I talk with Rusty Reno about the collapse of the postwar “open society” ideal and the return of people’s need for strong loyalties, meaning, and transcendence. We discuss how we got here after the world wars decimated Western civilization: emergent post-war social narratives and identities like nationalism, globalism, politics, “progress”, environmentalism, and transhumanism. Finally we discuss the crisis of masculinity and our ultimate hope in Christ.

Listen to this interview on the Symbolic World podcast: - Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1Vq9L0sM5WRtcx1pysxukm?si=RZ14tqXlQFO1YLmpVLNosA - Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/483-r-r-reno-the-return-of-the-strong-gods/id1386867488?i=1000791114556

Rusty Reno is the editor of First Things, a journal aimed at "advancing a religiously informed public philosophy for the ordering of society". He is the editor of the Brazos Theological Commentary on Scripture series and the author of several books, most recently Return of the Strong Gods: Nationalism, Populism and the Future of the West. For twenty years Reno taught theology at Creighton University.

Rusty’s book, Return of the Strong Gods: https://www.amazon.com/Return-Strong-Gods-Nationalism-Populism/dp/1621578003

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Our website designers: https://www.resonancehq.io/ My intro was arranged and recorded by Matthew Wilkinson: https://matthewwilkinson.net/