We're wandering between two worlds. Modernity as we knew it is passing away, and the next world is yet to be born. Like Dante, we are in a dark wood, struggling to know how to think and how to live. Virgil guided Dante with the light of natural reason, then Beatrice illuminated the path to Paradise with Christian revelation.
Welcome to the Beatrice Institute Podcast, where Christian faith and reason illuminate the best of academic thinking and research. How should we think and live in this time between worlds? At Beatrice Institute, we take our bearings from the Good, the True, and the Beautiful.
This podcast reflects BI's research and public engagement initiatives. As director of BI's Genealogies of Modernity initiative, co-host Ryan McDermott asks guests, "What does it mean to be modern, where did we come from, and what comes next?" As director of BI's Personalism and Public Policy initiative, Grant Martsolf asks, "How should we organize our common life to promote the flourishing of the person, made in the image of God?" And for our initiative on Being Human in an Age of Artificial Intelligence, Gretchen Huizinga asks, "What makes humans special and what does it mean to flourish on the frontier of a technological future?"
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Unmachining: Reclaiming a Grounded Life (00:50:59)
Increasingly, technology is dominating our lives. How do we stay human in the midst of digital upheaval? What lessons can we glean from dystopian literature? Is there a heuristic we can adopt that helps us to discern which technology to use and which to reject? Can only a deistic story compete with the Machine story or are there secular alternatives? Peco and Ruth Gaskovski have been exploring these timely questions from a hopeful, practical perspective on their Substacks Pilgrims in the Machine and School of the Unconformed. Join Grant, Peco, and Ruth as they explore these and more questions to encourage us to live unconformed lives in a digital age.
Exploring "Off-Liberalism" with Fred Bauer (00:37:29)
Liberalism is often taken to be essentially about the promotion of radical individual autonomy, but might this understanding of liberalism be only one kind of liberalism? And, if so, why does that matter? In this episode, Weston and Fred discuss the meaning of "off-liberalism," an understanding of liberalism that highlights how disparate historical, cultural, and philosophical sources contribute to what is often labeled as "liberal" today, complicating the idea that liberalism is essentially about maximizing personal autonomy. Weston and Fred discuss the practical stakes of thinking about liberalism this way, the intersection of theology and political theory, and how these ideas can inform contemporary governance at a time of growing dissatisfaction with liberalism. Tune in for an enriching dialogue that blends philosophy, theology, and practical politics, offering fresh insights into the nature of liberal practices. Read Fred's original article here: https://genealogiesofmodernity.org/journal/2021/9/23/diverse-roots-and-routes-of-liberty.
"Relearning How to Read" with Kathryn Mogk Wagner (00:53:43)
Does it take a trained expert to read books in our own language? The heart of English departments around the world is the love of amateurs, yet that heart seems to be gradually shrinking, replaced more and more with cold technical literary analysis. Kathryn Mogk Wagner identifies this as the reason English Departments themselves are shrinking too. Literary analysis is shutting out truth and reading for edification, turning instead to niche readings and unique techniques. Can a culture raised on suspicion re-learn how to read the great texts for truth not tetrameter? Is there a balance between reading holiness and historicity in a text? Can ivory tower English professors read a book for edification instead of interpretation? In this episode, Mogk Wagner teaches us to return to the roots of reading – to relearn how to read.
Why Does Beauty Wound? with John-Paul Heil (00:46:29)
You are marveling at a beautiful sunset, standing in awe before an Italian masterpiece, or gazing lovingly into the face of your beloved. These moments of beauty, however brief, impact our hearts, minds, and souls in a profound way. What exactly is occurring in these moments? John-Paul Heil offers insight through a reading and discussion of his essay "Ekstasis and the Chicken Truck," in which he offers insight into the nature of these experiences we all share, which are yet so individual to each of us. Heil explains the importance of attentiveness, offers a critique of Petrarch, and recounts how a truck full of frozen chicken led to a moment of transcendence.
Can We Rebuild the American Trades? (00:42:17)
What has become of the trades within our country? Where did the blue-collar workers go and what is the reason behind their disappearance? Is there anything we can do to rebuild and re-vitalize this crucial section of today's society? A co-founder of the College of St. Joseph, the Worker, Jacob Imam helps to answer our questions. Join Grant and Jacob as they discuss the root of America's trade epidemic and discuss the new college of St. Joseph, the Worker. This new school based in Steubenville, Ohio is quickly becoming the paradigm of trade education, combining a traditional liberal arts education with power tools. The best part of all? No debt. Tune in now to hear how they do it!
Where Do Bioethics Begin? with Michael Deem (01:01:14)
As a bioethicist and Catholic deacon-in-training, Dr. Michael Deem has spent years in the medical trenches as well as in theological and philosophical research. Michael Deem joins Grant in this episode to answer questions such as, "Do bioethicists actually change minds?" "Does healthcare flourish under a provider-of-services model?" and "Are bioethical principles self-evident?" Their discussion covers territory from contraception to logic to the style of recent Catholic popes.
Is Mutualism Possible? with Sara Horowitz (00:46:37)
How can we help locally, but in a way that works economically? This is the challenge that thwarts many solidaristic startups. Luckily, Sara Horowitz has picked up the gauntlet. Sara Horowitz has been both the chair of the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the founder of the Freelancers Union and the Freelancers Insurance Company and talks eloquently on mutualism. Join Grant and Sara's discussion on mutualism, in which they expound on friendly societies and the history of mutual aid societies and ask the questions: What should be the current strategy of protecting laborers? Why do local movements seem invisible to the public eye? And, what is necessary to make mutualism successful?
How Are Numbers Beautiful? with Francis Su (00:38:45)
How is mathematics a liberal art? How can being good at math translate into virtue? Dr. Francis Su, the Benediktsson-Karwa Professor of Mathematics at Harvey Mudd College, is well aware of mathematics' place in human flourishing. In this episode, he and Grant converse over these questions. They also discuss the reverence evoked by math and the transcendence found in it, the effectiveness of mathematical assessments, and popular mathematical literature.
Genealogies of Modernity Episode 3: What Is Genealogy? (00:47:36)
Modernity strives to break with the past, especially genealogy. However, is it possible for a society to break a genealogical thread? In this episode, we explore the meaning and value of genealogy, a way of thinking that will shape the rest of this series. We ask how different forms of genealogical thinking can reconnect us to the past without limiting our future to the past. We see how critical genealogy does the important work of challenging both of those kinds of modernity claim that purport to leave the past behind, and noble origin stories which claim a purely virtuous inheritance from the past. But we also see how recovering the past can offer possibilities for flourishing in the future. In Chinese ancestor rituals, medieval family trees, and modern reconciliation ceremonies, we see how communities use creative genealogy to open up new connections and new beginnings. For the full season, complete show notes, and resources, visit Genealogies of Modernity.
Genealogies of Modernity Episode 2: What Is Modernity? with Michael Puett (00:39:31)
We often think of modernity as a time period in history. But people have been claiming to be modern since at least c. 550 AD, when the Roman writer Cassiodorus used the term modernus to mark off everything that had happened since the fall of the Roman Empire. Harvard scholar Michael Puett takes us back much further, to the third century BC in ancient China, when a series of emperors claimed modernity to consolidate their rule. Puett argues that modernity is best understood as a claim to freedom from the past. By recognizing two forms of modernity claim—one that tries to erase the past and another that tries to master it—we can better understand what is at stake in our own invocations of "modernity."
Genealogies of Modernity Episode 1: Mountain Modernity (00:49:38)
For the past three years, Ryan has been working with an interdisciplinary group of scholars to produce a narrative podcast about Genealogies of Modernity. Today's episode is a sneak preview of the first episode of that series, which will be released in its own feed starting the first week of November. In the thread of the Beatrice Institute podcast, Ryan has focused on interviewing scholars who are interested in the complex relationship between the past and the present. This narrative podcast doubles down on those interests with focused inquiries into the nature of modernity, the genealogical imagination, and the ways the past continues to be present and available to us today. Each episode tells a story, or set of stories, that echo but also challenge a particular standard narrative of what it means to be modern and how a particular modern phenomenon came about. We'll be releasing the first three episodes in the Beatrice Institute stream so that you, our core audience, can have early access. And we're also hoping that you will share the series with your friends. That would be a huge help. For now, enjoy episode one, "Mountain Modernity."
What's Wrong with the Modern World? with Ryan McDermott on SpirituallyIncorrect (01:03:48)
This episode is brought to us by SpirituallyIncorrect: We all love a good story. We watch movies, listen to friends talk about their last vacation, or listen to podcasts (this one included) just to hear an entertaining and provocative tale. But one story trumps them all: the story of how we have arrived at our modern world. With technology evolving every year, drugs lessening the effects of illness, and possibilities undreamt of just a few decades ago, it's easy to imagine that the story of how we got here is one of triumph. We've conquered the stone age, overcome every obstacle, and now the march of progress of inevitable. Yet with lessening resources, dying environments, and threats of war and crises flavoring every news broadcast, it's time to ask, is the story we tell ourselves real? Or have we been lying to ourselves the whole time? Are we really progressing? Here to help us through this tricky issue is Dr. Ryan McDermott, who runs the Genealogies of Modernity project. If you've ever felt not at home in the modern world, this is the episode for you.
Rerun: Race and American Christianity with Anthony Bradley (01:14:51)
Anthony Bradley is a professor of religious studies and director of the Center for the Study of Human Flourishing at the King's College in New York City. He gives a personalist analysis of the criminal justice system (touching on everything from architecture to food) and the Black Lives Matter movement. In this rerun episode, Anthony and Ryan discuss the relationship between Afro-pessimism, hope, and Eastern Christianity, and how Black experience informs trinitarian theology. They also touch on the dangers of missional narcissism and the invention of whiteness.
Teaching Happiness with Tal Ben-Shahar (00:36:56)
If happiness is to be had, it must be studied. Tal Ben-Shahar acted on this belief when he created the Master's of Arts in Happiness Studies in partnership with Centenary University, through which students of eighty-five nationalities learn how to achieve well-being and how to impact others' flourishing. In this episode, Tal joins Grant to discuss the study of happiness in an academic setting. They ask: How successful are the liberal arts in teaching students how to be happy? What does religion have to offer in the conversation on happiness? What is the ideal profile for the teacher - or student - of a happiness course? And, is happiness the missing key to uniting the University?
AI and Faith with David Brenner (00:58:08)
Can faith leaders, steeped in tradition, contribute anything to the conversation of ever-new artificial intelligence? What if the questions they are asking are the same? When David Brenner realized the metaphysical overlap between the spiritual questions and the questions of AI ethicists, he decided to institute AI and Faith, which engages the fundamental values of the world's major religions in modern ethical technological debates. David joins Gretchen in this podcast and asks: Why is AI so attractive? Can generative AI create real art? Why does the current population distance itself from the spiritual yet become enamored with the virtual? And, how can disparate faiths find commonality in order to further the development of AI ethics?
Progressing toward Apocalypse with Mary Harrington (00:46:18)
If chickens can't act as chickens and humans can't act as humans, Western civilization is not making progress. So observes Mary Harrington, contributing editor for Unherd and most recently, author of Feminism Against Progress. While society champions the defying of limits, our natures - as humans, as men, as women - always reemerge. In this episode, Mary and Grant discuss the apocalypse, gender, and eros, asking: What if our idea of the traditional family isn't traditional enough? Can technology suppress human nature? And, what will it take to garner enough enthusiasm to bring new people into this life?
Rerun: Will There Be Computers in Heaven? with Derek Schuurman (00:55:22)
Although the intersection of faith and artificial intelligence is a modern topic, it can be seen as a new version of an old question famously posed by Tertullian: what does Athens have to do with Jerusalem? Today's podcast guest, Derek Schuurman—computer scientist, author, and professor at Calvin University—rephrases that question for those living in the age of AI: what does Silicon Valley have to do with Jerusalem? In order to answer this question, Derek posits that it is vital to have an ethical imagination that is formed by story, viewing ourselves as participants in the narrative of Creation, the Fall, and Redemption. When our daily actions are suffused and shaped by this narrative, technology—along with the rest of our daily lives—is taken up into that story. Derek and Gretchen play out what this story-shaped ethics looks like in relation to technological questions. Are computer bugs the result of original sin? What does open source software have to do with Genesis? What's the difference between predestination and technological determinism, and what do both mean for our freedom? Listen to their conversation as they ponder how we might sanctify technology for the glory of God's kingdom.
Why Does Atheism Seem Obvious Now? with Joseph Minich (00:56:07)
Where has a manifest God gone? In his recent book, The Bulwarks of Unbelief: Atheism and Divine Absence in a Secular Age, Joseph Minich explores this question. A teaching fellow at the Davenant Institute, Joseph helps provide resources for retrieving an intellectual heritage to build up the contemporary Church. Join Joseph and Ryan in their discussion as they ask these questions of modernity: Why has the existence of God become unobvious in modern times? What does it mean to believe in orthodoxy in an age in which it's not the norm? How has technological artifice affected our understanding of reality? Does it matter that we understand ourselves to live in the modern age?
Scapegoats of an Ill Society with Brent Robbins (01:08:53)
What is the person, and why does it matter in psychiatric care? Brent Robbins, professor of psychology at Point Park University and director of the Psy.D. Clinical Psychology Program, has decided to put this question at the forefront of his research and teaching. Grant and Brent join in conversation to discuss scapegoating, stigma, and reductionism, asking: how do we find personal meaning in and through mental illness?
Can Tech Ethics Shape Our Future? with Brian Green (00:48:33)
As technology develops at an ever more rapid pace, it can seem that ethics struggles to keep up with it. While science and technology advance by building on discoveries of the past, virtue and moral knowledge must be cultivated afresh in every individual and each generation. This is where Brian Green comes in. As director of technology ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, his areas of research are many, ranging from transhumanism and artificial intelligence, to catastrophic risk and the ethics of outer space. This diverse array of interests all pivot on the intersection between technology and humanity. In this rerun episode, Brian and Gretchen dive into many areas of tech ethics that both impact our present lives and promise to shape our future. From immediate ethical dilemmas like self-driving car crashes and responsible tech development, to long-view issues like the establishment of extra-terrestrial colonies and the achievement of artificial general intelligence, they reflect on a large range of themes that can affect human lives for both good and ill. Listen in as they discuss old and forgotten tools for answering ethical questions, the Christian commission to work miracles, which human qualities can't be programmed into machines, and more. Together they ask, should our predictions about technology and ethics be dire, or hopeful? What choices are we making now that will shape coming generations?
What Has Beowulf to Do with Christ? with Peter Ramey (01:00:38)
"Language and values and concepts come packaged together, don't they?" asks Peter Ramey, recent translator of The Word-Hoard Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary. Indeed, his opus reflects just this and resolves the distance between culture and language in a uniquely faithful yet readable translation. Join Peter and Ryan as they delve into Beowulf, asking: What is the value of a word? Who was Beowulf? Is Beowulf pre-Christian, Christian by overlay, Christian by accident, or Christian in essence?
The Once and Future Woman with Abigail Favale (00:55:09)
The modern debate on gender elucidates some apparent contradictions: Is gender essential, something we know within us? Or is gender a social construct? Is sex real or not? Does Christianity affirm or deny the body? Abigail Favale, Professor of the Practice at Notre Dame's McGrath Institute for Church Life, has traced the evolutions of sex, gender, and feminism from Genesis to Tumblr. Join in this episode to hear Grant and Abigail discuss the gender paradigm, capitalism, fertility, and the question "What is a woman, essentially?"
Can AI Reignite Our Faith? With Shanen Boettcher (00:59:43)
AI gives us information. It furnishes facts. It prompts us with news headlines. But could AI also answer our religious questions? When Shanen Boettcher paused his tech career and completed a master's degree in world religions, he began to ask himself this question. Recently, he conducted a study to put it to the test. In this episode, Shanen and Gretchen discuss his findings and explore the previously widely-ignored intersection of technology and faith. They ask: Do people feel they have more privacy speaking about spirituality with AI? What kind of authority do AI-generated answers evoke? How will the religious realm, a realm of mystery and prayer, be incorporated into the factual, statistical world of technology?
Can Care Jobs Be Good Jobs? with Janette Dill (00:37:15)
Health care workers are essential yet underappreciated. Janette Dill, Associate Professor in the Division of Health Policy & Management at the University of Minnesota, is researching why. Her work studies racial and gender disparities, the rewards for professional certification, and the realities of unionization in the health care workforce. Join Janette and Grant as they ask: Why is social mobility difficult in direct care positions? What unique challenges do men, women, and minorities face in this field? How have the constitution and appreciation of working-class jobs changed since the 1970s? How do we achieve justice in the health care sector?
Is Tradition Compatible with Critique? with Anne Carpenter (00:37:28)
How do we differentiate between Christian action and the action of the Church? Anne Carpenter and the Genealogy and Tradition Reading Group delve into the relationship of the Church and its people in Part Two of their interview with Anne Carpenter, author of "Nothing Gained is Eternal." Anne offers a Catholic theology of tradition that is critical yet hopeful. Continue the conversation with Anne, Ryan and the Reading Group as they discuss the Catholic imagination, poetry and questions such as: How do we adopt tradition without being duped by misinterpretation? How do we be Church for the present world?
