Paradise and Utopia

Fr. John Strickland, and Ancient Faith Ministries

Latest episode

From Utopia to Dystopia I: How Christians Like C.S. Lewis Saw Nihilism for What It Was
09/01/2026
In this new sequence of episodes, Fr. John tells how traditional Christianity provided certain critics of ideological world-building with a new way of seeing the West.
Liberal World-Building II: American Anticommunism in the 1950s
05/12/2025
In this episode, Fr. John describes the anticommunist character of liberalism in America during the Cold War, noting how in its promotion of individual rights it accommodated and even emphasized religious belief, but did so conditionally.
Liberal World Building I: When J.S. Mill met Friedrich Nietzsche
14/11/2025
In this new sequence of episodes, Fr. John looks at the origins of the main rival to the world-Building ideologies of Communism and Nazis, American liberalism.
Nazi World-Building III: The War of Annihilation
31/10/2025
In this final episode on Nazi Germany, Fr. John discusses the unparalleled nihilism of Hitler's "new order" for the West during World War II, a racist utopia grounded in a secular ideology.
Nazi World-Building II: The Project of Cultural Coordination
19/09/2025
In this episode, Fr. John describes how the Nazis, once in power, pursued a culture war against existing German values and beliefs by attacking Christianity, advancing neopaganism, and elaborating a racist utopia.