Today on FESTIVAL, we explore ecclesiology, the study of how religious organizations are structured—and what non-religious organizations can learn from it.
On the main stage, we are joined by popular psychologist Adam Mastroianni (of the always-interesting Experimental History blog) to talk about his essay, “Secrets of the ancient memelords,” which discusses beneficial design elements he has noticed in the major religious movements: fractal beliefs, memetic flexibility, and a good balance between the brainy and the folksy ways of talking about creeds. Afterwards, Adam shares some of his best experimental psychology findings (listen to find out whether humans are satisfied with how long their conversations last), as well as his theories on how to improve the practice of science. Adam’s new book, The Strangest Idea in the World (a psychological history of the invention of the toilet—and more!) is available for pre-order now.
Later in the show, Wayfare’s Zachary Davis joins us to walk through why Mormons are so good at building community. We get into the nuts and bolts of what we can all learn from how the various elements of Latter-day Saint ecclesiology—geographic wards, semiannual general conferences, lay ministers, high-church temples and low-church chapels, rite-of-passage missions, tithing, ministering, fasting, and more—form individuals, weave together congregations, and balance participation and consistency. We end with a reflection on “Why the Church Is as True as the Gospel,” Eugene England’s lovely essay on finding the divine in the messy tension of human organizations.
Along the way, I share a short reflection on the movie of the moment, You Can See Everything, as well as a video version of my tribute to the late great farmer-prophet of Port Royal, Kentucky, Wendell Berry.
Timecodes:
00:00 Intro
01:05 Why ecclesiology?
05:53 Eric Blanc’s lessons from Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Church
12:53 Adam Mastroianni on “Secrets of the ancient memelords”
53:37 Reflections on You Can See Everything
56:55 Exploring Mormon ecclesiology with Zachary Davis
1:36:18 A tribute to Wendell Berry
Further reading:
Eric Blanc’s “What Evangelicals Can Teach Us About Organizing,” about Rick Warren’s 1995 book, The Purpose Driven Church
Adam Mastroianni’s website, Experimental History blog, and upcoming book, The Strangest Idea in the World
Adam Mastroianni’s essays mentioned:
Adam Mastroianni’s psychology experiments mentioned:
Join or Die, a documentary I co-directed on community in America
Slime Mold Time Mold, mentioned by Adam
Eugene England’s “Why the Church Is as True as the Gospel”
Subscribe to FESTIVAL on:
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If you haven’t seen FESTIVAL’s first two episodes, you can find them here:
FESTIVAL #1: Looping Toward Hope (with The Two Loops Model’s Deborah Frieze and Randonautica’s Joshua Lengfelder)
FESTIVAL #2: Two Long-Haul Heroes (with Stacy Mitchell and Lawrence Lessig)
And below you can check out FESTIVAL’s trailer, which includes our wonderful theme song—“Last Dance at the Grove” by the great Boston band Noble Dust:
