The Magnificast

When it comes to Christianity and politics everyone loves to talk about the "political imaginary." This week we're going to talk through the political imaginary and what it's all about! To do that, we read a really fascinating article called Bhima Koregaon and the “Powers of the Other Shore by Saroj Giri you can read the article here: https://monthlyreview.org/2021/10/01/bhima-koregaon-and-the-pow...

This past week, Qanon believers from across the US gathered in Dallas TX to witness the return of JFK Jr. That's wild, right? But what's even wilder is that Qanon is a thoroughly Christian movement! Last week we talked a bit about the Christian right rehabilitating itself, but this week we're talking about what they're trying to rehabilitate themselves from.  Intro Music by Amaryah Armstrong  Outr...

Woke culture, critical race theory, postmodernism, Christians have a history of locating struggles in culture rather than politics! In this episode, we talk through the culture war as it's presented in Peter Wehner's The Evangelical Church is Beaking Apart. ( https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/10/evangelical-trump-christians-politics/620469/) Intro Music by Amaryah Armstrong  Outro mus...

In this episode, we talk through Pope Francis' recent address to popular movements. As it turns out, the Pope is good and we're here to tell you about it. Also, it's really hard to make sense of anything of this without socialist politics. Read the Pope's address here: https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/messages/pont-messages/2021/documents/20211016-videomessaggio-movimentipopolari.html I...

Liberation theology isn't just a thing that happened in the 60's and 70's. Many of the folks involved in liberation theology are still around and publishing, but their voices are strangely missing from contemporary conversations around Latin American politics. In this episode, we get a little cranky about the lack of coverage around liberation theology and talk about why it matters.  Intro Music b...

It's the spookiest time of the year! So, we're going to put a pause on all of the politics talk and direct our attention toward some fun and spooky stories about saintly apparitions and think a little bit about death!  Intro Music by Amaryah Armstrong  Outro music by theillogicalspoon https://theillalogicalspoon.bandcamp.com/track/hoods-up-the-low-down-technified-blues *Support The Magnificast on...

We've spent a lot of time trying to figure out some of the politics around evangelicalism, but we've never really talked through the exvangelical response to evangelicalism. In this episode, we work through deconstruction, evangelicalism, and some of the weird cultural artifacts that emerge around it.  Intro Music by Amaryah Armstrong  Outro music by theillogicalspoon https://theillalogicalspoon.b...

Just a week ago, we passed the 20th anniversary of 9/11. To mark the occasion the worship leader and failed Republican politician Sean Feucht, of Bethel Church fame, held an event at the national mall in DC. The event was part of his “let us worship” tour that has been taking place around the country to protest COVID restrictions on churches. Notably, Donald Trump joined the rally through a pretty...

Hey, isn't debt as an idea and as an economic reality pretty messed up? It is. In this episode, we talk about debt in Christianity and economics and how both ideas intersect and break our brains.  Intro Music by Amaryah Armstrong  Outro music by theillogicalspoon https://theillalogicalspoon.bandcamp.com/track/hoods-up-the-low-down-technified-blues *Support The Magnificast on Patreon*  http://patre...

Christian universities have a long history of creating the institutional levers and buttons by which they can harass and discriminate against their LGBTQ+ students. But, that's not the end of the story! A new project is engaging with these universities and organizing LGBTQ+ students on their campuses to start fighting back! This week, we talked with Erin Green, an organizer, with REAP (Religious E...

The last time we talked about climate change we were kind of doomers about it, but so we're back to complicate the whole notion a bit more with some tools from the monthly review. In this episode, we investigate the term "Anthropocene" from a Marxist perspective and consider just how capitalism fits into it all.  Intro Music by Amaryah Armstrong  Outro music by theillogicalspoon https://theillalog...

On this podcast, it's always Catholic church this and the Pope that, but this week we're talking about anglo-Catholicism. That's right, folks we're talking about the tradition of socialism in the Episcopal church with Tony Hunt & Caleb Roberts of The Hour Magazine. The Hour is a magazine that explores the often forgotten and even more often unexplored history of socialism within the anglo-Cath...

We all love St Francis, but did you know he was a communist? Well, according to Karl Kautsky he was. There are a lot of wild medieval Christians who, for theological reasons, didn't believe in private property and Francis was one of them! However, unlike the Waldensians or the Brethren of the Free Spirit, Francis' movement was assimilated into the Catholic Church. Listen in and hear all about how...

You might have heard all of the bad news about the state of the climate in the recent IPCC report. In this episode, we talk through what it means and try to parse out what it is that Christians and the left should think about it. Honestly, it's a tough one! 

Did you know that we have a whole second podcast behind our patreon paywall? Dang, well now you do. This weeks episode was kind of a downer, so we decided to drop our patreon-only podcast out here in the open in case you need something to distract you from all the bad news. 

We're taking a break from all of our Cuba conversations to talk about Christianity in an expansive sense and think through claims that people on the left and the right make about what counts as "true Christianity."   Intro Music by Amaryah Armstrong  Outro music by Paul Robeson https://theillalogicalspoon.bandcamp.com/track/hoods-up-the-low-down-technified-blues *Support The Magnificast on Patreon...

Over the past few weeks, we've talked a lot about Cuba. We decided to keep the Cuba train running with an interview with Rev. Elice Higginbotham, who formerly worked with IFCO/Pastors with Peace. In this conversation, we talk about Pastors with Peace, their history of sending aid to Cuba, Christians in Cuba, and a lot more!    Learn more about IFCO here: https://ifconews.org  Intro Music by Amarya...

Due to capitalist media and deeply seated ideological positions, it's hard to get real information about what's happening in places like Cuba. As usual, we invited Jim Hodgson on, an individual with a history with and good relationships in Latin America and the Caribbean. Throughout the episode, Jim tells us what's been happening on the ground with the recent wave of protests in Cuba, gives some g...

This week on the Magnificast, we chatted with Austin González who recently went to Venezuela with a delegation from the DSA International committee. In this interview, we hear a bit about Austin's time in Venezuela, his visit with the communes, Nicolas Maduro, and just what the DSA international committee is up to!  Follow Austin on twitter: twitter.com/Gaius_Gracchus_ Check out Austin's podcast:...

Sometimes, on the pod, we focus a lot on what's wrong in Christianity and its kind of a bummer. So, what if we talked with someone who is doing something good with Christianity? This week we're talking with Ryan Cagle about his new project at Jubilee House in Alabama. Listen in and soak up this good stuff.  Check out Ryan's project at jubileehouse.co  Intro Music by Amaryah Armstrong  Outro music...

We're always going on and on about Catholicism on this podcast, so why don't we give it a break and talk to someone about...uhhh...I don't know...a queer reading of John Wesley's sermons. This week, we're bringing you an interview with Keegan Osinski, the author of the forthcoming book "Queering Wesley, Queering the Church." You're not going to want to miss Keegan's takes on doing theology, queer...

Over the last few weeks, we’ve been talking about atheism, Marxism, and how revolutionary kinds of Christianity challenge some of the assumptions on the left. This week we thought we’d take a look at conversations around the secular, secularism, and secularization, which actually have a lot of complicated things to say about both Christianity and Marxism. This might get a little grad schooly, but...

In this episode, we’ll take a look at the ways the claim to “common good” from Catholic Social Teaching can be deployed from the right and why Catholic Social Teaching alone doesn’t go far enough to resolve the tensions of capitalism.

We've been struggling to answer the question: What does Christianity contribute to Marxism or socialism? This week, we read The Desacralization of Marxism within Latin American Liberation Theology by Otto Axel Maduro Lang to get another perspective. Liberation Theology, as Maduro argues, takes the best of Marxism while rejecting what doesn't make sense in the given context. Read the essay here: ht...

Not too long ago, we made the case for why Christians should be socialists. This time, we're looking at the question from another angle and making the case why Socialists should make room for Christians in socialist movements. Intro Music by Amaryah Armstrong Outro music by theillogicalspoon https://theillalogicalspoon.bandcamp.com/track/hoods-up-the-low-down-technified-blues *Support The Magnific...