The Aaron Renn Show

Paul Carrese is the founding director of the School for Civic and Economic Though Leadership (SCETL) at Arizona State University. SCETL was established by an act of the state legislature to reinvigorate the idea of civics education as a core function of the public university. It is also a model for many other similar centers that have been established at other public universities around the country. Dr. Carrese joins me to discuss SCETL, and why it and centers like it are critical to the future of the university and society. Visit SCETL's web site: https://scetl.asu.edu/

Luke Robson is on a mission to revitalize the downtown of Hillsdale, Michigan, the small town where Hillsdale College is located. He joins us to discuss his efforts and why he believes this is important. Subscribe to Luke's Hillsdale Renaissance Newsletter: https://hillsdalerenaissance.substack.com/ Subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.aaronrenn.com/

Your identity is the foundation and the heart of everything. Because if you don’t know who you are, you don’t know what to do. In this month's newsletter I discuss the importance of identity, and why many people in power in our society want to sever you from yours. Subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.aaronrenn.com/

Leon Podles joins me today to discuss the deep roots of why men don't go to church, focusing on the male quest for honor. He is the author of The Church Impotent and Losing the Good Portion: Why Men Are Alienated from Christianity. Read The Church Impotent for free: https://podles.org/church-impotent.htm Buy Losing the Good Portion: https://www.amazon.com/Losing-Good-Portion-Aliendated-Christianity/dp/158731505X/ Subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.aaronrenn.com/

Peter Ostapko joins us to discuss his project Kinsmen Journal, a high quality print magazine for Christian men and broader project to curate conversations around faith, fatherhood, and work. Kinsmen Journal featured original commissioned photography and writing, and the highest quality printing and packaging available. Buy Kinsmen Journal: https://kinsmen.org/

This is my interview from two years ago with David Murrow, author of the influential book Why Men Hate Going to Church. Why does the American church skew female? How did he get interested in this topic? How did people receive his book and what changed as a result of it? What is the story arc of the church's attempts to reach men in recent decades? Buy the book: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/078523215X/ref=as_li_qf_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=theurban-20 Subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.aaronrenn.com/

Paleoconservative military writer William Lind developed a concept he calls "4th Generation War," which is an insurgency conflict similar to Afghanistan or Iraq. 4GW is rooted in a decline of the legitimacy of the state, a fundamentally asymmetric conflict, and the criticality of winning at "the moral level of war." There are interesting parallels to cultural conflict which I explore in this newsletter.

Sociologist Brad Wilcox joins to discuss his new book "Get Married." He explains why, despite its decline in our society, marriage remains the best path to success in flourishing in life. Buy the book: https://www.amazon.com/Get-Married-Americans-Families-Civilization/dp/0063210851/ Subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.aaronrenn.com/

Georgetown University professor Joseph Hartman joins me to discuss the 20th century theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, and why he still matters today.

Sociologist Brad Vermurlen will join me to discuss his new book Reformed Resurgence: The New Calvinist Movement and the Battle Over American Evangelicalism. Vermurlen's book is an excellent overview of the New Calvinist movement, the backdrop of Evangelical fracture in which it developed, and the various strategies the movement implemented. This podcast was recorded two years ago as Youtube only. Read more about the book at: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/reviews/reformed-resurgence-brad-vermurlen/ Buy the book at: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0190073519/ref=as_li_qf_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=theurban-20

Josh Abbotoy joins me to discuss his projects to built intentional communities of likeminded people in Kentucky and Tennessee. Ridgerunner USA: https://ridgerunnerusa.com/ Highland Rim Project: https://www.newfounding.com/highland Subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.aaronrenn.com/

One of the key events in the Christianization of the Roman Empire was when the children of the existing Roman elites turned aside from the status system of the Roman imperium in favor of new ways of pursuing and achieving elite status within the church. Today, in the Negative World, the church operates as a shadow status system that takes its cues from secular elite culture. It will always be dominated by that culture unless and until it creates its own status system again. The Thiel Fellowship is an example of what an attempt at creating an alternative form of status would look like in our society.

Management is about the known. Exploration is about the unknown. Dwight Gibson has studied the techniques of the explorers from the great age of exploration. He will discuss how people and organizations can make use of those oft-forgotten methods to help navigate today's uncertain and unprecedented world. Subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.aaronrenn.com/

John Burtka, president of ISI, joins me to discuss his new book Gateway to Statesmanship: Selections from Xenophon to Churchill. It's a collection of some of the best writing in history about the nature of the statesman. Buy the book: https://www.amazon.com/Gateway-Statesmanship-Selections-Xenophon-Churchill/dp/1684515432/ Subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.aaronrenn.com/

Lexi Hudson joins me to discuss her recent book The Soul of Civility: Timeless Principles to Heal Society and Ourselves. Buy the book: https://www.amazon.com/Soul-Civility-Timeless-Principles-Ourselves-ebook/dp/B0B9KTF7BP/ Subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.aaronrenn.com/

Too many people today have negative identities - they are defined by what they oppose not by what they are for or hope to create. Negative identities create asymmetries in which you are vulnerable to people with morally expansionist visions. They also make your identity dependent on the very thing you claim to oppose. While there are plenty of bad positive identities, it's much better to base your identity on a positive than negative vision of life.

Notre Dame professor Darren Dochuk joins me to discuss his book Anointed with Oil: How Christianity and Crude Made Modern America. Every aspect of modern political, economic, and cultural development of the 20th century was bound up with various strains of the oil industry and Christianity. Dochuk explains this oft-overlooked history. Buy the book: https://www.amazon.com/Anointed-Oil-Christianity-Modern-America/dp/0465060862/ Subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.aaronrenn.com/

Pragmatism is about what we can do with our own two hands with the material we see in front of us. It's an important perspective on the world - but very limiting as well. Too much devotion to pragmatism can blind us to the possibilities in the world and life.

Brad Littlejohn and Chris Castaldo join me to discuss their book Why Do Protestants Convert?, which examines the psychological, theological, and sociological reasons that evangelical intellectuals often convert to Roman Catholicism or Eastern Orthodoxy. Buy the book: https://davenantinstitute.org/why-do-protestants-convert Subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.aaronrenn.com/

Ben Merkle, president of New St. Andrews College, joins me to discuss the broken financial model of higher education in America. Read Big Ed, Too Big to Fail: https://nsa.edu/blog/big-ed-too-big-to-fail Subscribe to my newspaper: https://www.aaronrenn.com/