So hello, everybody. I am here with Father John Strickland. Father John is a parish priest in the Seattle area in Palsbo. I hope I said that right in Polesbo on the West Coast. He is also on his, he has a PhD in history. And so on the side, he also writes a blog. He has made a podcast called the Paradise and Utopia. And he is now publishing books.

He's published a book called The Age of Paradise, which I've read. And his second volume, which has it come out yet?

I think it's coming out soon. Yeah, it came out in November, Age of Division. That's out.

So the Age of Division, which I'm reading at this moment.

And I think so much of what he is hinting at, the things he's bringing to the fore

are extremely important at this time to help us understand history

and a more global vision of Christian history.

Music. This is Jonathan Peugeot had just read the first volume. I'm reading the second volume. I'm very excited to see you do the things you do. One of the frustrations that I've had is as I explored the Church Fathers and I explored the

history of the East, I realized just how much was lacking in my own historical understanding

and how so many movements that happen even in the West cannot be properly understood

unless we have this more global vision of the East and the West together in this discussion, in this

conflict, you know, a mix of influences. And so maybe you can tell us a little bit about what

prompted you to want to tell this narrative. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks, Jonathan. Well, so I was

teaching university full time before I went off to seminary and became a parish priest, and that's my main work now being a parish priest.

But in Palsbo, but I've always had this really, really strong interest in history and in the legacy of Christianity within the history of the West.

I've always been interested in that.

That's what got me interested in history initially.

And so when I decided to study history, you know, at the graduate level, all that,

I just, I just, I got to a point where I really wanted to understand, as you say, globally, the history of the West from a Christian point of view.

It was always dismaying to me to see how little attention was given to the role of Christianity in our culture and in the formation of our culture.

And when attention was given to it often, it was negative, you know, the crusades,

the inquisition, the witch trials, all those things.

...