David Gornoski

In this episode, David Gornoski analyzes the Apollonius of Tyana mythologically-intermediate story of a miracle in Ephesus. The pagan miracle worker is often favorably compared with Jesus of Nazareth by moderns anxious to posture rebellion towards their parents' Christian affinity. We then use this demystification process to deconstruct a modern news report on a pharmaceutical drug for Alzheimer's...

For many years, conventional medical science has concluded that mental disorders were genetic only partially manageable via pharmaceuticals. But Harvard psychiatrist Chris Palmer MD discovered a whole new paradigm of treating mental disorders through metabolic treatment: getting patients to do a carefully monitored ketogenic diet. Patients are treating depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia,...

David Gornoski explores how the story of Jonah, Susanna's persecution, and Daniel's imprisonment serve as evidence of early Christianity's deeply anti-sacrificial meaning and aesthetic. These stories deal with averted sacrifice and mercy for the weak, misfits, and outsiders.

David Gornoski and Craig Stewart have a wide-ranging discussion on the cultural, media, political, and ethical implications of Rene Girard's groundbreaking Mimetic Theory. Does it lead to political atheism? Does the Gospel have a media technological effect? Will Mimetic theory become a dominant intellectual force in the near future?

We talk about human sacrifice in history and our modern times. What binds us together? What is the psychological-social force that unites us out of our personas? We look at the earliest depiction of the Cross of Christ in history--a telling piece of street graffiti meant to deride the new concept of Christ followers that the highest social good belongs with the outcast, misfit, and wrongful victim...

David Gornoski analyzes the new Joker movie, uncovering its themes about culture, scapegoats, hierarchy, doubles, envy, and the breakdown of myth with the support of the Mimetic theory of Rene Girard. Saturnalia and other winter solstice carnival festivals preceding sacrifice, Cain and Abel, Romulus and Remus, Jesus and the Demoniac and other stories are brought in to illuminate why this film stri...

Jesus's persecution looks like the Saturnalia sacrificial festival of the Romans as well as the scapegoat ritual of Leviticus and the Greek pharmakos purge. This was a feature of Jesus's plan in demonstrating the ugly reality of how humans make culture, order, and peace. Find out how this social mechanism Jesus uncovers operates in world history and political power. THINGS HIDDEN picks up the head...

In this inaugural episode of THINGS HIDDEN, we learn about the phenomenon Jesus describes as "Satan casting out Satan." How does this seemingly obscure passage inform your world, meaning, and order of your life? Along the way, we will use the Mimetic theory of the late French anthropologist Rene Girard to help us dissect the ancient and modern world through the ultimate toolkit of the Bible.

Imagine facing tens of thousands in fines and foreclosure just because you painted your house to soothe your child's medical needs. Nancy Nemhauser joins David in studio for a fascinating story of how she triumphed against the city of Mt Dora with the help of Pacific Legal Fund. Also on the show, NASA physicist Dr. Weiping Yu joins us again for our Science segment of the show where he shows how re...