UATX Podcast

Jonathan Pageau lays out what it means to live in accord with our God-given humanity in an age of rapidly advancing AI. Drawing upon essential biblical truths and the latest discussions of transhumanism, Pageau highlights the danger of making an idol out of artificial super-intelligence. Jonathan Pageau is a liturgical artist, writer, and public speaker. Through his popular YouTube channel The Sym...

How do we actually know what happened in Rome? Prof. Isabella Reinhardt opens the course with a problem most history classes skip past: every account of Rome reaches us through someone with a particular point of view, copied by hand for centuries by scribes who were often bored, careless, or didn't read Latin. She explains why Rome's most famous historian was writing about events seven hun...

Former Senator Phil Gramm takes on the idea that government intervention saves capitalism and improves standards of living at critical points in American history. Drawing on historical evidence from the Industrial Revolution to the 2008 financial crisis, his latest book argues that this school of thinking — influential across large segments of the political class — cannot withstand serious scrutin...

Should a free society tolerate the intolerant? Can American Jews stay Jewish in a country that never forces them to choose? Why hasn't Holocaust education reduced antisemitism? Commentator Shabbos Kestenbaum joins UATX student William Posey of the Austin Union at UATX for a wide-ranging conversation. Shabbos Kestenbaum is an activist and commentator focused on antisemitism and U.S. foreign pol...

Do economic booms carry the seeds of their own collapse? It's one of the most persistent ideas in economics, and Tyler Goodspeed thinks it's wrong. Drawing on 132 recessions across more than three centuries of American and British history, Goodspeed argues that we keep telling ourselves the wrong story about why economies crash — and that recessions are typically caused not by the excesses...

Robert Doar on why tariffs are the wrong answer on China, and what the poverty debate still gets wrong. Robert Doar became AEI’s 12th president in July 2019, leading one of the nation’s oldest and most respected public policy think tanks. Since becoming president of AEI, Doar has recruited dozens of leading scholars and fellows across multiple issue areas and launched a new research division focus...

Provost Captain David Ruth, USN (Ret.), on the four duties of UATX students — and how we can all learn from Nehemiah. This lecture was delivered during UATX Orientation on August 24, 2026. Apply Now⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ uaustin.org⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Substack⁠ ⁠⁠X⁠⁠

Judge James Ho on today’s cultural elites, truth-seeking, and the courage to stand alone. James C. Ho is a Circuit Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Before taking the bench on January 4, 2018, he was co-chair of the national Appellate and Constitutional Law practice group and partner in the Dallas office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. This address was delivered at UATX on...

UATX Dean of Arts Patrick Gray on the moral cynicism of our times, the fall of Europe, and why you should defend the civilization that gives you your comfortable life. This lecture was delivered during UATX Orientation on August 24, 2026. Apply Now⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ uaustin.org⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Substack⁠ ⁠⁠X⁠⁠

To the class of 2030, the whole world will keep telling you to find yourself. We're hoping for something better: that you forget yourself and discover the durable joy of being absorbed in something greater than you. Recorded August 23, 2026 at the Bullock Texas State History Museum. Apply Now⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ uaustin.org⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Substack⁠ ⁠⁠X⁠⁠

Dr. Catherine Pakaluk on large families, the soulmate era, and how to be excellent. Catherine Ruth Pakaluk is an American economist and social philosopher at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. She completed her doctoral work in economics at Harvard University under Nobel laureate Oliver Hart. A mother of eight, she collaborates closely, personally, and professionally, with her...

At just 28 years old, Abraham Lincoln delivered a startling warning about the future of American self-government. In this UATX lecture, Diana Schaub uncovers the deeper argument of Lincoln’s 1838 Lyceum Address, and why its diagnosis of political passion, ambition, and democratic decline feels uncannily relevant today. What does it really take to preserve liberty? And are Americans still capable o...

Rod Dreher on Czeslaw Milosz, Gen Z men, and why you should live an embodied life. Rod Dreher is an American journalist, author, and write of the Substack Rod Dreher's Diary. He is the author of six books, including the New York Times bestsellers The Benedict Option (2017) and Live Not by Lies (2020). An Orthodox Christian, Dreher writes about the intersection of religion, culture, and politic...

This is part six of a six-part series on Ecclesiastes, the Bible’s great philosopher. How did a book this strange ever make it into the Bible? In this final lecture, Professor J.J. Kimche traces the remarkable afterlife of Ecclesiastes, from the rabbis who nearly buried it to the long line of illustrious readers who reshaped it in their own image: St. Jerome, Rashbam, Martin Luther, Moses Mendelss...

This is part five of a six-part series on Ecclesiastes, the Bible’s great philosopher. Death haunts all of Ecclesiastes, and here Professor J.J. Kimche reads the book’s haunting poem on old age and dying that he ranks among the greatest reflections on death ever written. Then comes the puzzle at the very end. After twelve chapters insisting that all is futile, the book suddenly closes with an unex...

This is part four of a six-part series on Ecclesiastes, the Bible’s great philosopher. Who is the God of Ecclesiastes? He is everywhere in the book, yet no one prays to him and he answers no one—sovereign over everything, but silent and out of reach. In this lecture, Professor J.J. Kimche unpacks this strange theology, along with the equally strange view of human life that follows from it: that we...

This is part three of a six-part series on Ecclesiastes, the Bible’s great philosopher. What kind of life does Ecclesiastes commend once illusion has been stripped away? In this lecture, Professor J.J. Kimche turns from diagnosis to prescription. Ecclesiastes' wisdom is not a doctrine but an art of living—a chastened wisdom, grounded in humility before the relentless march of time and the sove...

This is part two of a six-part series on Ecclesiastes, the Bible’s great philosopher. Professor J.J. Kimche confronts the central problem that animates Ecclesiastes: the futility and absurdity of human striving in a transient and inscrutable world. It all turns on a single word, through which Ecclesiastes takes aim at wisdom, pleasure, wealth, and toil. What he concludes about them is far darker t...

This is part one of a six-part series on Ecclesiastes, the Bible’s great philosopher. Ecclesiastes may be the most enigmatic book in the Bible—something between philosophy and prophecy, skepticism and faith. Is it a sermon, a diary, a philosophical treatise, a theological rant, or somehow all of these at once? J.J. Kimche is Assistant Professor of Religion and Philosophy at the University of Austi...

Mark Oppenheimer on apartheid, censorship, and the weaponization of the law. Mark Oppenheimer is a practicing advocate and member of the Johannesburg Bar. He has appeared in the Supreme Court of Appeal and the Constitutional Court in a series of cases that seek to determine the boundaries of freedom of expression. Mark has authored submissions to Parliament on the Hate Speech Bill and to the UN Co...

Joseph Loconte on J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and the battle against the spirit of their age. Author, educator, and filmmaker Joseph Loconte is the director of the Rivendell Center in New York City and serves as a presidential scholar at New College of Florida and as the C.S. Lewis Scholar for Public Life at Grove City College. He also serves as a senior fellow at Sagamore Institute and at the Tri...

UATX Professor of Religion and Philosophy J.J. Kimche on the Talmud and why it matters. An Englishman by upbringing and an intellectual historian by training, J.J. Kimche's work explores the intersections of European philosophy, Jewish thought, and the evolving trajectory of religious ideas in the modern West. Recorded: June 1, 2026 at UATX. Apply Now⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ uaustin.org⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Faceboo...

This event was hosted by the Austin Union. UATX students founded the Austin Union to promote respectful debate and rigorous thinking. Bryan Caplan is a Visiting Professor at UATX. He is a professor of economics and senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center, George Mason University. Caplan is also the bestselling author of Open Borders and The Myth of the Rational Voter. Garett Jones is a profe...

In this talk, Charles Fain Lehman—senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and senior editor of City Journal—explains why so much crime goes undetected, what it actually takes to restore public order, and why the “Karens” objecting to antisocial behavior are onto something. Recorded: May 19, 2026 at UATX. Apply Now⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ uaustin.org⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Substack⁠ ⁠⁠X⁠⁠

Rep. Elise Stefanik on her new book, term limits, and whether she'd recommend Harvard to her son. Congresswoman Stefanik has proudly represented New York’s 21st Congressional District for six terms and currently serves as Chairwoman of House Republican Leadership. At the time of her first election, Rep. Stefanik made history as the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. For over a decade, sh...