What Matters Most

5th Year Anniversary! Welcome to What Matters Most! I’m Dr. John Martens, the host of What Matters Most and Director for the Centre for Christian Engagement at St. Mark’s College at UBC. Do you know I have been saying that for 5 years now? On October 7, 2022, we released the first episode of What Matters Most with my friend and once upon a time colleague at America Media, Fr. Jim Martin. We have b...

Welcome to What Matters Most , episode 3 of our fifth season. This is also the third episode on What Matters Most to discuss the encyclical Magnifica Humanitas and every conversation reveals nuances to the document and aspects of it we have not discussed previously. I surveyed the encyclical on my own a few months ago, but next I brought in a couple of experts in moral theology and Christian ethic...

Welcome to What Matters Most, episode 2 of our fifth season and episode one of the “Childhood, Education, and Family Relations in Early Christian Communities” SSHRC Insight Grant Podcasts. This episode is the first in a series of episodes that are funded by a SSHRC Insight Grant.   SSHRC is the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and Margaret MacDonald and I are co-principal...

Welcome to Season 5, Episode 1 of What Matters Most!   In this episode I welcomed Dr. Tisha Rajendra and Dr. Ruben Rosario Rodriguez to discuss  Pope Leo’s first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas .   I delved into the encyclical on my own a couple of months ago, but I wanted to bring in experts in Christian ethics to discuss the encyclical on AI, migration, war, and whatever else came up for them in...

Welcome to Season 4, Episode 29 of What Matters Most!   In this episode I speak with  Fr. Matthew Francis about Orthodox Liturgy and about the connections between Orthodox Liturgy and the book of Revelation. Fr. Matthew is currently completing his book Apocalypse and Liturgy and we delve into some of that fascinating world.     Fr. Matthew Francis serves as the Parish Priest of Holy Apostles Ortho...

Welcome to Season 4, Episode 28 of What Matters Most! T In this episode I welcome my friend and colleague Kristine Henriksen Garroway to discuss her recent book The Dying Child : The Death and Personhood of Children in Ancient Israel  (Oxford UP, 2025). Kristine is a prolific scholar and a ground-breaking archaeologist who works to bring to life ancient children, so often forgotten in archaeologic...

Welcome to Season 4, Episode 27 of What Matters Most! This episode focuses on a lecture given by Dr. Pavlo Smytsnyuk, "Securitizing Religion Amid the Russo-Ukrainian War: Nationalism, Identity, and Religious Freedom," given for the Centre for Christian Engagement at St. Mark's College on March 17, 2026. This lecture is a part of our examination of Christian nationalism, a project we are now callin...

Welcome to Season 4, Episode 26 of What Matters Most! This episode focuses on a Gerry Turcotte’s new novel The Space Between   (EnRoute Books and Media, 2026). This novel is a coming-of-age story of a catholic boy in Quebec, caught between the French and English worlds, or perhaps a part of each of those worlds, striving to make sense of his place within the world at home, at school, and in love....

Welcome to Season 4, Episode 25 of What Matters Most! It’s just me today, Dr. John Martens, the host of What Matters Most and Director for the Centre for Christian Engagement at St. Mark’s College at UBC. This episode focuses on a short introduction to Magnifica Humanitas , the new Pope Leo encyclical promulgated in May 2026.  There will be longer episodes forthcoming, with the St. Mark’s crew, th...

Welcome to Season 4, Episode 24 of What Matters Most! In this episode I speak with Dr. Meredith Warren . Dr. Warren is Senior Lecturer in Biblical and Religious Studies at University of Sheffield   and the Director of the Sheffield Centre for Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies. She took up her position in Sheffield in 2015. She was educated at McGill University and is a  Metis citizen , born in Va...

Welcome to the ninth episode of Pop Culture Matters, Pluribus,  with the smart and insightful Megan Fritts . Megan is a philosophy professor at UALR , co-host of the Philosophy on the Fringes podcast with her husband Frank Cabrera, occasional essayist, techno-pessimist, book-optimist, and previous guest on What Matters Most . In discussing Vince Gilligan’s Pluribus , Megan offered smart and insigh...

Welcome to Episode 22 of Season 4! In this episode I speak with economist Dr. Jared Rubin .  Jared Rubin is an economic historian interested in the political and religious economies of the Middle East and Western Europe. His research focuses on historical relationships between political and religious institutions and their role in economic development. This episode focuses on Rubin’s ground-breaki...

Welcome to Episode 21 of Season 4! In this episode I speak with Dr. Michael W. Higgins . Michael W. Higgins is a distinguished educator, media commentator, and author. He has been president of St. Jerome's University, St. Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick, and at St. Mark’s College in Vancouver, among numerous other academic positions. Currently he is Basilian Distinguished Fellow of...

Welcome to Episode 20 of Season 4! In this episode I speak with Dr. Adam J. Schneider . This episode focuses on the history and relationship, often rocky, between psychoanalysis and Catholicism. This is Adam’s first appearance on What Matters Most. Adam J. Schneider, PhD, is a psychologist and supervisor in Washington State, USA, where he works for the Department of Corrections and is Adjunct Facu...

A bonus episode for Easter! As we are in the midst of Easter, Holy Week, I wanted to offer a few reflections on Easter season, in this case a reflection on Palm or Passion Sunday, which has just passed, and on Easter Sunday, the Resurrection of the Lord, which will soon be with us. These reflections are both based on columns I wrote for America Magazine, columns that appeared in April 2014 in Amer...

Welcome to Episode 19 of Season 4! In this episode I speak with (and listen to) the Rev. Dr. Rob James . T his episode focuses on the Christian understanding of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ and what that means theologically for Christianity, but what it means for followers of Jesus to reflect on this reality for our human lives.   This is Rob’s third appearance on What Matters Most. Rob is curr...

Welcome to Episode 18 of Season 4! In this episode I speak with   Dr. Ekaputra Tupamahu .  This episode focuses on language, post-colonial biblical studies, and how colonialism turned the Bible into a weapon of power and oppression around the world. Ekaputra Tupamahu  is an associate professor of New Testament and director of masters programs at Portland Seminary and George Fox University. He rece...

Welcome to Episode 17of Season 4! In this episode I speak with Dr. Micah Kie l. This episode focuses on being transformed and what it means to take seriously not only our spiritual lives, but the temporal lives and needs of others, particularly those who are struggling with poverty or have otherwise been marginalized. Micah Kiel holds a Ph. D. (New Testament) Princeton Theological Seminary, a M.Di...

Welcome to Episode 16 of Season 4! In this episode I speak with   Dr. Judith Scholes and Dr. Nick Olkovich .   T his episode focuses on decolonizing curriculum and indigenizing curriculum, and what that means particularly at Catholic colleges on Musqueam land at a large public university, UBC.   Today’s podcast introduces us to a Wabash grant that Judith and Nick are directing, Exploring Pedagogie...

Welcome to Episode 15 of Season 4! In this episode I speak with   Dr. Jordan Ryan .   This episode focuses on decolonizing theology, particularly biblical theology, using as an example Jordan’s new commentary on Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament in Color, a new one volume commentary. Today’s podcast introduces us to biblical hermeneutics and exegesis, which we all do from a place of positi...

Welcome to Episode 14 of Season 4! In this episode I speak with   Dr. Casey Collins .   This episode focuses on religion in Japan, particularly Buddhism, and, we can break that down even further, a new religious movement known as Shinnyo-En which is related to an esoteric school of Japanese Buddhism known as Shingon founded by the Japanese monk Kukai in the 8 th century. This is not an episode in...

Welcome to Episode 13 of Season 4! In this episode I speak with   Dr. Matthew J. Cressler .   This episode is a distinct episode in the project, following that of Steven Tyra, which covers Christian nationalism in the reformed Protestant tradition, and Ruth Braunstein, who discussed Christian nationalism in US evangelicalism; today’s episode is on Christian nationalism in Catholicism, particularly...

Welcome to the eighth episode of Pop Culture Matters, a conversation with my good friend and a great friend of the podcast, Martin Strong.  We returned to a discussion of Christmas movies for this episode, but not our favorite Christmas movies, which we have already discussed; so please check out that first episode to hear about The Bishop’s Wife , It’s a Wonderful Life , Elf , A Christmas Story ,...

Welcome to Episode 11 of Season 4! In this episode I speak with Dr. Ruth Braunstein, a sociologist at Johns Hopkins University’s SNF Agora Institute . A cultural sociologist interested in the role of religion and morality in American political life, Ruth's award-winning research has been published in the top peer-reviewed journals in her field ,  and has been covered in major news outlets includin...

Welcome to the first  What Matters Most   podcast   that is also offered in video form on YouTube . This episode introduces our Christian Nationalism project and our plans for the next few years in terms of podcasts, webinars, and lectures, culminating with an international and ecumenical conference in 2028. You will also find links here to the podcast episodes that have already started to examine...