May 19, 2014, from Wayne
Has CBC pulled together all your online broadcasts? That would be a worthy venture. I for one would be directing people to them all - as I often do to various in any event...
May 20, 2014, from David
I wouldn't say pulled together no. I have more the impression of having sunk without a trace. The woman who took over from Bernie Lucht at Ideas in late 2012 never even rebroadcast After Atheism and The Myth of the Secular, my two final series, so I have had to lobby her successor - she only lasted one season, a story in itself - to put them on again. He has now told me that After Atheism will be rebroadcast this summer. A number of things are still on-line, but I think that's mainly inertia. I'm afraid that it's all just Content, and that nobody really sees that what I did over the years constitutes either a resource worth preserving or even a coherent body of work. However your question is timely, and I will keep thinking about to keep my work available to those who might find it helpful.
May 20, 2014, from Ron ???
Hi David,
Over the years, I numerous times direct people to your broadcasts by going to an online CBC link, copying and pasting it into the e-mail for instant access. I'm populating now a personal website. I do that same thing in the documents themselves (MS Word allows such "hotkeying"), and on WordPress, the backdoor software used for the website. It's easy to use html code to do that for online publication... You'll see it all over on my website.
Though I have only listened to a small portion of your overall broadcast work, some quick observations:
there is coherence of themes at many levels, as wide-ranging as your subjects are, not least of course your consistent (literal) "voice" throughout.
topics you have chosen over the decades, thanks to previous producers so I understand, according to primarily what interested you. Those interests could readily be basis of a Master's or Ph.D thesis on David Cayley's "Ideas" (double entendre). They do form a vast "body of work" to be discovered by many, abundantly well worth it.
art form: radio broadcasting, for all Ivan Illich's misgivings around the technology of it, is a unique art form. My friends and I out here are agreed: you have elevated that art form significantly over your decades of broadcasting. (I cannot compare widely to prove that, I/we can only "witness" to its effect on me/us.) I know this: it is rare gift that another's ideas can be taken, rebundled, and literally broadcast with such (often for me greater) clarity and impact into the anonymous audience airwaves. C. S. Lewis for one had that rare gift... I even possess a series of radio broadcast cassettes he did on the "Four Loves". That's how your series on Nils Christie years ago impacted me, and every experience since... (I first contacted you with appreciation after that series, and have been so grateful for our friendship since.) Others have done/do it well at "Ideas" and elsewhere. But few with such impact, I speak experientially. Your broadcasts "satisfy"... Much more can readily be said.
on any level, such a body of work should not be lost (that's why you're continuing to work on Ivan Illich's body of work!), let alone be allowed to be "sunk without a trace".
The weekend (first one of February) after my last day of work (retired officially March 31 this year - party for that this Saturday - you're welcome to drop in - ha!) we visited Roy Henry Vickers' art studio in Tofino. Besides loving his work over the years, I love his brief introductions/stories to the genesis of every painting! Such as it is, I've taken that as model on the website a friend developed for me and I'm populating with alacrity: I'm telling the genesis story most times. That's invaluable to some (however large or small the circle, right?) It's ubiquitous of course that we all want such accounts.
In light of all that, a proposal of sorts:
if CBC will not pull your works together, surely you have right of access to all the archived material - perhaps have them at your home anyway.
why not make them available for digitilization (even I have the software and hardware to do that flawlessly - and have done so with 30 years of home video for instance - so not very high end technical know-how needed!)? Much over the last many years of your work is already digitalized.
why not offer it as a body of work to UFV for instance (Ron are you listening)? A techy Masters student on a Work Grant could digitalize and categorize everything, in turn then it could be made available ultimately online, thus to the world as a "body of work" by a significant CBC Ideas broadcaster. You could interactively introduce all the works, making the "coherence" connections to your heart's content, as you have time and interest. Then, an annual lecture series in your honour could be initiated by UFV that you would speak at each until your death (you are "advancing" in years of course!. In that case: written into the contract of course would be an "Institute" on the side at our place... :-) )
Something like that. Then when my grandson (okay, he's only 12 now, but a bright kid!) is casting about for a Master's or a Ph.D thesis, I have just the project for him! :-)
I really am, all lightness aside, dead serious, David!
I'm guessing that you have one or more techy grandkids who could do that digitalization project, and could get a grant to do it as a Summer job, or whatever, with even a tiny bit (surely!) of CBC backing...
Anyway... Glad about the After Atheism rebroadcast. Glad that you will "keep thinking" - I mean about such a project as above ... I rather think you will "keep thinking" regardless. "David Cayley on David Cayley" is so worthwhile however it comes out!
——
May 21, 2014, from David
Dear Wayne,
Thanks for words of praise and for the attention you've devoted to the whole issue. The main things I got out of my blessed years at Ideas was a lot of splendid friends, as you've just proved once again.
Up 'til now, I've been hoping, without reason, that CBC Radio will want to do something to preserve my work and make it available, since that is now so easily done. However I haven't taken any steps to promote the idea. So I guess, if I'm serious, exploring that avenue should be my first move. The second possibility is to make it available though a web-site of my own. . …..You've now suggested a third possibility - that someone else would do it. I find this an appealing idea, as might CBC Radio, but I don't know if it's very likely to fly.
Anyway thank you for the encouragement, and the nudge to get me going on this. It may be fall before I begin to follow up, but I will.
P.S. I do have a complete sound archive, some of it already digitalized, and transcriptions of all shows between 1982 when we began transcription and 2006 when the CBC lost interest and could no longer understand why a print record might have a unique value (e.g. citability, and easy reference) in a world of proliferating "platforms" - God save us.
May 21, 2014, from Brad
Dear David,
Brad Jersak weighing in here with my 'amen.' About 18 months ago, I finished writing my PhD (under Ron Dart's supervision) on George Grant and Simone Weil. Throughout that process, I think I bought or read virtually everything on or by Grant and I must say that your George Grant in Conversation was by far the most helpful, dog-eared and highlighted resource on my bookshelf. Your poignant questions drew out answers from Grant available nowhere else and probably saved me either hundreds of hours or hundreds of mistakes.
Then onto the After Atheism series ... I know both Girard and Caputo personally, and can't honestly think of a close second to your fair and accurate summaries of their work. Simply the best out there ... and actually, the piece on Kearney was my favourite. I've passed it on to friends for whom it virtually saved their faith and others who needed the recovery message. Thank you so much!
I'm 'gutted' to hear that your visit out west would be while I'm at Nottingham for post-doc work this fall, but please know that all of us hear recognize your long-term faithfulness to the Good. This is what is driving all these inquiries.
——
May 22, 2014, from Wayne
Given you have the complete sound archive, that so much is already digitalized, it is not a huge stretch to have a website done up by a professional designer (I asked such at our church to do mine, and am pleased with the outcome. The $900 or so was worth it, and the $15/month keeps everything actively secured, etc... - check it out below if you wish); and the uploading of digitalized material - or any kind of file - is a piece of cake. I'm doing it all the time through back door software called "WordPress", for instance - with commentary. Lots of fun!
I wonder that it is best to have a grandkid or some such do all that in your home - so there is no chance of loss of the material. Software and hardware are cheap, and flawless, provided you can hook up the tape player of the master tape to a USB port on a computer. Digitalized also means a more permanent record. Even more so once uploaded to a website...
Enough said. There is huge benefit in completing such a project! Man: I'll be listening on my old iPhone/now ipod anytime I travel on my own... am now to some of the earlier ones!
——
May 22, 2014, from David
Dear Brad,
Thanks for your letter. George Grant - I think it's in Grant in Conversation - remembered hearing Leo Strauss advise teachers to remember that among their auditors there might, at any given moment, be someone more attentive, more ardent, more serious than they. (That's not exact - I'm paraphrasing.) I always remembered that, and it was born out again and again when I would learn, sometimes years after the fact, how much something I had written or said on the CBC had meant to someone else, perhaps even more than it had meant to me - and all unknown to me at the time. (Broadcasting can be unhappily promiscuous, but it does have this resemblance to the sower of the parable as well.) Anyway I'm very happy to know that various works of mine were helpful to you, and, through you, to others. I hope we'll meet up one day.
——
March 21, 2024
From Wayne,
Our enterprising pastor, Ian Funk (copied), at Langley Mennonite Fellowship has asked 5 of us to preach over the next month or so, each based on one of the After Atheism series. He did not know before of my connection to you. I've agreed to do the first one of the series: Richard Kearney. I told you once how much in an existentially difficult time external to me (a few nasty fundamentalist board members) I happened to listen to the first airing on CBC after a difficult board meeting, and felt refreshed as I pulled into the driveway an hour later! Again, thank you!
A few things:
are there any manuscripts available from any of that series?
can you point me to anything more current about Richard Kearney? I'll also be looking. Or to any of the others interviewed?
would you be open to do a Zoom call about the series, where essentially you'd do the talking? It could be made available on the LMF YouTube channel, for those interested. You might wish to explain how you came to do the series, why it was divided into 2 sections, and what overall you were getting at in these two, as it turned out, last of your broadcasts on Ideas.
This should not involve more work, other than the Zoom time. But fully understood if it does not work for you. If you agree, presumably you would be open to have it posted both on LMF's site, and on mine?
Finally, you recall that (Anglican) scholar Ron Dart took part in our Ivan Illich book discussions. He retired last year after almost 40 years of teaching at University of the Fraser Valley. Some of us undertook to produce a Liber Amicorum (his choice over just an academic Festschrift), and I've completed the second round of copy-editing (first done by another friend, Matthew Steem, who also participated in that Illich group of discussions), also completed all the formatting, and am waiting only for another friend (Brad Jersak) to add ISBNs to each cover of the two-volume set (which he did in the first place), then publishing on Kindle Direct Publishing: one totalling 1,059 pages!
Ron is one of the relatively unsung Canadian-oriented academics whom retired Political Science prof, John Redekop, calls in the tome a "Renaissance Man." There are 82 contributors. It will appear as a two-volume set, titled:The Scholar-Gipsy: Thrownness, Memoricide & The Great Tradition .
Thanks, David.
Best to you.
Wayne
Attached Quotes and Pieces
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Mar 23, 2024, from Wayne
Dear Wayne,
Nice to hear from you. I'm delighted to hear that those broadcasts are inspiring sermons, and especially one by you.
There is no transcript of the series. But the time it was broadcasting, the CBC, over my strenuous but unavailing objections, had discontinued transcripts.
I've had no contact with Richard since the Illich book was published. I had a copy sent to him in hopes of a review, and he said he would have his most recent book - on touch, as I recall - sent to me. I never got his book, and he never produced a review so far as I know, and there the matter stands. I did an earlier series with Richard, as you probably know, called The God Who May Be, which surveyed his work up to the time of the broadcast in 2006. The three programs are on my site, and there is a transcript of that one on the transcripts page.
I'd be happy to do a Zoom call. Might you interview me, just so I have someone to talk to, rather than my just having to orate into the void? I'm very happy to know of your tribute to Ron Dart. I know shockingly little of his work - hard to keep up - but we're still in touch from time to time, and perhaps I'll catch up one day.
——
Mar 24, 2024, from Wayne
It's definitely a great idea to lift off from the broadcasts in brief, pithy sermons--Ian Funk's hope. I'll happily send you mine, though have no clue yet about what I'll present.
I think you had mentioned before CBC's failure to keep doing transcripts. Such a shame. Yes, I know of your earlier series, but never had accessed it. I have now downloaded the transcripts. checked Kearney's Boston College website. He has not been idle! There you will find this clickable list, that I quickly scanned tonight:
Books
Recent Books
Trilogy: Philosophy at the Limit
Other Books
Essay Monographs
Fiction & Poetry
Edited Volumes
Chapters & Articles in Books
Books on Kearney’s Work
Translations of Kearney’s Work
Thanks for your willingness to do a Zoom for subsequent posting. I did chuckle at the thought of my interviewing you. . .
But I have an idea: were we to wait until the series is done (see list below), then we collectively could take an hour or so "Zooming" with you about it. Some of the more general questions--as already mentioned--I could pose after introducing you and them. Then we presenters may each have questions for you that arise from our talks, possibly limiting it to three or something like that. This way, as we prepare the "sermons", we could think of questions to ask you on Zoom later. Then, we could have a general discussion, given that many may listen to all five, and unless truant (shame on them!), all will have listened to each other, so that a more informed discussion might take place. (Of course we may all listen to the recordings anytime, too!) I think this would create definite interest for several in our congregation, once posted to, and promoted on, the YouTube channel. And I'll also post it on my website.
The premise of the proposal is of course that Ian and the others think this an okay idea. I'll defer initially to Ian on this (he does two of them), and see if we proceed from there. (Ian: no feelings hurt if you think we shouldn't do this. I'm fine if not, and David, who is so gracious, I'm sure agrees.)
Following is the series, as described by Ian:
As you know, we are working with the radio series After Atheism. This is a new link to the series. https://www.davidcayley.com/podcasts/category/After+Atheism. We will begin with an introductory Sunday on April 7. I will speak about how the disciples, when in hiding after Jesus' crucifixion/resurrection, mourned the death of the Christ they knew, and were now getting reacquainted with a risen Christ and anticipating the leading of the Holy Spirit. Moving from there, I propose the following;
April 14 Lisa will respond to John Caputo (Program 2). She has chosen Acts 15 as the scripture for April 14
April 21 Ian will respond to Roger Lundin (Program 5) Scripture TBD
April 28 Wayne will respond to Richard Kearney (Program 1) Scripture TBD
May 5 Ian will respond to William Cavanaugh (Program 3) Scripture TBD
May 12 Juliet will respond to James Carse (Program 4) Scripture TBD
Just some initial thoughts.
As to Ron Dart. Here are links to the Kindle versions of the two-volume set, which I've made free for five days:
The Scholar-Gipsy Volume 1: Thrownness, Memoricide & The Great Tradition
The Scholar-Gipsy Volume 2: Thrownness, Memoricide & The Great Tradition
Apr 11, 2024, from Ian
Hello Wayne, Hello David,
I just thought that I'd chime in and thank you both, Wayne for creatively thinking of generative possibilities, and David for responding generously to Wayne's suggestion that we have a Q & A on Zoom. I am open to any good interaction that we might have. A Zoom meeting, mid May would be great!!
David, I've been listening to the After Atheism series a few times now and appreciate them greatly. Our series begins this Sunday. I am sorry, logistics determined that we respond to each of the episodes but out of order; I hope that the cohesion and flow of the series isn't too disrupted by this.
We are calling our worship series; God. Then & Now; Always and Eternal, hopefully conveying that God/church looks and is different through time while the lasting/sustaining qualities of God and religious life remain. I am hoping this title offers some assurance of unchangeability while not softening too much our challenge of the status quo; some are truly traumatised by change, or even the prospect of it.
Nonetheless, there is a keen interest at Langley Mennonite to know a living, present and relevant God who speaks to us in real and meaningful ways. Many of us also understand that we need to deconstruct and relearn to get there. There is also an anxious (yet vibrant) sense that we don't know what new looks like or how to do new stuff...so that's the spirit that brought us to After Atheism. Some have already expressed excitement and intrigue over the upcoming series...so I am excited too. We will have 5 speakers respond to the 5 episodes, most of whom have been called from the pew to speak. You're invited to listen in if you ever are interested.