The Firestone Files

In October 2020, Parker Settecase sat Dr. Chris Firestone down on his podcast, Parker's Pensées, to talk about Kant's philosophy of religion. In this episode of The Firestone Files, the chair is flipped. Dr. Firestone sits down with his former student from the Trinity days to trace a road that very few people travel: from a Division I wrestling room to a seminary classroom to a fully funded seat in a philosophy PhD program.Parker wrestled at Northern Illinois University, where a campus ministry got hold of his life, and he gave up his final year of eligibility to serve college athletes with Athletes in Action. Then the reading started and never stopped. He earned an M.A. in Philosophy of Religion at Palm Beach Atlantic University and two master's degrees at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, in Systematic Theology and Theological Studies. In the fall of 2026 he began a fully funded PhD in Philosophy at Marquette University, where he is also a teaching assistant. His interests run from philosophy of mind and machine consciousness to transcendental arguments and the philosophy of fiction.Along the way he built one of the most distinctive platforms in Christian philosophy online. Parker's Pensées, a tip of the cap to Pascal, is nearly 300 episodes deep with leading philosophers and theologians. His YouTube channel ParkNotes, on notebooks, study habits, and the life of the mind, made him what his readers call the Notebook Czar. He writes essays at Parker's Ponderings on Substack and philosophical science fiction and fantasy on the side.Teacher and student talk about the wrestler who woke up to philosophy, how to collect mentors well, what a podcast can teach that a seminar cannot, why Marquette, and what Parker wants the next generation of Christian thinkers to inherit from his.Find Parker's work here:Website: https://parkersettecase.comParker's Pensées podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/parkers-pens%C3%A9es/id1527286862ParkNotes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ParkerNotesParker's Ponderings on Substack: https://parknotes.substack.comThe Firestone Files: Letters to My Grandchildren is a podcast hosted by Dr. Chris Firestone. In it, Dr. Firestone uses his expertise in philosophy and worldview to bring answers to profound questions to bear on the mundane of life through personal anecdotes and family stories.Dr. Firestone is Vice President of Academic Excellence and Strategic Partnerships as well as Director of The Great Writings Honors Program at Champion Christian College in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He is Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus, and former Director of the Humanities Division at Trinity College in Trinity International University, where he taught and conducted research for over twenty-five years.Facebook: The Firestone FilesYouTube: @FirestoneFilesSpotify: The Firestone FilesInstagram: @TheFirestoneFilesTwitter: @FirestoneFilesTikTok: @thefirestonefiles#TheFirestoneFiles #ParkerSettecase #ParkersPensees #ParkNotes #Philosophy #Theology #PhD #GradSchool #Marquette #TrinityEvangelicalDivinitySchool #Wrestling #AthletesInAction #NotebookCzar #ChristianPhilosophy

Before he was Dr. Charles Howell, Lecturer in Theology and the Arts at King's College London, he was an undergraduate in the B.A. in Philosophy program at Trinity International University, sitting in Dr. Chris Firestone's classes. In this episode of The Firestone Files, recorded at the AAR/SBL Annual Meetings in Boston in November 2025, teacher and former student sit down to trace the road from Deerfield, Illinois, to St Andrews, Scotland.They look back on their years together at Trinity: the conferences they attended, the papers, the road trips, and the academic adventures that turned a philosophy major into a theologian. Charles then tells the story of his quest for the PhD: an MPhil in Modern Theology at the University of Oxford, a doctorate in Systematic Theology at the University of St Andrews on the theological aesthetics of Eberhard Jüngel, and a post-doctoral post at St Andrews as Research Assistant on the Widening Horizons of Philosophical Theology project. Along the way they talk about what it takes to finish a doctorate, what a mentor owes a student, and what a student owes himself.Dr. Howell worked professionally in architectural drafting and design and as a musician before entering academia, and his scholarship still draws on both. He is the author of Too Sick to Pray: A Theology of Outlaw Country (Fortress Press, 2026) and Beauty in the Absence of God: The Theological Aesthetics of Eberhard Jüngel (Mohr Siebeck, forthcoming), and he has written on theology, music, visual art, and architecture for Religions, Spiritus, Logos, Drawing Matter, Plough, and Transpositions.Find Dr. Howell's work here:King's College London: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/charles-howellAcademia.edu: https://kcl.academia.edu/CMHowellToo Sick to Pray (Fortress Press): https://www.fortresspress.com/store/product/9798889836926/Too-Sick-to-PrayThe Firestone Files: Letters to My Grandchildren is a podcast hosted by Dr. Chris Firestone. In it, Dr. Firestone uses his expertise in philosophy and worldview to bring answers to profound questions to bear on the mundane of life through personal anecdotes and family stories.Dr. Firestone is Vice President of Academic Excellence and Strategic Partnerships as well as Director of The Great Writings Honors Program at Champion Christian College in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He is Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus, and former Director of the Humanities Division at Trinity College in Trinity International University, where he taught and conducted research for over twenty-five years.Facebook: The Firestone FilesYouTube: @FirestoneFilesSpotify: The Firestone FilesInstagram: @TheFirestoneFilesTwitter: @FirestoneFilesTikTok: @thefirestonefiles#TheFirestoneFiles #CharlesHowell #Theology #Philosophy #StAndrews #KingsCollegeLondon #TrinityInternationalUniversity #PhD #GradSchool #OutlawCountry #Jungel #TheologyAndTheArts

Every campaign has to answer one question before it earns the right to argue anything: who is this man, and does he love the place he wants to lead? In August 2026, Eric Capaci's campaign for Mayor of Hot Springs, Arkansas, answered it the simplest way we could think of. Before a single issue was raised, we sent Eric to the places every person in this city knows by heart and let him talk. The dam and the two lakes. Bathhouse Row and the thermal water. Magic Springs, the Alligator Farm, the Northwoods trails, the ballfields where Babe Ruth trained, and the corner of Third and South, where he and Carolann started a church in 1992 with $700 and a God-sized dream. Seventeen reels, shot often with one take, one place at a time. Love letters to a city.Together they drew more than 200,000 views on a page with 1,800 followers, in a city of 38,000. More than that, they reintroduced a man the city thought it knew, and showed something a platform never can: his heart, his humor, and the way he leads, from the sidewalk rather than the podium.This episode runs those reels as one film, in tour order, and hands out the hardware: Best Picture, Best Cinematography, Best Comedy (to the alligators), Best Metaphor, and a Lifetime Achievement award for the most-watched video the campaign has made. The introduction is short. The reels do the talking.Full disclosure: I am not neutral. I wrote these love letters with him, and I believe in the man who delivered them.THE TEAMEric, on-screen personality and director, mayoral candidateChris, lead writing and producing volunteerLucas, lead camera and editing volunteerAll reels courtesy of The Committee to Elect Capaci for Mayor. Watch the originals at facebook.com/CapaciForMayor. Early voting in Hot Springs runs through Monday, November 2. Election Day is Tuesday, November 3, 2026.The Firestone Files is hosted by Dr. Chris L. Firestone. New episodes drop on Mondays at 8:00 a.m. Central.

In Season 2, Episode 8 of The Firestone Files, Dr. Chris Firestone talks with his wife, Elizabeth (Beth) Firestone, about her teaching career, their family's homeschooling years, choosing curriculum, supporting different learners, and deciding when to transition to public school. Beth shares lessons from raising and educating their children, along with her later work in children's ministry.The Firestone Files: Letters to My Grandchildren is a podcast hosted by Dr. Chris Firestone. In it, Dr. Firestone uses his expertise in philosophy and worldview to bring answers to profound questions to bear on the mundane of life through personal anecdotes and family stories.Dr. Firestone is Vice President of Academic Excellence and Strategic Partnerships as well as Director of The Great Writings Honors Program at Champion Christian College in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He is Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus, and former Director of the Humanities Division at Trinity College in Trinity International University, where he taught and conducted research for over twenty-five years.Facebook: The Firestone FilesYouTube: @FirestoneFilesSpotify: The Firestone FilesInstagram: @TheFirestoneFilesTwitter: @FirestoneFilesTikTok: @thefirestonefiles

Before he was Vice President for International Affairs at Champion Christian College, Dr. Vanedson Ximenes was a young Baptist pastor in Vila Velha, Brazil, who took his preaching out of the church and onto the beach. In this episode of The Firestone Files, Dr. Chris Firestone sits down with his friend and colleague to trace the road from the coast of Espírito Santo to Hot Springs, Arkansas.Dr. Ximenes tells the story of Jesus Vida Verão, the summer outreach he started in 1992 with a handful of people from his church. Today it is known as the largest beach gospel event in Brazil, drawing tens of thousands of people a night every January. He also talks about his years of pastoral ministry in Brazil, the move to the United States, and how he started the Dual Language program at Champion, which now serves hundreds of Portuguese-speaking students. The conversation closes with the two things underneath all of it: his family and his faith.The Firestone Files: Letters to My Grandchildren is a podcast hosted by Dr. Chris Firestone. In it, Dr. Firestone uses his expertise in philosophy and worldview to bring answers to profound questions to bear on the mundane of life through personal anecdotes and family stories.Dr. Firestone is Vice President of Academic Excellence and Strategic Partnerships as well as Director of The Great Writings Honors Program at Champion Christian College in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He is Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus, and former Director of the Humanities Division at Trinity College in Trinity International University, where he taught and conducted research for over twenty-five years.Facebook: The Firestone FilesYouTube: @FirestoneFilesSpotify: The Firestone FilesInstagram: @TheFirestoneFilesTwitter: @FirestoneFilesTikTok: @thefirestonefiles

Before he was "Monster" Michael Todd, world champion arm wrestler, he was a redneck kid growing up in Hot Springs, Arkansas. In this episode of The Firestone Files, Dr. Chris Firestone sits down with Michael to trace the road from his hometown to the top of the sport. Michael talks about his early years in Hot Springs, what first pulled him to the table, and what it took to climb to a world championship. He also shares why, after competing all over the world, he still calls Hot Springs home — and what he loves most about the city. The conversation closes with a look at the Hot Springs mayoral race and what is at stake for the city's future.The Firestone Files: Letters to My Grandchildren is a podcast hosted by Dr. Chris Firestone. In it, Dr. Firestone uses his expertise in philosophy and worldview to bring answers to profound questions to bear on the mundane of life through personal anecdotes and family stories.Dr. Firestone is Vice President of Academic Excellence and Strategic Partnerships as well as Director of The Great Writings Honors Program at Champion Christian College in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He is Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus, and former Director of the Humanities Division at Trinity College in Trinity International University, where he taught and conducted research for over twenty-five years.Facebook: The Firestone FilesYouTube: @FirestoneFilesSpotify: The Firestone FilesInstagram: @TheFirestoneFilesTwitter: @FirestoneFilesTikTok: @thefirestonefiles

In episode fifty-seven, Dr. Firestone welcomes Pastor Eric Capaci back for a second conversation about his background and his candidacy for mayor of Hot Springs, Arkansas. They discuss his years in ministry, education, and business, along with the experiences that led him to run for office again. Capaci shares his views on the mayor’s role, local development, transparency, and communication with residents.The Firestone Files: Letters to My Grandchildren is a podcast hosted by Dr. Chris Firestone. In it, Dr. Firestone uses his expertise in philosophy and worldview to bring answers to profound questions to bear on the mundane of life through personal anecdotes and family stories.Dr. Firestone is Vice President of Academic Excellence and Strategic Partnerships as well as Director of The Great Writings Honors Program at Champion Christian College in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He is Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus, and former Director of the Humanities Division at Trinity College in Trinity International University, where he taught and conducted research for over twenty-five years.Facebook: The Firestone FilesYouTube: @FirestoneFilesSpotify: The Firestone FilesInstagram: @TheFirestoneFilesTwitter: @FirestoneFilesTikTok: @thefirestonefiles

In episode fifty-six, Dr. Firestone welcomes longtime family friend Laurie to reflect on their lengthy, intergenerational friendship and the legacy of faith that shaped both families. They trace Chris's upbringing on Chicago's South Side, his early church experiences, and the pivotal mentorship of high school coach Larry Stillwell, who guided him toward a deeper commitment to Christ and influenced his decision to attend Trinity International University. The conversation explores how these formative relationships laid the groundwork for a lasting friendship in ministry and family life.The Firestone Files: Letters to My Grandchildren is a podcast hosted by Dr. Chris Firestone. In it, Dr. Firestone uses his expertise in philosophy and worldview to bring answers to profound questions to bear on the mundane of life through personal anecdotes and family stories.Dr. Firestone is Vice President of Academic Excellence and Strategic Partnerships as well as Director of The Great Writings Honors Program at Champion Christian College in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He is Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus, and former Director of the Humanities Division at Trinity College in Trinity International University, where he taught and conducted research for over twenty-five years.Facebook: The Firestone FilesYouTube: @FirestoneFilesSpotify: The Firestone FilesInstagram: @TheFirestoneFilesTwitter: @FirestoneFilesTikTok: @thefirestonefiles

In episode fifty-five, Dr. Firestone carries the Charlie Kirk material out of the studio and into a room full of high schoolers, one year to the day after Kirk's death. He puts the three points of orientation — the Bible, the Western intellectual tradition, and the American founding documents — in front of an audience young enough to still be choosing what they will stand on, and he makes the case that faith seeking understanding is not one option among many but the ordinary human way of knowing anything at all. Working from Kirk's own convictions that there is no neutral vantage point and that no one is a finished product, the episode asks what a seventeen-year-old actually inherits from a man who took questions at a folding table, and what it would cost to accept that inheritance.The Firestone Files: Letters to My Grandchildren is a podcast hosted by Dr. Chris Firestone. In it, Dr. Firestone uses his expertise in philosophy and worldview to bring answers to profound questions to bear on the mundane of life through personal anecdotes and family stories.Dr. Firestone is Vice President of Academic Excellence and Strategic Partnerships as well as Director of The Great Writings Honors Program at Champion Christian College in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He is Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus, and former Director of the Humanities Division at Trinity College in Trinity International University, where he taught and conducted research for over twenty-five years.Facebook: The Firestone FilesYouTube: @FirestoneFilesSpotify: The Firestone FilesInstagram: @TheFirestoneFilesTwitter: @FirestoneFilesTikTok: @thefirestonefiles

In episode fifty-four, Dr. Firestone examines Charlie Kirk’s three fixed points of orientation — the Bible, the Western intellectual tradition, and the American founding documents — as they shape his campus dialogues. He revisits the four philosophical commitments he shared with Kirk, linking them to Kant’s four human superpowers. The episode analyzes clips where Kirk deploys cosmological, moral, teleological, and ontological arguments for God’s existence in conversation with students.The Firestone Files: Letters to My Grandchildren is a podcast hosted by Dr. Chris Firestone. In it, Dr. Firestone uses his expertise in philosophy and worldview to bring answers to profound questions to bear on the mundane of life through personal anecdotes and family stories.Dr. Firestone is Vice President of Academic Excellence and Strategic Partnerships as well as Director of The Great Writings Honors Program at Champion Christian College in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He is Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus, and former Director of the Humanities Division at Trinity College in Trinity International University, where he taught and conducted research for over twenty-five years.Facebook: The Firestone FilesYouTube: @FirestoneFilesSpotify: The Firestone FilesInstagram: @TheFirestoneFilesTwitter: @FirestoneFilesTikTok: @thefirestonefiles