Explore every episode of the podcast Subversive Orthodoxy
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Field Notes - What is Freedom? - Part Two
31 Jul 2026
00:16:59
We pick apart why “freedom” causes so many arguments by comparing the major definitions that shape politics, psychology, and moral philosophy. We end by naming what nearly all of them miss and why that gap pushes us toward a bigger story in part three.
• inheriting words without checking what we mean by them • Isaiah Berlin’s negative liberty as non-interference • Berlin’s positive liberty as self-governance and formation • Carl Rogers on integration, self-awareness, and internal unfreedom • Viktor Frankl on choosing your attitude under extreme constraint • B.F. Skinner’s challenge that choice may be conditioning • Sartre’s claim that we cannot stop choosing • Aquinas on virtue, the good, and a will with direction • Sen and Nussbaum on capabilities, poverty, and structural unfreedom • Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms as a political synthesis • the missing questions about God, purpose, and a larger story
Co-Host: Robert L. Inchausti, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of English at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and is the author of numerous books, including Subversive Orthodoxy, Thomas Merton's American Prophecy, The Spitwad Sutras, and Breaking the Cultural Trance. He is, among other things, a Thomas Merton authority, and editor of the Merton books Echoing Silence, Seeds, and The Pocket Thomas Merton. He's a lover of the literature of those who challenge the status quo in various ways, thus, he has had a lifelong fascination with the Beats.
Book by Robert L. Inchausti "Subversive Orthodoxy: Outlaws, Revolutionaries, and Other Christians in Disguise" Published 2005, authorization by the author.
Intro & Outro Music by Noah Johnson & Chavez the Fisherman, all rights reserved.
Field Notes - What is Freedom? - Part One
31 Jul 2026
00:16:16
We start a four-part set of field notes by admitting the word freedom still surprises us when we hear it from Solzhenitsyn, Kierkegaard, Berdyaev, and Chesterton. We trace the “freedom we inherited” through American politics and pop culture, then question whether external rights, endless choice, and economic survival can leave the inner life unfree. • why the word freedom suddenly feels unfamiliar in classic writers • the four-part structure from inherited freedom to biblical roots to embodied courage • how Braveheart and American patriotism shape instinctive ideas of liberty • political freedom as rights and protections that can stay external • conservative and liberal frameworks that miss the formed inner person • cultural freedom reduced to desire, authenticity, and consumer choice • what happens when freedom detaches from responsibility and moral accountability • modern economic pressure as quiet captivity despite legal freedom • Office Space as a parable of cubicles, compliance, and despair Stay tuned for part two
Co-Host: Robert L. Inchausti, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of English at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and is the author of numerous books, including Subversive Orthodoxy, Thomas Merton's American Prophecy, The Spitwad Sutras, and Breaking the Cultural Trance. He is, among other things, a Thomas Merton authority, and editor of the Merton books Echoing Silence, Seeds, and The Pocket Thomas Merton. He's a lover of the literature of those who challenge the status quo in various ways, thus, he has had a lifelong fascination with the Beats.
Book by Robert L. Inchausti "Subversive Orthodoxy: Outlaws, Revolutionaries, and Other Christians in Disguise" Published 2005, authorization by the author.
Intro & Outro Music by Noah Johnson & Chavez the Fisherman, all rights reserved.
Episode #19: The Most Radical Thing She Did Was Stay — Dorothy Day (part two) on Presence, Personal Conversion, and Why Holiness Might Be What You Actually Want
30 Apr 2026
01:02:50
“True worship is to work for justice and care for the poor and oppressed” sounds inspiring until you remember what that work actually feels like at 2 a.m. when you are tired, irritable, and out of patience. We sit with Dorothy Day long enough to let the romance burn off and the real questions show up: what do the poor really need to live with dignity, and what do the comfortable need to unlearn to see them clearly?
We also challenge the modern impulse to turn every moral question into a left versus right loyalty test. Both sides can become a binary machine that pins groups against each other, simplifies reality, and sells us a team identity in place of truth. Dorothy Day refuses that trap by taking responsibility seriously, insisting on personal conversion, and treating the works of mercy as the actual substance of justice. That mix confronts progressives who want programs without transformation and conservatives who want talking points without costly love.
Along the way we talk distributism, local ownership, and why centralized systems and monopoly capitalism can quietly make communities dependent on forces they do not know or control. We connect Day’s stubborn local fidelity to Wendell Berry’s “membership,” and we ask what it would mean to build smaller economies and deeper neighborhoods in a distracted techno state marked by anxiety and performance.
We end with the power of confession and why Dorothy Day’s credibility comes from owning her wreckage rather than curating a clean image, then we land on a hard possibility: holiness might be more beautiful than happiness. Subscribe, share this with a friend who is tired of the culture war script, and leave a five-star review if this conversation helps you choose the concrete over the abstract.
We wrestle with Dorothy Day’s unsettling claim that worship becomes real when it turns into justice and care for the poor, especially when the work feels unglamorous and lonely. We also push back on the left right binary by asking what changes when we stop performing concern and start serving the person right in front of us. • Dorothy Day’s Catholic Worker vision of dignity, community, and voluntary poverty • Why poverty debates miss the human need for attention, belonging, and self-expression • How right and left politics collapse into a binary trap that insults our intelligence • What an “anti-political politics” looks like in prayer, reflection, and concrete responsibility • Dorothy Day’s rhetorical edge on war, nuclear weapons, and moral hypocrisy • Distributism as a check on monopoly capitalism and the centralized state • Local ownership, small economies, and why dependence erodes happiness • The spiritual cost of long fidelity, loneliness, and staying put • Personal conversion as the seedbed of social transformation • Works of mercy as the substance of justice rather than commentary • Confession and truth-telling as the source of credibility and freedom • What Dorothy Day’s past raises for churches that curate respectability • Holiness as a deeper aim than comfort-based happiness Please subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already leave a five star review and share with anyone who might resonate. Please follow us on Instagram at Subversive Orthodoxy. You can email us at subversivorthodoxy at gmail.com and now you can find podcast extras as well as all of my other creative work at my substack: https://beingtravismullen.substack.com/
Co-Host: Robert L. Inchausti, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of English at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and is the author of numerous books, including Subversive Orthodoxy, Thomas Merton's American Prophecy, The Spitwad Sutras, and Breaking the Cultural Trance. He is, among other things, a Thomas Merton authority, and editor of the Merton books Echoing Silence, Seeds, and The Pocket Thomas Merton. He's a lover of the literature of those who challenge the status quo in various ways, thus, he has had a lifelong fascination with the Beats.
Book by Robert L. Inchausti "Subversive Orthodoxy: Outlaws, Revolutionaries, and Other Christians in Disguise" Published 2005, authorization by the author.
Intro & Outro Music by Noah Johnson & Chavez the Fisherman, all rights reserved.
Episode #18: Don't Call Me a Saint — Dorothy Day (part one), the Woman Who Defied Categories
25 Apr 2026
01:04:13
Dorothy Day is the kind of person everyone tries to claim and nobody can fully control. One side calls her a socialist. Another side calls her a saint. She answered both with the same refusal: don’t use a label to dismiss the demand her life puts on you.
We walk through her story from early bohemian politics and labor activism to her Catholic conversion, then the founding of the Catholic Worker Movement with Peter Maurin. Along the way, we dig into her most important writings, including The Long Loneliness, and why her journals may be the clearest window into her spiritual life. What emerges is not a superhero, but a painfully honest Christian trying to live the works of mercy in public, year after year, without institutional power or ideological shortcuts.
The heart of our conversation is “apolitical politics”: politics as practical morality, local responsibility, and learning to love real people in real places. We connect Dorothy Day to Catholic social teaching, subsidiarity, decentralization, and even distributism, asking what it means to build economic autonomy through community, mutual aid, and hospitality instead of outsourcing every need to the state. We also face her hard questions about war, conscience, civil disobedience, nuclear fear, and the daily temptations of a distracted techno state.
If Dorothy Day still unsettles you, that may be the point. Subscribe for part two, share this with a friend who’s tired of tribal politics, and leave a review with the question from this conversation you can’t stop thinking about.
We talk through Dorothy Day’s life as a test case for faith that refuses both right-wing stereotypes and left-wing slogans. Her “apolitical politics” pushes us away from hot takes and toward conscience, local responsibility, and concrete works of mercy. • Dorothy Day’s biography from early radicalism to Catholic conversion and lifelong Catholic Worker commitment • Her key books and why the journals reveal the real person • “Don’t call me a saint” as a warning against dismissal and excuse-making • Anti-political politics as practical morality and meaningful life together • Decentralization, subsidiarity, and distributism as alternatives to top-down control • Conscience, civil disobedience, and the limits of obedience to the state • The West Virginia farm story and the painful honesty of family responsibility • The shift from abstract causes to loving the neighbor in front of you • Thomas Merton correspondence and the temptation to seek “respectable” holiness • Poverty’s paradox of suffering and joy in beloved community This concludes part one of Dorothy Day. We will have part two coming out in the next week or two. So stay tuned.
Co-Host: Robert L. Inchausti, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of English at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and is the author of numerous books, including Subversive Orthodoxy, Thomas Merton's American Prophecy, The Spitwad Sutras, and Breaking the Cultural Trance. He is, among other things, a Thomas Merton authority, and editor of the Merton books Echoing Silence, Seeds, and The Pocket Thomas Merton. He's a lover of the literature of those who challenge the status quo in various ways, thus, he has had a lifelong fascination with the Beats.
Book by Robert L. Inchausti "Subversive Orthodoxy: Outlaws, Revolutionaries, and Other Christians in Disguise" Published 2005, authorization by the author.
Intro & Outro Music by Noah Johnson & Chavez the Fisherman, all rights reserved.
Episode #17: The Diagnosis You Didn't Know You Needed: Walker Percy on the Malaise, the Moviegoer, and the Art of Being Actually Alive
26 Mar 2026
01:14:15
WALKER PERCY: EPISODE SUMMARY
You can be comfortable, busy, and entertained and still be in despair. That’s the Kierkegaard line Walker Percy puts at the front of The Moviegoer, and it becomes our doorway into a bigger question: what if the real sickness of modern life is that we don’t even notice what’s missing?
We walk through Percy’s story, from a Southern upbringing marked by repeated suicide, to medical training and a tuberculosis collapse that pushes him toward reading, philosophy, and ultimately writing. Percy is never a simple “religious novelist.” His Roman Catholic faith works more like a diagnostic tool as he studies consumer identity, modern boredom, and the way scientific confidence can leave the inner life unnamed. Along the way we map his major books, from The Moviegoer to Love in the Ruins, and why his satire still lands in an age of anxiety, distraction, and behavioral control.
A big turning point is Percy’s fascination with semiotics, the study of signs. We unpack why language is not just communication but a doorway into selfhood, including the origin of the word “meme” and how imitation spreads meaning through a culture. Then we linger on one of the most moving illustrations Percy uses: Helen Keller at the water pump, where naming becomes something like a new birth. By the end, we return to Percy’s haunting claim that we are “lost in the cosmos” when myth, faith, and shared accounts of the person collapse into thin explanations.
If this conversation hits home, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a five-star review so more people can find it. What part of modern life feels most like hidden despair to you?
We dig into Walker Percy’s strange genius and why his novels diagnose modern life better than most social commentary. We use Kierkegaard’s definition of despair, semiotics, and the Helen Keller story to ask what it means to become a self in a world that keeps flattening people into consumers.
• Walker Percy’s biography, including family tragedy, tuberculosis, and conversion to Catholicism • The core themes across Percy’s novels and nonfiction, including alienation, boredom, and modern misdiagnosis • Percy as a bridge between existential Christianity and scientific modernity • The difference between emotional despair and Kierkegaard’s existential despair • Why the aesthetic life of comfort can still be a life of despair • Semiotics as the study of signs and why language changes what a human is • The origin of the word meme and how imitation spreads meaning • Percy’s critique of psychology when it reduces the human person to pathology • The Moviegoer as a lived experiment in Kierkegaard’s stages of life • Helen Keller at the water pump as the birth of selfhood through naming • Lost in the cosmos as a diagnosis of life after myth and metaphysical certainty
Please subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already leave a five star review and share with anyone who might resonate.
Please follow us on Instagram: @SubversiveOrthodoxy
You can email us at subversiveorthodoxy@gmail.com and now you can find podcast extras as well as all of my other creative work at my substack: https://beingtravismullen.substack.com/
Co-Host: Robert L. Inchausti, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of English at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and is the author of numerous books, including Subversive Orthodoxy, Thomas Merton's American Prophecy, The Spitwad Sutras, and Breaking the Cultural Trance. He is, among other things, a Thomas Merton authority, and editor of the Merton books Echoing Silence, Seeds, and The Pocket Thomas Merton. He's a lover of the literature of those who challenge the status quo in various ways, thus, he has had a lifelong fascination with the Beats.
Book by Robert L. Inchausti "Subversive Orthodoxy: Outlaws, Revolutionaries, and Other Christians in Disguise" Published 2005, authorization by the author.
Intro & Outro Music by Noah Johnson & Chavez the Fisherman, all rights reserved.
Episode #16: The Saint of Holy Groveling: Jack Kerouac, Catholic Mystic, and the God He Could Never Outrun
20 Dec 2025
01:12:44
The Saint of Holy Groveling, the Hungover Mystic, and a deep, aching longing for God
Jack Kerouac is remembered as the voice of the open road, speed, freedom, and excess, yet beneath the motion lived a deep spiritual loneliness. He carried an intense longing for God that pleasure, travel, and rebellion never resolved. The party always ended in sadness. The road always circled back home. Formed by Catholic prayer, haunted by sin and grace, and bound to his mother in a small house far from the myth, Kerouac lived as a strange solitary mystic, restless for God and unable to escape the ache of faith that followed him everywhere.
Co-Host: Robert L. Inchausti, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of English at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and is the author of numerous books, including Subversive Orthodoxy, Thomas Merton's American Prophecy, The Spitwad Sutras, and Breaking the Cultural Trance. He is, among other things, a Thomas Merton authority, and editor of the Merton books Echoing Silence, Seeds, and The Pocket Thomas Merton. He's a lover of the literature of those who challenge the status quo in various ways, thus, he has had a lifelong fascination with the Beats.
Book by Robert L. Inchausti "Subversive Orthodoxy: Outlaws, Revolutionaries, and Other Christians in Disguise" Published 2005, authorization by the author.
Intro & Outro Music by Noah Johnson & Chavez the Fisherman, all rights reserved.
Episode #15: Field Notes #1: What Existentialism Gets Right — and What It Costs You
25 Nov 2025
00:26:27
We trace existentialism from Kierkegaard’s pivot to the single individual before God to the secular push for meaning without God, then test what still helps in a noisy, anxious culture. We offer a grounded practice of stillness and a challenge to choose rather than drift.
• what existentialism means and why it endures • Kierkegaard’s shift from systems to the single individual before God • Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sartre, and Camus in brief • existence precedes essence and its cultural echoes • subjectivity as owned truth, not private whim • despair as the self refusing to be itself before God • the leap of faith as passionate trust when guarantees end • gifts to keep: honesty about anxiety, critique of the herd, real decisions • risks without God: radical autonomy and thin hope • a practical stillness exercise to cultivate the inner life
Please check out the subversive orthodoxy Instagram You can find my other creative work on beingtravismullen.substack.com You can always email us. Ideas for field notes would be great coming from you guys if you could email us at subversiveorthodoxy@gmail.com
Co-Host: Robert L. Inchausti, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of English at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and is the author of numerous books, including Subversive Orthodoxy, Thomas Merton's American Prophecy, The Spitwad Sutras, and Breaking the Cultural Trance. He is, among other things, a Thomas Merton authority, and editor of the Merton books Echoing Silence, Seeds, and The Pocket Thomas Merton. He's a lover of the literature of those who challenge the status quo in various ways, thus, he has had a lifelong fascination with the Beats.
Book by Robert L. Inchausti "Subversive Orthodoxy: Outlaws, Revolutionaries, and Other Christians in Disguise" Published 2005, authorization by the author.
Intro & Outro Music by Noah Johnson & Chavez the Fisherman, all rights reserved.
Episode #14: The Silent Kiss That Answers Everything: Dostoevsky, the Grand Inquisitor, and Why Freedom Terrifies Us — Part Three
24 Nov 2025
01:11:00
We trace Dostoevsky’s polyphonic craft through the Karamazov brothers, probe Ivan’s moral revolt, and unpack the Grand Inquisitor’s claim that people prefer miracle, mystery, and authority to freedom. A silent kiss, not an argument, becomes the counter-move to control.
• polyphony as method and why it matters • Dimitri, Ivan, and Alyosha as desire, reason, and heart • Ivan’s scrapbook of atrocities and moral revolt • the Grand Inquisitor’s temptations reframed as policy • miracle, mystery, and authority versus freedom • silence and the kiss as theological reply • modern echoes in state, church, and corporations • addiction, whim, and the comfort trap • Alyosha’s empathy and service over control • letters, criticism, and Dostoevsky’s craft choices
What if the deepest challenge to faith isn’t disbelief but the demand that God justify a world where children suffer? We sit with that fire as we step into The Brothers Karamazov, mapping the novel’s polyphony across Dmitri’s desire, Ivan’s relentless moral outrage, and Alyosha’s tender, tested faith under Father Zosima’s guidance. Rather than flatten the story into heroes and villains, we follow how each voice carries real weight—and how living with that tension becomes the point.
Ivan’s parable, The Grand Inquisitor, takes center stage. In it, Christ returns during the Spanish Inquisition and remains silent while a cardinal explains why the church will burn him: people don’t want freedom; they want miracle, mystery, and authority. Bread instead of responsibility. Spectacle instead of trust. Power instead of love. It’s a devastating argument precisely because it sounds familiar. Swap robes for suits or slogans and you can hear the Inquisitor in modern bureaucracies, cults of personality, corporate paternalism, and any system that buys our conscience with comfort.
So what counters a totalizing logic of control? Dostoevsky’s answer isn’t a debate point—it’s a kiss. A silent act that refuses the terms of coercion. We trace how Alyosha can voice rage against injustice and still move toward reconciliation, how addiction to whim becomes its own tyranny, and why service clarifies where control only clouds. Along the way we connect the novel’s themes to today’s tensions: trading agency for safety, mistaking certainty for truth, and confusing power with wisdom.
This conversation aims to do what the book does—train moral imagination, not hand out easy answers. If you’ve ever felt caught between justice and mercy, or wondered whether freedom is too heavy to carry, you’ll find language and stories here that help you keep going without going numb. Listen, share with a friend who loves big questions, and if this moved you, subscribe and leave a review so more readers and thinkers can find us.
Co-Host: Robert L. Inchausti, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of English at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and is the author of numerous books, including Subversive Orthodoxy, Thomas Merton's American Prophecy, The Spitwad Sutras, and Breaking the Cultural Trance. He is, among other things, a Thomas Merton authority, and editor of the Merton books Echoing Silence, Seeds, and The Pocket Thomas Merton. He's a lover of the literature of those who challenge the status quo in various ways, thus, he has had a lifelong fascination with the Beats.
Book by Robert L. Inchausti "Subversive Orthodoxy: Outlaws, Revolutionaries, and Other Christians in Disguise" Published 2005, authorization by the author.
Intro & Outro Music by Noah Johnson & Chavez the Fisherman, all rights reserved.
Episode #13: The Man Responsible for Everyone: Dostoevsky on Goodness, the Underground, and the Love That Won't Collapse — Part Two
16 Sep 2025
00:58:28
In Part Two of our Dostoevsky series we move from diagnosing the underground to exploring the way out. Dostoevsky shows us that the true hero is not the exceptional man but the good man, and goodness is only remarkable in its ability to love while knowing the depths of the underground.
We explore how Father Zosima counsels the brokenhearted with hope that refuses to collapse into platitudes, and how his radical teaching—“I am responsible not only for myself, but for everyone else, and I, more than anyone else”—reshapes the way we think about responsibility in an age of chaos. Alongside Zosima we follow Alyosha, who brings mercy into the mess by walking with children, grieving mothers, and fractured families, sowing seeds of restoration instead of judgment.
Along the way we contrast Dostoevsky’s vision with the flat caricatures of modern culture, from television antiheroes to the Joker, and ask why sin for Dostoevsky is not just disobedience but a conscious revolt against meaning itself.
This episode traces how grief, responsibility, and mercy form Dostoevsky’s vision of redemption—and why that vision is more urgent than ever for our own underground age.
Dostoevsky's concept of "the underground" offers profound insights into human nature, revealing how people deliberately choose destructive behaviors even when they know it will hurt themselves and others.
• Dostoevsky portrays the dual nature of humanity - we are neither completely fallen nor saved, but move in and out of "the underground" throughout our lives • The underground represents not just sin but a "rebellion against meaning itself," explaining phenomena like school shootings and destructive chaos • Modern solutions like education, technology, economic reform, and political revolution fail to address the underground because they only target external conditions • Father Zosima in "The Brothers Karamazov" demonstrates spiritual direction that acknowledges complexity rather than offering formulaic answers • Dostoevsky's path out of the underground isn't about bypassing darkness but confronting it first, understanding its hold on us, and finding authentic pathways toward redemption • The radical ethic "I am responsible not only for myself, but for everyone else" shifts focus from blaming external factors to examining our own contributions to societal problems
Please leave a five-star review, subscribe, and share with anyone who might resonate with this conversation.
Dostoevsky saw something in human nature that most modern thinkers miss – what he called "the underground." Far more than just sin or moral failure, the underground represents our capacity for deliberate, irrational self-destruction and our rebellion against meaning itself. In this riveting conversation, we explore how Dostoevsky's psychological insights illuminate our contemporary crises.
Why do school shooters emerge? Why do seemingly normal people suddenly choose chaos? The answers lie in Dostoevsky's understanding of humanity's dual nature – we move between light and darkness, between meaning and the underground. As our guest explains, "This is not a perpetual state of man, this is an aspect of human nature that the modern world is bringing up for examination."
The conversation takes us deep into "The Brothers Karamazov," Dostoevsky's masterpiece that philosopher Nicolas Berdyaev claimed was sufficient "justification for the existence of the Russian people in the world." Through Father Zosima and Alyosha, Dostoevsky offers not just diagnosis but potential healing – spiritual direction that acknowledges complexity rather than offering formulaic answers.
What emerges is a profound challenge to both secular and religious simplifications. Education, technology, economic reform, political revolution – all these modern solutions fail to address the underground because they target only external conditions. Even rel
Co-Host: Robert L. Inchausti, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of English at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and is the author of numerous books, including Subversive Orthodoxy, Thomas Merton's American Prophecy, The Spitwad Sutras, and Breaking the Cultural Trance. He is, among other things, a Thomas Merton authority, and editor of the Merton books Echoing Silence, Seeds, and The Pocket Thomas Merton. He's a lover of the literature of those who challenge the status quo in various ways, thus, he has had a lifelong fascination with the Beats.
Book by Robert L. Inchausti "Subversive Orthodoxy: Outlaws, Revolutionaries, and Other Christians in Disguise" Published 2005, authorization by the author.
Intro & Outro Music by Noah Johnson & Chavez the Fisherman, all rights reserved.
Episode #12: The Psychology of the Underground: How Dostoevsky Mapped the War Between Mind and Heart — Part One
03 Sep 2025
00:58:57
Fyodor Dostoevsky revolutionized literature by creating battlegrounds of the mind and heart where faith and darkness constantly struggle for dominance. His concept of "the psychology of the underground" offers profound insights into human nature, revealing how our willfulness often overrides our reason in ways that defy rational explanation.
• Born in 1821, Dostoevsky's life was shaped by trauma—his father's murder, a mock execution, and four years in a Siberian prison camp • His novels explore the "underground" psychology where humans choose willfulness over reason, sometimes acting against their own self-interest • Notes from the Underground presents an extreme example of this psychology through its nameless protagonist who rejects redemption • His masterpiece The Brothers Karamazov demonstrates how various characters navigate the underground in different ways • Father Zosima represents the path out of the underground through his radical approach to responsibility and forgiveness • Dostoevsky's work continues to influence modern culture, from films like Taxi Driver to our understanding of chaotic evil • His psychology validates biblical insights about human nature while adding vivid color and complexity to our understanding of sin • Unlike many modern narratives, Dostoevsky portrays the full spectrum of human morality, from the darkest underground to genuine redemption
If you want to begin exploring Dostoevsky, start with Notes from the Underground to understand his psychological framework, then move to Crime and Punishment or The Brothers Karamazov for his most complete vision of the human condition.
Co-Host: Robert L. Inchausti, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of English at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and is the author of numerous books, including Subversive Orthodoxy, Thomas Merton's American Prophecy, The Spitwad Sutras, and Breaking the Cultural Trance. He is, among other things, a Thomas Merton authority, and editor of the Merton books Echoing Silence, Seeds, and The Pocket Thomas Merton. He's a lover of the literature of those who challenge the status quo in various ways, thus, he has had a lifelong fascination with the Beats.
Book by Robert L. Inchausti "Subversive Orthodoxy: Outlaws, Revolutionaries, and Other Christians in Disguise" Published 2005, authorization by the author.
Intro & Outro Music by Noah Johnson & Chavez the Fisherman, all rights reserved.
Episode #11: Avoiding Spiritual Nihilism: How to Deconstruct Every System and Still Keep Your Soul — Nikolai Berdyaev (Part Two)
16 Aug 2025
00:46:33
Episode #11: Life After Deconstruction, How to Be Free Without Losing Your Soul: Nikolai Berdyaev (part two)
Co-Host: Robert L. Inchausti, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of English at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and is the author of numerous books, including Subversive Orthodoxy, Thomas Merton's American Prophecy, The Spitwad Sutras, and Breaking the Cultural Trance. He is, among other things, a Thomas Merton authority, and editor of the Merton books Echoing Silence, Seeds, and The Pocket Thomas Merton. He's a lover of the literature of those who challenge the status quo in various ways, thus, he has had a lifelong fascination with the Beats.
Book by Robert L. Inchausti "Subversive Orthodoxy: Outlaws, Revolutionaries, and Other Christians in Disguise" Published 2005, authorization by the author.
Intro & Outro Music by Noah Johnson & Chavez the Fisherman, all rights reserved.
Episode #10: No System Can Contain the Soul: On Freedom, the Creative Act, and the Person — Nikolai Berdyaev
11 Jul 2025
00:48:38
Nikolai Berdyaev challenges both Marxism and bourgeois liberalism with his prophetic vision of freedom rooted in Orthodox Christianity, not in political centrism.
• Exiled Russian philosopher who viewed freedom as cosmic and primordial—the very ground of human existence • Criticized the "bourgeois spirit" as a degrading clutching after security and small-mindedness • Rejected institutional religion and revolutionary violence equally • Believed human beings are co-creators with God, called to participation in divine creativity • Saw Christianity not as a system of control but as a mystical inheritance alive with fire and risk • Proclaimed "The Kingdom of God is freedom. It is not order. Order is the kingdom of Caesar" • His works include The Meaning of the Creative Act, Freedom and Spirit, and Slavery and Freedom
If you found this meaningful, please leave a five-star review, subscribe and share with anyone who might resonate with this conversation.
Nikolai Berdyaev stands as one of the most challenging prophetic voices of the 20th century, yet remains criminally overlooked in our conversations about meaning, faith, and resistance. Born into Russian aristocracy but drawn to Marxist revolution in his youth, Berdyaev's journey from revolutionary to Christian mystic offers a startling vision of freedom that transcends our tired political categories.
After being imprisoned by the very Bolsheviks whose ideals he once championed, Berdyaev returned to Orthodox Christianity—not as a system of submission, but as a mystical inheritance alive with fire and risk. When Lenin deported him on the infamous "Philosopher's Ship" in 1922, Berdyaev found not defeat but liberation, writing some of his most powerful works from exile in Paris.
What makes Berdyaev urgently relevant today is his refusal to be contained by any system. He was too radical for the church, too spiritual for the Marxists, too mystical for the liberals, and too prophetic to rest comfortably anywhere. In our age of algorithmic thinking and political polarization, his thought offers a way beyond the stifling binaries that dominate our discourse.
At the heart of Berdyaev's vision stands a revolutionary understanding of freedom. For him, freedom wasn't a political arrangement or consumer choice—it was cosmic, primordial, the very ground of human existence. Human beings are co-creators with God, called not to submission but to participation in divine creativity. "Christianity is the religion of divine and human freedom," he wrote. "Where there is no freedom, there can be no love, no creativity, no personhood."
This explosive vision of freedom led Berdyaev to critique what he called "the bourgeois spirit"—a state of soul characterized by a clutching after security and small-mindedness. The bourgeois trades greatness for comfort, honor for security, and truth for convenience. Sound familiar? His diagnosis of modern spiritual malaise feels more relevant with each passing year.
Join us as we explore Berdyaev's life and thought—a voice crying out from the ruins of modernity that the human spirit will not be contained by any system, that true rebellion lies not in political revolution but in the recovery of our divine-human freedom.
Co-Host: Robert L. Inchausti, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of English at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and is the author of numerous books, including Subversive Orthodoxy, Thomas Merton's American Prophecy, The Spitwad Sutras, and Breaking the Cultural Trance. He is, among other things, a Thomas Merton authority, and editor of the Merton books Echoing Silence, Seeds, and The Pocket Thomas Merton. He's a lover of the literature of those who challenge the status quo in various ways, thus, he has had a lifelong fascination with the Beats.
Book by Robert L. Inchausti "Subversive Orthodoxy: Outlaws, Revolutionaries, and Other Christians in Disguise" Published 2005, authorization by the author.
Intro & Outro Music by Noah Johnson & Chavez the Fisherman, all rights reserved.
Episode #9: Joy as an Act of War: Chesterton on Nihilism, Technology, and the Orthodoxy That Refuses to Stop Laughing — Part Two
29 Jun 2025
00:56:18
Travis Mullen and Professor Robert Inchausti explore G.K. Chesterton's insights on how Christianity transcends cultural collapse and continually renews itself throughout history. They examine Chesterton's paradoxical understanding of orthodoxy as something exciting and revolutionary rather than stale or safe.
• Chesterton identified five historical periods when Christianity supposedly "died" but was actually being rediscovered beyond cultural constraints • Current religious deconstruction often involves shedding cultural expressions (megachurches, corporate practices) rather than faith itself • True orthodoxy is not a set of doctrinal checkboxes but a poetic, paradoxical vision that embraces mystery • Freedom comes through tradition and ritual, not unfettered choice • Humor serves as a spiritual weapon that opens doors to truth when serious arguments fail • Chesterton's prophetic vision warned of soulless progress, technocratic control, cultural amnesia, and moral relativism
Join us next time as we continue exploring voices that help us find meaning in a fragmented world. Please leave a five-star review, subscribe, and share with anyone who might resonate with this conversation.
How G.K. Chesterton used paradox, playfulness, and holy laughter to dismantle the fashionable despair of his age—and why it still speaks to ours.
In a world where meaning is constantly taken apart and nothing is left standing, G.K. Chesterton didn’t just argue back—he laughed.This episode explores how Chesterton used humor, wit, and joyful defiance to challenge the creeping nihilism of his time—and how his insights prefigure today’s culture of deconstruction.Whether mocking the modern reduction of man to machinery or flipping fashionable philosophies on their heads, Chesterton didn’t retreat into cynicism—he charged into it with a joke and a hymn.For Chesterton, laughter wasn’t escape. It was resistance. It was sanity. And it was sacramental.
What if the death of religion is actually just the death of a particular cultural expression of it? G.K. Chesterton, the witty and profound British writer, observed that Christianity has "died" five times throughout Western history—yet each time, what actually died were just the cultural frameworks containing it.
Travis Mullen and Professor Robert Inchausti delve into Chesterton's remarkable insight that Christianity isn't tied to any particular cultural moment but transcends them all. As our contemporary religious landscape undergoes massive transformation, this perspective offers a refreshing way to understand deconstruction: many who believe they're rejecting Christianity might actually be shedding obsolete cultural expressions—megachurches, corporate ecclesiastical practices, fundamentalist literalism—while the eternal truths remain.
Chesterton flips our understanding of orthodoxy on its head, calling it "the most perilous and exciting" path rather than something "heavy, humdrum and safe." True orthodoxy isn't about rigid doctrinal compliance but embracing a paradoxical vision that welcomes mystery instead of demanding certainty. This joyful humility allows us to live comfortably within questions rather than frantically attempting to solve everything through rationalism or control.
Perhaps most surprising is Chesterton's radical view of freedom—not found in unfettered choice or autonomy (as modern culture claims) but through tradition, ritual, and relationships we can fill with our freedom. These structures don't limit human flourishing; they provide the framework within which it thrives.
The conversation culminates with Chesterton's prophetic voice speaking to our technological age, warning of "real stupidity" in the era of artificial intelligence, where "you have taught your machines to mimic your minds, but you have forgotten how to nourish your souls."
Co-Host: Robert L. Inchausti, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of English at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and is the author of numerous books, including Subversive Orthodoxy, Thomas Merton's American Prophecy, The Spitwad Sutras, and Breaking the Cultural Trance. He is, among other things, a Thomas Merton authority, and editor of the Merton books Echoing Silence, Seeds, and The Pocket Thomas Merton. He's a lover of the literature of those who challenge the status quo in various ways, thus, he has had a lifelong fascination with the Beats.
Book by Robert L. Inchausti "Subversive Orthodoxy: Outlaws, Revolutionaries, and Other Christians in Disguise" Published 2005, authorization by the author.
Intro & Outro Music by Noah Johnson & Chavez the Fisherman, all rights reserved.
Episode #8: The Most Joyful Apologist Christianity Ever Produced: Chesterton, Wonder as Rebellion, and the Wit That Outlasts Despair — Part One
29 Jun 2025
00:53:24
Wonder as rebellion. That's the surprising path Gilbert Keith Chesterton blazed through the intellectual landscape of early 20th century England—and precisely why his voice feels so startlingly relevant to our screen-addicted, anxiety-ridden modern world.
Born into the spiritual uncertainty of late Victorian England, Chesterton emerged as perhaps the most joyful apologist Christianity has ever known. Where others defended faith with stern dogmatism, he championed orthodoxy with wit, paradox, and an infectious sense of delight. His prodigious output—over 4,000 newspaper columns, hundreds of poems, novels, plays, and theological works—reveals a mind that refused to be constrained by false dichotomies or rigid thinking.
What makes Chesterton particularly fascinating was his approach to intellectual combat. Unlike the polarized, winner-take-all debates of our time, Chesterton maintained genuine friendships with his philosophical opponents. He debated socialist George Bernard Shaw and progressive scientist H.G. Wells dozens of times, always with respect, humor, and a willingness to acknowledge their insights even while disagreeing with their conclusions. When he wrote that "bigotry is not believing you're right; bigotry is not admitting when you're wrong," he offered a model of discourse desperately needed in our fractured public sphere.
Perhaps Chesterton's most enduring contribution was his political philosophy of distributism—a "third way" between unfettered capitalism and state socialism. Alongside his friend Hilaire Belloc, he advocated for an economic system where property ownership would be widely distributed among families and small producers rather than concentrated in corporations or government. Though never mainstream, these ideas continue to influence conversations about economic justice, localism, and sustainability today.
For those struggling with the spiritual aridity of modern life, Chesterton offers a transformative insight: orthodoxy is not a retreat from the world but its re-enchantment. His ability to see the extraordinary in the ordinary—to maintain that the world doesn't lack wonders but only our capacity for wonder—provides a powerful antidote to cynicism and despair. When he wrote that "angels can fly because they take themselves lightly," he was inviting us to recover a perspective that combines deep seriousness about truth with the lightness of joy and humor.
Ready to discover how a 300-pound man with a sword cane and cigar became one of the most influential Christian thinkers of the modern age? Dive into this exploration of Chesterton's life, works, and continuing relevance for anyone seeking to maintain faith, wonder, and intellectual integrity in challenging times.
Gilbert Keith Chesterton offers us a radically different approach to defending orthodox Christianity through wonder, joy, and paradox rather than rigid dogmatism. His life and work demonstrate that faith isn't a retreat from reality but the re-enchantment of it.
• Born in 1874 in London to a middle-class family with literary leanings • Educated at St. Paul's School and the Slade School of Art but never earned a formal degree • Underwent spiritual darkness in his twenties before finding joy in Christian faith • Became a prolific writer with over 4,000 newspaper columns, novels, plays, and theological works • Notable works include Orthodoxy (1908), The Everlasting Man (1925), and Father Brown detective stories • Developed distributism as a "third way" between capitalism and socialism based on widely distributed property ownership • Famous for public debates with intellectual giants like H.G. Wells and George Bernard Shaw • Used humor as a spiritual weapon, maintaining that "Christianity is not too solemn but too serious to be taken humorlessly" • Believed paradox reveals deeper truth and that holding contradictory ideas is a mark of intelligence • Influenced C.S. Lewi
Co-Host: Robert L. Inchausti, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of English at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and is the author of numerous books, including Subversive Orthodoxy, Thomas Merton's American Prophecy, The Spitwad Sutras, and Breaking the Cultural Trance. He is, among other things, a Thomas Merton authority, and editor of the Merton books Echoing Silence, Seeds, and The Pocket Thomas Merton. He's a lover of the literature of those who challenge the status quo in various ways, thus, he has had a lifelong fascination with the Beats.
Book by Robert L. Inchausti "Subversive Orthodoxy: Outlaws, Revolutionaries, and Other Christians in Disguise" Published 2005, authorization by the author.
Intro & Outro Music by Noah Johnson & Chavez the Fisherman, all rights reserved.
Episode #7: The Patron Saint of Deconstruction, The Apostle of Paradox & Radical Faith — Soren Kierkegaard
17 May 2025
01:12:32
This episode dives deep into the restless brilliance of Søren Kierkegaard — the 19th-century philosopher, outsider theologian, and reluctant father of both existentialism and Christian authenticity. If you've ever doubted the plastic gods, burned out on hollow church talk, or longed for a faith that costs something real, Kierkegaard was speaking to you.
We explore:
The Self as a Task
“The self is a relation that relates itself to itself.” You’re not born yourself, you become yourself, and only through brutal honesty, dread, and surrender.
Truth is Subjectivity
“Subjectivity is truth. Truth is subjectivity.” Faith is not a system of answers; it is an inward passion, lived, suffered, and chosen without guarantees.
The Leap of Faith
Faith is not irrational, but it transcends reason. You don’t arrive at faith by deduction, you leap, trembling, into paradox.
The Knight of Faith vs. the Knight of Infinite Resignation
The knight of resignation gives everything up. The knight of faith believes he’ll receive it back, impossibly, through God. It's the difference between giving up and giving over.
The Sickness Unto Death: Despair
“The greatest hazard of all, losing one’s self, can occur so quietly.” Despair is not feeling bad, it’s not becoming who you truly are before God.
Attack Upon Christendom
“The greatest danger to Christianity is… the pretend Christian.” Kierkegaard savaged the church of his day for being socially safe, polite, and fake, what he called “playing at Christianity.”
Faith Beyond Certainty
“Faith begins precisely where thinking leaves off.” Kierkegaard invites us not into blind belief but a raw, defiant trust that lives without certainty.
Authenticity Through Anxiety and Dread
“Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.” Your terror isn’t a sign something’s wrong — it’s the signal that you’re standing at the edge of becoming.
If you're deconstructing — or have burned down the easy answers — Kierkegaard offers you no comfort… only truth, paradox, and the possibility of becoming real before God.
Co-Host: Robert L. Inchausti, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of English at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and is the author of numerous books, including Subversive Orthodoxy, Thomas Merton's American Prophecy, The Spitwad Sutras, and Breaking the Cultural Trance. He is, among other things, a Thomas Merton authority, and editor of the Merton books Echoing Silence, Seeds, and The Pocket Thomas Merton. He's a lover of the literature of those who challenge the status quo in various ways, thus, he has had a lifelong fascination with the Beats.
Book by Robert L. Inchausti "Subversive Orthodoxy: Outlaws, Revolutionaries, and Other Christians in Disguise" Published 2005, authorization by the author.
Intro & Outro Music by Noah Johnson & Chavez the Fisherman, all rights reserved.
Episode #6: Grace Finds the Man Who Never Earned It: Goethe's Faust, Restless Striving, and the God Who Saves Anyway
18 Apr 2025
01:12:24
What if grace isn’t something you deserve, or even understand—but something that finds you in the middle of your restless, stumbling search for meaning?
Did Faust accidentally find grace?
That’s one of the most provocative and mysterious questions at the heart of Faust. Here's a way to unpack it:
In Faust Part II, despite making a pact with Mephistopheles and engaging in a life of ambition, desire, and sometimes destruction, Faust is ultimately saved—not because of his morality or religious orthodoxy, but because of his unceasing striving. Goethe suggests that the human soul’s honest yearning—even when it errs—can be met by grace.
It’s a radical, almost scandalous vision of salvation. Faust doesn't earn grace. He doesn’t even ask for it. He just refuses to give up the quest for meaning. That’s what makes his redemption both accidental and inevitable in Goethe’s cosmos. It's grace that meets striving, not striving that discovers grace.
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Johann Wolfgang von Goethe stands as a profound voice for our digital age, offering a vision where the inner life and external world can be reconciled despite rapid technological change.
• Born in 1749, Goethe was a German polymath whose influence on Western literature and thought remains significant • His concept of "world literature" anticipated globalization's cultural exchange • "The Sorrows of Young Werther" became an international sensation, establishing Goethe as a literary star • Youth coming-of-age stories represent the struggle to find meaning in a rapidly changing world • The real coming-of-age story involves reconciling inner longings with external circumstances • The "Storm and Stress" movement championed emotion over enlightenment rationality • Goethe's "Faust" explores midlife crisis and the emptiness of pursuing knowledge without meaning • Part One of Faust shows the bankruptcy of pursuing power and knowledge as life's ultimate goal • Part Two of Faust presents a redemptive vision often overlooked by modern readers • The inner desire for meaning, love, connection, and transcendence remains constant across generations • Contemporary coming-of-age experiences accelerate with each passing decade due to technological change • Goethe's work bridges the gap between scientific rationalism and spiritual transcendence
If you found this meaningful, please leave a five-star review, subscribe, and share with anyone who might resonate with this conversation.
Co-Host: Robert L. Inchausti, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of English at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and is the author of numerous books, including Subversive Orthodoxy, Thomas Merton's American Prophecy, The Spitwad Sutras, and Breaking the Cultural Trance. He is, among other things, a Thomas Merton authority, and editor of the Merton books Echoing Silence, Seeds, and The Pocket Thomas Merton. He's a lover of the literature of those who challenge the status quo in various ways, thus, he has had a lifelong fascination with the Beats.
Book by Robert L. Inchausti "Subversive Orthodoxy: Outlaws, Revolutionaries, and Other Christians in Disguise" Published 2005, authorization by the author.
Intro & Outro Music by Noah Johnson & Chavez the Fisherman, all rights reserved.
Episode #5: Every Creature Is Cherished: William Blake on Divine Love, Miscarriage, Mercy, and the Infinite Hidden in Small Things — Part Two
28 Mar 2025
00:47:17
William Blake's visionary poetry represents a revolutionary approach to spirituality, offering a third way between rigid religious dogma and cold scientific materialism through the power of imagination as a divine faculty.
• Blake's poem "The Book of Thel" processes the loss of his daughter through miscarriage by imagining conversations with short-lived creatures • Even the smallest creatures in Blake's poetry understand they are cherished by God, revealing a profound view of divine love • Blake's concept that "we are put on earth a little space to bear the beams of love" offers a meaningful purpose for existence • The complementary poems "The Lamb" and "The Tiger" represent two facets of human experience - innocence and experience • Blake's prophetic imagination anticipated modern problems, including the alienation of industrialization ("dark Satanic mills") • The 1960s saw a revival of Blake's work through artists like Allen Ginsberg, Bob Dylan, and The Doors • Blake challenges both religious literalism and scientific reductionism by elevating imagination as a spiritual necessity • The concept that "it's easier to get to the head through the heart than to the heart through the head" captures Blake's approach • Blake's mythological characters in his longer poems represent psychological states and cosmic forces, similar to modern Marvel characters
If you're enjoying the podcast, please leave a five-star review on Spotify or Apple and share it with others who might appreciate these conversations.
Co-Host: Robert L. Inchausti, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of English at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and is the author of numerous books, including Subversive Orthodoxy, Thomas Merton's American Prophecy, The Spitwad Sutras, and Breaking the Cultural Trance. He is, among other things, a Thomas Merton authority, and editor of the Merton books Echoing Silence, Seeds, and The Pocket Thomas Merton. He's a lover of the literature of those who challenge the status quo in various ways, thus, he has had a lifelong fascination with the Beats.
Book by Robert L. Inchausti "Subversive Orthodoxy: Outlaws, Revolutionaries, and Other Christians in Disguise" Published 2005, authorization by the author.
Intro & Outro Music by Noah Johnson & Chavez the Fisherman, all rights reserved.
Episode #4: The Prophet Against the Enlightenment: William Blake on Imagination, Newton's Dead God, and the Third Way — Part One
04 Mar 2025
00:54:43
The latest conversation on Subversive Orthodoxy plunges deep into the heart of creativity and belief through the lens of two iconic figures: William Blake and Johann von Goethe. This episode invites you on a journey as we unravel the intricate relationship between imagination and faith, set against the backdrop of the dominating philosophies of the Enlightenment. In a world increasingly detached from its spiritual roots, Blake and Goethe serve as guiding lights, advocating for the embrace of the imaginative spirit in a culture often dismissive of visions and creativity.
Throughout the episode, we examine how Blake's radical views, rooted in deep mystical experiences, contest the boundaries of traditional Christian morality. His lyrical exploration in "Songs of Innocence" and "Songs of Experience" eloquently articulates the contrasting states of the human soul, advocating for a faith blossoming from personal experience and creative expression. Meanwhile, Goethe’s innovations in "Faust" reflect a profound engagement with the tension between reason and transcendence, embodying a pantheistic view that sees God within nature itself.
Listeners will find this episode not just intellectually stimulating but also emotionally resonant, as we pose challenging questions about our collective journey towards understanding the divine in the presence of rational thought. As we explore Blake and Goethe’s enduring legacies, the podcast calls upon you to reconnect with your imagination, inspiring a deeper journey into your own spirituality and the world around you.
Join us as we navigate the boundaries of art, philosophy, and faith, and discover how deeply interwoven these elements are in our quest for meaning amid the chaos of contemporary life. We would love for you to subscribe, share, and leave a review so we can continue to foster this enriching dialogue and bring transformative conversations into your life.
Show Notes:
More on Blake Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVtLe1H6Jqs
Co-Host: Robert L. Inchausti, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of English at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and is the author of numerous books, including Subversive Orthodoxy, Thomas Merton's American Prophecy, The Spitwad Sutras, and Breaking the Cultural Trance. He is, among other things, a Thomas Merton authority, and editor of the Merton books Echoing Silence, Seeds, and The Pocket Thomas Merton. He's a lover of the literature of those who challenge the status quo in various ways, thus, he has had a lifelong fascination with the Beats.
Book by Robert L. Inchausti "Subversive Orthodoxy: Outlaws, Revolutionaries, and Other Christians in Disguise" Published 2005, authorization by the author.
Intro & Outro Music by Noah Johnson & Chavez the Fisherman, all rights reserved.
Episode #3: The Artist Who Refused to Disappear: Boris Pasternak on Creation, Tyranny, and the Soul That Outlasts the State
12 Feb 2025
01:13:01
Boris Pasternak’s life exemplifies the struggle between art and tyranny, highlighting how literary expression can serve as an act of resistance against oppression and a journey toward spiritual rediscovery. Through his experiences, Pasternak challenges listeners to reflect on authenticity in a culture dominated by superficial fame and public expectation.
• The essence of creation and self-surrender in artistic expression • The cultural and historical backdrop of Russia during Pasternak’s life • The spiritual evolution that informs "Dr. Zhivago" • The impact of Stalin's regime on artists and truth-tellers • The significance of “Dr. Zhivago” in the context of global literature • The tension between recognition and artistic integrity in Pasternak's life • A call to discover authenticity in a fame-driven culture • The enduring power of literary voices in times of crisis
Co-Host: Robert L. Inchausti, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of English at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and is the author of numerous books, including Subversive Orthodoxy, Thomas Merton's American Prophecy, The Spitwad Sutras, and Breaking the Cultural Trance. He is, among other things, a Thomas Merton authority, and editor of the Merton books Echoing Silence, Seeds, and The Pocket Thomas Merton. He's a lover of the literature of those who challenge the status quo in various ways, thus, he has had a lifelong fascination with the Beats.
Book by Robert L. Inchausti "Subversive Orthodoxy: Outlaws, Revolutionaries, and Other Christians in Disguise" Published 2005, authorization by the author.
Intro & Outro Music by Noah Johnson & Chavez the Fisherman, all rights reserved.
Episode #2: The Witness Who Broke the Soviet Lie: Solzhenitsyn on Truth, Suffering, and the Soul That Tyranny Cannot Touch
23 Jan 2025
00:47:34
This episode explores Alexander Solzhenitsyn's transformative journey from a loyal communist and soldier to a profound voice against tyranny through his experiences in the Gulag. We discuss the themes of resilience, faith, and truth as vital tools for resisting oppression and the importance of living authentically in today's fragmented world. • Overview of Solzhenitsyn's early life and education • Arrest and imprisonment leading to personal transformation • Reflection on faith emerging from suffering • Impact of "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" on Soviet society • Significance of "The Gulag Archipelago" and its global influence • Examination of faith as a means to resist tyranny and foster compassion • Closing thoughts on Solzhenitsyn's relevance in contemporary discussions on faith and meaning
Co-Host: Robert L. Inchausti, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of English at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and is the author of numerous books, including Subversive Orthodoxy, Thomas Merton's American Prophecy, The Spitwad Sutras, and Breaking the Cultural Trance. He is, among other things, a Thomas Merton authority, and editor of the Merton books Echoing Silence, Seeds, and The Pocket Thomas Merton. He's a lover of the literature of those who challenge the status quo in various ways, thus, he has had a lifelong fascination with the Beats.
Book by Robert L. Inchausti "Subversive Orthodoxy: Outlaws, Revolutionaries, and Other Christians in Disguise" Published 2005, authorization by the author.
Intro & Outro Music by Noah Johnson & Chavez the Fisherman, all rights reserved.
Episode #1: Intro: Outlaws, Mystics, and Revolutionaries — What 20 Forgotten Christians Can Teach a World Losing Its Mind
17 Jan 2025
00:58:00
What do these 20 outlaws, revolutionaries, and mystics have in common?
What if timeless wisdom from unlikely figures could speak prophetically into our present day? In this episode, we explore this question with a deep dive into "Subversive Orthodoxy: Outlaws, Revolutionaries, and Other Christians in Disguise" by Robert Larry Inchausti.
Alongside Professor Inchausti, we examine how the radical insights of thinkers like Wendell Berry, Martin Luther King Jr., and Dorothy Day challenge modern anxieties and oppressive ideologies, offering hopeful visions that remain profoundly relevant.
Join us as we uncover the hidden threads connecting Christian intellectual traditions with broader cultural currents. From Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn to Chesterton and Kierkegaard, these figures disrupt conventional power dynamics while rooting their critiques in enduring faith.
We'll also draw on John Pattison's review in "Besides the Bible" to explore how these thinkers boldly question the status quo, providing a fresh perspective on the intersection of faith and culture.
As we navigate the complex landscape of belief and skepticism, contrasting the approaches of figures like Joe Rogan with the introspective Russian literary tradition, we invite you to explore the quest for meaning in a fragmented world. Reflecting on the transformative power of Russian literature and the moral fortitude of Solzhenitsyn, we consider the challenges of nihilism and the search for purpose amidst chaos. This episode is an invitation to engage with profound narratives and share these insights with those seeking significance in today's disjointed reality.
Reading from book, "Besides the Bible: 100 Books that have, should or will created Christian culture" by Dan Gibson, Jordan Green and John Pattison
Reading from Thomas Merton, "Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander"
Co-Host: Robert L. Inchausti, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of English at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and is the author of numerous books, including Subversive Orthodoxy, Thomas Merton's American Prophecy, The Spitwad Sutras, and Breaking the Cultural Trance. He is, among other things, a Thomas Merton authority, and editor of the Merton books Echoing Silence, Seeds, and The Pocket Thomas Merton. He's a lover of the literature of those who challenge the status quo in various ways, thus, he has had a lifelong fascination with the Beats.
Book by Robert L. Inchausti "Subversive Orthodoxy: Outlaws, Revolutionaries, and Other Christians in Disguise" Published 2005, authorization by the author.
Intro & Outro Music by Noah Johnson & Chavez the Fisherman, all rights reserved.