Listen to these quality recordings at home, in your car, or whenever and wherever you wish!

Professional-quality audiotapes for all of Touchstone's Chicago-Area evening lectures are available from Orthodox Christian Cassettes.

Jim Forest

S. M. Hutchens

James M. Kushiner

Patrick Henry Reardon

Professional-quality audiotapes for all of Touchstone's past conferences are also available from Orthodox Christian Cassettes.

Praying & Staying Together
Keeping Your Family Christian in a Hell-Bent World

The Time Is Near:
The Apocalyptic Imagination in an Age of Anxiety

Christian Unity & The Divisions We Must Sustain

Design and Its Critics

Return to the Father's House:
God the Father & Human Fatherhood

"In the World":
The Gospel of the Resurrection in a Culture of Death

Not of This World:
An Ecumenical Conference for Traditional Christians

Orthodox Christian Cassettes, Inc.
Don Lourie, Director

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Evening Lecture Series

Jim Forest
Rest for Our Souls: Confession in an Age of Self Esteem

S. M. Hutchens
The Fairy Tale God: Truth and Deceit in Children’s Fiction

James M. Kushiner
Terror and Tradition: September 11 and the Way of the Cross
A View from Fingal’s Cave: Reflections of a Modern Pilgrim

Patrick Henry Reardon
The Bible and the Sacraments
Culture and Tradition
Christ in the Old Testament

Audiocassette: $5 each (includes shipping)
CDs: $8 each (include shipping)
Payment may be made by check, money order, or credit card. Visa, MasterCard, and American Express accepted.

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Praying & Staying Together:
Keeping Your Family Christian in a Hell-Bent World

A Conference Sponsored by Touchstone Magazine
October 21-23, 2004
St. Mary of the Lake Retreat Center
Mundelein, Illinois

Many Christians despair at the prospect of raising children in a culture that seems hell-bent. Is there any realistic hope that we can build Christian families when so much in the popular culture undermines our faith? The messages about life, love, sex, "values," and virtue promoted through television, film, advertisements, the weekly magazines, and the daily newspaper, even teachers in our children's classrooms, are not only powerful and pervasive-they tempt and seduce even Christians who want to resist them.

How can we keep our families Christian and lead our children to embrace the call to holiness through Christ? How can we teach them (and train ourselves) to live in this seductive culture without losing our salt? We invite you to join the editors and a first-class group of speakers as we tackle these important questions.

Five Plenary Sessions

Session 1: Thomas Howard
Blessed Presence: Your House as a Holy Place

Session 2: J. Budziszewski
Sex: What We Already Know

Session 3: Vigen Guroian
Habits of Character: On Being a Good Son or Daughter

Session 4: Rod Dreher
In Your Face: Media & Christian Family Values

Session 5: Frederica Mathewes-Green
A Toy, An Icon & A Work of Art: The Power of Images

Eight Breakout Sessions

Session 6: J. Budziszewski & Vigen Guroian
Bedtime Reading for Parent & Child

Session 7: Thomas Howard & Frederica Mathewes-Green
The Liturgical Home

Session 8: Thomas Howard & Kevin Offner
Choosing & Dating or Courting Disaster

Session 9: Vigen Guroian & Kevin Offner
In Loco Parentis: Christian College Prep

Session 10: Rod Dreher & David Mills
Discerning Gold on the Silver Screen

Session 11: Juli Loesch Wiley & J. Budziszewski
Human Fertility & Christian Identity

Session 12: Frederica Mathewes-Green & Rod Dreher
Minding the Media

Session 13: Juli Loesch Wiley & Thomas Buchanan
The Christian at Home School

Praying & Staying Together CD Album ( 13 CDs) $79.00
Praying & Staying Together CD Album (any 8 CDs) $59.00
Praying & Staying Together CD Album (13 CDs) $59.00
Praying & Staying Together Cassette Album (8 tapes) $39.00
Praying & Staying TogetherMP3 (all talks on two discs) $29.00
Praying & Staying Together Individual CDs $8.00
Praying & Staying Together Individual Cassettes $6.00
(shipping and handling included).

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The Time Is Near:
The Apocalyptic Imagination in an Age of Anxiety

A Conference Sponsored by Touchstone Magazine
October 16-18, 2003
St. Mary of the Lake Retreat Center
Mundelein, Illinois

Ours is an anxious time, with talk of "clashes" of civilizations and orthodoxies, dirty bombs and killer viruses, coming economic depressions, and violent movements all around the world dedicated to destroying modern societies. Even sober scholars write books on the end of western civilization. Apocalyptic books are selling tens of millions of copies and apocalyptic movements are growing within all the churches.

But are we really in "the last days"? What should we think about the Second Coming of Christ? The Book of Revelation? What does it mean that Christ "shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead"? Ours is not the first generation to have "apocalyptic anxieties." Join the editors of Touchstone and an ecumenical array of guest speakers as we seek the answer to anxiety in the wisdom of Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox believers of the past and present.

Session 1: S. M. Hutchens
The Return of the Lord or the End of the World?

Session 2: Leon Podles
Apocalypse Then & Now

Session 3: Alan Jacobs
The Inexpressible Apocalypse

Session 4: Sandra Miesel
Rewriting the Future

Session 5: Vigen Guroian
His Coming in Consuming Glory

Session 6: Craig Blaising
The American Evangelical Apocalypse

Session 7: James Hitchcock
The Spirit of Antichrist

Session 8: Patrick Henry Reardon
The Book of Revelation as Liturgical Prophecy

The Time Is Near CD Album (8 CDs) $58.00
The Time Is Near Cassette Album (8 tapes) $44.00
The Time Is Near MP3 (all talks on one disc) $29.00
The Time Is Near Individual CDs $8.00
The Time Is Near Individual Cassettes $5.00
(shipping and handling included).

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In the spirit of our first "Gathering of Traditional Christians" at Rose Hill in South Carolina in 1995, Touchstone brought together Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox Christians to examine the issues that both unite and divide Christians in the 21st century.

A great realignment is under way as many rediscover the resources of the Great Tradition while others reject it wholesale. At the same time, Christians face difficult challenges from an increasingly secularized culture.

This conference explored the possibilities for greater Christian unity and our responsibility for drawing all the lines -- theological and moral -- in the right places.

Session 1: Richard J. Neuhaus, Editor-in-Chief of First Things
Title: That They May Be One: The Prospects for Unity in the 21st Century
Respondent: S.M. Hutchens, Senior Editor, Touchstone

Session 2: Metropolitan Maximos of Pittsburgh
Title: Turning Our Hearts to the Fathers: The Orthodox Church & Christian Unity
Respondent: Addison Hart, Contributing Editor, Touchstone

Session 3: Robert George, Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University
Title: The Family of God & Man: Cultural Division & Christian Unity
Respondent: Thomas Oden, Professor of Theology, Drew University

Session 4: Timothy George, Dean of Beeson Divinity School
Title: The Unity of the Faith: Evangelicalism & Mere Christianity
Respondent: James Hitchcock, Professor of History, St Louis University; Senior Editor, Touchstone

Session 5: R. Albert Mohler, Jr., President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Title: Standing Together & Standing Apart: Cobelligerency Without Theological Compromise
Respondent: David Mills, Director of Communications, Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry, Ambridge, Pennsylvania; Senior Editor, Touchstone

Session 6: Panel Discussion with Plenary Speakers and Respondents

Session 7: Patrick Henry Reardon, pastor of All Saints Orthodox Church, Chicago; Senior Editor, Touchstone
Title: Communion & Division: The Structure of Knowledge
Respondent: William Tighe, Professor of History at Muhlenburg College


An album of all six plenary sessions and the closing panel discussion -- seven cassettes in all -- is $33 (plus $5 shipping and handling). Individual sessions are available for $5 each (shipping and handling included).

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As a popular movement, what is coming to be known as "intelligent design" is growing rapidly. Nonetheless, its status as a scientific and intellectual program is increasingly coming under scrutiny, and there are many misgivings, especially in the academy. This conference sought to articulate the best criticisms of Intelligent Design theory and to allow its proponents to address these concerns. The credentials of Intelligent Design were evaluated from the perspectives of the natural sciences, philosophy, theology, and education.


Album One
Plenary Sessions:

Is Design a Good Idea for Science?
Tape 1: Stephen C. Meyer, Whitworth College/Discovery Institute
Tape 2: Michael Shermer, Skeptics Society/Occidental College

Design in the Biological Sciences
Tape 3: Michael Behe, Lehigh University/Discovery Institute; Scott Minnich, University of Idaho
Tape 4: Ken Miller, Brown University

Design in the Physical Sciences
Tape 5: John Leslie, Guelph (emeritus); Robin Collins, Messiah College
Tape 6: Brian Josephson, Cambridge University

Design in the Public School Science Classroom
Tape 7: David DeWolf, Gonzaga University Law School; Stephen Meyer, Whitworth College/Discovery Institute; Warren A. Nord, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
Tape 8: Ronald Numbers, University of Wisconsin-Madison


Album Two
Plenary Sessions:

Mechanical and Philosophical Reflections on ID
Tape 9: Walter Starkey, Professional Machine Designer; Lawrence Starkey

Lunch and Banquet Speakers
Tape 10: Diogenes Allen, Princeton Theological Seminary; Jean Staune, Université Interdisciplinaire de Paris

How to Detect Design
Tape 11: Michael Ruse, Guelph; Del Ratzsch, Calvin College
Tape 12: Del Ratzch (cont.); William Dembski, Baylor University/Discovery Institute

Design's Philosophical Bona Fides
Tape 13: Patrick Henry Reardon, Touchstone; Robert O'Connor, Wheaton College
Tape 14: Robert O'Connor (cont.); Michael Roberts, Chirk, United Kingdom

Panel Discussion Prospects for Design
Tape 15: Paul Nelson, Discovery Institute; Ted Davis, Messiah College; Kelly Smith, Clemson
Tape 16: Lenny Moss, Notre Dame; followed by A Discussion Between Panelists


Album Three
Concurrent Sessions:

Behe and His Critics
Tape 17: Mike Thrush, University of Notre Dame; Larry Arnhart, Northern Illinois University; Michael Behe, Lehigh University/Discovery Institute

Design in the Nineteenth Century
Tape 18: Jon H. Roberts, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point

Fine Tuning Arguments: For & Against
Tape 19: Allen Utke, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh; Tim McGrew, Western Michigan University

A Third Way? Science Between Evolution and ID
Tape 20: Lothar Schafer, University of Arkansas; Jon Bogle, Lycoming College

The Design Inference and the Future of Science
Tape 21: Lydia McGrew, Kalamazoo, Michigan; Robin Collins, Messiah College

Design in the College Classroom
Tape 22: Mark Kalthoff, Hillsdale College; John Silvius, Cedarville College; Mary and Don Korte; Gary Locklair, Concordia University, Wisconsin

What Difference does Design make to Science?
Tape 23: Craig Rusbult, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Stephen Meyer, Discovery Institute; Scott Minnich, University of Idaho; Paul Nelson, Discovery Institute


These 23 audio tapes are packaged in three albums. The price of the complete set is $99 plus $7 for mailing. You may purchase individual albums. Albums one and two are $37 each plus $4 for mailing each one. Album three is $33 plus $4 for mailing. Individual cassettes are $5 each plus $2 for mailing several cassettes.

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In this age of redefining marriage and the family, it is time to look again at traditional Christian teaching on fatherhood. It is time to return to the Father's house and to reappropriate its beauty and order in our churches and our families.

This conference gave an articulate defense of the traditional Christian teaching on fatherhood, with emphasis on the ways that human fatherhood is reflective of the Fatherhood of God. Conference sessions considered the effects on society of the erosion of fatherhood through feminism and other societal changes.

The speakers examined the Christian understanding of fatherhood in contrast to the way that contemporary society is recasting it. The concepts are all grounded in the relation between human fatherhood and the Fatherhood of God within the Holy Trinity.

Plenary Sessions

Tape 1  Who's the Father?  by David Blankenhorn

Author of Fatherless America and president of the Institute for American Values, Blankenhorn focuses on the impact of the absence of fathers, and the need for society at large to rediscover the religious dimension of fatherhood.

Tape 2  Why Men Are Leaving the Churches  by Lee Podles
(Read by James Kushiner)

Leon Podles has studied why so many men have left the churches in his newly published book The Church Impotent: The Feminization of Christianity. He presents his findings, along with suggestions for how to encourage men to become fully engaged in the work of the Church.

Tape 3  The Psychology of Fatherhood  by Paul Vitz

Author of Psychology as Self-Worship and Faith of the Fatherless: The Psychology of Atheism, he shows how the Christian doctrine of God the Father fits with human psychological needs.

Tape 4  Portrait of a Christian Father  by S. M. Hutchens

In this touching and sensitive message, S. M. Hutchens shares several highlights of his own upbringing and proclaims the power of a godly father.

Tape 5  Why We Call God "Father"  by John Miller

Author of Calling God Father, Essays on the Bible, Fatherhood and Culture, Miller demonstrates how the term "Father" is integral to the Biblical revelation of the nature of God.

Tape 6  Toward the Recovery of Fatherhood  by John Haas

Dr. Hass, director of the International Institute for Culture, outlined steps that Christians -- and not only fathers -- can take to recover the category of fatherhood in our homes and churches.

Tape 7  The Return to the Father: Patriarchy and Hierarchy  by Patrick Henry
Reardon

A senior editor of Touchstone, Father Reardon tells us that the Christian revelation assumes not only fatherhood but also a clear understanding of hierarchy; stripping these from our vocabulary and our practice will leave only an emaciated and unattractive imitation of Christianity.

Tape 8  Final Discussion with Plenary Speakers

All plenary sessions in cassette album for $37 plus $5 mailing or $4 each.

Workshop Presentations

Tape 9  Issues on Fatherhood with Touchstone Editors


Tape 10  Fatherhood in Pop Culture with Denis Haack

How to use our culture to show truth. Shows how to spend time with young people to reach them for Christ by using the culture with which they already identify.

Tape 11  Spiritual Dimensions of Fatherhood with Daniel Keller

How does God the Father model His fatherhood so we can imitate Him?

Tape 12  Recovering Fatherhood in Pastoral Care with Tim Bayly

It is a challenge for pastors to speak the truth about sin to their flock; to love them enough to discipline them.

Tape 14  What Is a Christian Father? with David Mills & James M. Kushiner

Tape 15  New Testament Exegetical Issues with H. Wayne House

Why feminism is full of false teaching. Great explanation from Genesis 1 and Ephesians.

Tape 16  Preparing Single Men for Marriage with Kevin Offner

Could be subtitled "How a man should pursue a woman." Practical advice for today's young uncommitted men.

All workshops sessions in cassette album for $33 plus $5 mailing or $4 each.

SAVE: Both albums $67 plus $7 mailing.

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North America is no longer Christian, if it ever was. How should committed Christians respond to the radical changes taking place in our society? What can we do in our families, in our churches, and in our broader networks of Christian contacts to cultivate and communicate Christian values?

At this conference, Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox Christians considered how our allegiance to another Kingdom affects our conduct "in the world."

Tape 1: Christ & Culture: A Dilemma Reconsidered
Dr. James Hitchcock, Professor of History, St. Louis University
Respondent: Dr. Thomas Buchanan, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Delaware; Touchstone contributing editor

Tape 2: A "Christian America" ? Cultural Realignments in American Christianity
Dr. Ashley Woodiwiss, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Wheaton College
Respondent: Dr. Leon J. Podles, retired federal investigator; Touchstone contributing editor

Tape 3: Cultivating the Catholic Imagination
Mr. David Mills, Director of Publishing for Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry in Ambridge, PA; Touchstone associate editor
Respondent: Frederica Mathewes-Green, Touchstone contributing editor; author of Real Choices and Facing East.

Tape 4: Monks & Mere Christians: Asceticism & the Cultural Dilemma
Dr. S. M. Hutchens, associate editor of Touchstone; college librarian; and a serious amateur French-hornist
Respondent: Br. Isaac Melton, St. Michael's Skete, Canones, NM; editor of DOXA

Tape 5: Passing on a Christian Culture on the Verge of the Third Millennium
Dr. Janine Langan, Associate Professor of Christianity and Culture, University of Toronto
Respondent: Mr. James Kushiner, editor of Touchstone

Tape 6: In the World But Not of the World: Safeguarding the Deposit
Fr. Patrick Reardon, pastor of St. Anthony Orthodox Church in Butler, PA.

Tape 7: Panel Discussion with the main speakers.


Complete set of 7 tapes in an album is $33 plus $4 shipping.

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Ecumenical gatherings are hardly unique, but they have too often been excuses for dismantling the faith. This conference, "Not of this World: An Ecumenical Conference for Traditional Christians," tried something different: to test whether an "ecumenical orthodoxy," solidly based upon the classic Christian faith, can become the foundation for a unified and transformative witness to the age we live in.

Leading theologians and other Christian scholars, who represent a variety of affiliations and backgrounds, but who are alike in their personal and intellectual commitment to the traditional Christian faith, gathered to discuss whether they can together defend and communicate their common faith in an increasingly faithless world.

Tape 1: Richard John Neuhaus, editor, First Things
A New Thing: Ecumenism at the Threshold of the Third Millennium

Tape 2: Responses to Neuhaus: James Cutsinger, Professor, University of
South Carolina; S. M. Hutchens, associate editor, Touchstone

Tape 3: Harold O. J. Brown, Chair of Ethics, Trinity Evangelical Seminary
Proclamation & Preservation: Necessity & Temptations of Church Tradition

Tape 4: Responses to Brown: Brother Isaac Melton, Orthodox monk and editor
of DOXA; Jose Pereira, Professor of Theology, Fordam University and author

Tape 5: Bishop Kallistos Ware, Lecturer in Eastern Orthodox Studies, Oxford; author of The Orthodox Church
The Holy Trinity: Heart of Our Life

Tape 6: Responses to Ware: Robert Fastiggi, Associate Professor of Theology, St. Edward's University; Carl Braaten, Professor, Lutheran School of Theology

Tape 7: Patrick Henry Reardon, associate editor of Touchstone
Father, Glorify Thy Name

Tape 8: Responses to Reardon: Joseph Fessio, Professor, University of San Francisco; William Abraham, Professor of Theology, Southern Methodist University

Tape 9: Peter Kreeft, Professor of Philosophy, Boston College, and author of numerous books
Ecumenical Jihad

Tape 10: Peter Kreeft
Ecumenical Jihad (continued)

Tape 11: Responses to Kreeft: Theodore Pulcini, Orthodox priest; Kent Hill, President of Eastern Nazarene College and author

Tape 12: J. I. Packer, Professor of Theology, Regent College, Vancouver, B.C.
On From Orr: Cultural Crisis and Incarnational Ontology

Tape 13: Responses to Packer: James Hitchcock, Professor of History, St. Louis University; Bradley Nassif, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

Tape 14: Panel Discussion with the plenary speakers (except Neuhaus)


A complete set of 14 tapes in an album for $59 plus $5 shipping.

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