The Aaron Renn Show

Presbyterian minister Daniel Howe joins us to discuss his new book Worship, Feasting, Rest, Mercy: The Christian Sabbath. Link to Buy: https://crownandcovenant.com/products/worship-feasting-rest-mercy-the-christian-sabbath Aaron Renn's Newsletter: https://www.aaronrenn.com/

This month's newsletter looks at lessons from two contemporary novels, Guadalupe Nettel's Still Born and Vigdis Hjorth's Will and Testament . Buy Still Born: https://www.amazon.com/Still-Born-Guadalupe-Nettel-ebook/dp/B0BQ3ZRSK1 Buy Will and Testament: https://www.amazon.com/Will-Testament-Vigdis-Hjorth-ebook/dp/B07LDSXBTD/ Newsletter #39 on forged families: https://www.aaronrenn.co...

Sohrab Ahmari joins me to discuss his book Tyranny, Inc: How Private Power Crushed American Liberty - and What To Do About It . Buy the book: https://www.amazon.com/Tyranny-Inc-Private-American-Liberty/dp/0593443462/ Subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.aaronrenn.com/

Washington Post columnist Christine Emba joins me to discuss her viral feature essay, "Men are lost. Here’s a map out of the wilderness." "Men Are Lost" Article link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/07/10/christine-emba-masculinity-new-model/ Reader feedback on how to be a man article link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/08/14/readers-react-christine-...

This month's audio newsletter looks at the teachings of two online men's influencers whose work reflects something of a neo-pagan sensibility, Jack Donovan and his book The Way of Men , and Ryan Landry and his book Masculinity Amidst Madness . The Way of Men: https://www.amazon.com/Way-Men-Jack-Donovan-ebook/dp/B007O0Y1ZE/?&tag=theurban-20 Masculinity Against Madness: https://www.ama...

Denny Burk is the President of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, the organization charted with advancing complementarian gender theology. Complementarianism holds that only men can be pastors, and that husbands are the head of the home. The main rival system is egalitarianism, which affirms female pastors and says husbands and wives have equal authority in the home. He joins to discus...

As the evangelical world begins to crack up and realign, a segment of "big eva" elites is promoting the idea of redefining the boundary of their community. They want to eliminate complementarianism (a male only pastorate) and replace it with anti-fundamentalism. What was previously a solidly conservative movement would instead be more self-consciously centrist. This was explicitly laid o...

The Christian Reformed Church (CRC), a quasi-mainline denomination originating in the Dutch Reformed tradition, had been trending in a more liberal direction. It approved of ordaining women and its Calvin University took a more progressive tack. But recently the denomination has pivoted to the right on sexuality issues. What dynamics have been at play in the CRC? What does the future hold for this...

Conservatives have a strong preference to have other people make their points for them. Hence they love liberals who criticize wokeness, or Muslims who argue for religious freedom. There's nothing wrong with partnering with or promoting others who share your views, but there's something wrong with people who can't seem to advocate for themselves.

The left frequently argues that "structural racism" and other factors dominate our societies. While conservatives rightly recognize these as code words for left ideology, they often react in ways that fail to recognize the way structural forces really do affect individual and group outcomes.

The now disgraced Mark Driscoll was once one of America's hottest "bad boy" pastors. His church had 14,000 attendees, and he had a massive following on social media. Although his empire imploded in a cascade of scandals a few years back, it's still worth looking at his teachings on gender because stripped of his provocative style, the content is actually pretty similar to what...

There's been a lot of discussion of the limits of the "winsome" model of cultural engagement in the evangelical world, and how it is no longer as effective as it once was and is even counter-productive in some ways. But the culture war model also has limits and is in many ways equally as obsolete. A new model for the negative world is needed that transcends the limits of the old.

Liberal pressure campaigns frequently work. Conservative ones are typically a failure. But the largely spontaneous Bud Light boycott was an exception. I look at why it was an exception - but one that most likely just proves the rule.

A mainline presbyterian Gen-Z videocaster and Episcopal priest recently discussed whether mainline denominations can ever be retaken by the theologically orthodox. I share one example that shows at least some level of institutional recapture is possible, though the risks remain very high. Interview with Jake Meador: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxP_sPcCIkY My podcast on Tim Keller: https://www....

Peter Thiel says that "brilliant thinking is rare, but courage is in even shorter supply than genius."  We see that on display in the way the leadership of the Gospel Coalition threw pastor and TGC Keller Center fellow Josh Butler under the bus when the hate mob came for him. This is unfortunately standard operating procedure in much of American leadership today.  We all need to find way...

Conservative insurgents have won elections in a number of places. But as we've seen in cases ranging from Ottawa County, Michigan to North Idaho College to the Hamilton East Library, they often lack detailed knowledge of the governments they are now in charge of, and are getting tripped up by process and other errors. Some to-dos for conservatives, with a focus on libraries.

American's view of what an oppressive, authoritarian society looks like is shaped by models like Naziism, Communism, George Orwell's 1984, or perhaps the persecution of the early church. These systems are both formally repressive, relying on hard government power. And also almost entirely bad. But there are other models in which bad is mixed with good, and in which the system functions d...

Very few people have sacrificed as much personally or absorbed as much pain for the sake of defending and living their life in alignment with their gender theology as Kathy Keller has. She has demonstrated major skin in the game, which commands great respect.

This month's newsletter is a look at what post-familialism hath wrought in South Korea: toxic gender relations, roiled politics, and an emerging conflict between those with kids and without.

Dr. Nicholas Ellis was raised and home schooled on the mission field in Brazil. He then went to England, where he obtained his doctorate at Oxford. Now back in the United States, he has launched Christian Halls, an effort to reimagine Christian higher education in America through creating self-governing microcampuses providing a fully accredited education in every county in America. Check out Chri...

Recent events such as the school shooting in Nashville, the indictment of President Trump, and the conviction of Douglas Mackey shouldn't surprise us, or cause us to give into despair or hate. But it should cause us to change the way we view the American rulership structure that exists today. Like the Roman Empire, it has many positive attributes, but is built on and suffused with pervasive a...

An article in the Guardian argues that online influencers will be more important to conservative discourse in the US going forward in America. This is in part because of technological change, but also from the failure of the establishment class. At the same time, the influencer model has key weaknesses that need to be shored up to make that model healthier. The Guardian: ‘It’s all about trolling’:...

The standard self-improvement advice is to say No more often. That's frequently good advice. A lot of times we want to say No but are just too scared to do it. Sometimes other people are taking advantage of us. Or maybe we just neglect our own affairs to say No when we shouldn't. But there's a case for saying Yes too. Yes has much more optionality than No. Saying yes to opportunitie...

People involved in the arts, literature, or other creative fields are generally politically left wing - even far left. It’s much rarer to see someone who is explicitly and openly to the right, though it does happen occasionally. But there’s another way to look at it. Our ideas of left and right in politics descend from the French Revolution. But what if we defined them differently than we currentl...

We see any articles about the so-called shortage of good men. That is, we've seen many articles in the major media about how women are delaying or foregoing marriage because they can't find the right man to marry. If that's true, what are the implications for men? It means that if they do have their act together, then they are a hot commodity in the marketplace, and need to internal...