Current Programme

For episode 300 of TMR—the 14th of our Movie Roundtables—we welcome back our good friends Mark Campbell, Frank Johnson and Antony Rotunno for a four-way discussion on the historical political thriller Thirteen Days (2000), starring Bruce Greenwood, Stephen Culp, Dylan Baker and Kevin Costner, directed by Roger Donaldson.

Based upon the book The Kennedy Tapes : Inside the Cuban Missile Crisis by Ernest R May and Philip D Zelikow—(a massive work of over 700 pages containing transcripts of John F Kennedy's secret recordings of White House meetings during the Cuban Missile Crisis)—Thirteen Days retells and dramatises (with a mix of historical accuracy and artistic licence) the world-shaking events of 16th - 28th October 1962). Faced with photographic evidence of Russian nuclear missiles on Cuban soil during the height of the Cold War, Jack and Bobby Kennedy (along with various advisors) struggle to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the Crisis in the midst of fear, uncertainty and opposition from their military chiefs.

Join us as we discuss the film's production, ponder its historicity, and ask if there is anything to be learnt from it for the present time.

Upcoming Programmes

We shall welcome back to the programme Jacob Hornberger, founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation in the US, for an interview on the JFK Autopsy Fraud with reference to his book The Kennedy Autopsy and Douglas Horne's magisterial Inside the Assassination Records Review Board.

Jacob joined us recently to talk about the historical and political circumstances leading up to the assassination of John F Kennedy on the 22nd of November 1963.

(Jacob Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation [FFF], a non-profit educational foundation in the United States whose mission is to present the principled case for the libertarian philosophy. He received his B.A. in economics from The Virginia Military Institute and his law degree from the University of Texas. After serving as a trial attorney for 12 years, he left the practice of law to enter the educational-foundation world. Jacob has written and spoken extensively on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and his assassination-related books include: An Encounter with Evil : The Abraham Zapruder Story; The Kennedy Autopsy; The Kennedy Autopsy 2; and Regime Change : The JFK Assassination. FFF has also published JFK’s War with the National-Security Establishment by Douglas Horne (who served on the staff of the Assassination Records Review Board), and CIA & JFK : The Secret Assassination Files by Jefferson Morley (a former investigative reporter for the Washington Post). FFF has also held two conferences relating to JFK, which featured presentations by Oliver Stone, Jeffrey Sachs, Stephen Kinzer, Michael J. Glennon, Ron Paul, Douglas Horne, Jefferson Morley, and others. Videos of the presentations at those conferences can be found in the Multimedia section of FFF’s website: fff.org.”)—FFF.org

Future Programmes

We expect to be joined again by the theologian and historian Dr Martin Erdmann for a possible series of interviews on the subjects of his two major books, The Triumph of Progressivism (2021) and The Spiritualisation of Technology (2022).

"Dr Martin Erdmann studied theology at Columbia International University in the USA (Master of Divinity in Missiology and New Testament Studies), at the University of Basel in Switzerland and at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland (Master of Theology in New Testament Studies and Patristics). In 1996, he founded Online Communication Systems, Inc. in Columbus, Ohio. In 1999, he was awarded a doctoral degree in Modern Church History at Brunel University London in England. From 2000-2001 he engaged in post-doctoral studies in New Testament and History of Theology at the Séminaire Libre De Théologie À Genève (Free Seminary of Theology, Geneva, Switzerland). From 2003 to 2010 he was an Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies (distance education) at Patrick Henry College, Virginia. For four years Dr Erdmann headed up the NT department of the Staatsunabhängige Theologische Hochschule Basel (State-independent Theological Seminary), Switzerland. In his position as Senior Scientist at the University Hospital in Basel, he was involved in researching the ethical implications of Nanotechnology. In 2017 the Károli Gáspár-University in Budapest, Hungary awarded him the Dr. Habil. degree in Systematic Theology. Since 2003 he has directed the Verax Institute (Christian apologetics). Dr Erdmann is married to Joy and has two children, Estelle Chérie and Johannes Luc."

Results from TMR survey

Format: Everyone who responded said that they particularly appreciate the interviews (and other types of one-to-one conversation) and asked that these remain at the core of TMR's programming. They also generally prefer in-depth conversations.

Subjects: The majority of respondents are happy with the types of subjects covered on the podcast. (Some aren't keen on subjects that are specifically Christian, while others aren't keen on subjects that are not specifically Christian. Given that this mix is central to TMR's philosophy, such difference of opinion is only to be expected.)

Frequency: Very few asked for the podcasts to be posted at any regular interval (such as weekly or fortnightly), but instead stressed the importance of quality over quantity.

Conclusion: I shall therefore continue in much the same way, but prioritise the in-depth conversations, even though that may impact the frequency with which I post podcasts.

Many thanks to those who contributed.

Julian.

Other arrangements are in the pipeline. I am currently working on the following four projects: an interview in the area of the Philosophy of Miracle; an interview in the area of World Religions (from a Christian perspective); a follow-up interview with Jacob Hornberger on the JFK Autopsy Hoax; and a possible series of interviews with Dr Martin Ermann on his book The Spiritualisation of Technology.