The Dawn of Everything: Introduction to Season Two Artwork

A Christian and an Atheist Walk into a Bar

Neil Newton and Phil Thompson have been talking about religion, philosophy, politics, music, sports, and pretty much anything they felt like talking about every since they became friends while working together at the University of Pittsburgh in the 20-teens. Though Neil is an Atheist and Phil is a Christian, they found that they agreed on more things than not, especially the evils of instant replay! ACAAAWIAB will explore topics like debt, heaven and hell, the Biblical Jubilee, philanthrocapitalism, and many others. Neil and Phil enjoy these conversations, so they figured there's a chance you will too. Original theme music written, performed, and produced by Neil Newton and Phil Thompson. christianathiest.pod@gmail.com

All Episodes

A Christian and an Atheist Walk into a Bar

The Dawn of Everything: Introduction to Season Two

February 26, 2023 • Neil Newton and Philip Thompson • Season 2 • Episode 1

Season 2, Episode 1 is finally here! And y’nz are not gonna believe it, but we have…A PLAN! This season we will use the amazing book by the late David Graeber and David Wengrow, The Dawn of Everything: a New History of Humanity to frame many of our discussions about the Bible. We love this book — enough to shamelessly crib from the title for the name of Episode 1. We spend a good bit of time discussing the book and why it’s important, and we give particular attention to what Graeber and Wengrow describe as three freedoms that are a common pursuit across human history and prehistory. They are:

freedom to move away or relocate from one’s surroundings
freedom to ignore or disobey commands issued by others
freedom to shape entirely new social realities, or shift back and forth between different ones.

But the big question is: what does this possibly have to do with the Bible or religion or Christianity? After some general examples of where we see these freedoms expressed in the Bible, we dig into a truly wacky and wonderful passage from Genesis 30 in some detail. We think it turns out to be a fairly fruitful approach and we hope you’ll agree.

What we’re drinking

Neil: Xingu
Phil: Dragon’s Milk White