The fifth annual New Polity conference takes “the people” as its theme and object of wonder. Motivated by the apparent victory of populism in the United States’ 2024 election, and inspired by the Holy Roman Pontiff’s love for Latin America’s “theology of the people,” this meeting of theologians, philosophers (and, let’s face it, preachers) is devoted to thinking deeply about "the people." What makes us a people? Is it blood? Is it language? Is it love? Violent assertion? A shared history? Is the United States "a people"? How do "a people" get formed out of a mass, a crowd, a mob, a family, a village? And where does God enter into all of this? Does the Church, the universal People of God, negate or embrace the particular peoples that it liberates and saves? Can nationalism be redeemed? What about folk music? All of this is up for discussion and debate, the subject of our good humor and great conversation at New Polity 2025: Our Kind of People.

The Church sees the world as God’s good and harmonious Creation, a primordial peace. In his acclaimed book Before Church and State, Andrew Willard Jones revealed that society in the High Middle Ages was a striving toward liberation by grace, which led to subsidiarity. In The Church Against the State, he argues that this uniquely Christian political form is still with us, present in our love, our courage, and in all that is noble within us, brought to new life through the Church. In this podcast, Marc Barnes interviews Andrew Willard Jones on his new book The Church Against the State.

All the energy and vitality today is on the political right; the old conservative reactionary stance has been replaced with active, rival voices aimed at constructing a new regime. One such voice is Bronze Age Pervert and his followers. Through their series "The Politics of Paganism," Alex Denley and Dr. Andrew Jones have explored the Nietzschean proposal, arguing that it is doomed to failure. The pagan cosmos is a closed world which cannot provide the freedom and vitality that Nietzsche extols. In this final episode, Alex Denley and Dr. Andrew Jones discuss the failure of the Nietzschean alternative and the open world of a Christian political order.

Why do we not feel free? As modern liberalism continues to isolate and divide, our common experience is a lack of freedom, of being constrained and enslaved. But, how can true freedom be restored? In this episode of the Politics of Paganism, Alex Denley and Dr. Andrew Jones discuss the New Law and how grace restores true freedom.

St. Thomas Aquinas presents salvation history in three stages: The Age of Nature, the Age of Law, and the Age of Grace. The pagans are stuck within the age of nature; fallen humanity inevitably declines into idolatry and slavery. But, God has a plan for saving man. From the time of Moses until Christ, God's chosen people are in the Age of Law which points forward to the coming of Christ. In this podcast, Alex Denley and Dr. Andrew Jones discuss salvation history and the culmination of the Age of Law in the Cross.

The pagan cosmos is a closed world: the city is never truly self-sufficient, requiring natural slaves and war; regimes rise and fall cyclically; the regime's justice is never true justice. In the Treatise on Law (ST I-II, Q.90-108), St. Thomas Aquinas presents a different vision: the open world of grace. God orders the world through the eternal law; rational creatures participate in providence through human law; divine law is necessary to bring man to his final end. In this episode of the Politics of Paganism, Alex Denley and Dr. Andrew Jones discuss how St. Thomas' vision of law answers the closed world of the pagans.

Plato and Aristotle argue that aristocracy is the ideal regime, but it never lasts for long. What's most powerful wins, and the masses are always the most powerful in number. Eventually, every pagan regime declines into the production of idols and temple slavery---whether Egypt, Greece, or Rome. In this episode of the Politics of Paganism, Alex Denley and Dr. Andrew Jones discuss this decline and what brings it about.

Medically-assisted suicide bills are being introduced in states all over the country. Proponents say that it allows people to "die with dignity" and that it gives people "autonomy." But, the actual reality is far darker. In states like Oregon and California, people have been denied life-saving treatment and recommended suicide. People with disabilities and depression have been pressured into suicide.

In this podcast, Pat McGeehan, delegate of West Virginia, Marc Barnes, and Alex Denley discuss the dangers of legalized medically-assisted suicide.

Aristotle's "Politics" is full of deep insight: politics as the architectonic science, the mixed constitution, happiness as the end of the city. But, there's a group which is excluded from human virtue; namely, the natural slave. Alex Denley and Dr. Andrew Jones discuss how the "natural slave" reveals the structure of Aristotle's just city: a limited class of citizens over an unspecified amount of slaves. And, that the despotic relationship extends into the mixed constitution of the citizens. The masses believe they are ruling in a democracy, the notables believe they are ruling an oligarchy, and the one, true philosopher-statesman rules the whole; each class instrumentalizes the other. They discuss how this doesn't vilify Aristotle, or presume nefarious intentions; this is what a science of a pagan political order demands. Ultimately, it is this structure that Christianity transforms from both within and above.

Ted Benna has been called the "Father of the 401k." But now, he says that he created a monster. He intended for the 401 (k) to help turn spenders into savers, but it has become full of hidden fees and salary reductions that only enrich the financial industry rather than savers. In this podcast, Marc Barnes and Jacob Imam interview Ted Benna for his story of the 401 (k).

James Donald Forbes McCann returns for a special episode of Good Money. He has more questions for Jacob Imam and Marc Barnes: Why do Americans use cash? What's the marital debt? Why should people sell their stocks?

Plato presents a vicious circle that every regime goes through: from a limited aristocracy, to a timocracy of honor, an oligarchy based on wealth, a democracy based on liberty, and, finally, the tyranny of the one against all. While some regimes may be more just than others, it is bound to collapse eventually. Alex Denley and Dr. Andrew Jones discuss Plato's description of the individual and his regime, the circle of regimes, and how Christianity can provide an answer to the circle.