New Persuasive Words

We celebrate the milestone of our 150th episode with listener and friend Josh Retterer. We reflect on where we've been and where we're going. Special Guest: Josh Retterer.

We revisit one of the themes of our earliest podcasts, friendship.

In this episode we talk about the powerful temptation to judge other people, which most of us give in to all the time. Our launching point was one of Bill's blog posts: https://www.residentexile.com/single-post/2017/07/08/As-You-Judge . We also quote Jason Micheli: http://tamedcynic.org/the-worm-at-the-core-of-the-apple/ . This is the full context for the Karl Barth quote we reference: This fact t...

As we approach our 150th episode, we're revisiting some topics we did early on at the beginning of the podcast. This episode is about the human tendency to go into fight or flight mode in response to anxiety provoking realities. We quote from the book "Failure of Nerve" by Edwin Friedman a few times. Below are the excerpts cited: the possible exception of the first half of the twentieth century, s...

In this episode we reflect on a 2008 article by the recently deceased Peter Berger which originally appeared in First Things. In it Berger argues that while modernity pluralizes it doesn't really secularize or make culture anti-religious, whether it tries to or not. The Berger article can be found here: https://www.firstthings.com/article/2008/02/secularization-falsified . The article from Sean Ke...

In this episode, in light of the upcoming Fourth of July celebration, we reflect on the nature of freedom and life together in the United States.

Do you think you're right and they're wrong? Who's on your heretic list? Liberals? Conservatives? Calvinists? Vegans? Valentians? We continue our musings on truth, heresy and learning the art of life together.

In this podcast we talk about a recent statement by Pope Francis, an article about Rob Bell, and the nature of disagreement in communities that care about their convictions. Show notes: -You can find the article about Pope Francis' homily here: http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2017/05/19/pope_francis_doctrine_unites,_ideology_divides/1313444 -You can find the article about Rob Bell here: http://arc...

We go back to Tomas Halik's work "I Want You To Be: On The God Of Love", considering how Christians can really love the world.

We go back to our teacher Tomas Halik to consider narcissism and the possibility of really loving and being loved.

In light of the recent shooting of Congressman Steve Scalise and the combative political and cultural rhetoric of the day, we consider what it means to be in the American project together.

Our guest for this midweek Bullgeschichte episode is Jason Micheli. He's an author, pastor and podcaster and he's not sure he believes in hell, which is the topic for our conversation. Special Guest: Jason Micheli.

In this episode we talk about Pope Francis' recent statement, "God Cannot Be God Without Man." Show Notes... You can read an account of the Papal audience and find a link to the text of Francis' statement here: http://www.christianpost.com/news/god-cannot-be-god-without-man-pope-francis-says-187045/ .

In this Friday Night lights episode, recorded on Bill's birthday, we continue reflecting on the Holy Spirit and spirituality.

In this episode, the day after Pentecost, we talk about the Holy Spirit.

We talk about an article in the Aeon journal on the Frankfurt School entitled "Theory from the ruins", among other things. Show Notes: The article we reference is here: https://aeon.co/essays/how-the-frankfurt-school-diagnosed-the-ills-of-western-civilisation .

In this episode we talk about the recent removal of Confederate Civil War monuments in New Orleans and the nature of historical memory.

Today is Ascension day 2017, the most overlooked day on the Christian religious calendar. We think that's a shame. It's an important doctrine that offers real hope to real people living a complex, messy world.

This is a bullgeschichte episode where we're joined by Jace Broadhurst to talk about a recent David Brooks column in the NY Times entitled "The Alienated Mind". Show Notes: -You can find the Brooks article here: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/23/opinion/alienated-mind-trump-supporters.html?_r=0 . Special Guest: Jace Broadhurst.

In this episode, inspired by a short essay written by the renowned novelist Cormac McCarthy. It deals with the origins of human language, and whether evolutionary explanations do it justice. Show Notes: The essay that inspired the podcast can be found here: http://nautil.us/issue/47/consciousness/the-kekul-problem?utm_campaign=5.11+Bill+Ringa+%28PVZrqH%29&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Offici...

In this episode we discuss President Trump's recent sharing of code-word clearance intelligence information with the Russian Foreign Minister and the Russian Ambassador to the United States. Show Notes: The Washington Post article that first broke the story can be found here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-revealed-highly-classified-information-to-russian-foreign-mini...

In this episode we consider the meaning of a poem often quoted during commencement season, Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken".

In this episode, which is a combo of our Friday Night Lights and Bullgeschichte episodes, we talk with Matt Milliner. Our conversation is all about friendship, life's fragility and the life of faith. Special Guest: Matt Milliner.

In this episode we talk about Sophistry and its role in contemporary public life. Show Notes: We reference a NY Times Op-Ed piece by Bret Stephens. It can be found here: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/28/opinion/climate-of-complete-certainty.html?_r=0 .

In this episode we talk about break ups. It happens to friends, families, lovers, churches, even countries. Break ups and loss are a part of life, but can you come out of them ever feeling alive again?