You Tube Theology

🎥 Free to Be Faithful • Summer Read 2025
Big Read: Timothy Snyder’s On Tyranny
Host: Dr. Kristin Kobes Du Mez (Calvin Univ.; author of Jesus and John Wayne)
Guest: Dr. Bruce Berglund (historian of East-Central Europe; author of The Fastest Game in the World)

📍 LIVESTREAM recorded 10 July 2025 | Institute for Christian Studies (ICS)

⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00 Welcome — 1 000+ registrants, watch-parties across N. America
01:23 Why On Tyranny? — 20 lessons for defending democracy
02:50 Introducing Dr Bruce Berglund (Eastern-Europe scholar & global-hockey historian)
08:48 How Czech & Polish revolutions inform 2020s North America
21:30 Lesson #1 “Do not obey in advance” — practical examples
34:55 Leadership that resists authoritarian drift
45:12 Believing in truth amid disinformation (Klemperer, Havel)
1:00:06 Audience Q&A — realistic non-violent tactics, the role of churches
1:32:00 Next “Big Read” announcement — Hanna Reichel, For Such a Time as This
1:38:00 Closing & ways to stay connected

🔑 WHAT YOU’LL HEAR
• Eastern-European warnings for today — Why historians of Poland & Czechoslovakia spotted U.S. authoritarian drift early.
• Small acts, big stakes — “Do not obey in advance” and other field-tested lessons from On Tyranny.
• Building unlikely coalitions — From Václav Havel to Solidarity and today’s multifaith alliances.
• Action menu — Concrete ways to defend local news, support courageous institutions, and practice “corporeal politics.”

🗣️ ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
• Kristin Kobes Du Mez, PhD — Historian & bestselling author; her ICS “Free to Be Faithful” essays draw 10 000+ readers.
• Bruce Berglund, PhD — Expert in 20th-c. East-Central Europe; his global-hockey history (The Fastest Game in the World, Univ. of California Press 2021) won critical acclaim.

📚 READ ALONG
• On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century — Timothy Snyder (2017).

🌐 LEARN MORE
• Free to be Faithful website: https://f2bf.icscanada.edu
• Free to be Faithful writing — https://instituteforchristianstudies.substack.com
• Bruce Berglund's Course: Twentieth Century Authoritarianism - https://f2bf.icscanada.edu/page-1
• Bruce Berglund’s Fastest Game in the World — https://ucpress.edu/books/the-fastest-game-in-the-world
• Institute for Christian Studies — https://icscanada.edu
• Next Big Read (Sept 17) — Hanna Reichel, For Such a Time as This

👍 If this conversation sparks new ideas, please like, subscribe, & share.
💬 Drop your biggest takeaway below: Which of Snyder’s 20 lessons feels most urgent right now?

#OnTyranny #FreeToBeFaithful #KristinDuMez #BruceBerglund #ICSCanada #BigRead #DefendDemocracy