Beatrice Institute Podcast
We’re wandering between two worlds. Modernity as we knew it is passing away, and the next world is yet to be born. Like Dante, we are in a dark wood, struggling to know how to think and how to live. Virgil guided Dante with the light of natural reason, then Beatrice illuminated the path to Paradise with Christian revelation.
Welcome to the Beatrice Institute Podcast, where Christian faith and reason illuminate the best of academic thinking and research. How should we think and live in this time between worlds? At Beatrice Institute, we take our bearings from the Good, the True, and the Beautiful.
This podcast reflects BI’s research and public engagement initiatives. As director of BI’s Genealogies of Modernity initiative, co-host Ryan McDermott asks guests, “What does it mean to be modern, where did we come from, and what comes next?” As director of BI’s Personalism and Public Policy initiative, Grant Martsolf asks, “How should we organize our common life to promote the flourishing of the person, made in the image of God?” And for our initiative on Being Human in an Age of Artificial Intelligence, Gretchen Huizinga asks, "What makes humans special and what does it mean to flourish on the frontier of a technological future?"
- Update frequency
- every 13 days
- Average duration
- 53 minutes
- Episodes
- 99
- Years Active
- 2020 - 2024
Oracles, Conspiracies, and the Case for Inefficiency—Co-host Roundtable
Ryan, Grant, and Gretchen ask each other all their burning questions, probing more deeply into past interviews and breaking new territory. Together they ponder how Jesus might run a tech company, the…
Beyond the End of Liberalism with Andrew Willard Jones
The liberal tradition frames the story of modernity as the gradual victory of freedom against state hegemony. Liberty, the consent of the people to be governed, and individual rights are the mainstay…
Ecumenical Genealogies and Deep History with Matthew Milliner, Part 2
The modern conception of how time unfolds leaves us trapped in a chronological sequence with no return to the past; but is it true that “you can’t go back”? In the second part of their conversation, …
The Prehistoric Christ with Matthew Milliner, Part 1
We often think of the time before the birth of Jesus Christ in terms of the Old Testament. But what about the humans in other parts of the world, long before the history of Israel begins? Art histori…
Will There Be Computers in Heaven? with Derek Schuurman
What Do Healthcare Systems Owe the Working Class? with Gabe Winant
Healthcare workers have been lauded as heroes during the pandemic; but even as nurses and other medical employees have been praised for their service, COVID-19 has exposed many of them to long hours,…
What If Christ Were Born after 100,000 Years of Human History? with Brad Gregory
In this episode, Ryan interviews historian Brad Gregory, Henkels Family College Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame. In his book The Unintended Reformation: How a Religious Revolutio…
Can Tech Ethics Shape Our Future? with Brian Green
As technology develops at an ever more rapid pace, it can seem that ethics struggles to keep up with it. While science and technology advance by building on discoveries of the past, virtue and moral …
The Game of Life: Whose Victory Conditions? Which Stance? with Ted Castronova
On this episode of the podcast, Grant interviews Ted Castronova, Professor of Media at Indiana University and author Life is a Game: What Game Design Says about the Human Condition.
Mathematical gam…
Can I Give My Heart to You, Literally? with Barbara Newman
In her book The Permeable Self, Barbara Newman—John Evans Professor of Latin, as well as English, Classics, and History at Northwestern University—explores the importance of coinherence in the mediev…
What Questions Should We Ask in Our Technological Age? with Jason Thacker
What is the Cost of Human Flourishing? with Brendan Case
In the United States, deaths of despair—from alcoholism, drug abuse, and suicide—have risen sharply in the past decades. Many countries have recognized levels of social disconnection so high that the…
Will There Be Church in the Metaverse? Co-Host Roundtable, Ep 48
Join Ryan and Gretchen as they interview each other and explore a variety of topics together: from digital wisdom and genealogy, memory and wonder at the mystery of creation, incorrupt bodies and cor…
Who Will Inherit the Earth? with Lyman Stone
The birth rate in the United States is the lowest it’s ever been. Between rising costs of living and anxiety about humanity’s impact on the environment, people are having fewer children than ever. An…
What Role Should Christians Take in Shaping AI? with Robert J. Marks
From weaponized drones to dancing robots, artificial intelligence has become the locus of many hopes and anxieties about humanity’s future. In the face of rapid technological development, finding the…
Will There Be Race in Heaven? with Jonathan Tran
Over the past year, the debate over how to address racism and systemic inequality has been at the forefront of many people’s minds. Theologian Jonathan Tran argues that the concept of race emerged as…
Can Christians Embrace Transhumanism on Their Own Terms? with Micah Redding
Micah Redding, a computer programmer by training, a follower of Christ, and now the executive director of the Christian Transhumanist Association, joins Gretchen to discuss the history and future of …
Transmitting the Faith with Amy Adamczyk
Amy Adamczyk joins Grant to discuss some of the most contentious topics in American culture. Why are Catholics, mainline Protestants, and Jews so bad at transmitting their faith to their children? Wh…
How can a modern Christian honor tradition without unreflectively clinging to the past?
Anne Carpenter joins Ryan to discuss the intersection of history, tradition, art, and theology. What is the difference between ressourcement and genealogy? Are art and theology the same thing? What c…