More Christ

Welcome to More Christ, where we seek to bring some of the world's most interesting and insightful guests to discuss life's central and abiding questions.  In this seventh episode in a series of discussions, I'm joined by the eminent Christian polymath, Dr Eugene Webb.  Eugene is a philosopher and retired professor of International Studies at the University of Washington. He holds a number of degrees in comparative literature as well as philosophy.   We discuss his fascinating life and work. Which has involved study at the highest level in the fields of Philosophy, History, Psychology, Religion and International Affairs.  Professor Webb has also come to know many of the twentieth century's leading minds. From Eric Voegelin to René Girard and Mircea Eliade.

Welcome to More Christ, where we seek to bring some of the world's most interesting and insightful guests to discuss life's central and abiding questions.  In this third episode in a series of discussions, I'm joined by the legendary Christian activist Jim Forest. Jim is an author and friend to some of the twentieth century's most inspiring saints and saintly personalities. He was a close friend of Dorothy Day and Fr Daniel Berrigan and also maintained an intimate correspondence with Fr Thomas Merton for many years. He now lives in The Netherlands and serves as International Secretary of the Orthodox Peace Fellowship.

Arthur Versluis, Professor of Religious Studies at Michigan State University, holds a doctorate from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and has published numerous books and articles. Among his many books are Platonic Mysticism (SUNY Press 2017), American Gurus (Oxford UP, 2014), Magic and Mysticism: An Introduction to Western Esotericism (Rowman Littlefield, 2007), The New Inquisitions: Heretic-hunting and the Intellectual Origins of Modern Totalitarianism (Oxford UP, 2006), Restoring Paradise: Esoteric Transmission through Literature and Art (SUNY: 2004); The Esoteric Origins of the American Renaissance (Oxford UP: 2001); Wisdom’s Book: The Sophia Anthology, (Paragon House, 2000); Island Farm (MSU Press, 2000); Wisdom’s Children: A Christian Esoteric Tradition (SUNY: 1999); and American Transcendentalism and Asian Religions (Oxford UP, 1993). His family has owned a commercial farm in West Michigan for several generations, and so he also published a book called Island Farm about the family farm, and about family farming in the modern era. Versluis was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to Germany and is the editor of JSR: Journal for the Study of Radicalism. He is the founding president of Hieros, a 501c3 nonprofit focused on spirituality and cultural renewal. For more, please see: https://arthurversluis.com/

Naghmeh Panahi was born into a Muslim family in Iran. From the age of two, Naghmeh witnessed a country at war. In 1979, Iran underwent an Islamic Revolution and then entered an 8-year war with Iraq which heavily involved the city of Tehran where Naghmeh grew up. Bombings and missiles were a daily occurrence. Walking to school meant walking through the rubble of friends’ homes and entering a classroom of missing friends and painful memories. Eventually chemical warfare was used, and unimaginable side effects plagued the country. At an early age the horrors of war caused Naghmeh to seek God for answers about why he would allow such suffering. Naghmeh and her twin brother became steadfast in their pursuit of God. As Muslims they read the Quran, performed Islamic prayers, and fasted. Eventually, recruiters from the Iranian military began entering elementary schools and encouraging boys to enlist in the military, saying that if they died they would go to heaven because this was a holy war. The young boys were sent to the front lines to run through land mines so that the trained soldiers could safely follow after them. If parents objected to their children enlisting, they would be taken by the police and imprisoned for speaking against the government. With a young son in jeopardy, Naghmeh’s family knew they must leave Iran. At the age of 9, Naghmeh and her family moved to San Jose, California. Within weeks of their arrival, Naghmeh and her twin brother discovered the God they had been looking for, Jesus Christ. They learned that through the death of Jesus Christ their sins were forgiven. They learned that they did not have to die in a holy war or do religious work in order to reach God, but instead God came in human flesh through the person of Jesus Christ. Most importantly they learned that Jesus loved them. Naghmeh and her twin brother became dedicated followers of Christ at the age of 9. Naghmeh’s parents were furious when they found out that she had become a Christian and considered moving the family back to Iran. Instead of moving, Naghmeh’s family was persuaded to move closer to family in Boise, ID where they hoped the seclusion of the area would provoke their children to return to Islam. Eventually their hearts softened after secretly reading a Bible they had taken from Naghmeh seven years earlier. They too became followers of Christ. https://www.tahriralnisa.org/ Naghmeh’s hope was to be a missionary medical doctor in a third world country, so she became a pre-med student at the University of Puget Sound. Soon after September 11th, 2001 Naghmeh returned to Iran, this time as a Christian. This is when Naghmeh experienced the plight of Christians and religious minorities in Iran and also gained first-hand experience of the oppression and violence women are subjected to everyday in the Middle East. Her own life was in constant danger as a Christian convert from Islam. She was arrested by the Iranian revolutionary guards multiple times, and with guns pointed at her head was told to renounce her Christian faith or she would be raped and killed. She lived in constant fear of associating with other Christians because many times the house churches were raided, and her friends and fellow Christians were arrested and imprisoned. In 2002 Naghmeh met Saeed Abedini and helped start one of the largest house church movements in Iran. In 2004 she married Saeed, and by 2005 the house churches had grown to over 2,000 members in over 30 cities. As the house churches grew so did the persecution. Due to increased persecution and arrests Naghmeh and Saeed left Iran and returned to America where Naghmeh raised her two children Rebekka and Jacob in Idaho. In 2012, her husband, Saeed Abedini, was arrested while visiting Iran. Through God’s grace Naghmeh was able to bring world-wide attention not only to Saeed’s imprisonment in Iran, but also to the plight of persecuted Christians worldwide.

Holly Ordway is the Cardinal Francis George Professor of Faith and Culture at the the Word on Fire Institute and Visiting Professor of Apologetics at Houston Christian University. She holds a PhD in English from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and is a Subject Editor for the Journal of Inklings Studies. Her book Tolkien’s Modern Reading: Middle-earth Beyond the Middle Ages (Word on Fire Academic, 2021) received the 2022 Mythopoeic Society Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies. Her newest book is Tolkien’s Faith: A Spiritual Biography, which wad released in time for the 50th anniversary of Tolkien’s death on September 2nd, 2023. For more details and video interviews, see the publisher’s page for the book; you can also buy it on Amazon US & Blackwell’s Books in the UK as well as on Amazon UK. https://hollyordway.com/

"The Tammy Peterson Podcast" delves into issues such as faith through a counter-cultural lens. Behind the podcast stands a 62-year-old cancer survivor and wife of Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson, who has just begun the journey to become a member of the Catholic Church. Tammy and I spoke about this journey, beginning with her upbringing in Canada, before looking at the Peterson's love story, some struggles the family have faced, the blessings they have received in marriage and as parents, a modern miracle, femininity vs feminism, the role of the body in the Christian way, a new life of prayer, and more. Please, check out Tammy's podcast, here: https://www.youtube.com/@Tammy-Peterson

Adam B. Coleman is the Author of “Black Victim To Black Victor“, Op-Ed Writer, Public Speaker, and the Founder of Wrong Speak Publishing. You can read more about Adam and engage with his work here: https://www.adambcoleman.com/about https://www.amazon.co.uk/Black-Victim-Victor-Identifying-ideologies/dp/B0915JT4XD/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1U7TUDE5H6FMS&keywords=black+victim+to+black+victor&qid=1703286536&sprefix=black+victim+to+black+victo%2Caps%2C532&sr=8-1

Jason M. Baxter is a college professor, speaker, and author of five books, including The Medieval Mind of C. S. Lewis and A Beginner's Guide to Dante's "Comedy". He currently teaches Great Books at Notre Dame and is a curricular consultant for St. Thomas More Academy in South Bend, Indiana. For more, please see: Jason M. Baxter (jasonmbaxter.com) Amazon.co.uk: Jason M. Baxter: books, biography, latest update Jason Baxter, Author at The Imaginative Conservative Jason M. Baxter – Catholic World Report Oppenheimer’s Tragic Fate | Jason M. Baxter | First Things

Dr Joshua Furnal (Ph.D. Durham) is an Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology at St. Patrick’s Pontifical University, Maynooth. He is an Associate Editor of Brill Research Perspectives in Theological Traditions and the co-editor of the Contributions to Philosophical Theology series. Recently, he has been the recipient of four visiting research fellowships: the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (Italy), the Hong Kierkegaard Library (USA), Gladstone’s Library (UK), and the National Institute for Newman Studies (USA). Before coming to Maynooth, he held a tenure-track teaching and research position at Radboud University in the Netherlands. Prior to Nijmegen, he was a Visiting Research Fellow with the Leslie Center for Humanities and a Lecturer in the Department of Religion at Dartmouth College. Also, he has been a Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Catholic Theology at the University of Tübingen, and a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Durham University (UK) in the Department of Theology and Religion. His recent book, ‘Catholic Theology after Kierkegaard‘ was published by Oxford University Press. For a 30% discount on OUP’s website, use this code: AAFLYG6 His main research interests are in the areas of 19th & 20th century Continental Philosophy and Systematic Theology. In particular, he is interested in modern philosophical engagements in Catholic Theology and the intersection between Catholic thought and contemporary culture. At Radboud University, he contributed directly to the research output of Radboud’s Center for Catholic Studies. He has been recognized for internationally outstanding, research-led teaching across various disciplines. At Tübingen, he taught ‘Theology and Film‘. At Dartmouth, he taught ‘Kierkegaard & Religious Existentialism’. At Durham University (UK), he taught in the areas of Philosophy of Religion, the history of Christian doctrine, and Religion & Film. At Radboud, he taught in the areas of Fundamental and Dogmatic Theology. At Maynooth, he teaches in the area of Systematic Theology. For more, please see here: Joshua Furnal | Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology | St. Patrick's College, Maynooth The Dialectic of Faith and Reason in Cornelio Fabro’s Reading of Kierkegaard’s Theology - Joshua Furnal, 2017 (sagepub.com) Joshua Furnal | St Patrick’s Pontifical University, Maynooth (sppu.ie) Catholic Theology after Kierkegaard eBook : Furnal, Joshua: Amazon.co.uk: Books

Welcome to More Christ. We seek to bring some of the world's most interesting and insightful guests to discuss life's central and abiding questions. In this one hundred and ninth episode in a series of discussions, I'm joined by Dr Paul Gottfried. Paul Edward Gottfried is an American paleoconservative political philosopher, historian, and writer. He is a former Professor of Humanities at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania. He is editor-in-chief of the paleoconservative magazine Chronicles and is an associated scholar at the Mises Institute, a libertarian think tank. Here's a list of books referenced in this episode: Marcas Ó Conghaile Muirthemne's Amazon page For more from Paul, please see: Paul Gottfried - Chronicles (chroniclesmagazine.org) Amazon.co.uk Paul Gottfried | Mises Institute tom woods paul gottfried - YouTube

Welcome to More Christ. We seek to bring some of the world's most interesting and insightful guests to discuss life's central and abiding questions. In this one hundred and eighth episode in a series of discussions, I'm joined by Autumn Kern from The Commonplace podcast. Please see the recommended reading lists for this episode and for the channel, below: https://amzn.to/3tSDTmM https://amzn.to/46Suiv0 "...The Commonplace podcast exists to bridge the gap between the starting line of the home-schooling journey and the resources in the classical world. It’s your home-schooling Virgil, leading you from the ideas floating high in the sky down to the dirt where you can wrap your hands around them and start planting them like seeds in your children’s lives." Check it out, here: https://www.thecommonplacepodcast.com/podcast

Welcome to More Christ. We seek to bring some of the world's most interesting and insightful guests to discuss life's central and abiding questions. In this one hundred and seventh episode in a series of discussions, I'm joined by Dr Matthew Petrusek. Matthew is the Senior Director of the Word on Fire Institute and its Professor of Catholic Ethics. He has authored and edited several books, including: - Evangelization and Ideology: How to Understand and Respond to the Political Culture - Jordan Peterson, God, and Christianity, The Search for a Meaningful Life - Ethics and Advocacy: Bridges and Boundaries - Value and Vulnerability: An Interfaith Dialogue on Human Dignity. He lectures broadly in both English and Spanish on moral philosophy/theology, politics, social issues, and the Catholic intellectual tradition. You can follow his work and see more from him, here: https://www.wordonfire.org/author/dr-matthew-petrusek/ https://twitter.com/MattPetrusek https://www.wordonfire.org/videos/idolatry-of-identity/lecture-1-wokeism-the-frankenstein-of-political-ideologies/

Welcome to More Christ. We seek to bring some of the world's most interesting and insightful guests to discuss life's central and abiding questions. In this one hundred and sixth episode in a series of discussions, I'm joined by Dr Timothy Jennings. Timothy R. Jennings, M.D., is a board-certified psychiatrist, master psychopharmacologist, international speaker, a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, and Fellow of the Southern Psychiatric Association. He earned his M.D. in 1990 from the University of Tennessee College of Medicine in Memphis and completed his psychiatric residency at D.D. Eisenhower Army Medical Center in Augusta, Georgia. He also served as the division psychiatrist for the 3rd Infantry Division and as president of the Southern and Tennessee Psychiatric Associations. Dr. Jennings works in private practice and lives in Chattanooga with his wife, Christie. He is also the president and founder of Come and Reason Ministries and is the author of the following books: The Aging Brain: Proven Steps to Prevent Dementia and Sharpen Your Mind The God-Shaped Brain: How Changing Your View of God Transforms Your Life The God-Shaped Heart: How Correctly Understanding God’s Love Transforms Us Could It Be This Simple? A Biblical Model for Healing the Mind The Journal of the Watcher The Remedy New Testament Expanded Paraphrase Dr. Jennings goal is to help people experience the healthiest happiest lives possible. To this end he seeks to educate people about the working of the mind, the principles upon which life and health are designed to operate, and teach people how to weigh evidences and make healthy choices in their own lives, all of which work together to improve health and wellbeing. For more, please see here: About – Tim Jennings, MD (timjenningsmd.com) Amazon.com: Timothy R. Jennings: books, biography, latest update homepage Come And Reason Ministries God And Your Church 1: Seven Levels of Moral Decision-Making - YouTube

Welcome to More Christ. We seek to bring some of the world's most interesting and insightful guests to discuss life's central and abiding questions. In this one hundred and third episode in a series of discussions, I'm joined by George Weigel. Distinguished Senior Fellow of Washington’s Ethics and Public Policy Center, George Weigel is a Catholic theologian and one of America’s leading public intellectuals. He holds EPPC’s William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies. For more, please see: https://www.georgeweigel.com/

Jason Smyth is one of the greatest para athletes of all time. The Derry born sprinter has the distinction of never having tasted defeat in a major Para- Athletics event since his debut at the 2005 European Championships in Espoo, Finland. Jason has represented Ireland at 3 Paralympic Games including Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016. Jason won gold medals in all three of his Paralympic Games do date winning the 100m in the T13 classification at each event and in the 200m in both 2008 and 2012 before the event was excluded from subsequent games. Jason has been the most consistent performer in the world for the past 15 years and he is the World Record holder on both the 100m and 200m events. Jason competes in the T13 category for athletes that have a Visual Impairment. Honours: 2005 European Champion Espoo 100m 2005 European Champion Espoo 200m 2006 World Champion Assen 200m 2006 World Champion Assen 100m 2008 Paralympic Champion Beijing 100m 2008 Paralympic Champion Beijing 200m 2012 Paralympic Champion London 100m 2012 Paralympic Champion London 200m 2013 World Champion Lyon 100m 2013 World Champion Lyon 200m 2014 European Champion Swansea 100m 2014 European Champion Swansea 200m 2015 World Champion Doha 100m 2016 Paralympic Champion 100m 2017 World Champion 100m 2017 World Champion 200m 2018 European Champion 100m 2018 European Champion 200m 2019 World Champion 100m Follow him here: https://twitter.com/smyth_jason?lang=en

Welcome to More Christ. We seek to bring some of the world's most interesting and insightful guests to discuss life's central and abiding questions. In this one hundred and third episode in a series of discussions, I'm joined by Professor Nancy Pearcey. Nancy Pearcey is a bestselling author and speaker. A former agnostic, she was hailed in The Economist as “America’s pre-eminent evangelical Protestant female intellectual.” Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Washington Times, First Things, Human Events, American Thinker, Daily Caller, The Federalist, CNSNews, and Fox News. She has appeared on NPR, C-SPAN, and Fox & Friends. She is currently a professor and scholar in residence at Houston Christian University. Pearcey’s books have been translated into 19 languages and include Total Truth, The Soul of Science, Saving Leonardo, Finding Truth, Love Thy Body, and The Toxic War on Masculinity. For more, please see: https://www.nancypearcey.com/ https://twitter.com/NancyRPearcey Author: Nancy Pearcey | Evolution News

Welcome to More Christ. We seek to bring some of the world's most interesting and insightful guests to discuss life's central and abiding questions. In this one hundred and second episode in a series of discussions, I'm joined by the spirited Glen Scrivener. Glen Scrivener is an ordained Church of England minister and evangelist who preaches Christ through writing, speaking, and online media. He directs the evangelistic ministry Speak Life. Originally from Australia, Glen now lives with his wife, Emma, and two children in England, and they belong to All Souls Eastbourne. He is the author of several books, including The Air We Breathe: How We All Came to Believe in Freedom, Kindness, Progress, and Equality (The Good Book Company, 2022) and 3-2-1: The Story of God, the World, and You (10Publishing, 2014). For more about Glen, please see here: About - Speak Life Glen Scrivener ن (@glenscrivener) / Twitter Glen Scrivener (thegospelcoalition.org)

Welcome to More Christ. We seek to bring some of the world's most interesting and insightful guests to discuss life's central and abiding questions. In this one hundred and first episode in a series of discussions, I'm joined by once again by the delightful Dr Os Guinness. Os Guinness is an author and social critic. Great-great-great grandson of Arthur Guinness, the Dublin brewer, he was born in China in World War Two where his parents were medical missionaries. A witness to the climax of the Chinese revolution in 1949, he was expelled with many other foreigners in 1951 and returned to Europe where he was educated in England. He completed his undergraduate degree at the University of London and his D.Phil in the social sciences from Oriel College, Oxford. Os has written or edited more than thirty books, including The Call, Time for Truth, Unspeakable, A Free People’s Suicide, The Global Public Square, Last Call for Liberty, and Carpe Diem Redeemed. His latest book is Signals of Transcendence: Listening to the Promptings of Life. We will focus predominantly on this work in this episode. Since moving to the United States in 1984, Os has been a Guest Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Studies, a Guest Scholar and Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution, and Senior Fellow at the Trinity Forum and the EastWest Institute in New York. He was the lead drafter of the Williamsburg Charter in 1988, a celebration of the bicentennial of the US Constitution, and later of “The Global Charter of Conscience,” which was published at the European Union Parliament in 2012. Os has spoken at many of the world’s major universities, and spoken widely to political and business conferences across the world. He lives with his wife Jenny in the Washington DC area. If you would like to learn more, please see the links here: Os Guinness – A quiet voice on behalf of faith, freedom, truth, reason and civility Amazon.co.uk: Os Guinness: Books, Biography, Blogs, Audiobooks, Kindle

Welcome to More Christ. We seek to bring some of the world's most interesting and insightful guests to discuss life's central and abiding questions. In this landmark one hundredth episode in a series of discussions, I'm joined by former guests and friends Thomas and Lou to celebrate the life and work of our friend, Matt Miller from Logos Made Flesh. If you would like to learn more about these gentlemen, please see the links below: Dr Louis Markos - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Louis-Markos... Thomas, formerly of Storytellers and now of the Armchair Historian -    / @storytellers1     / @thearmchairhisto...   Matt's Logos Made Flesh -    / youthnation1  

Welcome to More Christ. We seek to bring some of the world's most interesting and insightful guests to discuss life's central and abiding questions. In this ninety-ninth episode in a series of discussions, I'm joined by Ashley Lande. Ashley is an artist and writer from the U.S.A. She has a website and blog, which you can check out at www.ashleylande.com. Alongside her wonderful writings, some of which we discussed, you can see her stunning art- filled with vibrant colours, subtle golf leaves, and captivating drawings. Ashley is post-psychedelic and has a forthcoming memoir on leaving psychedelics for Jesus, to be published with Lexham Press. For more, check out her articles here: Acidhead: God Took Me Higher • Fathom Mag The Self Destroyed — Ekstasis Magazine