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The Aaron Renn Show
Aaron Renn
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Aaron Renn's commentary and insights on our 21st century world, along with his conversations with some of the world's leading thinkers on the issues of today. Covering culture, media, economics, politics, Christianity and men's issues.
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Society & Culture
Society & Culture
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3d ago
LUKE ROBSON: Revitalizing Hillsdale, Michigan
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/
Episodes
3d ago
LUKE ROBSON: Revitalizing Hillsdale, Michigan
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/
Apr 15 2024
Identity Is the Foundation of Everything (Newsletter #87)
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/
Apr 8 2024
LEON PODLES: The Deep Roots of Men's Alienation from Church
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/
Apr 1 2024
PETER OSTAPKO: Curating Conversations on Faith, Fatherhood, and Work at Kinsmen Journal
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/
Mar 25 2024
DAVID MURROW: Why Men Hate Going to Church
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-20Subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.aaronrenn.com/
Mar 18 2024
Cultural Insurgency (Newsletter #86)
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.
Mar 11 2024
BRAD WILCOX: Get Married
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/
Mar 4 2024
JOSEPH HARTMAN: Why Reinhold Niebuhr Matters Today
Georgetown University professor Joseph Hartman joins me to discuss the 20th century theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, and why he still matters today.
Feb 26 2024
BRAD VERMURLEN: The Reformed Resurgence
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
Feb 19 2024
JOSH ABBOTOY: The Big Sort
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/highlandSubscribe to my newsletter: https://www.aaronrenn.com/
Feb 12 2024
Smashing the Status Hierarchy (Newsletter #85)
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.
Feb 5 2024
DWIGHT GIBSON: How to Be an Explorer
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/
Jan 29 2024
JOHN BURTKA: Statesmanship and Masculinity
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/
Jan 22 2024
ALEXANDRA HUDSON: The Soul of Civility
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/
Jan 15 2024
Why You Need a Positive Vision (Newsletter #84)
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.
Jan 8 2024
DARREN DOCHUK: How Christianity and Crude Oil Made Modern America
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/
Dec 18 2023
The Case Against Pragmatism (Newsletter #83)
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.
Dec 11 2023
BRAD LITTLEJOHN and CHRIS CASTALDO: Why Protestants Convert to Catholicism
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-convertSubscribe to my newsletter: https://www.aaronrenn.com/
Dec 4 2023
BEN MERKLE: Is Big Ed Too Big to Fail?
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-failSubscribe to my newspaper: https://www.aaronrenn.com/
Nov 27 2023
NANCY PEARCEY: The Toxic War on Masculinity
Nancy Pearcey, a professor at Houston Christian University, joins me to discuss her book The Toxic War on Masculinity: How Christianity Reconciles the Sexes. Pearcey was named one of the top five women apologists by Christianity Today and hailed in The Economist as America's preeminent evangelical Protestant female intellectual.Buy The Toxic War on Masculinity: https://www.amazon.com/Toxic-War-Masculinity-Christianity-Reconciles-ebook/dp/B0B6Q3BCG8/Subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.aaronrenn.com/