Category: Fascism

Talking Christian Nationalism in Scotland

On January 9th and 10th, I had the wonderful opportunity to participate in the “Whose Christianity Anyway: Theological Contestations in the Public and Political” conference at New College, School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh in Scotland. My presentation was entitled, “From the Cold War to the Warm Embrace: Russian Church-State Symphonia as a Template for the Re-Christianization of the United States.” The presentation sparked an excellent conversation about the nature of Christian Nationalism, why in particular the Russian model of “Symphonia” appeals to American Christian Nationalists, and the important differences between American Christian Nationalists and the Russian Orthodox Church. Our two keynote speakers, Jan-Werner Müller (Princeton) and Mariëtta van der Tol (Cambridge), gave very insightful presentations. A big thank you goes out to Thiu Elias and Stephen Dolan for all their hard work organizing the conference, and The University of Olivet for their financial support.

Whose Christianity Schedule and SessionsDownload

On the 11th of January, I was able to spend some time in Edinburgh as a simple American tourist, seeing numerous important landmarks, such as the Edinburgh castle, Victoria Street, Greyfriars Church and Kirkyard, and St. Giles Cathedral (where old fuss-and-feathers John Knox preached). Below are some pictures from the journey.

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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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Talking Erich Fromm with Dr. Rainer Funk

On Thursday, November 14th, 2024, I had the great pleasure of welcoming Dr. Rainer Funk into my course on Erich Fromm, “Visionary Thinkers: Freedom and Fear.” Dr. Funk spoke with my class via Zoom from Tübingen, Germany, where he is the Director of the Erich Fromm Institute, the Co-Director of the Erich Fromm Study Center at the International Psychoanalytic University (IPU) in Berlin, and a practicing psychoanalyst. He is Erich Fromm’s sole Literary Executor and among his publications are the 10-volume German edition of Erich Fromm Collected Works (1980 and 1981; expanded to 12-volumes in 1999). We were pleased to benefit from his knowledge of Erich Fromm and wisdom about the world.

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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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OUT NOW: The Many Faces of Populism: Perspectives from Critical Theory and Beyond

I’m pleased to announce the new edited volume, The Many Faces of Populism: Perspectives from Critical Theory and Beyond, which I co-edited with Mlado Ivanovic and Jeremiah Morelock, will be released by Brill this coming December.

Contributors include: Dustin J. Byrd, Emília Barna and Ágnes Patakfalvi-Czirják, Ronald Beiner, Samir Gandesha, Yonathan Listik, Grigoris Markou, Jeremiah Morelock and Felipe Ziotti Narita, Maria Cristina Dancham Simões and Carlos Antonio Giovinazzo Júnior, and Hassan Zaheer.

Order it directly through Brill, The Many Faces of Populism, or find it on Amazon.

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Erich Fromm and the Problem of Oikophobia

On September 15, 2024, I had the wonderful opportunity to present my work at the inaugural Erich Fromm Society of North America conference at Gonzaga University. My presentation was on the problem of “oikophobia,” or fear/hatred of all things our own). Oikophobia entails the pathological disavowal of all things Western, including the civilization, culture, history, religion, philosophy, etc. It has plagued a portion of the political Left, especially in academia. I argue that for the Left to abandon the Western inheritance is to leave it in the hands of the far-right, who will functionalize it as a tool of repression against all things “non-Western” residing in the West. What is needed is a dialectical approach to the Western inheritance, not an abstract negation. A video of my presentation can be found on the Dustin J. Byrd Audio-Visual Archive on YouTube.

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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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Just War Theory with Dr. Rudolf J. Siebert

On April 13, 2024, I had the great opportunity to talk with the Critical Theorist and WWII combat veteran, Rudolf J. Siebert, about St. Augustine’s Just War Theory, as well as its further development into international law. We also discussed the many times when the Just War Theory has been violated by those who proclaim their adherence to it, especially in the West. If you’d like more information on the work of Rudolf J. Siebert, see the website dedicated to his work: www.dialectical-religion.org

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