Ask Nathan Anything 2: Self-Absorption Boogaloo

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

If you were playing a Crusader Kings game and the Pope excommunicated your character and you were sick of him and didn't want to meet his demands to lift it so you decided to join a heresy would you choose Cathar, Fraticelli, Lollard or Waldensian?

[In theory just converting to Orthodox would be the best move especially since that effectively let's you pick your own Pope but we'll assume that's not an option for practicality purposes)

As a follow up, if your character was actually a faithful Catholic would you rather join the Benedictine or Dominican Order?

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Who is your favorite Kennedy

Rosemary.

If you were playing a Crusader Kings game and the Pope excommunicated your character and you were sick of him and didn't want to meet his demands to lift it so you decided to join a heresy would you choose Cathar, Fraticelli, Lollard or Waldensian?

[In theory just converting to Orthodox would be the best move especially since that effectively let's you pick your own Pope but we'll assume that's not an option for practicality purposes)

As a follow up, if your character was actually a faithful Catholic would you rather join the Benedictine or Dominican Order?

Probably Benedictine, again going by the orders in real life. I like the ~aesthetic~ and spirituality behind the early mendicant orders, and I very much admire St. Dominic and especially St. Francis, but politically and especially militarily the Dominicans and Franciscans got up to some pretty bad stuff, roaming the countryside harassing Jews, scapegoating heretics and sometimes also gay men, etc.--the "DEUS VULT" kind of Catholic politics has never agreed with me at all, and I associate it much more with the mendicant orders than with the Benedictines.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

What are your thoughts on John Rawls?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Who is your favorite Kennedy

Rosemary.

If you were playing a Crusader Kings game and the Pope excommunicated your character and you were sick of him and didn't want to meet his demands to lift it so you decided to join a heresy would you choose Cathar, Fraticelli, Lollard or Waldensian?

[In theory just converting to Orthodox would be the best move especially since that effectively let's you pick your own Pope but we'll assume that's not an option for practicality purposes)

As a follow up, if your character was actually a faithful Catholic would you rather join the Benedictine or Dominican Order?

Probably Benedictine, again going by the orders in real life. I like the ~aesthetic~ and spirituality behind the early mendicant orders, and I very much admire St. Dominic and especially St. Francis, but politically and especially militarily the Dominicans and Franciscans got up to some pretty bad stuff, roaming the countryside harassing Jews, scapegoating heretics and sometimes also gay men, etc.--the "DEUS VULT" kind of Catholic politics has never agreed with me at all, and I associate it much more with the mendicant orders than with the Benedictines.

Funny, because that sort of thing is the sort of thing people play Crusader Kings games for.

How would you react if church handed out plastic ziplock bags and asked to fill them with dirt from a place you are "rooted" and bring them to church the next week but didn't say why?

I dug up mine from the dirt around the pond right by where I work this morning.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Do you like dank Christian memes?

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

What are your thoughts on John Rawls?

Generally positive. I haven't made enough of a specific study of him to say for sure, but I can tell that he's a hell of a lot better than most of what passes for political and social philosophy these days.

How would you react if church handed out plastic ziplock bags and asked to fill them with dirt from a place you are "rooted" and bring them to church the next week but didn't say why?

I'd be confused, but I wouldn't see any particular reason not to do so. I can imagine a social teaching-focused Catholic parish doing something like that.

Do you like dank Christian memes?

I don't like all dank Christian memes, but this one is fantastic, yeah.

[KoopaDaQuick 🇵🇸]

If '68 George Wallace was resurrected and somehow became the Dem nominee in 2020, would you support him over Trump?

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

If '68 George Wallace was resurrected and somehow became the Dem nominee in 2020, would you support him over Trump?

No, but I'd grit my teeth and support '72 or '76 George Wallace over Trump.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Which is better: The Godfather or The Shawshank Redemption?

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Which is better: The Godfather or The Shawshank Redemption?

I actually haven't seen The Godfather all the way through--I haven't been avoiding it or anything; I just haven't made time for it yet--but I've seen parts of it, and I like what I've seen of it better than The Shawshank Redemption. I've never found Andy Dufresne to be a very compelling protagonist, although there are other things Shawshank does very well.

[Wikipedia delenda est]

How do you reconcile the doctrine of Papal infallibility with the fact that men such as Rodrigo Borgia have sat on the throne of St. Peter?

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

How do you reconcile the doctrine of Papal infallibility with the fact that men such as Rodrigo Borgia have sat on the throne of St. Peter?

Infallibility=/=impeccability. A Pope can be the nastiest, most low-down son of a bitch who ever lived and still not formally teach heresy in his capacity as Pope, which is all Papal infallibility means.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Name your top five favorite philosophers/political theorists.

Philosophers:

Nagarjuna
Pseudo-Dionysius
David Hume (surprisingly)
Immanuel Kant
Martin Buber

Political theorists:

Mencius
Whatever absolute FF seventeenth-century Englishman wrote this poem
Eduard Bernstein
Walter Benjamin
Giorgio Agamben (sometimes)

Figures are chronological within each list. The fact that each list begins with an Asian philosopher before moving into the Western tradition is coincidental and I assure you that Nagarjuna and Mencius aren't there as tokens.

What would you say is a good introduction to Giorgio Agamben?


Also, do you have a favorite Secretary of State?

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Name your top five favorite philosophers/political theorists.

Philosophers:

Nagarjuna
Pseudo-Dionysius
David Hume (surprisingly)
Immanuel Kant
Martin Buber

Political theorists:

Mencius
Whatever absolute FF seventeenth-century Englishman wrote this poem
Eduard Bernstein
Walter Benjamin
Giorgio Agamben (sometimes)

Figures are chronological within each list. The fact that each list begins with an Asian philosopher before moving into the Western tradition is coincidental and I assure you that Nagarjuna and Mencius aren't there as tokens.

What would you say is a good introduction to Giorgio Agamben?

I'm honestly not sure. My introduction to him was reading Wikipedia articles about his concepts until I decided to take the leap and start plowing through some of his books, but that's probably not the ideal method. Homo Sacer and State of Exception are the two famous ones so maybe start with one of those?

Side note: As a student, he played the Apostle Philip in Pasolini's Gospel According to St. Matthew.

Also, do you have a favorite Secretary of State?

I'm afraid I'm not sure about this either. I don't lack for opinions about foreign policy, but it's not my main focus of interest. I'm tempted to say Stettinius, but iirc he was genuinely pretty soft on communism (unlike many other midcentury liberals who were accused of being so).

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

What is your opinion of this song?

Fun fact: Not only is Hayley Williams the guest vocalist on this, this is also her favorite band.

[RFayette]

Do you think Aquinas’s proofs, especially his first 3 ways, are sufficient to demonstrate the existence of God beyond a reasonable doubt, by themselves?

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

What is your opinion of this song?

Fun fact: Not only is Hayley Williams the guest vocalist on this, this is also her favorite band.

I think it's great. The Sprechstimme delivery reminds me a little of a less hokey Fred Schneider. You really do like a lot of good music; it's just the screaming in the stuff you use to rile up the forum that I don't care for.

Do you think Aquinas’s proofs, especially his first 3 ways, are sufficient to demonstrate the existence of God beyond a reasonable doubt, by themselves?

No, I do not. Indeed I don't think the existence of God ever has been demonstrated beyond a reasonable doubt, although as Rowan Williams has pointed out it's good to have "proofs" like Aquinas's to demonstrate that belief isn't just completely irrational. To use the awful Dawkinsite terminology for this, I'm not a "gnostic theist".

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

What is your opinion of this song?

Fun fact: Not only is Hayley Williams the guest vocalist on this, this is also her favorite band.

I think it's great. The Sprechstimme delivery reminds me a little of a less hokey Fred Schneider. You really do like a lot of good music; it's just the screaming in the stuff you use to rile up the forum that I don't care for.

Do you think Aquinas’s proofs, especially his first 3 ways, are sufficient to demonstrate the existence of God beyond a reasonable doubt, by themselves?

No, I do not. Indeed I don't think the existence of God ever has been demonstrated beyond a reasonable doubt, although as Rowan Williams has pointed out it's good to have "proofs" like Aquinas's to demonstrate that belief isn't just completely irrational. To use the awful Dawkinsite terminology for this, I'm not a "gnostic theist".

I forgot to mention that as arguments for or against the existence of God go I do think the cosmological argument (of which the first three ways are all variants) is a fairly good one, although the argument from degrees and the teleological argument are dreadful. (Simili modo, Anselm's ontological argument is, in my view, so bad it's good.)

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

What is your opinion of this song?

Fun fact: Not only is Hayley Williams the guest vocalist on this, this is also her favorite band.

I think it's great. The Sprechstimme delivery reminds me a little of a less hokey Fred Schneider. You really do like a lot of good music; it's just the screaming in the stuff you use to rile up the forum that I don't care for.

That actually WAS a pretty screamy band when they got that started. However ten years ago they put out a baroque folk album of all things, and then basically switched to a combination of the styles. What's amazing is the fact that ALL their music is good, no matter the style. There's not many bands I'd expect that for.

Although I suspect your reaction to that when I heard "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms" my reaction was "oh yeah the hymn that's quoted in Watermelon Ascot" would probably be similar to the ones people had to me calling Jack Kerouac "the guy who's mentioned in a Jawbreaker song."

How about the most well known band from Collin Peterson's district?

(I love that video since I went to that place SO MANY TIMES I  my childhood.)

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

What is your opinion of this song?

Fun fact: Not only is Hayley Williams the guest vocalist on this, this is also her favorite band.

I think it's great. The Sprechstimme delivery reminds me a little of a less hokey Fred Schneider. You really do like a lot of good music; it's just the screaming in the stuff you use to rile up the forum that I don't care for.

That actually WAS a pretty screamy band when they got that started. However ten years ago they put out a baroque folk album of all things, and then basically switched to a combination of the styles. What's amazing is the fact that ALL their music is good, no matter the style. There's not many bands I'd expect that for.

Although I suspect your reaction to that when I heard "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms" my reaction was "oh yeah the hymn that's quoted in Watermelon Ascot" would probably be similar to the ones people had to me calling Jack Kerouac "the guy who's mentioned in a Jawbreaker song."

Similar, but not quite as strong. "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms" is (unfortunately) not quite the mass-cultural touchstone that Kerouac is. Lots of people know it from either The Night of the Hunter or the Coen Brothers True Grit.

How about the most well known band from Collin Peterson's district?

(I love that video since I went to that place SO MANY TIMES I  my childhood.)

Pretty fun! I genuinely love the video concept.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

1. Personal liberation, or sociopolitical reform? I pose this question to you because you are both a Christian and a socialist. Marxists (to my limited knowledge) have for years decried that religion may call one to look inward, viewing one's personal cosmic status as a salve and a distraction from the true fight--class liberation. Rather, many philosophical materialists on the left would prefer to focus on material, social problems at hand. I have my own thoughts on this but have generally drifted in a "set your own attitude" direction over the past few years, in part because I think at some point you've got to draw the line on how your personal difficulties relate to some big ol' superstructure and be willing to self improve ("Yes, your job may be mind-numbing, but what you do outside of it is your prerogative" type of stuff). Perhaps a clumsy way of asking whether you prioritize the social or the personal.

2. You ever encounter Hannah Arendt? I've only read a few things by her, and they can be hard to get through (On Revolution still lies on my bookshelf, only half read--I like to think I read the good half). Nevertheless, even though the conclusion of her On Violence is something I can never seem to actually remember, it remains probably my favorite piece of political theory I read in undergrad. This is partly because she tries to delineate between "power", its antithesis "force", and a variety of other political terms, such as "authority", and does so in what I at least felt at the time was remarkable fashion.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

1. Personal liberation, or sociopolitical reform? I pose this question to you because you are both a Christian and a socialist. Marxists (to my limited knowledge) have for years decried that religion may call one to look inward, viewing one's personal cosmic status as a salve and a distraction from the true fight--class liberation. Rather, many philosophical materialists on the left would prefer to focus on material, social problems at hand. I have my own thoughts on this but have generally drifted in a "set your own attitude" direction over the past few years, in part because I think at some point you've got to draw the line on how your personal difficulties relate to some big ol' superstructure and be willing to self improve ("Yes, your job may be mind-numbing, but what you do outside of it is your prerogative" type of stuff). Perhaps a clumsy way of asking whether you prioritize the social or the personal.

False choice. In principle the individual takes precedence, but in practice there is no individual without society and there is no society without individuals. A person's private self and public self do have a lot of important differences, but fundamentally they are the same being and that being can only be lifted up or cast down as a whole.

2. You ever encounter Hannah Arendt? I've only read a few things by her, and they can be hard to get through (On Revolution still lies on my bookshelf, only half read--I like to think I read the good half). Nevertheless, even though the conclusion of her On Violence is something I can never seem to actually remember, it remains probably my favorite piece of political theory I read in undergrad. This is partly because she tries to delineate between "power", its antithesis "force", and a variety of other political terms, such as "authority", and does so in what I at least felt at the time was remarkable fashion.

The only Arendt I've read is Eichmann in Jerusalem, which I dislike mostly because of her open racism against the poorer, more religious Ostjuden in the then-newish State of Israel. (Sort of the same stable of racist tropes as the Ostjuden themselves deployed against non-Ashkenazim.) I'm told her other work has less of that kind of problem, though.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

How has your Master's degree in theology been useful to you personally?  Asking this as someone who would like to finish my theology degree if and when I'm able to reenter the academic world, but am nervous about finding lucrative employment to pay all the student debt off.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

How has your Master's degree in theology been useful to you personally?  Asking this as someone who would like to finish my theology degree if and when I'm able to reenter the academic world, but am nervous about finding lucrative employment to pay all the student debt off.

In terms of finding lucrative employment specifically? It hasn't been, at all, and I'd never sugarcoat it by claiming otherwise. In terms of pursuing other personal goals such as self-enrichment, publication as a writer, interpersonal relationships with other religion-minded people, and volunteer and charity work, it's been invaluable.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

There's over 12k members of my Facebook group "90s Hardcore/emo Records, CDs, Tapes and Zines"

Of those 12k, what number do you estimate are Catholic?