Shows
Paradise and UtopiaDehumanization I: Artistic Modernism and the Dismal SciencesIn this episode, Fr. John reviews the rise of modernism at the beginning of the twentieth century, an artistic movement that largely annihilated centuries of tradition in Western painting, music, and literature. He continues by exploring the rise of dehumanizing and demoralizing views of the human condition advanced by atheistic social scientists of the period such as Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, and Sigmund Freud.2025-02-1300 minParadise and UtopiaDostoevsky IV: Restoring Christendom's Paradisiacal CultureIn this final episode telling of Dostoevsky's encounter with the "specter of nihilism," Fr. John brings attention to the novelist's characters that most revealed the radiant hope of Christ. The first of these was Prince Lev Myshkin in the novel The Idiot. The second was Alyosha in The Brothers Karamazov. The episode concludes with an excerpt from Age of Nihilism about Dostoevsky's vision of the heavenly transformation of the world.2025-01-1600 minParadise and UtopiaDostoevsky III: Repentance Will Save the WorldIn this episode, Fr. John reflects on Dostoevsky's spiritual prescription for Christendom as it began to fall under the specter of nihilism. Repentance was the center of the paradisiacal culture of the first millennium, and in his novels Dostoevsky countered atheistic contemporaries like Nietzsche by showing how neglect for it leads only to the human being's self-destruction.2025-01-0900 minParadise and UtopiaDostoevsky II: Shattering the Illusion of Utopian RationalismReturning to a literary career after a decade of exile, Fyodor Dostoevsky confronted one of the great delusions of secular humanism: that man is ultimately a rational being whose happiness depends on the exercise of self-interest. Characters in his novels The Idiot and Demons were designed to demonstrate that nihilistic self-destruction is the only outcome of such convictions. Father John concludes the episode by showing how nihilism played itself out in the fictional moral collapse of Dostoevsky's protagonist Raskolnikov and the real-life moral collapse of Friedrich Nietzsche.2024-04-0400 minParadise and UtopiaDostoevsky I: A Believer among Atheists.In this summary of the second chapter of his book, The Age of Nihilism, Fr. John discusses the early life and faith and incarceration of Russia's great novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky. Unlike his contemporaries--particularly Nietzsche--the novelist found in traditional Christianity the only hope for a Christendom living under the terrible specter of nihilism.2024-03-2100 minParadise and UtopiaThe Making of an Antichrist IV: "Behold the Man"In this final presentation on the nihilistic philosophy of Nietzsche, Fr. John considers the philosopher's final work, an autobiography entitled Ecce Homo. The book's strange title is discussed in light of Nietzsche's claim to be the West's alternative to Christ. The episode ends with a spiritual and psychological reflection on why, having completed the work, Nietzsche went totally insane.2024-03-1400 minParadise and UtopiaThe Making of an Antichrist III: An Anti-GospelIn his continued account of Friedrich Nietzsche, Fr. John discusses the megalomaniac philosopher's effort to replace the Gospel with an atheistic "transvaluation of all values."2024-03-0100 minParadise and UtopiaThe Making of an Antichrist II: Unmasking Secular HumanismFriedrich Nietzsche is in many ways the father of modern nihilism. In this episode, Fr. John describes the philosopher's relationship to the atheism of contemporary utopian Christendom, and how the music of Richard Wagner played a role in leading him toward nihilism. As with previous episodes, this one introduces the listener to some music that is both beautiful and historically important.2024-01-1100 minParadise and UtopiaThe Making of an Antichrist I: "Whoever Fears the Tip of My Spear . . ."In this episode, Fr. John begins an account of Friedrich Nietzsche by discussing Richard Wagner, a direct influence on the philosopher whose infidelity with women and famous operatic work, The Ring of the Nibelung, helped inspire the coming age of nihilism.2023-12-1900 min
Last Hobos RambleEpisode 13: Holiday Movies and Thanksgiving around The CornerJohn and Adam discuss some of their favorite holiday movies! Some are classics that you see coming and some you won't! We're just doing what we do, goofing and having a good time.2023-11-2737 min
Last Hobos RambleEpisode 12: Gretsch G5700 and Mark Chesnutt HospitalizedJohn and Adam take a few minutes to discuss John's new lap steel guitar and talk about Mark Chesnutt's recent hospitalization and cancelled shows. Also, we announce the winner of the Mitchel Whittington book "The Grove: An East Texas Haunting."2023-11-0730 min
Last Hobos RambleEpisode 11: Metal Detecting and The Gretsch G2622T ReviewAdam and John Discuss metal detecting as a hobby and review the Gretsch G2622T Streamliner semi-hollow body guitar.2023-10-2940 min
Last Hobos RambleEpisode 10: Bragg Light, Saratoga, Tx; Kris Kristofferson and Toby Keith are Struggling with Serious IllnessesAdam and John discuss the haunts of Sarah Jane Rd. in Port Neches, Texas and Bragg Rd. in Saratoga, Texas. Also, touch base on the illnesses that Kris Kristofferson and Toby Keith have been suffering through. Also, prayers requested for Israel. They end with the contest for Mitchel Whitington's autographed copy of his book.2023-10-1135 min
Last Hobos RambleEpisode 9: The Grove in Jefferson, TX and Owner/Author, Mitchel WhitingtonJohn and Adam get to speak with Mitchel Whitington who along with his wife, Tammy, owns The Grove in Jefferson, TX. The Grove has recently been named the 3rd Most Haunted Destination in the Nation, beating out Myrtles Plantation and The Winchester House. Mitchel tells us all about that, answers questions, and tells us some great stories about his writing, his experiences, and living with the ghosts in the 3rd most Haunted House in the U.S. Visit The Grove's Website to purchase books by Mitchel or to get more information regarding tours. http://www.thegrove-jefferson.com/index.htm2023-10-0157 min
Last Hobos RambleEpisode 8: Whose Gonna Fill Their Shoes? Talking about the talent in the country music market that's doing good for country music right now.John and Adam go through their list of people who are good for country music right now. Names like Lucas Nelson, Oliver Anthony, Larkin Poe, Billy Strings, and Chris Stapleton to name a few.2023-09-1843 min
Last Hobos RambleEpisode 7: Some Texas History and some Commentary on The State of ThingsJohn and Adam discuss some of the influence social media is having as well as a few history items like Threadgill's and the Galveston Hurricane of 1900.2023-09-1152 min
Last Hobos RambleEpisode 6: Saying Goodbye to Jimmy Buffett, Some History, and a Little Gun TalkAdam and John discuss the life of Jimmy Buffett and the joy he has brought them over the years. They also talk a little about guns and a little about history, but this one is mostly for Jimmy.2023-09-0452 min
Last Hobos RambleEpisode 5: Remembering Stevie Ray Vaughan, "Texas" Terry Funk, and Oliver Anthony Speaks Out The Hobos talk remember Stevie Ray Vaughan 33 years after his tragic passing. They also look at Oliver Anthony's latest comments on his success and the political commentary surrounding his song "Rich Men North of Richmond." John makes fun of Adam's take on gourmet hotdogs at a local restaurant, Jay Wilson's.2023-08-2755 min
Last Hobos RambleEpisode 4: Billy Gibbons Gets Recognized with Troubabdour Award, Gretsch Guitars, and a Little East Texas HistoryJohn and Adam discuss Billy Gibbons' upcoming Troubadour Award and drool over some beautiful Gretsch guitars! Following that up with some Texas History and making sure they get Rolling Stone Magazine back on track and of the backs of the little guys!2023-08-2054 min
Last Hobos RambleEpisode 3: Oliver Anthony and East Texas Forrest FiresJohn and Adam ramble about Oliver Anthony, latest shining star in music from West Virginia. Update everyone on the Miranda Lambert drama and her new guitar that Gibson is producing. Discuss East Texas forrest fires.2023-08-1354 min
Last Hobos RambleEpisode 2: Music Festivals and The Highway MenJohn and Adam discuss local music festivals and talk about some of the Highway Men's shenanigans.2023-08-0739 min
Last Hobos RambleEpisode 1: Outlaw Country and Confused Coal MinersJohn and Adam discuss the latest "country music" news and some Beaumont BBQ.2023-07-3117 minParadise and UtopiaIntroduction to Part Four of the Podcast: Friedrich Nietzsche in BayreuthIn this introduction to the final part of Paradise and Utopia, Fr. John reads the prologue to his recently released book, The Age of Nihilism: Christendom from the Great War to the Culture Wars. The episode introduces the nihilistic philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and the role compositions by Richard Wagner played in his formation. Included are musical excerpts of the latter's famous "Wedding March" and "Ride of the Valkyries."2023-06-0800 minParadise and UtopiaIntroducing The Age of NihilismFr. John Strickland gives an overview of his latest book, The Age of Nihilism, available at Ancient Faith Store: https://store.ancientfaith.com/the-age-of-nihilism-christendom-from-the-great-war-to-the-culture-wars2023-06-0200 minParadise and UtopiaAt the Threshold of Nihilism: The Russian Revolution and Its Utopia ProjectIn this final episode of part three of the podcast, Fr. John Strickland traces the outcome of secular humanism in the case of the Russian Revolution. Though numerous Orthodox Christians warned of the impending disaster facing a post-Christian Christendom, Vladimir Lenin and his Bolsheviks took advantage of discontent caused by the First World War to plunge violently into a project of counterfeit transcendence they called "building socialism."2023-04-0600 minParadise and UtopiaSolving Post-Christian Christendom's Transcendence Problem III: The Architects of Nationalist IdeoloFr. John Strickland concludes his account of the origins of modern political ideology with the rise of nationalism, a force that not only proved to be a counterfeit to traditional Christianity, but the cause of one of utopian Christendom's greatest tragedies.2023-03-1000 minParadise and UtopiaSolving Post-Christian Christendom's Transcendence Problem II: The Architects of Socialist Ideology.Fr. John Strickland continues his account of the rise of secular ideology with a presentation on the Russian intelligentsia and the case of Karl Marx.2023-03-0300 minParadise and UtopiaSolving Post-Christian Christendom's Transcendence Problem I: The Architects of Liberal IdeologyIn this long-delayed episode (due to work on The Age of Nihilism, available at store.ancientfaith.com/the-age-of-nihilism-christendom-from-the-great-war-to-the-culture-wars), Father John presents the historical origins of liberalism as a modern secular ideology. Atheistic philosophers like Auguste Comte and John Stuart Mill provided the philosophical basis for hope in a secular "kingdom of posterity."2023-02-2400 min
The Highbridge PodcastHighbridge Podcast Ep5 -John Strickland local historianIntro Jingle 0:10 You're listening to the Highbridge podcast celebrating the people, places and history of the Highbridge area in Sedgemoor.This season is funded by seed which is a consortium of community organizations in Sedgemoor comprising of Bridgewater senior citizens forum Bridgewater Town Council, Community Council for Somerset homes in central Somerset film and young Somerset, which is funded and supported by Arts Council England, creative people in places lottery funding and the Arts Council.Mell T 0:50 Today I'm speaking to local historian John Strickland. Now, although he focuses on Burnham on Sea hist...2022-04-2120 minParadise and UtopiaAge of Utopia ReleasedFr. John Strickland announces the release of the third volume of his book series. The Age of Utopia: Christendom from the Renaissance to the Russian Revolution (store.ancientfaith.com/the-age-of-utopia) is a companion to the podcast, but, as he notes, contains quite a bit of material that is unique. Here he summarizes some of its content.2022-03-2500 minParadise and UtopiaThe Forest and Its Trees: An Answer to Cyril Jenkins, Part IIIn this second half of his response to a recent review of his books, Fr. John Strickland discusses his use of scholarly sources (The Age of Division required more than three hundred and fifty of them). He also reflects on how criticisms of his sources and his arguments may have been provoked by the unconventional way in which he tells the story of Christendom.2021-11-1200 minParadise and UtopiaMonographs and Metanarratives: An Answer to Cyril Jenkins, Part IIn this special edition of Paradise and Utopia, Fr. John Strickland responds to a recent review of the first two volumes of his book series. In it, he notes the failure to consider the books on their own terms. He uses the opportunity to elaborate what he considers a healthy vision of Christian historiography, one that supports what many consider the need for a "re-enchantment" of modern culture.2021-11-1200 minParadise and UtopiaWhen the Romantic Agony Became Personal: The Music of Peter Ilyich TchaikovskyMost Americans know Tchaikovsky as the composer of the delightful dances contained within the Nutcracker Ballet. As Fr. John Strickland shows, however, there is much more to be heard in their melodies, and little that was delightful about the emotionally agonized life behind them. Using selections from a variety of works, he explores how the romantic agony came for Tchaikovsky in his boyhood and thereafter never departed. Special attention is given to an analysis of the famous Sixth Symphony, nicknamed Pathetique. First performed just days before the composer's abrupt death, the work brings the generation of the romantics to a...2021-10-2900 minParadise and UtopiaSecular Glory and Spiritual Agony in the Music of the Great RomanticsWhat was the genius of classical music during its nineteenth-century golden age? According to Fr. John Strickland, it was an effort to rescue Christendom's transformational imperative in an age when secularization threatened to sever earth from heaven. No longer influenced by traditional Christianity, great composers like Beethoven exaggerated earthly passions (especially sexual love) to communicate the West's primordial desire for transcendence. But the emotionalism that resulted threatened to take the floor out from underneath them. This episode concludes by analyzing famous works by Schubert and Berlioz which show how transcendence gave way to descent, and how utopian hopes plunged into...2021-10-1900 minParadise and UtopiaA New Vision of Western History during the So-Called EnlightenmentIn this reflection on an emerging post-Christian Christendom, Fr. John Strickland discusses two ways in which eighteenth-century philosophes—from Voltaire to Thomas Jefferson—worked to subvert the paradisiacal culture of the old Christendom. He explores their use of photic imagery such as "enlightenment" and their introduction of the tripartite utopian model of history consisting of ancient, medieval, and modern periods. He concludes with a brief description of Edward Gibbon's famous and influential work The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.2021-09-2600 minParadise and UtopiaWhen Christendom Was Born Again V: From Adam to PrometheusIn this episode, Fr. John Strickland recounts the efforts of three Italian humanists of the quattrocento ("fourteen hundreds") to rescue the dignity of man from the pessimism of Western culture. Departing from traditional Christianity's dignification of man through communion with God, they looked instead to Neoplatonism and there found a model of the fully autonomous human being, Prometheus.2021-09-2400 minParadise and UtopiaWhen Christendom Was Born Again IV: Petrarch contra Pope InnocentIn this episode, Father John relates a case in which the early humanist Petrarch confronted one of the new Christendom's chief architects, Pope Innocent III. Applying his newly developed secular thinking, he rejected the pope's notorious treatise entitled On the Misery of the Human Condition.2021-09-2400 minParadise and UtopiaWhen Christendom Was Born Again III: The Origins of the SaeculumModern historians often bring attention to the effects of secularization on the West. Once traditional Christianity ceased to influence Western culture, the experience of the kingdom of heaven naturally diminished, something the famous German sociologist Max Weber called the "disenchantment of the world." In this episode, Fr. John describes how the concept of the saeculum, a kind of neutral cultural space cut off from the life of the Church, first appeared, and how, with Petrarch, it became a haven for humanists fleeing the pessimism of the fourteenth century.2021-09-2400 minParadise and UtopiaWhen Christendom Was Born Again I: The Roman Revolution of Cola di RienzoIn this anecdotal introduction to Reflection 21, Father John relates a remarkable but short-lived revolution in fourteenth-century Rome that served as a sign of what the age of utopia would bring. Listeners who enjoy the music of Richard Wagner will recognize the ill-fated revolutionary's name and understand why the turbulent nineteenth-century composer was attracted to him! And speaking of music, if you are wondering about the new closing sequence, it is a chorus from Mozart's utopian opera The Magic Flute and consists of the following (in translation): "When virtue and justice strew with fame the path of the great, then earth...2021-09-2400 minParadise and UtopiaUtopian ChristianityIn the nineteenth century, some Christians in America developed radically new visions of God's relationship to man and the cosmos. This "utopian Christianity" produced Unitarianism, Mormonism, and a string of millenarian sects. Father John Strickland concludes the episode with one of the most daring and disturbing examples of American utopianism, the community of Oneida in upstate New York.2021-09-2400 minParadise and UtopiaReplacing Reformational ChristianityIn this episode Fr. John Strickland discusses various ways in which Christendom's leadership rejected the reformational Christianity that had provoked the wars of Western religion and replaced it with science, philosophy, pietistic Christianity, and a new religion known as deism.2021-08-1500 minParadise and UtopiaSecularizing the State, East and WestIn this reflection, Fr. John Strickland relates how Christianity ceased to motivate and regulate statecraft in Christendom following the Wars of Western Religion. He discusses the cases of France, England, and New England. He concludes with an account of westernization in Eastern Christendom under Peter the Great of Russia.2021-08-1500 minParadise and UtopiaSubverting a Sacramental CultureIn this reflection, Father John Strickland turns from secular humanism to reformational Christianity to see how Christendom's paradisiacal culture was subverted by both the Protestant "Counter-Reformation" and the Roman Catholic "Neo-Reformation." Ironically, Protestant fathers like Luther and Calvin did much to perpetuate the anthropological pessimism and cosmological contempt of their rivals like the earlier Pope Innocent III, opening the door even wider to the wholesale secularization of the West.2021-08-1100 min
Heavy Things LightlyFr. John Strickland: What is Secular?Fr. John Strickland is an Orthodox Priest, teacher, and podcast host of Paradise and Utopia on Ancient Faith Radio. He is also the author of several books including: The Making of Holy Russia, The Age of Division, and The Age of Paradise. He joins John Heers today discussing the historical roots of the secular dimension. What was the world view before it included a secular "space?" And how has the secular space changed from it's inception to now?Links:Paradise and Utopia podcast: https://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/paradiseutopiaThe Age of Paradise: https://tinyurl.com/5y74...2021-08-1058 minParadise and UtopiaSummit of Orthodox IconographyIn this, the first episode of the Paradise and Utopia video edition, Father John provides a video lecture from his office in Puget Sound, showing, with the use of powerful, full-color icons such as those of Andrei Rublev, how hesychasm inspired some of the greatest art in the history of eastern Christendom.2021-06-0800 minParadise and UtopiaChristian Temples and the Spiritual Transformation of SpaceFr. John discusses the ways in which the Church tries to create a sanctified topography in Christendom.2021-02-1700 minParadise and UtopiaChristian Calendars and the Spiritual Transformation of TimeFr. John discusses the spiritual transformation of time by Christianity.2021-02-1600 minParadise and UtopiaIntroduction to Part 3Father John welcomes listeners back to the podcast with the opening to its third part, the age of utopia. He also summarizes some of the main points of his recently released book The Age of Division, which tells the history of Christendom covered in the second part of the podcast.2021-01-1300 minParadise and UtopiaIntroducing The Age of ParadiseFr. John Strickland talks about the newly released book The Age of Paradise. The book is available at store.ancientfaith.com.2019-12-3100 minParadise and UtopiaThe Crisis of Western Christendom I: Martin Luther's Reformation BreakthroughReturning after a long absence from the podcast, Fr. John in this episode introduces a new reflection on the crisis of western Christendom prior to the Reformation by discussing the penitential context of Martin Luther's famous Ninety-Five Theses.2019-10-1700 minParadise and UtopiaEmperor Constantine and the Christianization of the Roman StateFr. John delineates the various ways in which Constantine contributed to the Christianization of the Roman state.2018-12-2400 minParadise and UtopiaThe Rise of Anthropological Pessimism in the West VIFr. John describes the desanctification of the world that began to occur in the time leading up to the Great Schism.2017-12-1600 minParadise and UtopiaThe Fall of Paradise VIII: The Wars of Western ReligionIn this final episode of Part 2 of the podcast, Fr. John discusses the catastrophic wars that broke out in western Christendom during the Reformation age. These wars, along with other forces unleashed by developments in the Reformation and earlier, would ultimately result in the loss of Christianity's legitimacy, leading to the rise of a modern, secularized form of Christendom centered upon the experience of utopia.2017-12-1600 minParadise and UtopiaThe Fall of Paradise VII: From Communion to Commonwealth in Puritan EnglandIn this episode Father John explores the way in which the loss of sacramental experience among Calvinists led to the rise of a political ideology that would unintentionally lay the foundation for utopia.2017-12-1600 minParadise and UtopiaThe Fall of Paradise VI: The Reformation of WorshipIn this episode Fr. John discusses Reformed attitudes toward worship, and the ways in which western Christendom's liturgical and sacramental foundations were eroded when they were put into practice.2017-12-1600 minParadise and UtopiaThe Fall of Paradise V: The Cosmology of CalvinismIn this episode Fr. John discusses ways in which Reformed cosmology represented a shift from the heavenly immanence of paradisiacal Christendom toward the heavenly transcendence of utopian Christendom.2017-12-1600 minParadise and UtopiaThe Rise of Anthropological Pessimism IVFr. John continues to discuss St. Augustine by looking first at his notorious doctrine of original sin and its impact on the conception of man in the West.2017-12-1200 minParadise and UtopiaThe Rise of Anthropological Pessimism IIIFr. John addresses the foundations in the West of a growing pessimism about man's condition, paying particular attention to Augustine.2017-12-1000 minParadise and UtopiaThe Rise of Anthropological Pessimism in the West IIFr. John contends that to understand the coming of the Renaissance and its humanism, one really needs to understand how in the West the doctrines about man became increasingly pessimistic.2017-12-0700 minParadise and UtopiaThe Rise of Anthropological Pessimism in the West IFr. John discusses the dignity of man according to the Greek Fathers2017-12-0600 minParadise and UtopiaIntroduction to Part Two of the Podcast: The Nicolaitan SchismIn the first episode of part two of his four-part podcast "Paradise and Utopia," Fr. John Strickland, a professor of history at Saint Katherine Orthodox College, describes how Pope Nicholas I paved the way for the rapid development of the papal theory of empire.2017-12-0500 minParadise and UtopiaThe Fall of Paradise IV: The Spirit of CalvinismIn this episode Father John discusses a few tendencies in Calvinism that would serve to undermine the place of paradise in Reformation Christendom, especially the doctrine of "total depravity" and the spiritual anxiety that accompanied it.2017-10-0300 minParadise and UtopiaThe Fall of Paradise III: The Case of John CalvinIn this episode Fr. John explores the life of Protestant father John Calvin and the reformer's contribution to the Reformation project.2017-10-0300 minParadise and UtopiaThe Fall of Paradise II: The Reformation of Western ChristendomIn this episode Father John describes some of the most noteworthy effects of the Protestant Reformation on Western Christendom, emphasizing the decline of a sacramental basis for civilization and the rise of a primarily moral one.2017-07-0500 minParadise and UtopiaThe Fall of Paradise I: Reformation Muenster as the New JerusalemIn this anecdotal introduction to the final reflection of Part 2 of the podcast, Father John relates the extraordinary story of a Reformation-era town that declared itself the kingdom of Christ on earth, a "New Jerusalem." Expressing a profound absence of God in the world, however, the story of Reformation Muenster was in fact a sign of the fall of a Christendom centered upon the experience of paradise.2017-07-0200 minParadise and UtopiaThe Crisis of Western Christendom V: The Protestant “Resolution”In this episode Father John concludes his reflection on the critical state of western Christendom on the eve of modern times, exploring how the Reformation tried to resolve the issue of anthropological pessimism but ironically served to intensify it.2016-12-1500 minParadise and UtopiaThe Crisis of Western Christendom IV: New Directions in Western SoteriologyIn this episode, Father John continues his discussion of developments that led to the Protestant Reformation, emphasizing doctrines and practices related to human salvation.2016-10-1700 minParadise and UtopiaThe Crisis of Western Christendom: The Curse of Anthropological PessimismIn this latest episode on the impending Protestant Reformation, Fr. John discusses ways in which the long legacy of pessimism about the human condition and the world in general undermined western Christendom at one of her most critical moments.2016-08-3000 minParadise and UtopiaThe Crisis of Western Christendom II: The Hypertrophic PapacyIn this episode, Fr. John discusses ways in which papal supremacy led to the growing sense of crisis that preceded the Protestant Reformation.2016-07-0600 minParadise and UtopiaThe Old Believer Schism and the Decline of Russian Christendom before Peter the GreatIn this final episode of his reflection on Muscovite Russia, Fr. John describes the Old Believer Schism as a crisis in the formerly optimistic cosmology of eastern Christendom, leading to its decline on the eve of modern times.2015-11-0800 minParadise and UtopiaThe Third Rome IV: Muscovite Russia and Western ChristendomIn this episode, Fr. John discusses Muscovite Russia's encounter with the West in the face of Uniatism, military invasion, and theological "captivity," all of which contributed to the decline of eastern Christendom.2015-10-2100 minParadise and UtopiaThe Third Rome III: The Possessor Controversy and Its ConsequencesIn this episode, Fr. John discusses an important and fateful development in the history of Russian Christendom before modern times, the Possessor Controversy.2015-10-0600 minParadise and UtopiaThe Third Rome II: The Rise of Muscovite RussiaIn this episode Father John describes the rise of the Muscovite state within Russian Christendom, and the way its Orthodox leaders began to see themselves as heirs to the fallen Byzantine Empire.2015-09-3000 minParadise and UtopiaThe Third Rome I: Ivan the Terrible and the Murder of Saint PhilipHaving related the fall of Byzantium to the Turks, Fr. John now begins a reflection on the only remaining Orthodox state in eastern Christendom, Muscovite Russia. In this introductory anecdote he tells of an event in the history of this "Third Rome" that signaled the coming decline of ecclesio-political symphony, and with it the experience of paradise.2015-09-3000 minParadise and UtopiaContinuity and Catastrophe in the Old Christendom VI: The Muslim Conquest of ConstantinopleIn this final episode of Reflection 17, Fr. John relates the final catastrophe to befall eastern Christendom during the period, the fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453.2015-09-1200 minParadise and UtopiaContinuity and Catastrophe in the Old Christendom V: Mark of Ephesus and the Council of FlorenceFr. John gives an account of the atmosphere in Italy in which Orthodox and Roman Catholic delegates met to discuss the possibility of union in the middle of the fifteenth century. Only one of the Orthodox would refuse to sign the resulting Treaty of Union, Saint Mark of Ephesus.2015-09-0600 minParadise and UtopiaPapal Supremacy and the Parting of the Ways IVIn this episode, Fr. John discusses Pope Urban II's calling of the First Crusade and the impact it and the crusades of the twelfth century had upon relations between the Orthodox and Roman Catholics.2015-08-2200 minParadise and UtopiaThe Ecclesio-Political System of Byzantium and Its ShortcomingsFr. John draws attention to a feature of Byzantine statecraft in which the Emperor persecuted and manipulated the leadership of the Church.2015-08-1300 minParadise and UtopiaContinuity and Catastrophe in the Old Christendom IVIn this episode, Fr. John draws upon several scholarly works to show how hesychasm protected eastern Christendom from the forces that had begun to lead the new Christendom of the west away from traditional Christianity.2015-08-0100 minParadise and UtopiaContinuity and Catastrophe in the Old Christendom III: The Second Triumph of OrthodoxyIn this episode, Fr. John describes why Saint Gregory's defense of hesychasm against the westernized Barlaam represented a defense not only of Orthodoxy, but of Christendom itself.2015-06-3000 minParadise and UtopiaContinuity and Catastrophe in the Old Christendom II: HesychasmFr. John introduces the force that kept traditional Christianity on course at a moment of crisis in the east, Hesychasm, and how it maintained Christendom's focus on paradise.2015-06-3000 minParadise and UtopiaContinuity and Catastrophe in the Old Christendom I: Byzantium in the Shadow of the Muslim TurksAfter a transition to his new parish assignment, Father John returns to the podcast with a discussion of the atmosphere of catastrophe that hung over the old Christendom of the east as the Muslim Turks advanced on Byzantium, while a defender of traditional Christianity, Saint Mark of Ephesus, prepared to depart for the unionist Council of Florence in the west.2015-05-2800 minParadise and UtopiaA New Christendom VIn his conclusion to this reflection, Fr. John discusses the Roman Catholic theological principle of "doctrinal development," and traces the origins of four new doctrines that arose in the west after the Great Schism.2015-03-2000 minParadise and UtopiaA New Christendom IVIn the latest episode of his reflection on the new Christendom of the medieval west, Fr. John discusses the new approach to theology fostered by scholasticism, contrasting it with traditional Christian theology.2015-03-2000 minParadise and UtopiaThe Rise of Russian Christendom IIFr. John discusses the Christian statecraft of early Christian Russia.2015-03-0500 minParadise and UtopiaA New Christendom IIIIn this episode, Fr. John describes the revolutionary changes that came to characterize western monasticism after the Great Schism, leading to the rise of the Franciscans, Dominicans, and Templars.2014-08-2900 minParadise and UtopiaA New Christendom IIIn this episode of his reflection on the new Christendom of the middle ages, Fr. John discusses the new ecclesiology of Roman Catholicism, contrasting it to Orthodoxy and concluding with a reference to its most notorious statement, the papal bull Unum Sanctum of Boniface VIII.2014-07-2700 minParadise and UtopiaA New Christendom IIn this opening anecdote of a new reflection in the podcast, Fr. John examines a famous account of a medieval English knight's pilgrimage to Ireland and vision of purgatory there, relating how it documents the rise of a new type of piety in western Christendom.2014-07-2700 minParadise and UtopiaPapal Supremacy and the Parting of the Ways VIn this final episode of Reflection 15, Fr. John discusses the thirteenth-century popes Innocent III and Gregory IX, showing the close connection between their efforts to advance papal supremacy on the one hand and direct crusades against the Orthodox on the other. He concludes the reflection by noting the recent meeting of Pope Francis and Patriarch Bartholomew and placing it within the context of centuries of cultural division between east and west.2014-07-2700 minParadise and UtopiaPapal Supremacy and the Parting of the Ways IIIIn this episode, Fr. John discusses the coming of the crusades and the decisive role played by Pope Gregory VII.2014-05-1600 minParadise and UtopiaFrankish Christendom and the Estrangement of East and West IVFr. John concludes his account of the influence of the Franks by returning to the question of the filioque and how the papacy's resistance to its insertion in the Creed finally came to an end on the eve of the Great Schism.2014-05-1400 minParadise and UtopiaPapal Supremacy and the Parting of the Ways IIIn this episode, Fr. John discusses the immediate aftermath of the mutual excommunications of 1054 and the ways in which papal supremacy emerged as the main point of continued division between the east and the west.2014-05-1300 minParadise and UtopiaPapal Supremacy and the Parting of the Ways IIn the anecdotal introduction to a new reflection, Fr. John tells the story of the fall of Constantinople to the western crusaders in 1204, showing how this event, inspired in part by new claims of papal supremacy, resulted in the permanent separation of eastern and western Christendom.2014-05-1300 minParadise and UtopiaPapal Reformation and the Great Schism: IIIIn this conclusion to his account of the Great Schism, Fr. John reviews the leading controversies that aggravated relations between Rome and Constantinople during Pope Leo IX's military confinement, and how they resulted in the latter's posthumous act of excommunicating Patriarch Michael Cerularius in 1054.2014-05-1300 minParadise and UtopiaPapal Reformation and the Great Schism: IIFr. John continues his exploration of the pivotal reign of Pope Leo IX and the way in which its reforms led toward a confrontation with the Patriarchate of Constantinople in 1054.2014-05-1300 minParadise and UtopiaPapal Reformation and the Great Schism: IFr. John discusses the spiritual decline of the Church in the West and the attempt to reform this degradation.2014-05-1300 minParadise and UtopiaThe Rise of Russian Christendom IFr. John discusses the baptism of Saint Vladimir and shares an introductory anecdote about the death and canonization of Saints Boris and Gleb.2014-05-1300 minParadise and UtopiaFrankish Christendom and the Estrangement of East and West IIIFr. John examines the tendency toward eucharistic piety in Frankish Christendom.2014-05-1300 minParadise and UtopiaFrankish Christendom and the Estrangement of East and West IIFr. John looks at the development that took place within the Frankish lands themselves, especially those concerning the liturgy.2014-05-1300 minParadise and UtopiaFrankish Christendom and the Estrangement of East and West IFr. John discusses the rise of the Franks in Western Christianity.2014-05-1200 min