The Protestant Libertarian Podcast

In this episode I talk once again to Cody Cook, author of the book Unhitched: Why Jesus Can’t Be Divorced from The Old Testament . In this book, Cody critically examines the work of three prominent Christian thinkers who make various arguments that Christians ought to marginalize or outright ignore the Old Testament. We explore the work of Keith Giles, Greg Boyd, and Andy Stanley. Cody explains ho...

This week I sit down with Clint Russell, the host of the wildly popular podcast Liberty Lockdown, to talk about the World Economic Forum. Clint has a background in mortgages and finance and understands the current economic and political dilemmas that plague our society today. Clint explains how the World Economic Forum (WEF), a group of political and business elites that meet in Davos, Switzerland...

In this episode, I sit down once again with Laurie Calhoun. Laurie is a philosopher, a cultural critic and an author. She is a senior fellow at the Libertarian Institute, where she regularly writes articles analyzing war and the military industrial complex. We discuss her 2013 book War and Delusion , which is a devastating philosophical and empirical critique of the ‘just war’ theory, which posits...

In this episode I once again talk to the great Econ Bro, the man behind the excellent Twitter account @TruEconBreau. He talks about his journey to Christian faith in Nigeria, the future of global Christianity, and the current state of Nigerian politics and economics. This is a fascinating and eye-opening conversation that you will not want to miss!    When we recorded this episode, there was a mas...

In this episode, I talk to Jacob Sullum, senior editor at Reason magazine, about a recent piece he wrote entitled The Perils of Trying to Curtail Hazily Defined ‘Disinformation’ . In this article, he discusses a recent rating given to Reason by an organization called the Global Disinformation Index (GDI) that named Reason as one of the ’10 riskiest online news sources’ in the United States. In thi...

Today I talk to my friend Josh Williams. Josh is the host of Welldagum , a podcast where guest share funny and enlightening personal stories, and, more recently, Podbless , where he and his guest hosts explore the intersection between faith and everyday life. In this episode, we have a wide-ranging discussion about the power of stories, leaving ministry, changing your political and theological bel...

I finally devote a full episode to Covid-19. I discuss why I believe that holistic health (exercise, dieting, and drinking water) is the best method for ensuring health and building an immune system. Then we talk about how the FDA’s budgeting method allows pharmaceutical companies to craft regulations that benefit their financial interests at the expense of competition and the health of the Americ...

 In this episode, I talk to Doug Stuart, the CEO of the Libertarian Christian Institute, which is an organization that explores the relationship between libertarianism and Christian thought. He is the coauthor of the book Faith Seeking Freedom and hosts the Libertarian Christian Podcast. We discuss Doug’s background, the work he does for LCI, the relationship between libertarianism and Christianit...

In this episode, I talk to Eric Parker, who is running for city council in Jacksonville, Florida. Eric is an Army veteran who now works in the electronics industry and wants to bring libertarian principals to Jacksonville. He is running against an establishment Republican in a two-person race, and the winner of the primary decides who will win the seat. Today we are going to talk about Eric’s back...

Ezra Wyrick is back on the show to discuss some of the most important problems facing our world today. He talks about his recent appearance on the Tom Woods Show, Covid, Ukraine, Congress, the World Economic Forum, his endeavors with Mises Magazine and the Youth Liberty Coalition, and the relationship between Christianity and libertarianism. Ezra is a young rising star in the liberty movement and...

In this episode I sit down with Benjamin Abelow, who is the author of ‘ How the West Brought War to Ukraine: Understanding How U.S. and NATO Policies Led to Crisis, War, and the Risk of Nuclear Catastrophe’ . We discuss this book, and Abelow gives us an incredible summary of the historical context of the war, the extent of western provocations towards Russia, and the prospects for peace following...

In this episode, we explore how the writer of 1 Samuel 8 expressed concerns about Israel’s monarchy in particular and human government in general. We set 1 Samuel in the context of the Old Testament’s narrative of Israel’s covenant with God and the consequences of failing to remain faithful. We will compare this with Murray Rothbard’s observation in Anatomy of the State that the state has a monopo...

On this episode, I sit down with Tom Mullen, and author and host of the Tom Mullen Talks Freedom podcast, to discuss an article he wrote a few years back for the Foundation of Economic Education entitled ‘ Why the Pledge of Allegiance is Un-American . We discuss the problem of pledge-making to the state, why phrases like ‘one nation’, ‘under God’, and ‘indivisible’ are at odds with historic Americ...

In this episode, I look at an article published in the fall of 2022 by Barna Group, an organization that does research related to Christianity and American culture. The article, which is entitled Does a Divided Public Look to Pastors for Guidance? ’, looks at the statistics surrounding which people or institutions Americans trust to make a positive change in society. Shockingly, many Americans, ev...

In this episode, we look at a recent piece published at Reason Magazine by Stephany Slade entitled ‘ Against Game of Thrones Christianity ’, in which she argues that there is a growing tendency among members of the Christian right to use state power against their political opponents. According to Slade, this represents an abandonment of classical liberalism and is antithetical to Biblical teaching...

Henry Cadbury (1883 – 1974) was a Quaker Biblical scholar. He was an outspoken critic of the anti-German propaganda being pushed by the US media during World War I and was also critical of Woodrow Wilson’s passing of the Selective Service Act, which would draft members of religious organizations who opposed violence into non-combat roles in the military. His critique of the war propaganda cost him...

It is the holiday season, which means you will most likely be receiving at least one Amazon gift card! In this short Christmas special, I present six books, three written about the Bible and the church and three written about politics and economics, that shaped my political worldview and led me to a uniquely Christian version of libertarianism. Below is the list, with Amazon links for your conveni...

In this episode, I talk with Dr. Christoph Heilig, who is on the faculty of theology at the University of Basel in Switzerland. He has written extensively on the relationship between Paul and the Roman empire, and his recent book The Apostle and the Empire analyzes the debate in New Testament scholarship surrounding Paul’s supposedly ‘hidden’ criticism of Rome. Heilig explains, contrary to many pr...

In this episode, I sit down with Cody Cook, an author and podcaster who explores the relationship between Christianity and anarchism. Many of his interests overlap with the Protestant Libertarian Podcast, and I know that you are going to love everything that he has produced! After getting to know Cody, we talk about two articles that he has written exploring the relationship between Christmas and...

In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Brandon D. Crowe, professor of New Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary, to discuss his 2020 book The Hope of Israel: The Resurrection of Christ in the Acts of the Apostles . In this book, he argues that the resurrection of Jesus is the central theme of the book of Acts, and we discuss the historical, exegetical, and theological significance of the res...

*Episode originally recorded in August 2022.* In round two of Ludwig von Mises vs. a Christian scholar, we look at the brilliant Christian philosopher James K.A. Smith’s collection of essays called ‘The Devil Reads Derrida’. There is a lot of great content, but his definition of capitalism and libertarianism are at odds with the tradition of Austrian economics.  We compare his statements with Ludw...

Happy bonus Thanksgiving episode! I wanted to organize my thoughts on the current war in Ukraine and, on this episode, I look at a few short articles and narrate an introductory overview that explains my current understanding of the conflict. The media, the military industrial complex, political interests, and history all shed light on the reason for US involvement in this eastern European conflic...

On this episode, I talk to Econ Bro, a Christian and a libertarian from Nigeria, who runs the excellent Twitter account @TruEconBreau. We had an exchange about women in ministry online, and we agreed that we wanted to have an extended discussion about the issue. Econ Bro takes the position that while women are gifted in many ways, the Bible prohibits them from leading men in church. I take the pos...

We are look at the second half of libertarian philosopher, economist, and historian Murray Rothbard’s worldview-changing 1974 essay Anatomy of the State , looking particularly at how the state often overcomes its constitutional limits.   Episode Outline: I. Review of Part 1 II. Section 4: How the State Transends its Limits III. Section 5: What the State Fears IV. Section 6: How States Relate to On...

We are reviewing the first half of Murray Rothbard’s classic essay Anatomy of the State , in which he argues that the state can be defined as the entity that maintains a monopoly on violence in a given geographical area and that the state generates revenue through coercion. This is a classic in libertarian political philosophy and will be the way in which we define the concept of ‘state’ on this p...