Fourth Reich Political Theology with Marcus//Return of the Repressed
Added 2025-12-12 10:32:46 +0000 UTCWe are coming in hot this week with a very special episode and a very special guest. We are calling this one Fourth Reich Political Theology, and we are honored to have Marcus from the Return of the Repressed podcast joining Don to do some serious digging.
In this episode, Don and Marcus examine how “The Market” and people’s fealty to its bizarre logic has come into actual existence, almost alchemically, or religiously. To put it bluntly, The Market today fills the role of God in our society. It is beyond human control, beyond reproach, and exercises an omniscient, omnipotent power over human affairs. To capitalists, The Market’s pure rationality also bestows it with benevolence. Don and Marcus explore the historical and theoretical bases for the development of this phenomenon, by examining the transition from feudalism to capitalism and the adaptation of religion to the economic mode of production and vice versa.
Please be sure to check out Marcus’s stuff over on https://www.patreon.com/TheReturnOfTheRepressed
Comments
I am going to have to listen to this a couple times and re read/read some books to really process this episode. Thanks for producing such a thought provoking conversation. Im extremely intrigued by the idea of non US universities studying the 'history of ideas'. That is a deep dive I can't wait to embark on.
MJ
2025-12-18 01:10:49 +0000 UTCThis episode is gold. I was devastated when Don had to leave 😭 so excited for part II!!!
Liam Keenan
2025-12-15 03:59:42 +0000 UTCThe cut-and-shut hydra = Musk's dancing "robot" made out of a human man wrapped in tin foil. The former had a touch of imagination and craftsmanship. The latter, well...
Hana
2025-12-14 13:36:57 +0000 UTCNot familiar but will peep it!!
Don and Dick
2025-12-14 10:38:30 +0000 UTCRight on. Political economy itself is thrown out as conspiracy theory to the extent it discusses actual material conditions and the elites who work in concert to exploit and shape those conditions. Or it’s dismissed as fantastical if it proposes using tools besides those the system prescribes to improve society.. Instead we are induced to believe that our elites are magicians who commune with “market forces.” They are placed in their heighths of power at the mercy of the god of the market. Technocrats actually build politics around their perceived/ projected/ manufactured predictions of what the market wants. The god of the market “works in mysterious ways.” It’s all just smoke and mirrors and projection like the great and powerful Oz. Frank Baum was up to his eyeballs in esoteric symbolism actually. Programmed to Chill had a great ep on it. Ok enough rambling but you get the idea.
Don and Dick
2025-12-14 10:32:49 +0000 UTCThank you! Yeah, it may be a little bit of a problem, but we know the solution! Just gotta gather the will…
Don and Dick
2025-12-14 10:26:42 +0000 UTCI'm starting to think capitalism is pretty bad, yall. 🤔 Excellent discussion. So happy about this crossover.
Lars
2025-12-14 08:35:57 +0000 UTCThis was great and I hadn't heard of Marcus' work. Wondering if capitalism as sacrament and religion relates to this idea "depoliticization". It's like, forget critique of political economy, the current hegemon denies people from even thinking political economy exists.
Extrajudicial Pod
2025-12-12 23:42:06 +0000 UTC“You know what the medicine is” made me smile
David Browm
2025-12-12 23:37:42 +0000 UTCwho cooked adam smith's dinner?
David W. McMillan
2025-12-12 23:37:22 +0000 UTCYessss two of my favorite podcasts joining forces! Doesn’t get much better than this 🙏
Shout Shout Let It All Out
2025-12-12 23:09:10 +0000 UTCAlso, another pod I really like exploring similar things but from a different angle is Rev Left Radio - Dialectics & Liberation: Insights from Buddhism and Marxism
devils cherry
2025-12-12 22:00:11 +0000 UTCyou have really outdone yourselves with this one. bravo. so many thoughts on this. the intersection of religious studies and Marxist theory, and the overall interconnectivity of mythology and the human condition is my main topic of special interest. although I'm not as well read as you both. I will have to write an email once I have a bit of time. 😸 although it's a bit surface level the movie there will be blood always comes into my mind, the self destruction at the end, the vulgar conflict of capital overtaking religion as a dominant force. the explosion of the oil well.
devils cherry
2025-12-12 21:57:44 +0000 UTCA convo that reminds me of "the Enchantments of Mammon : how capitalism became the religion of modernity" apologies if you mention it I'm only halfway thru
Extrajudicial Pod
2025-12-12 19:46:44 +0000 UTC
