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  • The Joys and Limits of Humanity: A Conversation with Drs. Tisha Rajendra and Ruben Rosario Rodriguez on Magnifica Humanitas

    The Joys and Limits of Humanity: A Conversation with Drs. Tisha Rajendra and Ruben Rosario Rodriguez on Magnifica Humanitas
    2026/09/02
    Welcome to Season 5, Episode 1 of What Matters Most! In this episode I welcomed Dr. Tisha Rajendra and Dr. Ruben Rosario Rodriguez to discuss Pope Leo's first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas. I delved into the encyclical on my own a couple of months ago, but I wanted to bring in experts in Christian ethics to discuss the encyclical on AI, migration, war, and whatever else came up for them in their readings. Dr. Tisha Rajendra is an associate professor at Loyola University Chicago. Tisha M. Rajendra is the author of Migrants and Citizens: Justice as Responsibility in the Ethics of Immigration (Eerdmans, 2017) and has published academic articles in the Journal for the Society of Christian Ethics, Ethical Theory and Moral Practice and Political Theology. Her writing for general audiences has been published in Sojourners and the Los Angeles Times. She also has a new book coming out soon: Immigration: An Ethics of Resistance. It covers recent immigration enforcement, the history of Christian complicity with evil (German church, third Reich), a biblical theology of resistance, and virtues of resistance: solidarity, humility, magnanimity, prudence, hope and resistance. Dr. Rubén Rosario Rodríguez, Ph.D. is a Professor of Systematic Theology and Theological Ethics at Saint Louis University, where he previously held the Clarence Louis and Helen Steber Chair in Theological Studies and is currently the Coordinator of Graduate Programs in the Department of Theological Studies. He recently published his fourth and fifth monographs, Theological Fragments: Confessing What We Know and Cannot Know about an Infinite God (Westminster John Knox Press, 2023), and Calvin for the World: The Enduring Relevance of His Political, Social, and Economic Theology (Baker Academic, 2024). This fall he is a fellow in residence at the Center of Theological Inquiry in Princeton, New Jersey, while he completes work on his next book titled, Between Despair and Complacency: Reclaiming the Theology of Hope (under review at Cambridge University Press). I appreciated the passion and thoughtfulness they brought to the entire discussion of MH, including towards the end when they questioned why the image of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem was the biblical counterpoint to the Tower of Babel, the confusion of languages, instead of the account of Pentecost, as Ruben proposed, when the Holy Spirit came and everyone could understand each other. I do suspect that it has to do with the image of hands on, human building, but Tisha raised an important point about the fact that Nehemiah 13 (and Ezra 9–10) address intermarriage by urging the community to cast out their foreign wives to maintain their religious identity. While it does not appear in these early chapters, it casts a pall on this image as one of humanity working together, especially in a document where a positive assessment of migration plays such a central role. The encyclical, for any of its weaknesses, remains a powerful and essential document. Ruben noted that "it has been incredibly popular on social media and in particular with the younger generations. And first things interviewed a young person, Gen Z, and the response was people have really been looking for a response to AI. This was the first, at least in my sphere of the world, the first time a world leader made an announcement of this magnitude. And so, people are wanting more guidance, more of a response, a balanced response to AI. So kudos to the Pope for taking the lead on that." I agree. I also resonated with Tisha's comment, reflecting on Augustine, as probably the only Catholic feminist who loves Augustine, that "the earthly city is where we live right now. human finitude, fallibility, vulnerability, embodiment are where grace is. And I think it's true to say that some of the turn to AI is this temptation to escape finitude and to escape vulnerability. And the Pope is saying, well, embrace it. sure, one day we will shuffle off this mortal coil and we will be with God and we will be basking in the beatific vision, right? But none of us knows what that will be like. And right now we encounter grace through our.... in the midst of and with our mortality and vulnerability and finitude. And that's the one thing that AI will never cherish and it will never help us do that." I thought this was powerfully said. Finally, the need for education is greater than ever. Tisha noted that "Leo says in 140: education is a long journey requiring patience. It needs time for development and engagement with reality beyond appearances." We need to offer our students time, we need to offer ourselves time to learn, to reflect, to think. Do not miss the joy, do not let AI steal the joy of learning and truly knowing something deeply. One last thing: When Tisha mentioned racist immigration policies in Canada, especially regarding South Asian immigrants, I noted an early 20th century incident in Vancouver. That was the The...
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    1 時間 37 分
  • Apocalypse and Liturgy in Orthodox Christianity: A Conversation with Fr. Matthew Francis

    Apocalypse and Liturgy in Orthodox Christianity: A Conversation with Fr. Matthew Francis
    2026/08/19

    Welcome to Season 4, Episode 29 of What Matters Most!

    In this episode I speak with Fr. Matthew Francis about Orthodox Liturgy and about the connections between Orthodox Liturgy and the book of Revelation. Fr. Matthew is currently completing his book Apocalypse and Liturgy and we delve into some of that fascinating world.

    Fr. Matthew Francis serves as the Parish Priest of Holy Apostles Orthodox Church in Chilliwack, BC, and since 2019 has also served as the Regional Director of the Canadian Bible Society, for BC and the Yukon.

    There were so many questions I wanted to ask Fr. Matthew so we will have to have him on another time to discuss questions about Orthodox Christianity in Canada and North America, especially as to what connections there are to Orthodox churches in North America and those abroad like the Greek and Russian Orthodox churches, about some differences between Orthodoxy and Catholicism, and about the state of the Orthodox church in North America today. But that was a nice intro I think to the beauty of Orthodox liturgy and its deep connections to the Apocalypse of John or Revelation. Orthodox liturgy has this mystical sense that does seem to be paralleled by the mystery of Revelation. And the deep ties between Christian worship and Revelation are sometimes overlooked or people are unaware of them. I look forward to Fr Matthew's book and, in the meantime, I refer you to two books that he mentioned that offer some of the historical background to understanding Revelation: Imperial Cults and the Apocalypse of John: Reading Revelation in the Ruins by Stephen Friesen and Rituals and Power: The Roman Imperial Cult in Asia Minor by S.R. F. Price. The article I was thinking of was indeed by David E. Aune, "The Influence of Roman Imperial Cult Ceremonial on the Apocalypse of John."

    A few thanks are in order. First of all, I am grateful to Martin Strong, who guides me in the podcasting world and joins me for the Pop Culture Matters regularly. Second, the episodes are edited, engineered, and produced by Kevin Eng who is the first listener to all the episodes and my consultant for each episode, especially with the snippets that begin each episode. Thank you, Kevin, for all of your expertise and support and especially for saving this episode when I could not convert it to a listenable or viewable file. Finally, to the Fang Fang Chandra, the CCE assistant, who helps me bring this podcast to you, but also makes the CCE run so much more smoothly.

    I also want to thank our donors to the Centre, whose generosity enables this work to take place at all: Peter Bull, Angus Reid, and Andy Szocs. We are thankful to their commitment to the life of the academic world and of the work of the Church in the world by funding the work of the CCE. I am also thankful to the Cullen family, Mark and Barbara, for their support of the ongoing work of the CCE through financial donations that allow us to bring speakers to the local and international arenas.

    If you would like to support the work of the CCE, become a new member of CCE Patreon, First Engagers, supporting the podcast and the Centre for only $5.00 CAD a month. For that 5 dollars, you will get a live monthly podcast discussion via Zoom, free exclusive member merchandise, be able to suggest guests and topics for What Matters Most. And the first ten Patrons, apart from the other merch they will receive, such as water bottles, tote bags, etc., will get awesome, I mean it, awesome, CCE hoodies. Orange hoodies with the CCE logo in green, orange and blue. Do it, become first engagers! If you are simply interested in donating to the CCE, please check out the CCE website where you can find the donate button on the top right corner. We are a non-profit organization, and all donations over $20.00 are tax deductible. But think about the Patreon too!

    Since St. Mark's Centre for Christian Engagement seeks to enable the creation of a culture of encounter and dialogue, let me invite you into that discussion. Follow us at our Instagram page, @stmarkscce and drop us a line as to what you want to see or hear. We'll post there with a question as to what you are most interested in. Or email us with your suggestions to jmartens@stmarkscollege.ca or cceconferences@stmarkscollege.ca.

    John W. Martens
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    1 時間 2 分
  • The Dying Child and the Personhood of Children in Ancient Judah: A Conversation with Dr. Kristine Garroway

    The Dying Child and the Personhood of Children in Ancient Judah: A Conversation with Dr. Kristine Garroway
    2026/08/05
    Welcome to Season 4, Episode 28 of What Matters Most! T In this episode I welcome my friend and colleague Kristine Henriksen Garroway to discuss her recent book The Dying Child: The Death and Personhood of Children in Ancient Israel (Oxford UP, 2025). Kristine is a prolific scholar and a ground-breaking archaeologist who works to bring to life ancient children, so often forgotten in archaeological and textual research. Kristine Garroway is Professor of Bible at the Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion's Skirball Campus in Los Angeles where she joined the faculty in 2011. She received her doctorate in Hebrew Bible and Cognate Studies at the Hebrew Union College/Cincinnati in 2009. She has spent time studying and researching in Israel and has participated in excavations at Ashkelon, Tel Dor, and Tel Dan. Garroway's scholarship focuses on children using archaeology and texts of ancient Israel and Mesopotamia. She has published in various scholarly journals and is a regular contributor to thetorah.com. Garroway's books include: Children in the Ancient Near Eastern Household (Eisenbrauns 2014) and Growing Up in Ancient Israel: Children in Material Culture and Biblical Texts (Society of Biblical Literature 2018). She is the recipient of the Biblical Archaeological Society's 2019 Publication Award for Best Book Relating to Hebrew Bible. The loss of children was something the ancients had to consider more often than we do, thankfully, but death is something none of us will escape and we probably do not think about it or consider it enough today. What does it mean to us? What does it mean that we will all die? This is something the ancients faced head on and I think we should consider in the same way. As Kristine writes, "The archaeological remains in the Judahite bench tombs show care for all members deposited there, stressing the importance of the continuity of the Judahite family unit and personhoods, including infants and children, in life as well as in death." Thanks to Kristine Garroway for bringing these questions and the ancient children to us. Persons every last one of them. A few thanks are in order. First of all, I am grateful to Martin Strong, who guides me in the podcasting world and joins me for the Pop Culture Matters regularly. Second, the episodes are edited, engineered, and produced by Kevin Eng who is the first listener to all the episodes and my consultant for each episode, especially with the snippets that begin each episode. Thank you, Kevin, for all of your expertise and support and especially for saving this episode when I could not convert it to a listenable or viewable file. Finally, to the Fang Fang Chandra, the CCE assistant, who helps me bring this podcast to you, but also makes the CCE run so much more smoothly. I also want to thank our donors to the Centre, whose generosity enables this work to take place at all: Peter Bull, Angus Reid, and Andy Szocs. We are thankful to their commitment to the life of the academic world and of the work of the Church in the world by funding the work of the CCE. I am also thankful to the Cullen family, Mark and Barbara, for their support of the ongoing work of the CCE through financial donations that allow us to bring speakers to the local and international arenas. If you would like to support the work of the CCE, become a new member of CCE Patreon, First Engagers, supporting the podcast and the Centre for only $5.00 CAD a month. For that 5 dollars, you will get a live monthly podcast discussion via Zoom, free exclusive member merchandise, be able to suggest guests and topics for What Matters Most. And the first ten Patrons, apart from the other merch they will receive, such as water bottles, tote bags, etc., will get awesome, I mean it, awesome, CCE hoodies. Orange hoodies with the CCE logo in green, orange and blue. Do it, become first engagers! If you are simply interested in donating to the CCE, please check out the CCE website where you can find the donate button on the top right corner. We are a non-profit organization, and all donations over $20.00 are tax deductible. But think about the Patreon too! Since St. Mark's Centre for Christian Engagement seeks to enable the creation of a culture of encounter and dialogue, let me invite you into that discussion. Follow us at our Instagram page, @stmarkscce and drop us a line as to what you want to see or hear. We'll post there with a question as to what you are most interested in. Or email us with your suggestions to jmartens@stmarkscollege.ca or cceconferences@stmarkscollege.ca. John W. Martens
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    1 時間 28 分
  • Securitizing Religion Amid the Russo-Ukrainian War: Nationalism, Identity, and Religious Freedom: A Lecture by Dr. Pavlo Smytsnyuk

    Securitizing Religion Amid the Russo-Ukrainian War: Nationalism, Identity, and Religious Freedom: A Lecture by Dr. Pavlo Smytsnyuk
    2026/07/22

    Welcome to Season 4, Episode 27 of What Matters Most! This episode focuses on a lecture given by Dr. Pavlo Smytsnyuk, "Securitizing Religion Amid the Russo-Ukrainian War: Nationalism, Identity, and Religious Freedom," given for the Centre for Christian Engagement at St. Mark's College on March 17, 2026. This lecture is a part of our examination of Christian nationalism, a project we are now calling Cross Purposes: Christianity and Nationalism. At the Centre for Christian Engagement, we are exploring a wide variety of ways in which Christianity and nationalism interact with one another, and in this lecture Dr. Smytsnyuk examined questions of nationalism, identity, and religious freedom. The language of Christian nationalism is complex and means different things in different contexts. Russia's war on Ukraine, supported openly by the Russian Orthodox Church, has created many complexities for the varieties of Christianity in Russia and Ukraine.

    Pavlo Smytsnyuk was born in Ukraine and studied philosophy and theology in Rome, Athens, and St. Petersburg, and holds a doctorate from the University of Oxford. He specializes in political theology, the study of religious nationalism, and Eastern Christianity.He is currently a visiting scholar at New York University's Jordan Center. Before moving to New York, he held research and teaching positions at George Washington University in D.C., Princeton University, and Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv. Smytsnyuk is co-editor of Marian Reflections on War and Peace: Trauma, Mourning, and Justice in Ukraine and Beyond (Routledge, 2025).

    A few thanks are in order. First of all, I am grateful to Martin Strong, who guides me in the podcasting world and joins me for the Pop Culture Matters regularly. Second, the episodes are edited, engineered, and produced by Kevin Eng who is the first listener to all the episodes and my consultant for each episode, especially with the snippets that begin each episode. Thank you, Kevin, for all of your expertise and support and especially for saving this episode when I could not convert it to a listenable or viewable file. Finally, to the Fang Fang Chandra, the CCE assistant, who helps me bring this podcast to you, but also makes the CCE run so much more smoothly.

    I also want to thank our donors to the Centre, whose generosity enables this work to take place at all: Peter Bull, Angus Reid, and Andy Szocs. We are thankful to their commitment to the life of the academic world and of the work of the Church in the world by funding the work of the CCE. I am also thankful to the Cullen family, Mark and Barbara, for their support of the ongoing work of the CCE through financial donations that allow us to bring speakers to the local and international arenas.

    If you would like to support the work of the CCE, become a new member of CCE Patreon, First Engagers, supporting the podcast and the Centre for only $5.00 CAD a month. For that 5 dollars, you will get a live monthly podcast discussion via Zoom, free exclusive member merchandise, be able to suggest guests and topics for What Matters Most. And the first ten Patrons, apart from the other merch they will receive, such as water bottles, tote bags, etc., will get awesome, I mean it, awesome, CCE hoodies. Orange hoodies with the CCE logo in green, orange and blue. Do it, become first engagers! If you are simply interested in donating to the CCE, please check out the CCE website where you can find the donate button on the top right corner. We are a non-profit organization, and all donations over $20.00 are tax deductible. But think about the Patreon too!

    Since St. Mark's Centre for Christian Engagement seeks to enable the creation of a culture of encounter and dialogue, let me invite you into that discussion. Follow us at our Instagram page, @stmarkscce and drop us a line as to what you want to see or hear. We'll post there with a question as to what you are most interested in. Or email us with your suggestions to jmartens@stmarkscollege.ca or cceconferences@stmarkscollege.ca.

    John W. Martens
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    1 時間 22 分
  • A Catholic Boy in Montreal: A Conversation with Dr. Gerry Turcotte

    A Catholic Boy in Montreal: A Conversation with Dr. Gerry Turcotte
    2026/07/08
    Welcome to Season 4, Episode 26 of What Matters Most! This episode focuses on a Gerry Turcotte's new novel The Space Between (EnRoute Books and Media, 2026). This novel is a coming-of-age story of a catholic boy in Quebec, caught between the French and English worlds, or perhaps a part of each of those worlds, striving to make sense of his place within the world at home, at school, and in love. I hope you enjoy our discussion of this winsome and winning novel. I compared it to the movie A Christmas Story, not because there is a Christmas scene in The Space Between, a manger scene to be precise, but because it has the same sense of wonder at growing up and it has a cinematic quality with all of the vignettes that speak to the confusion and complexity of growing up. For Canadians it also has that French-English dynamic that is part of our national story, no matter where you grew up in Canada, but certainly most profoundly in Quebec. But the novel also moves us to awakenings of maturity, not simply in terms of falling in love and navigating middle and high school, but in the harsh realities of life: sexual abuse, mental health struggles, the imperfections of those who serve the Church, and even Auschwitz. But it's also the story of loving parents, a priest who is definitely trying, and a nun, Sister Anne, who is a guiding light. And a boy trying to navigate it all. Like we all try to do, and all ultimately do for better or worse. Gerry Turcotte became President of Corpus Christi College and Principal of St. Mark's College in 2022. Before this he was President and Vice-Chancellor of St. Mary's University, Calgary, for 11 years. He is a graduate of McGill University (BA), the University of Ottawa (MA), and the University of Sydney, in Australia (PhD). In 2022 he was granted his Blackfoot name — "Mountain Thunder" — by Blackfoot Elder Casey Eagle Speaker, in recognition of his work supporting Reconciliation. A few thanks are in order. First of all, I am grateful to Martin Strong, who guides me in the podcasting world and joins me for the Pop Culture Matters regularly. Second, the episodes are edited, engineered, and produced by Kevin Eng who is the first listener to all the episodes and my consultant for each episode, especially with the snippets that begin each episode. Thank you, Kevin, for all of your expertise and support and especially for saving this episode when I could not convert it to a listenable or viewable file. Finally, to the Fang Fang Chandra, the CCE assistant, who helps me bring this podcast to you, but also makes the CCE run so much more smoothly. I also want to thank our donors to the Centre, whose generosity enables this work to take place at all: Peter Bull, Angus Reid, and Andy Szocs. We are thankful to their commitment to the life of the academic world and of the work of the Church in the world by funding the work of the CCE. I am also thankful to the Cullen family, Mark and Barbara, for their support of the ongoing work of the CCE through financial donations that allow us to bring speakers to the local and international arenas. If you would like to support the work of the CCE, become a new member of CCE Patreon, First Engagers, supporting the podcast and the Centre for only $5.00 CAD a month. For that 5 dollars, you will get a live monthly podcast discussion via Zoom, free exclusive member merchandise, be able to suggest guests and topics for What Matters Most. And the first ten Patrons, apart from the other merch they will receive, such as water bottles, tote bags, etc., will get awesome, I mean it, awesome, CCE hoodies. Orange hoodies with the CCE logo in green, orange and blue. Do it, become first engagers! If you are simply interested in donating to the CCE, please check out the CCE website where you can find the donate button on the top right corner. We are a non-profit organization, and all donations over $20.00 are tax deductible. But think about the Patreon too! Since St. Mark's Centre for Christian Engagement seeks to enable the creation of a culture of encounter and dialogue, let me invite you into that discussion. Follow us at our Instagram page, @stmarkscce and drop us a line as to what you want to see or hear. We'll post there with a question as to what you are most interested in. Or email us with your suggestions to jmartens@stmarkscollege.ca or cceconferences@stmarkscollege.ca. John W. Martens
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    1 時間 9 分
  • Magnifica Humanitas: An Encyclical Against Dehumanization in the Age of AI

    Magnifica Humanitas: An Encyclical Against Dehumanization in the Age of AI
    2026/06/25

    Welcome to Season 4, Episode 25 of What Matters Most! It's just me today, Dr. John Martens, the host of What Matters Most and Director for the Centre for Christian Engagement at St. Mark's College at UBC. This episode focuses on a short introduction to Magnifica Humanitas, the new Pope Leo encyclical promulgated in May 2026. There will be longer episodes forthcoming, with the St. Mark's crew, the two Nicks (Rev. Dr. Nick Meisl; Dr. Nick Olkovich) and Dr. Fiona Li, and with Dr. Ruben Rosario and Dr. Tisha Rajendra, but I wanted to offer a few comments before we tackle the more in depth episodes.

    I also wanted to do this short episode because I wanted to offer a short introduction to our new CCE Patreon, First Engagers, supporting the podcast and the Centre for only $5.00 CAD a month. For that 5 dollars, you will get a live monthly podcast discussion via Zoom, free exclusive member merchandise, be able to suggest guests and topics for What Matters Most. And the first ten Patrons, apart from the other merch they will receive, such as water bottles, tote bags, etc., will get awesome, I mean it, awesome, CCE hoodies. Orange hoodies with the CCE logo in green, orange and blue. Do it, become first engagers! If you are simply interested in donating to the CCE, please check out the CCE website where you can find the donate button on the top right corner. We are a non-profit organization, and all donations over $20.00 are tax deductible. But think about the Patreon too!

    A few thanks are in order. First of all, I am grateful to Martin Strong, who guides me in the podcasting world and joins me for the Pop Culture Matters regularly. Second, the episodes are edited, engineered, and produced by Kevin Eng who is the first listener to all the episodes and my consultant for each episode, especially with the snippets that begin each episode. Thank you, Kevin, for all of your expertise and support and especially for saving this episode when I could not convert it to a listenable or viewable file. Finally, to the Fang Fang Chandra, the CCE assistant, who helps me bring this podcast to you, but also makes the CCE run so much more smoothly.

    I also want to thank our donors to the Centre, whose generosity enables this work to take place at all: Peter Bull, Angus Reid, and Andy Szocs. We are thankful to their commitment to the life of the academic world and of the work of the Church in the world by funding the work of the CCE. I am also thankful to the Cullen family, Mark and Barbara, for their support of the ongoing work of the CCE through financial donations that allow us to bring speakers to the local and international arenas.

    Since St. Mark's Centre for Christian Engagement seeks to enable the creation of a culture of encounter and dialogue, let me invite you into that discussion. Follow us at our Instagram page, @stmarkscce and drop us a line as to what you want to see or hear. We'll post there with a question as to what you are most interested in. Or email us with your suggestions to jmartens@stmarkscollege.ca or cceconferences@stmarkscollege.ca.

    John W. Martens
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    49 分
  • Confronting Judeophobia in the NT: A Conversation with Meredith Warren

    Confronting Judeophobia in the NT: A Conversation with Meredith Warren
    2026/06/10
    Welcome to Season 4, Episode 24 of What Matters Most! In this episode I speak with Dr. Meredith Warren. Dr. Warren is Senior Lecturer in Biblical and Religious Studies at University of Sheffield and the Director of the Sheffield Centre for Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies. She took up her position in Sheffield in 2015. She was educated at McGill University and is a Metis citizen, born in Vancouver. Her research areas include gender; the senses; anti-Semitism; and apocalyptic literature. This episode focuses on a book Dr. Warren edited with Eric Vanden Eykel and Sarah Rollens, Judeophobia and the New Testament: Texts and Contexts (Eerdmans, 2025). (I improperly mentioned Shayna Sheinfeld as a co-editor at one point in the podcast, so my apologies to Sarah Rollens! Shayna, as you will see below, is a co-editor of another book with Meredith.) This book covers a perennial and significant topic for readers of the New Testament, whether people in the pew, people preaching from the pulpit, or students and scholars of the New Testament. Dr. Warren has written many articles, book chapters, and books, some of which I will note below, but do check out her faculty page at Sheffield or her Wikipedia page for more information. Her co-authored textbook, with Sara Parks, and Shayna Sheinfeld, Jewish and Christian Women in the Ancient Mediterranean, won the Frank W. Beare Award from the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies in 2023. She is the author of many articles and book chapters, and books, including the book with one of my favourite titles, My Flesh is Meat Indeed: A Non-Sacramental Reading of John 6: 51–58 (Fortress Press, 2015). I started studying Judaism and Christianity in the early 1980s and four decades later, the same conversations about Judeophobia are necessary, which could be seen as depressing, which I sometimes feel about these issues, but Meredith also gave me a lot of hope. There are a lot of young scholars facing these issues head on in this book, and older scholars too, but they are naming the problems and challenging us not to turn away from the necessary work that we all need to do. That in itself is hopeful. But it was also hopeful to hear Meredith talk about the fact that this work does have positive repercussions, especially for people falling into Judeophobic tropes and stereotypes without knowing it. Teaching does genuinely help. A book like this can genuinely help. Yes, as Meredith said, there are bad actors, who will engage in hateful speech and hateful behaviour precisely because it is hateful behaviour, but a book like this, or a teacher or preacher inspired by this research, might be able to turn people away from imbibing this hateful rhetoric and allowing it to take root. Let's be hopeful. Each of us can be a sign of goodness by countering Judeophobic readings of the New Testament and by speaking against them when we read them or hear them. I came away from my conversation with Dr Meredith Warren inspired. I hope you will too! I also want to note the scholar Jonathan Judaken, whom Meredith mentioned as infuential for choosing "Judeophobia" for thinking through these issues in the NT. You can find his work listed at the link above. In addition, Meredith mentioned an article "Confronting Judeophobia in the Classroom," which you can find by clicking on the link! Finally, you can find the document on Mean, Angry Old Testament God vs. Nice, Loving New Testament God? at the link. This appears as an appendix in the book, but was written by Eva Mroczek Spatz Chair of Jewish Studies, Dalhousie University (Halifax). A few thanks are in order. First of all, I am grateful to Martin Strong, who guides me in the podcasting world and joins me for the Pop Culture Matters regularly. Second, the episodes are edited, engineered, and produced by Kevin Eng who is the first listener to all the episodes and my consultant for each episode, especially with the snippets that begin each episode. Thank you, Kevin, for all of your expertise and support and especially for saving this episode when I could not convert it to a listenable or viewable file. Finally, to the Fang Fang Chandra, the CCE assistant, who helps me bring this podcast to you, but also makes the CCE run so much more smoothly. June 8, the day I recorded with Meredith, was also Fang Fang's birthday, so happy birthday Fang Fang! I also want to thank our donors to the Centre, whose generosity enables this work to take place at all: Peter Bull, Angus Reid, and Andy Szocs. We are thankful to their commitment to the life of the academic world and of the work of the Church in the world by funding the work of the CCE. I am also thankful to the Cullen family, Mark and Barbara, for their support of the ongoing work of the CCE through financial donations that allow us to bring speakers to the local and international arenas. If you are interested in donating yourself to the CCE, please check out the CCE website where you can ...
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    1 時間 17 分
  • Pop Culture Matters: Pluribus with Megan Fritts

    Pop Culture Matters: Pluribus with Megan Fritts
    2026/05/27
    Welcome to the ninth episode of Pop Culture Matters, Pluribus, with the smart and insightful Megan Fritts. Megan is a philosophy professor at UALR, co-host of the Philosophy on the Fringes podcast with her husband Frank Cabrera, occasional essayist, techno-pessimist, book-optimist, and previous guest on What Matters Most. In discussing Vince Gilligan's Pluribus, Megan offered smart and insightful comments, hence my description of her, about what is going on in this episode. Her insights on happiness, hedonism, the nature of the (potential) afterlife, death, AI, art, culture, language, food, individuality, religion, and the need for suffering all point us to the question of what is the nature and meaning of being human. Megan has written on suffering and Pluribus, which you can find by clicking on the link. Megan has also written on AI in her article A Matter of Words. While I do not think the virus in Pluribus is meant to indicate AI, there are certain parallels that megan and I discussed, especially the desire to remove suffering, friction, or discomfort. AI offers to make life easier for us, to take away troubles, to take away what it means to be human. Megan says that AI gets us only propositional academic knowledge, instead of what Kierkegaard calls subjective truth, self-making truth. I compared this desire to the "seekers after smooth things," not in terms of the particularity of this group in ancient Judaism, but simply to this perennial human desire. Megan also mentioned three philosophers, including Kierkegaard, and here are the references to their work that she was citing from: Kierkegaard from Concluding Unscientific Postscript to Philosophical Fragments, part 2, "Truth is Subjectivity"; The Tolstoy work was his treatise "What is Art?" ; the Wittgenstein was remarks from his Philosophical Investigations, §19, §23, and §241. Finally, watch the show! Thanks again for listening and remember stay human. A few thanks are in order. First of all, I am grateful to Martin Strong, who guides me in the podcasting world and joins me for the Pop Culture Matters regularly. I get to work with a pro, he gets to work with me, his religion nerd. Second, the episodes are edited, engineered, and produced by Kevin Eng who is the first listener to all the episodes and my consultant for each episode, especially with the snippets that begin each episode. Thank you, Kevin, for all of your expertise and support. Finally, to the Fang Fang Chandra, the CCE assistant, who helps me bring this podcast to you, but also makes the CCE run so much more smoothly. I also want to thank our donors to the Centre, whose generosity enables this work to take place at all: Peter Bull, Angus Reid, and Andy Szocs. We are thankful to their commitment to the life of the academic world and of the work of the Church in the world by funding the work of the CCE. I am also thankful to the Cullen family, Mark and Barbara, for their support of the ongoing work of the CCE through financial donations that allow us to bring speakers to the local and international arenas. If you are interested in donating yourself to the CCE, please check out the CCE website where you can find the donate button on the top right corner. We are a non-profit organization, and all donations over $20.00 are tax deductible. Since St. Mark's Centre for Christian Engagement seeks to enable the creation of a culture of encounter and dialogue, let me invite you into that discussion. Follow us at our Instagram page, @stmarkscce and drop us a line as to what you want to see or hear. We'll post there with a question as to what you are most interested in. Or email us with your suggestions to jmartens@stmarkscollege.ca or cceconferences@stmarkscollege.ca. John W. Martens
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