Virtue in the Wasteland Podcast

Eric Dorman discusses his personal transition from progressivism to classic conservatism despite being a never Trumper, and the pragmatic nature of Tennessee politics. He works for a nonprofit news source that serves the homeless in Nashville, is a frequent contributor to Mockingbird, and runs his own site called Kept Republic.

virtueinthewasteland.com

 

Direct download: Going_Conservative_in_an_Age_of_Trump.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:00pm PDT

After five plus years of the podcast, we finally get around to a proper discussion of virtue ethics. We do so with the leading active scholar in America today: Christian Miller of Wake Forest University. (The Roman Catholic Alisdair McIntyre and Lutheran Gilbert Meilaender have both recently retired, so we don't think this claim is hyperbolic.) Miller is the author of several books and articles, but his recent book The Character Gap: How Good Are We? is a gem. And it is both good at handling scholarship--including scholarship from the field of social psychology--and presenting it in an understandable way to a non-technical audience.  If you've been listening for a while and want a good presentation of virtue theory, this is the place to go. 

Miller holds a B.A. in philosophy from Princeton University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame. His main areas of research are meta-ethics, moral psychology, moral character, action theory, and philosophy of religion. He is the A. C. Reid Professor of Philosophy at Wake Forest University and Philosophy Director of the Beacon Project (http://www.moralbeacons.org/), funded by the Templeton Religion Trust. He was the Director of the Character Project (www.thecharacterproject.com), which was funded by $5.6 million in grants from the John Templeton Foundation and Templeton World Charity Foundation. He is the author of over 80 papers as well as three books with Oxford University Press, Moral Character: An Empirical Theory(2013), Character and Moral Psychology (2014), and The Character Gap: How Good Are We? (forthcoming 2017). He is also the editor or co-editor of Essays in the Philosophy of Religion (Oxford University Press), Character: New Directions from Philosophy, Psychology, and Theology (Oxford University Press), Moral Psychology, Volume V: Virtue and Character (MIT Press), Integrity, Honesty, and Truth-Seeking (Oxford University Press), and The Continuum Companion to Ethics (Continuum Press).

Direct download: Character_Matters.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:00pm PDT

On today's show we travel into the deep south, racecar country, to meet up with Fr. Victor Singingeagle to talk about Potowatomi religion and Christianity, the pre-columbian social world of 15th c. America, and life as an outsider looking in.  

 

We first met Fr. Victor Singingeagle through our friends the Klembara's and Blake Flattely, who met him when they produced their documentary short on Concorida Selma.  The Rev Dr holds two PhDs, one in anthropology and one in English and He is a former administrator and professor at the now defunct Concordia College, Selma, a historically black college. As part of their road trip throughout the American South, Dan and Jeff met up with the good Reverend Dr., for a lively evening of discussion all things Native American, faith and culture.

Direct download: Father_Dr_Victor_Singingeagle.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:00pm PDT

Reflections on first leg of the road trip through the American Southeast, and an interview of three committed Christian kids in the Bible belt who defy easy categorization. Julia, Luke and Calista share their candid thoughts on hot button topics. Not a debate but fact finding. 

virtueinthewasteland.com

1517.org 

Direct download: Expectations_v_Reality_on_the_Road.mp3
Category:Bonus B-Side -- posted at: 12:00pm PDT

The #VIWROADTRIP2018 is underway, and this is our first show from the road.  While we are on the trip to visit a few people and places in the south, we started our RV trip in Orlando at the home of one of Jeff's best childhood friends.

The beginning of the show is a little different than others, as we did this in the RV while driving- Dan opens the show with a bit of the "thesis" of the show and then the guys go into Star Wars, religion, walking away from what we once loved, devotion despite criticism, and other things that swing in both the direction of Star Wars and the Church.  From Sep 28-Oct 10 the guys will br checking in daily from the road and you can find them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Direct download: Star_Wars_and_Jesus_in_Orlando.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:00pm PDT

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