uriah the Hittite is portrayed as an excellent example of piety, even greater than King David in his older years. 

Life Among the Puritans with Timon Cline

Timon Cline is a lawyer and historian in New Jersey who specializes in the history of Puritan New England. We've heard a lot about the religious life of the time, but we don't know nearly so much about their laws and society. Today we talk about misconceptions of Puritanism, their influences, and how they were closer in many ways to Medieval society than we imagine. 

Timon Cline's essays

• Three Cheers for Cultural Christianity
• Religion is Downstream from Technology, p. 1
• John Cotton, Protestant Integralist
• Is Nationalism Natural?

Practicing Patriotism Like the Men of Jabesh

Can you honor your country when the leaders are wicked? The last story in I Samuel gives us some clues as to how to honor the memory of those who formerly were righteous but turned away.  

A Word for Sticking With an Institution

There have been several institutional victories recently for conservatives: the Supreme Court, the PCA, and the CRC all have made good choices in the last few weeks, some quite unexpected. Part of the reason this is so unexpected is that Americans have a tendency to leave institutions rather than remaining within and fighting and working to change course. In this podcast, I talk about our history of "flying away" and some principles to consider when we face to choice of whether to leave or stay in a faltering organization. 

Looking at History with Dr. Miles Smith

Miles is a history professor at Hillsdale College. Originally from North Carolina, he now resides in Michigan. He has written for First Things, The American Conservative, Ad Fontes Journal, and American Reformer. In this episode, we talk about how history is an expanding subject, how to distinguish real history from conspiracy theories, the difference between preaching Scripture and teaching history, what makes someone a good history teacher, and why people should read less Flannery O'Connor and more George Washington Cable. 

Articles by Miles

• Conservativism, If You Can Keep It
• Would That It Were 'Christian Nationalism'
• Evangelicals and Whig History
• Be For the City: 19th Century Evangelicals and Urban Theonomy
• The Bible and the Nation

Progress, Technology, and Wisdom with Michael Sacasas

Michael Sacasas is the head of a Christian Study Center in Gainsville, Florida. He has written on the role of technology through the lens of writers like Hannah Arendt, Jacques Ellul, and Ivan Illich. Today we talk about why it's hard to define technology, the dangers of mechanistic thinking, and how limits help us pursue a good life. 

• The Convivial Society (Michael's Newsletter)
• The Human Condition - Hannah Arendt
• The Technological Society - Jacques Ellul
• Rebels Against the Future - Kirkpatrick Sale
• The Year of Our Lord 1943 - Alan Jacobs
• Life After Babel - Jonathan Haidt (article)
• Why American Teens Are So Sad - Derek Thompson (article)

The Church vs. Dark Magic

Recently I preached on magic from Leviticus 19 and 20. There was much more material than I could talk about and quite a few questions. This is my first podcast that's not an interview. Today I talk about the relationship between magic and nature, how our modern view of magic is quite new, and how the Reformation helped unite the church against the spread of dark magic. 

I'd love to hear from you if you have any suggestions for future topics. 

 

• Seven Brief Lessons on Magic - Paul Tyson
• Living in a World of Magic - Sermon

The Blessed Life of a Country Vet - Jim Wight

Who is the only writer who makes Queen Elizabeth laugh out loud when she reads him? The answer is James Herriot, (his actual name is Alfred Wight). His books, beginning with All Creatures Great and Small, are funny, interesting, and reveal a slower way of life from a bygone era. He was a practicing vet from 1939 to 1996 in the Yorkshire region of the U.K. Masterpiece Theater recently turned his novels into a television series (for the second time) and his books have sold over 60 million copies. 

Today I interviewed his son, Jim Wight, who wrote a wonderful biography of his father called, The Real James Herriot. We talk about the people behind the characters in the novels, what it's like to be a vet in rural England, and why so many people love James Herriot stories. 

 

Books

• The Real James Herriot
• All Creatures Great and Small
• All Things Bright and Beautiful
• All Things Wise and Wonderful
• The Lord God Made Them All

The Best Political Philosophy You’ve Never Heard Of - Michael Connolly

I'm joined by Dr. Michael Connolly, a history professor at Purdue University Northwest. He has written several articles about the best political perspective you've probably never heard about - Toryism. Most Americans only think of Toryism as a British idea, but it's much deeper than that. Far from being an ideology and bearing little similarity to the modern British political party of the same name, Toryism is a way of looking at the world. Beginning with an appreciation of the blessings from the past, it includes a love of the church, patriotism, the fundamental necessity of the family, the necessity of hierarchy, a slower pace of life, and protecting the weak in society, all with as little government involvement as possible. 

If these are ideas you appreciate, you'll certainly want to hear the rest. 

Article  by Dr. Connolly:

• The Tory Tradition
• The Tory Interpretation of History
• The Past as Battlefield
• Other Articles by Dr. Connolly

Bonus Episode - Books for kids of all ages - Phoebe Carpenter

Today I spoke with my daughter, Phoebe, about kids and young adult literature. We discuss some books we've read as a family and she talks about books she enjoys. We talk about books for boys, girls, and what makes for a good story. 

Books we discuss in this episode:

• The Mysterious Benedict Society - Trenton Lee Stewart
• Mr. Pipes and the British Hymn Makers - Douglas Bond
• Mr. Pipes and Psalms and Hymns of the Reformation - Douglas Bond
• 100 Cupboards - N.D. Wilson
• Looking for the King - David C. Downing
• A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
• Anne of Green Gables - L.M. Montgomery
• Mitford Series - Jan Karon
• Cards on the Table - Agatha Christie
• The Labors of Hercules - Agatha Christie
• Complete Stories of Dorothy Sayers - Dorothy Sayers
• Father Brown Stories - G. K. Chesterton
• Russell Kirk Stories
• Not Exactly Ghosts - Andrew Caldecott
• Complete Ghost Stories - M.R. James
• Ade's Fables - George Ade
• Fables in Slang - George Ade
• Jeeves Omnibus - P.G. Wodehouse
• All Creatures Great and Small - James Herriot
• Favorite Poems Old and New - selected authors