Cutting The Gordian Knot
Jacob Buscher
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Lighthearted and informative commentary on theological, philosophical, societal, and economic topics all from a Catholic perspective.
Available episodes
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Oldest first
3 days ago
Huge Announcement
We have a huge project in the works and need your help
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Jun 24, 2022
Well, It’s About Time
No really, this episode is all about Time. Philosophy of Time! I go through a number of different theories, objections and answers to each, and at the end I give my theory of time.
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Jun 20, 2022
A review of an economic article by Jacob Imam and Mark Barnes
You get to hear my comments as I read this article for the first time.
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Jun 17, 2022
Who is St. Augustine?
This is the first part in what will have to be a multipart series about my favorite theologian in the Catholic tradition: Saint Augustine
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Jun 13, 2022
A Catholic Approach to Patent Regulation
Do patents help or harm innovation? What’s the role of private property in promoting the common good? And what are some tweaks we can make to the current patent system that would make it better.
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Jun 10, 2022
Catholicism versus Calvinism: How much of TULIP is right?
We give a a rundown of TULIP and find a lot of common ground.
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Jun 6, 2022
Scriptural Exegesis: Noah’s Ark
We read the story of Noah’s ark and contrast it with the season of Pentecost.
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Jun 3, 2022
What to do about “Pride Month”
We give practical tips, explore the differences between the true religion and the secular one, read from the catechism, and discuss LGBTQ issues.
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May 30, 2022
All About Gun Violence
I lay out some solutions, talk about how best to deal with the discussion in general, critique other suggestions that have been made, and ramble on a bunch about guns.
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May 27, 2022
Taxes: Economics and Morality
We’ll talk about the moral and economic implications of various types of taxes and I will describe my ideal tax system.
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May 23, 2022
Revenge!
Is revenge ever okay? What does scripture say? What does Aquinas say? What does Augustine say? Listen and find out all this and more.
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May 20, 2022
Chatting With Pat Flynn
We have a wide ranging conversation that covers everything from the PSR to the finitude of the past, the De Ente to Intelligent design.
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May 16, 2022
Reading the Story of Joseph in Genesis
I give a little bit of commentary along the way. But if you’re like me it’s probably been a while since you’ve read the story and that’s a shame because it’s one of the best in the Old Testament.
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May 13, 2022
Inflation: 7 Solutions
Here I give a lot of economic background about monetary policy in general, comment on the actions of the federal reserve, explain how currency comes into existence, offer seven solutions to inflation, and even give some investment advice.
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May 9, 2022
Defending “Big T” Tradition and the Church’s teaching authority
I take more of a conceptual approach to the topic, comparing Tradition to Form and Scripture to Matter. As always email me at thegordianknot101@gmail.com with questions, comments, hate mail of anything else.
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May 6, 2022
Scriptural Exegesis: The Tower of Babel
We read through this passage and unpack what it means. If you have a passage that you would like me to address email me at thegordianknot101@gmail.com
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May 2, 2022
Annihilationism: 4 Philosophical Objections
Annihilationism is a strong view, Catholics need to take it seriously and be prepared to make strong counter-arguments.
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Apr 29, 2022
Education savings accounts
I share a little bit of my lobbying materials. I encourage you to advocate for education savings accounts in your state as well.
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Apr 25, 2022
New Argument For a Finite Past
This one is short but fun. If you are interested in this topic, I have an interview with Wade Tishammer on his argument in a earlier episode.
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Apr 22, 2022
Usury! Usury! Half The Sin It Used To Be
The Church changed its teaching on charging interest. Morality didn’t change, Scripture didn’t change, tradition didn’t change, reason didn’t change, but, the economic system did. The Church responded correctly. I’ll explain what Usury actually is and why it’s rare today.
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Apr 18, 2022
Interview with Rabbi Tovia Singer
Rabbi Tovia and I had a wonderful discussion covering lots of questions, dispelling common misunderstandings, and defending the Historicity of the Exodus and other vital events in our Faith.
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Apr 15, 2022
Interview with Vanessa Forsblad on Apologetics in the University
Vanessa has a YouTube channel, “ That one Catholic girl” on this episode she shares her story and some of her experiences defending the Faith in an environment that is anything but amenable to her convictions.
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Apr 11, 2022
Why Distributism must be stopped!
I know it’s cool and trendy in Catholic circles to consider Distributism as an alternative to the Free-Market. But that’s a bad idea and here’s why.
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Apr 8, 2022
Holy Week
I’m talking about Holy Week this week in RCIA. I figured I would share the talk with you on this podcast.
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Apr 4, 2022
Income Inequality: Why the Marxist Hordes are Wrong Again
This is a fun and data rich episode where are you may learn some new stuff about the state of income inequality, the way wages are set, and how the gender pay gap is laughably bogus
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Apr 1, 2022
Interview with Bruce Killian On Why Christ Had to Rise in 3 Days (and a ton of other cool stuff)
This is a long chat that covers all sorts of things in Scripture. Ever wonder where the wood of the cross came from? What was the actually timeline for Holy Week? Listen and find out
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Mar 28, 2022
The Marxist vs Christian approach to History
This is part two on Marxism. The first part was on Marxist philosophy and what’s wrong with that. Here we talk about what’s wrong with Marxist history and hit a few questions in the mail bag.
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Mar 25, 2022
It’s Lent: Should we be giving money to homeless people?
I share a couple stories of my interactions with homeless people where some went well and some went poorly and I try to give some practical tips of what you can do.
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Mar 21, 2022
Top 10 Reasons to be a Christian
The third in a series of top 10 episodes. I hope you find this one helpful. Towards the end we also read an article about the messianic age. I hope you enjoy that too.
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Mar 18, 2022
Interview With John Derosa on Apologetics
John and I talk about his book “One less god than you” Where he gives answers to a number of popular atheist slogans.
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Mar 14, 2022
Scriptural Exegesis: John 8 The Woman Caught in Adultery.
We also talked about a little known Eucharistic passage, and we hit the Mailbag!
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Mar 11, 2022
Interview With Wade Tisthammer on The Eternal Society Paradox
This is my Favorite argument for the finitude of the past. We deal with every objection we can can think of.
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Mar 7, 2022
Interview with Fr. Gregory Pine on Prudence
In this hilarious and informative episode Fr. Gregory Pine tells us about his forthcoming book on prudence.
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Mar 4, 2022
What’s Wrong with Marxist Philosophy?
Today’s episode is a whirlwind tour of issues in Marxist and Hegelian philosophy. Plus, we hit a few mailbag questions!
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Feb 28, 2022
Debrief of Jacob Imam Episode and Why Distributism is Wrong
The Interview with Jacob has become the most popular episode. I have gotten a ton of feedback and need to address a few points.
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Feb 25, 2022
Top 10 Reasons to be a Theist
This is a whirlwind tour of at least 10 reasons to reject atheism and believe in God. Enjoy! (And ignore the awkward editing break in the middle of the Kalam argument…..technology…)
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Feb 21, 2022
Three languages of politics: How our life together went wrong
We read an article from the site, say hello to our growing Japanese listenership and hit the Mailbag hard!
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Feb 18, 2022
Interview with Noelle Mering on her book “Awake not Woke”
We discuss various strains of thought which influence progressive ideology, note the profoundly religious nature of the woke movement, and talk about what to do about it.
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Feb 14, 2022
Interview with Pat Flynn on The Problem of Evil
This was a great conversation that addresses why the presence of evil is actually more of an argument For God than against him. We discussed various theodicies and answer a few objections along the way.
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Feb 11, 2022
Interview with Decon Dillon Bruce on Christ’s decent into Hell
What happened with his soul? His body? His Divinity? What where the other members of the Trinity up too, and what and where is Hell anyway? Have a listen.
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Feb 7, 2022
Interview with Trent Horn on Free-Markets, Socialism, & Why Catholics Ought to Care About Economics
Trent and I discuss what is wrong with Socialism and Distributism, what is right with the Free-Markets and Why Catholics ought to care. Also, we present some ideas that would make the world a better place.
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Feb 4, 2022
Interview with Paul Fahey on The Magisterium and Capital Punishment
Paul’s recent article compares various hermeneutics and suggests a path for understanding Church doctrinal development. We discuss capital punishment as an example.
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Jan 31, 2022
Listener Questions: Geocentrism, Celibacy, Female Priests, Anglican’s, The Garden of Eden and more.
There was so much to address in a listener email that I decided to do an entire episode on topics that were brought up. Feel free to email me at thegordianknot101@gmail.com if you have any questions, comments, or hate mail you would like to send me.
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Jan 28, 2022
Top 10 Reasons You Should Become Catholic
This is aimed primarily at our protestant brothers and sisters. Email me if you’re interested in a top 10 reasons for theism episode. If I get 3 emails, I will do that one too.
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Jan 24, 2022
Scrupulosity, The Unforgivable Sin, and Skipping Mass for The Sniffles
This episode is exactly what it says on the tin. I cover these three topics. Additionally, give a little bit more detail about why this podcast is named what it is and why I cover the topics that I do.
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Jan 21, 2022
Interview with Jacob Imam on Catholic Economics
Jacob and I have many economic disagreements, but here we seek to find some common ground and understand each other’s perspectives.
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Jan 19, 2022
Interview with Pat Flynn: Faith, Fitness, Philosophy, and Everything Else
We cover a broad range of topics. In addition to the regular interview, you get to hear Pat and I continue to converse after the episode.
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Jan 17, 2022
Transgenderism: A Christian Perspective
We talk about Marx, Hegel, Gnosticism and other roots of transgender ideology.
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Jan 14, 2022
Universal Healthcare and HSA’s
I think universal healthcare is a terrible idea. I propose some much better ideas instead.
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Jan 12, 2022
Bonus: Announcing Special Guests and Opening the Mailbag.
I have more exciting guests coming on the podcast! Mailbag questions include baking tips, drinking wine, the monarchy, and marine tube worms.
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Jan 10, 2022
Debate: Was it Immoral for the US to have dropped the Atomic Bombs on Japan
I debate a vicious and snarling Interlocutor…..Myself. I hope you keep an open mind and learn more about both sides of the debate. Email me if you think you could add good points to either side at thegordianknot101@gmail.com
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Jan 7, 2022
Why Should I Listen to You? A Guide to Testimonial Evidence
In this episode we discuss different ways of determining whether or not testimonial evidence should be relied upon. We comment on the Trent Horn versus Matt Dillahunty debate and answer questions about whether soccer is communist, whether our excess should be given to the poor, And even whether or not to put a wing on your Honda Civic
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Jan 5, 2022
Bonus Episode: Reddit Questions
We answer a ton of questions from Reddit covering everything from Mary to Saint Patrick, Satan to Judaism and more.
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Jan 3, 2022
Think Again: Why Your Faith Needs Reason
We defend the importance of Reason against Christians that denigrate it, bust some myths, and answer some questions.
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Dec 27, 2021
Faith: A Brief Defense
We talk a little bit about Faith and we open the Mailbag to answer questions about Oreos, what gender is better a driving, interior decorating tips and more.
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Dec 24, 2021
A Scriptural Tour of Catholic Marian Doctrines
Reading from an article on my site that was originally a letter to my non-Catholic grandmother explaining doctrines of Mary from a scriptural perspective; this should be a great overview particularly for protestants on what Catholics believe and why. And just in time for Christmas!
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Dec 20, 2021
CON Laws & Interview Debrief
We talk about how removing the government monopolies in healthcare will make patients better off. We also answer some of your questions and comments pertaining to the recent interview episode with Paul Fahey. Of course, the mail bag is opened at the end of the episode.
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Dec 17, 2021
Interview: Paul Fahey on Property Rights, Catholic Social Teaching, and our Duty to the Poor
Paul Fahey is the co-founder of “Where Peter is”, He is a speaker, retreat leader, catechist, and blogs at “Pope Francis Generation”. We have a great conversation in this, our podcast’s first interview episode.
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Dec 15, 2021
Bonus Episode: PWA Eucharist debate comments, Universalism, and Price Gouging.
We cover a bunch of fun topics today. The beginning of the episode covers some of my thoughts on the recent Pints With Aquinas debate on the Eucharist. Then we hit the other two topics more briefly and announce a special guest coming on the next episode.
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Dec 13, 2021
Immigration: The Market Solution
Here I lay out a fun and exciting plan to revamp our currently ridiculous immigration scheme here in the US. The mailbag includes questions on beans, wild pigs and rainbow flags.
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Dec 11, 2021
An Underrated Argument for God: Aquinas’s 4th Way
This is my favorite of the famous 5 ways. There are objections and answers at the end of the article I read from and I include a brief run down of a bonus argument also in the Platonic vein.
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Dec 8, 2021
Bonus Q/A Episode: Weight loss, Priest abuse scandal, Casserole dishes, Revenge and more.
We hit a variety of questions in this episode, happy listening!
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Dec 6, 2021
Abortion: What if You Were Wrong?
I very much hope that people from the pro-choice perspective listen to this episode with an open mind. However, if you already are pro-life, I hope this gives you some tools and training to make a persuasive case to others, I think it will.
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Dec 3, 2021
The Eucharist Part 3: Philosophy, Tradition, and Objections
Here we cover lots of questions and objections, the philosophy of transubstantiation (in brief), some quotes from early church fathers, a bit of Jewish tradition, and we do a lightning rundown of the arguments that we covered in the three episodes.
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Nov 29, 2021
The Eucharist Part 2: The New Testament
Here we cover the famous John 6 passage but we also spend substantial time in Matthew and 1st Corinthians.
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Nov 26, 2021
The Eucharist Part 1: The Old Testament
The Eucharist is foreshadowed and prefigured heavily in the Old Testament. We will be diving into many passages, prophecies, visions, and historical happenings all found far before the typical apologetic passages like John 6.
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Nov 22, 2021
The Natural Law
The natural law and virtue ethics are shockingly boring. I try to make them still shocking, but less boring. Question and answer segments include: How to pick a great wine, what killed the dinosaurs? Should men take bubble baths? and how to feel the love of God.
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Nov 20, 2021
6ish Economic Misconceptions
Is profit exploitative? Is capitalism un-Christian? Are Landlords evil? And is Cheesecake actually a pie? All this is answered and more!
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Nov 19, 2021
Why the Hell?
Wondering about Hell? Listen to this episode. You may walk away understanding that it’s far more fair and fitting than you assumed before.
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Nov 19, 2021
10 Tips to get working out
These are the precise tips that helped me work out for the past couple years. I am sure they will help you too.
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Nov 18, 2021
Evil Sucks: Why is it Here?
Not every possible permutation of the problem of evil can be covered. But I take a pretty good work at most all of them In this episode.
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Nov 17, 2021
Sell your Organs, Save a Life
I know it sounds crazy but we need a legal market for the sale of human organs. This donation system is causing massive amounts of human suffering and economic waste. We know how to fix shortages it’s called a market.
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Nov 17, 2021
Lying: Can it Ever be Done?
Here we will examine the famous scenario of Nazis at your door. Do you lie to them? I contend you absolutely should lie to them, even to the point of your pants bursting into flames!
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Nov 17, 2021
St Thomas Aquinas presentation
Split into three parts with the second part having two parts the presentation covers biographical information about Saint Thomas Aquinas, philosophical concepts you need to know / his famous 5ways, and finally A bit of theology. Enjoy!
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Nov 16, 2021
Purgatory: It’s Good News…..No really!
Here we outline a few defenses from scripture for the doctrine of purgatory and seek to give a balanced view of the doctrine.
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Nov 16, 2021
The Death Penalty: How could a Christian Not Support it?
I look at four different passages of scripture relating to capital punishment. I make the case that it’s actually a good thing, not bad, not morally neutral, but good! I know this one will be controversial, I have a question and objection section at the end.
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Nov 16, 2021
The Fig: The Fruit of The Fall
There a strong evidence that the fig is the guilty fruit. Don’t believe me? Listen and find out.
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Nov 16, 2021
Start here: What is this podcast?
Why on earth is there another podcast? We will answer this and many other wonderful questions in episode 0!
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