Paradoxes of “nature” and “culture”
Robert Spaemann, on the destructive consequences of a merely naturalistic understanding of nature
How the Church promotes the cause of freedom
Oliver O’Donovan: “We discover we are free when we are commanded by that authority which commands us according to the law of our being, disclosing the secrets of the heart.”
The danger of not defining “freedom”
Richard Bauckham insists that an adequate understanding of freedom requires recognition of God as the ground of true human freedom
The profound drama of human sexuality
In this lecture, D. C. Schindler explains the cosmological significance of human sexuality and why it is paradigmatic of the relationship between nature and freedom. (32 minutes)
Mars Hill Audio Journal, Volume 164
FEATURED GUESTS: Dana Gioia, Brady Stiller, Robert Royal, Richard DeClue, Tiffany Schubert, and Joonas Sildre
Why liberalism tends toward absolutism
In this lecture, Michael Hanby examines what causes liberalism to become dictatorial in thought and practice. (49 minutes)
When is a market “free”?
William T. Cavanaugh argues for a richer conception of freedom than the reductionist one promoted by economist Milton Friedman. (44 minutes)
The gift of objective reality
Moral philosopher Oliver O’Donovan makes an argument for the consistency of the idea of law when it is conceived in a theological context. (40 minutes)
Freedom as conformity to reality
W. Bradford Littlejohn summarizes the definitions of liberty offered by Richard Bauckham and Oliver O’Donovan
The Life was the Light of men
In a lecture from 2018, Ken Myers contrasts the Enlightenment’s understanding of reason with the Christocentric conception of reason. (57 minutes)
Rejecting “two-tiered” Thomism
Community, the giver of freedom
Thomas H. Naylor and William H. Willimon on why suspicion about big government shouldn’t take the form of autonomous individualism
Light from Neither the East nor the West
John Betz distinguishes a Christian understanding of freedom from the conventional modern definitions. (41 minutes; Part 3 of 3)
Freedom on Holiday: The Genealogy of a Cultural Revolution
John Betz argues that freedom for the sake of conforming to the Good has been replaced by freedom as the space to choose whatever we want. (52 minutes; Part 2 of 3)
Is irrational freedom truly freedom?
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger argues that freedom must be understood in the context of interplay of reason and the will
