“The medical establishment has become a major threat to health. The disabling impact of professional control over medicine has reached the proportions of an epidemic,” philosopher Ivan Illich writes in the opening passage of his book Medical Nemesis. These words ring true, especially given how much our current world crisis has to do with public […]
David Gornoski reads a letter from a listener that talks about how A Neighbor’s Choice moved him to explore Christianity and the work of Rene Girard. Did Neil deGrasse Tyson just find religion? Listen to the full episode to find out as David and Surit Dasgupta explore the opposite concepts of faith and control through […]
Now that Henry Cavill’s Superman is set to be permanently retired from the DCEU, reportedly in favor of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ black Superman project, yet another iteration of the diversity casting debate has sprung up among critics and moviegoers. Many comic book loyalists, disappointed and frustrated by the constant tinkering of studios with their beloved franchises, have […]
I am convinced that we have entered an era when anthropology will become a more relevant tool than political science. We will have to radically change our interpretation of events, stop thinking as products of the Enlightenment, and finally envisage the radical nature of violence; this will produce a quite different kind of rationality as […]
David Gornoski, Jerry Bowyer, Jason Jones, and Pastor Jim Fitzgerald explore the Nativity of Christ through the lens of Rene Girard in this THINGS HIDDEN Christmas special. What significance does Bethlehem portray in the Nativity story that we often miss? How does the Christmas story pose a threat to the rulers of the world? How […]
David Gornoski; filmmaker and activist Jason Jones; and Gil Bailie–the author of several lectures and books including God’s Gamble and a contemporary of Rene Girard–explore the meaning of Christmas, particularly in the world of anthropology. Why were the ancients fascinated with stars? Why did God choose a miraculous virgin birth as Christ’s entrance into the […]
David Gornoski sits down with Johnathan Bi for a conversation on Johnathan’s introduction to the work of Rene Girard, Girard’s eschatological views, mimesis in the workplace, how Girard proposes we withdraw from conflict arising from mimetic desire, how the Left-Right dialectic plays out as mimetic doubling in our current culture, how Christ unleashes the personhood […]
What do we make of the many schisms that are happening in the political world right now? Will power-hungry authoritarians be able to hold onto the myths that continue to divide us? Why are there no new inventions in the world of atoms? How do we escape the gnostic bind that is holding us back? […]
Surit Dasgupta and David Gornoski talk about the protests in China over the lockdowns, how victimism gives rise to more victims, how Jesus saves us from killing ourselves, and more. Also in the show filmmaker and activist Jason Jones calls in to talk about the rise of resentiment, the normalization of child molestation, the vanishing […]
David Gornoski sits down with Gil Bailie, author of “Violence Unveiled” and “God’s Gamble“. Gil Bailie talks about his introduction to Rene Girard, the apocalyptic nature of our current socio-political crises, how Jesus unveils violence, the purpose of sacrifice in the ancient world, the modern march towards complete undifferentiation, whether Hindu culture needs a savior […]