Direct link to DePaul University Political Scientist Dr. David Lay William's book and e-book, The Greatest of All Plagues: How Economic Inequality Shaped Political Thought from Plato to Marx: https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691171975/the-greatest-of-all-plagues?srsltid=AfmBOoouC6GyFyOl3Elvzagqym3OgW-ohnU_ydH4vwXy6E0Nz3OpVb34 … More The Greatest of All Plagues: Economic Inequality From Plato to Marx: Interview w/ David Lay Williams

For more info and Patreon and Eventbrite links to sign up: https://pmaurin.org/2024/09/20/the-spiritual-crises-of-modernity-from-nominalism-to-nihilism/ … More The Spiritual Crises of Modernity: From Nominalism to Nihilism: Upcoming Maurin Academy Class

Laurie discusses the experience of dislocation and disembedding through a story by V.S. Naipaul, "One Out of Many." The book the story is from is In a Free State, also by Naipaul. … More Dislocation: Alone in the World (One Out of Many/In a Free State, V.S. Naipaul) Gap in God’s Country

Spencer begins a discussion on the mercurial PMCs (professional managerial class). Ft. Matt Christman's wisdom. … More Boats ‘N Huevos Rancheros: Radical Liberalism Gone to Seed 4 (Contributor: Spencer, audio)

In this longer original cut, Spencer explores the distinction between wishes and results via the "Underpants Gnome" model of magical thinking made famous in the Southpark episode we all know and love. … More Rad-Lib’s Magical Thinking: Sterile Seeds–Longer Cut ft. South Park (Contributor: Spencer) 3

e summer seminar, fill out this brief form: https://forms.gle/WxikMpNx1M64GeTEA … More Hatching Plans for a New Podcast, Seminar and Beyond

In this second part of his series on the decadence and detournement of the educated liberal professional managerial class, Spencer Hess gives us, among other things, a litany of evil systems (both Kaitlin Curtice's and his own). We also get a peak into the futility of thinking that the solution to all the problems humans create is to educate them. The cat also helps answer one of his questions. … More Softer, Better, Slower, Juster: Radical Liberalism Gone to Seed 2 (Contributor: Spencer)

New contributor.Spencer Hess introduces his take on Native: Identity, Belonging and Rediscovering God by Kaitlin Curtice. How did we get in our own way? SH's reaction to Kaitlyn Curtice's book Native begins to indicate the way. For more from us: https://pmaurin.org … More PMC Decadence: Going ‘Native,’ Radical Liberalism Gone to Seed 1 (Contributor: Spencer)

I'm going to change it up a little in the New Year. More to come on what to expect from Spencer Hess, an interviewee and a new contributor to this channel! https://pmaurin.org

On this video: Hauerwas writes about the state of universities and liberal arts colleges, particularly but not exclusively religious colleges. Many of the problems he sees and the aspirations he holds dear can be applied to any modern university or college. I trace key elements of Hauerwas's argument and sift them through my own perspective as an educator. Universities are not in good shape and do not seem to be poised for a positive turn. What is the point of higher education ideally and really? … More The State of University Address

auerwas deals skeptically with both political and religious virtue, but holds out hope for a type of political virtue within church. His treatment in Christian Existence Today is a bit cursory, but it's thought provoking. The second half of this video deals with the problems of community and political virtue in church. Hint: it doesn't mean joining team red or blue. … More Political and Religious Virtue: Really?

cussing different views of virtue that developed at different times in history but are still with us, either as ghosts or as confused and contradictory aspirations. I suggest a new view of virtue has taken over, hyper-bourgeois virtue. … More Virtue: Ancient, Christian, Bourgeois, Hyper-Bourgeois

In his book Christian Existence Today, "A Christian Critique of Christian America," Stanley Hauerwas takes on American civil religion. Understanding why most Christian positions toward the state aren't good enough will help us determine what Christianity might look like if we stopped pursuing it through the state, ideologies and politics. … More Why Not School Prayer? Hauerwas’s Christian Critique of Christian America

ell known for his critique of liberal ideology and his defense of the church as its own community that should be something different than "the world." His thought lends itself to communitarianism and challenges the growth of Christian Nationalism and Constantinianism in our day. This video introduces Hauerwas's life and some of his big ideas and is the beginning of a series derived from two of his books: A Community of Character: Toward a Constructive Christian Social Ethic, and Christian Existence Today: Essays on Church, World, and Living In-Between. … More Introduction to Stanley Hauerwas

Join our Patreon to gain access to the course More Real Than the World: Ancient Insights into the Nature of God, and all our other recorded and live content: https://www.patreon.com/maurinacademy Follow the Maurin Academy on Twitter and Instagram for notifications about upcoming events, and get our free newsletter: https://pmaurin.org/newsletter/ More info about the class here: … More Future Plans & Thoughts on Plato (ft. Carl Jung, Charles Taylor, Plato…)

all of them good for either the giver or receiver. This video focuses on how to be a good receiver, preferably not of Christmas largesse but of giving on a daily basis. To encourage generosity in others, being a positive receiver is necessary. Receiving without guilt and without giving a guilt trip is a way that you can move beyond the liberal capitalist transactional framework in your own life. This is not as easy as it sounds, as you will run very interesting feelings and resistances that will illuminate how messed up our world currently is when it comes to sharing and caring for each other. … More Consider: Receiving is Giving. Real Generosity is Rejecting Transactionalism

theory stream I tap into is Burkean conservatism. Because I'm doing a series on Burke right now, I thought I'd read the section from the draft introduction that has to do with classical conservatism. … More Edmund Burke vs. US Conservatives. Reading From My Latest Book Project: The Gap in God’s Country

Do you think being grateful while eating your turkey is the best thing you could be doing today? Here are some thoughts to agitate you (and maybe get you to drink one less beer) on this US holiday. Along the way we ponder the "Metaverse" of Mark Zuckerberg's dreams, why charity might not be the very best thing you could do, and why word vomiting on others is an activity to avoid--maybe particularly today. … More Ten Things to Consider (Thanksgiving Greetings ft. Zuckerberg’s Metaverse)

I discuss Edmund Burke's views on the "Rights of Man" as advocated by the French Revolution, in contrast with what Burke thought of as the rights of human beings living in various nations and communities. Burke critiques the idea of universal natural rights in favor of inherited rights which can be modified and applied differently over time in response to changing conditions and needs. Burke does supply a list of things that people deserve as members of society and puts them forward as the real rights of men. … More Edmund Burke on “The Rights of Man” (Reflections 4)

After defending the English Revolution of 1688 as a thing of a different and more respectable sort than the French Revolution of 1789, Burke goes on to argue against universal rights in favor of the particular rights of particular people. He believes that people receive their rights through inheritance from past practice, and that the … More Edmund Burke’s Noble Lie (Reflections 3)

The first part of Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution of France takes on England's Revolution Society and Rev. Richard Price, whom Burke considered a dangerous and radical agitator. We begin to see that Burke does not like mixing religion and politics, and he dislikes politics practiced with religious zeal. He argues that there is a big difference between the Glorious Revolution in England in 1688 and the French Revolution of 1789. Is he right? … More Edmund Burke: Is Revolution Ever OK? (Reflections 2)

Why read Edmund Burke? In this introduction I explain that his classical conservatism is more of a way of thinking than it is an ideology, and as such it is flexible. It is also practical, and we need more of that in a time in which too many waste their efforts in theorizing for its own sake (or worse) just attacking the "other side." … More Introduction to Edmund Burke and Reflections on the Revolution in France

ve all 12 steps, but it does give us at least two steps, and a "serenity prayer" for our particular addiction. In this penultimate episode dealing with Walter Brueggemann's Out of Babylon I discuss the themes that emerge in the last chapter dealing with accommodation and resistance to empire. Brueggemann is unflinching in his warning to US Christians that they have verged from accommodation, which is sometimes necessary, to capitulation, which is inexcusable and amounts to idolatry and rejection of "local identity" or strong community values. … More 12 Step Program for Christians Addicted to Empire (Out of Babylon 6 audio)

Christian nationalism--the reasons it is wrong but also the possible reasons why it exists. Looking at the Old Testament as a source of iconic, archetypal and enduring truths is discussed as an alternative to the narrative of the US as the new Israel. If people remain captive to Empire, why? Is it partly because they truly have been displaced and are tempted by cooptation? Is it due to their fear of the wilderness and the freedom it represents? … More Christian Nationalism as Stockholm syndrome (Brueggemann 5)

Chapter 4 of Walter Brueggemann's Out of Babylon discusses the power of poetic imagination to create the conditions for change. Multiple views of God's position relative to humans, and the human response to God are entertained in poetic language. Brueggemann emphasizes the latter as a strength that shows a way beyond the sectarian infighting that characterizes most religious sects and keeps those within them from being able to act positively to create a better future. The idea of a mutable God is discussed--a God who is able to change his mood and mind in response to changes in relationship to his human fold. In dealing with this kind of God, having a fertile imagination about the future is particularly important, as it fosters hope and cancels despair that tends to occur as people bow down to imperial economics and politics. … More Divine Imagination & Futuring (Brueggemann: Out of Babylon 4)

Laurie reads excerpts from the Thomas Pangle translation of Plato's Laws, Book 10, which lay out the first mover argument of the Athenian stranger, along with its social context. Join our Patreon to gain access to the course More Real Than the World: Ancient Insights into the Nature of God, and all our other recorded and live content: https://www.patreon.com/maurinacademy … More The First Mover Argument in Plato’s Laws, Book 10

God's will with the will of the nation and resolve morality into the aims of national power, or to choose the "local tradition" of adherence to God's priorities even when they clash with the priorities and values of empire. The latter involves first recognizing that there is a necessary and unresolvable conflict between any national will and Judeo-Christian morality. Brueggemann asks, will the Christian church be a national church or will it be governed only by God? … More Against the Ideology of Certainty Besetting US Christians (Out of Babylon 3)

the second chapter of Walter Brueggemann's book Out of Babylon, the "local tradition" of the United States, as the "shining city on a hill," is explored in the context of prophetic calls for examination and repentance both in the Old Testament and in Walter Brueggemann's theology. People always design narratives to explain their situation and role in the world, and Brueggemann teaches that this is not only inevitable but good--or it can be, if the story we tell is not simply delusion but pushes us to act in according to the values we say we embrace. In this case, he's talking about Biblical Christian values and he is asking American Christians what (or who) they really stand for. I think this is a very worthy question, so this session is devoted to it. … More The Price of Hypocrisy (Out of Babylon: Brueggemann 2) ft. Nietzsche

discussing Brueggemann's view that US Christians who hew to the "City on the Hill" ideology are committing idolatry and are aligning with Empire and not with God, the two being ultimately opposed. This is not to establish a mere negative argument (as in, this is what a Christian is not), but rather to begin to point to a positive pronouncement (this is what a Christian or other person faithful to God is) . … More Empire and God: Do They Mix? (Out of Babylon, Brueggemann 1)

In this final video on the series examining the lessons of the Versailles Treaty I venture back into US politics and ask the question of personal responsibility. Should people respond in vengeance against actual wrongs? If they don't want to, how do they resist this very (immediately) rational and biological urge? There is no doubt in my mind that we would all be better off if we did not act on the temptation for retribution, but easier said than done. The responsibility of Christians is particularly acute since their religion dictates no revenge. I challenge Christians to take their religion seriously and to imagine the strength it would take to walk away from disputes domestic and foreign. … More I Want to Be Liam Neeson (But I Should Resist). (Keynes 5)

options. They had the option to do nothing, or to do only a small action to rectify the wrong, as well as the option of attempted obliteration of their enemies.. It's hard to argue that the world not would be better off if they had chosen to do nothing, both at the beginning of the war and at the end, when they chose a punitive peace. Out of WWI came the Great Depression and WWII. What does that say to us--is there a lesson in this that we have not yet learned? I would argue that the biggest thing and the hardest thing, but the thing that shows real power, is to do nothing. … More The Option of Radical Forgiveness: Not Taken

The first part of John Maynard Keynes’ 1919 book “The Economic Consequences of the Peace” attempts to remind the victors of WWI that the economies of Europe were deeply intertwined and especially driven by the economic powerhouse that was pre-War Germany. In doing so, he makes it clear that a “Carthaginian Peace” is unwise. He … More Interdependence is a Bitch: The WWI Lesson of Precarity Not Learned (Keynes 3)

y's culture wars have in common? Power-hungry, intransigence, scapegoating, paranoia, fear, mass-mentality, technological eclipse, and more. We haven't progressed in over a century on our basic nature, but time is running out, as our technology continues to outstrip our ability to reason and cooperate by a lot. This is the first part of a series discussing the causes of intransigence, the consequences, and what it would take to stop that cycle so that we don't destroy ourselves. I'm starting out with a discussion of John Maynard Keynes' views on the Treaty of Versailles, which I will get into in more depth next week. … More Still as Stupid as 1914: WWI and the Culture Wars

nterview with Jeremy Cowan, an expert in organic and permaculture agriculture, we discuss our society's prejudice against home, physical work, and native-grown food. We then discuss growing food nearby as a national security issue. … More Permaculture and National Security (Jeremy Cowan Pt. 2)

This is an introduction/head's up to my next video series, which will start next week and will start with some thoughts on John Maynard Keynes' The Economic Consequences of the Peace. The central questions: why is it so hard to forgive--what would be required? How can we keep from turning into the monsters we are fighting against (very important for getting of the culture war hamster wheel)? I approach the topic through some reflections on Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, especially its TV adaptation. When June becomes a ferocious monster, we both admire her but also recognize that her transformation is not progress but regress. Such was the case with the allies' imposition on Germany in the wake of WWI. … More The Handmaid’s Tale and WWI: Is the Carthaginian Solution Inevitable? (Keynes/Versailles Treaty)

You know what they say... This is the third and final part of the interview I did with Dr Jeremy Cowan, an expert in organic and permaculture agriculture, we conclude our reflections on Distributism by breaking both taboos. In this one we deal with the role of religion and politics in changing the way we grow food, but we do more than that. We delve into questions such as why religion is often unhelpful and how it could be otherwise, why political divisions get in the way and what might solve that problem … More Religion and Politics–Whoops, We Talked About Both (Jeremy Cowan Interview Part 3)

Laurie reads the famous Myth of Er from Plato's Republic, the Grube translation, in preparation for teaching it in her summer seminar, More Real Than the World: Ancient Insights Into the Nature of God. Support the Maurin Academy on Patreon for access to this and all our other classes, reading groups and events: https://www.patreon.com/maurinacademy … More The Myth of Er in Plato’s Republic (Seminar 2024 Readings 6)

t part of a conversation I had with Jeremy Cowan, who participated in my Summer 2021 Seminar on the economic theory of Distributism. Dr Cowan is a specialist in organic agriculture with a strong interest in its relationship to politics and economics. In this part of the conversation, we get into the polarizing character of current politics and how it gets in the way of imagining turning towards Distributism or any other alternative to our current corporate-dominated and state-supported capitalism. We discuss the strong agrarian strain in Distributism and whether that is still a relevant direction to change in today's world. … More Could Agrarian Distributism Ever Work? (Interview with Jeremy Cowan Pt. 1)

In this concluding segment from the 2021 Summer Seminar on Distributism, I discuss why it is so hard to imagine actually changing the economy in any meaningful way. Our capacity for collective action has been hollowed out and replaced by an expressive identity politics that cannot satisfy but works wonders to keep us all working and buying. It very effectively stops any real change from happening. The seemingly radical idea that contemporary protests are largely ineffectual and should be replaced by direct action is introduced. … More Culture War Futility, Why Self Expression Beats Action (Distributism 5-Audio)

This is a selection from the fourth part of a five part seminar on Distributism from Summer 2021. It covers Catholic Worker co-founder Dorothy Day's thoughts on the responsibility of Christians, true Christian community, and the correct attitude toward what we now recognize as capitalist realism. Day took very seriously the social teaching of the Catholic Church that emerged in the wake of the Industrial Revolution. This thought was critical of capitalism but also steered away from the emerging communist trends that were also materialist and concentrated power. Day's considerable contribution was to apply her own learning on socialism, communism, anarchism and Christianity to help create a vision for an alternative to the great "isms" of her day and ours. My apologies for some sound glitches due to internet connection! … More Dorothy Day vs Capitalist Realism (Distributism 4)

This is a selection from the seminar I'm teaching on Distributism. For months now, thousands of Indian farmers have been protesting in an occupy-style encampment near Delhi. They fear that they are in danger of losing not only their livelihoods but their way of life due to changes in the laws leading to deregulation of the agricultural sector in India. They are worried that these changes will make many small farms financially impossible and will lead to a great agricultural consolidation into the hands of big agriculture, changing Indian food security and leaving them without the support of the land and extended families they have relied upon. These farmers are in the situation GK Chesterton saw unfolding in England in the early part of the 20th Century. Chesterton called for something like the Indian farmers want back--government regulation and aid to help maintain numerous and plentiful small farmers in an economy of cooperation with subsistence farming with a market element. The farmer protests are a test case as to whether people now can demand a different economic arrangement that protects and preserves food security and their way of life. … More Indian Farmer Protests and Distributism (3)

This is a section of audio from the Summer 2021 Seminar on Distributism, an economic philosophy that isn't capitalist or socialist. Distributism advocates for a more even and equal distribution of private property. Hilaire Belloc was one of a few thinkers credited with founding 20th Century Distributism. In this video some of his ideas are discussed in the context of current application, particularly on the question of whether workfare would be recognized by Belloc as promoting the Servile State. … More Do We Live in a Servile State? ft. Hilaire Belloc’s Distributism (Seminar 2)

This is a segment from the first session of the Summer Seminar on Distributism (2021), part of an hour and a half long session on the origins of Distributism in Aristotle's Politics and various Catholic encyclicals (the one mainly mentioned here is Rerum Novarum, Pope Leo XIII, 1891, in the wake of the Industrial Revolution). Distributism is a line of thought that opposes both capitalism and socialism/communism as equally materialistic and destructive of freedom and proposes a third way--more widespread ownership of private property. It is separable from religion, because it is primarily a proposal about how to deal with property, but this session covers its roots in Ancient Greek and Christian thought. … More Can You Be Both Anti-Capitalist and Anti-Communist? (Seminar 1-Rerum Novarum)

This episode deals with some of the ideas from the concluding chapters of Guy Standing's book The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class--A Politics of Inferno and A Politics of Paradise. He warns that without major changes we will be facing more and more interest in what he calls neofascism, or the populist and nationalist right. In the last chapter he outlines some solutions, the most discussed being a universal basic income. I spend time on that, but also on the guilt trip societies put on precariat workers, as though it is all their fault. A huge government apparatus exists to encourage the existence of a lot of precarious workers to provide cheap just in time labor, and a huge apparatus exists that employs thousands, if not millions, in administering paternalistic and judgmental programs to the "poor." When you think about it, that's sick, and a basic income sounds rational by comparison. … More Basic Income vs. Gaslighting the Precariat (Podcast)

Guy Standing's chapter on "tertiary time" in his book The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class" deals with some important (and very recognizable) evils of our current work environment. The loss of control over our time is the main theme, and the harm that comes from this is sometimes very obvious and sometimes not at all. This video deals with the hidden cost of maintaining what it takes to work in the precariat, including time to maintain themselves and the personal equipment they use, and dealing with constantly changing schedules which means they have to constantly think about how to take care of children and elderly. Hidden traps having to do with taxes and contracts make it harder for the precariat to ever leave their condition. … More Multitasking Ourselves to Death (Precariat 6-Audio)

In this video, I discuss Ch. 4 of Guy Standing's The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class, which is on migration. Many in developed countries with large numbers of migrant laborers blame these laborers for taking jobs and reducing their economic prospects. Looking deeper, though, we see that they are there because globalized economic interests want the ultimate flexible and vulnerable labor pool and governments make sure they get them. Many leaders and parties talk about wanting their citizens to have good jobs but their actions and the results of their policies say otherwise. Ultimately no one wins in the current system, certainly not illegal migrants living in serfdom to survive. To get to the heart of the problem, we have to look at who/what benefits from large numbers of legal and illegal migrants. … More Migrants and Underemployment in Context: What’s Really Going On? (Precariat 5-Audio)

On March 27 I will begin an adventure with Heygo, a platform developed for live tours that is expanding into other content. My first topic will be What Would Machiavelli Do? Check out that and a lot of cool tours (which helps out tour guides who have been adversely impacted by the pandemic) by searching for Heygo! … More WWMD? New Talk

To sign up for this summer’s seminar: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/more-real-than-the-world-ancient-insights-into-the-nature-of-god-tickets-882717049457 Or support the Maurin Academy on Patreon for access to this and all our other classes, reading groups and events: https://www.patreon.com/maurinacademy Follow the Maurin Academy on Twitter and Instagram for notifications about upcoming events, and get our free newsletter: https://pmaurin.org/newsletter/ More info about the class here: https://pmaurin.org/classes-and-series-cult/ … More Plato’s Gorgias: Heaven, Hell, and the In-Between Place (Seminar 2024 Readings 5)

Guy Standing, author of The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class answers this question this way: because there just aren't enough stable, well paying jobs in the new economy. In this video I discuss some of the realities of university education today, especially the trend towards trying to sell education as a commodity with a promise of being qualified for specific jobs. The watering down of education is a serious concern of Standing. This education saddles students with debt, can't necessarily deliver the job they were trained for, and meantime has not encouraged them to think critically and creatively but to keep their heads down and do what's required, even if it's not at all what they wanted. The Precariat is therefore deprived of a key element in achieving some sort of political influence and the ability to push back--a good education. … More Why is My University Degree Not Enough? (4-Audio)

I discuss some of the many important points made in Ch. 2 of Guy Standing's The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class, entitled "Why the Precariat is Growing." Standing details what happened in OECD countries when emerging market countries started to out-compete them in terms of production and availability of low-cost labor. He shows how globalization, smoothed by government policies, led to the ultimate "flexible" labor force, with subsequent insecurity and strain on individuals, families and communities. Being ultimately flexible means not having any hope for a career, not identifying with an employer, and not being rewarded for the development of skills, among many other effects. People are most often blamed (and blame themselves) for their difficulty in finding a good job, but the deck is stacked against them like never before, and Standing does not think there is any way to turn back the clock. … More Why Can’t I Find a Good Job? (Guy Standing, The Precariat 3-Audio)

To start this series, I introduce the author Guy Standing and discuss a few prominent themes in his book The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class. Standing writes in the 2017 preface: "Those in the precariat have lives dominated by insecurity, uncertainty, debt and humiliation. They are denizens rather than citizens, losing cultural, civil, social, political and economic rights built upper generations. The precariat is the first class in history to labour and work at a lower level than the schooling it typically acquires." … More Intro to The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class by Guy Standing (Audio)