Shannon Braswell and David Gornoski return for another exciting episode of THINGS HIDDEN. The two address Kanye West’s appearance on the Joe Rogan podcast, the concept of the holy fool, the cultural decline in France, the rise of suicide terrorism, the rise of troll culture, the need for distinctions and role models in society, and […]
In this THINGS HIDDEN conversation, David Gornoski and Shannon Braswell are joined by Jean-Michel Oughourlian, psychologist and author of The Mimetic Brain. Oughourlian starts the discussion with an insider’s perspective as Girard’s collaborator and how he found breakthroughs in the field of psychotherapy upon studying mimetic theory. “The mirror neuron is something fantastic,” Oughourlian remarks, […]
Shannon Braswell, in his first episode of Polymath’s Paradise, sits down with David Gornoski. The two resume their discussion on the works of Rene Girard. David takes us through his disillusionment with mainstream Christian talking points and his introduction to Rene Girard. “Jesus was basically an object for folks rather than the subject of your […]
How do we understand the growing undifferentiation–the breaking apart of traditional hierarchies–in western society? How can the church regain the gospel aesthetic of standing for the hidden victims of our society? The church must tell the stories of victims, David says, and in doing so, woke culture would evaporate in an instant. But then how […]
“Everything that you see in politics is based on a zero-sum frame of reality,” David Gornoski says. He points out how politicians rely on you to vote them into defeating your enemies without actually dealing with any of the core issues. “Excellence doesn’t require a savior; it requires skin in the game.” Amid social scandals, […]
Shannon: “Parents often say: ‘don’t discuss politics and religion at the dinner table.’” David: “But that’s what I always talk about at dinner; all politics and religion originate at the original dinner which is ritual cannibalism.” Shannon Braswell, a Girardian from Washington, sits down with David Gornoski to examine the historical and mythological narratives through […]
Host David Gornoski explains how we can be freed from the shackles of collectivism by looking to the Biblical story of the woman caught in adultery. He who is without sin may cast the first stone, Jesus told the persecuting mob. The first step is the recognition of our part in societal injustices. Abandoning the […]
“We’re seeing the overreaction to the pandemic spilling over to other parts of life,” says Norman Horn, founder of the Libertarian Christian Institute. Dr. Horn goes on to explain how institutional coercion spills onto the streets in the form of riots. “Just because we agree that there are structural problems does not mean that we […]
Very few films have defined a genre. One of these films is the 1927 German silent movie Metropolis. Directed by legendary filmmaker Fritz Lang, Metropolis is a dystopian sci-fiction movie that touches on important socio-political and even theological aspects of modern society. Made during the Weimar era—a time when Germany was in political and economic […]
In these times of social unrest we need to understand what drives humanity towards conflict. David Cayley, longtime CBC Ideas broadcaster, joins David Gornoski to discuss the breakdown of social unity through a distinctly Christian lens shaped by experiences with Rene Girard and Ivan Illich. On the pandemic, Cayley says that “the virus is the […]