From the Center

What does it mean to live the "good life"? Director Hodges and Ben discuss the pursuit of happiness, flourishing, and how different civilizations have understood the fulfilled human life.

With Thanksgiving coming up, Director Hodges and Ben discuss the place of giving Thanks in the life of a civilization. GK Chesterton said, on being asked why he was a Christian, "I was happy, and I wanted someone to thank."

In our continuing investigations regarding the foundations of Civilizations, Director Hodges and Ben discuss the common practice of Sacrifice. It seems a strange thing to do, but it seems every civilization has practiced it in one form or another. Some more gruesome than others, but there is an underlying common principle.

What is the essence of language? Director Hodges and Kyle Dillon explore the place of the Logos in the common speech of a Civilization, and how it makes community possible.

How did Western Civilization start, and how was it different than other Middle Eastern Civilizations? In this episode, Director Hodges and Ben Cumming describe the foundations of the West, and compare them to the ways of Mesopotamian Civilizations: Paul's supernatural leading and ideas compared with the Epic of Gilgamesh.

Are all Civilizations the same? In this episode, Director Hodges and Ben discuss whether or not two civilizations can judge each other. Since axioms are, by definition, givens and cannot be arrived at by reason, what criteria are there for discerning between or among the assumptions made by civilizations?

We're back! In this episode, the first of a series on the state of Western Civilization, Director Hodges wades into the definitions of "civilization" and "culture" with Ben Cumming. We would love you to engage with us! Please send comments and questions to our email, director@centerws.com, and we will interact with you in future episodes!

Starting back in February, we have been attempting to piece together elements that would assist in addressing the large and multi-faceted notion of "Social Justice."  We discussed biblical definitions of terms like justice and forgiveness, we reviewed the history of the social justice movement starting in the 19th century, we had a conversation with a philosopher to address the reasons social...

In this episode, Director Hodges gives an apology for Fairy Tales.  Borrowing extensively on the writings of GK Chesterton, he shows how our present culture often misunderstands the purpose for Fairy Tales, and thus misses out on what can be learned from them.  

We live in an interesting time.  Christians and Atheists find themselves on the same side in a debate against those who would reject Reason and put the ideology/religion of "Theory" (Critical Theory) in its place.  In this episode, Director Hodges and Pastor Kyle Dillon discuss the book "Cynical Theories" written by Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay.  These two self-described atheis...

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right?"  How many times have we heard that?  But the implication that beauty is purely a subjective thing is a relatively recent notion.  It comes originally from Plato, but Irish novelist Margaret Hungerford may have coined the phrase in the 19th century...but what about the Medieval notions of beauty?  Those are pre-modern, pre-Romantic,...

In this, the second part of a discussion with Cal Beisner, Director Hodges and he continue their discussion on the nature of rights.  What is justice, and how can it be properly understood?  What is the place of forgiveness, and grace, and can they be distributed by a government?  And as Christians, do we have any rights before God?  Is it wrong to demand that we be treated fai...

Negative rights and positive rights are not the same things.  To provide what you do not have is a positive, to keep you from losing what you already have is a negative.  Are either of them truly rights in the way that the American Declaration describes unalienable rights?  The government is geared to provide the second, that is, protection by law, but completely unable to provide f...

Director Hodges sits down with Philip Himebook and talks about Christians in the performing arts, their collaborations (Hodges conducting, Himebook on stage), and their approaches to social media.

The Evangelical Church is struggling to make sense of the Social Justice movement.  Why is it so attractive?  How does it engage with bible-believing Christians?  What does it offer the Church?  Director Hodges discusses these questions with Dr. Doug Groothuis, professor of philosophy and apologetics at Denver Seminary.  This episode refers to some articles that Dr. Grooth...

Director Hodges discusses the roots of what is called "Critical Theory," with faculty member Jonathan (Jack) Vowell, who is working on his PhD in literary criticism. In this second of two parts, they discuss how Marx's ideas have been adjusted to address more generally the entire culture, going beyond economic conflicts alone.

In an ongoing effort to make sense of the ideas that are most influential in our present day, Director Hodges discusses the roots of what is called "Critical Theory," with faculty member Jonathan (Jack) Vowell, who is working on his PhD in literary criticism. In this first of two parts, they discuss the idealism of GWF Hegel and the materialism of Karl Marx and then set the stage for part two, in...

For centuries we held that logical reasoning, supported by Revelation, was the way to get to the truth of any issue. At least to the best our finite minds can accomplish. In the last couple of centuries, while we have lost our communal trust in Revelation, we have at least retained the notion that logic and reasoning is the best way to know what is true. Today, we are hearing that logic and reason...

Since justice is on so many minds these days, we thought it would be good to discuss the call to forgive. Director Hodges has a conversation with world-class bible teacher, writer, missionary, and pastor Ronnie Stevens.

How does the bible approach the idea of Justice? It seems to be on everyone's mind these days, so Director Hodges and Pastor Kyle Dillon discuss how the word is used in the bible, and what implications it might have on our considerations of Social Justice.

This is the second part of a two-part investigation into the history of the ideas that brought us to this place today. It began with Descartes and Rationalism, but in this episode, we begin with Nietzsche at the end of the 19th century and work our way to today. Hodges and Vowell in the continuation of a conversation from last May.

At the end of our year at the Center, we offer an extended lecture on Post-modernism, and set of ideas closely related to Modernism, and to a degree outdated now, as we are moving into a new era, too new to name completely. In this first half of a long episode that we have broken into two parts, we ask faculty member Jack Vowell to give us the highlights of this year's lecture on post-modern thoug...

Continuing the last episode, Hodges continues to lay out his four-points of "paleo-conservative" thought, taken from Burke, Eliot, Kirk, and others. The need for #3 intergenerational community, and for #4, common religion as a pre-requisite for healthy society. One mistake: In the recommendation portion of the podcast, Hodges refers from memory to a portion of TS Eliot's FOUR QUARTETS, saying that...

One of our most popular episodes has been the one we did on Socialism. We thought that the word "Conservative" has lost some of its meaning today, so we decided to address the essence of what some have called "Paleo-conservativism" in distinction to "Neo-Conservativism." Hodges and Vowell discuss the essences of Edmund Burke's "moral imagination" which he pits against the "idyllic imagination" fou...

Why would God require that we not covet? Is it for our benefit somehow? Or maybe it is just so that God won't have to listen to us whine? What if the answer to most of our social conflicts today is as simple as keeping the tenth commandment? In another solo podcast, Director Hodges muses about the meaning and application of the call God gives to resist the temptation to desire what others have.