Discussing the life and legacy of Pope Francis with Dr. Rudolf J. Siebert

On May 31st, 2025, I sat down with the critical theorist and Catholic theologian, Dr. Rudolf J. Siebert, to discuss the life, work, and legacy of Pope Francis. We discussed the Pope’s life before the papacy, the twelve years of his papacy, and the numerous ways in which he “changed the tone” of the Catholic Church, making it more inclusive and open to the world. Elected in 2013, Pope Francis died on Easter Monday, 2025. To the end, he maintained his positions against Russia’s war on Ukraine, Israel’s genocide of Palestinians, and the need to address Global Climate Change before it is too late. In many ways, Pope Francis was a force unto himself, as he, as Dr. Siebert says, put the poor at the forefront of faith, as the church should be a “field hospital” as opposed to a bunker. Our discourse was sponsored by Ekpyrosis Press and the Institute for Critical Social Theory.

“Where Id is, Ego shall be”: A Freud Portrait for a Freud Book

On April 1st, 2025, I had the opportunity to meet with the great portrait artist, Mahalia Stelter, an alumna of The University of Olivet, to celebrate the publication of the new book, Sigmund Freud as a Critical Social Theorist: Psychoanalysis and the Neurotic in Contemporary Society, edited by Seyed Javad Miri and I. Mahalia’s portrait of Freud was used for the cover of the book, and was photographed by Aubrey Helfrich. The book is published by Brill (Leiden, Netherlands), and is available for purchase via Brill’s website, or through Amazon. Get your copy of the Freudian goodness now, or have your institution order a copy.

For a discussion on Freud and his relevance to the Frankfurt School, see my discussion with Dr. Rudolf J. Siebert.

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