The Symbolic World

Jan 19 2025 374 ep. 55 mins 3.7k
The Symbolic World Podcast artwork

Jonathan Pageau looks at symbolism in all its forms, from its source in sacred stories and images to contemporary culture and ultimately how it shapes the world we encounter.

  Education  Religion & Spirituality  Society & Culture
RSS feed Share
Copy RSS


Subscribe on Podcast Addict


376 - Fr. Stephen De Young - St. Paul the Pharisee

Jan 19 2025 73 mins  
Fr. Stephen De Young is back on the podcast to discuss his latest book, St. Paul the Pharisee. St. Paul is at the core of many modern misunderstandings about Christianity; Fr. Stephen presents how we can understand St. Paul’s writings within the context of who he was, when he lived, and who he was addressing in his epistles, ultimately bringing us closer to the vision Christ Hims

375 - Paul Kingsnorth - Western Civilization Is Already Dead

Jan 12 2025 59 mins  
Paul Kingsnorth gave a provocative talk for First Things' Erasmus Lecture of 2024, titled "Against Christian Civilization". In this episode, we discuss the essence of his argument, delving into the fundamental tensions between Christianity and civilization. How does faith interact with culture? What is the Biblical narrative around cities and governance? Are we misusing Christianit

374 - The Role of St. John the Baptist

Jan 06 2025 28 mins  
In celebration of the Feast of Theophany I discuss the role of St. John the Baptist, or St. John the Forerunner, as he's known in the Orthodox tradition. Why does Christ need a forerunner? What is he actually doing, symbolically? And how does his appearance, behavior, and death participate in the pattern that's already being set up in the Old Testament?Original YouTube version: htt

373 - Matthew Wilkinson - Mystical Bach and the Breakdown of Music

Jan 05 2025 80 mins  
For this interview I have a great discussion with organist, pianist, conductor, arranger, and recording artist Matthew Wilkinson, who also happened to put together the Symbolic World intro music. We delve into the symbolism of music, particularly focusing on Bach's organ works. The discussion also touches on the evolution of musical styles from the Baroque period to the Classical,

372 - Christmas: The Anchor of Reality (Repost)

Dec 24 2024 39 mins  
This is a repost of a talk given at St-George Antiochian Orthodox Church in Montreal, originally posted in 2018.The Nativity icon is not only the image of an event that happened two thousands years ago, but rather by its form and the hierarchy of its elements, shows us the inner working of how the Divine Logos creates the world and how His incarnation acts as the anchor, the fulcru

371 - The Dark Side of Christmas: The Massacre of the Innocent(s)

Dec 21 2024 25 mins  
In this episode, I explore a dark narrative aspect of the Christmas story: the Massacre of the Innocents at the hand of King Herod, connecting it to various Old Testament variations on the pattern: Joseph and the Pharaoh, Jacob and Esau, and David and King Saul. Christ brings all of these stories together in a unique and mind-blowing way, not just in the Gospels, but also in what h

370 - The Restoration of Notre Dame - Did They Get It Right?

Dec 13 2024 23 mins  
This is a repost of the November 2024's patron video where I take a closer look into the restoration of Notre Dame de Paris. After a devastating fire in 2019, and 5 years of reconstruction, Notre Dame is now officially open. But did they get it right in how they rebuilt the church?🔒 BECOME A PATRON: https://thesymbolicworld.com/subscribe 💻 Website and blog: http://www.thesymb

369 - Fr Josiah Trenham - Orthodoxy in America

Dec 07 2024 77 mins  
I sat down with Fr. Josiah Trenham, archpriest at St. Andrew Orthodox Church in Riverside, California, and founder and director of Patristic Nectar Publications. With over 30 years of experience as a priest in America, Fr. Josiah has a wealth of knowledge about the state of Orthodoxy in the West and the challenges converts face. We discuss various aspects of Orthodox and contempora

368 - Symbolism Explained: Tucker Carlson Attacked by a Demon

Nov 25 2024 26 mins  
A clip has been circulating from the upcoming Christianities movie, hosted by John Heers, of Tucker Carlson recounting a terrifying experience he had where he woke up with bleeding claw marks on his sides and is convinced it was a demonic attack. In this video I discuss such experiences. How is it possible that a spiritual entity can physically manifest?Support the Christianities m

367 - Rod Dreher - Living in Wonder

Nov 21 2024 58 mins  
Rod Dreher and I had a great discussion about his latest book, Living in Wonder. We discussed re-enchantment, UFOs, AI, attention, the internet, and more. Enjoy!Get Rod's book - Living in Wonder: Finding Mystery and Meaning in a Secular Age: https://www.amazon.com/Living-Wonder-Finding-Mystery-Meaning/dp/0310369126YouTube version: https://youtu.be/KvNM1AefXN0 ===========Book descri