Christian Ethics in the Wild Podcast

Kevin is one my favorite people in life, and a fellow educator to boot. So, of course we’ll talk about the question of “How To Go On”, drawing in as much literature as possible. In this one, we raise the question of how reading prepares us to deal with ambiguity in our own stories, the value of a truthful narrator in helping us navigate hard stories (in literature and life), and whether God is onl...

Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app. This was a great conversation with Kyle Strobel , and wound up getting into some deeper waters about where exactly virtue comes from. I won’t spoil the conversation, except to say that Kyle’s framing of the questions left me pondering over some things which I hope to spend more time writing through in th...

I’ve been doing a series of these conversations on How To Go On this summer, but this one might have been one of my favorites. Yi Ning Chiu is a minister and writer in the Oakland area, who I met at a Christianity Today gettogether in Pittsburgh last Fall. In this conversation, we get into how to show charity and endure amidst differences in church communities, what to do when church becomes diffi...

If you’ve been to any bookstore, you’ve heard the term “resilience” more times than you know what to do with. It’s a relatively recent term, meant to exemplify the ability to go on in the face of difficulty. But it’s also a term which can deprive of us of a deeper truth: that sometimes, good things die, and that we are called let God create something that’s not quite the same. Ashley Hales is a wr...

Alan and I chop it up on his new book on virtue, To Live Well , the virtue of fortitude, and how our aversion to suffering inhibits our moral and spiritual growth. Thank you everyone for tuning into this live video with O. Alan Noble ! Join me for our conversations next week, with Ashley Hales and Kyle Strobel , as we continue to dig into how we go on anyway. This is a public episode. If you'd lik...

Katherine Wyma is a friend from when I lived in West Palm Beach, and we reconnect to talk about how we learn to go on in the face of suffering, with the assistance of C.S. Lewis’ life and literature. We also get into some good discussions about whether or not prudence is all that important, how to pray when there’s no hope in sight, C.S. Lewis’ PTSD, and what to do when suffering is unending. Than...

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit myleswerntz.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit myleswerntz.substack.com/subscribe

Grace and I had the pleasure of chatting yesterday about her newly released book, Ask Of Old Paths , the legacy of medieval virtues and vices, and what it would take to recover the notion of virtue and vice in the modern world. Grace’s book is well worth the read for any number of reasons: the way it opens up the medieval world in its weirdness and beauty; the bibliography it carefully unpacks; th...

I’m on spring break vacation this week, and so this audio edition comes to live from the outskirts of Morrilton, Arkansas, the closest civilization to Petit Jean State Park. In reading on scarcity, one of the things which you continually will run into is how scarce situation‘s produce and acuity of awareness about what one is really after and what one needs. It’s a kind of strange gift because it...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit myleswerntz.substack.com Today's special audio episode gets into some of the basics of how I think about Christian Ethics generally, with special reference to how to navigate new moral questions. Enjoy!

On the drive home from my aunt’s funeral yesterday, there was plenty of time to think, courtesy of American expansionism and road construction on Interstate 20. Thanks to all who submitted questions to this AMA, and maybe we’ll do it again sometime. Apologies for the amazing sound quality from my ear buds. Reading list questions from Peter Gardner and James M. Decker start at 0:00. Questions on te...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit myleswerntz.substack.com Tonight’s post comes from the outskirts of Belton, Texas, where I’m spending the next two days, doing a miniature retreat, meditating on what it means to be faithful in a world of scarcity. Take a listen and hope it is edifying for you.

In this episode, we consider what it means to pursue perfection when the vision of perfection given us is not possible. It’s an appropriate thing to consider during Lent, what it means for us to be called into a way of being perfect as God is perfect, and how our vision of that goodness is made possible by gratitude and not by aspiration. Referenced here: Patrick Leigh Fermor, A Time for Gifts Chr...

In this episode, we’ll explore how the good elements of evangelicalism (and evangelical-adjacent folks, and free church, and basically all Protestants) need ethicists. It’s an appeal for recovering a discipline badly needed within Christian circles these days, and one which comes through (as usual) good intentions with unintended consequences. Enjoy, and share! This is a public episode. If you'd l...

By looking at Joseph’s silence, we are invited into a very different way to think about moral agency: ordinary faithfulness, the call of God, and the point of it all, our lives being conformed to Christ’s life. Referred to in the audio: Matthew 1:18-25 Travis Pickell, Burdened Agency and End of Life Ethics Lisa Tessman, Burdened Virtues W.H. Auden, For the Time Being , “Temptation of St. Joseph” F...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit myleswerntz.substack.com In this installment of Keywords, we look at “relevance”, what it means, and where it goes awry. In this, I make reference to a couple of articles which got me thinking about how we make moral arguments, available here: How Should Christians Speak in Public? Can I Get a Witness? A Response to Tim Keller

In this, we take a quick look at the problem of perseverance, of the challenge of caring about something, and how to care about it over the long haul. Dorothy Day makes an appearance as well, or at least, her words do. Late last night, I finished my forthcoming review of this book , which will be out next month after the book launches, so Day has been on my mind. Take care and enjoy the weekend. W...

This semester, I’m co-teaching a bioethics course with a colleague in Chemistry, and it’s been a blast. It’s also given me a better sense of how to help Christians move from having intuitions about the moral life to embracing a more full vision of what the moral life is for. Enjoy, and happy Friday! Below is a group-rate special: check it out! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss thi...

Kevin, who I’ve known since before there was really an Internet, sent along this article , which deals with what the present owes to the future. It’s an interesting article, and raises a lot of important questions for how we think morally about our present actions with respect to future generations, but this approach has some important limitations as well. This was recorded early last week as our...

In the future, audio editions like this will mostly be available to the paid subscribers. This is a bit of an experiment with the podcasting feature of Substack, so let me know your thoughts!—MPMW In this continuation of engagements with Ivan Illich, a conversation about baseball led me down this rabbit hole. The set-up of it is this: Illich, I think, has something to say about the way in which th...