More Mailbag, More Friends
Added 2024-09-26 19:07:04 +0000 UTCMatt and Sam continue the 100th episode extravaganza by answering more truly excellent listener questions and hear from more friends of the show. Topics include: leftwing politics and orthodox Christianity, how to maintain hope (especially on the socialist left), learning to love Freud, complicated family politics, and more! Plus: Dissent co-editor Tash Lewis sings "Happy Birthday" to Matt in Welsh.
Sources:
Charles Péguy, Portal of the Mystery of Hope (1911)
Wesley Hill, "After Boomer Religion," Commonweal, April 29, 2019
Herbert McCabe, "The Class Struggle and Christian Love," in God Matters (2012)
Matthew Sitman, "Against Moral Austerity: On the Need for a Christian Left," Dissent, Summer 2017
Dan Walden, "Gender, Sex, and Other Nonsense," Commonweal, March 1, 2021
Peter Gay, Freud: A Life for Our Time (1988)
Pat Blanchfield, "Death Drive Nation," Late Light, Nov 1, 2022
Casey Blake and Christopher Phelps, "History as Social Criticism: Conversations with Christopher Lasch," Journal of American History, Mar 1994
Sam Adler-Bell, "Beautiful Losers," Commonweal, Mar 11, 2020
— "Jews in the diaspora must resist the inhumanity being done by Israel in our name," New Statesman, Nov 29, 2023
— "Good Enough," The Baffler, April 2024
Kim LaCapria & David Mikkelson, "Does This Photograph Show Bernie Sanders at a 1962 Civil Rights Sit-In?" Snopes, Mar 3, 2016
Comments
Two things I LOVED about this episode. 1) Sam uttering a Sitman-esque "YES" 2) The Paul Zahl mention. It was glossed, but it tracks back to the quote connecting Nicea and Selma in a revealing way. How does a lauded theologian contort himself into a set of political commitments that put him at odds with his own Baptismal Covenant and with the world God promised us when he resurrected his son? As the son of Episcopal church-going parents who will vote for Trump THRICE, I wrestle with the same question.
nat gunter
2024-10-10 16:06:06 +0000 UTCMatt, for what it's worth, I once saw a bumper sticker that spoken volumes to me. It read: "I'm liberal because I'm Catholic." Amen,
Larry Broding
2024-10-01 15:24:22 +0000 UTCSam, “To be hopeless is an abdication of responsibility” Is a great maxim
Jake
2024-10-01 04:14:02 +0000 UTCWhat a beautiful quote “to be Christian nowadays is to be on fire”. I’m not sure I had my own words to encapsulate how insane I feel as a progressive lately. Thank you guys for always offering a grounding perspective. Truly formative work.
Dillon Lamb
2024-09-29 23:05:09 +0000 UTCagreed; speaking as a lefty prod can I suggest that maybe it's less ballyhooed about because the institutional structures of our faith are less likely to create a fun and sexy seeming contradiction to prod at and talk over
don't come here
2024-09-29 15:51:23 +0000 UTCYou guys are awesome. ❤️❤️ always enjoy hearing the way Matt's faith connects with his politics and the way Sam's freaudian concepts connects with his politics. It gives me so much hope that two people who have been shaped by those two different currents can be in such friendly, loving conversation.
Kevin Spicer
2024-09-28 21:40:08 +0000 UTCI’m kicking myself for not sending a question over for these episodes since I think I’ve got a great one (and happy bday Matt!)
Shane Burley
2024-09-28 19:55:02 +0000 UTCSeconded! Thanks both and congratulations on meeting this milestone
Ryan Stecher
2024-09-28 19:08:46 +0000 UTCI’m excited to check out that book! I love Phillips’s writing on Shakespeare - Sam
Know Your Enemy
2024-09-28 18:16:12 +0000 UTCI want to thank Matt and Sam for being my beloved least unhinged lefty pod, meaning I can recommend it to my more normal friends without anxiety
Laura
2024-09-28 17:50:48 +0000 UTCI’m only 19 mins in so far, so apologies if what I’m saying gets dealt with later, but Sam’s thoughts about assuaging and potentially destructive self-cures vs. difficult hope was redolent of Greenblatt’s and Phillips’ brilliant new book on the second chance in Shakespeare and Freud. Obviously this is absolutely Sam territory and I really like how he thinks with and through Phillips. And before and after that the discussion about theology and the active political purpose arising from despair reminded me of David Constantine’s book on Hoelderlin—another body and soul on fire. But I think we can find plenty of “resonance” in less radical, indeed more liberal figures (theological or otherwise) than Hoelderlin. I’m thinking of middle-aged Auden and the Browning of The Ring and the Book. And which side of the left vs. liberal divide is Mill on?
Aaron Deveson
2024-09-28 12:18:38 +0000 UTCLove you guys (all three of you) and this podcast so very, very, much. Thank you. ❤️
Where there’s a Wills there’s a Way
2024-09-28 08:21:15 +0000 UTCI was recently having a conversation with my mom, a very progressive person who grew up Catholic but has since basically left the religion (and organized religion altogether) for reasons reminiscent of the story you told in the podcast—not doctrinal/faith-based objection so much as finding the worst actors and worst politics of organized religion too odious to associate with. I'm not especially religious either (honestly a little iffy on organized religion myself) and was struggling to think through with her how it could even be possible to square beliefs so often represented publicly by pretty awful people with radical politics and the way you addressed the first question helped a ton, thanks for that, excited to tell her about this. But also, if we are relitigating 2016, that was my first election & I voted for Hilary in the primary because I thought she had a better chance of winning and I cannot for the life of me figure out who I was such that I could have been there as a 19 year old at an overwhelmingly progressive liberal arts school. In hindsight, that was key to figuring out that I should stop expecting the world to make sense and start just reading all those communists, so I think I'm glad I did it.
David
2024-09-27 20:32:50 +0000 UTCThese celebratory mailbag episodes are by far the most endearing and humorous yet.
Little Beruit Dweller
2024-09-27 16:35:40 +0000 UTCSam in the first episode: "We tricked you---this is actually a podcast where we relitigate the 2016 election. Every episode is going to be about a different day in 2016 and what happened on Twitter that day." Can't believe it only took 100 shows for it to happen!
Matt Mitchell
2024-09-27 03:04:14 +0000 UTCThe theology discussion is so helpful
Jane Cameron
2024-09-27 01:53:17 +0000 UTCThe links in the show notes for this episode are an unbelievable bounty. Grateful as always for this pod. Congrats gents , happy birthday Matt, and here’s to many more (episodes and birthdays)
Reggie Debris
2024-09-27 00:07:02 +0000 UTCWhat subscription level do I need to get to in order to have a bourbon with Matt and discuss Episcopalian and/or Catholic theology? Please advise.
Elliott May
2024-09-26 22:20:39 +0000 UTCCo-sign!!
Elliott May
2024-09-26 22:19:32 +0000 UTCI feel the portrayal of liberal theology to be a bit of a strawman. Certainly liberal theology can sort of accommodate itself to the surrounding cultural norms. However, I think the latest trend around orthodox and leftist can paper over the various figures within the liberal Protestant tradition that have contributed to left leaning Christianity
Samuel McCann
2024-09-26 22:02:05 +0000 UTCI love these episodes, and especially the photo of you two! I chickened out of posting a question of my own, because it’s way too broad and hard to articulate, but keep an eye out for a novel-length email concerning American exceptionalism on both the right and the supposed “left”, and how that has manifested throughout the recent history (in other words, why can’t either of your political sides learn from other countries, and if they do, why do they have to lie?!) Thank you so much for all your work, xxxx Taru from Finland
taru
2024-09-26 21:09:44 +0000 UTCI appreciated the answer on orthodox belief and left-wing politics. While not particularly religious myself, I certainly encounter many right-wing Christians who insist that right-wing politics and Christianity are inseparable, that right-wing politics follows naturally from Christianity in a way that progressive values cannot, and that leftist Christians can only ever be “squishy” and unorthodox. It’s nice to hear evidence that the right does not have a monopoly on Christianity or religion more generally. There are many ways in which leftism can be informed by religion, and it’s important to be reminded of them.
Axel Herrera
2024-09-26 21:01:58 +0000 UTCAw thanks for using my lame Garry Wills bit ❤️
Phil Christman
2024-09-26 20:24:29 +0000 UTC
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