Meeting of Minds Podcast

Peter Thiel, arguably the most successful tech investor of modern times, also reads widely and thinks deeply about philosophy and theology. In a fascinating follow-up to his previous interview about his mentor, Rene Girard, Thiel discusses how modern ideologies such as fascism and communism "up the dose" from murder to genocide as Christianity weakened the power of human sacrifice. He also discusses how progressive ideologies are "stronger moves" than fascistic or reactionary ones because they weaponize Christianity's concern for victims. Thiel talks about how the state, with its origins in paganism, restrains violence by using violence and how Christians might navigate that dilemma by engaging politically but not becoming excessively entangled by it. Finally, Thiel points out how those who promise to protect us from Apocalypse can actually accelerate its coming.

Timestamps:

01:08 Girard, Scapegoating
04:00 Mimetic copies: Hitler and Stalin, Nazism and Communism, Fascism
05:30 Wokeism, Christianity, and Academia
10:40 Wokeism in cities, response to real estate costs. Structural Wokeism
14:27 Winning and losing postures towards wokeism
17:10 Wokeism is Christianity without the forgiveness
18:30 Acknowledging sin even when it enables critics
21:55 Holocaust as the ultimate test of forgiveness, destroying the concept of forgiveness
25:52 Ignorance and forgiveness
27:55 Gospels as deconstruction of philosophy
32:05 Getting tangled in politics. Government and violence
33:55 Can leaders behave like Christians?
35:37 The katechon and accelerationism. Preterism and futurism.
39:10 The Antichrist as a false katechon
41:14 The Precautionary Principle: technological Armageddon
45:15 Enabling Fascism to fight Communism
46:12 Reagan coalition
49:30 Christianity and mimetic entanglement, political atheism
54:30 How much can people change?

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Professor Deirdre McCloskey is one of the most interesting thinkers in economics today. In this interview, conducted at FreedomFest 2021 in Rapid City South Dakota, near Deadwood, we push past a number of frontiers and traverse an open range of topics. That’s McCloskey in a nutshell – ignore the artificial fences between academic specializations and let the conversation go where it goes. In this case it goes through such territories as: the astonishing rise in standards of living since the rise of capitalism; why capitalism shouldn’t be called capitalism; what it should be called; why Bourgeois values have enriched us (and in more ways than economically); what the difference is between virtues and values; what Christianity had to do (and didn’t have to do) with the rise of modern human betterment; why theoretical economics has been wrong to obsess over “Maximum Utility” (a sociopathic form of economic modeling); the cult of statistical significance and its addiction to the p-value, and an upcoming book on Christianity and economics. Enjoy!

Timestamps:
0:00 – Intro
9:40 – Why “virtues” rather than “values”?
14:09 – The meaning of Jesus being born in Bethlehem
18:54 – Eurocentric economics, why some minorities are successful
27:07 – Free speech and the rich young ruler
32:11 – A party of Liberty, politics for adults
40:16 – How art can affect politics
43:35 – Bettering Humanomics
47:48 – The new atheists
50:16 – God in Mammon
59:17 – The Bible on slavery

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The Christian Employers Alliance is the leading association of Christian business people who employ others. Shannon Royce, its president, talks to Jerry about their upcoming conference and how Christian employers can learn what they’re up against, but also how to triumph. Topics include agility in the marketplace, how to maintain Christian identity and not run afoul of the law, strategies for dealing with ESG, and a great deal more. Listen to the interview, share it with others and visit here: https://christianemployersalliance.org/2023fallsummit/ to sign up for the most important conference for a most important group of people, Christians on whom others depend for leadership and livelihood.

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Pastor and scholar Jeff Meyers discusses his new commentary on the book of James, Wisdom for Dissidents. Meyers explains how modern commentators have failed to take the actual words of James seriously. When James mentions war, battles, and murder, he's not talking about arguments over the color of the new carpeting. James guided Christians through a time of political strife, assassination, civil violence and insurrection; in other words, a time much like our own.

Timestamps:
0:00 – Intro
1:14 – James and Ecclesiastes
8:25 – Rebellion against Rome
13:12 – Israel and Egypt
19:53 – James helps Christians grow up
26:00 – What is James preparing Christians for?
31:05 – How Christians should respond to political violence
42:00 – Why you should read this commentary

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Preventative Cardiologist Dr. Arthur Agatston rejoins Jerry to talk about what the latest scientific research shows about hunger and how to fight it. Ignoring the differences between different varieties of hunger means ignoring physiology and neurology and excess dependence on "willpower", leading to failure. Dr. Agatston explains the three different types of hunger, how to recognize each and how to overcome each in an effective way.

Timestamps:
0:00 – Intro
1:33 – Bears with hypoglycemia
7:45 – Grazing and carb craving
14:11 – Chemistry, not discipline
20:26 – Artificial sweeteners
24:49 – Keto flu
30:09 – Juvenile diabetes and insulin resistance
36:42 – Fasting and controlling appetite
42:56 – Addictive hunger

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