What happens when power protects itself? In this episode of Via Media, +Brian Ernest Brown explores what we call “the Epstein Class,” a culture where wealth, influence, and connections blur accountability and test our moral courage. This is not about left or right. It’s about conscience. About the danger of…
Tag: Via Media
The Via Media Podcast
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Via Media Podcast: Episode 1: The Middle Way in the Age of Extremes
Episode 1: The Middle Way in an Age of Extremes In this first episode of Via Media, I introduce the idea behind the title itself: the via media, the middle way. We live in a time when much of our public life is shaped by extremes. Outrage is loud. Certainty…
Faith, Conscience & Common Good
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An Anti-Christ In His Own Words Podcast – Episode 1: Dedication and Prologue
An Anti-Christ In His Own Words – Episode 1: Dedication & Prologue Welcome to the first episode of An Anti-Christ In His Own Words. In this opening installment, I share the dedication behind this series and introduce the Prologue: “By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them.” We begin by grounding…
Coworkers of Christ
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My Profession Is My Work, My Vocation Is My Calling: A Reflection on Being a Worker Priest
My Profession Is My Work, My Vocation Is My Calling: A Reflection on Being a Worker PriestBy +Brian Ernest Brown, CWC I have been clergy for more than twenty-five years, and in all those years I have also been something else: a worker clergy. A bi-vocational servant. A man who…
Faith, Conscience & Common Good
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Two Wings of the Same Bird
Two Wings of the Same Bird: The Wisdom of Conservatism, Liberalism, and the Danger of Retributive PoliticsBy +Brian Ernest Brown There is an old metaphor that says a nation needs two wings to fly. Not one. Not one pretending to be two. But two wings, strong, balanced, countering and complementing…
Faith, Conscience & Common Good
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The Common Good and the Politics of Neighborliness
The Common Good and the Politics of Neighborliness “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” – Mark 12:31By +Brian Ernest Brown There are certain teachings of Jesus that are so familiar, so oft-quoted, that we forget how radical they really are. “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” is one…
Faith, Conscience & Common Good
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When Power Excuses Evil: A Reflection on Conscience, Complicity, and the Idol of Politics
When Power Excuses Evil: A Reflection on Conscience, Complicity, and the Idol of Politics By +Brian Ernest Brown There are moments in history when a society’s moral fractures become too deep to hide. Moments when the truth breaks through the noise and asks whether we are still capable of seeing…
Faith, Conscience & Common Good
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When Grace Grows Old
When Grace Grows Old By +Brian Ernest Brown I am part of Generation X. I grew up in the 1970s and 80s, when rotary phones hung on kitchen walls, Saturday mornings smelled like cereal and cartoons, and moral certainty seemed far simpler. We were the latchkey kids, half-wild, half-wise, learning…
Faith, Conscience & Common Good
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The Via Media: A Way of Integrity in Public Life
The Via Media: A Way of Integrity in Public Life By +Brian Ernest Brown, CWC In an age of outrage and algorithms, it can feel as though every conversation demands that we choose a side before we’re even allowed to speak. We are pressed to declare allegiance not to truth…
Faith, Conscience & Common Good
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About the Via Media
About the Via Media Reflections on Faith, Conscience, and the Common Good In an age of noise and division, Via Media seeks a different path, the sacred middle way. Hosted and written by me, Brian Ernest Brown, bishop, teacher, and pilgrim of conscience, Via Media explores the moral and spiritual…