The Magnificast

This week on The Magnificast, Matt & Dean talk about Alex Vitale's book The End of Police and talk about why Christians on the left should care about police abolition. They also discuss Jamal Rich's take on abolition and communism. You can find the article here: https://www.cpusa.org/article/prison-and-police-abolition-reimagining-public-safety-and-liberation/ Intro Music by Amaryah Armstrong...

For the last few weeks, Matt and Dean have been making a bit o' patreon only content called The Lock In. Much like the classic church lock in, the Magnifiboys play some goofy games and then have a real "Come to Jesus" moment by talking about the current events of the past week. If you're into this content and want to get it weekly, then support to The Magnificast on patreon (patreon.com/themagnifi...

Even a few weeks ago, it would have been hard to imagine that everyone would be talking about police abolition, but here we are! You've read about it in the NYT, you've seen it hotly debated on twitter, and you've read the worst opinions about it on your mom's facebook page, but this week, Matt and Dean have got the real scoop on police abolition! Speaking with Micah Herskin, one of the co-creator...

This week on The Magnificast, Matt and Dean talk with Amaryah Shaye Armstrong about her new piece in The Bias (read it here: https://christiansocialism.com/cedric-robinson-racial-order-christianity-socialism/). In this episode, Amaryah helps us apply Cedric Robinson's ideas regarding racial capitalism and order to our current moment with regards to the Black Lives Matter protests. Intro Music by A...

Do you like stories about people who fearlessly speak truth to power? Of course you do. This week, Matt and Dean talk to Marcus Rediker about his book The Fearless Benjamin Lay: The Quaker Dwarf Who Became the First Revolutionary Abolitionist. You can get the book here: https://bookshop.org/books/the-fearless-benjamin-lay-the-quaker-dwarf-who-became-the-first-revolutionary-abolitionist-with-a-new-...

It seems like everyone is a labor reporter these days, even folks at the Gospel Coalition. Though, rather than talking about strikes and wages, they're talking about how to fire someone like Jesus would. In this episode, Matt and Dean investigate the ways Christians talk and think about labor and then bring in that hot Marxist analysis. Intro Music by Amaryah Armstrong Outro music by theillogicals...

Christians have a peculiar way of talking about politics--liberal evangelicals especially! In this episode, we take a closer look at the vague political rhetoric of the evangelical left and talk about the ways Marxist political analysis functions as a tool box for people who care about justice. Intro Music by Amaryah Armstrong Outro music by theillogicalspoon https://theillalogicalspoon.bandcamp.c...

I regret to inform you, the religious left discourse is back. Does the religious left exist? Yes, but it's different than the hot takes the religious left journalists have been giving on twitter. Listen to our own hot takes! Intro Music by Amaryah Armstrong Outro music by theillogicalspoon https://theillalogicalspoon.bandcamp.com/track/hoods-up-the-low-down-technified-blues *Support The Magnificas...

This week we did a round-up of some recent articles on racism and COVID19. These articles help us think through the big structural violence and class struggle embedded within capitalism. It's a bleak topic, but an important one! Intro Music by Amaryah Armstrong Outro music by theillogicalspoon https://theillalogicalspoon.bandcamp.com/track/hoods-up-the-low-down-technified-blues *Support The Magnif...

In past eps, we've talked about a lot of the cool leftist Christians involved in the Haymarket riot and the gilded age labor movement, but what about the shitty Christians? This week, we're bringing you a wild story about how Dwight L Moody massively profited from the Harmarket riot! Intro Music by Amaryah Armstrong Outro music by theillogicalspoon https://theillalogicalspoon.bandcamp.com/track/ho...

"The working class and the employing class have no God in common" - Walker P. Smith Have you heard those wild old labor songs? Dump the bosses of your back, The Lumberjack's prayer, and Casey Jones? Ever wonder why they sound like hymns? In this episode, Matt and Dean read Donald Winter's book The Soul of the Wobblies and get to the bottom of the IWW and the way they appropriated religious themes....

This week, Brett O'Shea from Rev Left Radio is joining us to talk about everyone's fav Irish revolutionary, James Connolly! If you're following along at home, you can check out the writings by Connolly that we read for this ep here: “Socialism and Religion” - 1899 “The Connolly-DeLeon Controversy” - 1904 “Labour, Nationality and Religion” - 1910 “An Exchange on Rome and Irish Catholics” - 1912 “Ca...

Wow, there are a lot of magazines out there, but the best and most important is Geez Magazine. This week, we're talking about the new Disobedience issue of Geez Magazine with their editor, Lydia Wylie-Kellerman. In this ep, we discuss, Christianity and the left, disobedience, efficacy, parenting and more! You can subscribe to Geez at geezmagazine.org Intro Music by Amaryah Armstrong Outro music by...

This week were rounding up some stories about the wave of strikes coming out of the COVID19 pandemic. The labor struggles currently going on over PPE, paid sick leave, and other important things are monumental. So, we're going to take some time and pay attention to these struggles. Intro Music by Amaryah Armstrong Outro music by theillogicalspoon https://theillalogicalspoon.bandcamp.com/track/hood...

This week on The Magnificast we're getting back to our roots by reading a big philosophy book. We read Bruno Latour's book Rejoicing: The Torment of Religious Speech. It's a neat book that elaborates on the difficulty of expressing authentic religious belief. We also, as always, talk about socialism. Intro Music by Amaryah Armstrong Outro music by theillogicalspoon https://theillalogicalspoon.band...

This week on The Magnificast Matt and Dean talk about Mike Davis' book The Monster at our Door and do a bit of a round up regarding what's going on with regard to the COVID19 pandemic. Intro Music by Amaryah Armstrong Outro music by theillogicalspoon https://theillalogicalspoon.bandcamp.com/track/hoods-up-the-low-down-technified-blues *Support The Magnificast on Patreon* http://patreon.com/themagn...

This week on the show, Matt and Dean read Oscar Romero's Voice of the Voiceless and talk about some of his big ideas regarding unions and political parties. You can get the book here: https://www.orbisbooks.com/voice-of-the-voiceless.html Intro Music by Amaryah Armstrong Outro music by theillogicalspoon https://theillalogicalspoon.bandcamp.com/track/hoods-up-the-low-down-technified-blues *Support...

This past week we learned that Ernesto Cardenal, one of the big heroes of The Magnificast had passed away. While we had just done an episode on some of his poetry, we thought it's a good time to celebrate his life. In this episode, we talk a bit about Ernesto Cardenal based off of Margaret Randall's book "Christians in the Nicaraguan Revolution." Intro Music by Amaryah Armstrong Outro music by the...

Alright gang, you've seen the news and you know that the libs are being weird about Fidel Castro, so we've got to do another episode on Fidel. In this episode, we talk about education and literacy in Cuba and then round out the conversation with some big ideas about Cuban socialism as a spiritual exercise from Frei Betto. Intro Music by Amaryah Armstrong Outro music by theillogicalspoon https://th...

We're rounding out our big poetry arc with Dorothee Sölle's book Of War and Love. Sölle's book is rad as hell and you're going to be way into it after this episode. We also take a test drive on a new opening bit and do a big Veggietales-esque what did we learn wrap up on poetry. Intro Music by Amaryah Armstrong Outro music by theillogicalspoon https://theillalogicalspoon.bandcamp.com/track/hoods-u...

This week we're back with another real life poet! Dominick Knowles joins us to talk about his essay A Spectre in Every Street: George Oppen and the Poetics of Communism (https://www.viewpointmag.com/2018/08/15/a-spectre-in-every-street-george-oppen-and-the-poetics-of-communism/) and also some of his own work. Intro Music by Amaryah Armstrong Outro music by theillogicalspoon https://theillalogicals...

We've spent the last few weeks reading poetry, but what if we talked to an actual poet? This week, we interviewed Teagen Steele-Fisher (@barnonepoems) about her new book of poetr, Apost(le)ate. Her work is informed by Marxism, Feminism, Queer studies, black liberation, and dealing with the trauma of evangelicalism. Overall, it's some really incredible work! You can buy her book here: https://gumro...

Ernesto Cardenal is great, right? He is, but have you ever wondered who the Greatest Canadian Communist Christian Poet in the Soviet Union was? Well, it was Joe Wallace. Intro Music by Amaryah Armstrong Outro music by theillogicalspoon https://theillalogicalspoon.bandcamp.com/track/hoods-up-the-low-down-technified-blues *Support The Magnificast on Patreon* http://patreon.com/themagnificast *Get Ma...

We're starting a brand new arc! Over the next few weeks, we'll be cultivating our literary sensibilities and talking about poetry and politics. We're kicking the arc off with one of our all-time faves Ernesto Cardenal! Intro Music by Amaryah Armstrong Outro music by theillogicalspoon https://theillalogicalspoon.bandcamp.com/track/hoods-up-the-low-down-technified-blues *Support The Magnificast on P...

In this week's episode, learning about Jesus from Hollis Phelps. Hollis just wrote a cool new book called Jesus and the Politics of Mammon. You can find it here: https://wipfandstock.com/jesus-and-the-politics-of-mammon.html You should also check out Hollis' article on the religious left here: https://religiondispatches.org/the-problem-with-the-latest-predictions-for-the-rise-of-the-religious-left...