The Great Books Reading Group will take on Paul Kingsnorth’s book Against the Machine: On the Unmaking of Humanity starting on the first Thursday of February, the 5th, 7-8:30 p.m. US Central Time, on our Patreon platform at the Trainee ($1) level or above, and we invite you to join us! Laurie Johnson and Kent Shultz will take turns leading the discussion. Reading is encouraged, but not required.
On Thursday, October 2, at 7 p.m. US Central Time, David and Laurie will be back to discuss Chapters 3-5 (finishing Part 1) of Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death. This is a classic originally published in 1985 which is all too relevant today. We are now living in the full-blast of what Postman was trying to describe and warn about back in the ’80’s. It’s a good time to reflect on what he said, in the context of what we know now.
The Great Books reading group led by Laurie Johnson starts a new book, Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death, in September. The group meets monthly to discuss how media shapes public discourse, urging critical engagement with complex ideas. Supporting the group costs as little as $1 per month on Patreon.
Laurie Johnson was recently interviewed by Jeffrey Church of the Political Theory Review podcast about her book, The Gap in God’s Country.
Laurie Johnson just completed a four-part series on The Maurin Academy’s Political Philosophy YouTube channel on American Founder James Madison’s Federalist 10, which argues that the great extent of the American territory, and the Federal system, will work to protect the United States from the emergence of a faction of the majority and demagogues that could work against the common good.
Claire Provost and Matt Kennard are investigative journalists, and together they have produced a wide-ranging account of how governments, NGO’s and global corporations collude to extract wealth from taxpayers, workers and the poorest of the poor. The overall lesson of this book is that corporate governance has replaced liberal democratic government in the developed world, and in the developing world, colonial overlordship has given way to international corporate power.
Spencer and special guest Caleb Owens interview Laurie Johnson about her newly published book, The Gap in God’s Country: A Longer View on Our Culture Wars. For more information about this book and where to buy it, as well as information about a series of talks she’ll give on themes from the book, check out: https://pmaurin.org/2024/11/02/the-gap-in-gods-country-themes-discussion-with-laurie-johnson-coming-up/
Laurie discusses her book The Gap in God’s Country: A Longer View On Our Culture Wars with Clark, especially on the issue of poverty.
Using selections of texts from Plato’s Republic, Gorgias, Symposium, and Laws, Laurie will discuss key ideas that attracted early Christians: Plato’s idealism (doctrine of the forms), his views on justice, the role of human love, the existence of God, and the afterlife. The last half hour, at least, will be for open discussion. Each session … Read more
Laurie’s latest Political Philosophy video. Political Philosophy is a Maurin Academy channel and podcast.