We’re experimenting with different ways to convey the Regenerative Reader, and we landed on creating a webpage with some of our highlights and upcoming events. We’ll publish a Regenerative Reader to the best of our ability at least quarterly. Almost all of our articles and announcements will come out as posts on our website first, so make sure you join our feed if you want more timely updates.
If you like what we’re doing and would like us to continue to develop classes and groups aimed at “stopping environmental harm by changing our social relations,” please consider a gift to the Maurin Academy!
What’s going on right now and what’s right around the corner:
- Coming up on Monday, April 7th at 7 p.m. US Central Time live on Zoom, we have Dr. Eugene McCarraher giving a lecture titled, “The Enchantments of Mammon and Techne”. This lecture will be on the development of his thought as articulated through his blockbuster book, The Enchantments of Mammon: How Capitalism Became the Religion of Modernity, and his forthcoming book on technological automation.
- Jakob Hanschu is hosting a reading group this spring on the Dialectic of Enlightenment that will meet Wednesdays at 7 p.m. US Central Time, live on Zoom. The next session is Wednesday, April 16.
- Laurie Johnson is carrying on with her monthly chats. The Great Books reading group is still meeting on Thursday, April 10 at 7 p.m. US Central time, live on Zoom for our first session on The Grand Inquisitor by Dostoyevsky. Reading is not required, as Laurie will outline the arguments in the book, but if you want to read along, it’s encouraged!
- Harry Murray will be back for The Harry Murray Sessions this Spring (exact dates TBA) with a discussion on French Personalism, focusing mostlly on Mounier and Maritain, as well as Gabriel Marcel, Jacques Ellul, and Nikolai Berdyaev.
- Laurie Johnson will teach a class on Aristotle’s virtue ethics and the Aristotelian foundation of natural law in late Spring/early Summer. Exact dates TBA.
- Deacon Christopher May will be teaching a six-part series on Ivan Illich this Summer. Exact dates TBA.
Laurie’s new book is available at many booksellers and is also available in a Kindle edition. Her ongoing series of talks covers major themes from the book.
John Paul II Catholic Worker Farm:
Spring has sprung here on the farm in Kansas City! We are grateful for the greening grass, daffodil blooms, and warming weather. Our garlic and spinach survived the winter, and our community has been more motivated than ever to get cleaned up, organized, and ready for the year ahead.
The Maurin Academy and JPII Catholic Worker farm will jointly support an intern for a Worker-Scholar apprenticeship, starting as early as May and going at least through Summer of 2025, with the potential for a longer stay.
Please consider making a donation to The Maurin Academy to help us support this Worker-Scholar apprenticeship.
Previous Speakers and Guests:
Since our last newsletter we’ve had a variety of speakers and guests speak to us, including:
- Benjamin Studebaker, author of Legitimacy in Liberal Democracies gave a talk for The Maurin Academy patrons and for registrants of Eventbrite.
- Fred Neuhouser gave a talk for the Maurin Academy, inspired by his book Diagnosing Social Pathology: Rousseau, Hegel, Marx and Durkheim, Cambridge University Press, 2022.
- Author Jordan Daniel Wood talked to us recently about Incarnation and the Environment.
- Special Guest Prof. Martin Chung on “Catholic Social Teaching on Economic Life and the International Community”
- We interviewed author David Lay Williams about his book The Greatest of All Plagues: Economic Inequality From Plato to Marx
- Sociologist and Catholic worker Harry Murray spoke on “The Hospitality of Dorothy Day and Jacques Derrida.”
Podcast Highlights:
We continued with our Podcasts, Dustbowl Diatribes and Political Philosophy.
Here’s some of the latest:
- John Rao revisits Dustbowl Diatribes for an episode tracing periods of “sleep” and revival in Catholic history.
- Spencer and Laurie talk to David McKerracher of YouTube’s Theory Underground about his book, Timenergy, and also his plans for farming. (linked below)
- Laurie has released four and soon to be five episodes in her series Federalist 10 51, untangling the antiquated language of these important writings by the American founders having to do with important constitutional principles such as the separation of powers and checks and balances.
- Maurin Academy YouTube
- Maurin Academy Political Philosophy: Dr. Laurie M Johnson
- Dustbowl Diatribes on many podcasting platforms.
- Maurin Academy Instagram
Courses:
Deacon Chris May taught a four-part course on “The Spiritual Crises of Modernity: From Nominalism to Nihilism.” Segments of his course are made public on the Maurin Academy YouTube channel. For full access to this and other courses, subscribe to The Maurin Academy on Patreon or check us out on Eventbrite.
Some articles from and about Maurin Academy co-founders:
A Catholic Worker seeks authentic life on the land: Catholic Worker Spencer Hess seeks to put the thought of Peter Maurin into action through his work at the JPII Catholic Worker Farm and the Maurin Academy.
The Catholic Worker Pushes the Limits: Still going strong after nine decades, a radical movement of sharing and caring proves it’s possible to escape and resist capitalism, to a point. By Laurie M. Johnson featured on Plough.
We Need a Society More Than We Need the Catholic Worker Movement. By Laurie M. Johnson featured on Catholic Worker Roundtable.
Living in Imperial Decline. By Laurie M. Johnson.
What we have been Reading
