Paradise and Utopia

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A series of twenty reflections on the history of Christian civilization, or Christendom. The entire podcast is organized around the theme of "paradise and utopia"—that is, of the civilization's orientation toward the kingdom of heaven when traditional Christianity was influential, and of its "disori…

Fr. John Strickland and Ancient Faith Radio


    • Dec 19, 2023 LATEST EPISODE
    • infrequent NEW EPISODES
    • 34m AVG DURATION
    • 106 EPISODES


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    Latest episodes from Paradise and Utopia

    “Whoever Fears the Tip of My Spear . . .”

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 19, 2023 38:08


    In this episode, Fr. John begins an account of Friedrich Nietzsche by discussing Richard Wagner, a direct influence on the philosopher whose infidelity with women and famous operatic work, The Ring of the Nibelung, helped inspire the coming age of nihilism.

    Introduction to Part Four of the Podcast: Friedrich Nietzsche in Bayreuth

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 8, 2023 32:43


    In this introduction to the final part of Paradise and Utopia, Fr. John reads the prologue to his recently released book, The Age of Nihilism: Christendom from the Great War to the Culture Wars. The episode introduces the nihilistic philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and the role compositions by Richard Wagner played in his formation. Included are musical excerpts of the latter's famous "Wedding March" and "Ride of the Valkyries."

    Introducing The Age of Nihilism

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 2, 2023 17:09


    Fr. John Strickland gives an overview of his latest book, The Age of Nihilism, available at Ancient Faith Store: https://store.ancientfaith.com/the-age-of-nihilism-christendom-from-the-great-war-to-the-culture-wars

    At the Threshold of Nihilism: The Russian Revolution and Its Utopia Project

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 6, 2023 48:29


    In this final episode of part three of the podcast, Fr. John Strickland traces the outcome of secular humanism in the case of the Russian Revolution. Though numerous Orthodox Christians warned of the impending disaster facing a post-Christian Christendom, Vladimir Lenin and his Bolsheviks took advantage of discontent caused by the First World War to plunge violently into a project of counterfeit transcendence they called "building socialism."

    Solving Post-Christian Christendom's Transcendence Problem III: Architects of Nationalist Ideology

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 10, 2023 30:40


    Fr. John Strickland concludes his account of the origins of modern political ideology with the rise of nationalism, a force that not only proved to be a counterfeit to traditional Christianity, but the cause of one of utopian Christendom's greatest tragedies.

    Solving Post-Christian Christendom's Transcendence Problem II: The Architects of Socialist Ideology.

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 3, 2023 46:05


    Fr. John Strickland continues his account of the rise of secular ideology with a presentation on the Russian intelligentsia and the case of Karl Marx.

    Solving Post-Christian Christendom's Transcendence Problem I: The Architects of Liberal Ideology

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 24, 2023 38:30


    In this long-delayed episode (due to work on The Age of Nihilism, available at store.ancientfaith.com/the-age-of-nihilism-christendom-from-the-great-war-to-the-culture-wars), Father John presents the historical origins of liberalism as a modern secular ideology. Atheistic philosophers like Auguste Comte and John Stuart Mill provided the philosophical basis for hope in a secular "kingdom of posterity."

    Age of Paradise Released

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 14, 2021 14:51


    Fr. John Strickland announces the release of the third volume of his book series. The Age of Utopia: Christendom from the Renaissance to the Russian Revolution (store.ancientfaith.com/the-age-of-utopia) is a companion to the podcast, but, as he notes, contains quite a bit of material that is unique. Here he summarizes some of its content.

    The Forest and Its Trees: An Answer to Cyril Jenkins, Part II

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 12, 2021 73:08


    In this second half of his response to a recent review of his books, Fr. John Strickland discusses his use of scholarly sources (The Age of Division required more than three hundred and fifty of them). He also reflects on how criticisms of his sources and his arguments may have been provoked by the unconventional way in which he tells the story of Christendom.

    Monographs and Metanarratives: An Answer to Cyril Jenkins, Part I

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 10, 2021 38:07


    In this special edition of Paradise and Utopia, Fr. John Strickland responds to a recent review of the first two volumes of his books series. In it, he notes the failure to consider the books on their own terms. He uses the opportunity to elaborate what he considers a healthy vision of Christian historiography, one that supports what many consider the need for a "re-enchantment" of modern culture.

    When the Romantic Agony Became Personal: The Music of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 28, 2021 51:06


    Most Americans know Tchaikovsky as the composer of the delightful dances contained within the Nutcracker Ballet. As Fr. John Strickland shows, however, there is much more to be heard in their melodies, and little that was delightful about the emotionally agonized life behind them. Using selections from a variety of works, he explores how the romantic agony came for Tchaikovsky in his boyhood and thereafter never departed. Special attention is given to an analysis of the famous Sixth Symphony, nicknamed Pathetique. First performed just days before the composer's abrupt death, the work brings the generation of the romantics to a heart-rending and emblematic conclusion.

    Secular Glory and Spiritual Agony in the Music of the Great Romantics

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 18, 2021


    What was the genius of classical music during its nineteenth-century golden age? According to Fr. John Strickland, it was an effort to rescue Christendom's transformational imperative in an age when secularization threatened to sever earth from heaven. No longer influenced by traditional Christianity, great composers like Beethoven exaggerated earthly passions (especially sexual love) to communicate the West's primordial desire for transcendence. But the emotionalism that resulted threatened to take the floor out from underneath them. This episode concludes by analyzing famous works by Schubert and Berlioz which show how transcendence gave way to descent, and how utopian hopes plunged into irreversible spiritual agony.

    Counterfeit Communion

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 1, 2021 49:33


    The early nineteenth-century romantics pioneered a new way of seeking personal transformation. Following a century in which deism desecrated the world, separating heaven and earth, they wanted to re-enchant the West. But by ignoring traditional Christianity and looking instead to the "God substitutes" of philosophical idealism, they only succeeded in creating a counterfeit experience of transcendent communion.

    Utopian Christianity

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 23, 2021 43:29


    In the nineteenth century, some Christians in America developed radically new visions of God's relationship to man and the cosmos. This "utopian Christianity" produced Unitarianism, Mormonism, and a string of millenarian sects. Father John Strickland concludes the episode with one of the most daring and disturbing examples of American utopianism, the community of Oneida in upstate New York.

    A New Vision of Western History during the So-Called Enlightenment

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 31, 2021 37:51


    In this reflection on an emerging post-Christian Christendom, Fr. John Strickland discusses two ways in which eighteenth-century philosophes--from Voltaire to Thomas Jefferson--worked to subvert the paradisiacal culture of the old Christendom. He explores their use of photic imagery such as "enlightenment" and their introduction of the tripartite utopian model of history consisting of ancient, medieval, and modern periods. He concludes with a brief description of Edward Gibbon's famous and influential work The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

    Replacing Reformational Christianity

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 24, 2021 46:27


    In this episode Fr. John Strickland discusses various ways in which Christendom's leadership rejected the reformational Christianity that had provoked the wars of Western religion and replaced it with science, philosophy, pietistic Christianity, and a new religion known as deism.

    Secularizing the State, East and West

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 17, 2021 44:09


    In this reflection, Fr. John Strickland relates how Christianity ceased to motivate and regulate statecraft in Christendom following the Wars of Western Religion. He discusses the cases of France, England, and New England. He concludes with an account of westernization in Eastern Christendom under Peter the Great of Russia.

    Subverting a Sacramental Culture

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 11, 2021 34:48


    In this reflection, Father John Strickland turns from secular humanism to reformational Christianity to see how Christendom's paradisiacal culture was subverted by both the Protestant "Counter-Reformation" and the Roman Catholic "Neo-Reformation." Ironically, Protestant fathers like Luther and Calvin did much to perpetuate the anthropological pessimism and cosmological contempt of their rivals like the earlier Pope Innocent III, opening the door even wider to the wholesale secularization of the West.

    When Pagandom Was Born Again V: From Adam to Prometheus

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 10, 2021 26:46


    In this episode, Fr. John Strickland recounts the efforts of three Italian humanists of the quattrocento ("fourteen hundreds") to rescue the dignity of man from the pessimism of Western culture. Departing from traditional Christianity's dignification of man through communion with God, they looked instead to Neoplatonism and there found a model of the fully autonomous human being, Prometheus.

    When Pagandom Was Born Again IV: Petrarch contra Pope Innocent

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 24, 2021 18:55


    In this episode, Father John relates a case in which the early humanist Petrarch confronted one of the new Christendom's chief architects, Pope Innocent III. Applying his newly developed secular thinking, he rejected the pope's notorious treatise entitled On the Misery of the Human Condition.

    When Pagandom Was Born Again III: The Origins of the Saeculum

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 3, 2021 18:50


    Modern historians often bring attention to the effects of secularization on the West. Once traditional Christianity ceased to influence Western culture, the experience of the kingdom of heaven naturally diminished, something the famous German sociologist Max Weber called the "disenchantment of the world." In this episode, Fr. John describes how the concept of the saeculum, a kind of neutral cultural space cut off from the life of the Church, first appeared, and how, with Petrarch, it became a haven for humanists fleeing the pessimism of the fourteenth century.

    When Pagandom Was Born Again II: Petrarch’s Despair

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 27, 2021 39:52


    In this episode the "father of humanism," Francesco Petrarch, broods over his sense of guilt and despair, seeking a new path for Western Christendom known as the saeculum, or "secular."

    When Pagandom Was Born Again I: The Roman Revolution of Cola di Rienzo

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 20, 2021 10:45


    In this anecdotal introduction to Reflection 21, Father John relates a remarkable but short-lived revolution in fourteenth-century Rome that served as a sign of what the age of utopia would bring. Listeners who enjoy the music of Richard Wagner will recognize the ill-fated revolutionary's name and understand why the turbulent nineteenth-century composer was attracted to him! And speaking of music, if you are wondering about the new closing sequence, it is a chorus from Mozart's utopian opera The Magic Flute and consists of the following (in translation): "When virtue and justice strew with fame the path of the great, then earth is a realm of heaven, and mortals are like the gods."

    Introduction to Part 3

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 13, 2021 29:33


    Father John welcomes listeners back to the podcast with the opening to its third part, the age of utopia. He also summarizes some of the main points of his recently released book The Age of Division, which tells the history of Christendom covered in the second part of the podcast.

    Introducing The Age of Paradise

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 15, 2019 9:07


    Fr. John Strickland talks about the newly released book The Age of Paradise. The book is available at store.ancientfaith.com.

    The Fall of Paradise VIII: The Wars of Western Religion

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 5, 2017 65:05


    In this final episode of Part 2 of the podcast, Fr. John discusses the catastrophic wars that broke out in western Christendom during the Reformation age. These wars, along with other forces unleashed by developments in the Reformation and earlier, would ultimately result in the loss of Christianity's legitimacy, leading to the rise of a modern, secularized form of Christendom centered upon the experience of utopia.

    The Fall of Paradise VII: From Communion to Commonwealth in Puritan England

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 24, 2017 48:08


    In this episode Father John explores the way in which the loss of sacramental experience among Calvinists led to the rise of a political ideology that would unintentionally lay the foundation for utopia.

    The Fall of Paradise VI: The Reformation of Worship

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 3, 2017 49:31


    In this episode Fr. John discusses Reformed attitudes toward worship, and the ways in which western Christendom's liturgical and sacramental foundations were eroded when they were put into practice.

    The Fall of Paradise V: The Cosmology of Calvinism

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 27, 2017 4:54


    In this episode Fr. John discusses ways in which Reformed cosmology represented a shift from the heavenly immanence of paradisiacal Christendom toward the heavenly transcendence of utopian Christendom.

    The Fall of Paradise IV: The Spirit of Calvinism

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 19, 2017 49:41


    In this episode Father John discusses a few tendencies in Calvinism that would serve to undermine the place of paradise in Reformation Christendom, especially the doctrine of "total depravity" and the spiritual anxiety that accompanied it.

    The Fall of Paradise III: The Case of John Calvin

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 11, 2017 39:45


    In this episode Fr. John explores the life of Protestant father John Calvin and the reformer's contribution to the Reformation project.

    The Fall of Paradise II: The Reformation of Western Christendom

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 26, 2017 33:12


    In this episode Father John describes some of the most noteworthy effects of the Protestant Reformation on Western Christendom, emphasizing the decline of a sacramental basis for civilization and the rise of a primarily moral one.

    The Fall of Paradise I: Reformation Muenster as the New Jerusalem

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 26, 2017 47:13


    In this anecdotal introduction to the final reflection of Part 2 of the podcast, Father John relates the extraordinary story of a Reformation-era town that declared itself the kingdom of Christ on earth, a "New Jerusalem." Expressing a profound absence of God in the world, however, the story of Reformation Muenster was in fact a sign of the fall of a Christendom centered upon the experience of paradise.

    The Crisis of Western Christendom V: The Protestant “Resolution”

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 6, 2016 28:48


    In this episode Father John concludes his reflection on the critical state of western Christendom on the eve of modern times, exploring how the Reformation tried to resolve the issue of anthropological pessimism but ironically served to intensify it.

    The Crisis of Western Christendom IV: New Directions in Western Soteriology

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 6, 2016 44:26


    In this episode, Father John continues his discussion of developments that led to the Protestant Reformation, emphasizing doctrines and practices related to human salvation.

    The Crisis of Western Christendom: The Curse of Anthropological Pessimism

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 6, 2016 50:34


    In this latest episode on the impending Protestant Reformation, Fr. John discusses ways in which the long legacy of pessimism about the human condition and the world in general undermined western Christendom at one of her most critical moments.

    The Crisis of Western Christendom II: The Hypertrophic Papacy

    Play Episode Listen Later May 24, 2016 34:46


    In this episode, Fr. John discusses ways in which papal supremacy led to the growing sense of crisis that preceded the Protestant Reformation.

    The Crisis of Western Christendom I: Martin Luther’s Reformation Breakthrough

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 19, 2016 41:03


    Returning after a long absence from the podcast, Fr. John in this episode introduces a new reflection on the crisis of western Christendom prior to the Reformation by discussing the penitential context of Martin Luther's famous Ninety-Five Theses.

    The Old Believer Schism and the Decline of Russian Christendom before Peter the Great

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 5, 2015 42:24


    In this final episode of his reflection on Muscovite Russia, Fr. John describes the Old Believer Schism as a crisis in the formerly optimistic cosmology of eastern Christendom, leading to its decline on the eve of modern times.

    The Third Rome IV: Muscovite Russia and Western Christendom

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 15, 2015 35:10


    In this episode, Fr. John discusses Muscovite Russia's encounter with the West in the face of Uniatism, military invasion, and theological "captivity," all of which contributed to the decline of eastern Christendom.

    The Third Rome III: The Possessor Controversy and Its Consequences

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 2, 2015 45:29


    In this episode, Fr. John discusses an important and fateful development in the history of Russian Christendom before modern times, the Possessor Controversy.

    The Third Rome II: The Rise of Muscovite Russia

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 24, 2015 21:51


    In this episode Father John describes the rise of the Muscovite state within Russian Christendom, and the way its Orthodox leaders began to see themselves as heirs to the fallen Byzantine Empire.

    The Third Rome I: Ivan the Terrible and the Murder of Saint Philip

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 16, 2015 29:45


    Having related the fall of Byzantium to the Turks, Fr. John now begins a reflection on the only remaining Orthodox state in eastern Christendom, Muscovite Russia. In this introductory anecdote he tells of an event in the history of this "Third Rome" that signaled the coming decline of ecclesio-political symphony, and with it the experience of paradise.

    Continuity and Catastrophe in the Old Christendom VI: The Muslim Conquest of Constantinople

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 9, 2015 31:59


    In this final episode of Reflection 17, Fr. John relates the final catastrophe to befall eastern Christendom during the period, the fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453.

    Continuity and Catastrophe in the Old Christendom V: Mark of Ephesus and the Council of Florence

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 4, 2015 29:35


    Fr. John gives an account of the atmosphere in Italy in which Orthodox and Roman Catholic delegates met to discuss the possibility of union in the middle of the fifteenth century. Only one of the Orthodox would refuse to sign the resulting Treaty of Union, Saint Mark of Ephesus.

    Summit of Orthodox Iconography

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 14, 2015 36:34


    In this, the first episode of the Paradise and Utopia video edition, Father John provides a video lecture from his office in Puget Sound, showing, with the use of powerful, full-color icons such as those of Andrei Rublev, how hesychasm inspired some of the greatest art in the history of eastern Christendom.

    Continuity and Catastrophe in the Old Christendom IV

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 14, 2015 33:53


    In this episode, Fr. John draws upon several scholarly works to show how hesychasm protected eastern Christendom from the forces that had begun to lead the new Christendom of the west away from traditional Christianity.

    Continuity and Catastrophe in the Old Christendom III: The Second Triumph of Orthodoxy

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 22, 2015 46:49


    In this episode, Fr. John describes why Saint Gregory's defense of hesychasm against the westernized Barlaam represented a defense not only of Orthodoxy, but of Christendom itself.

    Continuity and Catastrophe in the Old Christendom II: Hesychasm

    Play Episode Listen Later May 29, 2015 32:20


    Fr. John introduces the force that kept traditional Christianity on course at a moment of crisis in the east, Hesychasm, and how it maintained Christendom's focus on paradise.

    Continuity and Catastrophe in the Old Christendom I: Byzantium in the Shadow of the Muslim Turks

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 31, 2015 19:32


    After a transition to his new parish assignment, Father John returns to the podcast with a discussion of the atmosphere of catastrophe that hung over the old Christendom of the east as the Muslim Turks advanced on Byzantium, while a defender of traditional Christianity, Saint Mark of Ephesus, prepared to depart for the unionist Council of Florence in the west.

    A New Christendom V

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 4, 2014 42:43


    In his conclusion to this reflection, Fr. John discusses the Roman Catholic theological principle of "doctrinal development," and traces the origins of four new doctrines that arose in the west after the Great Schism.

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