Who am I, and why am I doing this?
I’m to make sense of the political moment we’re living in, and I’m using history, theology, and philosophy as my map. I’ve spent years making documentaries about hidden power and the people who get hurt by it, and that work pushed me toward these questions.
The questions eating at us right now are not new. Why do people believe outright lies? Why do so many reject evidence that’s right in front of them? Why does a whole country start to feel unsure about what is real and what isn’t?
These are old questions asked thousands of times across thousands of years. Empires, churches, revolutions, reformers, philosophers, they’ve all tried to answer them. I want to understand why we keep circling the same issues. Is history repeating itself, or is it a self fulfilling prophecy?
This project is my way of digging in and I hope it leads to a feature documentary or a series. For now, I’m starting with a run of articles, videos, and interviews to work through the puzzle piece by piece.
Q: Why is it called Rough Beasts?
The title comes from the Irish poet W. B. Yeats, who was looking at the world right after World War I and felt the old order collapsing. In The Second Coming, he wrote, “And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?” It was his way of capturing the sense that something new and dangerous was emerging. He was referencing the Book of Revelation: “And I saw a beast rising out of the sea…” (Revelation 13:1). John’s poetic message to early Christian not mistake power for truth.
Q: Why focus on Augustine?
Twenty eight years ago, when studying classics, I spent two years reading Greek and Roman pagan philosophers and saw how they created the foundation for western knowledge. Moving forward in the timeline, into the period where philosophy and Christian theology merge, I read Augustine’s City of God. It was frustrating to see him push aside a thousand years of philosophy, reason, ethics, and truth-seeking with a Christian framework that treated human reason as secondary to revelation.
Augustine was one of the sharpest minds of his age, brilliant at times and his attempt to make sense of a collapsing world was sincere. But we also have to recognize the damage his ideas caused. His fear of human reason, his distrust of the physical world, his insistence on divine authority over evidence continue to produce real victims.
We’re still living in the remnants of that world. It wasn’t until Aquinas reintroduced confidence in human reason that the balance started to shift. It’s in that long struggle of faith, reason, and power pulling against each other where I think we’ll find the answers we’re looking for.
Q: Why investigate Christian Nationalism?
Christian Nationalism isn’t a fringe idea anymore. Politicians and media figures talk about it openly, which is a warning sign. This ideology which puts a specific interpretation of scripture over reason has caused harm before. Looking at its history helps explain why it keeps coming back and why it’s so dangerous. Shutting religion out of political debate isn’t the answer either as we explore how America has benefited from scripture.
