The Magnificast

Earlier this year, Óscar Romero was canonized as a saint in the Catholic Church. His life and faith have been an important example to Christians on the left ever since his martyrdom. In this episode, we talk about the life and martyrdom of Saint Óscar Romero with Matt Eisenbrandt, author of The Assassination of a Saint. You can find his book here: http://www.assassinationofasaint.com/2017/01/02/24...

Dean wrote a neat essay for Commonweal magazine, so we made a special podcast about it. Check out the essay here: https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/may-day-saint

In this episode we take a look at a chapter from Roland Boer's new book "Red Theology" that deals with Russian peasant socialism, Tolstoy, and everybody's favorite Bolshevik Boi V. I. Lenin himself! Music by Amaryah Armstrong and theillalogicalspoon.

A few weeks back we did a big roundup of articles about the Christian left, but because we believe in fair and balanced journalism, this week we're bringing you articles from the Christian right!

We've made it over 100 episodes without ever talking about China, but today's the day folks. We're talking about K. H. Ting, an incredible leader in China's Three-Self Patriotic Movement, a group of Protestants determined to figure out how help build socialism in China and disentangle Christianity from Western capitalism. Warning: we might appeal to much to your carnality in the beginning. Music b...

Isn't it weird that our podcast is about Christianity and the left, but it looks and sounds so different than the Christian left you might read about it major journalistic publications? We think so too! In this episode, we round up a few articles about the Christian left and try to get to the bottom of it. We also talk about the Justice League getting saved. Intro music by Amaryah Armstrong Outro...

On this week's episode, we talk with Greg Hillis about Thomas Merton! You might know him as a best seller in the Christian life section at your local book store, but, as it turns out, he's good!

Just try to fail to see how great this episode is! This week, we're talking about what Althusser thinks about church! Spoiler: if you want to help the church then you'd better help the working class. We were inspired by the description of an upcoming retreat whose theme is "Another church is possible," organized by Friendly Fire, Christians for Socialism, and the Minneapolis Catholic Worker (https...

Love Jesus? Hate prisons? Do we have a website for you! This week we're joined by Hannah Bowman, organizer of Christians for the Abolition of Prisons (https://christiansforabolition.org)! Hannah has been working with and for prisoners for years, and she thinks Christians should be on the front line of abolishing a system that Christians created. Also she's good at theology! If you didn't get enoug...

This week Matt and Dean come to you live (pre-recorded) from Toronto! This episode is another socialism 101 episode that focuses on primitive accumulation and Dave Ramsey's financial advice.

What's the deal with capitalism? And socialism...and communism... These are big terms that mean a lot of different things. We can't nail down every definition, but we try our best to sort these terms through with good old-fashioned Magnificast rambling. Also we brought some leftover Hundo reddit Qs. Is this witchraft, or sorcery, or whatever? Music by Amaryah Armstrong and theillalogicalspoon

This week, we talk with Sargon Donabed, author of the book "Reforging a Forgotten History: Iraq and the Assyrians in the Twentieth Century." Sargon tells us some of the history of the Assyrian people, an indigenous people to West Asia/North Africa who are often overlooked and misunderstood. We also talk about how the Assyrians do and don't show up in the academy and in public discourse, what role...

This week on The Magnificast we celebrate Dean's birthday and talk about Ernesto Cardenal's recent rehabilitation. We get into what this means and learn some cool stuff about Cardenal's life and Solentiname! intro music by Amaryah Armstrong outro music by theillogicalspoon

We did it everyone. We made it to ~The Big Hundo~, 100 straight weeks in a row and the Magnificast train is still a-rollin'! To celebrate, we start by going back to reddit where we met and tackle some of the most pressing theology questions we could find. Then we think through some of the theology questions sent in by listeners and prove once and for all that we're no good at theology. Thanks for...

Infighting on the left is a huge problem. Marxists hate anarchists, anarchists hate Marxists, everyone hates primitivists, etc. In this episode, we'll take a look at a leftist who can add some nuance to all this infighting: Dorothy Day! In this episode, we'll listen to Dorothy Day's (of the Catholic Worker Movement) reflection on a trip she took to Cuba in 1962. Following her reflections, we'll se...

In light of the ongoing coup in Venezuela, this week Matt and Dean talk with Jim Hodgson. Hodgson is the Program Coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean for the United Church of Canada and was an observer of the recent elections in Venezuela. Intro Music by Amaryah Armstrong Outro Music by theillogicalspoon

Ever feel like you're working harder than ever and not really getting anywhere? Do you find it weird that people blame you and other folks for being poor when 26 people own as much wealth as half the planet? It might be because you've been demonized. This week we talk with Adam Kotsko, author of Neoliberalism's Demons, to find out all about the political theology behind this very messed up society...

Last week we talked about Christians and communist parties. This week we decided to take a look at how Christians related to the Socialist Party of America in the early 20th century. We read Dan McKanan's article "The Implicit Religion of Radicalism: Socialist Party Theology, 1900–1934" to get an idea of what kind of theology emerged from the Socialist Party. We also descended into the bunker of C...

We talk a lot about Christian communist and communists who like Christians, but we never really got around to talking about communist parties themselves! In this episode we get a little help from some Very Good books by Jodi Dean to think about the communist party, and then we reach through the archives to see if some of the people and movements we've talked about in the past might help us think t...

It's 2019 and we're back on our bullshit. Joining us for the New Year is John Thornton Jr! In this ep, Matt and Dean talk with John about the political theology of debt and decide on the theme for this year. Intro music by Amaryah Armstrong Outro music by theillogicalspoon

In this episode, Matt and Dean talk with Lilian Calles Barger about her new book: The World Come of Age: An Intellectual History of Liberation Theology. You can check out Lilian's book here: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-world-come-of-age-9780190695392?cc=us&lang=en& Intro music by Amaryah Armstrong Outro music by theillogicalspoon

Do you feel like everything about Christmas is too commercial? Are you wondering what the real reason for the season is? Well, it's capitalism. This week we talk about Jean Baudrillard's The Consumer Society and whether or not Tim Allen wore Santa's underwear. Intro music by Amaryah Armstrong Outro music by theillogicalspoon

Mary did you know that your baby boy would be the king of kings? Yeah, she knew. In this extra credit episode of the Magnificast, Matt talks with Hannah Shanks author of This Is My Body: Embracing the Messiness of Faith and Motherhood (https://www.amazon.com/This-Body-Embracing-Messiness-Motherhood/dp/1935205285)about Mary, The Magnificat, Advent and revolution!

This week on the Magnificast we talk about President, Priest, and liberation theologian Jean-Bertrand Aristide. We also get philanthropic with the Matt & Dean Memorial Scholarship. Intro music by Amaryah Armstrong Outro music by theillogicalspoon

This week we talk about Grace Hutchins journey from missionary to Bolshevik! We also do a segment about Comrade School Bus a great communist spin on the magic school bus. Intro music by Amaryah Armstrong Outro music by theillogicalspoon