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In this episode Dan shares his testimony about his past as a Democratic Socialist and the journey that God took him down to change his thinking.

 

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Songs used in this episode:

• “Inverted Mean” from the album Disorganized Fun

–SHOW NOTES—

This week’s show notes are a bit longer than usual.  Here is the layout they are in to help you navigate them easier.

• Background reading
• Regarding the Social Gospel
• Marxist/Neo-Marxist Writings
• Key Terms
  • Hegel
  • Marx
  • Lenin
  • Gramsci
  • Marcuse
• List of Scriptures Used

Background

• How Christ Turned Me Away from Marxism [PalmettoFamily.org] – https://www.palmettofamily.org/russian-revolution-anniversary
• The Paris Commune [Wikipedia] – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Commune
  • The Paris Commune was important because it was the model of Lenin’s Bolshevik revolution in October 1917.
• The October Revolution [Wikipedia] – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_Revolution
• Democratic Socialists America Website – https://www.dsausa.org
• 2008 Presidential Election [Wikipedia] – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_2008
• 2012 Presidential Election [Wikipedia] – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_2012
• 2016 Presidential Election [Wikipedia] – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_2016
• “And all who believe were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceed to all, as any had need.” – Acts 2:44-45
• War in Afghanistan [Wikipedia] – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Afghanistan_(2001-present)
• Iraq War [Wikipedia] – https://en.wikipedia.com/wiki/Iraq_War

Social Gospel Christianity

• Rauschenbusch, Walter. Christianity & the Social Crisis in the 21^st –
• Betsworth, Roger. Social Ethics

Marxist/Neo-Marxist Writings

• Hegel, Georg W.F.. Introduction to the Philosophy of History: with selections from The Philosophy of Right. –
• Marx, Karl. The German Ideology, including Theses on Feuerbach. –
• Marx, Karl. Das Kapital: A Critique of Political Economy. –
• Marx, Karl. The Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844. –
• Marx, Karl. The Communist Manifesto. –
• Marx, Karl. Critique of Hegel’s ‘Philosophy of Right’.
• Marx, Karl. On the Jewish Question. –
• Lenin, Vladimir I. The State and Revolution. –
• Gramsci, Antonio. Selections from the Prison Notebooks. –
• Marcuse, Herbert. One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society, 2^nd Edition. –

Key Terms

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

• Geist – Spirit; Reason; the force that guides humanity through history
• Cunning of Reason –Geist moves humanity along from savagery to a perfected civilization; not even repression and other negative events cannot stop Geist.

Karl Marx

• Industrialization – The movement of society from agrarian to urban in which industry is able to produce greater commodity.
• Capitalism – An economic system that is driven by the growth of capital in order to boost innovation. According to Marx, capitalists are driven by greed and this profiteering causes pain and suffering among the forces of labor.
• Means of Production – Both the raw materials used within industry, as well as the workers themselves.
• Alienation of Labor – The result of capitalists controlling the means of production causing division within the worker and their species-essence.
• Species-Essence (Gattungswessen) – The intangible within each person that brings fulfilment in their work and in their existence.
• Dictatorship of the Proletariat – Synonymous with socialism; the period following the popular uprising against the capitalist system in general, and the bourgeoisie in particular.
• Bourgeoisie – The upper middle-class of a capitalist society; typically business owners, factory foremen, etc.
• Proletariat – The name used for the working class.

Vladimir Illich Lenin

• The State – According to Lenin: a special organization of force, an organization of violence for the suppression of some class and to repress and crush the people through parliamentary oppression.

Antonio Gramsci

• Cultural Hegemony – A system established by a dominant ruling class over a society through it’s culture.
• Intellectual/Ideological State Apparatus (ISA) – Inspired by Gramsci and other philosophes, this term was popularized by neo-Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser; a system of control over a society through a prevailing ideology typically established by non-state forces such as religious institutions, entertainment, media, schools, etc. In contrast, the state is a form of repressive state apparatus (RSA).

Herbert Marcuse

• New Left – A political movement originating in the 1960’s and 70’s; an offshoot of traditional Marxist and Leftist movements that focused less on labor and class opting to focus more on cultural issues like gay rights, abortion, gender, etc.
• Repressive Tolerance – Tolerance of subversion and acts of violence by the left and intolerance of Right and others who oppose socialism.
• Advanced Industrial Society – Another term for developed “first world” industrialized nations.
• False Needs – Perceived needs established by the ruling class through commodities and excess living in an advanced industrial society.
• The Great Refusal – The protest against unnecessary repression in an advanced industrial society.

Verses Referenced

• Acts 2:44-45
• Exodus 20:3-4
• Colossians 2:8
• 1 Peter 5:8-9
• Genesis 1:26-27
• Romans 12:17-21
• Matthew 5:38-42
• Exodus 20:15-17
• Deuteronomy 5:19-21