Posts

The Origin of the Hospital

While recognizing that the current global crisis is largely steeped in a divorce between medicine and ethics, it is important to step back and look at how the medical profession has evolved in history. What gave healthcare the universal appeal as we know today? Why is it that healthcare is looked at by many to […]

THINGS HIDDEN 42: Reading Rene Girard During the COVID-19 Pandemic With Geoffrey Shullenberger

David Gornoski sits down with Geoffrey Shullenberger of the Outsider Theory podcast in this latest THINGS HIDDEN conversation. The two look at pandemic politics, the scapegoating of Trump, and cancel culture through the anthropological lens of Rene Girard. How does Girard’s paradoxical approach to religion undermine modern-day academia? Are we living in the most Girardian […]

THINGS HIDDEN 41: Mark Sunwall on the Kantian Origin of Our Present Chaos

In this special THINGS HIDDEN conversation, David Gornoski sits down with Professor Mark Sunwall, an anthropologist and economist. Did Kantianism–the philosophical tradition passed down from Immanuel Kant–destroy western civilization? Did anthropogenic explanations for human institutions sow the seeds for our present state of chaos? Where did the postmodern theory of the social construct start from? […]

THINGS HIDDEN 39: Monica Paulus Escapes Literal Witch Burning

In this fascinating THINGS HIDDEN conversation, David Gornoski is joined by Monica Paulus, a native of Papua New Guinea who was accused of sorcery by her neighbors and family. Monica gives us a harrowing account of what it is like to be persecuted and hunted by a bloodthirsty mob. What are the reasons for these […]

The Sacrifice of Congresswoman Gabbard

This article by David Gornoski was published at WND.com on February 15, 2017. The media continues to be an increasingly petty, insecure clique as it mimetically parrots its own echo chamber talking points against any person who challenges their preferred leftist-corporatist brand of state hegemony. Think of political ideologies like denominations of a religion. They […]

The Coming Medical Revolution

The Mises Institute‘s Jeff Deist returns to the show. David Gornoski and Jeff Deist talk about the politicization of tax-related charges in the case of Trump; the passing and legacy of Donald Rumsfeld; the media’s hyping up of the Delta variant; government overreach in medicine and the medical revolution waiting to happen; the ideology of […]

Salvation Through Creativity

Man, the microcosm is responsible for the whole structure of nature and whatever takes place in man affects the whole of nature. Man gives life and spirit to nature, through his creative freedom, and he kills or fetters it through his own servitude and his fall into material necessity. –Nikolai Berdyaev1 In the summer of […]

THINGS HIDDEN 37: Mimesis and Victim Solidarity with Dr. Grant Kaplan

In this THINGS HIDDEN conversation, David Gornoski is joined by Grant Kaplan, professor of theological studies at Saint Louis University and author of René Girard, Unlikely Apologist. Professor Kaplan talks about his experience of meeting Rene Girard; why traditional apologetics don’t work as well as before; the difference between mimetic theory and critical theory; being in […]

Why The Culture Has An Appetite for Sacrificial Violence w/ Peter Quinones

David Gornoski recently appeared on Peter Quinones’ podcast, Free Man Beyond the Wall. David and Peter talked about Rene Girard’s Mimetic Theory, the sacrificial origins of the State, and our culture’s appetite for sacrificial violence. Listen to the podcast or watch the entire interview above.

THINGS HIDDEN 34: Mimetic Failure of Mythic Heroes and the Triumph of Christ with Erik Buys

THINGS HIDDEN! David Gornoski is joined by Erik Buys, author at Mimetic Margins, teacher, and elected member of the board of the Colloquium on Violence and Religion (COV&R). What is the difference between Christ’s sacrifice and the three types of heroic sacrifice in mythology? What is extremism and how does it lure people? Why is […]