Very pleased to share a great conversation I recently had with none other than the (and I say this with total sincerity) most based centrist I’ve ever had a conversation with, Prester John Andrews!
PJ writes on all the coolest stuff and hosts an excellent podcast over at The Xanadu Review. He’s also got a really cool new podcast debuting soon called Americana Obscura where he’ll be doing deep dives on niche history topics that’ll certainly be well worth putting in your pipe and smoking. GO SUBSCRIBE if you haven’t.
It’s funny. Somehow I keep having the pleasure of sharing stellar shit shootin’ sessions with two kinds of people here on SoD: 1) People who are prolly distant cousins of mine (I call em kinfolk), and 2) Pastor’s Kids (i.e.—affectionately—"PKs").
PJ happens to check both boxes. Call that dog and pony show DEI.
Really though, this conversation was a delight, and I had even more fun on my appearance on PJ’s The Xanadu Review which I’ll eventually link here once it comes out. Better yet, just subscribe to him so you’ll get the email when it drops.
I hope you enjoy!
Without further ado, Dissent.19 featuring Prester John Andrews:
00:00:01 — Intro
00:02:12 — Prester John introduces himself and his work
00:03:03 — PJ’s work focuses on obscure history, culture, politics, technology; “Navigating the trials of modernity through the wisdom of the past”
00:03:39 — While a cynic at heart, PJ intentionally opts for “defiant optimism”
00:04:12 — I ask PJ about his names (Golden Horde, Xanadu)
00:04:29 — PJ explains the legend of Prester John. A We Wuz Nigerian Prince chad, lost Christian king, or a mis-recorded Ghengis Khan?
00:08:00 — We discuss the limits of “objective history” in the ancient world
00:09:28 — Graham Hancock and the ancient aliens pill
00:10:21 — Is the Old Testament literal?
00:13:18 — Flood narratives across cultures & translation issues
00:14:34 — Jewish interpretive traditions about Noah / “only righteous man”
00:16:22 — PJ’s upbringing as a Pastor’s Kid
00:20:15 — I share some of my shift from traditional Southern Baptist to Reformed
00:22:15 — Generational identity + “return to religion”
00:24:00 — BOOMER v. ZOOMER in the Church. WHY?
00:27:41 — The slow rot of “Cultural Christianity”
00:30:09 — PJ shares some of why he left the Church, atheism phase, current renewed pull towards faith.
00:32:17 — The Fourth Turning and generational reversal
00:33:33 — Family support collapse & the stress of “starting from zero”
00:36:10 — Church support helps, but modern atomization remains
00:37:35 — “Doing life together” (church-plant meme) and what it’s trying to name
00:39:24 — Ersatz community: fandom, subcultures, rituals; people trying to recreate meaning
00:42:08 — “Adulting” as a symptom: relearning what should be intuitive
00:43:29 — Boomer “TV brain,” scapegoating, and structural sin
00:47:20 — Generational trauma vs. “collective unconscious” (terms vs. reality)
00:49:30 — Childlessness as loss + church teaching on “be fruitful and multiply”
00:51:24 — Fertility crisis: environment, stress, food/medicine, economics
00:54:14 — Community as the “white pill” + economic collapse forcing mutual reliance; PJ shares about his extended family and baby fever
00:56:24 — Paul Kingsnorth Against the Machine and the modern isolation experiment
00:57:43 — “There’s never a perfect time” to have kids + the legacy question
00:59:15 — Traditionalism as synthesis: take what’s good from past and present
01:02:26 — New Testament church model: ragtag, raw, real community
01:04:33 — Consumerist Americana & media degradation
01:05:49 — I go off on my typical Outlaw Josey Wales and Asa Carter tangent; the upheaval of the Civil Rights Era South; Carter’s undeniable prescience of “one world government / one world race” rhetoric; the fruit of communism vis a vis globalism.
01:18:19 — PJ and I discuss monarchism’s appeal. I confess to being a spiritual monarchist: Christ is King.
01:20:14 — Bannon and Yarvin
01:21:10 — PJ discusses how techbro monarchism AINT IT KING.
01:44:59 — Decline of American federalism; Property based suffrage at Founding; America as a republic of states, not “USA Inc.”
02:00:16 — End of liberal-globalist consensus;
02:10:13 — “Hoping for the good ending”
fin, thanks for listening!
SELF SHILL SEGUE
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