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The Analyst & The Fool

Written by: Brandon Wilson & Christian Van Dyke
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  • Summary

  • Have you ever wondered to yourself: "How am I here? What is holding the universe together?" Have you ever driven yourself insane trying to understand all of the different methods and theories humanity has used to answer these terrible questions? Understanding the universe and humanity's place within it is an absurd undertaking. Nevertheless, it is an undertaking that has driven and baffled humanity for millennia. Fear not dear listener! Brandon Wilson and Christian Van Dyke are here to share in your confusion. Don your jester caps and professor robes as we analyze the laughably absurd! Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/theanalystandthefool/support
    Brandon Wilson & Christian Van Dyke
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Episodes
  • Counting Down the Christmas Clock with Mr. Grinch

    Counting Down the Christmas Clock with Mr. Grinch
    Dec 23 2023

    Blast this music... it's joyful and triumphant!

    This Christmas we engage in one of the most important ontological discussions since the debates over the nature of Christ at the Councils of Nicea and Chalcedon: What is the Grinch and Why is the Grinch?

    Using Jim Carrey's version of "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" as our basis, we explore the wacky world of Who reproduction--exploring where babies come from--and primarily engage with The Grinch's struggle to regain a will to power stripped away from him in his youth. However, the film leaves us hanging a little bit on this front: does the Grinch surrender himself to a status quo in Whoville? Or does he bring about a real transformation of Whoville by relinquishing his resentment of the Whos and Christmas? All of this, and more, will be discussed!

    Merry Christmas to all, Happy New Year, and Happy Holidays! We appreciate your continuous support.

    *Content Warning*

    There are mentions of sexuality throughout this episode, especially since characters in the film are... umm... subtly sexually involved? There is a brief discussion of eugenics and ableism as we investigate a Platonic interpretation of the film. We do not endorse these views and actively oppose them.

    --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/theanalystandthefool/support
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    1 hr and 3 mins
  • Brandon Wilson -- Mormonism, Theurgy, and the Theurgic

    Brandon Wilson -- Mormonism, Theurgy, and the Theurgic
    Dec 22 2023
    For this special episode of The Analyst & The Fool, we bring you one of our first episodes ever recorded. In this episode, we dissect this amorphous blob called Brandon Wilson; a PhD student at Claremont Graduate University. Brandon details a bit about his intellectual biography as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, getting introduced to the writings of Hugh Nibley, learning to think critically and ask penetrating questions about his faith, and how that led him to study esoteric subjects such as Neoplatonism, Hermeticism, and theosophy under Jeffrey Kripal and Claire Fanger at Rice University. Now, Brandon is bringing these approaches to Mormon Studies in how Latter-day Saints experience their temple ordinances through comparing them with Neoplatonic theurgy. Invoking the comparative hermeneutics of Algis Uzdavinys in his work Philosophy and Theurgy in Late Antiquity, Brandon explores how Mormonism’s temple practices can be categorized as “theurgic” in nature, ritual actions that aid initiates to bring themselves into higher states of consciousness and align their actions with the actions of God. In this sense, Latter-day Saints aim to create heaven on this earth through these processes, thereby making God immanent and subject to human action/inaction. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/theanalystandthefool/support
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    1 hr and 3 mins
  • Christian Van Dyke -- Mormon Studies and the Ethics of Comparative Religion

    Christian Van Dyke -- Mormon Studies and the Ethics of Comparative Religion
    Dec 22 2023
    For this special episode of The Analyst & The Fool, we bring you our very first episodes ever recorded. In this episode, we dissect this thing called Christian Van Dyke. He is a PhD student at Claremont Graduate University and, in this episode, we discuss his approach to Mormon Studies, Comparative Religion, and philosophy. Christian tells his background and journey to CGU’s Philosophy and Religious Thought program which has compelled him to be involved in Mormon Studies but made him apprehensive at the same time. He talks about four foundational texts that have motivated his work and his approach to the study of “religion” throughout his academic career. These texts are Brian Birch’s “A Portion of God’s Light: Mormonism and Religious Pluralism,” Donald Davidson’s “On the Very Idea of a Conceptual Scheme,” Eugene England’s “On Becoming a World Religion: Blacks, the Poor– All of Us,” And Peter Winch’s “Understanding a Primitive Religion.” These texts have helped Christian develop an ethic of comparative religion that argues that there is no neutral place from which to talk about “religion” and to always be mindful that comparison may say more about the one doing the comparing than what the things being compared might or might not actually have in common. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/theanalystandthefool/support
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    1 hr and 21 mins
Philosophy Social Sciences
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