Podcasts about Paul Tillich

What if the way you view time is the very thing holding you back from your purpose?In this deeply introspective solo episode of Mirror Talk: Soulful Conversations, we dive into the powerful ancient Greek concepts of Chronos (chronological time) and Kairos (opportune, divine time). Discover how mastering both can radically transform your life, decisions, and inner peace.⏳ Chronos devours.

In this episode of Thinking Out Loud, Nathan and Cameron react to Jordan Peterson's appearance in the viral Jubilee debate—and things get theologically intense. They unpack where Peterson's thinking aligns with Christian truth and where it dangerously veers off course. From disordered loves and worship to the meaning of belief, Nathan and Cameron bring biblical clarity and philosophical depth to the table. Along the way, they reference thinkers like Augustine, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, T.S. Eliot, David Foster Wallace, and Tom Holland, making this a must-listen for Christians who care about faith, reason, and the big questions of culture.Topics Covered:Is Jordan Peterson a Christian—or just Christian-adjacent?What is worship, really? Augustine vs. PetersonDisordered loves and cultural idolatryWhy “aim upward” isn't the gospelPeterson's definition of belief—where it failsAre atheists borrowing Christian morality? (feat. Tom Holland)David Foster Wallace, Paul Tillich, and the quest for meaningWhy science can't give you moralityDid empathy replace conscience? A naturalist critiqueDONATE LINK: https://toltogether.com/donate BOOK A SPEAKER: https://toltogether.com/book-a-speakerJOIN TOL CONNECT: https://toltogether.com/tol-connect TOL Connect is an online forum where TOL listeners can continue the conversation begun on the podcast.

Episode 131 In part 24 of our Sinai and Synapses interview series, we are talking with Dr Taylor Thomas. She is an interdisciplinary scholar, artist, and educator specializing in philosophy and religion. Currently, she serves as a part-time philosophy instructor and a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Mind and Culture. Her research focuses on developing interdisciplinary frameworks to address moral agency in today's complex world, aiming to overcome challenges that suppress awareness, freedom, and opportunity. In addition to her academic pursuits, Dr. Thomas engages in creative endeavors, aiming to make existential musings tangible and relatable through multimedia experiences. She is also the host of the "Tillich Today" podcast, which explores the ideas of theologian and philosopher Paul Tillich.   https://taylormariethomas.squarespace.com/ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tillich-today/id1725855909 https://www.youtube.com/@BYTE-GEIST   Sinai and Synapses - https://sinaiandsynapses.org/   Support this podcast on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/DowntheWormholepodcast   More information at https://www.downthewormhole.com/   produced by Zack Jackson music by Zack Jackson and Barton Willis 

 In this episode, Pastor Scott Wade interviews returning guest, Dr. Henry Spaulding, retired President of Mt. Vernon Nazarene University.  In past conversations, he has spoken on the challenges of Christian higher education, Fundamentalism, Artificial Intelligence…and today Dr. Spaulding returns to Casual Conversations to talk about Paul Tillich, Philosopher/Theologian, and his impact on the Nazarene Church.  

Dr. Nimi Wariboko, professor of ethics and theology at Boston University, returns to the Pod Beyond Pod to discuss Pentecostal theology, Paul Tillich, and the importance of friendship in a time of sociopolitical upheaval. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Recently we spent two nights in the Sahara desert.  The desert is so mystical and vast that you feel ill-equipped to tie your mind around its endless borders and landscapes. So much of the desert fascinates.  Of course, we saw camels, real mirages, and sand.  What bent our minds were the thousands of other living things we saw in the desert – trees, grass, flowers, rare rocks, water, and people. We walked and watched an entire desert ecosystem quietly and subtly teeming; emerging then disappearing. Much of my faith background was informed and built around the experiences of people within desert settings whose metaphors have peppered my training and instruction.  What I actually saw with my eyes was something different. Owning a business is lonely.  You cannot (or probably should not) share everything, explain everything, or anticipate everything. Decisions are made of which may never feel reasonable.   A typical day may be spent with an owner's mind racing inefficiently from cash flow to employees, insurance to payroll, or receivables to project scheduling.  The end of the day is a scramble to find a short window of numbness to escape before the mind machine churns along.   And then there is life to think about. It is important to understand that there are varieties of loneliness and not all are poisonous.   German-American philosopher Paul Tillich helps us understand the subtly between the loneliness of isolation in contrast to the loneliness of solitude saying, “(Isolation) expresses the pain of being alone, and solitude expresses the glory of being alone" The first thing a lonely owner must identify is what desert of loneliness they find themselves in. As we walked through the desert and rode camels through the desert there was an ironic peace, almost a draw to stay.  There was a sense where I had just a shard of understanding as to how entire civilizations could both live and embrace life in the desert – it was quiet, calm, with limited distractions, and vast views for the mind to have space to think long and exponential thoughts.  There was space that was not available in my office, or around our conference table. The loneliness we feel may be the very loneliness that is needed through the healing salve of healthy solitude.  Sherry Turkle says, “(Solitude) is the time you become familiar and comfortable with yourself...Without solitude, we cannot construct a stable sense of self.” (Turkle pg.. 61) The human spirit NEEDS healthy alone time.  Time to unravel the crust and calcified lies we tell ourselves in the hurried distraction of a noisy day. Pablo Picasso said, “Without great solitude, no serious work is possible”.  Action and reaction may very well be the enemy of healthy solitude and will stunt the joy of healthy solitude. Isolation is the painful dark side of loneliness and can be manifested by a deep, enduring feeling of hopelessness.  Community will usually be needed for isolation but ill-equipped to receive if honesty and vulnerability are not included.  Community requires vulnerability over transparency and they are different. Lewis Wright articulates, “Transparency is an openness for observation, but not connection. You let folks know how you're doing, but keep them at arm's length so they can't affect you. Alternatively, vulnerability not only allows for observation, but intentionally opens up for connection (community).” The second way to combat loneliness is through connection and vulnerability with a person you trust and think wise.  Darren Hardy said, “Never ask for advice of someone with whom you wouldn't want to trade places.” The solution to isolation is not more isolation.  Embrace solitude in order to bring out your best thoughts, ideas, and insights. Hedge from isolation as an owner by connecting with a community of other owners. Business On Purpose will help by providing you a wise guide, a proven trail map, and a group of like-minded owners all running in the same direction. You can ask-us-anything about your business or how we can help liberate you from chaos by going to mybusinessonpurpose.com/contact and we will follow up. Take the Healthy Owner Business Assessment HERE➡️ mybusinessonpurpose.com/healthy SIGN UP for our Newsletter HERE ➡️ https://www.boproadmap.com/newsletter For blogs and updates, visit our site HERE ➡️ https://www.mybusinessonpurpose.com/blog/ LISTEN to the Business On Purpose Podcast HERE ➡️ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/my-business-on-purpose/id969222210 SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel HERE ➡️ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbPR8lTHY0ay4c0iqncOztg?sub_confirmation=1

"LOVE IS THE GREATEST.""Even greater than faith, or hope, or any other thing.We celebrate the love of Valentine's Day and appropriately so. That loving celebration is fun, romantic, even emotional. It is a day set aside once to live love and to express our love to all, but especially so to someone special.Love is a word difficult of definition. In fact, it has many component parts. Love is complex, defining itself, manifesting itself in so many different ways. But love is a force without which we can not live, or live right. It is the stuff of life, and without it, life is mere existence, sterile and harsh. Love is the force, the resource of God, an energy which produces the highest and best relationships with OTHERS, and, as we love ourselves, allows us to live life at its highest levels.TO LOVE AND TO BE LOVED IS THE GREATEST HAPPINESS OF EXISTENCE. Sosaid Sydnie Smith.Love out and in is a daily process which produces the greatest happiness. It does indeed. Nothing feels better than to give love, share love, and experience love.NOTHING.""If you had no one to love, you would never be hurt. But, you would never grow. You would never venture outside your own self-centered needs and perceptions. Your heart would never be cracked open so that God could enter it. To love and love unconditionally is to take risks, and especially the risk of rejection. But nothing energizes and cleanses like love.Profound words about love by a poet unknown. To love another, large or small, is the only real way that one can grow as a human being. The risk of loving produces the risk of hurt but even hurt toughens and matures love. The risk of loving another allows one to VENTURE OUTSIDE and to experience. Doing that allows your very own heart to be CRACKED OPEN so that love in its purest sense could enter, that is God Himself. Loving is always risky, and especially the risk of rejection. Rejection hurts but it is part of the loving process. The risk of love is worth it because nothingenergizes like love, and nothing cleanses like love, NOTHING.""Charles Dickens said that a loving heart is the truest wisdom. Knowing life at its best, the most real and the truest wisdom can only be produced by a loving heart, a heart cracked open and wanting more love.""Robert Schuller said that in the presence of love, miracles happen. Love itself is a miracle and the loving miracle produces other miracles. Miracles can and should happen more often and they can and will happen when:LOVE IS AT WORKTrue love allows us insight, real insight into the character and persona of another:“BECAUSE I LOVE YOU, I CATCH GLIMPSES OF THE YOU GOD CREATED, THE TRUE YOU. I SEE YOUR IMPERFECTIONS AND FAILURES, BUT I CHOOSE TO SEE PAST THEM TO THE REAL YOU. LOVE CREATES A PLACE WHERE YOU ARE FREETO BECOME YOUR COMPLETE SELF.”""What a marvelous statement. Perhaps we can only really know another not completely but only with glimpses and those glimpses made possible only because of love.We are all riddled with imperfections and failures, are we not? We can see past things in our desire to find the real person, the real you. Love breaks down those barriers and produces eyes that truly see.Benjamin Disraeli the great English Prime Minister said that:“WE ARE ALL BORN TO LOVE. IT IS THE PRINCIPLE OF ITS EXISTENCE AND ITS ONLY END.”""Born to love, genetic, all that we really are, the very highest principle itself of existence. And, its only end, like the highest and greatest spiritual commandment that we should love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength and our neighbor as ourselves. In fact, we are known as Christians, followers of the Christ:IF YOU HAVE LOVE ONE FOR ANOTHERLove said another is tough, practical, and active. Love is washing the kitchen floor over and over again. Love is scrubbing the toilet and doing the laundry. Love is taking out the garbage and cleaning the refrigerator. Love is smiling when you are tired, finding reasons to laugh even when you are angry, volunteering for a dirty job, working hard, and making the world a better place.Powerful and profound. Indeed, love is practical. Love is very much in the scrubbing of the toilet. Love is there from the one who takes out the garbage. Love indeed delights in the dirty jobs for when you do for the least of these, you do it unto HIM.""And yet more insight into the God of all love:GOD SAYS TO US, IN LOVE, I HOLD YOU IN MY MIND. I REMEMBER YOU. I HOLD ALL OF THE PIECES OF YOU. THE PAST WOUNDS AND THE PRESENT. AND INLOVE, I KNIT THEM TOGETHER INTO THE PERSON I LOVE, THE PERSON I CREATED TO GIVE ME JOY:""YOU.""Held are we in the mind of God, remembering us even as we remember Him, all of our various pieces, wounds, wrongs, and problems no matter. God knits them together and all become the mosaic, the person God loves, the individual and special you.Love frees us of the weight and pain of life! True love always lightens life's heaviestburdens. True love is a force far more powerful than the weapons of any enemy.Life is a flower of which love is the honey, so said Victor Hugo. Love is knit into the very cells of our bodies. It is written into our DNA. It is encoded in the chemicals that make plants green. It is that which makes the sky blue, the substance of the song of the birds in summer, the whisper of the wind in the trees, the silence of the snow as it falls. Love is the voice of God calling to us endlessly and passionately through all HIS marvelous creation.There is no fear in love. Perfect love drives out fear. The more one loves, the less there is of which to be afraid. Love secures and drives our insecurity. Love at work is the most powerful force and energy of all.Take away love, said Robert Browning, and our earth is a tomb. Without love, life is like dead, lifeless, even meaningless. And, if you wish to be loved, LOVE. Any time that is not spent on love is time wasted.True love is a durable fire in the mind ever-burning, never sick, never old, never dead, from itself never turning, so said Sir Walter Raleigh. The durable fire of love burns unquenchable, always alive, always energizing.The great artist Vincent Van Gogh said:“THE HEART THAT LOVES IS ALWAYS YOUNG. LOVE IS A MARVELOUS BEAUTIFIER. LOVE IS ART AT WORK. I ALWAYS THINK THAT THE BEST WAY TO KNOW GOD IS TO LOVE MANY THINGS.”""Indeed, all of art is love at work and there really can be no great art without love. It beautifies and brings out the best in everything.Here, the words of Thomas Merton:“THE BEGINNING OF LOVE IS TO LET THOSE WHO LOVE BE PERFECTLYTHEMSELVES, AND NOT TO TWIST THEM TO FIT OUR OWN IMAGE. OTHERWISE,WE LOVE ONLY THE REFLECTION OF OURSELVES WE FIND IN THEM.”""The more we are perfectly ourselves, living to our highest and best, the more and better of us there is.Love cures people, the ones who give it and the ones who receive it. Love conquers all things, so said the ancient poet, Virgil.""Love allows us to believe so fully and firmly in God even when He is silent!The great thinker-theologian Soren Kierkegaard profoundly stated that when one has once fully entered the realm of love, the world, no matter how imperfect becomes rich and beautiful. It consists solely of opportunities for love.It is love, said Thomas Mann, not reason that is stronger than death. And that love, stronger than and which conquers death is the love of the Christ on the cross and the resurrection which followed.To love someone is to see a miracle invisible to others, said Francois Mauriac. Life is replete with invisible miracles which can only be revealed by love at work.If you love somebody, tell them, so said Rod McKuen. The telling unleashes the energy and the power of love.The heart has its reasons which reason alone can not understand, so said the thinker Blaise Pascal. Love is a dimension in life different from and beyond reason itself. The more the mind the less the heart and consequently the less love. Reason no matter how wise can never understand love.The great theologian Paul Tillich said that the first beauty of love is to listen. One who loves wants to listen more than talk, listen to every word, every expression of thought and emotion which comes from the one loved. Listening, really listening in a caring way, may very well be the highest attribute of true love.For those who love, time is eternity. Love is God's finger on man's shoulder. Love is like a running brook that sings its melody to the night. To wake at dawn with a winged heart and to give thanks for another day of loving. Love is a symbol of eternity. It wipes out all sense of time, destroying all memory of a beginning and all fear of an end.Sir Alfred Lord Tennyson said:“TIS BETTER TO HAVE LOVED AND LOST THAN NEVER TO HAVE LOVED AT ALL.”""Love indeed is risky, the risk of rejection but a life lived without true love is a life never really lived at all.I love you, says Anna Corbin, as you are, not as you wish to be. I love you for the real person you are, not the imaginary perhaps I fantasize you could be. I love the real,amazing, utterly unique YOU.""Love in the ultimate, unconditional, love so REAL.If you love until it hurts, really hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love said the wonderfully loving Mother Teresa. True love at work drives away the hurt.""Looking back, said one, I have this to regret. That too often when I loved, I did not say so. Love uncommunicated is love aborted. It is there but never shared. More time is spent judging people which leaves less time to love them.Zelda Fitzgerald said that nobody has ever measured, not even poets, how much love the heart can hold. There is no limit to love, none whatsoever. Love is there, always and love takes up when knowledge leaves off. In fact, love is the supreme knowledge, superior to all else.Love's greatest gift is its ability to make everything it touches sacred. Love at work produces the holiest of the holies. The great English statesman William E. Gladstone said the following:“WE LOOK FORWARD TO THE TIME WHEN THE POWER OF LOVE WILL REPLACE THE LOVE OF POWER. THEN WILL OUR WORLD KNOW THE BLESSINGS OF PEACE. POWER KILLS LOVE AND WITHOUT LOVE, THERE IS NO PEACE. THERE ISNOTHING MORE POWERFUL BEFORE AND EVER AGAIN THAN LOVE.”""The theologian Reinhold Niebuhr said the following:“WE ARE SAVED BY THE FINAL FORM OF LOVE, WHICH IS FORGIVENESS. FORGIVING AND FORGETTING ARE THE HIGHEST ACTS OF LOVE RESULTING IN OUR SALVATION. THERE WAS ONE, YEARS AGO, DRIVEN TO THE CROSS BY THE LOVE OF MANKIND PROVIDING IN HIS DEATH THE LIFE AND THE LOVE WE LEAD.THE CROSS WAS THE FINAL AND FORGIVING FORM OF LOVE.”""The crucifixion of the Christ on the cross was indeed the ultimate act of love. The great writer C.S. Lewis said the following:“TO LOVE AT ALL IS TO BE VULNERABLE. LOVE ANYTHING AND YOUR HEART WILL CERTAINLY BE WRUNG AND POSSIBLY BROKEN. LOVE BREAKS DOWN ALL BARRIERS, OPENS WIDE THE HEART, EXPOSES TRUE INNOCENCE AND RISKS THE WRINGING AND THE BREAKING OF THIS MORE PRIZED POSSESSION. REAL LOVE DEMANDS THIS, CONSTANTLY.”Sir Arthur Pinero said that “those who love deeply never grow old. They may die of old age, but they die young at heart.”That deep love here and now is but a prelude to the perfect love there. In fact, they are one love contiguous and continuous. Love is both earthly and eternal. Love never dies. For there is only one real happiness in life and that is to love and to be loved.The great writer Ralph Waldo Emerson said:“NEVER SELF-POSSESSED OR PRUDENT, LOVE IS ALL ABANDONMENT.”""True love is pure risk, always. Love at work risks hurt to the self and rejection by another. But the risk at work is what makes the word of love so special.""Vulnerability, openness, risk but so great reward.Hear then the marvelous words of the great poet William Wordsworth:“A PERSON CAN BE SO CHANGED BY LOVE AS TO BE UNRECOGNIZABLE AS THE SAME PERSON. LOVE TRANSFORMS, REGENERATES. LOVE PRODUCES CHANGE, EVERYWHERE AND IN EVERYONE. LOVE BETTERS WHAT IS BEST!”""The great philosopher Plato said that love is the best friend of human kind, the helper and the healer of all ills that stand in the way of human happiness. In fact, love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries and without them, humanity can not survive. And for some real definition of the word love, hear the words of Saint Augustine:“WHAT DOES LOVE LOOK LIKE? WHY, IT HAS HANDS TO HELP OTHERS. IT HAS FEET TO HASTEN TO THE POOR AND NEEDY. IT HAS EYES TO SEE MISERY AND WANT. IT HAS EARS TO HEAR THE SIGHS AND SORROWS OF HUMANKIND. THATIS WHAT LOVE LOOKS LIKE!”""Amen and amen. Hands and feet at work, eyes and ears to see and hear human need. Love at work is what love really is.Love comes supreme and most innocently from a child. A child's love is pure, uncomplicated, unconditional, fully trusting. Such innocence opens deep the world of feeling and emotion and it is a return to that childlike love and that ability to love which alone can make complete the adult version of that child. May we all be wise enough to return to the innocent love of a little child.And so my friends, my fellow Americans, we the Crawford Broadcasting Company wish you all of the love possible on Valentine's Day and during Valentine's week. May love in all its forms permeate your life and may you know the supreme love of the One who laid down His life for you. Live love every day and know the real and true meaning of life.And finally, the profound words of poet Emily Dickenson:“IF I CAN STOP ONE HEART FROM BREAKINGI SHALL NOT LIVE IN VAINIF I CAN EASE ONE LIFE THE ACHING OR COOL ONE PAINOR HELP ONE FAINTING ROBIN IN TO HIS NEST AGAINI SHALL NOT LIVE IN VAIN!”""Love is the greatest!"

The discourse presented during this session at Theology Beer Camp 2024 in Denver, Colorado, delves into the intricate relationship between video games and theological and ethical considerations. Central to the conversation is Ben Chicka's latest publication, "Playing as Others: Theological and Ethical Responsibility in Video Games," which posits that engaging with video games can facilitate profound reflections on identity and moral agency. The dialogue, led by Joshua Noel of Systematic Geekology and Taylor Thomas of Tillich Today, explores how players navigate their interactions within virtual realms, particularly when embodying characters that differ from their own lived experiences. Through the lens of philosophical theology, the speakers examine the ways in which video games serve as cultural artifacts that can affirm one's existence while simultaneously fostering empathy for others. This episode ultimately encourages listeners to recognize the potential of gaming as a medium for ethical engagement and personal growth, challenging the traditional boundaries of both theology and popular culture.Check out Ben Chicka's book, "Playing as Others: Theological and Ethical Responsibility in Video Games":https://www.amazon.com/Playing-Others-Theology-Ethical-Responsibility/dp/1481315463.Follow Taylor Thomas' podcast, "Tillich Today":https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tillich-today/id1725855909In a thought-provoking recording from Theology Beer Camp 2024, Joshua Noel and Taylor Thomas engage Ben Chicka in a dialogue that traverses the intersection of gaming and theology, anchored by Chicka's recent publication, "Playing as Others: Theological and Ethical Responsibility in Video Games." The setting, a vibrant gathering of theological minds in Denver, provides a rich backdrop for exploring the implications of gaming on personal identity and ethical considerations. Chicka, a Senior Lecturer at Curry College, articulates how video games can transcend mere entertainment, serving instead as a conduit for theological reflection and ethical engagement.At the heart of the conversation lies the assertion that playing video games as diverse characters can foster a sense of empathy and understanding, facilitating a deeper connection to the experiences of others. Chicka draws upon the works of Paul Tillich to frame his arguments, suggesting that video games can create spaces for encountering the 'Other' and grappling with complex ethical dilemmas. Through examples from notable titles such as "Gone Home" and "Mass Effect," he elucidates how these narratives challenge players' assumptions and promote a more inclusive worldview. The episode further explores the cultural significance of gaming communities, positing that they can embody modern theological spaces that encourage acceptance and pluralism. Chicka's insights invite listeners to reconsider their relationship with video games, framing them as potent tools for personal and communal transformation. By the conclusion of the discussion, the audience is left with a renewed appreciation for the theological dimensions of gaming, encouraging a conscientious approach to engaging with digital narratives.Takeaways: The theological and ethical implications of video games extend beyond mere entertainment, inviting deeper reflection on identity and existence. Ben Chicka's work emphasizes the role of video games in shaping cultural narratives and understanding the 'other' in a theological context. The discussion highlights how video games can create spaces for marginalized voices, fostering acceptance and...

Episode 2475 - Today was a green show of shows. Ted covers the 13 dimensions of time space. How our prayers change physical reality. Gottfried Leibniz and Paul Tillich discussed. The biological weapons treaty discussed. Catholic Church and druids and Masonic lodges discussed. Adrenochrome and catecholamines discussed. Plus much much more. Ted also prays with the listeners. High esoteric must listen deep show.  

In this episode we delve into such topics as how we continue to search for meaning and purpose in a post-truth world, how humans often find something to worship even in the absence of God, and how the power of imagination and story can help us find that which is true as we face each new day. Maria Francesca French is the author of Safer than the Known Way: A Post-Christian Journey and Reconfiguring: A Collection of Post-Christian and Theologies (Quoir Publishing). She has spent her career in theological education as both professor and administrator, holding two MAs and a DMin. Maria has worked in innovative church contexts, planting, and denominational leadership focused on the intersections of faith and culture. Offering new forums for faith engagement and theological imagination that are viable and sustainable for an uncertain future, exploring Radical Theology and post-theist thought for the present and future of faith. Dr John Thatamanil is Associate Professor of Theology and World Religions at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. He is the author of Circling the Elephant: A Comparative Theology of Religious Diversity (Fordham University Press) and The Immanent Divine: God, Creation, and the Human Predicament; An East–West Conversation (Fortress). He teaches a wide variety of courses in the areas of comparative theology, theologies of religious diversity, Hindu-Christian dialogue, the theology of Paul Tillich, theory of religion, and process theology. He is committed to the work of comparative theology―theology that learns from and with a variety of traditions. A central question that drives his work is “How can Christian communities come to see religious diversity as a promise rather than as a problem?”Find your guides at Quoir Academy! If you've ever deconstructed your faith you know it's not easy. But just imagine if you could have people to guide you through your process? People like, Jim Palmer, Kristin Du Mez, Jennifer Knapp, Brad Jersak, Brian Zahnd, Paul Young, and more? Well, if you head over to Quoir Academy and register for SQUARE 2 using the Promo Code [RAD] you'll get 10% off the regular registration cost of this awesome course and community just for being a fan of our show. Follow this registration link: https://www.bk2sq1.com/square-2-next-steps-into-reconstruction?coupon=RAD

It's our 100th episode! We celebrate this milestone with a lively conversation with our first guest speakers, two innovative spiritual thinkers who helped us launch the first Radical Love Live event 5 years ago. We welcome back author, minister, and post-Christian thinker Maria Francesca French and scholar, author, theologian, and minister John Thatamanil to revisit the first topics we took on at the beginning of this project—Crisis and Change—and to check in on how our world and the state of faith has changed since we first spoke. In this episode we delve into such topics as how we continue to search for meaning and purpose in a post-truth world, how humans often find something to worship even in the absence of God, and how the power of imagination and story can help us find that which is true as we face each new day. Maria Francesca French is the author of Safer than the Known Way: A Post-Christian Journey and Reconfiguring: A Collection of Post-Christian and Theologies (Quoir Publishing). She has spent her career in theological education as both professor and administrator, holding two MAs and a DMin. Maria has worked in innovative church contexts, planting, and denominational leadership focused on the intersections of faith and culture. Offering new forums for faith engagement and theological imagination that are viable and sustainable for an uncertain future, exploring Radical Theology and post-theist thought for the present and future of faith. Dr John Thatamanil is Associate Professor of Theology and World Religions at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. He is the author of Circling the Elephant: A Comparative Theology of Religious Diversity (Fordham University Press) and The Immanent Divine: God, Creation, and the Human Predicament; An East–West Conversation (Fortress). He teaches a wide variety of courses in the areas of comparative theology, theologies of religious diversity, Hindu-Christian dialogue, the theology of Paul Tillich, theory of religion, and process theology. He is committed to the work of comparative theology―theology that learns from and with a variety of traditions. A central question that drives his work is “How can Christian communities come to see religious diversity as a promise rather than as a problem?”Find your guides at Quoir Academy! If you've ever deconstructed your faith you know it's not easy. But just imagine if you could have people to guide you through your process? People like, Jim Palmer, Kristin Du Mez, Jennifer Knapp, Brad Jersak, Brian Zahnd, Paul Young, and more? Well, if you head over to Quoir Academy and register for SQUARE 2 using the Promo Code [RAD] you'll get 10% off the regular registration cost of this awesome course and community just for being a fan of our show. Follow this registration link: https://www.bk2sq1.com/square-2-next-steps-into-reconstruction?coupon=RAD

This special episode was chosen by our Discord followers! We had a vote on our Discord channel for this very topic and now, Joshua Noel leads a thought-provoking discussion on the implications of artificial intelligence in video games from a Christian perspective, exploring how our interactions with AI reflect our values and beliefs. Joined by philosophy scholars Dr. Benjamin J. Chicka and Dr. Taylor Thomas (host of the podcast, "Tillich Today"), the conversation delves into the nature of AI, its representation in gaming, and how these representations challenge our understanding of humanity and morality. They examine the ethical dimensions of AI development, particularly regarding its impact on human lives and the potential for AI to influence our behavior and societal norms. The scholars share insights on Paul Tillich's theology and how it relates to contemporary issues surrounding technology and culture. Ultimately, the episode raises critical questions about our responsibilities to both AI and each other as we navigate an increasingly automated world.Central to the dialogue is the exploration of Paul Tillich's theology and how his concepts of symbols and participation can be applied to the digital realm of video games. The guests illuminate how symbols in gaming—like the representation of robots and AI—can challenge or reinforce our cultural values and perspectives on life. They discuss specific games like 'Gone Home' and 'Papers, Please', which not only entertain but also provoke deep ethical considerations about identity, agency, and social justice. The episode serves as a call to recognize the moral weight behind our interactions in virtual environments and the potential for games to shape our understanding of humanity in the age of AI..What did Paul Tillich believe about God? What is existentialism according to Paul Tillich? What did Tillich say about symbols? What is the symbolic function of religious language Paul Tillich's view? How will AI be used in video games? Will AI speed up video game development? How does AI relate to philosophy? What is the theological objection to AI? What do psychologists say about video games? How would Paul Tillich see the function of videogames? How should we treat AI? We discuss all this and more in this one! Join in the conversation with us on Discord now!.Support our show on Captivate or Patreon, or by purchasing a comfy T-Shirt in our store!.Check out our other gaming episodes:https://player.captivate.fm/collection/409f2d81-9857-4426-b1f0-d8a02e58b150.Listen to all of Joshua's episodes:https://player.captivate.fm/collection/642da9db-496a-40f5-b212-7013d1e211e0.Check out other episodes with awesome guests like Ben and Taylor:https://player.captivate.fm/collection/0d46051e-3772-49ec-9e2c-8739c9b74cde.Takeaways: The conversation explores how AI in video games reflects our moral and ethical values. Paul Tillich's perspective on symbols helps us understand our relationship with AI technology. AI's potential to replicate human emotions raises questions about...

I just watched Robert Eggers' new Nosferatu remake. So naturally I invited friend of the show, Nathan Patti, on to discuss the film. We talk about existentialism, psychoanalysis, and, as always, Paul Tillich. Also, check out the newly released Patreon, where you can support what I'm doing here and my content on youtube: https://patreon.com/BYTEGEIST?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink

As many of you may already know, I also run an educational YouTube channel called BYTE-GEIST. As a special bonus episode this week, I'm uploading one of my recent video essays. Monsters, especially when it comes to horror films, are never just monsters. Sure, they're human creations, but what they reflect is anything but simple fantasy. Horror, as a genre, has always acted as an unsettling mirror to society's deepest fears and insecurities. The shit that keeps us awake at night and makes our hearts skip a beat, all personified as imaginary beasts of every shape and size. Few films capture this dynamic as powerfully as F.W. Murnau's 1922 masterpiece, Nosferatu. It's not just a cheap vampire movie—it's a haunting window into the spiritual and cultural anxieties of the German landscape immediately following World War I. So….what happens when a society collectively stares into the abyss? Let's find out

In this episode, I team up with our producer, Josh Gilbert, for an experimental format inspired by our podcast planning sessions, where Josh often brings up intriguing questions he's gathered while editing. Together, we explore how our initial infatuation with ideas can grow into a deeper understanding and mastery and how our personal biases inevitably shape our philosophical inquiries.   We discuss the significance of philosophy in making sense of existence, agency, and how we apply ideas in everyday life. We talk about the value of curiosity and the ongoing journey of learning across the humanities, emphasizing the need to engage with philosophical texts critically and passionately. Josh pressed me on the distinction between plausibility and intensity of faith commitments, the existential register's importance in understanding religious identity, and how modern empiricism and cultural narratives influence individual agency.   Throughout the conversation, we weave in insights from thinkers like Alfred North Whitehead, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Søren Kierkegaard, Paul Tillich, Karl Barth, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, J.R.R. Tolkien, Martin Heidegger, Philip Goff, and Charles Taylor. Together, we explore how these voices create a community of inquiry that invigorates our understanding of life and existence, showing how philosophy can shape what we think and how we live. To get the entire conversation, all podcast episodes ad-free, and support our work, consider joining the Process This on SubStack or get access to our entire catalog of classes & all the rest by joining up at Theology Class. UPCOMING ONLINE CLASS - Truth in Tough Times: Global Voices of Liberation I am thrilled to announce our upcoming class with Joerg Rieger and a host of liberation theologians from across the globe. Our goal is to create an experience where participants will get a clear and compelling account of contemporary liberation theology and meet the most critical voices of our generation. As always, then lass is donation-based, including 0. Get info and join up at www.TruthInToughTimes.com _____________________ Join my Substack - Process This! Join our class - THE RISE OF BONHOEFFER, for a guided tour of Bonhoeffer's life and thought. Spend a week with Tripp & Andrew Root in Bonhoeffer's House in Berlin this June as part of the Rise of Bonhoeffer Travel Learning Experience. INFO & DETAILS HERE Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Dr. David Congdon joins me to discuss Rudolf Bultmann and his Advent preaching. He is infamous for his “demythologizing” approach to scripture, which seeks to uncover the true meaning behind the biblical narratives. Bultmann's Advent sermons strip away sentimentalism, presenting the Incarnation as a call to authentic existence. We'll consider how his approach can help us understand Christmas as more than a story, but as a profound encounter with God's call in our own lives. You can WATCH the conversation on YouTube David Congdon is an author, speaker, and scholar working in the area of theology and culture. Originally from Portland, Oregon, he completed a B.A. in English at Wheaton College, acquired an M.Div. and Ph.D. in theology from Princeton Theological Seminary, and have since worked in the publishing industry as an academic acquisitions editor. Previous Podcast Episodes with David Who Is a True Christian?: Contesting Religious Identity in American Culture Dialectical Theology Bultmann's Mission of Demythologizing _____________________ This DECEMBER, we will be exploring the 'Theologians of Crisis' in our online Advent class - Breaking into the Broken World. Join us to learn about Karl Barth, Paul Tillich, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Rudolph Bultmann as we explore their thoughts and timely reflections in their Advent/Christmas sermons. Join my Substack - Process This! Join our class - THE RISE OF BONHOEFFER, for a guided tour of Bonhoeffer's life and thought. Spend a week with Tripp & Andrew Root in Bonhoeffer's House in Berlin this June as part of the Rise of Bonhoeffer Travel Learning Experience. INFO & DETAILS HERE Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, I am joined by Dr. John Thatamanil to discuss how Paul Tillich's theology understands God's relationship to history and incarnation. We discuss his Christian existentialism, the contrast between Chronos and Karios time, and his vision of the divine. Covering topics from Tillich's understanding of religious socialism to the complexities of conditioned and unconditioned existence, our dialogue offers a rich introductory exploration of Tillich's thought. We also engage the contemporary implications of Tillich's theology, making connections to modern societal issues and the lived reality of faith in challenging times. You can WATCH this conversation on YouTube This DECEMBER, we are exploring the 'Theologians of Crisis' in our online Advent class - Breaking into the Broken World. Join us to learn about Karl Barth, Paul Tillich, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Rudolph Bultmann as we explore their thoughts and timely reflections in their Advent/Christmas sermons. Dr. Thatamanil is Professor of Theology & World Religions at Union Theological Seminary in NYC.  Previous Podcasts with John Deconstructing Divinity & Embracing Diversity God – the Ground, the Between, the Personal What we do when we do theology A Comparative Theology of Religious Diversity Theology Without Walls Non-duality, Polydoxy, and Christian Identity Check out these books by John Circling the Elephant: A Comparative Theology of Religious Diversity The Immanent Divine: God, Creation And the Human Predicament: God, Creation, and the Human Predicament Theology Without Walls: The Transreligious Imperative  _____________________ This DECEMBER, we will be exploring the 'Theologians of Crisis' in our online Advent class - Breaking into the Broken World. Join us to learn about Karl Barth, Paul Tillich, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Rudolph Bultmann as we explore their thoughts and timely reflections in their Advent/Christmas sermons. Join my Substack - Process This! Join our class - THE RISE OF BONHOEFFER, for a guided tour of Bonhoeffer's life and thought. Spend a week with Tripp & Andrew Root in Bonhoeffer's House in Berlin this June as part of the Rise of Bonhoeffer Travel Learning Experience. INFO & DETAILS HERE Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, I am joined by my partner in The Rise of Bonhoeffer, Dr. Jeffrey Pugh, for a profound conversation with theologian, ethicist, and Bonhoeffer scholar Dr. Reggie Williams. The discussion revolves around Dietrich Bonhoeffer's provocative ethical challenge, particularly drawing from his experience in Harlem. Reggie helps us explore his critique of religion, its relevance to contemporary American issues, and how his theology can inform our response to modern ethical challenges. The conversation also touches on the influence of the Black church tradition, global liberation theology, and practical ways to engage with current sociopolitical issues, including the situation in Palestine. You can WATCH the conversation on YouTube. Reggie Williams has just begun screening his new documentary, “The Cloud of Witnesses: Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Harlem 1930/31.” It is a powerful film that focuses on Bonhoeffer's time in NYC, the witness of the Harlem Renaissance, and the prophetic gospel of Abyssinian Baptist Church. There is no better guide to this vital terrain than Reggie!  Reggie Williams is associate professor of Black theology at St. Louis University and author of Bonhoeffer's Black Jesus: Harlem Renaissance Theology and an Ethic of Resistance. You can check out his recent essay on the Bonhoeffer film here. Here's Reggie's previous visits to the podcast: Bonhoeffer & the Critique of Religion Reggie Williams: Bonhoeffer's Black Jesus Debating, Praying, and Living with Tyrants _____________________ This DECEMBER, we will be exploring the 'Theologians of Crisis' in our online Advent class - Breaking into the Broken World. Join us to learn about Karl Barth, Paul Tillich, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Rudolph Bultmann as we explore their thoughts and timely reflections in their Advent/Christmas sermons. Join my Substack - Process This! Join our class - THE RISE OF BONHOEFFER, for a guided tour of Bonhoeffer's life and thought. Spend a week with Tripp & Andrew Root in Bonhoeffer's House in Berlin this June as part of the Rise of Bonhoeffer Travel Learning Experience. INFO & DETAILS HERE Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, I am joined by Dr. Andrew Root to delve into the Advent sermons of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, discussing the context and impact of his work. We unpack Bonhoeffer's experiences in Barcelona, Cuba, Berlin, and London, touching on his interaction with his time's ideological and theological crises. The conversation also includes insights into Bonhoeffer's relationships, his formative years, and the implications of his theological perspectives. Bonhoeffer's emphasis on waiting, his critiques of ideology, and his reflections on community and personhood are given attention. You can WATCH the conversation on YouTube This DECEMBER, we will be exploring the 'Theologians of Crisis' in our online Advent class - Breaking into the Broken World. Join us to learn about Karl Barth, Paul Tillich, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Rudolph Bultmann as we explore their thoughts and timely reflections in their Advent/Christmas sermons. _____________________ This DECEMBER, we will be exploring the 'Theologians of Crisis' in our online Advent class - Breaking into the Broken World. Join us to learn about Karl Barth, Paul Tillich, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Rudolph Bultmann as we explore their thoughts and timely reflections in their Advent/Christmas sermons. Join my Substack - Process This! Join our class - THE RISE OF BONHOEFFER, for a guided tour of Bonhoeffer's life and thought. Spend a week with Tripp & Andrew Root in Bonhoeffer's House in Berlin this June as part of the Rise of Bonhoeffer Travel Learning Experience. INFO & DETAILS HERE Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Travis McMacken joins the fun as we explore the life and theology of Karl Barth, the original crisis theologian. In this insightful conversation, we dive into Barth's theological perspective, his reaction to World War I, and his thoughts on the incarnation and revelation. The discussion covers how Barth's theology evolved, his views on the role of the church in times of crisis, and the contemporary relevance of his ideas. This DECEMBER, we will be exploring the 'Theologians of Crisis' in our online Advent class - Breaking into the Broken World. Join us to learn about Karl Barth, Paul Tillich, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Rudolph Bultmann as we explore their thoughts and timely reflections in their Advent/Christmas sermons. W. Travis McMaken, PhD, is the Butler Bible Endowed Professor of Religion and Associate Dean of Arts and Humanities at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, MO. He is a Ruling Elder in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). McMaken's writing engages primarily with 20th century theology (esp. Protestant theology, with specialization in Karl Barth, Helmut Gollwitzer, and T. F. Torrance) while working constructively on the subjects of sacramentology, ecclesiology, and political theology. Previous Episodes with Travis include: The Spirituality & Politics of Karl Barth Dialectical Theology Our God Loves Justice Why Go Barthian? _____________________ This DECEMBER, we will be exploring the 'Theologians of Crisis' in our online Advent class - Breaking into the Broken World. Join us to learn about Karl Barth, Paul Tillich, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Rudolph Bultmann as we explore their thoughts and timely reflections in their Advent/Christmas sermons. Join my Substack - Process This! Join our class - THE RISE OF BONHOEFFER, for a guided tour of Bonhoeffer's life and thought. Spend a week with Tripp & Andrew Root in Bonhoeffer's House in Berlin this June as part of the Rise of Bonhoeffer Travel Learning Experience. INFO & DETAILS HERE Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What do we talk about when we talk about God? There are so many problems with the inherited concept, language, and vision of God, that ‘god' might just need a time out. You would be surprised how familiar theologians are with ‘god' problems! One cluster of constructive responses to the predicament of divine discourse is theopoetics. If you ever wondered what would happen if 600 people got to nerd out in person with a bunch of craft beverages and sat down to hear three outstanding theologians tackle this problem, then you were likely at Theology Beer Camp. There, I was joined by Catherine Keller, Kristy Whaley, and Ilia Delio to wrestle with the language we use about ‘god' and the theopoetic turn in theology. If you want to get info, updates, and access to pre-sale tickets for Theology Beer Camp 2025, you can sign up here. Kristy Whaley is faculty at St. Petersburg College, where she teaches both religion and humanities. Her interdisciplinary interests are primarily centered on Christian theology and literature, but often also stray into pop culture, mainly about Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Lost. Her most recent book, Wounded Images, is a work in theopoetics. She is also a podcaster and you can put her in your earbuds by checking out Theology on the Rocks. Ilia Delio, OSF, PhD is a Franciscan Sister of Washington, DC, and American theologian specializing in science and religion, with interests in evolution, physics, and neuroscience and the import of these for theology. Catherine Keller is George T. Cobb Professor of Constructive Theology in The Graduate Division of Religion of Drew University. If you are new to Catherine Keller and Process Theology this is the book to start with – On the Mystery: Discerning Divinity In Process. _____________________ This DECEMBER, we will be exploring the 'Theologians of Crisis' in our online Advent class - Breaking into the Broken World. Join us to learn about Karl Barth, Paul Tillich, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Rudolph Bultmann as we explore their thoughts and timely reflections in their Advent/Christmas sermons. Join my Substack - Process This! Join our class - THE RISE OF BONHOEFFER, for a guided tour of Bonhoeffer's life and thought. Spend a week with Tripp & Andrew Root in Bonhoeffer's House in Berlin this June as part of the Rise of Bonhoeffer Travel Learning Experience. INFO & DETAILS HERE Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, I got to talk with Simon Critchley about his new book Mysticism. We delve into Critchley's journey towards exploring mysticism, his reflections on modernity, and his discussions on key figures like William James, Julian of Norwich, and Meister Eckhart. We also discuss the importance of reading and understanding mystical texts, the role of prayer, and how modernity has impacted our perception of faith and spirituality. His engagement with mysticism beyond the confessional boundaries in which it so often emerges makes the topic and the book a timely reflection for our contemporary spiritual crisis. Simon Critchley has written over twenty books, including studies of Greek tragedy, David Bowie, football, suicide, Shakespeare, how philosophers die, and a novella. He is the Hans Jonas Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research in New York and a Director of the Onassis Foundation. As co-editor of The Stone at the New York Times, Critchley showed that philosophy plays a vital role in the public realm. You can WATCH the conversation on YouTube _____________________ This DECEMBER, we will be exploring the 'Theologians of Crisis' in our online Advent class - Breaking into the Broken World. Join us to learn about Karl Barth, Paul Tillich, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Rudolph Bultmann as we explore their thoughts and timely reflections in their Advent/Christmas sermons. Join my Substack - Process This! Join our class - THE RISE OF BONHOEFFER, for a guided tour of Bonhoeffer's life and thought. Spend a week with Tripp & Andrew Root in Bonhoeffer's House in Berlin this June as part of the Rise of Bonhoeffer Travel Learning Experience. INFO & DETAILS HERE Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Dr. Ben Chicka returns to the Pod Beyond Pod to help me do a deep dive on Paul Tillich's fraught life in 1930's Germany, his life as a public intellectual in the United States, and how we can use his philosophy to navigate sociopolitical complexities in our own time.

In this episode, I talk with Dr. Eleanor McLaughlin, author of Unconscious Christianity and Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Late Theology. We discuss Bonhoeffer's influence on modern theology, the concept of unconscious Christianity, Bonhoeffer's changing views, and the relevance of his work today. Eleanor shares her journey into Bonhoeffer studies, the challenges of interpreting his work, and her insights into his lesser-known fiction and poetry. The conversation also touches on topics like the theology of the cross, religionless Christianity, and Bonhoeffer's ethical commitments in facing the challenges of his time. Spend a week with Tripp & Andrew Root in Bonhoeffer's House in Berlin this June as part of the Rise of Bonhoeffer Travel Learning Experience. INFO & DETAILS HERE Join me this DECEMBER for our open online class exploring the 'Theologians of Crisis' - Breaking into the Broken World. Join us to learn about Karl Barth, Paul Tillich, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Rudolph Bultmann as we explore their thoughts and timely reflections in their Advent/Christmas sermons. Want to learn more about Bonhoeffer? Join our open online companion class, The Rise of Bonhoeffer, and get access to full interviews from the Bonhoeffer scholars, participate in deep-dive sessions with Tripp and Jeff, unpack curated readings from Bonhoeffer, send in your questions, and join the online community of fellow Bonhoeffer learners. The class is donation-based, including 0. You can get more info here. Dr. McLaughlin is Tutor in Theology at Ripon College Cuddesdon, with a focus on doctrine and ethics. She holds theology degrees from the University of Oxford (BA and DPhil) and the University of Geneva (Maîtrise en Théologie). Her research interests include the life and thought of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, theological anthropology and disability theology. She contributed to BBC Radio 4's programme 'In Our Time' on Bonhoeffer in 2018, and is a trustee of the charity Project Bonhoeffer.  Ellie's publications include Unconscious Christianity in Bonhoeffer's Late Theology: Encounters with the Unknown Christ. Foreword by Rowan Williams (Lexington Books/Fortress Academic, 2020), and ‘Disability, Technology, and Human Flourishing,' in Human Flourishing in a Technological World: A Theological Vision, edited by Jens Zimmermann and Michael Burdett (Oxford University Press, forthcoming 2021). Previously, Dr. McLaughlin worked at Cuddesdon from Sarum College, where she ran the postgraduate programmes in Theology, Imagination and Culture. She co-ordinated the MTh at the Faculty of Theology and Religion at the University of Oxford, and was Lecturer in Theology and Ethics at Regent's Park College. Ellie lives in Oxford with her husband Luke and her cat Bertie. She enjoys good food with friends, reading and travelling. You can WATCH the conversation on YouTube _____________________ This DECEMBER, we will be exploring the 'Theologians of Crisis' in our online Advent class - Breaking into the Broken World. Join us to learn about Karl Barth, Paul Tillich, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Rudolph Bultmann as we explore their thoughts and timely reflections in their Advent/Christmas sermons. Join my Substack - Process This! Join our class - THE RISE OF BONHOEFFER, for a guided tour of Bonhoeffer's life and thought. Go with me to Berlin to spend a week in Bonhoeffer's House! Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 In this episode, I am joined by Dr. Andrew Root. We discuss Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his time in the experimental underground seminary at Finkenwalde. This community became a site for him to enact his broader theological and ethical intuitions in community. We unpack the significance of Bonhoeffer's relational theology, the establishment of illegal seminaries, Bonhoeffer's radical commitment to living out the gospel in dire times, and his enduring legacy. The conversation also touches on Bonhoeffer's formation of deep friendships, notably with Eberhard Bethge, and the practical implications of his ideas for contemporary theological education and church life. Spend a week with Tripp & Andrew Root in Bonhoeffer's House in Berlin this June as part of the Rise of Bonhoeffer Travel Learning Experience. INFO & DETAILS HERE Dr. Root is joining me this DECEMBER for our open online class exploring the 'Theologians of Crisis' - Breaking into the Broken World. Join us to learn about Karl Barth, Paul Tillich, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Rudolph Bultmann as we explore their thoughts and timely reflections in their Advent/Christmas sermons. Want to learn more about Bonhoeffer? Join our open online companion class, The Rise of Bonhoeffer, and get access to full interviews from the Bonhoeffer scholars, participate in deep-dive sessions with Tripp and Jeff, unpack curated readings from Bonhoeffer, send in your questions, and join the online community of fellow Bonhoeffer learners. The class is donation-based, including 0. You can get more info here. WATCH the conversation here on YouTube Andrew Root is the Carrie Olson Baalson Professor of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary, USA. He writes and researches in areas of theology, ministry, culture, and younger generations. Some of his most recent books are The Congregation in a Secular Age (Baker, 2021), The End of Youth Ministry? (Baker, 2020), The Pastor in a Secular Age: Ministry to People Who No Longer Need God (Baker, 2019), Faith Formation in a Secular Age (Baker, 2017), and Exploding Stars, Dead Dinosaurs, and Zombies: Youth Ministry in the Age of Science (Fortress Press, 2018). Andy has worked in congregations, parachurch ministries, and social service programs. He lives in St. Paul with his wife Kara, two children, Owen and Maisy, and their dog. When not reading, writing, or teaching, Andy spends far too much time watching TV and movies. Previous Visits with Andy Root Resonance in an Accelerated Age Secular Mysticism & Identity Politics the Church after Innovation Churches and the Crisis of Decline Acceleration, Resonance, & the Counting Crows Ministry in a Secular Age Christopraxis with Andy Root Faith Formation in a Secular Age the Promise of Despair _____________________ This DECEMBER, we will be exploring the 'Theologians of Crisis' in our online Advent class - Breaking into the Broken World. Join us to learn about Karl Barth, Paul Tillich, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Rudolph Bultmann as we explore their thoughts and timely reflections in their Advent/Christmas sermons. Join my Substack - Process This! Join our class - THE RISE OF BONHOEFFER, for a guided tour of Bonhoeffer's life and thought. Go with me to Berlin to spend a week in Bonhoeffer's House! Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE HERE! Alright, this is a PATREON PREVIEW and we're back with the wonderful PETER ROLLINS talking Donald Trump's Sharpie & the rise of Obscene Masters, Paul Tillich, Simone Weil, Badiou and fidelity to an Event, Religion as a truth procedure, Jordan Peterson and Richard Dawkins, and of course...Seamus gambling with God. LISTEN TO THE FIRST PART OF OUR INTERVIEW WITH PETER HERE! Big thanks to Peter and all of you over the years who have asked us to have a chat with him and we look forward to doing it again! Stay tuned because we have a few very exciting guests before the end of the year... Support us on PATREON and get access to our Discord, interviews, extra episodes each month and our new SHORT SESSIONS series for $5 a month! See you in Paris! Ž&...

In this episode, I am joined by theologian, ethicist, and Associate Director of the Center of Theological Inquiry at Princeton, Dr. Joshua Mauldin. We delve into Joshua's recent work examining Karl Barth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, not just as theologians but as critics of modernity. The conversation covers how these figures reflected on the crises of democracy during their time, the rise of Nazism, and World War II, while drawing parallels to today's societal challenges. We also explore the nuances of political and ethical thought in a modern context, stressing the importance of tolerance and critical reflective engagement. This is an insightful episode for theology nerds and those interested in modern political and ethical thought. Dr. Mauldin is the author of Barth, Bonhoeffer, and Modern Politics, also available in audio at a significantly cheaper price. For more audio fun with Johsua, check out the Theology Matters podcast from the Center of Theological Inquiry.  You can WATCH this conversation on YouTube here _____________________ This DECEMBER, we will be exploring the 'Theologians of Crisis' in our online Advent class - Breaking into the Broken World. Join us to learn about Karl Barth, Paul Tillich, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Rudolph Bultmann as we explore their thoughts and timely reflections in their Advent/Christmas sermons. Join my Substack - Process This! Join our class - THE RISE OF BONHOEFFER, for a guided tour of Bonhoeffer's life and thought. Go with me to Berlin to spend a week in Bonhoeffer's House! Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week my friend Dr. Taylor Thomas joins me to discuss your new favorite theologian... Paul Tillich. This episode is a crash course in all things Tillich! Whether you are a Tillich expert or have no idea who the hell Paul Tillich is, this episode is for you. Dr. Thomas takes us through the life and theology of Tillich in a way that is fun and accessible... she also throws some of her own hot takes in there so Tillich nerds look out! We discuss Tillich's notion of faith as ultimate concern, the role of doubt in faith, existentialism, God as the ground of being, the importance of symbol, a theology of culture, and so much more. This was such a fun conversation to have with Dr. Thomas. I hope you find it as helpful as I did! RESOURCES: TaylorThomas.Com Tillich Today Podcast *A special thanks to Josh Gilbert, Marty Fredrick, and Dan Koch for your continue support of the podcast. Love you guys

Joe Rogan, once a vocal evangelist of New Atheist talking points on religion, recently expressed how he yearns for the "just and righteous" Kingdom of God and believes the world "needs Jesus...for real." That's quite a change for Rogan, but his journey is emblematic of a broader shift in attitudes towards religion. In this episode, I'll explain why this cultural shift is happening, and we'll engage with the work of Charles Taylor, Jonathan Haidt, Paul Tillich, and others to help us better understand what religion actually is.   Deep Talks is a listener-supported podcast that is free of advertisements. Become a member on Patreon today: https://www.patreon.com/deeptalkstheologypodcast

This week we welcome back Nick Polk from the Tolkien Heads podcast to talk about his new book, Tolkien and Pop Culture, Paul Tillich, and how the Lord of the Rings teaches us to endure and overcome. You can find Nick's work and links to his book here: https://tolkienpop.substack.com/

First-time guest Tony Annett and Matt "I Brought My Own Mic" McManus return for an in-depth look at thinkers like Alasdair McIntyre and Paul Tillich, the relationship between left-wing economic ideas and Catholic social teaching, and more. (Turns out that, while an adamant atheist when "in the streets" arguing about philosophy, Ben is "in the sheets" of political practice extremely friendly to this kind of thing.)The launch event for Ben's pamphlet "Four Essays on Palestine" is going to be in October 22nd at 7:30 PM in Los Angeles (at Lawless Brewing Co. in North Hollywood) w/a panel in the beer garden with Ben, Jason Myles and Ana Kasparian. Tickets come with a copy of the book:https://www.eventbrite.com/e/four-essays-on-palestine-launch-wben-burgis-ana-kasparian-jason-myles-tickets-1039381567247Or order the pamphlet from Everyday Analysis:https://everyday-analysis.sellfy.store/p/four-essays-on-palestine-by-ben-burgis-print-and-digital-edition/Read Tony's essay "The Theology of Social Democracy" at Commonweal:https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/theology-social-democracyRead Matt's essay "The Left Should Take Alasdair MacIntyre Seriously" at Jacobin:https://jacobin.com/2024/09/alasdair-macintyre-marxism-morality-liberalismFollow Matt on Twitter: @MattPolProfFollow Tony on Twitter: @tonyannettFollow Ben on Twitter: @BenBurgisFollow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_ShowBecome a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from patron-exclusive postgames every Monday night to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going:patreon.com/benburgisRead the weekly philosophy Substack:benburgis.substack.comVisit benburgis.com

Big doings for Jay recently! He fills us in on his trip to NYC to meet with the folks who are producing and performing the Broadway musical about his mom, including Sir Elton John! Crazy! Today talk though is a bit of an audible. It's a really great talk! It wasn't, however, the original talk he had planned—that talk got derailed when his plane ride home from NYC lost power and had to make an emergency landing! Scary stuff, but everyone is okay and safe and sound! But with that talk being too much to tackle on no sleep and a nightmare of a plane ride, Jay switched his focus to Paul Tillich and really knocks the talk out of the park. Tillich is an absolute favorite here at Revolution. Jay discusses two of Tillich's sermons and wow, do they get you thinking! Do non-Christians do a better job of showing love than Christians do? If we're void of love, are we void of God? Is genuine love the presence of God? What is calculated justice? Are we living a life of passionate grace, and passionate love? Or are we just calculating justice? Does the Golden Rule have limits? Does love have a limit? And maybe the heaviest hitting question of the bunch…Where does God abide?This talk was given on October 6, 2024 from Seattle, Washington.www.facebook.com/revolutionchurchmnwww.revolutionchurch.com/donatewww.youtube.com/revolutionbroadcasting@jaybakker@revolution1994@revolution94 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why do we do things we don't want to do? Why can't we always do what we want to? These are topics that Paul brings up in his letter to the Romans. It is also a concept that Revolution favorite Paul Tillich dives into when he discusses the concept of sin. At Revolution we believe in grace and acceptance over all things, that's why we put a lot of trust in our two Pauls! The Apostle, and Tillich. Together they make a great team in their exploration of grace, questioning the laws of religion, and what it means to truly feel accepted. At times probably almost everyone has felt that God hates them, or maybe God has left them. Where does this feeling come from? Is it possible that this feeling is also one of the closest ways to be connected to Jesus? Do the rules and laws of religion amplify these feelings? These feelings of a being sinful and useless and unloved, not accepted by God or the church or ourselves? Where does this roadblock come in? How can we get the breakthrough that's needed to understand grace? What does it mean to have a life above ourselves? This talk doesn't have all the answers, but it is a great, great, place to start as we try to figure out more about God and ourselves and others.This talk was given on Sept 22, 2024 from Seattle, Washington.www.facebook.com/revolutionchurchmnwww.revolutionchurch.com/donatewww.youtube.com/revolutionbroadcasting@jaybakker@revolution1994@revolution94 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A theologian I read, Paul Tillich wrote: We must abandon the external high and mighty images in which the theistic God has historically been perceived and replace them with internal depth images of a deity who is not apart from us, but who is the very core and ground of all that is. I invite us to see the entire universe as God's body. That is, there is nowhere, and no time, where we are not encountering the holy, the divine, that Which IS. Be careful how we interpret the world, for it will become exactly like that.

In this episode, Justin and Matt speak with Taylor Thomas who is a PhD student in theology, ethics, and philosophy at Boston University School of Theology and a Lindamood Fellow at the Center for Mind and Culture. Taylor also hosts the Tillich Today Podcast, dedicated to exploring the profound and often revolutionary ideas of Paul Tillich, a towering figure in the world of philosophy, theology, and religion. https://taylormariethomas.squarespace.com/mindful-musings/tillich-today

We're trying something new today! Instead of going live, we're doing a Live Premiere of this talk. Streaming the services has been giving us some grief lately so we're testing this out to see how it goes. A pre-recorded talk but with a live chat! So, let's give it a shot!Jay is really excited about today's talk. More excited than he has been in a while. He's excited because this is part 3 of the Paul Tillich's You Are Accepted series, and it's the best part. It's the essence of what Revolution is, and what we strive to do. It's Jay's hope for the church. In this talk Jay discusses what it means to be ‘struck by grace.' He talks about the idea of grace being anarchy and asks if it's possible to work ourselves out of grace. This talk also raises the question of how do we wear our despair? Can we accept God and the Bible without accepting grace? Where does sin get its power from? It's a really great talk which raises some poignant questions, while talking through others. And above all this talk shows that it doesn't matter where Revolution is located, what matters is the message. And the message is, and always will be, Grace.You can hear the sermon in full, read by Peter Rollins, on the Revolution YouTube page, and wherever you listen to your podcasts.This talk was given on June 16, 2024 from Seattle, Washington.www.facebook.com/revolutionchurchmnwww.revolutionchurch.com/donatewww.youtube.com/revolutionbroadcasting@jaybakker@revolution1994@revolution94 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 2302 - Today was a green show of shows. Ted covers the 13 dimensions of time space. How our prayers change physical reality. Gottfried Leibniz and Paul Tillich discussed. The biological weapons treaty discussed. Catholic Church and druids and Masonic lodges discussed. Adrenochrome and catecholamines discussed. Plus much much more. Ted also prays with the listeners. High esoteric must listen deep show.

Today is Part 2 of our dive into Paul Tillich's sermon You Are Accepted. The sermon in itself is great on its own, but definitely worth the deep dive into it. Tillich's sermon brings up so many good points about grace and about looking inwardly at ourselves. Do we hurt others because of our feelings about ourselves? Does self-hate keep us from loving others? Do we project our feelings of not feeling accepted? In Corinthians Paul describes to us what love is, and all of the characteristics of love—is it possible that we can't show that sort of love to others if we can't show that level of love to ourselves? That is something Jay dives into in this talk, Tillich's idea of sin being this sort of estrangement to ourselves. Is that what makes us cruel to each other? Because what does that say about us when we are cruel to one another? What does Tillich mean when he mentions ‘being struck by Grace?' Is that important? Is that something that we need in our lives? To be struck by Grace? In this week's talk Jay, through the lens of Tillich's sermon, discusses all of this and more. It's a real great talk and we're excited to share it! You can hear the sermon in full, read by Peter Rollins, on the Revolution YouTube page, and wherever you listen to your podcasts.This talk was given on June 9, 2024 from Seattle, Washington.www.facebook.com/revolutionchurchmnwww.revolutionchurch.com/donatewww.youtube.com/revolutionbroadcasting@jaybakker@revolution1994@revolution94 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Now that we're a few weeks removed from our Galatians series, Jay dives into another series of talks, this time he's talking about Paul Tillich. Tillich was both a theologian and a philosopher, so his thoughts and messages are right up our alley! Of all of Tillich's talks and teachings, Jay is focusing in on one right now—and that's Tillich's talk “You Are Accepted.” Along with Galatians, Jay believes this talk of Tillich's is one of the best things out there when it comes to grace, and he's not wrong! Tillich raises a lot of good points and good questions. What does he mean when he is talking about The Ground of Being? Is it possible that our theology is leading us in directions we're not even aware of? Why are we so fixated on division, and separating ourselves from each other? Are Sin and Grace the strangest words that we know of? Are they useless tools? Tillich talks about all of these things in this sermon—and Jay is diving in and helping us take a closer look at these points and questions in hopes that we all can get the most of Tillich's thoughts on grace and acceptance. You can hear the sermon in full, read by Peter Rollins, on the Revolution YouTube page, and wherever you listen to your podcasts.This talk was given on June 2, 2024 from Seattle, Washington.www.facebook.com/revolutionchurchmnwww.revolutionchurch.com/donatewww.youtube.com/revolutionbroadcasting@jaybakker@revolution1994@revolution94 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Tripp is joined by Dr. Benjamin Chikca. They delve into the intriguing intersection of theology, ethics, and video games, spotlighting Chicka's book, 'Playing as Others: Theology and Ethical Responsibility in Video Games.' The discussion spans topics such as the impact of cultural and ethical narratives within indie video games, the relevance of figures like Paul Tillich and Emmanuel Levinas, and the evolving representation of diversity in gaming. In the conversation, we discuss: Exploring the Intersection of Theology, Ethics, and Video Games The Genesis of his book,"Playing as Others" The Real-Life Impacts of Video Game Culture Gamergate and its Aftermath Embracing Culture Through Video Games Humanizing the Other Through Video Games Papers, Please - An Ethical Playground The Neuroscience of Gaming and Ethical Transformation The Power of Immersive Storytelling Cultural Anxiety Manifested in Video Games Real-Life Impacts and Community Building Benjamin J. Chicka is Lecturer in Philosophy and Religious Studies at Curry College in Milton, MA. He is a philosophical theologian whose work connects classical American pragmatism, process theology, and ground-of-being theology. Such bridge-building between supposedly incompatible positions reflects his conviction that intrareligious pluralism is as important as interreligious pluralism for the future of theology. You can WATCH this episode HERE. You can find his BOOK HERE. Join our upcoming class, FAITH & POLITICS FOR THE REST OF US! Come to THEOLOGY BEER CAMP. Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Tillich Today is joined by theology podcast extraordinaire, Dr. Tripp Fuller. We chat about process philosophy, our introductions to the work of Paul Tillich, and the most efficient way to smoke a cigar. This conversation was a blast and I hope you enjoy! If you live under a rock and aren't yet familiar with Homebrewed Christianity, check out Tripp's page here: https://trippfuller.com/podcasts/ and be sure to use the promo code TILLICHTODAY for a discount on your ticket to Theology Beer Camp this October! For more info on Beer Camp, click here: https://homebrewedchristianity.lpages.co/theology-beer-camp-24/

Do you ever think about dying? Has metaphysical shock of non-being got you bent out of shape? Well, then have a got a podcast episode for you. Join Nick and I as we tackle these questions and much more. We won't heal you're existential crisis, but, with any luck and with the help of Paul Tillich, we can help you navigate it! Don't forget to check out Theology Beer Camp (coming to Denver this October). Use the promo code TILLICHTODAY for $25 off of your ticket. Link Below: https://homebrewedchristianity.lpages.co/theology-beer-camp-24/

This week I sit down with Rev. Tory Shane Dillard for a conversation on mysticism, ministry, and friendship (not to mention a little bit of Paul Tillich, for good measure). Tory is an ordained Elder in the United Methodist Church. He currently serves in the Tennessee-Western Kentucky Annual Conference. Tory considers himself to be a Process theologian with roots in Wesleyan and Mystical thought. In his spare time Rev. Tory is a poet, actor, and writer. He received his Masters of Divinity degree from Boston University School of Theology. Rev. Tory believes that as long as we find and maintain our deep rooted sense of joy, wonder, and compassion within our own being and in the being of others, then we can face any and all challenges ahead. Rev. Tory gives thanks to God, Jesus Christ, and to his many mentors and friends for getting him to where he is today both theologically and pastorally.

“Existentialism is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the issue of human existence.[1][2] Existentialist philosophers explore questions related to the meaning, purpose, and value of human existence. Common concepts in existentialist thought include existential crisis, dread, and anxiety in the face of an absurd world and free will, as well as authenticity, courage, and virtue.[3] Existentialism is associated with several 19th- and 20th-century European philosophers who shared an emphasis on the human subject, despite often profound differences in thought.[4][2][5] Among the earliest figures associated with existentialism are philosophers Søren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche and novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky, all of whom critiqued rationalism and concerned themselves with the problem of meaning. In the 20th century, prominent existentialist thinkers included Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, Martin Heidegger, Simone de Beauvoir, Karl Jaspers, Gabriel Marcel, and Paul Tillich. Many existentialists considered traditional systematic or academic philosophies, in style and content, to be too abstract and removed from concrete human experience.[6][7] A primary virtue in existentialist thought is authenticity.[8] Existentialism would influence many disciplines outside of philosophy, including theology, drama, art, literature, and psychology.[9] Existentialist philosophy encompasses a range of perspectives, but it shares certain underlying concepts. Among these, a central tenet of existentialism is that personal freedom, individual responsibility, and deliberate choice are essential to the pursuit of self-discovery and the determination of life's meaning.[10]” -Wikipedia. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/antonio-myers4/support

Award-winning author, journalist, and fellow podcaster Brian T. Kaylor joins Ken to talk about his soon-to-be-released (June 6, 2024) book, Baptizing America: How Mainline Protestants Helped Build Christian Nationalism. Brian adds a significant contribution to the discussion about the pervasive Christian Nationalism so prevalent today - the movement that became highly visible in the January 6th assault on our nation's Capitol. It's a little-discussed fact that the foundation for Christian Nationalism was laid by the “Seven Sisters” - the mainline denominations that far and away dominated the American religious scene before the explosion of evangelical denominations in the 1960s and 70s. Brian Kaylor asserts that despite its spurious claim, “Christian Nationalism isn't Christian.” Ken and Brian unpack this thesis and review his well-researched, compelling book. They discuss Robert Bellah's “Civil Religion” and the prescient warnings from Paul Tillich and H. Richard Niebuhr. Other topics include The National Prayer Breakfast, The Family, St. John's Episcopal Church (“The President's Church”), the National Cathedral, and traditional hymnology (including the prolific hymns written by Fanny Crosby). All of this has culminated in MAGA Trumpism and the complete takeover of the Republican Party. The American Flag and the Christian Flag have been standards in mainline denominational churches throughout out history - the Confederate Flag, too. Kaylor draws on Greg Boyd's Myth of a Christian Nation to underscore the vast difference between the biblical notion of the Kingdom of God and America as the New Israel. SHOW NOTESBecome a Patron | Ken's Substack PageSupport the Show.

Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA 2E23 4 Easter (Year B) 8:30 a.m. & 11:00 a.m. Eucharist Sunday 21 April 2024 Good Shepherd Sunday   Acts 4:5-12 Psalm 23 1 John 3:16-24 John 10:11-18 “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want” (Psalm 23).   When I was at Harvard, on the advice of a friend who is a nun, I decided to take a leadership course at the Kennedy School of Government. My fellow classmates came from twenty-six countries and included CEO's, a judge, a District Attorney, an army general, a state senator, the founder of an investment bank, the co-founder of a Political Action Committee, an ambassador, a university dean, the head administrator for airports in Israel, etc. Our teacher Ronald Heifetz changed who I am. He spoke with uncanny and absolutely non-defensive frankness. He had an MD, practiced as a surgeon, and had previously taught at Harvard Medical School. He was a cello virtuoso who had studied under Gregor Piatagorsky and music was central to his understanding of leadership. [i]   This week I read all my class notes – everything from doodles that spelled my wife's Hawaiian name in Greek letters to quotes with three stars in the margin (such as, “in disagreements the first value we lose sight of is the ability to be curious”). [ii] The syllabus says directly that the course's goal is, “to increase one's capacity to sustain the demands of leadership.” It was perfect preparation for the rest of my life.   On the first day Heifetz said, “if you are going through a difficult time I strongly urge you not to take this course.” He was right. This was not an ordinary lecture class but a seemingly entirely improvised discussion. Heifetz would start by saying something like, “What do we want to address today?” It felt strangely dangerous. Nothing was going to come easy or be handed to us on a silver platter. We talked about the feeling in class and agreed it was tense.   At one point in the early lectures Heifetz just stopped being an authority figure for a while. In the resulting chaos we learned how much we all crave authority and guiding norms. It felt more like a Werner Erhard seminar than a Harvard lecture. Heifetz might not always say it directly but he regards leadership above all as a spiritual practice. The motivations for good leadership are spiritual. The character and the skills that we need to develop for leadership are spiritual. To be effective we have to recognize forces that were previously invisible to us and experience the world with intuition and based on a real understanding of ourselves. Leadership success requires curiosity, compassion, wisdom, honesty, courage, humility, self-knowledge and the right balance between detachment and passion.   Today is Good Shepherd Sunday. In the Fourth Gospel Jesus faces accusers who seek to kill him. He uses the metaphor of a leader as a good shepherd. This idea was already ancient in his time and mentioned in the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the Psalms. You might be thinking, “No one listens to me since I retired,” or, “I'm at the lowest level in my company, or I'm just a kid, what could leadership possibly have to do with me?”   Heifetz makes a central distinction between authority and leadership. Authority comes from one's institutional standing and involves managing people's expectations. [iii] Jesus was not the Roman governor or the high priest. He did not have this authority.   Leadership on the other hand means mobilizing resources to make progress on difficult problems. [iv] In many instances people exercise more powerful leadership without having formal authority than with it. Jesus did. And make no mistake Jesus expects each of us to act as leaders regardless of our formal or informal authority. We exist to glorify God and to help solve the problems we encounter. For homework I invite you this week to consciously exercise leadership that is inspired by Jesus.   1. Adaptive Challenges. This morning I am going to do the opposite of what my teacher did, I am going to speak directly and briefly about three of his observations concerning leadership. [v] One of Heifetz's primary ideas concerns the difference between a technical problem and an adaptive challenge. A technical problem is one that we already know how to respond to; best practices, if you will, already exist. It may be simple like setting a broken bone or incredibly complicated like putting a person on the moon, but an expert, a mechanic, surgeon or rocket scientist, already knows how to handle it. [vi]   An adaptive challenge is different. No adequate response has been developed for it. I have in mind our terrible problem of people without housing, racial prejudice, addiction, education, misinformation, poverty, war, white Christian nationalism, election denial, despair, isolation, etc. It is tempting to treat an adaptive challenge as if it were a technical problem, to look to an authority to solve that problem for us. But problems like this require cooperation among groups of people who are seeking solutions, not pretending to already know all the answers.   What was Jesus' adaptive challenge? His disciples thought it was overthrowing the Roman Empire or enthroning a king who shared their identity. But this was not it. Instead Jesus was what the theologian Paul Tillich calls “the New Being.” Jesus inaugurated a new way of being human which he called “the realm of God” in which all people would be healed, cared for and treated with dignity. It is a realm of spiritual well-being in which we experience God as a kind of loving father such as the father in the Prodigal Son story. This is what Jesus means when he says, “the Father knows me and I know the Father” (Jn. 10).   As a spiritual community Grace Cathedral shares this adaptive challenge of working for the realm of God. And in a society where Christianity is justifiably associated with misogyny, homophobia and unkindness we offer a vision of community in which anyone can belong before they believe. On the basis of our conviction that every person without exception is beloved by God we have taken on the adaptive challenge of transforming Christianity, of reimagining church with courage, joy and wonder. [vii]   2. Strategic Principles. Heifetz speaks a great deal about the practical work of leadership. He describes this as creating a kind of holding container for people working on the problem and then paying attention to one's own feelings to understand the mind of the group.   Leadership involves uncovering and articulating the adaptive challenge. A leader also needs to manage the anxiety of the group. People have to be concerned enough to want to act but not so afraid that they will give up in hopelessness. Because human beings tend to avoid hard challenges, a leader needs to keep the group focused on the problem not just on trying to relieve the stress the group is feeling. This involves giving the work back to people at a rate they can assimilate. He also points out how important it is to protect leaders who do not have authority so that they can contribute to the solution. [viii]   3. Values. Heifetz taught us that the best leaders have such a deep feeling for their mission they will, if necessary, sacrifice themselves for the higher purpose. Heifetz refers to the leaders getting (metaphorically, mostly I hope) assassinated. This happens when the stress a leader generates in order to solve a problem becomes so great that the leader gets expelled. This is how I understand Jesus' life. Jesus talks about this.   In today's gospel the Greek the word kalos which we translate as good, as in Good Shepherd, probably means something more like real or genuine. Jesus says that the hired hand is there for the transaction, for the payment, but the real shepherd has the power (ezousian often translated as authority) to lay down his life (the Greek word is psuxēn or soul) for the sake of the sheep. Many leaders at some point have to decide whether to keep pushing for uncomfortable change even when they know it might mean they will be forced to leave.   Before closing I want to briefly tell you about a leader who shaped us, our first dean, J. Wilmer Gresham. Dean Gresham moved to San Jose California for health reasons. In 1910 at the age of 39 when he was asked to become the first Dean of Grace Cathedral he hesitated wondering if the damp cold of San Francisco would kill him. Almost immediately after moving here to this block, he discerned his adaptive challenges: to build this Cathedral and to begin a ministry of healing that involved organizing groups to gather for prayer that gradually became an national movement. He helped so many people privately, financially. Trusting God he gave all of himself. [ix]   After serving almost 30 years Dean Gresham retired and a year later his wife Emily Cooke Graham died. Many evenings he would stand on the sidewalk in front of their old home weeping for her. He found so much comfort in Jesus, the Good Shepherd, that he gave a stained glass window in the South Transept in her memory. He did this so that we would know that like the sheep in the arms of Jesus we are loved by God.   At the end of our leadership course Ronald Heifetz reminded us that he had told us at the beginning that he would disappoint us. He talked about how at times the teaching staff too had felt that we were wandering in the desert, that some students might have felt hurt or misrepresented. But most of all he taught us how to say goodbye.   Heifetz promised that we could shed light in our life even when there is no light around us. He said that the God of the Greek philosopher Archimedes was called “the unmoved mover.” But Heifetz said that he believed much more in Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel's idea of God as “the most moved mover.”   My dear ones, we are all called to lay down our lives for the sake of God's realm. But we are not left without comfort. We have each other and we always have the Good Shepherd. Jesus teaches that God loves us the way that a faithful teacher loves her students or a father treasures his lost child.

------------------Support the channel------------ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedissenter PayPal: paypal.me/thedissenter PayPal Subscription 1 Dollar: https://tinyurl.com/yb3acuuy PayPal Subscription 3 Dollars: https://tinyurl.com/ybn6bg9l PayPal Subscription 5 Dollars: https://tinyurl.com/ycmr9gpz PayPal Subscription 10 Dollars: https://tinyurl.com/y9r3fc9m PayPal Subscription 20 Dollars: https://tinyurl.com/y95uvkao   ------------------Follow me on--------------------- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thedissenteryt/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDissenterYT   This show is sponsored by Enlites, Learning & Development done differently. Check the website here: http://enlites.com/   Dr. Emily Qureshi-Hurst is Stipendiary Lecturer in Philosophy at Oriel College and a Junior Research Fellowship at Pembroke College, University of Oxford. She completed a D.Phil at the University of Oxford in Science and Religion (2021). Her thesis examined the theoretical support for a B-theory of time provided by special and general relativity, and re-interpreted Paul Tillich's doctrine of salvation in light of this metaphysical temporal model. She is the author of God, Salvation, and the Problem of Spacetime.   In this episode, we focus on God, Salvation, and the Problem of Spacetime. We start by talking about the metaphysics of time, and we go through how ancient and medieval philosophers understood time, the link between time and theology, and how people think about time nowadays. We discuss how physics relates to metaphysics, and how spacetime relates to theology. We explore questions related to the nature of God, human salvation, and resurrection. Finally, we discuss whether science and theology can be reconciled. -- A HUGE THANK YOU TO MY PATRONS/SUPPORTERS: PER HELGE LARSEN, JERRY MULLER, HANS FREDRIK SUNDE, BERNARDO SEIXAS, OLAF ALEX, ADAM KESSEL, MATTHEW WHITINGBIRD, ARNAUD WOLFF, TIM HOLLOSY, HENRIK AHLENIUS, FILIP FORS CONNOLLY, DAN DEMETRIOU, ROBERT WINDHAGER, RUI INACIO, ZOOP, MARCO NEVES, COLIN HOLBROOK, PHIL KAVANAGH, SAMUEL ANDREEFF, FRANCIS FORDE, TIAGO NUNES, FERGAL CUSSEN, HAL HERZOG, NUNO MACHADO, JONATHAN LEIBRANT, JOÃO LINHARES, STANTON T, SAMUEL CORREA, ERIK HAINES, MARK SMITH, JOÃO EIRA, TOM HUMMEL, SARDUS FRANCE, DAVID SLOAN WILSON, YACILA DEZA-ARAUJO, ROMAIN ROCH, DIEGO LONDOÑO CORREA, YANICK PUNTER, CHARLOTTE BLEASE, NICOLE BARBARO, ADAM HUNT, PAWEL OSTASZEWSKI, NELLEKE BAK, GUY MADISON, GARY G HELLMANN, SAIMA AFZAL, ADRIAN JAEGGI, PAULO TOLENTINO, JOÃO BARBOSA, JULIAN PRICE, EDWARD HALL, HEDIN BRØNNER, DOUGLAS FRY, FRANCA BORTOLOTTI, GABRIEL PONS CORTÈS, URSULA LITZCKE, SCOTT, ZACHARY FISH, TIM DUFFY, SUNNY SMITH, JON WISMAN, WILLIAM BUCKNER, PAUL-GEORGE ARNAUD, LUKE GLOWACKI, GEORGIOS THEOPHANOUS, CHRIS WILLIAMSON, PETER WOLOSZYN, DAVID WILLIAMS, DIOGO COSTA, ANTON ERIKSSON, CHARLES MOREY, ALEX CHAU, AMAURI MARTÍNEZ, CORALIE CHEVALLIER, BANGALORE ATHEISTS, LARRY D. LEE JR., OLD HERRINGBONE, MICHAEL BAILEY, DAN SPERBER, ROBERT GRESSIS, IGOR N, JEFF MCMAHAN, JAKE ZUEHL, BARNABAS RADICS, MARK CAMPBELL, TOMAS DAUBNER, LUKE NISSEN, KIMBERLY JOHNSON, JESSICA NOWICKI, LINDA BRANDIN, NIKLAS CARLSSON, GEORGE CHORIATIS, VALENTIN STEINMANN, PER KRAULIS, KATE VON GOELER, ALEXANDER HUBBARD, BR, MASOUD ALIMOHAMMADI, JONAS HERTNER, URSULA GOODENOUGH, DAVID PINSOF, SEAN NELSON, MIKE LAVIGNE, JOS KNECHT, ERIK ENGMAN, LUCY, YHONATAN SHEMESH, MANVIR SINGH, AND PETRA WEIMANN! A SPECIAL THANKS TO MY PRODUCERS, YZAR WEHBE, JIM FRANK, ŁUKASZ STAFINIAK, TOM VANEGDOM, BERNARD HUGUENEY, CURTIS DIXON, BENEDIKT MUELLER, THOMAS TRUMBLE, KATHRINE AND PATRICK TOBIN, JONCARLO MONTENEGRO, AL NICK ORTIZ, AND NICK GOLDEN! AND TO MY EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS, MATTHEW LAVENDER, SERGIU CODREANU, BOGDAN KANIVETS, ROSEY, AND GREGORY HASTINGS!

Joe Rogan, once a vocal evangelist of New Atheist talking points on religion, recently expressed how he yearns for the "just and righteous" Kingdom of God and believes the world "needs Jesus...for real." That's quite a change for Rogan, but his journey is emblematic of a broader shift in attitudes towards religion. In this episode, I'll explain why this cultural shift is happening, and we'll engage with the work of Charles Taylor, Jonathan Haidt, Paul Tillich, and others to help us better understand what religion actually is.

Welcome to the Adam's Archive, where each episode is a journey into the depths of intriguing topics. Join your host, Austin Adams, as he unravels conspiracies, explores controversial legacies, and dives into groundbreaking events that shape our world. From the dark secrets behind historical figures to the revolutionary moves by institutions like the FAA, each episode promises a captivating exploration. In today's episode, we peel back the layers surrounding Martin Luther King's assassination, exposing alleged conspiracies involving the FBI, CIA, and the military. We then shift gears to examine the debated values and controversies surrounding King's legacy. Brace yourself for a revelation as we unveil the FAA's bold move in recruiting diverse talents, exploring the impact on the aviation industry. But that's not all—tune in as we reveal the winner of the Iowa caucus and discuss the potential global concerns raised by influential figures about Trump's 2024 election prospects. With in-depth analysis, exclusive revelations, and compelling storytelling, the Adam's Archive is your gateway to the most explosive topics of our time. Don't miss out on the visual experience—head over to our YouTube channel, where Austin's charismatic presence accompanies each episode, providing a comprehensive view of the articles and videos discussed. So, whether you're on the go or settling in, join us at the Adam's Archive, where every episode takes you deeper into the stories that matter. Don't forget to leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and remember, the longer you're here, the deeper we get. Let's dive in!   All Links: https://linktr.ee/theaustinjadams Substack: https://austinadams.substack.com/   ----more----  Full Transcription:   Hello, you beautiful people and welcome to the Adam's Archive. My name is Austin Adams and thank you so much for listening today. On today's episode, we're going to be doing a deep dive in the theme of today, which is actually Martin Luther King Day.  You're not listening to it on Martin Luther King Day, but I digress. It got me interested in the topic and I learned a little bit more about it. So now I want to share my findings with you. Which is the fact that Martin, Martin, Martin, Martin Luther King was actually, allegedly, not really allegedly, but allegedly, assassinated by the FBI in cahoots with the CIA and  The military intelligence and the reason that this came about was because of a 1999 trial by somebody who is a whistleblower who said that he worked with the mob and was paid 100,  000  to hire a hitman for this job by those same individuals who moved all the moving pieces around. To make it happen.  So we'll discuss that. We'll dive deep into the situation. We'll also have a conversation about Martin Luther King in general. There's been some controversial conversations about his values and things like that. So we'll talk about that. And when it comes to some current events, we're also going to discuss this, which is the fact that the FAA  is actively now recruiting people with severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities. As a part of a diversity and inclusion plan.  Don't worry. We'll talk about it. After that, we will talk about the next thing, which is the fact that, uh, the caucus is going on tonight in Iowa. So we'll just briefly super briefly touch on that because I believe we already have a winner and  we will also discuss the world economic forum coming out and saying that the idea that Trump could potentially win the 2024 election is.  And I quote,  and this actually came from, I believe, somebody, the, the, uh, head of BlackRock,  uh, a woman there that was at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, said that it was a great concern, quote, unquote, if Trump won the election.  Now, all of that and more, make sure you stick around, because the longer you're here, the deeper we get. Alright, so, before you do that, uh, go ahead and  Leave a review,  Apple podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you're at, go ahead and click the five stars. If you're on Spotify or Apple podcasts, if you haven't watched the episodes before all of the stuff that I'm talking about here with you on the podcast is also available on YouTube, just with my beautiful face and all the articles and videos that we're watching up on the screen for you. So if you're working, whatever you got going on, you're cleaning up the house, whatever you're doing. Put on YouTube, man, I'll be right there waiting for you. And you'll actually be able to see everything that we're discussing all the articles and everything there. All right. So without further ado, let's jump into it.   The Adams archive.  All right, let's jump into it. The very first thing that we're going to discuss today is going to be that the FAA came out and said, And you're hearing this correct. The FAA said that they were going to start doing diversity hires for people who are severely and mentally incapable.  That seems like the absolute worst idea in the world. If there was any job that you would do, and I can actually speak to this, uh, and I'll get into more detail on that for you. But if there's any job that you shouldn't be able to do, this should probably be on the list. So here's this article. It comes from the post millennial and it says Biden's FAA is actively recruiting people with severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities as a part of diversity and inclusion plan.  Yeah. If you're terrified.  Because when I was in the, the FAA certification process right when I was going through air traffic control school to be in the Air Force when I was in the Air Force, um,  we wouldn't even when you went in and you got your FAA certification, you got this little pink card that showed that you were an air traffic controller. You had to go through all these tests. The tests were quite difficult, by the way, so I'm not sure like my class of  air traffic controllers from tech school at Uh, Biloxi, Mississippi did essentially, we had 24 people or 27 people or so when we started and by the end of it, eight of us graduated. So it's, it's not like this is easy stuff. And then you go to your actual base and then even a larger amount of people wash out at their base, depending on what base you go to. Now, when it comes to the FAA, allowing severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities to be a part of this organization and these types of jobs, we're talking about. People who have your lives in their hands at all times, when you talk about air traffic controllers and pilots, you need to be mentally sharp, you need to be mentally capable, you need to be able to make split second decisions that are going to choose life or death for hundreds of people at a time. And here's how I would explain air traffic control. You know, some people, everybody thinks it's like the person with the cone sitting down on the runway. No.  The air traffic controller either has one of two jobs. One's in a tower, one's in a radar facility. And if you're in the tower, you're basically working air traffic within maybe five miles around your base. And if you're working in a radar facility, like I did, you work potentially up to 20, 30, even larger. Distances than that. So you're controlling. So when, when you're doing a radar facility, you see a screen when you're in tower, it's a little bit different and you use different tools, but when you're in the radar facility, you see basically a screen and it looks like a video game. And there's little triangles on there with little, you know, letters and numbers.  Next to them. And each one of those triangles could represent anywhere from two to 250 people. And your job as an air traffic controller is to,  is to look and observe the altitude of the aircraft that you're looking at, check their, uh, the altitude, their speed, and then you're supposed to create.  Patterns. There's already generally pre created patterns, but you're, you're supposed to keep them within the air traffic patterns, tell them when there's traffic, give them the, the distance, the speed, the altitude of the traffic. And, and at the same time, you know, there were certain times in the air traffic facility when one person would be working upwards of 20 to 25 different planes at a single given time. So you can imagine what that looks like when you're trying to maintain and track 25 small triangles and make sure that they don't hit each other, because if those triangles touch each other,  you could have killed 500 people.  Now, when we're talking about the FAA allowing severely intellectually and  psychiatrically disabled individuals into the FAA, we're also talking about pilots.  Now, I don't know about you, but I just watched a recent Netflix movie and it's the most. It's like the highest net, the highest watched Netflix movie right now. Pretty sure it's like Sons of Snow or something like that and essentially what happened is back in the 1970s there was a pilot, a perfectly capable, unmentally handicapped, or severely intellectually disabled individual,  a perfectly healthy individual,  who was a pilot, who was the co pilot, and he hadn't really driven this plane through the area that they were in through these mountains and During the 70s, this, this plane was commissioned through the, the military to ride these like rugby players and their families all over to go play a match.  And when they did that, the co pilot was  maintaining the aircraft and was lost just by 40 miles. And 40 miles seems like a really long distance, but when you're going 300, 400 miles per hour  It's not. And so  you could do that in 25 minutes, 20 minutes of just going the wrong direction, you're 40 miles off off path. And so when what happened was this guy  lowered his altitude and did so so much that he hit the tail end of the plane on the back of a cliff,  broke the plane in half, it ripped the wings off of the plane and stranded these 27 people in this Horrific, mountainous, frigid, freezing area. And those people were there for 80, 81 days. They survived in the climate where the temperatures would drop 80 degrees in one hour.  It's a little graphic movie, so I'll give you that.  Parental discretion. Don't watch this with the kids, and don't watch it if you don't have a or if you're a little queasy when it comes to, I don't know, cannibalism, because it's kind of a theme throughout it all, but this is a real story that happened. And the only reason that these guys survived, a certain amount of them, survived was because of their, both their heroic acts, and The fact that they ended up cannibalizing each other and the story is truly amazing and in a testament to humanity and how certain individuals in that situation can step up into leadership roles and  to, uh, you know, work alongside other people to delegate tasks and all these amazing things that they did together. It's actually a really interesting case study on like almost, uh, uh, the, the antithesis of Lord of the Flies. And I think that's partially because a small portion of these individuals actually happened to be teammates prior to this. So they were already on their own side. They were all wearing a Jersey together. They had some camaraderie. And so I think that's a, that's a big piece of it. But I also think that when you're in that situation, there's always going to be several leaders who step up and decide that they're going to speak for the group and that they're the ones that are most capable to lead them out of a terrible situation.  And you really find the character out of an individual when they're in a situation like that, and whether they step up or they look around the room to meet the eyes of somebody who's going to,  and there's different people for different roles in life. And that's not to say that any one person is less than the other, but I do think that there is a certain gene within.  A man or a woman that makes them more capable leaders than others. And when you're in a situation that is literally life and death, you want to make sure that you have a capable leader.  In this specific instance, they actually had the captain of their team that helped. Uh, take on that initial leadership role that they all kind of looked to throughout this film. Now, it's truly an incredible film, and I know I'm getting off on a tangent here, but you should go watch it. Don't blame me, because I already warned you about the cannibalism stuff. All right, guys, like, don't, don't be messaging me, getting all mad at me for, but it's, it's a great movie, and, and it's definitely worth the watch, and it'll make you queasy for, you know, a few scenes, but. It's worth it. It's interesting.  And so, when you have somebody who's a co pilot and for 10 minutes looked the wrong direction and wasn't following the right, you know, path.  Like, I don't know how many people were on the original plane, but it was probably at least 70 people died as a result of this tiny little mistake.  This isn't a cab driver, and even then, you probably shouldn't be a cab driver if you have severe intellectual disabilities.  So when it comes to the FAA, the standards are high for a reason. Hi for a reason, and it's for your safety. So when you have Boeing with their 757s that came out flaunting in a video where all of their engineers are now women  walking through a trade show in slow motion thinking they're all cool. Meanwhile, they should have been in the back of a hangar with a screwdriver screwing on the  windows or the door that fell off of the The airplane like every single piece of aviation has to be handled with extreme care from the mechanics that are working on a plane, obviously, to the FAA or traffic controllers that are maintaining your traffic and giving telling people where to go and how to get there and how to get there safely to the pilots that are actually sitting in that cockpit, making sure that you and your family land. Without dying, that's a pretty important role, don't you think? And I don't think that that's somebody that I want to have severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities. And when we go back to my time in the Air Force, when I was an air traffic controller, you wouldn't, if you were feeling any sort of anxiety, or depression, or any lingering mental health issue at all, you would never, never go speak with a therapist. It was a death sentence for your career.  An absolute death sentence for your career. If you went to speak to a therapist, a psychiatrist, a psychologist, you would not be able, they would immediately strip you of, of your, your duties. You wouldn't be allowed to go do your job because now you're, you're at a risk and they can't risk having somebody with a medical history of any mental health issues or  physical disabilities or intellectual disabilities because.  You can kill people, not even just like one or two. You kill lots of people in air traffic or as a pilot. And all of those decisions that you have to make are split second decisions. So,  this is absolutely crazy to me. But let's, let's go ahead and watch this here.  Or I'll read it for you. Which says, The Federal Aviation Administration places a priority on hiring people with severe intellectual disabilities as a part of the Diversity and Inclusion Initiative.  According to its website, the FAA claims individuals with targeted or severe disabilities are the most underrepresented segment of the federal workforce.  Under its People with Disabilities program, the agency says, it actively recruits, hires, promotes, retains, and develops and advances people with disabilities. The FAA targets the following disabilities as a matter of policy. Hearing. Vision, missing extremities, God, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disabilities, psychiatric disabilities, and dwarfism. Could you imagine if you go to get into your plane and as you're boarding Delta flight, you see a blind, deaf  dwarf with one arm sitting there ready to fly your plane?  That doesn't sound like a good idea at all.  I am immediately grabbing my luggage and turning right around and exiting the plane. Because that's,  I'm not trying to be ableist or whatever the fuck you want to call it, but there are certain qualities that, that make you capable of flying a plane and being deaf, blind, missing extremities,  or being deaf. Paralyzed seemed to fall under the category of the things that you wouldn't want from your pilot,  I would say. Now, the FAA told Fox News that it seeked qualified candidates from as many sources as possible, all of whom must meet rigorous qualifications that, of course, will vary by position. Its website reveals that those with disabilities or those who have veteran status can be hired via non competitive or on the spot process as long as a manager files the proper paperwork, thus giving them preferential treatment in the hiring process. The aviation industry has received further scrutiny from the public in the wake of Alaska Airlines door plug being blown off the sides of its two month old Boeing 737 9 Max aircraft, causing it to make an emergency landing.  In a post on X, tech mogul Elon Musk asked, do you want to fly in an airplane where they prioritize DEI hiring over your safety? He added,  it's actually happening. People will die due to DEI.  And I wholeheartedly believe we should just switch those. It's D I E, guys. When it comes to the FAA, at least, it's D I E. It's no longer D E I.  So he posted that on X and then, uh,  goes on to talk about how Boeing had that situation that occurred as well.  Now, they go into a whole history of Boeing's DEI program, uh, which is just as concerning as we see it all actually playing out now with the 737's door falling off mid flight. Flight, could you imagine and the people that were supposed to be sitting in the the aircraft next to that door that fell off I'm pretty sure like missed the flight or something like that  Now it says the Alaska Airlines situation came on the heels of a shocking report in December Which showed that there was 19 instances where planes nearly crashed into each other at the airports in the first in the first 10 months of 2023 Wow. This was the highest number since 2016. The report noted that the FAA had struggled to hire more air traffic controllers, and as the number of flights a day has gone up, the number of fully certified air traffic controllers is down 1, 000 people from 10 years ago. And that's when I was an air traffic controller. It was literally  2013, 2014. Yeah. So interesting. Wow. Didn't know they were in that much dire difficulty that they'd hire somebody who's completely paralyzed to be an air traffic controller. The bar is  Sticky tape on the ground.  All right, and that leads us to our next conversation here,  which comes out of, and I guess let's do this two ways. We could do one of two ways. We can start with the caucus, or we can start with the World Economic Forum. You choose. I'll wait.  Oh, you said you wanted to start with the World Economic Forum? Perfect, let's do that. So it says, from the post millennial, the potential 2024 Trump win of great concern to Davos elites at annual World Economic Forum meeting. So, every year, if you didn't know, A bunch of multi billionaires of all these corporations across the world that all come together to conspire on how to control you, on how to eliminate your freedoms, on how to put you into a tinier and tinier box every year, and strip you of the ability to transport yourself from point A to point B, and figure out a way to continue to siphon money off of you, so they can pay it to themselves.  Oh, and also, you know, take every single power, uh, advantage that they can over the general public. They meet. In the, I think it's like the Swiss Alps in Switzerland and at Davos and all these people get together and they conspire together and they have these fancy looking meetings and then, you know, Klaus Schwab walks up there in his Star Wars attire and talks about how you're going to eat the bugs and you're going to, uh, Oh, nothing's I'm be happy with it. Like all of that stuff, right? That's the World Economic Forum, if you didn't know. Sure you did, because you're listening to me. But, if you didn't know, there you go. Now,  the World Economic Forum leaders, specifically from BlackRock, said that Trump becoming president is of great concern for them, when it comes to their annual World Economic Forum meeting. And that's again comes from the post millennial, which says in 2024 GOP front runners, Donald Trump's potential return to the white house was of great concern to one elite and stoked fears and others at the earlier work  at the yearly world economic forum meeting. In Davos, Switzerland, going to the into the Iowa caucuses, Trump is far ahead of primary competition in recent polls, the potential for him to become president of the United States against burden nervous discussions, thousands of miles away from the elite meeting. You know, we've been there before and we survived it. So we'll see what it means. BlackRock Vice Chairman Philip Hildebrand said, according to Bloomberg.  Certainly for a Europe, from a European perspective, from a kind of globalist, Atlanticist perspective, it's of course a great concern. You hear that, that word? Globalist, right? European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde. Thought that Trump going back to his office, it was obviously a threat in an interview this week before the elite meeting that she attends regularly.  The video's in, uh, French, so I won't play it for you unless you speak French, in which case go find it and listen to it yourself and then you can tell all of us what it says. The former Swiss National Bank president also shared Lagarde's fears of Trump returning to office. Former Vice President Al Gore did not think it was a foregone conclusion that Trump would get elected. I don't think it's a foregone conclusion, he said. Yeah, well, thank you. I've Been through the process. I've run four national campaigns over the years and seen it from that perspective. I've seen a lot of surprises over the years. The yearly elite meetup started this week and goes until January 19th.  And as always, I do cover that in length as well, every year. So I'm sure we will be doing that  also this week. All right. Now, just because they just said that I would love to share with you that the Iowa caucus has been called  and Donald Trump  took just 34 minutes.  To win the election  or the caucus, whatever. Um, so let's go ahead and read a little bit about that here.  And that is. Interesting to me because it was such a landslide that Donald Trump won in Iowa.  He won by 75 percent of votes within the first 30 minutes. Now this is supposed to get dragged out a little bit, but basically everybody's already calling it because they're saying that there was so many people. And I'm sure we have even more of a  definitive. Statistic now,  but there were so many people that voted for Trump out of the generalized first election counting that was happening within the first 35 minutes that they just went, eh, guess it's Trump, which is scaring the shit out of a lot of people, especially if you're in Switzerland right now. Uh, so that's cool. What I found to be interesting was that following Donald Trump, at least at the time that I'm reading this was  Nikki Haley,  Nikki Haley. Surprised me by being in that position.  And I guess she's kind of like the GOP, you know, the, if you want to use the word neocons or the, you know, the establishment conservatives, she's. Literally the face of it. She used to run, she used to work at like the NATO or UN side of things. And, you know, all of that deeply entrenched in the swamp. And it surprises me that she's in second place at all, because everything that's come out of her mouth is just warmongering bullshit. Next up after her right now is Ron DeSantis.  Now, what's even more interesting than that to me is the fact that Vivek Ramaswamy is in fourth place behind DeSantis and Nikki Haley.  For how convincing his speech is, it doesn't seem to be helping him much in the polls. There was a big spat this week and last between Donald Trump and Vivek, and I guess I said Vivek, but I'm pretty sure it's Vivek after I called him out a few times, but it's Vivek and In that spat, uh, Donald Trump basically said that Vivek is trying to go out and say that, Oh, he's, you know, there was a picture that came out of Vivek next to four individuals, uh, younger looking guys who were saying that, you know, Save Trump, choose Vivek. Which is basically the idea behind that is the fact that Trump's not gonna be able to get near the White House, and they would never let that, so you should choose me because I'm the next best option. Now, I don't disagree with the sentiment of some of that.  But, that pissed off a lot of Trump voters, and it also pissed off Trump,  which Made Trump respond to him  and basically just obliterate the vague fairly quickly I would be really interested to see them on a debate stage together. I don't know if we will which is super sad to me  Because it would be I don't know That's what democracy is is hearing two people stand up there and have an argument about their belief system so that we can decide Who's full of shit and who seems to be telling the truth?  Now, the real answer is, they're all full of shit, none of them are telling the truth, but at least we get to feel like we partake in the process. At least we get to feel like we heard them speak from their own mouth and have some sort of verbal combat with the other individual that we're deciding between. And I think that's important. But it's telling, as we go into all of these debates, that there has been no Democratic debates at all.  There has been no debates with Donald Trump in them.  There has been no Joe Biden speaking out about what's going to happen. Now that's a super interesting one because we still have no idea who's even going to be the front runner.  I believe there's more and more whispers now that it could be Michelle Obama, however, which would make for a very,  very interesting election. I think that might be one of the only ways that you would see  Trump have a difficult time winning.  And specifically, and only because of perception. It's like, Oprah,  Michelle Obama,  I don't know, who else? The Rock,  Mark Cuban. Like, those would be like the four people that I could see even giving Trump a hard time, potentially, if they actually showed up and  debated him.  Now.  There you have it. There's your update on both Trump and the caucus. And I think that we will be seeing these landslides pretty consistently as the  time goes on in the conservative party because Trump's just trounced absolutely destroyed the vague. And that to me is the only possible individual that It could have gone toe to toe with him in any way, shape, or form. So now it's like almost a race for second, which is what everybody's saying about this. It's like, yeah,  we're watching this only specifically because we want to see who comes in second place. And, and hopefully, you know, honestly, I would rather have a vague than DeSantis or Nikki Haley. And, and I'm, I'm not against. DeSantis, his presence throughout this election cycle has just been absolutely atrocious. It was sitting on the debate stage getting just pummeled, pummeled by Gavin Newsom in their debate. Just watching that was so difficult. I just prayed. That Vivek gets the same opportunity. And again, I'm not a Vivek supporter. In that way, I have a lot of  questions about Vivek and his sincerity. And, uh, there was actually even more news about Vivek that came out this week in his snaky little ways. Which is the fact that one of the companies that he owned,  the one that made him much of his money, was a pharmaceutical company, right? We know that. But also, what ended up happening was he basically bought the rights to a dead pharmaceutical drug that lost all of its clinical trials, never went into the third phase of trials, and then,  basically, this was for dementia, purchased the drug,  and I think this was under Roivint, And purchased the drug and then put it back through trials. Only this time there was one difference in the way that he put it through trials. He put his mother on the team that was conducting the trials. Lo and behold, after a few rounds of. Running these scientific trials,  suddenly there's this amazing breakthrough in the dementia world and this medication could have gone and been an amazing thing. The stock jumps up to almost 200 per share from almost nothing.  Then,  as it goes through the third round of trials, the stock plummets because it doesn't pass the third rounds of clinical trials.  What we call that is a pump and dump the I there was their entire idea was to purchase this pharmaceutical drug make it appear through Scientific swindling which is basically all sciences today anyways, especially when it comes to pharmaceuticals over literally anything  and then Pump up the stock by putting out some some PR information sending your son on a PR  Trip to go to speak on all of the best talk shows and you know his Silvery slick little tongue.  And then as soon as right before you're supposed to go through that third round of clinical trials, you drop all your shares  and that leaves all of the money,  all of the money that's lost to the individuals that don't drop it in time. And that's exactly what they did. So he's just a pump and dump little schemer.  So  thought that was interesting. Something I learned this week as well.  All right.  So, those are your main topics today, but there was one last thing that I think will segue us into the Martin Luther King conversation.  And this actually is interesting because it comes from Robert Kennedy Jr. at a speech at Hillsdale College, in which  he calls out another situation where the powers that be attempted to  assassinate individuals who didn't fall in line, which perfectly segues us into our conversation about Martin Luther King. So,  here's the video,  Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaking at Hillsdale College. And this is actually interesting because JFK is, you know, um, is actually the one who allowed, uh, the FBI to conduct its wiretapping on Martin Luther King. Now there's a reason behind that, that he was trying to basically allegedly expose. The fact that  Martin Luther King wasn't a communist and all these claims and that a lot of that, but we'll get to that in a minute. But it is just funny that we're speaking to his nephew or watching his nephew speak about the topic that he was the one who, you know, allowed the wiretapping. Anyways, here we go. Watch here as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. drops an absolute bombshell about the federal government and  well, just watch because it's pretty wild.  Then  in 2001,  in June,  the CIA sponsors the first of its pandemic simulations.  It simulates a biological attack on Washington, D. C. by Saddam Hussein.  This is in June, 2001.  That simulation got, got international press,  and a lot of the CIA people like Judith Miller from the New York Times was promoting it, going around doing all the talk shows.  It, uh, it triggered two Senate hearings, one by Joe Biden's committee.  And that hearing was in September 2001.  What happened in September 2001? The 9 11. So that hearing was going on during 9 11. As soon as 9 11 happened,  the neocons, which were working on all this stuff with the CIA,  Pulled out the Patriot Act, a 350 page statute from a shelf where it had been waiting for a while.  And in one week said, we want to pass this in a week. There's only one member of Congress who read it, which was Dennis Kucinich.  And he went crazy. And said, you have no idea this is the end of American democracy if you do this.  It allows the CIA to spy on Americans.  One of the things the Patriot Act did  is it did not get rid of the Geneva Convention  or the Bioweapons Treaty, but it said no federal official can be prosecuted for violating those two statutes. So it reopened the bioweapons arms race globally.  And  when the,  a week after, when the Patriot Act was being debated,  and it was being held up by two senators,  There was an anthrax attack on the U. S. Capitol. It was blamed on Saddam Hussein, and although the neocons all said, see, we were right in the pandemic simulation, Saddam Hussein attacked us.  And we used that as a justification to go to war against Saddam Hussein. And within two days, we passed the Patriot Act. Who got the anthrax? Two Senate offices.  Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy,  the two senators who were blocking the Patriot Act. The FBI did a one year investigation.  They said this anthrax was unique. It was Ames anthrax and there's only one place in the world it could have come from, Fort Dietrich, the CIA lab.  Damn.  Bomb. Shell. dropped by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. there. That is absolutely insane. Now, if you grew up in the area, the era that I did, or even after you remember being terrified of anthrax, you remember hearing about how, Oh, somebody could just send you a letter and all of a sudden you're dead on the ground, dad.  But now come to find out that that entire scare, the entire anthrax scare that we recall that's sifted and that's, that's seared into our memory was because two senators held out on the Patriot Act  because they said it would end democracy.  And as a result of saying those things and deciding not to approve it, they had of all of the senators that were there, those are the only two.  Individuals who received the letters with the anthrax in it as a threat saying pass this or else  and as he just said in the very end there, the fact that not only  were they targeted, that was obviously blatantly clear why they were doing it, but also the only way,  the only way That that could have, or the only place that that specific type of anthrax could have come from was Fort Detrick  with this CIA.  This is what you have to realize, is when you're dealing with these organizations, especially, you know, and I say especially back then, and that could still be perfectly well the case. That nothing has changed, and they're still absolutely conducting this type of thing. They're probably just a little smarter about it, and the documents are classified for another 30 years, right? Because every 30 years, you're going to go, Oh, that was in the 1990s. That was in the early 2000s. They wouldn't do that to us now,  guys,  right? They, they wouldn't do that to us now, as all the senators are in a room, looking at each other,  hire a specific, uh,  a specific  intern to open up all your mail, right? Like, it's so crazy to see that the lengths that they went to, you know, To go to combat anybody, anybody.  going against their wishes. And even that's interesting what he said about the fact that they had a 350 page bill already written for exactly this type of situation. And then they utilize that emergency situation to pass whatever bills they wanted.  And they could have put anything in there. And what he said is that there was only one person who read the damn thing. Because how do you get a week to sift through 350 legal pages,  which is a nightmare. But that's your job. How isn't it that everybody read through those? How is it that they didn't come with, if I'm in that position, I'm coming, I'm taking all of those documents, I'm going home, and I'm putting a flashlight down on it with a highlighter.  And then I'm, I'm taking those and writing notes into a journal, and making, writing down my thoughts, and then coming back to the table and going, here's what's wrong with this, here's why you shouldn't pass this, and make an actual argument. But that's not what these senators do. They are told, here's the package, you pass it.  Now when anybody has a brain in these positions, you know, we talked about Madison Cawthorne a couple days ago, or a couple episodes ago, where he spoke out against some things that were happening, and guess what? With a 95 percent  general re election cycle for a senator, he didn't, he was one of the 5%. And he was super popular among the people. Um, so,  if you don't do what they say, you're not They're going to make you do what they say, whether it's through blackmail, like we talked about yesterday with or yesterday, we talked about it last episode. It seems like yesterday on Friday. Um, we talked about Epstein blackmail, right? We talked about now, even physical threats like anthrax,  or even what we'll see from here from Truman's, uh,  FBI here is the fact that  they sent Martin Luther King a letter  and they sent Martin Luther King a letter basically saying kill yourself And if you don't somebody else will do it for you within 34 days, and it won't be as pleasant  That's an actual letter, and actually, I'm sorry, that was Hoover,  um, that sent, that sent that letter, uh, but  terrifying what these organizations are, are willing to do  to hold their power and to make their decisions be unquestionable, right? You can't, you can't say anything back against these organizations or else,  well, or else what?  Well, or else we'll kill you with anthrax.  Don't even read it.  Because if you do, your moral compass will get in the way. Just pass it. That's all we need you to do. That's why you're in your position. It's because we paid for you to be here. Now pass the bill.  Right? That's all they want you to do. They don't want you to think. You're not there to represent the American people. You're there to represent the globalists, like we talked about with the World Economic Forum. You're there to represent the lobbyists.  And you're there to represent the people that gave you your money to get there. Not the people who voted for you quote unquote  To be in your position. No, because that's not how you really got there. You got there because you had a 25 million dollar donation from BlackRock  And I found this to be interesting too and this is a side note while I'm waiting for some other things to pull up here, which is the fact that  George Soros has traditionally gone after local level officials because the cost to lobby people into positions of power in Washington is so much more than it is to do it locally. If he wants a DA in, in,  I don't know, Chicago,  he can get one there.  If he wants a  judge in Des Moines, Iowa,  he can get one there at a much lower cost than actually trying to get somebody into a presidential position and get something somebody into a Senate position. It's much easier  for you to get somebody into a local run. Then you are  into a national one.  So this leads me to where this all started,  which is the fact that on Martin Luther King day,  the FBI posted on their Twitter account, which is quite ironic. First of all, but let's go ahead and read what they had to say. The FBI posted on January 15th of 2024, this MLK day, the FBI honors one of the most prominent leaders of the civil rights movement and reaffirms its commitment to Dr. King's legacy of fairness and equal justice for all.  Well, guess what? That got hit with a community note and I will share it with you because it's absolutely hilarious and I'm so glad that this exists. Here it is. Let me go ahead and share it on the screen for you here. So here's the tweet  from the FBI  and here is the  Community note, which says the FBI engaged in surveillance of King attempted to discredit him and use manipulation tactics to influence him to stop organizing. King's family believed the FBI was responsible for his death.  Praise the community notes gods that this got posted because in one community note on X, they absolutely obliterated  the FBI absolutely obliterated them.  This, this has to go down as the single greatest community note in Twitter X history is the fact that the FBI got community noted as being the potential perpetrator of Martin Luther King's death.  Directly under their tweet. Now I would love to go look at the comments of that because that has 3. 7 million views,  but this leads us into our next conversation.  Did the FBI  assassinate Martin Luther King?  Well, by the end of this, hopefully you have your answer because I know mine.  So let's begin this at the very beginning of the situation. I'll give you a brief breakdown and then we'll walk through some of the pieces that we pick up along the way.  Alright, so, I have some of this written down, so bear with me, but I wanted to organize this in a way that was easy to understand the totality of this situation, because once you get into the details, whether it's JFK's assassination, whether it's Martin Luther King's assassination, whether it's Bobby Kennedy's assassination, whether it's  John Lennon, all of these become so  complex and confiscated because that's the goal. All they need to do is create enough enough doubt around the situation that they can just continue doing their job.  So  here  we go  tonight. We're peeling back the layers of a story that quite frankly, the mainstream media is too timid to touch.  The assassination of Martin Luther King jr. Now. You all know the official story, the one that's been neatly packaged and sold to us by the FBI for years. But what if I told you there's another side to that story? One that's been shrouded in government secrets and mystery.  First, let's set the scene. Martin Luther King, the face of the civil rights movement. A man who is no stranger to the specter of death. In 1958, he survived a near fatal stabbing. In 1963, post JFK's assassination, he eerily predicts a similar fate for himself.  This isn't just a footnote in history, it's a chilling prelude to what's to come.  Now fast forward to 1968, King and his Southern Christian Leadership Conference comrades are in Memphis, Tennessee, advocating for the rights of sanitation workers. It's a noble cause, but it turns out to be King's last.  On April 4th, at the Lorraine Motel Room. Room 306, a room that practically had King's name on it. His life is tragically cut short by a sniper's bullet.  The FBI story? James Earl Ray, a convicted criminal, acted alone. Sound familiar?  But,  let's not be so quick to swallow the narrative.  Ray is captured, and the stories we're fed  is that he's a lone, racist gunman.  But hold on!  Ray soon recants his confession, reclaiming that he was just a pawn in a larger game orchestrated by a shadowy figure named Raul.  This is where the plot thickens.  Consider this. The King family, not satisfied with the official account, starts digging deeper. They uncover enough anomalies and inconsistencies to file a lawsuit against Lloyd Jowers and various government entities, alleging a sprawling conspiracy behind King's assassination.  And in a stunning turn of events, they win the case.  Testimonies during the trial implicate not just Jowers, but also the FBI, the CIA, the U. S. Army, and even elements of the mafia.  Now let's talk about the evidence.  The rifle that was supposedly linked to Ray  to the linked Ray to the crime scene was never conclusively matched to the bullet that killed King.  So, the bullet that was lodged in King's head when he died was not a match to the specific rifle that James Earl Ray allegedly used.  Now, then there's the mystery pattern of deaths and intimidations. Witnesses, key figures, anyone who dared to challenge the official narrative met with untimely and suspicious ends.  Also sounds familiar to JFK's now doesn't it?  Is this just a series of coincidences or does it point to a desperate attempt to silence the truth?  Ray's own story, frankly, is riddled with holes. Here's a man with a limited understanding of firearms. A low military marksmanship score suddenly pegged as a mastermind, capable of executing one of the most significant assassinations in American history.  We start to ask some more questions. Then there's the hasty manner in which Ray was pinned as the lone assassin almost immediately. Authorities find him in case closed.  But  the discrepancies are glaring. Questions about the ballistic evidence, the rush to judgment, the odd sequence of events post assassination. Is a jigsaw puzzle with far too many missing pieces.  Now consider the broader context. This is the 1960s, a time of turmoil, of government distrust of agencies known for court, for covert operations and dirty tricks, the King's family lawsuit. And the subsequent verdict didn't just raise eyebrows. They blew the lid off the official story, suggesting that Martin Luther King's. Junior's assassination was not the act of a lone, hate driven gunman, but the outcome of a deep rooted, multi layered government conspiracy.  So let's dive deeper. Ray's narrative of being manipulated by Raul presents a picture of a man who was unknowingly set up to be the Fall Guy in an assassination that was part of a larger and darker agenda. This Raul character, who remains shrouded in mystery, is said to have directed Ray's actions, including the purchase of the alleged Murder Weapon.  It begs the question, was Rey just a pawn in a much more complex game of high stakes political chess?  And let's not just gloss over the rapid response that was given in conclusion by authorities. Almost immediately after King's assassination, the focus narrows on Rey, with little exploration into any alternative leads. or motives. The evidence, such as the mismatched ballistics, Ray's lack of fingerprints in the alleged sniper's nest, and his dubious claim from escape from prison paints a picture of convenient scapegoating rather than a thorough investigation.  The mainstream media also ignores the broader climate of the time, a period rife  with political assassinations. Civil unrest and a deep mistrust of government agencies  in this context, the idea of a government linked conspiracy doesn't seem so far fetched, does it?  The King family, meanwhile, steadily, steadfastly, maintained that Ray was not the true assassin. They contended that his role was merely a diversion, a cover for a larger conspiracy involving government agencies and other powerful entities.  Their victory in the civil trial against Lloyd Jowers and various government entities was just a win, wasn't just a win in court, it was a public declaration that the truth about King's assassination was far more complex than the world was led to believe.  Now, let's talk about the aftermath. Before we do that, I do want to discuss one thing. Who was this Jowers fellow?  Lloyd Jowers  was an individual who was connected with the mafia, who alleged During this court hearing that he was given a 100, 000  to hire a hit man  to kill Martin Luther King.  He was told at the time that he was given that money that there would be no police presence around. They told him the exact place for him to be in. And when you look deeper and deeper into the situation with Martin Luther King, there's a ton of questions around this. First of all being they moved. Martin Luther King Jr. from his existing hotel room into another one, one with a balcony view.  Interesting.  Also,  within this time,  there was government assets on the ground in the area surrounding him.  Not some security force, just random government assets on the ground. Similar to what we would say, I don't know, February 7th? Is that what they say? Or January 8th? What's that date again?  Hmm.  So, there's more and more questions to be asked here. Right? Now And again, the, the, the connection between the government, the CIA and the mafia is so bizarre during this time. You talk about all of the situation with Jack Ruby when it comes to JFK and the connection there. It just seems consistently a narrative that the CIA was working alongside the mafia to conduct these types of hits.  Let's look at the aftermath of King's assassination and the series of mysterious deaths that followed. Key witness individuals with potentially damaging information suddenly and conveniently  got out of the picture.  It's a pattern that's too consistent to be mere coincidence. It's almost as if someone was tying up loose ends, ensuring the official narrative stayed unchallenged.  Let's not forget the peculiar handling of the crime scene. The swift removal of potential evidence. Like the tree obscure, obstructing the alleged shooters view and the immediate intense focus on Ray as the sole perpetrator.  It's as if the authorities were more interested in closing the case than covering the full story.  This is where the mainstream media often fall short. They don't dig deeper. They question the narrative handed to them, but that's not how we operate here.  We look at the facts, the inconsistencies, and we ask the tough questions. So, let's look at some more of these details here,   november 1964,  after their earlier efforts to discredit Martin Luther King Jr. are unsuccessful, the FBI prepares to send Dr. King an anonymous package containing a document that will come to be known as  the poison pen letter.  FBI  intelligence chief Bill Sullivan himself takes some plain unmarked paper.  And pretending to be an American Negro,  types out an anonymous threatening letter. addressed simply King.  The letter began by calling Dr. King a fraud and warned that the demise of his reputation among the public was fast approaching.  The package also contained an audio tape, a compilation of FBI surveillance allegedly of King engaging in multiple extramarital affairs.  The document's ominous closing, according to some scholars, Suggested that Dr. King was given a deadline of 34 days to take his own life  or suffer the humiliation of the tape's release.  The interpretation of this by the people that investigated the FBI later and by just about everybody who has gone through these records believes that they intended for him to commit suicide.  The FBI sent the package anonymously to Dr. King on November 21st, 1964,  but it went unopened for over a month because King was in Oslo, Norway, accepting the Nobel Prize.  The first person to eventually open Sullivan's threatening package long after Christmas is Mrs. King.  King and his associates. When they listen,  there you go. So.  The FBI went to blackmail, that is blackmail, blackmailed Martin Luther King Jr. to try to get him to commit suicide  in order to escape  the humiliation of his own infidelity. And we talked about honeypot schemes when it came to Jeffrey Epstein in our last episode, and it seems to be the case here. All they did was, you know, potentially, had somebody go and show a lot of interest into him that was very attractive for lots of money.  Had them sleep with her, him sleep with her, and then recorded the transaction that was occurring. And now they have blackmail to get him to do whatever they want. Now, obviously, it's probably not a fair exchange to either die or suffer humiliation of being an adulterer.  But,  they thought it was enough. And so  And they're still doing this today, right? We saw that with the Anthrax, like they would even go further lengths than this to get their way. And their way has not changed, whether it was back then or today. They're still doing the same things, guaranteed. Maybe it's changed technologically in the fashions that they're doing it in.  This is the same old tactics, it's the same old company that has been doing this since their inception in 1947. And  I think the FBI is obviously a different time than the CIA, so I'm thinking CIA there. But same difference. Right?  So,  that goes into the next conversation, which is surrounding  who was James Earl Ray?  And why do we think he's innocent? So let's bring up that and we'll discuss that video, because here it is.  This is actually from the trial, which occurred that we were discussing this entire time. And he, let's go ahead and here we go. Let's watch it. Item of evidence to with the rifle that allegedly a comparison was conducted of the bullet material removed from Dr. King with the 12 test bullets that could be adequately analyzed. This comparison revealed that the gross and unique characteristic signature left on the 12 test bullets by the James Earl Ray rifle was not present on the death bullet.  There you have it. If you were to say Mr. Hathaway, what are your recommendations here today? I would say I continue on, try, uh, attempt the um, cleaning. It may or may not help. And secondly, I would attempt to get those FBI tests to see  the earlier tests compared to the test of 30 years later.  This is them conducting the testing for the ballistics to match when they fire the rifle.  Which forensic science in the 90s and earlier was such horseshit. And I'm  speaking about things that sucked then and suck now. I'm sure it's not. I'm sure it's much better now than it was. But just seeing these guys sit in the lab and be like, well, there's no scratchies on here. And so there's scratchies on that one. He must have killed him.  You see them now  be stopping them at different points. I'm  going to just take it up to slightly higher.  That's what we're going to be working  on. There you go. So that was just the forensic science surrounding it. Let's see if there's any other conclusion. There you go. Yeah. As you can see, we can get much better. But,  you have to make  your own evaluation on that. Of course, I think there's other ways  you might  come to,  you know, the same conclusion on it. Different, different ways. All right, so there you have it.  There's the video of the ballistics and forensic science surrounding the rifle, not matching either. And then to top it all off, let's finish out with this video here from 1977, listening to James Earl Ray himself. So you heard, uh, you heard the news on, on the radio, is that the way you heard it?  So you were driving, you left at that gas station at 2nd and Linden. What, about 6 or?  I don't have any way of knowing, I think it was around that time, but I don't even know if it's Linden, I know the approximate area it is.  I've seen the map on the inquirer. And you were going back to, uh, to pick up this man that you say is Raul? No, I was just waiting the car back. So you heard all this confusion, turned and flipped on the radio, they said Dr. King's been shot.  Uh, at that, did you think you were set up at that point?  Uh, no, I was headed towards, toward New Orleans when I had the radio on. I used to keep the radio on. I think, uh,  I didn't,  I have too strong feelings about the, the shooting.  When, when you met Raoul, you,  did you, you didn't know any other name for him? That's the name that he said was his, and that, that's all you ever knew? Yeah, I never did. And you met him where? Canada. Up in Canada. And, uh, and you just met in a saloon, or?  It was a saloon in a waterfront area of Montreal.  You never became good friends, then?  No, I wasn't good friends. Just business. These were all aliases, I assume.  You don't think Raoul was a real name at all, then?  No, I've got some pretty good information. Papers in there saying there's Raul, San Diego or something, New Orleans, supposed to be, uh, him, but I don't have  the FBI, that's material from the FBI files, but I don't have no, uh,  nothing to substantiate that.  So you think their mind was made up when they got you? Well, it had to be made up, uh, they couldn't, uh,  Um,  well I don't know what, if there was any penalty for, uh, extraditing someone fraudulently or not, but  So there's his discussion around who the figure was that was Raul that helped to set him up that gave him the money to purchase the hitman and basically set up the whole scheme for him. That was the liaison between him and either the organized crime organizations and the FBI.  So that's.  That's the story in a nutshell, right? There's lots of little minute details. There's documentaries that have been done on this, that you can go check out yourself, but I wanted to give you that higher level. There was a lot of moving pieces, a lot of things that, that came up that changed, uh, that caused, uh, Martin Luther King to find himself in that situation in that time, that was the strings being pulled  by these organizations. So I had a few of them written down from some of my research on this, and it starts like this, This.  So, the FBI wiretapped and spied on Martin Luther King. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover tried to blackmail Martin Luther King, and the FBI covered up his death and investigated themselves. In a 1999 civil trial, they determined the FBI was involved in his assassination. Sure, we talked about that. Then they created a federal holiday,  um, in his name. Right? What is it besides that?  Let's look at some of these here. The King family friend and attorney, William F. Pepper, won the civil trial, which found that the U. S. government agencies were guilty of being part of a conspiracy that resulted in the wrongful death and assassination of Dr. King. The damning positive evidence, or body of evidence, presented to the jury, During this trial suggests that US governmental complicity, which the jury obviously found extremely credible and included testimony about the following. The US 111th military intelligence group were at Dr. King's location during the assassination. The 20th special forces group had eight, had an eight man sniper team at the assassination location that  Usual Memphis police special bodyguards were advised that they weren't needed on the day of the assassination.  Regular and constant police protection for Dr. King was removed from protecting Dr. King.  Just an hour before the assassination  military intelligence set up photographers on the roof of a fire station with clear view of dr. King's balcony dr. King's room was changed from a secure first floor room to an exposed balcony room.  Memphis police ordered ordered the scene where multiple witnesses reported. As the source of shooting cut down on their bush or cut down on their bushes that would have hit a sniper. So Memphis police ordered the scene where multiple witnesses reported as the source of shooting to cut down the bushes. That would have hit a sniper along with sanitizing a crime scene. Police abandoned investigative procedure to interview a witness who lived by the scene of the shooting. The rifle Mr. Ray delivered was not a match to the bullet that killed Dr. King and was not. Cited to accurately shoot  so there's some additional evidence from this trial that came out  and obviously that's pretty damning  and It goes right alongside the situation, you know You talk about John Lennon being assassinated this way for speaking out against the the war machine you talk about JFK  you talk about all of these  People that were speaking out to power finding themselves in the same situation  Now here's an interesting thread, and this will be fairly quick. Um, and it comes from somebody on Axe. So again, take it with a grain of salt. But it says that born in 1929, Michael King was the son of a black preacher known as Daddy King. In 1935, Daddy King renamed himself after Protestant reformer Martin Luther, subsequently changing Michael's name to Martin Luther King Jr., none of which was legalized in court.  Hmm. So his real name was not Michael. It was Martin Luther King Jr.  Uh, interesting.  Um, there's a, uh, Martin Luther King Jr. Was a n notorious plagiarizer, so that I've typed up a few examples below. However, there are many such cases.  Uh, the first public sermon that King gave in 1947 at the Ebenezer Baptist Church was plagiarized from a hully by Protestant clergyman Harry Emerson Foste entitled, life is What You Make It. Uh,  the first book that King wrote, Stride Toward Freedom, was plagiarized from numerous sources, all unattributed according to documentation released and assembled by sympathetic King scholars. Four senior editors to the papers to Martin Luther King Jr. stated that Martin's writings were at both Boston University and Crozer Theological Seminary, judged retroactively by standards of academic scholarship, are tragically flawed by numerous instances of plagiarism.  We get the point.  Uh, As long as it's not the I Have a Dream speech, right?  King's Ph. D.  dissertation, A Comparison of the Conceptions of God in the Thinking of Paul Tillich and Harry Nelson Wyman, contains more than 50 complete sentences plagiarized. from the PhD dissertation by Dr. Jack Boozer. According to the Martin Luther King papers, an official publication of the Martin Luther King Center of Nonviolent Social Change, whose staff includes Widow Coretta, in King's dissertation, only 49 percent of  sentences in the section on tillage contained five or more words that were King's own.  Okay, so Plagiarizer, right? Probably many people back then when they're going through school. Probably many people today using ChatGPT. This says that there's a article that says, Trained, Handled, and Surrounded by Jewish Bolsheviks. And it points to a old newspaper article. I can't exactly make out the, the, let's see if I can get in here.  The Augustus Courier, the Augusta Courier, um, from August, uh, and from Augusta, Georgia. Um, it says Martin Luther King at Communist Training School.  Uh, the  article says, let's see,  yeah, we'll move on from that, but interesting. I've talked about a few examples of the Communist infiltration of King's movement below. Most notable is the fact that every move I'm okay. Made was dictated and approved by the Jewish handler, Stanley Levinson, who referred to King as a slow thinker and refused to let him act alone.  Interesting. In fact, the entirety of the civil rights movement was largely orchestrated and funded  By Jews, what?  Many examples of this can be found in Benjamin Ginsberg's The Fatal Embrace, I will list a few below. Hmm,  I mean,  I'll take it at face value, I guess, but I'd just, I'd have to do more research to substantiate that. Examples of the Jewishness of the Civil Rights Movement found in Benjamin Ginsberg's The Fatal Embrace. Jewish organizations worked closely with civil rights groups during the 1960s in their struggles. On behalf of voting rights and for the desegregation of public facilities and accommodations, Jewish contributors provided a substantial share of the funding for such civil rights groups as such as the NAACP and CORE. Jewish attorneys were at the forefront of the legal offensive against the American apartheid system and Stanley Levinson, a longtime official and fundraiser of the American Jewish Congress, became Martin Luther King's chief aide and advisor, having previously served as a major fundraiser for Bayard Rustin.  Interesting. Jack Greenberg, head of the NAACP legal defense, was the most important civil rights attorney in the United States. And,  let's see,  uh, Jewish individuals were, I mean, okay, I don't see, okay, what does that have to do with anything? Um, because remember, diversity is such a blessing to America, it had to be enforced at gunpoint by the 101st Airpoint Division in Little Rock, Arkansas, during the forced racial integration of high schools in 1957.  Uh, I mean,  yeah, but it still should be done, right? Like, what? Um, Martin Luther King Jr. was also a well known sexual degenerate. Evidence was made available to the public when Trump instructed the National Archives to release documents pertaining to JFK's assassination.  And again, not wholeheartedly buying much of this, although this is obviously true. The FBI documents that were unsealed. Um, but I'm not sure if it goes into detail on the sexual deviancy of him. Uh, it says he typed up some of the Information regarding King's degeneracy below. Evidence was also provided that King frequently used grant money to pay for alcohol, drugs, and prostitutes. Uh, worth noting that the man most responsible for the FBI probe in the MLK  was an assistant director, William C. Sullivan. Sullivan describes himself as a liberal and says, I, that initially I was 100 percent for King because I saw him as an effective and badly needed leader. Um, okay, not seeing the sexual deviancy.  Uh, in February 1968, while running a workshop on urban leadership in Miami, King hired prostitutes with funds from the Ford Foundation. He then engaged in binge drinking and group sex acts, which the FBI describes as deviating from the normal. Okay. The FBI relates how King participated in another drunken sex orgy in Washington, D. C. back in 1964. The sex acts were both natural and unnatural. Not sure what that means. According to the FBI and were performed for the entertainment of onlook.  In 1960 this was a pattern for King who according to the FBI has Continued to carry on such sexual aberrations secretly while holding himself out to the public view as a moral leader and religious conviction I mean, that's fair The FBI documents reveal that King had a sired a baby girl out of wedlock with a wife of a prominent Dentist in Los Angeles,  uh, King was known to participate in orgies, especially those involv