Category: Christianity

The Fromm Connection: A Discourse

On December 7th, 2024, I had the wonderful opportunity to join Rudy Leal McCormack and Maior Levitin on “The Fromm Connection,” wherein we discussed a variety of topics as they related to my recent publication, “Can Religion be Rescued in the 21st Century: On Erich Fromm’s Religious Humanism in an Age of Authoritarian Populism” (Journal of Psychosocial Studies). I deeply appreciate their invitation to discuss Erich Fromm and his continual relevance to today’s society.

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NEW ARTICLE on Russian Multipolarity and the Dār al-Islām:

I’m pleased to announce that my latest article, entitled, “From ‘We want to destroy the regime’ to ‘We want to destroy the world order’: Russian Multipolarity and the Enlistment of the Post-Arab Spring Dār al-Islām,” has now been published. It was a part of a special issue on Contemporary Muslim Thought for the journal Philosophy and Society 35, no. 3 (University of Belgrade, Serbia). In the article, I discuss Putin’s (and Alexander Dugin’s) attempt to take advantage of the turmoil in the Muslim world, especially the Middle East, to enlist their support in Russia’s rightwing challenge to the American-led Neo-liberal “rules based order” and the dismal prospects of such a “multipolar” affront to unipolarity being effective.

It is available here: “From ‘We want to destroy the Regime’ to ‘We want to destroy the World Order.'”

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New Book Coming in November:

I’m pleased to announce that my latest co-edited book, “Sigmund Freud as a Critical Social Theorist: Psychoanalysis and the Neurotic in Contempoary Society” will be released at the end of November, 2024. My co-editor, Seyed Javad Miri, and I conceived of this book amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, as we were both reading Freud. We wanted to show not that Freud was right about everything – he certainly wasn’t, but rather that Freud’s work continues to be theoretically fruitful in a variety of disciplines and subject. Thus, the thread that unites the chapters in the book is the realization that Freud is not dead, but rather is alive and well within critical social theory.

The portrait of Freud used for the cover was painted by a former student of mine at The University of Olivet, Mahalia Stelter, who is an amazing portrait artist. It was a great pleasure to commission the painting for the purpose of this book.

Contributors: Joan Braune, Jimmy Butts, Dustin J. Byrd, Mlado Ivanovic, Clint Jones, Howard L. Kaye, Ulrike Kistner, Lauren Langman, Gregory Joseph Menillo, Seyed Javad Miri, Michael Naughton, Délia Popa, Francesco Ranci, Iaan Reynolds, Rudolf J. Siebert, Yannis Stavrakakis, Alfred I. Tauber, Michael J. Thompson, Eli Zaretsky

Freud as a Critical Social Theorist: Psychoanalysis and the Neurotic in Contemporary Society

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Genius of the German World – The University of Olivet in Germany and Austria

From April 29th through May 12th, I had the great opportunity to teach a course entitled “Genius of the German World” for The University of Olivet. We traveled to Berlin, Wittenberg, Leipzig, Weimar, Erfurt, Eisenach, Nürnberg, Vienna, Hallstatt, and Salzburg, to study great philosophers, composers, artists, religious figures, and psychoanalysts. Seven UO students, Prof. Mike Fales (Religious Studies), my friends Karen and Ken, and the great Tracey and Bryce Katz accompanied us on this amazing trip. We visited numerous museums, attended two concerts and one dinner concert, visited a variety of cathedrals and churches, one Augustinian monastery in Erfurt, and got to know many locals on our trains. The logistics of the trip were put together by Witte Travel and Tours (Grand Rapids), who did an amazing job setting up another demanding tour I designed. Below are some pictures from our journey.

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Erich Fromm and Religion

I had the distinct pleasure of joining fellow colleagues to discuss Erich Fromm and his critical understanding of religion. This discourse was sponsored by the Erich Fromm Society of North America, and took place on January 21st, 2024. It was hosted by Dr. Maor Levitin and Dr. George Lundskow. We were joined by Dr. Rudolf J. Siebert, Dr. Rainer Funk, Dr. Hille Haker, Dr. Sandra Buechler, Dr. Lauren Langman, Dr. Talmadge Wright, Dr. Mauricio Cortina, and others. My discourse pertains to the rescue of religion within the modern world. My discourse starts at the 48 minute mark.

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“Christian Resistance to Fascism” with Rudolf J. Siebert

On February 24th, 2024, I had the great honor of discussing the “Christian Resistance to Fascism” with the Critical Theorist and Catholic Theologian, Dr. Rudolf J. Siebert. This discourse follows up our last two, “The Fascist Temptation” and “The Democratic Response to the Far-Right and Fascism,” both available on the Rudolf J. Siebert Audio-Visual Archive on YouTube. In this discourse, Dr. Siebert discusses his experience with Christianity in the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich and its responses to the rise of fascism. Additionally, we discussed our current situation, wherein new versions of fascism have begun to arise within the Neo-liberal and post-secular states. This discourse was sponsored by Ekpyrosis Press and the Institute for Critical Social Theory.

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