In this episode, Tim Chapman discusses how traditional conservatives are engaging with the Trump administration. He's the president of Advancing American Freedom, an advocacy group set up by former Vice President Mike Pence. We discuss: What traditional conservatism is and what it's future is in the age of populism and Trumpism What Advancing Ameri…

In this episode, sociologist Musa al-Gharbi discusses his book We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite. How should we understand the "woke" phenomenon? Where did it come from? Why do elite whites claim to be marginalized, while showing little care for genuinely marginalized people around them like the service workers the…

Jon Askonas is a professor of politics at Catholic University. He wrote an interesting piece for Comment magazine on how Americans went from seeing technology as a source of progress to viewing it as leading us to an apocalypse. He joins us to discuss: How and why did this shift take place? Why are we so anxious? How should we live in this age of a…

Academia is almost entirely dominated by the left. Robert George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton, has thrived in it as a strong Catholic. But is it possible for conservatives and Christians to follow the same path today? What are the signs of optimism both for conservatives in academia, but also for a healthier climate for academ…

Ryan Williams is the president of the Claremont Institute. Claremont is the institutional base of West Coast Straussianism, and has long been known for its fellowship programs and quarterly journal The Claremont Review of Books. It has attracted controversy in the Trump era for its willingness to engage with dissident ideas. It published the mega-v…

Despite major progress in civil rights, black economic uplift, and even electing a black President, the question of race continues to be an ongoing major issue in the United States. There are continuing significant racial disparities between races. A black underclass still remains in America. And political and cultural debates around race continue …

Justin Shubow is the president of the National Civic Art Society, a non-profit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. that promotes the classical and humanistic tradition in public art and architecture. He was also formerly the chairman of the US Commission of Fine Arts. He joins me to talk about our public buildings and how to make them be…

Bestselling author Rod Dreher has a knack for putting his finger on what people are going to be talking about next. He's done it again with his new book on re-enchantment, Living in Wonder. He joins us today to talk about embracing what historian Tom Holland calls the "weird stuff" in Christianity. What does it mean for the world to be enchanted? I…

Os Guinness is an author and social critic. Yes, he is related to the Guinness brewing family. He has an incredible life story, being born in China to medical missionaries and living through the communist takeover there. He has a DPhil from Oxford and has been involved with many eminent organizations ranging from the Brookings Institution to the Tr…

Delano Squires is a Research Fellow in Life, Religion and Family at the Heritage Foundation, and a contributor to the Blaze. He joins me today to talk about the enduring relevance of the call to manhood and family, and how to live that out in today's world. Subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.aaronrenn.com/…

Stephen Eide is a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute who studies homelessness and mental illness. He joins me to discuss his new article in National Affairs magazine about how to help the homeless and those who struggle at the very bottom of society. Read Eide's article: https://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/uplifting-the-man-fa…

Austin Knuppe is an assistant professor of political science at Utah State University specializing in Foreign Policy, International Politics, Middle East Politics, and War. He's the author of a recent book on how Iraqis survived the Islamic State. He joins me to discuss Christians in the Middle East. Once sizable Christian populations there have de…

Journalist and AEI Senior Fellow Tim Carney joins me to discuss his new book Family Unfriendly: How Our Culture Made Raising Kids Much Harder Than It Needs to Be Read Jason Jewell's review of the book: https://americanreformer.org/2024/09/the-war-on-ordinary-families/ Buy the book: https://www.amazon.com/Family-Unfriendly-Culture-Raising-Harder-ebo…

Nate Fischer, Founder and CEO of New Founding, joins us to talk about his firm's investment strategy, and particularly the macro forces that will be shaping the society and economy of tomorrow. Read the New Founding Strategy: https://www.newfounding.com/post/strategy Subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.aaronrenn.com/…

While divorce rates have fallen from their peak, they are still very high, with women initiating the vast majority of them. The divorce rate among American Christians is also too high. While divorce is difficult for non-religious men, Christian men face unique issues. Their churches are likely to blame them for the divorce, and they are likely to l…

James Davison Hunter is a renowned sociologist at the University of Virginia who introduced the term "culture war" to the US discourse. He's a leading expert on cultural change and cultural battles in America. He joins me to discuss his new book Democracy and Solidarity: On the Cultural Roots of America's Political Crisis, which tells the deep cult…

Joshua Klein, editor of Mortise and Tenon magazine, joins me to talk about his love of traditional wood construction techniques, and the value of craftsmanship and manual work. In addition to the magazine, Klein is also an Associate Fellow in Mechanical Arts at Greystone Theological Institute. Buy Mortise and Tenon Magazine: https://www.mortiseandt…

Jon Tyson, founding and senior pastor of Church of the City in New York, joins me to talk about the urban church in today's world. Tyson discusses: How to deal with the constant population churn in the city? The differences between pre-Covid and post-Covid New York How Covid wiped out 70% of what Tim Keller and others built over the previous 35 yea…

Oren Cass is founder of American Compass, a reformist center-right think tank seeking to look beyond dogmatic adherence to libertarian economics. He joins me to talk about the future of the American worker. American Compass: https://americancompass.org/ Subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.aaronrenn.com/…

Artificial intelligence is the hot topic of the tech world today. But how do we make sense of it? Dean Ball is a Research Fellow in the Artificial Intelligence & Progress Project at the Mercatus Center, who also writes a Substack on the subject. He joins me to discuss this new AI technology and how to regulate it. Subscribe to Dean Ball's Substack:…

BYX (Beta, Upsilon, Chi in Greek, for Brothers Under Christ and pronounced "Bucks") is a Christian college fraternity. National director Jared Musgrove and Georgia chapter member Will Pesch join me to talk about this fraternity and how it shapes young men in a campus environment. BYX Website: https://byx.org/ Subscribe to my newsletter: https://www…

Miami and South Florida have been booming. City of Miami Mayor Francis Suarez joins me to talk about their success and the "Miami model" of urbanism. We discuss: - Miami's transition from America's most dangerous big city to one of its safest. - Why Miami is an emerging national and global business center - The inflection points that boosted Miami'…

American Enterprise Institute scholar Yuval Levin joins me to discuss his new book American Covenant: How the Constitution Unified Our Nation—and Could Again. While many today argue that the US Constitution is dead or obsolete, Levin argues that the Constitution is actually the path forward for creating unity in our deeply divided republic. Buy the…

Miles Smith is an assistant professor of history at Hillsdale College. He joins me to discuss what he learned from reading exvangelical memoirs and books about Christian nationalism. Miles Smith's "Reading the Exvangelicals": https://mereorthodoxy.com/reading-the-exvangelicals Subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.aaronrenn.com/…

Matthew Peterson, editor-in-chief of the Blaze and founding editor of the American Mind, joins me to talk about the media and conservative media landscape in America today. Visit the Blaze: https://www.theblaze.com/ Subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.aaronrenn.com/Kirjoittanut Aaron Renn

Georgetown Professor Joshua Mitchell, author of the book American Awakening: Identity Politics and Other Afflictions of Our Time, joins me to talk about what factors caused the rise of identity politics in America. Buy the book: https://www.amazon.com/American-Awakening-Identity-Politics-Afflictions/dp/1641771305/?&_encoding=UTF8&tag=theurban-20 Su…

Newsweek opinion editor Batya Ungar-Sargon joins me to discuss her recent book Second Class: How the Elites Betrayed America's Working Men and Women. It's a look at the travails facing America's working class. Read my review of Second Class: https://www.city-journal.org/article/review-of-second-class-by-batya-ungar-sargon Buy the book: https://www.…

Richard V. Reeves is the president of the American Institute for Boys and Men. He's also the author of the acclaimed book Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do about It. He joins me to discuss the problems facing today's American men, and why he thinks "keep it boring" is the right strategy. Buy the book…

Farah Stockman is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and member of the New York Times editorial board. She's also the author of the great book American Made: What Happens to People When Work Disappears. Her book chronicles the closure and relocation to Mexico of a Rexnord bearing plant in Indianapolis in the wake of the 2016 presidential election.…

Jonathan Whitehead, a lawyer who has been active in Southern Baptist institutional life for many years, joins me to discuss the future of the SBC. We will focus on the SBC's upcoming convention in Indianapolis, where several key issues will be debated and addressed.Kirjoittanut Aaron Renn

Dr. Anthony Bradley joins me to talk about why the evangelical church struggles to attract men. We will discuss the state of men in America, the matrilineal nature of evangelicalism, and what needs to change to make the church more relevant. Bradley is the author of the book Heroic Fraternities: How College Men Can Save Universities and America. Bu…

Dr. Ewan Goligher is a scientist at the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute. He's the author of the book How Should We then Die?: A Christian Response to Physician-Assisted Death. He joins me to discuss physician-assisted suicide from a Christian point of view. Buy his book: https://www.amazon.ca/How-Should-then-Die-Physician-Assisted/dp/16…

Three years ago I recorded a podcast series on the American postwar conservative moment. One of the episodes focused on the way that the nascent conservatives responded to the campus unrest of the 1960s. Since campus protests are again in the news, I'm reposting my thoughts from that old episode. Subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.aaronrenn.co…

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 establis…

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…

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.ama…

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://…

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? …

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 …

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.Kirjoittanut Aaron Renn

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 po…

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/Kirjoittanut Aaron Renn

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 …

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.aar…

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 newslette…

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/Kirjoittanut Aaron Renn

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 …

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:…