Best Communion Architects Podcasts (2025)

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Communist World-Building I: The Revolution from Above

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27d ago

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In this episode, Fr. John begins a discussion of ideological world-building during the twentieth-century age of nihilism. The Communist leadership of the Soviet Union under Stalin drew on the philosophies of both Marx and Nietzsche to advance a terrifying counterfeit of the transformation-imperative in ancient Christian cosmology.…

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Dehumanization II: The Great War and Its Cultural Outcome

4M ago

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Father John describes the way the First World World shattered confidence in utopia with Western Christendom, and how the growing specter of nihilism caused a small and diverse group of intellectuals to return to traditional Christianity in the years that followed.By Fr. John Strickland

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Dehumanization I: Artistic Modernism and the Dismal Sciences

4M ago

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In this episode, Fr. John reviews the rise of modernism at the beginning of the twentieth century, an artistic movement that largely annihilated centuries of tradition in Western painting, music, and literature. He continues by exploring the rise of dehumanizing and demoralizing views of the human condition advanced by atheistic social scientists o…

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Dostoevsky IV: Restoring Christendom's Paradisiacal Culture

5M ago

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In this final episode telling of Dostoevsky's encounter with the "specter of nihilism," Fr. John brings attention to the novelist's characters that most revealed the radiant hope of Christ. The first of these was Prince Lev Myshkin in the novel The Idiot. The second was Alyosha in The Brothers Karamazov. The episode concludes with an excerpt from A…

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Dostoevsky III: Repentance Will Save the World

6M ago

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In this episode, Fr. John reflects on Dostoevsky's spiritual prescription for Christendom as it began to fall under the specter of nihilism. Repentance was the center of the paradisiacal culture of the first millennium, and in his novels Dostoevsky countered atheistic contemporaries like Nietzsche by showing how neglect for it leads only to the hum…

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Dostoevsky II: Shattering the Illusion of Utopian Rationalism

1y ago

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Returning to a literary career after a decade of exile, Fyodor Dostoevsky confronted one of the great delusions of secular humanism: that man is ultimately a rational being whose happiness depends on the exercise of self-interest. Characters in his novels The Idiot and Demons were designed to demonstrate that nihilistic self-destruction is the only…

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Dostoevsky I: A Believer among Atheists.

1+ y ago

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In this summary of the second chapter of his book, The Age of Nihilism, Fr. John discusses the early life and faith and incarceration of Russia's great novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky. Unlike his contemporaries--particularly Nietzsche--the novelist found in traditional Christianity the only hope for a Christendom living under the terrible specter of nih…

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The Making of an Antichrist IV: "Behold the Man"

1+ y ago

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In this final presentation on the nihilistic philosophy of Nietzsche, Fr. John considers the philosopher's final work, an autobiography entitled Ecce Homo. The book's strange title is discussed in light of Nietzsche's claim to be the West's alternative to Christ. The episode ends with a spiritual and psychological reflection on why, having complete…

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The Making of an Antichrist III: An Anti-Gospel

1+ y ago

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In his continued account of Friedrich Nietzsche, Fr. John discusses the megalomaniac philosopher's effort to replace the Gospel with an atheistic "transvaluation of all values."By Fr. John Strickland

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The Making of an Antichrist II: Unmasking Secular Humanism

1+ y ago

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Friedrich Nietzsche is in many ways the father of modern nihilism. In this episode, Fr. John describes the philosopher's relationship to the atheism of contemporary utopian Christendom, and how the music of Richard Wagner played a role in leading him toward nihilism. As with previous episodes, this one introduces the listener to some music that is …

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The Making of an Antichrist I: "Whoever Fears the Tip of My Spear . . ."

1+ y ago

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In this episode, Fr. John begins an account of Friedrich Nietzsche by discussing Richard Wagner, a direct influence on the philosopher whose infidelity with women and famous operatic work, The Ring of the Nibelung, helped inspire the coming age of nihilism.By Fr. John Strickland

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Reimagining a Kitchen to Make a Lasting Contribution to the Heritage of an Historic Farmhouse 22:48

1+ y ago22:48

22:48

Our clients, Rosie and Rod, had lived in their beautiful, listed farmhouse in Herefordshire for over twenty years. Their kitchen had always felt too dark and small, so when its roof sprang yet another leak it was the catalyst to reimagine the entire space...

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A Modern Barn That Sits Sensitively in its Surroundings 1:06:58

2y ago1:06:58

1:06:58

Our clients had an area of land on their property that seemed perfect for a new dwelling but where planning permission had already been refused twice. However, there were intriguing possibilities for the right project. We collaborated with our clients to help them design a ‘modern barn’ and then worked carefully to secure the permission needed. Joi…

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Introduction to Part Four of the Podcast: Friedrich Nietzsche in Bayreuth

2y ago

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In this introduction to the final part of Paradise and Utopia, Fr. John reads the prologue to his recently released book, The Age of Nihilism: Christendom from the Great War to the Culture Wars. The episode introduces the nihilistic philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and the role compositions by Richard Wagner played in his formation. Included are mus…

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Evolving a Gothic Revival Church to Create an Informal 21st Century Community Space 41:13

2y ago41:13

41:13

We first began working with St. Matthias Church, Torquay, in 2015. The church had a thriving congregation but needed to reconsider how it used its space to reflect its vibrant, modern outlook. St. Matthias formally reopened in December 2019 when the reordering work was completed. In this episode we catch up with PCC members Sylvia, John and Paul, a…

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Introducing The Age of Nihilism

2y ago

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Fr. John Strickland gives an overview of his latest book, The Age of Nihilism, available at Ancient Faith Store: https://store.ancientfaith.com/the-age-of-nihilism-christendom-from-the-great-war-to-the-culture-warsBy Fr. John Strickland

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At the Threshold of Nihilism: The Russian Revolution and Its Utopia Project

2y ago

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In this final episode of part three of the podcast, Fr. John Strickland traces the outcome of secular humanism in the case of the Russian Revolution. Though numerous Orthodox Christians warned of the impending disaster facing a post-Christian Christendom, Vladimir Lenin and his Bolsheviks took advantage of discontent caused by the First World War t…

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Solving Post-Christian Christendom's Transcendence Problem III: The Architects of Nationalist Ideolo

2+ y ago

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Fr. John Strickland concludes his account of the origins of modern political ideology with the rise of nationalism, a force that not only proved to be a counterfeit to traditional Christianity, but the cause of one of utopian Christendom's greatest tragedies.By Fr. John Strickland

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Solving Post-Christian Christendom's Transcendence Problem II: The Architects of Socialist Ideology.

2+ y ago

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Fr. John Strickland continues his account of the rise of secular ideology with a presentation on the Russian intelligentsia and the case of Karl Marx.By Fr. John Strickland

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Solving Post-Christian Christendom's Transcendence Problem I: The Architects of Liberal Ideology

2+ y ago

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In this long-delayed episode (due to work on The Age of Nihilism, available at store.ancientfaith.com/the-age-of-nihilism-christendom-from-the-great-war-to-the-culture-wars), Father John presents the historical origins of liberalism as a modern secular ideology. Atheistic philosophers like Auguste Comte and John Stuart Mill provided the philosophic…

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Extending a Worcestershire Cottage for a New Family Chapter 32:35

2+ y ago32:35

32:35

In this episode we chat to Steve and Liz, owners of a charming nineteenth century cottage in the beautiful Worcestershire countryside. The couple have lived here for many years and love their home, however they felt it lacked a large family space where they could entertain their extended family. Join us as we hear their insights into the journey of…

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Age of Utopia Released

3+ y ago

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Fr. John Strickland announces the release of the third volume of his book series. The Age of Utopia: Christendom from the Renaissance to the Russian Revolution (store.ancientfaith.com/the-age-of-utopia) is a companion to the podcast, but, as he notes, contains quite a bit of material that is unique. Here he summarizes some of its content.…

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The LA House in Herefordshire 40:32

3+ y ago40:32

40:32

Our client Russell lives in a 1960s house with beautiful views over the River Wye. He talks to us about his experience of undertaking a significant renovation project to update his mid-century home for the modern day.

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The Forest and Its Trees: An Answer to Cyril Jenkins, Part II

3+ y ago

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In this second half of his response to a recent review of his books, Fr. John Strickland discusses his use of scholarly sources (The Age of Division required more than three hundred and fifty of them). He also reflects on how criticisms of his sources and his arguments may have been provoked by the unconventional way in which he tells the story of …

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Monographs and Metanarratives: An Answer to Cyril Jenkins, Part I

3+ y ago

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In this special edition of Paradise and Utopia, Fr. John Strickland responds to a recent review of the first two volumes of his book series. In it, he notes the failure to consider the books on their own terms. He uses the opportunity to elaborate what he considers a healthy vision of Christian historiography, one that supports what many consider t…

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When the Romantic Agony Became Personal: The Music of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky

3+ y ago

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Most Americans know Tchaikovsky as the composer of the delightful dances contained within the Nutcracker Ballet. As Fr. John Strickland shows, however, there is much more to be heard in their melodies, and little that was delightful about the emotionally agonized life behind them. Using selections from a variety of works, he explores how the romant…

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Secular Glory and Spiritual Agony in the Music of the Great Romantics

3+ y ago

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What was the genius of classical music during its nineteenth-century golden age? According to Fr. John Strickland, it was an effort to rescue Christendom's transformational imperative in an age when secularization threatened to sever earth from heaven. No longer influenced by traditional Christianity, great composers like Beethoven exaggerated eart…

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Counterfeit Communion

3+ y ago

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The early nineteenth-century romantics pioneered a new way of seeking personal transformation. Following a century in which deism desecrated the world, separating heaven and earth, they wanted to re-enchant the West. But by ignoring traditional Christianity and looking instead to the "God substitutes" of philosophical idealism, they only succeeded …

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A New Vision of Western History during the So-Called Enlightenment

3+ y ago

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In this reflection on an emerging post-Christian Christendom, Fr. John Strickland discusses two ways in which eighteenth-century philosophes—from Voltaire to Thomas Jefferson—worked to subvert the paradisiacal culture of the old Christendom. He explores their use of photic imagery such as "enlightenment" and their introduction of the tripartite uto…

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When Christendom Was Born Again V: From Adam to Prometheus

4y ago

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In this episode, Fr. John Strickland recounts the efforts of three Italian humanists of the quattrocento ("fourteen hundreds") to rescue the dignity of man from the pessimism of Western culture. Departing from traditional Christianity's dignification of man through communion with God, they looked instead to Neoplatonism and there found a model of t…

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When Christendom Was Born Again IV: Petrarch contra Pope Innocent

4y ago

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In this episode, Father John relates a case in which the early humanist Petrarch confronted one of the new Christendom's chief architects, Pope Innocent III. Applying his newly developed secular thinking, he rejected the pope's notorious treatise entitled On the Misery of the Human Condition.By Fr. John Strickland

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When Christendom Was Born Again III: The Origins of the Saeculum

4y ago

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Modern historians often bring attention to the effects of secularization on the West. Once traditional Christianity ceased to influence Western culture, the experience of the kingdom of heaven naturally diminished, something the famous German sociologist Max Weber called the "disenchantment of the world." In this episode, Fr. John describes how the…

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When Christendom Was Born Again II: Petrarch's Despair

4y ago

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In this episode the "father of humanism," Francesco Petrarch, broods over his sense of guilt and despair, seeking a new path for Western Christendom known as the saeculum, or "secular."By Fr. John Strickland

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When Christendom Was Born Again I: The Roman Revolution of Cola di Rienzo

4y ago

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In this anecdotal introduction to Reflection 21, Father John relates a remarkable but short-lived revolution in fourteenth-century Rome that served as a sign of what the age of utopia would bring. Listeners who enjoy the music of Richard Wagner will recognize the ill-fated revolutionary's name and understand why the turbulent nineteenth-century com…

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Utopian Christianity

4y ago

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In the nineteenth century, some Christians in America developed radically new visions of God's relationship to man and the cosmos. This "utopian Christianity" produced Unitarianism, Mormonism, and a string of millenarian sects. Father John Strickland concludes the episode with one of the most daring and disturbing examples of American utopianism, t…

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Replacing Reformational Christianity

4y ago

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In this episode Fr. John Strickland discusses various ways in which Christendom's leadership rejected the reformational Christianity that had provoked the wars of Western religion and replaced it with science, philosophy, pietistic Christianity, and a new religion known as deism.By Fr. John Strickland

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Secularizing the State, East and West

4y ago

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In this reflection, Fr. John Strickland relates how Christianity ceased to motivate and regulate statecraft in Christendom following the Wars of Western Religion. He discusses the cases of France, England, and New England. He concludes with an account of westernization in Eastern Christendom under Peter the Great of Russia.…

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Subverting a Sacramental Culture

4y ago

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In this reflection, Father John Strickland turns from secular humanism to reformational Christianity to see how Christendom's paradisiacal culture was subverted by both the Protestant "Counter-Reformation" and the Roman Catholic "Neo-Reformation." Ironically, Protestant fathers like Luther and Calvin did much to perpetuate the anthropological pessi…

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Secular Humanism and the Disorientation of Western Art during the Italian Renaissance: Part II

4y ago

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This is part 2 to last week's special video episode, on the revolution of art during the Italian Renaissance.By Fr. John Strickland

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Secular Humanism and the Disorientation of Western Art during the Italian Renaissance: Part I

4y ago

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In this special video episode (the first of two parts), Father John discusses the background to the revolution in art during the Italian Renaissance. Though it produced some of the most stunning and innovative works ever, secular humanism represented a radical departure from the heavenly orientation of traditional Christian art.…

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Summit of Orthodox Iconography

4y ago

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In this, the first episode of the Paradise and Utopia video edition, Father John provides a video lecture from his office in Puget Sound, showing, with the use of powerful, full-color icons such as those of Andrei Rublev, how hesychasm inspired some of the greatest art in the history of eastern Christendom.…

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Christian Temples and the Spiritual Transformation of Space

4+ y ago

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Fr. John discusses the ways in which the Church tries to create a sanctified topography in Christendom.By Fr. John Strickland

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Christian Calendars and the Spiritual Transformation of Time

4+ y ago

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Fr. John discusses the spiritual transformation of time by Christianity.By Fr. John Strickland

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Introduction to Part 3

4+ y ago

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Father John welcomes listeners back to the podcast with the opening to its third part, the age of utopia. He also summarizes some of the main points of his recently released book The Age of Division, which tells the history of Christendom covered in the second part of the podcast.By Fr. John Strickland

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Pensons at the Netherwood Estate 32:02

4+ y ago32:02

32:02

In this episode we talk to Peta Darnley, founder and owner of Pensons at the Netherwood Estate, an award winning, Michelin Star restaurant on the Herefordshire-Worcestershire border. Peta talks about her vision for the project which saw a series of dilapidated agricultural buildings transformed into an enterprise which celebrates the very best of l…

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The Creation of an Accessible Community Hub 32:36

5y ago32:36

32:36

Welcome to the Take a Pew Tearoom at St Michael & All Angels, a 12th century church in Kingstone village in Herefordshire. In this episode we hear from the church family about the re-ordering of St Michaels, which has allowed the building to be used for a wider range of events. Join us as we listen to how a simple re-ordering scheme has created an …

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The Grey House: Extending a 1930s House into 21st Century Family Home 15:16

5+ y ago15:16

15:16

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Ridgeway: Transforming a 1970s House for the Third Age 32:27

5+ y ago32:27

32:27

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Introducing The Age of Paradise

5+ y ago

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Fr. John Strickland talks about the newly released book The Age of Paradise. The book is available at store.ancientfaith.com.By Fr. John Strickland

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The Crisis of Western Christendom I: Martin Luther's Reformation Breakthrough

5+ y ago

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Returning after a long absence from the podcast, Fr. John in this episode introduces a new reflection on the crisis of western Christendom prior to the Reformation by discussing the penitential context of Martin Luther's famous Ninety-Five Theses.By Fr. John Strickland