Doctor John Patrick
With a history that spans three continents, and over 50 years experience in the medical community John speaks to Christian and secular groups around the world, communicating effectively on medical ethics, culture, public policy, and the integration of faith and science.
Episodes

27 minutes ago
27 minutes ago
48 min
Join our monthly book club and keep thinking deeply about faith, culture, and truth:
π https://pxllnk.co/bookclubpod
Considering college? Explore Augustine College, a one-year classical Christian program in Ottawa that prepares students to think and live faithfully in a secular age:
π https://pxllnk.co/augustinepodcast
In this episode, Dr. John Patrick reflects on rural education, drawing on a true story of city officials misjudging a farmer's land to illustrate the tacit, hard-won knowledge that farmers possess and bureaucrats lack. He argues that modern education, shaped by academics and faculties of education, fails rural boys who long to work rather than sit in class absorbing what he calls propaganda. Dr. John Patrick discusses Mangal Wadi's book The Third Education Revolution, the Judeo-Christian foundations of Western science through figures like Faraday and Newton, and the erosion of trust and moral culture in modern society. He closes with a case for memorization, poetry, and reading George Herbert, urging a return to church-based education grounded in Scripture and character rather than bureaucratic procedure.
π¬ Watch the video version: https://youtu.be/h3bMsgz_R5I
// LINKS //
Website: https://www.johnpatrick.ca/
Podcast: https://doctorjohnpatrick.podbean.com/
Biblical Literacy Quiz: https://www.johnpatrick.ca/meaning-metaphor-and-allusion/
Recommended Reading list: https://www.johnpatrick.ca/book-list/
Ask Doctor John: https://www.johnpatrick.ca/ask/
LINKS: https://beacons.ai/doctorjohnpatrick

Aug 19, 2026
Aug 19, 2026
40 min
Join our monthly book club and keep thinking deeply about faith, culture, and truth:
π https://pxllnk.co/bookclubpod
Considering college? Explore Augustine College, a one-year classical Christian program in Ottawa that prepares students to think and live faithfully in a secular age:
π https://pxllnk.co/augustinepodcast
In this episode, Dr. John Patrick continues his series on the Beatitudes, exploring what it means to hunger and thirst for righteousness and how real conversion changes lives from the inside out. He recounts stories of transformation, including a Falklands War veteran freed instantly from alcoholism and the miners converted under the preaching of George Whitfield, and traces how the eighteenth century revival in Britain reshaped a nation through figures like Wilberforce and the abolition of slavery. Dr. John Patrick also reflects on Paul's thorn in the flesh, N.T. Wright's book on the Psalms, and an article by Sebastian Milbank in First Things on the true meaning of Christian hospitality. He closes with reflections on sexual ethics, Rosaria Butterfield's conversion story, and an essay by Ephraim Radner on how little we truly understand of other cultures and hearts.
π¬ Watch the video version: https://youtu.be/GxgV0CL-KbQ
// LINKS //
Website: https://www.johnpatrick.ca/
Podcast: https://doctorjohnpatrick.podbean.com/
Biblical Literacy Quiz: https://www.johnpatrick.ca/meaning-metaphor-and-allusion/
Recommended Reading list: https://www.johnpatrick.ca/book-list/
Ask Doctor John: https://www.johnpatrick.ca/ask/
LINKS: https://beacons.ai/doctorjohnpatrick

Aug 12, 2026
Aug 12, 2026
49 min
Join our monthly book club and keep thinking deeply about faith, culture, and truth:
π https://pxllnk.co/bookclubpod
Considering college? Explore Augustine College, a one-year classical Christian program in Ottawa that prepares students to think and live faithfully in a secular age:
π https://pxllnk.co/augustinepodcast
In this reflective episode, Dr. John Patrick draws on childhood memories to explore how faith, poverty, and family shaped his lifelong love of learning. He discusses DNA as a sophisticated language, the tacit knowledge children absorb through immersion rather than instruction, and how his uneducated but devout parents instilled truthfulness, biblical literacy, and a love of reading without formal effort. Dr. John Patrick reflects on the loss of Bible reading in schools, the decline of sustained concentration among students raised on screens, and the growing anxiety among young people, particularly women, in modern education. He also touches on the global spiritual revival, including reports of people meeting Jesus in dreams across the Islamic world, and references thinkers such as John Lennox, Michael Polanyi, C.S. Lewis, and Jonathan Haidt throughout the conversation.
π¬ Watch the video version: https://youtu.be/jp5LbMZm1Co
// LINKS //
Website: https://www.johnpatrick.ca/
Podcast: https://doctorjohnpatrick.podbean.com/
Biblical Literacy Quiz: https://www.johnpatrick.ca/meaning-metaphor-and-allusion/
Recommended Reading list: https://www.johnpatrick.ca/book-list/
Ask Doctor John: https://www.johnpatrick.ca/ask/
LINKS: https://beacons.ai/doctorjohnpatrick

Aug 5, 2026
Aug 5, 2026
55 min
Join our monthly book club and keep thinking deeply about faith, culture, and truth:
π https://pxllnk.co/bookclubpod
Considering college? Explore Augustine College, a one-year classical Christian program in Ottawa that prepares students to think and live faithfully in a secular age:
π https://pxllnk.co/augustinepodcast
In this episode, Dr. John Patrick continues his study of the Beatitudes, unpacking the true meaning of meekness using Dr. William Barclay's insight that the Greek word describes a wild horse broken in and made ready for battle, not a weak or timid person. He connects this to Paul's statement in Galatians that Christ now lives within him, and explores how daily repentance and surrender shape a Christian's life amid a chaotic world. Drawing on Michael Bonner's book The Crisis of Liberalism, Dr. John Patrick examines the unprovable beliefs, creation, the Fall, and free will, that made Western civilization's flourishing possible, and warns of the consequences as these foundations are abandoned. He also references Bernard Lewis, Douglas Murray, Charles Darwin, and Romans 7 and 8 while discussing truth, trust, scientific integrity, and the moral collapse he sees across medicine, education, and culture.
π¬ Watch the video version: https://youtu.be/ZgFZLTVJCjw
// LINKS //
Website: https://www.johnpatrick.ca/
Podcast: https://doctorjohnpatrick.podbean.com/
Biblical Literacy Quiz: https://www.johnpatrick.ca/meaning-metaphor-and-allusion/
Recommended Reading list: https://www.johnpatrick.ca/book-list/
Ask Doctor John: https://www.johnpatrick.ca/ask/
LINKS: https://beacons.ai/doctorjohnpatrick

Jul 29, 2026
Jul 29, 2026
43 min
Join our monthly book club and keep thinking deeply about faith, culture, and truth:
π https://pxllnk.co/bookclubpod
Considering college? Explore Augustine College, a one-year classical Christian program in Ottawa that prepares students to think and live faithfully in a secular age:
π https://pxllnk.co/augustinepodcast
In this episode, Dr. John Patrick continues his slow, careful study of the Sermon on the Mount, focusing on the second Beatitude: blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. He explains that true mourning begins when we honestly confront our own sinful nature, arguing that no political, educational, or legal system can succeed while denying this reality of the human condition. Dr. John Patrick draws on Thomas Sowell's social data, Vishal Mangalwadi's writings on Western civilization, and the biblical account of Peter and Cornelius in Acts to show that repentance is ultimately a gift from God rather than something we can manufacture ourselves. He closes by reflecting on the church's historical role in restraining power, from Bishop Odo of the Bayeux Tapestry to Thomas Becket in T.S. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral, and calls for serious biblical teaching to help a lost generation find true comfort.
π¬ Watch the video version: https://youtu.be/7Ul5q0U8N44
// LINKS //
Website: https://www.johnpatrick.ca/
Podcast: https://doctorjohnpatrick.podbean.com/
Biblical Literacy Quiz: https://www.johnpatrick.ca/meaning-metaphor-and-allusion/
Recommended Reading list: https://www.johnpatrick.ca/book-list/
Ask Doctor John: https://www.johnpatrick.ca/ask/
LINKS: https://beacons.ai/doctorjohnpatrick

Jul 22, 2026
Jul 22, 2026
45 min
Join our monthly book club and keep thinking deeply about faith, culture, and truth:
π https://pxllnk.co/bookclubpod
Considering college? Explore Augustine College, a one-year classical Christian program in Ottawa that prepares students to think and live faithfully in a secular age:
π https://pxllnk.co/augustinepodcast
In this episode, Dr. John Patrick argues that ethics is caught, not taught, drawing on decades of experience teaching medical students in Ottawa. He reflects on the writings of the Apostle Paul, particularly Romans, to show how theology must lead to a renewed mind before genuine ethical living follows, and he contrasts this with the failure of university ethics courses. Dr. John Patrick also discusses Oliver O'Donovan's book The Disappearance of Ethics, Immanuel Kant's moral law within, and Psalm 19 as described by C.S. Lewis as the greatest poem he knew. He touches on the crisis of meaning among young men in the West and China, the role of fathers and mothers in shaping character, and closes with a recommendation of Ephraim Radner's essay on beautiful sermons and Michael O'Brien's novel Island of the World.
π¬ Watch the video version: https://youtu.be/LCWnyZHAs0Y
// LINKS //
Website: https://www.johnpatrick.ca/
Podcast: https://doctorjohnpatrick.podbean.com/
Biblical Literacy Quiz: https://www.johnpatrick.ca/meaning-metaphor-and-allusion/
Recommended Reading list: https://www.johnpatrick.ca/book-list/
Ask Doctor John: https://www.johnpatrick.ca/ask/
LINKS: https://beacons.ai/doctorjohnpatrick

Jul 8, 2026
Jul 8, 2026
51 min
Join our monthly book club and keep thinking deeply about faith, culture, and truth:
π https://pxllnk.co/bookclubpod
Considering college? Explore Augustine College, a one-year classical Christian program in Ottawa that prepares students to think and live faithfully in a secular age:
π https://pxllnk.co/augustinepodcast
In this deeply reflective episode, Dr. John Patrick examines Acts 2:22 as a guide for Christian students entering university, exploring how the early church's foundation of doctrine, fellowship, communion, and prayer contrasts with modern education's failures. He discusses the historical decline from meaningful Christian community to today's lost generation, tracing how materialism and technique have replaced wisdom and virtue. Dr. Patrick references thinkers like C.S. Lewis, Arthur Leff, and Walker Percy while addressing the moral consequences visible in modern medicine and law.
π¬ Watch the video version: https://youtu.be/TwJ6xNLrcoU
// LINKS //
Website: https://www.johnpatrick.ca/
Podcast: https://doctorjohnpatrick.podbean.com/
Biblical Literacy Quiz: https://www.johnpatrick.ca/meaning-metaphor-and-allusion/
Recommended Reading list: https://www.johnpatrick.ca/book-list/
Ask Doctor John: https://www.johnpatrick.ca/ask/
LINKS: https://beacons.ai/doctorjohnpatrick

Jul 1, 2026
Jul 1, 2026
49 min
Join our monthly book club and keep thinking deeply about faith, culture, and truth:
π https://pxllnk.co/bookclubpod
Considering college? Explore Augustine College, a one-year classical Christian program in Ottawa that prepares students to think and live faithfully in a secular age:
π https://pxllnk.co/augustinepodcast
In this deeply reflective episode, Dr. John Patrick explores how the practice of medicine transformed from a trust-based relationship rooted in moral principles to a science-focused system that has lost public confidence. He traces this evolution from the Hippocratic physicians who prioritized trust and moral commitment, through the medieval reintroduction of Greek learning, to modern medicine's emphasis on empirical data over ethical foundation. Dr. Patrick examines how the removal of transcendent beliefs and biblical principles from medical education has created a crisis of trust, and suggests that the church may need to reclaim its historical role in healthcare.
π¬ Watch the video version: https://youtu.be/C5PAd_NFpA0
// LINKS //
Website: https://www.johnpatrick.ca/
Podcast: https://doctorjohnpatrick.podbean.com/
Biblical Literacy Quiz: https://www.johnpatrick.ca/meaning-metaphor-and-allusion/
Recommended Reading list: https://www.johnpatrick.ca/book-list/
Ask Doctor John: https://www.johnpatrick.ca/ask/
LINKS: https://beacons.ai/doctorjohnpatrick

Jun 24, 2026
Jun 24, 2026
42 min
Join our monthly book club and keep thinking deeply about faith, culture, and truth:
π https://pxllnk.co/bookclubpod
Considering college? Explore Augustine College, a one-year classical Christian program in Ottawa that prepares students to think and live faithfully in a secular age:
π https://pxllnk.co/augustinepodcast
In this deeply reflective episode, Dr. John Patrick explores Oliver O'Donovan's groundbreaking work "Resurrection and Moral Order" and its challenge to modern approaches to Christian ethics. He argues that true Christian ethics cannot be separated from the gospel of Jesus Christ, critiquing both moralistic and antinomian approaches that disconnect faith from moral reasoning. Dr. Patrick examines how the resurrection fundamentally changes our understanding of moral order and why secular approaches to ethics education, particularly in medical schools, fall short of creating truly ethical practitioners.
π¬ Watch the video version: https://youtu.be/YzCaSLAuYrc
// LINKS //
Website: https://www.johnpatrick.ca/
Podcast: https://doctorjohnpatrick.podbean.com/
Biblical Literacy Quiz: https://www.johnpatrick.ca/meaning-metaphor-and-allusion/
Recommended Reading list: https://www.johnpatrick.ca/book-list/
Ask Doctor John: https://www.johnpatrick.ca/ask/
LINKS: https://beacons.ai/doctorjohnpatrick

Jun 17, 2026
Jun 17, 2026
42 min
Join our monthly book club and keep thinking deeply about faith, culture, and truth:
π https://pxllnk.co/bookclubpod
Considering college? Explore Augustine College, a one-year classical Christian program in Ottawa that prepares students to think and live faithfully in a secular age:
π https://pxllnk.co/augustinepodcast
In this deeply reflective episode, Dr. John Patrick addresses the urgent need for Christians to thoughtfully consider end-of-life issues, particularly in light of Canada's expanding medical assistance in dying (MAID) programs. He contrasts the historical Dutch resistance to Nazi euthanasia policies with their later embrace of assisted dying, warning that Canada now leads the world in patient euthanasia. Dr. Patrick argues that Western civilization's retreat from Judeo-Christian foundations has created a crisis of meaning and authority, affecting everything from medical ethics to judicial decisions. He concludes by sharing his vision for creating communities where people can 'die well' - places focused on reconciliation and spiritual preparation rather than hastened death.
π¬ Watch the video version: https://youtu.be/sJW_qJrDJyU
// LINKS //
Website: https://www.johnpatrick.ca/
Podcast: https://doctorjohnpatrick.podbean.com/
Biblical Literacy Quiz: https://www.johnpatrick.ca/meaning-metaphor-and-allusion/
Recommended Reading list: https://www.johnpatrick.ca/book-list/
Ask Doctor John: https://www.johnpatrick.ca/ask/
LINKS: https://beacons.ai/doctorjohnpatrick



