Send us a text

Patrick stands with a nation stunned by the assassination of Charlie Kirk, a young father and bold voice for open dialogue, killed while addressing students. The episode unfolds with raw reactions from callers, honest prayers, and pointed questions about faith, violence, and what it means to debate without resorting to hate. Every moment aches with the reality of loss as Patrick threads together Kirk’s legacy, the demand for respectful disagreement, and the heartbreak of seeing violence silence conversation.

• Audio: Live Action - Charlie Kirk reminded us that a life of courage and virtue isn’t easy—but it’s worth living. His example should inspire us all to stand boldly for what’s right
• Carmen - This has been really hard for me.
• Mary - I feel like this is kind of the official end of the Democrat Party being the party of anti-gun and peace and love. Thank you for providing a form to talk about these issues from a Catholic perspective.
• Stacy - My daughter texted me from school within 8 minutes after this happened. This was really shocking to me. Charlie has a had a great impact on the youth.

Interested in more of the Patrick Madrid Show? Click here to learn more.

Send us a text

In this episode, Kale and I discuss the final pages of The Abolition of Man. In a world allegedly without objective values, what conditions the conditioners? Chesterton’s idea of play and rules providing freedom; the reality that a value-free neutrality does not exist; trans-humanism and post-humanism; the dismembering of nature and disenchantment; the magician’s bargain: how the last step toward the abolition of man is unlike every prior step; the common ancestry of science and magic; how seeing through everything is the same as not to see.

The Abolition of Man - C.S. Lewis

After Humanity: A Guide to C.S. Lewis's The Abolition of Man - Michael Ward

Will the Future Be Human? - Yuval Noah Harari

Faustian bargain, Britannica.com

The Freedom of Boundaries in G.K. Chesterton - Zak Schmoll

Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 675-676: "The Church's ultimate trial"

Send us a text

Today, we begin discussing the final chapter of The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis. Topics include: slavery and freedom; the conquest of man over man; the flight from the reality of death; the world state as a surrogate for the Tao; eugenics, trans-humanism and post-humanism; man as raw material for the post-human project; the impact of World War I on the thinking of Lewis; and what a positive and humane technical progress could look like.

The Abolition of Man - C.S. Lewis

After Humanity: A Guide to C.S. Lewis's The Abolition of Man - Michael Ward

Learning in War Time - C.S. Lewis

On Living in an Atomic Age - C.S. Lewis
Reprinted in a collection entitled Present Concerns: Journalistic Essays.

Will the Future Be Human? - Yuval Noah Harari

The Screwtape Letters - C.S. Lewis

The Space Trilogy - C.S. Lewis

"Standing reserves" - Martin Heidegger

Miracles - C.S. Lewis

"Cover stories for a theft" - Eric Weinstein

Send us a text

My friend Kale Zelden and I finish discussing the second chapter of The Abolition of Man: “The Way.” We discuss the rebellion of the branch against the tree; whether authority can be interrogated from within or without the Tao; addressing moral relativity before making an apologia for faith; and how the end of this chapter of The Abolition of Man echoes the tower of Babel and The Screwtape Letters.

Click here for the show notes.

Send us a text

My friend Kale Zelden and I begin discussing the second chapter of The Abolition of Man: "The Way." We discuss Innovators and Debunkers, the limits of instinct, and the indispensable role of the Tao.

The Abolition of Man - C.S. Lewis

After Humanity: A Guide to C.S. Lewis's The Abolition of Man - Michael Ward

Bishop Barron's conversation with evolutionary biologists Heather Heying and Bret Weinstein

Macbeth - William Shakespeare

Plato's Allegory of the Cave

Send us a text

My friend Kale Zelden and I complete our conversation about the first chapter of The Abolition of Man: "Men Without Chests." We discuss debunking, the cultivation of just sentiments, the Tao, the poem Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen, and the chest as essential mediator between the head and the belly.

The Abolition of Man - C.S. Lewis

After Humanity: A Guide to C.S. Lewis's The Abolition of Man - Michael Ward

Awakening from the Meaning Crisis - John Vervaeke

Shadowlands

Theology after Wittgenstein - Fergus Kerr

Dulce et Decorum Est - Wilfred Owen

Send us a text

My friend Kale Zelden returns to the podcast to discuss with me The Abolition of Man, a collection of lectures on ethics that C.S. Lewis first delivered in 1943 at the University of Durham. Today's episode contains our opening conversation about The Abolition of Man.

The Abolition of Man - C.S. Lewis

After Humanity: A Guide to C.S. Lewis's The Abolition of Man - Michael Ward

The Stranger - Albert Camus

A Critical Look at The Stranger: The Culpability of Moral Estrangement

That Hideous Strength - C.S. Lewis

The Inner Ring - C.S. Lewis

Mis, Dis, Malinformation (MDM) - CISA (Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency)

Prebunking - August 28, 2021 issue of WIRED magazine

Send us a text

The second season of this podcast will be focused on the theme of humanity: Specifically, the topic of how to ground our humanity within a truly ethical framework. It's something to which C.S. Lewis gave close attention in a book titled The Abolition of Man, first published in 1943. My friend Kale Zelden will return to discuss the book with me, as we have both appreciated the book for a long time and are eager to revisit it.

The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis

After Humanity by Father Michael Ward