Israel and Civilization, ft. Josh Hammer
Young Heretics
Spencer Klavan
4.9 • 4.5K Ratings
🗓️ 25 March 2025
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This is a podcast about the West, which means Athens and Jerusalem. Without the second part of that equation you don't get the key notion of the "Imago Dei," or mankind's creation in the image of God--and without that, arguably, that you don't get America. Then of course there's the enormous storehouse of political wisdom that makes Israel a bulwark against globalism both ancient and modern.
All this makes it hugely distressing that antisemitism--philosophical, virulent, and open hatred of the Jews--has returned to prominence in developed nations. My guest today, Josh Hammer, has written a book explaining the indispensable value of Israel to the West, and to civilization more generally. We had a great conversation about the deep history and immediate future of the West.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey guys, welcome back to Young Heretics Conversations. |
| 0:10.7 | This is our occasional interview series where I call people up and discuss a little bit about what's going on in the here and now, contemporary events, life in 2025, and how we might take some of the ancient |
| 0:23.1 | principles and classical ideas that we find in the Western canon, apply them to modern life, |
| 0:30.1 | because that's one of the major points of studying ancient literature and studying literature |
| 0:34.8 | in general is to consider and reflect on how we should live, |
| 0:40.0 | to get better guidance than might be available in the headlines for the good life and the ideal |
| 0:46.0 | way of living and dealing with contemporary problems. I've got a few of these interviews coming up. |
| 0:52.4 | I've had some really fascinating conversations that I recorded, and I'm about to be traveling for a couple weeks. I'm going, among other |
| 0:58.3 | places, to Budapest, Hungary, which is another location that's been very much in the news last |
| 1:04.2 | few years. So I will bring back lots of reports and pictures and ideas and discussion from |
| 1:09.2 | that trip. But in the meantime, I'll be dropping these interview conversations, |
| 1:13.8 | and then when I return, we will resume the thrilling story of Aeneas |
| 1:18.1 | and pick back up with our series on Virgil's Aeneid. |
| 1:21.7 | But for now, I'm very, very glad to be able to bring you a conversation |
| 1:26.6 | with my friend Josh Hammer. |
| 1:29.3 | Josh and I have known each other in a variety of contexts for some time. |
| 1:33.3 | He's edited my work. I've edited his work. |
| 1:36.3 | And I've watched as he's done fantastic stuff, especially at Newsweek, where he's senior editor at large. |
| 1:42.3 | But you may have encountered him in any number of contexts. |
| 1:45.2 | He's got a great podcast. He does writing sort of around the internet and the print journalism |
| 1:52.5 | world. And now he has a new book out. It's called Israel and Civilization, the fate of the |
| 2:00.4 | Jewish nation and the destiny of the West. |
... |
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