Holy Smoke: Christianity, culture wars and J.D. Vance, a conversation with James Orr episode artwork

EPISODE · Mar 13, 2025 · 1H 1M

Holy Smoke: Christianity, culture wars and J.D. Vance, a conversation with James Orr

from Best of the Spectator

James Orr was living the life of a young, high-flying lawyer when, after a few drinks at a New Year's Eve party, he asked for signs that God existed. The signs came; among other things, he narrowly avoided a fatal skiing accident. Now he is a passionate Christian and a conservative culture warrior who helped defeat an attempt to impose the tyranny of critical race theory on Cambridge University, where he is an associate professor of the philosophy of religion.He's also an intellectual mentor to the vice president of the United States; Politico describes him as 'J.D. Vance's English philosopher king'. Dr Orr says Vance is 'extremely articulate, but he takes no prisoners'. As you'll hear in his conversation with Damian Thompson, that's an observation that could easily apply to the man the vice president calls his 'British Sherpa'. Produced by Patrick Gibbons. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

James Orr was living the life of a young, high-flying lawyer when, after a few drinks at a New Year's Eve party, he asked for signs that God existed. The signs came; among other things, he narrowly avoided a fatal skiing accident. Now he is a passionate Christian and a conservative culture warrior who helped defeat an attempt to impose the tyranny of critical race theory on Cambridge University, where he is an associate professor of the philosophy of religion.He's also an intellectual mentor to the vice president of the United States; Politico describes him as 'J.D. Vance's English philosopher king'. Dr Orr says Vance is 'extremely articulate, but he takes no prisoners'. As you'll hear in his conversation with Damian Thompson, that's an observation that could easily apply to the man the vice president calls his 'British Sherpa'. Produced by Patrick Gibbons. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

NOW PLAYING

Holy Smoke: Christianity, culture wars and J.D. Vance, a conversation with James Orr

0:00 1:01:27

No transcript for this episode yet

We transcribe on demand. Request one and we'll notify you when it's ready — usually under 10 minutes.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long is this episode of Best of the Spectator?

This episode is 1 hour and 1 minute long.

When was this Best of the Spectator episode published?

This episode was published on March 13, 2025.

What is this episode about?

James Orr was living the life of a young, high-flying lawyer when, after a few drinks at a New Year's Eve party, he asked for signs that God existed. The signs came; among other things, he narrowly avoided a fatal skiing accident. Now he is a...

Can I download this Best of the Spectator episode?

Yes, you can download this episode by clicking the download button on the episode player, or subscribe to the podcast in your preferred podcast app for automatic downloads.
URL copied to clipboard!