For the New Christian Intellectual
Jacob Brunton and Cody Libolt
Recent Episodes
The Objectivism Book Study met through 2022 to study Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand, by Leonard Peikoff.
Our reading this week was:
- Ch. 8 – Pride as moral ambitiousness 303-309
- Ch. 8 – The initiation of physical force as evil 310-312
Is pride a good thing?
Yes and no.
Today we are looking at Ayn Rand’s understanding of pride as a virtue. We will compare this idea with Christian teaching.
After that discussion, we will to look at one major vice that Rand and Peikoff consider worthy of special investigation: the initiation of physical force.
Listen to the podcast in the player below, or view the video here.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
Why Christians Should Reconsider Ayn Rand
About Us (For the New Christian Intellectual)
Christianity + Western Civilization
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Video Version
Click here to find our replays on YouTube.
About the Podcast
For the New Christian Intellectual is a free show created for Christian thinkers and communicators.
We focus on classical (and overlooked) Christian principles such as reason, rational self-interest, individualism, and individual rights.
Subscribe to the show through Apple Podcasts to automatically get every episode.
How to Help
The best way to help more people find out about the show is to subscribe through Apple Podcasts, download several episodes, and leave us a review.
Listen to the Podcast
The Objectivism Book Study met through 2022 to study Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand, by Leonard Peikoff.
Our reading this week was:
- Justice as rationality in the evaluation of men (276-291)
- Productiveness as the adjustment of nature to man (292-303)
In Proverbs 25:2 we read:
“It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out.”
At FTNCI, we believe in searching out the truth, wherever it is to be found. Today we’re looking at Ayn Rand’s understanding of the virtues of Justice and Productiveness.
We read this with an eye toward how Christians in particular can benefit from the thought of Ayn Rand.
“Productive work,” writes Ayn Rand, “is the central purpose of a rational man’s life, the central value that integrates and determines the hierarchy of all his other values.”
Justice is the recognition of the fact “that every man must be judged for what he is and treated accordingly.”
Listen to the podcast in the player below, or view the video here.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
Why Christians Should Reconsider Ayn Rand
About Us (For the New Christian Intellectual)
Christianity + Western Civilization
Become a Patron and Get Full-Length Exclusive Podcasts
As a $1/mo. Podcast Insider, get access to occasional patron-only episodes.
As a $10/mo. Philosophy Club Member, you can attend occasional live podcast recording sessions and submit questions either live or beforehand + get access to our exclusive culture war training.
Video Version
Click here to find our replays on YouTube.
About the Podcast
For the New Christian Intellectual is a free show created for Christian thinkers and communicators.
We focus on classical (and overlooked) Christian principles such as reason, rational self-interest, individualism, and individual rights.
Subscribe to the show through Apple Podcasts to automatically get every episode.
How to Help
The best way to help more people find out about the show is to subscribe through Apple Podcasts, download several episodes, and leave us a review.
Listen to the Podcast
The Objectivism Book Study met through 2022 to study Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand, by Leonard Peikoff.
Our reading this week was:
- Integrity as loyalty to rational principles (259-266)
- Honesty as rejection of unreality (267-276)
Ayn Rand understood integrity as meaning loyalty to rational principles. And she understood honesty as the rejection of unreality.
These, along with the other virtues that Rand names, tend to be missing from our society, and even from our churches, in exactly the kind of way that would lead to the kind of situation that the world has descended into today.
Listen to the podcast in the player below, or view the video here.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
Why Christians Should Reconsider Ayn Rand
About Us (For the New Christian Intellectual)
Christianity + Western Civilization
Become a Patron and Get Full-Length Exclusive Podcasts
As a $1/mo. Podcast Insider, get access to occasional patron-only episodes.
As a $10/mo. Philosophy Club Member, you can attend occasional live podcast recording sessions and submit questions either live or beforehand + get access to our exclusive culture war training.
Video Version
Click here to find our replays on YouTube.
About the Podcast
For the New Christian Intellectual is a free show created for Christian thinkers and communicators.
We focus on classical (and overlooked) Christian principles such as reason, rational self-interest, individualism, and individual rights.
Subscribe to the show through Apple Podcasts to automatically get every episode.
How to Help
The best way to help more people find out about the show is to subscribe through Apple Podcasts, download several episodes, and leave us a review.
Listen to the Podcast
The Objectivism Book Study met through 2022 to study Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand, by Leonard Peikoff.
Our reading this week was:
-Values as objective 244-249 (cont.)
-Virtue (Introduction) 250
-Independence as a primary orientation to reality, not to other men 251-259
“There is a flow to history and culture. This flow is rooted and has its wellspring in the thoughts of people.”
That is a quote from Francis A. Schaeffer, in How Should We Then Live?
How should we live? That is the question to which the philosophical branch called ethics seeks to provide a robust answer.
What we’re exploring in the reading this week has a huge bearing on our understanding of theological topics.
Once again, we run into disagreements with mainstream Christian notions, especially the moral argument for the existence of God, which is often discussed by those who follow Van Til’s Presuppositionalism.
“Hear instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it. Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors. For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord, but he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death.”
-Proverbs 8:33-36 ESV
An area where we agree with Ayn Rand is that morality is practical, and it is based on life as the standard of value.
Listen to the podcast in the player below, or view the video here.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
Why Christians Should Reconsider Ayn Rand
About Us (For the New Christian Intellectual)
Christianity + Western Civilization
Become a Patron and Get Full-Length Exclusive Podcasts
As a $1/mo. Podcast Insider, get access to occasional patron-only episodes.
As a $10/mo. Philosophy Club Member, you can attend occasional live podcast recording sessions and submit questions either live or beforehand + get access to our exclusive culture war training.
Video Version
Click here to find our replays on YouTube.
About the Podcast
For the New Christian Intellectual is a free show created for Christian thinkers and communicators.
We focus on classical (and overlooked) Christian principles such as reason, rational self-interest, individualism, and individual rights.
Subscribe to the show through Apple Podcasts to automatically get every episode.
How to Help
The best way to help more people find out about the show is to subscribe through Apple Podcasts, download several episodes, and leave us a review.
Listen to the Podcast
The Objectivism Book Study met through 2022 to study Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand, by Leonard Peikoff.
Our reading in “Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand” this week was:
-The individual as the proper beneficiary of his own moral action 229-240
-Values as objective 241-244
We have come to the key idea in Ayn Rand’s ethics: Rational Egoism.
We are looking at the claim that “The individual is the proper beneficiary of his own moral action.”
This section is in many ways common sense. But the precise way of arguing is unique.
And some of Rand’s conclusions contradict ideas people accept as true today, especially within evangelical Christianity and other culture making institutions.
Related Resources:
Articles about “Goodness”
Discussion on the Is-Ought Dichotomy
Playlist: Christian Egoism
Articles about Rational Self-Interest:
Top New Testament Verses on Egoism
78 Verses For Understanding Holy Self-Interest in Christianity
A Flowchart of Self-Interest
Why Be Moral?
Listen to the podcast in the player below, or view the video here.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
Why Christians Should Reconsider Ayn Rand
About Us (For the New Christian Intellectual)
Christianity + Western Civilization
Become a Patron and Get Full-Length Exclusive Podcasts
As a $1/mo. Podcast Insider, get access to occasional patron-only episodes.
As a $10/mo. Philosophy Club Member, you can attend occasional live podcast recording sessions and submit questions either live or beforehand + get access to our exclusive culture war training.
Video Version
Click here to find our replays on YouTube.
About the Podcast
For the New Christian Intellectual is a free show created for Christian thinkers and communicators.
We focus on classical (and overlooked) Christian principles such as reason, rational self-interest, individualism, and individual rights.
Subscribe to the show through Apple Podcasts to automatically get every episode.
How to Help
The best way to help more people find out about the show is to subscribe through Apple Podcasts, download several episodes, and leave us a review.
Listen to the Podcast