The Magnificast

Human Nature, Dignity, Freedom: these are all right wing buzzwords, but what do they actually mean? In this episode, Matt and Dean talk about these ideas from a Marxist and Christian perspective Intro Music by Amaryah Armstrong Outro Music by theillogicalspoon

You know what sucks? Corporate media and the suppression of leftist ideas. You know what's awesome? Brett O'Shea from The Revolutionary Left Radio (@revleftradio). In this episode, we talk with Brett about the upcoming Net Neutrality vote and a Marxist analysis of media. Check out Brett's podcast out here: https://revolutionaryleftradio.libsyn.com/ Intro music by Amarya Armstrong Outro music by th...

If you're tired of hearing us talk about Christians for Socialism then sorry we're not sorry that we're still on it this week. We're working on getting the rights to digitize and distribute some of the old resources, but in the meantime we looked at a study guide put out by the Inter-Religious Task Force for Social Analysis called "Which Side Are We On? Christian Commitment for the '80s." Specific...

Churches are supposed to be places of community, hospitality, and refuge, but what about when they're not? Many denominations and congregations routinely exclude LGBTQ people and that totally sucks. In this episode, Matt and Dean talk with Sarah Ngu, a comrade who works with Religious Socialism as well as with an organization called Church Clarity. Sarah explains possible ways to sort out the shee...

Last week we talked about Christians for Socialism, a radical revolutionary contingent of Christians that started in response to the Allende election in Chile. We ended that episode noting that the organization had to disband in Chile after a US-backed coup deposed Allende. But the end of Christians for Socialism in Chile wasn't the end of the organization itself. It was exported to North America,...

It's no secret that we think Christianity and socialism are Very Good. Over the course of the podcast we've tried to find some ideas and movements that help illuminate the relationship between Christians and socialism. But we're hardly the first to think about that. In Chile in the early 70s, a group of 80 priests founded Christians for Socialism, a contingent of Christians who wanted not just pol...

In this episode, Matt and Dean talk about Frei Betto's book "Fidel and Religion," Religion in Cuba, Communism, and Revolution. They also desperately try not to cough into their microphones.

In this episode, Dean and Matt interview George Ciccariello-Maher about Chavismo, Venezuela, dual power, the communes, Maduro and the ways Christianity might have informed Hugo Chavez' political imagination.

When Dean met Dave McKee at a karaoke night hosted by the Communist Party of Canada, he wasn't expecting to find out the provincial leader of the party in Ontario had once studied theology and even spent time with Nicaraguan Christians in base communities. Needless to say, we had to have him on the podcast, and we finally did! We talk about Marxism-Leninism in Canada, how violence and nonviolence...

Different Christian traditions have different potentials for leftist thought. Throughout The Magnificast, we've talked about a number of different Christian and Leftist perspectives, but we've never quite made it to the Orthodox Church. That all changed this week when Matt and Dean talked with Jonathan Murden about the history of the Orthodox Church and its interaction with the Bolsheviks during t...

Derek Ford is back on the 'cast to defend his title as Most Faithful Guest with a whopping three visits. After talking with Jodi Dean in episode 24 about the People's Congress of Resistance, we wanted to follow up and hear how it went. Derek gives us a full report of some of the most exciting parts of the project, talks about what it might mean for future organizing, and gives a few suggestions ab...

It's time for another user created episode of the Magnificast! This episode is brought to you by all of you nice folks who send us your questions! Also, later in the episode Matt and Dean dunk on Joe Carter and the Acton Institute and talk a little bit about identity politics.

The late 19th and early 20th century saw an immense struggle between labor and capital in the United States. From the Haymarket Massacre to the Pullman Strike, Chicago was the site of many significant victories and defeats for the labor movement. There are loads of great histories attending to the burgeoning socialist movements in the midst of those struggles, but what were the Christians up to in...

In this episode, Matt and Dean talk about The People's Congress of Resistance with Jodi Dean. The People's Congress of Resistance is an upcoming event (sept 16-17) in Washington D.C. In this episode, the three discuss what the People's Congress is about, what its demands entail, the importance of organization in politics, and what Christians can contribute to leftist struggle. You can learn more a...

Christians on the Left are pretty good at being suspicious of things like the state or big business. After all, Jesus got killed by an empire and big businesses aren't exactly known for their sacrificial values. In this suspicion though, a lot of Christians (and even a lot of newly minted Leftists in the wake of Bernie Sanders) don't think very much about the problem of private property itself, wh...

This week, Dean and Matt circle back to review some user created content that all of you good Magnificasters have sent in over the past few weeks! Also, this episode launches a new segment (#theorytime) featuring The Lit Crit Guy, Jon Greenaway, that gives a 101 level introduction to Marx's theory of revolution!

The face of white supremacy is a manifestation of evil that Christians and leftists should categorically oppose without qualifications. That might seem like an obvious point, but Christians seemed to have trouble responding in a timely way to the Charlottesville tragedy, taken in by the liberal temptation to condemn violence "on all sides." That temptation creates a false equivalence between the s...

We got a chance to get some of our own #TheoryTime in with The Lit Crit Guy himself, talking about Roland Boer's book Criticism of Heaven, and specifically a chapter Boer wrote on the French communist Louis Althusser's Catholic undercurrents. (You might remember Derek Ford gesturing toward Althusser's Catholicism way back in episode 3.) We try to sort out some different relationships between relig...

Matt and Dean are joined by Amaryah Shaye Armstrong to talk about her article "Of Flesh and Spirit: Race, Reproduction, and Sexual Difference in the Turn to Paul." The three talk about the failures of universalism, reconciliation, Rod Dreher and Pizza.

In this episode, Matt and Dean talk with Matt Sitman of Commonweal Magazine about his recent essay "Against Moral Austerity: On the Need for a Christian Left." The conversation outlines the failure of the Democratic party to engage politics morally and what the left could gain from using moral language.

Matt and Dean talk with Daniel Camacho about evangelicalism and the legacy of the Christian left.

Dean is back! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJtx9xQQEx4) In this episode, Matt and Dean talk with Drew Van't Land about his trip to the Socialism 2017 conference in Chicago. The three discuss Christianity, socialism, race, class and socializing daycare.

Dean is still on vacation, so Zach Dimiele steps in as a guest co-host. Matt and Zach discuss Leonardo Boff's Ecclesiogenesis and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's integral role in the history of the church.

Dean's away on vacation, so John Brittingham is filling in as a co-host. Matt and John have a very Foucaultian conversation about the disciplinary structures of Christian summer camps.

In this episode, Matt and Dean do some 101 level socialism and Christianity talk. There is a history of folks on the left and right that assume Christianity and socialism are antithetical, but in this episode Matt and Dean disprove this garbage take through the immortal science of historical materialism.