Podcasts about Thomism

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 3, 2026 82:24 Transcription Available

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!The modern world keeps telling you the problem is politics, policy, or personality. We argue it's deeper: bad philosophy becomes bad theology, then bad culture, and eventually a society that can't even explain what truth, freedom, or the human person are. That's why we go back to 1879 and Pope Leo XIII's Aeterni Patris, written when the Church is politically cornered, mocked by the academies, and squeezed by hostile states across Europe. We walk through the real intellectual enemies Leo sees rising behind the scenes: Kantian subjectivism that cuts reason off from reality, Hegelian historicism that turns doctrine into something that “evolves,” positivism that treats only lab results as knowledge, and materialism that reduces mind and soul to chemistry. Then we track Leo's response: recover the Catholic intellectual tradition with St. Thomas Aquinas at the center, rebuild seminaries and universities, and use philosophy as a bridge to faith rather than a replacement for it. From there we bring Leo's warnings forward into the AI era. We talk about media saturation, the coming ad-driven “slop” economy, and why technology without moral formation doesn't stay neutral for long. We also ask the uncomfortable question nobody wants to face: will pornography and artificial intimacy become the profit engine that pushes AI into every corner of life? If you want a grounded Catholic take on faith and reason, Thomism, modernism, Catholic education, and AI ethics, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review. What part of modern life do you think is most shaped by bad philosophy?Support the showGet 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout!Check out our sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order!Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comFull Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribeRSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

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Rome Has Spoken: The Encyclical That Brought Aquinas Back | Aeterni Patris (Apple Video Podcast Test)

Philosophy for the People

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 3, 2026 82:24 Transcription Available

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!Europe is declaring the Catholic faith “obsolete,” the Papal States are gone, and the Pope is effectively boxed into Rome. That's the moment Leo XIII steps into, and instead of answering with another list of condemnations, he reaches back to a 13th-century friar and bets the future on Catholic intellectual formation. We walk through the history behind Aeterni Patris and why Leo thinks the real crisis of the modern world is a crisis of philosophy that spills out of universities into law, media, family life, and public morality.We break down the four big currents shaping that era and, honestly, still shaping ours: Kantian subjectivism, Hegelian historicism, positivism, and materialism. Each one chips away at the idea that truth is knowable and stable, and we talk about what happens when seminaries and Catholic education absorb those habits instead of resisting them. From Perugia's Thomist experiment to Leo's push for the Leonine edition and a worldwide revival of Thomism, you'll hear why St. Thomas Aquinas becomes the Church's chosen model for thinking clearly about God, the human person, liberty, authority, and the moral order.Then we make the jump to today: AI, advertising, “slop” content, and the uncomfortable question of what happens when powerful technology grows faster than moral reasoning. If you've been looking for a Catholic take on modern philosophy, Thomism, and AI ethics, this conversation is built for you. Subscribe, share this with a friend who loves big ideas, and leave a review with the one modern assumption you think needs to be challenged first.Support the showGet 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout!Check out our sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order!Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comFull Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribeRSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

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Episode 317: Dr. Richard Spinello on the Essential Role of Philosophy in Catholic Theology (May 20, 2026)

The Open Door

Play Episode Listen Later May 22, 2026 65:23 Transcription Available

In this episode of The Open Door, panelists Thomas Storck, Andrew Sorokowski, and Christopher Zehnder talk with Richard Spinello, a professor at Boston College, on the relationship between philosophy and theology, particularly within the Catholic tradition.Spinello emphasized the importance of philosophy in theological education, highlighting the need for a solid philosophical foundation, especially in ethics and metaphysics. The conversation also touched on the decline of Thomism in modern academia and the influence of modern philosophy on theology, particularly the challenges posed by relativism and postmodernism. The panelists agreed on the necessity of a metaphysical dimension in Catholic philosophy and the need for a revival of Thomistic studies.For more on this point, see Spinello's Four Catholic Philosophers: Rejoicing in the Truth (Jacques Maritain, Edith Stein, Dietrich von Hildebrand, Karol Wojtyła) This book unfolds the intersecting life stories of four important Catholic philosophers of the 20th century, namely, Jacques Maritain, Edith Stein, Dietrich von Hildebrand, and Karol Wojtyla, and examines the salient themes of their respective philosophies. Exploring the lives of these four individuals will unlock for the reader the nature of Catholic philosophy, which always aspires to a higher wisdom and the discovery of the hidden harmony of the universe. The spiritual itinerary of these faithful scholars is part of a larger story, therefore, of the intimate relationship between faith and reason that is at the heart of Catholic intellectual life. https://enroutebooksandmedia.com/fourcatholicphilosophers/

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Oliver Traldi: Jane Austen and the Defence of Virtue

The Common Reader

Play Episode Listen Later May 6, 2026 74:12

My colleague Oliver Traldi recently published an essay called ‘Jane Austen's Virtuous Liberalism'. It's a very nice discussion of the ways in which Austen understand the challenges of character formation.Virtue, as Austen sees it, faces two tough challenges. First, people whose characters are not yet formed must see how to be virtuous rather than vicious. Then, the virtuous must somehow find a way to succeed in their struggles against the vicious without adopting vicious means.In this episode, Oliver and I discussed Austen's ideas of virtue, what that has to do with liberalism, the relationship between philosophy and literature more broadly, as well as poetry and ideas about the Great Books. We also talked about the Keira Knightly Pride and Prejudice. Yes, we both liked it. Here is why Oliver thinks Jane Austen is so popular among philosophers.TRALDI: And so I do think that even though she's not making arguments, she's not laying out philosophical theories, there is a level of precision in her thinking about virtue, which I do think is something that it took me a little aback.And I think it's part of why—one person who quote-tweeted my article was Daniel Kodsi, who's a friend of our colleague John Maier and his coauthor often. And he runs this magazine called The Philosophers' Magazine, which I had written before. And Daniel quote-tweeted my article with something like, “Add Oliver to the list of all the philosophers who love Austen.”OLIVER: And it's a long list.TRALDI: And I think it's a long list. And I do think this precision is part of it that she does, that it is—again, it's not like a philosophy journal article, but it is an intellectual sophistication that is often not present in novelists that we really appreciate.And here is an extract about Austen, Smith, and the wonderfully fertile period at the end of the eighteen century.TRALDI: But yes, I think it's obvious—without knowing the background, I'm sure there are scholarly questions about, how much Smith did Austen read? And they're both 250th—a lot was happening in 1775 and 1776.OLIVER: Those were great years. Those were the good old days.TRALDI: They were great years. In the great books syllabus, you get to the end of the 1700s and suddenly there's this—you have Smith, you have Kant, you have the American Revolution, you have the French Revolution, you have Burke. Rousseau is right before, Montesquieu is right before. I mean, it was a real—OLIVER: It's a great time.TRALDI: It was a great time. A lot was being done. And obviously, you know, I love the 1800s. I love the Romantics. But you could teach a whole great books course from 1750 to 1800, probably.OLIVER: You've also got all the dictionaries and all that kind of work going on as well. It's a very, very fertile—explorations.TRALDI: Yes, yes. There's all sorts of—yes, it was an amazing time.OLIVER: So did you, having read these two, Austen and Smith, close together—TRALDI: Yes, and I should say that my reading of Austen was much more careful than my reading of Smith.OLIVER: Sure, but you wrote this before you read Smith.TRALDI: Yes, absolutely.OLIVER: Or at least you fully conceived it. Do you see a lot of Smith in Austen?TRALDI: “A lot” might be—This was my favourite bit.TRALDI: Yes. But this is one of the great—I know we talked about this, but it's one of the great—you see this in Smith, you see this in Austen—commerce has its own virtues, and they are very traditional virtues. You have to be trustworthy. You have to be pleasant. You can't really be wholly self-interested in every moment because people have to be willing to deal with you given your—I mean, think about Yelp reviews or even just word of mouth. “Oh, that person screwed me over.”OLIVER: There's a discussion in one of Hayek's papers, which is—it's a very Smithian point he makes about, the nature of the knowledge problem means that it's not so much that I'm trying to get information about the thing you're trying to sell me, but I'm really trying to get information about you and whether you are someone I should be buying from. Which is exactly the project that the novelists and Smith—there's a sort of period between Smith and the early novelists, running through Austen to George Eliot, when they're all working on that problem together.TRALDI: Yes. I do think in Austen, it's often—the real puzzle is, how do you make out somebody else's character?OLIVER: Exactly.TRALDI: This is a phrase that Lizzy Bennet does use with regard to Darcy. And how do we actually figure out who the trustworthy and untrustworthy people are?OLIVER: And if you're too philosophical about that, in the sort of analytic sense, I think you can end up not paying enough attention to the particulars of that question.TRALDI: Yes.OLIVER: Because when you actually try and do it, it's really, really hard.TRALDI: Yes. And I think this is the sort of—reading Austen, you get a sense of—and there are very few philosophy papers on things like this. Reading Austen, you get a sense of, what sorts of details in a normal life are the ones that I can extract information from to make out somebody else's character?Oliver is an analytical, political philosopher. You can find out more about his work here. Here he is on Twitter. His Substack is orting. You can watch the episode on YouTube here.TranscriptHENRY OLIVER: Today I am talking to Oliver Traldi. Oliver is an assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Toledo in Ohio. He is my colleague on the Emerging Scholars Program at the Mercatus Center, and he's written a book about political beliefs as well as many other articles for magazines, online.He's got a Substack. He's maybe the most prominent political and epistemological young philosopher of his generation. [laughter] But most importantly for us, he is interested in Jane Austen and the idea of virtue. Oliver, welcome.OLIVER TRALDI: Thank you so much for having me.Reading Austen as a PhilosopherOLIVER: Let's just start—before we get to this article you've written, tell me about being a philosopher but reading Jane Austen, because she's often read and commented on by people who are not philosophers or who are only philosophers by acquaintance or whatever.TRALDI: Right.OLIVER: Is it different reading as a philosopher, do you think?TRALDI: I think yes and no. One thing as a philosopher, there are—contemporary philosophy, we have very exacting standards of rigor and clarity. And when we look for a theory, we want something that's been improved by hundreds of people and thousands of journal articles.And so, if you were to simply extract a theory of virtue from a novel and say, “Does this—is this the end-all, be-all of moral thinking?” obviously you're going to be disappointed. So I think as a philosopher, you have to look for other types of things, other types of sensitivities rather than logical sensitivity.You have to say, how sensitive is the author to the different types of situations where people's virtue can be exhibited or challenged? Or how sensitive is the author to the different types of pressures that a character's convictions can be put under, or the different sorts of compromises that they might have to make, or the different sorts of people who might not be virtuous who they might have to interact with and sort of, you know, contract with or avoid? And what are going to be the impacts of different kinds of choices in those situations?So the novelists, I think, tend—if they do it well, a novelist who's interested in morality will understand living morally probably better than a philosopher, while maybe not understanding, say, arguments about whether morality supervenes on reality or vice versa, or what grounds morality, or different theories of meta-ethics or whatever.OLIVER: I mean, there are obviously some novelists who do have a better appreciation of those things than others, we should say.TRALDI: Yes, I think that's absolutely true. And as I wrote in my article, I do think Austen in particular had an appreciation for this issue that you might call moral disarming or unilateral disarming. You know, does the moral person put themselves at a disadvantage relative to the immoral person? And then how do we actually help—how does morality survive?So that's a kind of philosophical question, but I tend to think—I taught last year—I think we've talked about this a bit. I taught in a great books program at Tulsa.OLIVER: This is the Jennifer Frey program.TRALDI: This is the ill-fated Jennifer Frey program. Jennifer—I don't know if you've met her, but she's an incredibly charismatic person. But somehow the program, despite being enormously successful, did not survive. You know, I was there for a year, and they decided that was long enough.OLIVER: [laughs] You don't think your arrival was the—TRALDI: No, no. I hope not. I most certainly hope not.OLIVER: No. General problems of higher education prevailed. Yes.TRALDI: Yes, many, many problems of higher education these days. But yes, so I think—what was I saying?OLIVER: Well, I think we're getting to this question of, you are not just a philosopher; you teach the great books.TRALDI: Right, exactly. The great books. That's where I was. Yes.Philosophy and the Great BooksOLIVER: So, one thing I'm interested in is that, you know, reading as a philosopher, you get a slightly different perspective on Austen. When you read other fiction, poetry, whatever, is there a benefit to you as a philosopher? Does it broaden you in some way?TRALDI: Yes. I think absolutely, it's broadening, but it's also focusing in a different way. You know, contemporary philosophy is often described or captured with the word epicycles. So what we mean when we say epicycles is, you have some major theory, which is supposed to answer some big question. And then your career as a philosopher—you're like three layers deep in the theory, in some sub-debate, and you're making some really fine-grained distinctions.And if you can make those distinctions successfully, you've had a really great career. But I think it's easy to forget, why are we doing—you know, what attracted us to philosophy? Why are we doing this to begin with?And the great novels, great books in general—one example I always use is the Book of Job. It doesn't really—it's not doing clear philosophy on the question of why do bad things happen to good people. But when you read it, you feel the question, why do bad things happen to good people? You get it, you know? You get why this is a question that people have worried about for thousands of years. You get why it calls out for an answer.You know, there's a lot of truth out there. I'm looking at a set of coat hangers, and I could count the coat hangers. But if you were given the decision, would I rather have an answer to how many coat hangers are across the room from me, or why do bad things happen to good people? You'd probably go with the latter one. There's somehow some kind of depth or importance to that question, right?And I think there's—a great novelist can often generate some vividity to these questions. They can show how these questions are part of a good life, asking these questions, trying to have these questions answered—or a not-so-good life.Certainly in Austen there are a lot of characters who learn to be more virtuous. Probably Emma is the clearest example. But you might also think of Marianne Dashwood. Really—OLIVER: Lizzy Bennet.TRALDI: Lizzy Bennet really learns to be a better person. I actually think her character is rather close to Emma in a lot of ways.OLIVER: Yes, I think Emma's sort of a clear rewrite of Lizzy in some—yes, yes.TRALDI: Yes, and in some ways more evocative, actually. Yes. I mean, we can talk about all these books. But yes, I think there's these things, even—obviously qua literature, they have other virtues, right? Which much philosophy doesn't have; very little philosophy has the literary virtues.But the philosophical virtue that a lot of literature does have is you see, okay, these are the—this is what a life is like. This is what making choices is like. These are the big questions when you decide how to live your life and what kinds of choices to make.And I think Austen—these questions are all through Austen, even though nobody has to murder anybody in Austen. Nobody has to make decisions about war and peace or about, you know, civilizational decline or civilizational progress or anything like that. These people making these small choices in a lot of ways. But those are the lives that most of us lead. And when you read Austen, you think, “Oh, okay, there's a virtuous and a vicious way to lead this kind of rather normal life.”The Good LifeOLIVER: The question of what is a good life, or what is a good life in a commercial society, maybe, is the sort of bedrock of what she's doing.TRALDI: Yes, I think so. And that's why I think Austen—you know, Austen wasn't on our syllabus at Tulsa, but she was certainly discussed. And the “what is a good life” question—to me, it's the big question that a great books program for college students should always come back to.If I didn't know what else to talk about, I would just say, “Well, we just read this book.” You know, we read these old biographies of Charlemagne from, like, Einhard—Notker the Stammerer and Einhard, his adopted son or whatever. I don't remember. But this is like 800s. I'm sure you know more about this stuff than I do.And I wasn't quite sure what to do with them because what do I know about Charlemagne? So I just said, “Does it seem like Charlemagne lived a good life?” And you know, you're off to the races. And I think that's important at that age, because that's the age at which—OLIVER: For the undergraduates?TRALDI: Yes. I think that's the age at which you're starting to make your own big decisions about what sort of life to lead. And I think for me, looking back to myself at that age, I think one thing I did wrong—at Tulsa I was in some ways as much a student as a teacher. I was rereading a lot of this stuff for the first time in decades. And some of it I was reading for the first time. As I told you, I was reading a lot of Austen for the first time for this essay.OLIVER: Right, right.TRALDI: And yes, it was stuff that I had thought about at a theoretical level, you know, like what are the ins and outs of this theory or this philosophical move or something like that. But you feel the question a bit differently when you're like, “Okay, I'm an adult. I have to decide whether to live in this way or that way.”The world is open to you. You could convert to Thomism [laughter] like so many have tried to have me do, or you could become a merchant after reading The Wealth of Nations. Or you could become a revolutionary after reading Marx, or you could become a Nietzschean. You know, there are all these choices open to you.OLIVER: Please don't become a Nietzchean.TRALDI: No, no. That is, I'm a—OLIVER: Keep your children out of school if that's going to be the result. [laughs]TRALDI: Yes. I'm a committed moralist, so I cannot, but he is—he made a comeback, that's for sure.Philosophy and PoetryOLIVER: Now, there's this obviously sort of long-running question in philosophy about, what is the relationship between philosophy and poetry? Are they antagonists, or are they in some way, you know, twins, and each provides one half of what is needed for a complete way of understanding the world? Do you have a position on this?TRALDI: Yes, I mean, I think they're what the kids call twinning.OLIVER: Twinning? [laughs]TRALDI: I think they're twinning. No, no, I think that means something different. I think that means when you're wearing the same outfit or something like that.OLIVER: So we're almost twinning with our stripes—yes, I see.TRALDI: We're almost. We actually—we are stripes and blue. Yes, we're closer than I would've expected.I would say closer to twins. There are a lot of claims that philosophy is at odds somehow with this or that. There's also this—certain people will say, “Well, ever since Socrates, philosophy has been at odds with politics.” And a big part of philosophy is, how do you survive? Well, I don't know. Nobody's trying to kill me. I think of myself as a decently committed philosopher.OLIVER: It seems to me this changed fundamentally in the Enlightenment and with the Romantics, and they see it all much more joined up. It's a sort of ancient-and-modern dynamic.TRALDI: Yes, there may be an ancient-and-modern distinction there. But yes, for me I don't see any kind of contradiction. Now, there are—and I think this comes out of what I said before—philosophical attempts to understand poetry. And certain kinds of literary and aesthetic devices do sometimes fall a little flat.The philosophical literature on metaphor, for instance—I think some theories of metaphor really don't get why people use metaphors. [laughter] So one of the most important theories of metaphor is that they're all just false, that it's like everybody who uses a metaphor is lying. This isn't the full theory. There are bells and whistles added.OLIVER: Sure, sure.TRALDI: But yes, so I think there's no contradiction. But at the same time, they are different modes in some ways, and people who do the one are often trying to do something different than the other.I do think that the desire for rigor and precision and clarity that philosophers have can be a little maddening to nonphilosophers, who see the pull of philosophical questions like, “What sort of life I should lead?” and then see, what do philosophers actually do?And we're doing all this modal logic and all these truth tables and all this very technical stuff that looks like math. And they say, “That can't possibly be the right way to think about how to live.” And it's true that there are these studies of—that suggest ethicists aren't actually very good people and things like that, although you have to wonder what is the background ethical theory that went into evaluating them.So yes, I don't think there's really a contradiction between philosophy and anything else. But certainly, there was a point in my life where I always come back to trying to write poetry and do poorly and then stop. But it was always something where I would say, “Okay, if I'm doing philosophy in the afternoon, I better wait till the evening to write poetry.” You have to sort of reboot and get into a different mode.OLIVER: Iris Murdoch used to write philosophy in the morning and novels in the afternoon. That kind of thing.TRALDI: Yes, I think that's very sensible.OLIVER: And she was upstairs for the one and downstairs for the other.TRALDI: Yes. That's even better, you know?Favorite PoetsOLIVER: Which poets do you like?TRALDI: Geez, I guess for an American, I like Wallace Stevens. I wasn't expecting this question. For a Brit, you know, I actually like Philip Larkin a lot.OLIVER: Oh, yes?TRALDI: I know—what is the opinion of Larkin? Is he considered—OLIVER: Very high.TRALDI: Very high? Okay.OLIVER: Some—there are some dissenters, but basically he's the guy.TRALDI: He's the guy, okay. Yes.OLIVER: Twentieth-century English poetry is like Auden, Larkin, Betjeman.TRALDI: Yes, Auden is—actually, my friend Jane Cooper just wrote something about Auden.OLIVER: Yes, Jane is excellent.TRALDI: Yes, Jane is really great.OLIVER: That was in the New Statesman if you want to look it up.TRALDI: That was in the New Statesman. Yes, yes, yes. But Auden, I don't know quite as well.I mean, poetry is—I think it's interesting the way that we receive poetry now. I think you were talking about this a few days ago, about things like poems appearing as inspirational quotes on social media or something like that, and whoever is the most quotable. And you felt like maybe Dostoevsky is very quotable.OLIVER: Dostoevsky has a sort of screenshot quality.TRALDI: Yes, yes.OLIVER: As does Martin Amis.TRALDI: Yes. So I—OLIVER: Whereas Philip Larkin in a funny way—you know, he has very short poems. You can get the whole poem on Twitter. Like, Robert Frost has that. But something like “The Whitsun Weddings,” it's quite hard to just take three lines out. The whole thing works as a—and that, so that poem gets less—TRALDI: Yes. Which is what you would expect from a good poem, really, that it would form a kind of whole.OLIVER: Exactly. If it's a three-page ode, it should have a continuous quality.TRALDI: Yes, it should have a kind of internal structure. Yes.OLIVER: There are some one-line things and—but I think it's notable that a poet like Wordsworth doesn't seem to get a lot of social media play. And I think probably that's one reason.TRALDI: So yes, I think Larkin is somebody who, I did see some shorter references to him, and I thought I'd better just go and look up a ton of poems by this guy. And Stevens was the same way.Death and Philip LarkinOLIVER: So, which Larkin do you like?TRALDI: You're really putting me on the spot here. [laughter] It has been a little while.OLIVER: I lied to you and said it would be about Jane Austen.TRALDI: Yes, now I'm completely screwed. Well, he has a bunch about death. He has one where death is a ship following you. And he has one where death is, like, a fruit that gets picked or something.OLIVER: Apple?TRALDI: Might be an apple.OLIVER: He decides not to throw the apple.TRALDI: There's one with sweetbreads in it. And now I'm really—OLIVER: The ship one, “Next, Please”—that's excellent.TRALDI: Yes.OLIVER: He sees the—it's like hearing the music coming, and then the ship.TRALDI: I forgot that that was the title. I forgot that that was the title.OLIVER: And then as the ship goes past, it leaves nothing in its wake. It's very sort of—very gloomy.TRALDI: It's very gloomy, yes. I think I read Larkin in a gloomy phase; it was like Larkin and Radiohead or something.OLIVER: But he's a good example of what you were saying before, that he won't think propositionally. He's logical in the sense that he's sort of orderly, and he goes from one thing to the next. But he's not being a philosopher.TRALDI: No, of course. Yes.OLIVER: But he's very preoccupied with the sorts of questions that philosophers are probing, but has a sort of very meaningful treatment of them.TRALDI: Yes.OLIVER: And I think in a way, the sharp response that you want from the reader in those questions, Larkin is better at provoking than someone like Bertrand Russell or some other contemporary of his.TRALDI: Yes, yes.OLIVER: Bertrand Russell's a bit earlier, but you know what I mean.TRALDI: No, I think that's exactly right. And I think that is why I'm a fan of the great books pedagogically and not—I don't know if Larkin will be called a great, you know, like, who knows? I don't really understand that designation, but tings like poetry and novels.OLIVER: The biggest dissenter was Harold Bloom, who said Philip Larkin's just a period piece. And he doesn't understand why everyone likes him.TRALDI: Oh, yes, well, I'm not on board with everything. Oh, I've also been—OLIVER: No, you're not very Bloomian.TRALDI: I'm not very Bloomian, I don't think.OLIVER: Either Allan or Harold.TRALDI: Yes. Well, I actually—this is very embarrassing, but I've actually never read The Closing of the American Mind, which I know is—OLIVER: But why should you? I'm not sure it's retained its—TRALDI: Well, it's certainly been received into my circle. But it is like a classic of anti-ideological—OLIVER: Sure. Have you read Adler, How to Read a Book, that kind of great books stuff?TRALDI: No. There's so many things that I haven't read. I mean, I'm just learning how to read. I learned how to read in Tulsa last year, [laughter] in Oklahoma, which is not where most people would go to learn how to read.Jane Austen and the Problem of MoralityOLIVER: So let's move to Jane Austen. Your thesis basically is, many moral theories face this problem that if I believe XYZ theory and you don't believe it, you can get the advantage of me. Because I'll always stick to my principles and you can just be a bad guy.TRALDI: Yes.OLIVER: So is morality screwed? This is what people say about liberalism. This is what you're arguing. And you think Jane Austen's got an answer to that?TRALDI: Yes, I think she has a kind of answer. And again, one decision I had to make while writing the essay was, am I going to go super—this is a completely philosophically rigorous and respectable answer? Or am I just going to kind of sketch it?OLIVER: Slum it in literary criticism? [laughter]TRALDI: Yes, I wouldn't put it quite that way, but—and I think I went for the latter, where I just wanted to kind of evoke the answer. And I think the answer has something to do with living in a large enough society where—and Austen I think is not the only person to give this answer. But you live in a large enough society where, when people see you acting well and somebody else acting poorly, the disadvantage that you have in that one interaction is outweighed by the advantages you have from the society that you gain from being seen to act well by many others.So one thing I didn't mention here, but a connection I made when I was first coming up with this idea, is that it's actually a lot like what Martin Luther King Jr. says about civil disobedience. So he says, you might think, if you're out there and the police are coming at you with bats, or the white supremacists are coming at you with bats or whatever, weapons or whatever, you might think, “I'm on the losing end of this interaction.”But actually what will happen is that this interaction will be seen by many others. And you, by keeping your calm, will be seen to be the virtuous one, and they, by being violent, will be seen to be the vicious ones. And this can only help your political cause. I'm probably abstracting some of the details of King's presentation.OLIVER: In a vulgar sense, this is the sort of “be the change you want to see” approach.TRALDI: Yes, but also, be the change you want other people to see. You know? Because that's how it gets saved from—and again, one of the ways in which this is not quite philosophically rigorous is because the philosopher can say, “Well, what about an example where nobody's going to see it? Or what about an example where the situation is set up that in doing the right thing, you're perceived to have done the wrong thing?” And you get back into tough problems. And that's why we have philosophy. You know, there's always going to be these puzzles.OLIVER: But we don't get the—I think this is what the novelists are helpful for. We don't get to set the conditions in our lives. You know, when you're doing a philosophical problem, you can just say, “Well, these are the conditions. What happens then?” And what Jane Austen is so good at is saying, “I'm going to take her and drop her in this house, and that's life. And she's just going to—she won't even know what the conditions are for a long time.” That's the novelist's preoccupation.TRALDI: Yes. Yes. It's interesting what you said about not even knowing what the conditions are. It's one thing I love, which is there in, I think, a lot of Austen—and it's done by a lot of my favorite novelists. I think Kazuo Ishiguro is really good at this. It's just novels where you see the characters' growing awareness of their circumstances and—OLIVER: Like in Klara and the Sun or something.TRALDI: Yes, or I think certainly in Never Let Me Go and in Remains of the Day, a lot of the action is in a situation where you understand what's going on better than the characters do.Clues and GamesTRALDI: And I think we talked about this the other day. In Austen, Emma, for example, is this sort of, like, halfway detective where she sees a lot of clues that could help her understand the nature of the life she's leading and the circumstances she's in, but she always misinterprets the clues. But on the other hand, it's not like she misses them entirely. She's kind of on the right track, and at least she's trying.OLIVER: And what I think Austen does so well in that book—I think it's her most important book—is that by putting us, without quite realizing it, with Emma's blinkers on, as it were, and only allowing our perspective to be her perspective, she makes us the detective.But whereas in a detective novel, you know, there's a funny little man and he is a detective, and he says, “Oh, there's a clue in this novel,” the read of—on the first read very often goes straight past what they must later realize to be a clue. And that is such a normal condition of life, that, “Oh, actually, that was one of the conditions, but you couldn't have known it. Sorry.” And you can only work it out in retrospect.TRALDI: Yes. In modern love, these are sometimes called red flags. [laughter] I think it's not quite a precise analogy, but yes, I think it's right. And I certainly—I had read Emma years ago and didn't really notice. As you say, on my first read, I didn't really notice, even having watched—I think it was the, what is it, the Kate Beckinsale version maybe, from ITV in like 1996 or something.It was really in reading it for this essay that I noticed that this feature that, starting on page 30 or 40 or so, there's a—and they're often in games. The clues are often in games. So very early on, Elton is playing some sort of poem game with Emma.OLIVER: The riddles, yes.TRALDI: The riddle game. And you know, Emma already misinterprets his riddles as being about Harriet rather than about her. But then there's also—the riddles also have some relation to things that happen much later.OLIVER: Then there's the anagram game at the end.TRALDI: There's the anagram game at the end. Yes, it's the—and I don't think there are many games like that in any of the other Austen.OLIVER: People play games, but we're not taken into them and have them narrated in that way.TRALDI: And they're not word games in general. There's card games and things like that. And you know, in Pride and Prejudice, Wickham has all these gambling debts and things like that.OLIVER: Yes.TRALDI: You know, in—I don't know if you know Whit Stillman, but for the same magazine a couple years ago I wrote about Whit Stillman, who's a sort of conservative filmmaker who's a huge Austen fan and brings in Austenian themes to a lot of his movies, but writes them about characters in the 1960s and '70s. And one of them was called The Last Days of Disco, for example, about—and some of the broader social themes he talks about are also there in Austen.So one thing that was just on the edges of my consciousness as I read through the novels for this essay was the question of the noble man versus the working man, which I think is very present in Austen and has something to do with her conception of virtue: that the virtuous person will be engaging in commerce in some way.OLIVER: Those moments of the noble and the virtuous man or whatever often take place in a shop, like the drapier in Emma or the jewelry shop in Sense and Sensibility.TRALDI: That's interesting. That's interesting.OLIVER: She's very careful to take us into a commercial situation and contrast.TRALDI: See, that is the sort of detail that I think a philosopher—I think we—the mere—the vibe of, “You're in a shop, and this means something.” I think this is something philosophers are—we can watch for the action; we can judge the characters' actions. But then there are these questions of atmosphere and milieu. And certain things happen in a shop; certain things happen at the seaside. In Persuasion there's an injury by the seaside.OLIVER: Yes. That's one of the most exciting scenes in Austen. Very dramatic.TRALDI: Yes, yes. I think actually Persuasion in some ways is quite different than her other books. It has a sort of—you know, in some ways it feels a little more like Frankenstein or Wuthering Heights at points. There's a little bit of a windblown, dark quality to it at times. It's a little bit bleaker. It's a little hard to explain why, but that's just a feeling that I had reading it that maybe had changed with some of the other literary tastes of the time.Artlessness in Austen's HeroinesOLIVER: Now, the quality that you focus on in the heroines, in this question of virtue defending itself against bad actors who break the rules, is artlessness.TRALDI: Yes. So this is a term Austen uses quite a bit, and almost always, she very much picks and chooses the characters who are going to receive this term. And I thought that this is like—it's not only her artless characters who face this question about how can morality survive, or how can virtue prevail, but I think they're the limit point.Like, if you really are unwilling to use—and I mentioned in the essay, when Darcy describes—I forget what; maybe it's him describing how he found Lydia and Wickham, or it's something to do with Wickham—he said, “I had to resort to arts.” So it must be, the “arts” back then means—one of the meanings of the term is dishonesty or subterfuge or something.OLIVER: Yes, if someone was artful, it could have—TRALDI: Yes, like the Artful Dodger.OLIVER: Exactly. Could have negative connotations for sure.TRALDI: Yes. And so the artless one, you know, they're missing something.So it's the question of, if you view—morality in a way means you're missing something, right? You've taken arts out of your arsenal. You've taken tools that could deal with certain situations, and you've just decided not to use them. So the question is, how can it be an advantage to have less tools?You know, we're here at Mercatus; the economists would tell you it's never advantageous to have fewer choices, right? There's no paradox of choice. It's never advantageous to have fewer choices. And so I think this is the—if morality is a kind of unilateral disarmament, artlessness is the clearest case of that.OLIVER: And you're seeing that in Fanny Price, Elinor—TRALDI: You see that in Fanny Price. You see that in Elinor. Harriet Smith is described as artless over and over again. And then there are these other characters who are described as artful, or other things that are mentioned as arts.I think Harriet, in a lot of ways, is the one who's most often described this way. And it's interesting because you think of Emma changing a lot in Emma, but Knightley actually shifts in his evaluation of Harriet, who he thought of as sort of an unserious person. And Knightley himself comes to recognize her artlessness as a kind of seriousness which makes her a good match, not ultimately for him, but for his dude, Robert.OLIVER: The farmer.TRALDI: The farmer, yes.OLIVER: He doesn't change his view of her social position, though.TRALDI: No, certainly not. But he does change his view of her character, basically. You know, her artlessness is not silliness. It has a sort of depth to it.And yes, certainly Fanny. In the Whit Stillman movie Metropolitan that's part of what set me on this, there's this whole discussion of the book Mansfield Park and this old Lionel Trilling essay about it where he says, how is it—there's this question about how modern people can even like Mansfield Park because we've sort of lost the notion of virtue being exciting or something.One of the most provocative lines to me in Austen was in Sense and Sensibility where it says that Elinor glories in Edward's integrity, which is an odd thing to glory in. You don't glory—nobody is on Instagram showing off their integrity, you know?OLIVER: It's like that René Gerard quote people like to pass around: “Everyone is on diet pills and nobody wants to be a saint.”TRALDI: I like that. That is very Instagrammable.OLIVER: Exactly. Exactly.TRALDI: That's very good, actually. I like that. Yes, so there's something provocative about the notion that virtue can be exciting, and in particular can be romantically exciting.The Importance of IntegrityOLIVER: Or even less than that. One thing I think is difficult for people interpreting Austen today is that virtue, whether it's exciting or romantically exciting, or the notion of integrity is of interest for its own sake.There's a lot of—you know, we have integrity as an organization. It's very important for me to have integrity as a professional. But there's not as much a sense of, just having integrity is the good life. We don't need to be complicated about this. That's just—you should just do that. And Austen's very firm on that all the way through.And criticism wants to pull her towards sometimes feminism, sometimes discussions of slavery, sometimes various other things. And she's just constantly sort of resisting that by saying, “I like integrity. I like good people. I don't think it's that hard.” It's a good line you've picked up on, I think.TRALDI: There's a character in The Wire who says, “A man's gotta have a code.” I think he's Omar, who murders the drug dealers and steals from them.OLIVER: I haven't seen it.TRALDI: So he says, “A man's gotta have a code.” And I think there is a—even in a character who in some ways is bad, we admire the integrity of having a code and sticking to it.There is this debate, I guess in moral philosophy, or at least on the outskirts of moral philosophy, about, “Well, if your code is wrong, maybe it's better not to stick to it.” I don't share that perspective. I think part of the good life is holding yourself to certain standards. And if those standards turn out to be wrong, the holding yourself is still of moral value, right? Not allowing yourself—OLIVER: It doesn't mean they're not adjustable.TRALDI: Yes, no, of course. If you decide the standards are wrong, and in Austen—OLIVER: It's sort of implicit in the idea of having standards that you will be honest and therefore accept when your standards need to be improved or whatever. Right?TRALDI: Yes, I think that's absolutely right. And in Austen we certainly see people shifting their standards. And I think one thing that I—of course, modern readers and watchers of Austen do not quite understand some of these things. But I think in Pride and Prejudice in particular, we're supposed to feel that Lizzy Bennet is quite hard on people and has to learn to improve herself in that way.OLIVER: We're delighted with her when she does that because we think it's sassy.TRALDI: Yes, exactly. If you go on YouTube, you can see all these, like, “Lizzy Bennet owning people's lives for 50 minutes,” these compilations of clips from the various movies or whatever. And she's obviously very, very clever.But she realizes—after coming to understand who Wickham is and feeling that she might not have another chance with Darcy, she comes to realize that she has had certain prejudices, which have made her blind to the realities of the world and blind to what might be her best options.So yes, I was saying I believe in integrity; that's all I was saying. And integrity obviously is adjustable, but I tend to think that it's better—even if the rule is wrong, it's better for the person who has it to hold themselves to it, rather than to adjust to try to get an advantage.And in philosophy, we have all sorts of terminology for these sorts of questions: “Are you an internalist or an externalist about reasons or about rules or whatever?” I think the more literary way to say it would just be that integrity is a virtue. And people should stick to their codes unless they see a good reason to change them.Austen and Adam SmithOLIVER: Now, you have recently been reading Adam Smith.TRALDI: Yes, I did read a lot of Adam Smith for this debate we had last week. Although I did a poor job because I had forgotten that the debate was about whether Smith was a philosopher or an economist. [laughter] I thought it was simply, is he a philosopher or not? So I put myself in the odd position of arguing that Adam Smith is not an economist.But yes, I think it's obvious—without knowing the background, I'm sure there are scholarly questions about, how much Smith did Austen read? And they're both 250th—a lot was happening in 1775 and 1776.OLIVER: Those were great years. Those were the good old days.TRALDI: They were great years. In the great books syllabus, you get to the end of the 1700s and suddenly there's this—you have Smith, you have Kant, you have the American Revolution, you have the French Revolution, you have Burke. Rousseau is right before, Montesquieu is right before. I mean, it was a real—OLIVER: It's a great time.TRALDI: It was a great time. A lot was being done. And obviously, you know, I love the 1800s. I love the Romantics. But you could teach a whole great books course from 1750 to 1800, probably.OLIVER: You've also got all the dictionaries and all that kind of work going on as well. It's a very, very fertile—explorations.TRALDI: Yes, yes. There's all sorts of—yes, it was an amazing time.OLIVER: So did you, having read these two, Austen and Smith, close together—TRALDI: Yes, and I should say that my reading of Austen was much more careful than my reading of Smith.OLIVER: Sure, but you wrote this before you read Smith.TRALDI: Yes, absolutely.OLIVER: Or at least you fully conceived it. Do you see a lot of Smith in Austen?TRALDI: “A lot” might be—OLIVER: Primarily from Theory of Moral Sentiments.TRALDI: So I would say that the notion of sympathy as being fundamentally part of how you recognize a good person seems to me to be there in Austen. The characters are—OLIVER: And this is the thing about awareness of other people and learning from that awareness.TRALDI: Awareness of other people and learning from other people and feeling other people's emotions. One thing that is related to sympathy in an odd way—and I think actually Austen and Smith conceive of it a bit differently, but that is there for both of them, in particular in Sense and Sensibility—is this notion of self-control or self-command.OLIVER: Self command. Yes. Yes.The Importance of Self-CommandTRALDI: Now, Smith gives a really odd argument about self command, which is that if you don't have control over your emotions, you will end up feeling or expressing something that other people can't sympathize with. And this is bad because sympathy is good, or something like that. I actually think it's a rather confused argument.OLIVER: I think what he's saying is that if you display a lack of self-command, then no matter what you are feeling, people find it difficult to deal with that sort of uncontrolled behavior. It's not the particular expression of feeling; it's the fact that you are a little unstable or—TRALDI: Yes, I think that's right.OLIVER: —a bit extra.TRALDI: I think what Smith doesn't do is explain quite how that's bad. But what I think is that actually, in Sense and Sensibility, it's a little bit the reverse, where actually Elinor and their mother, they do sympathize with Marianne. They do feel what she's feeling after—who's the other, the w guy in Sense and Sensibility? They're all w's.OLIVER: Oh, Willoughby.TRALDI: Willoughby, right, right. Not Wickham, Willoughby. When Willoughby—OLIVER: You can just say “the cad.”TRALDI: The cad. There's always a cad. So when the cad leaves, Marianne has all these emotions, and you really feel them. And Marianne also has a lack of self-command when Willoughby is there. There's this whole episode, which I didn't quite make the most of but felt very important, where they go to the house of this woman. They just sort of barge into this house, Willoughby and Marianne.And this is really supposed to show something about the relationship. If you and your partner barge into somebody's house, it can't be a good relationship somehow because it's leading you into bad actions. That's my sense of what that episode is supposed to show from the highest possible remove.OLIVER: I think, yes, and I think there are several other instances of that: when they ride in the carriage together, unaccompanied.TRALDI: Right, right.OLIVER: And there's a sort of general consternation about this. And Marianne sort of says, “Oh, well, how can it be a problem?” And they—part of the consternation is, you're breaking the rules in a very flagrant way, but also that you are assuming that it's okay because you'll get married. And this assumption is a very big one.TRALDI: Yes. And obviously there is this assumption that—she doesn't recognize quite how—she thinks her position is much more secure than it actually is, which is how it turns out in the book. But I think we're supposed to think that even if she were right about Willoughby's affection, which in a sense, she—Willoughby—OLIVER: No. Even if they do get married, she's broken the rules in a way that—TRALDI: She's broken certain rules in a way that is—but I think what's different from Smith is, there is sympathy from her family even though she lacks self-command. But that is precisely—so it's sort of a different theory of why self-command is good. It's precisely because her emotional state is actually draining for her family.And then Elinor says—when she learns that Elinor has actually been going through something—OLIVER: The same.TRALDI: —very similar, and maybe even rougher, in this whole thing with Lucy Steele telling her about this, you know, blah, blah, blah.OLIVER: Which is a beautiful name—to steal. I mean, it's great.TRALDI: It's an amazing—honestly, in some ways Sense and Sensibility may have been my favorite. I think it's just lovely.OLIVER: If I just wanted to just read one for fun, that's what I go to. I do, yes.TRALDI: Yes. And there's a lot—none of these things are quite perfectly in there. But I think honestly, everything that's in the other novels has a little part to play in Sense and Sensibility. You know, I think if I were to recommend just one, if somebody was like, “I have time for just one,” I might recommend Sense and Sensibility.But in the end, Marianne says—again, it's one of these amazingly evocative lines. Elinor says, “You didn't act that badly. Do you compare your conduct with Willoughby's?” And she says, “No, I compare it with—Elinor, I compare it with your conduct. You have this self-command.”And it's precisely the fact—it's not—and I think this is why philosophers do like Austen, because it's not—it's still literary, but there is a precision to her moral evaluations. It's precisely the fact that Elinor knew that her family loved her and didn't want to burden—it's all quite conscious. She didn't want to burden her family with her emotions. But you actually see that Elinor has this family trait of having very strong sentiment, which Marianne does, and simply also has this virtue of self-command.And that is—there are film adaptations and TV adaptations that demonstrate self-command, but it's a very hard thing to film. It's something you feel inside. It's a very hard—the actors have to be very good for you to see—you see pieces of it in some of the adaptations of Persuasion and some of the adaptations of Sense and Sensibility, but self-command is very hard to find.Austen AdaptationsOLIVER: Which adaptations do you like the best?TRALDI: I'm forgetting—I often like the long ones that I think were for the British ITV. So I like the—I think Kate Beckinsale was in the Emma one. Although I think there was one of Persuasion, which was also quite good. I like the one of Northanger Abbey. I don't think it's that good, but it's kind of cute, which I think it's probably the cutest of her long novels.Whit Stillman did a very loose adaptation of Lady Susan, which is hilariously funny at times, and also has Kate Beckinsale and some other great actors in it.OLIVER: Did you see the new Persuasion on Netflix a couple of years ago?TRALDI: No. No.OLIVER: It has that—is it Dakota Johnson, the actress, who's famous for other non-Austenian—Fifty Shades of Grey or whatever.TRALDI: Yes, and isn't she one of the Avengers or something like that?OLIVER: Something like that. But everyone was very upset that it was this terrible adaptation.TRALDI: Oh, yes.OLIVER: Didn't—it sort of killed all of Austen's words. She looks at the camera; she drinks from the bottle. I actually thought it was quite fun. On the basis that all adaptations are bad—TRALDI: I think if you allow some looseness, it can be quite fun. So for example, the 2005 Pride and Prejudice, I think if you're just sort of like, “Well, this is just somebody who was inspired by Pride and Prejudice,” you can have a lot of fun with the movie.OLIVER: I think as an interpretation of the book, that film is quite bad.TRALDI: Oh, yes. I think it's absolutely missing the mark.OLIVER: But in terms of like, the countryside and the house and the geese and the food, it's fantastic.TRALDI: Oh, yes. It's lovely to look at.OLIVER: The dresses, right? The clothes are amazing.TRALDI: And a lot of the—and the cast is honestly like—OLIVER: Yes, it's great.TRALDI: The cast is really, really great. And the parts as they are—OLIVER: Rosamund Pike is maybe the best Jane on TV.TRALDI: She's terrific. And who's the one who plays Kitty?OLIVER: Yes.TRALDI: Who is in—and the father is the guy from The Hunger Games. I forget his name, but I think the father is excellent in that. But of course, it's not exactly the father from Austen.OLIVER: No, no, no.TRALDI: But as a movie itself—but yes, I like a lot of these longer TV versions.One odd thing—they make these choices. So there is some scholarly apparatus brought to bear on some of them. So I think maybe it's Persuasion that there were multiple versions of, and some of the adaptations use pieces from the unpublished version, which are interesting. And as I was reading it, I had to Google around a bit and figure out these things.Austen's Moral PrecisionTRALDI: I was going to say about Austen's moral precision, the other place where I think this comes in—and I wrote a bit about this in the essay—is near the end of Mansfield Park, when—the names are what I'm worst at—when Edmund, right, is finally disillusioned with—OLIVER: Mary.TRALDI: With Mary Crawford?OLIVER: Mm-hmm.TRALDI: It's because there was this affair. There's always a sibling or a cousin who makes some horrible mistake, you know? So there was this affair, and Mary Crawford can only criticize it by saying that they weren't very prudent, you know, in prudential terms. They took a big risk. They made a bad decision. You know, they really screwed themselves over.OLIVER: They could have made it work. Yes.TRALDI: Yes. And Edmund realizes that she lacks moral fervor because he thinks the appropriate criticism should be a moral one. And as a psychological matter, it shouldn't even enter your head, I think is the idea. I'm extrapolating a bit, but if you see somebody acting this badly, to then say, “Well, geez, you're doing something that isn't in your interest”—for that to be your first thought indicates that your priorities are highly misplaced in a way that, to him, is quite unattractive.And this also struck me as a moment of—this is something we philosophers talk about. What is the distinction between prudence and morality? They both tell you what you should do, in some sense, but there's different—the shoulds have different forces, right? So Edmund has a certain moral precision and sensitivity which, actually, Fanny is basically the only person he knows—not that everybody in the house is a bad person; his father is a decent guy, and one of the aunts is okay, I think.But yes, there's a real sophistication to this evaluation. And it's funny to me that she actually used this as the—I mean, I suspect that even at the time there were readers who were just like, “Wait, I really don't get what the nature of Edmund's problem is here,” because it's not like Mary—Mary's not like, “Oh, yes, I support infidelity.” You know? She's not like— it's if you blinked, you might miss it, the mistake that Mary has made.And so I do think that even though she's not making arguments, she's not laying out philosophical theories, there is a level of precision in her thinking about virtue, which I do think is something that it took me a little aback.And I think it's part of why—one person who quote-tweeted my article was Daniel Kodsi, who's a friend of our colleague John Maier and his coauthor often. And he runs this magazine called The Philosophers' Magazine, which I had written before. And Daniel quote-tweeted my article with something like, “Add Oliver to the list of all the philosophers who love Austen.”OLIVER: And it's a long list.TRALDI: And I think it's a long list. And I do think this precision is part of it that she does, that it is—again, it's not like a philosophy journal article, but it is an intellectual sophistication that is often not present in novelists that we really appreciate.Every Word MattersOLIVER: I mean, one way people talk about the great books is to say that every word matters. And a lot of novelists will say that about their own. Well, you know, Elizabeth Bowen used to say, “What you're doing is to make everything count.” Austen is one of the examples where it's actually true. Every word is being used carefully.TRALDI: Yes. It's funny, this bears on another Twitter argument I had recently about this phrase logographic necessity. Basically, every word in a great book is there for a reason. I think that's right. Although you have to be careful about—if you were to say, “Well, every word in Plato is there for a reason, so you can't really say he's wrong about every—” you would be kind of abandoning the philosophical mission.OLIVER: I mean it in the sense of what you might call the artistic or structural integrity of the book. Not everything has to tell in the meaning sense. But it all holds as a unit for some—TRALDI: Yes. I think everything is there—there is what we could call an internal reason for everything to be there. Everything is there to hold together—OLIVER: Like the making of a piece of furniture or something.TRALDI: And I think you hear—I think this is one thing that—and not all classical music, but I think it's one thing that distinguishes classical music even from very good contemporary pop music or jazz or rock music, is that you have this sense of, “Yes, every note I hear basically is holding up a larger structure of some sort.”OLIVER: Yes. And Jane Austen is very Mozart in that way.TRALDI: Yes, I think that's right. Yes.Austen's Place in Great Books ProgramsOLIVER: So should Jane Austen have a bigger place on great books programs, based on all these things you've said about her?TRALDI: Yes, this is—so, there was actually a debate—I did not write the piece in response to this debate, but this is—OLIVER: Tanner Greer.TRALDI: Yes, there was—Tanner Greer weighed in on this, and my friend Circe. I think—OLIVER: I think they're just desperately wrong.TRALDI: You think they don't—that she—OLIVER: I think Emma is obviously a book that should be on one of these syllabuses. Maybe Sense and Sensibility.TRALDI: Yes. I think the ones I would consider are Emma, Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Park. I do think they're actually longer than I realized, which is always—I mean, there are these very practical concerns with putting together a syllabus.OLIVER: Sure, sure. Although I want to ask you about that, because my response to a lot of these debates, which is maybe just because of where I studied, but just make them read more. And if they don't do the reading, that's their, you know—TRALDI: That's true. Well, I don't want to get into this too much. We already make them read a lot compared to—so for example, a year ago, I had my students read two novels in a week, which is more than most courses make college students read.OLIVER: But that's by no means unreasonable.TRALDI: No, no, of course, of course.OLIVER: You know.TRALDI: Well, exigencies of the teenage mind aside—OLIVER: Because I often think this, when people debate how things should be taught and why it's so important to keep these programs, and they'll talk about the importance of writing essays. And then it turns out the students maybe write one essay a semester. And I sort of think, well, who cares? All this rhetoric for one essay.TRALDI: Yes. I don't know if I'm really ever going to assign essays again. It just is—the age of AI is upon us.OLIVER: Sure. But you see what I mean.TRALDI: No, yes, I know exactly what you mean. And I do think reading a lot is the main part of—and certainly, you know, when I read all seven of these in two weeks, that's much more reading than I normally do, as well, to write this essay.OLIVER: But you didn't have to lie on the sofa afterwards with a cold compress. You were fine.TRALDI: In a way it was a really good two weeks. If you get to read—I mean, this is why we have good lives, right? If you get to read Jane Austen and you call that work, it's a nice life.OLIVER: So yes, will you be putting Emma on your program?TRALDI: I would definitely consider Emma. I would definitely consider Sense and Sensibility. I would consider Mansfield Park. I think these are the ones that have—the moral element is very prominent. But it's obviously there in all of her books.OLIVER: You can have a really good moral discussion about Mansfield Park, which is a bigger, broader thing than Pride and Prejudice, for example.TRALDI: Yes, I think so. I would definitely consider—in the 1800s there were—obviously the British novel of the 1800s was a big deal, and there's—OLIVER: [laughs] We did quite well, yes.TRALDI: You all did quite well. So the ones we did at Tulsa—we had Frankenstein and Wuthering Heights and The Picture of Dorian Gray. And then we had one Irish, The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. And I don't think anybody—if you replaced one of those with Emma or Mansfield Park, I don't think anybody would say, “Oh, you made a horrible call.”OLIVER: I think Tanner's point was that you simply don't have that many slots for an English novel that deals with these sorts of ideas, and that it should obviously be Middlemarch because that is the bigger novel. It's about bigger questions of society. It's about the whole—it's got more greatness in it, whereas Austen is sort of more about the individual.TRALDI: So I do think that this question of greatness—I think there are some people who read Austen and they think, “Well, this is—obviously it has all these sorts of themes, but it's not great. It has this littleness to it. It has this smallness to it.”OLIVER: It's domestic.TRALDI: That is not my reading of it. I think if that's the question, I don't feel that way. I think it pulls out these great themes about the nature of virtue and the nature of moral learning, becoming a better person, the nature of love. We read Sappho. We read the Symposium.To me, you read Wuthering Heights and you say, “Oh, this is a really big book because it's about society and how trauma gets passed down, and it has these horror elements, and it's very dark.” But actually, it's quite hard to figure out, how do we turn Wuthering Heights in a discussion about how to live? With Austen, it's just completely straightforward.OLIVER: [laughs] How not to live, maybe.TRALDI: Yes. In Austen, it's just completely straightforward. This is the discussion. This is what she had in mind as well, this question of how to live. So to me, Austen is completely—in terms of her successes as an artist, she belongs. In terms of her themes, she belongs. So I would not rule her out. I think she is absolutely a great, and who knows what that means, but I think she would be completely appropriate on any of these syllabi.Reading PlansOLIVER: Very good. And what will you read next?TRALDI: What will I read next? I mean, our—from the beginning, I'm thinking I should read some more poetry. It's been a while. Actually, speaking of—this is funny. Well, I want to get into William Empson. He had an odd life, which I think somebody should do like a movie about him or something.OLIVER: Yes, he'd make a great movie.TRALDI: I think Empson would be a good movie. So that might be—OLIVER: Are you going to read the poems or the criticism?TRALDI: Probably a little of both, but that's for a while from now. I think, you know, at the moment I'm back to reading philosophy. So what novel will I read next? That's a good question. What should I read next?OLIVER: If you like Jane Austen?TRALDI: Yes.OLIVER: Maybe read one of the people that she admired, like Samuel Richardson or Fanny Burney, someone like that.TRALDI: You know, I do think—you saying Samuel Richardson reminded me, I've read very little Samuel Johnson. I think reading some of the great critics, I think, writing this piece—OLIVER: Oh, Johnson, yes. You would like Johnson.TRALDI: I think I would like Johnson. I think I would like Empson. The history of literary criticism is something I have very, very little idea of.OLIVER: Oh, well, then, Johnson. I mean, he's the best.TRALDI: Yes, I think I should, I should definitely read Johnson.OLIVER: English literary criticism begins and ends with Samuel Johnson.TRALDI: You know what, this is a little different, but—I might have talked about this with you a little bit—I want to read The Fable of the Bees, Mandeville, because reading about Smith—a lot of the ideas that we think of as Smithian are actually Mandevillian, and he kind of moderated them.OLIVER: Well, he hated Mandeville.TRALDI: Yes.OLIVER: Very hard on him.TRALDI: Yes. So a lot—like the invisible hand, it's only a small part of Smith's thinking, but it was like the entirety of Mandeville's thinking, this sort of dynamic.OLIVER: Well, I think it means different things for them. I think Mandeville, in a funny way, is more philosophical in the sense you were saying, and trying to make these propositions. And Smith was saying, “Well, what about feelings? What about all these funny things that we can't account for? Like, look around. It's too messy.”TRALDI: No, that makes sense to me. Yes, I think between Mandeville and Smith, Mandeville is somebody who thought virtue was sort of like a con.OLIVER: A fool's game.TRALDI: Exactly. You're sort of a sucker if you try to be virtuous.OLIVER: I think he also just assumed that if you were commercial, you were obviously on the get.TRALDI: Yes. But this is one of the great—I know we talked about this, but it's one of the great—you see this in Smith, you see this in Austen—commerce has its own virtues, and they are very traditional virtues. You have to be trustworthy. You have to be pleasant. You can't really be wholly self-interested in every moment because people have to be willing to deal with you given your—I mean, think about Yelp reviews or even just word of mouth. “Oh, that person screwed me over.”OLIVER: There's a discussion in one of Hayek's papers, which is—it's a very Smithian point he makes about, the nature of the knowledge problem means that it's not so much that I'm trying to get information about the thing you're trying to sell me, but I'm really trying to get information about you and whether you are someone I should be buying from. Which is exactly the project that the novelists and Smith—there's a sort of period between Smith and the early novelists, running through Austen to George Eliot, when they're all working on that problem together.TRALDI: Yes. I do think in Austen, it's often—the real puzzle is, how do you make out somebody else's character?OLIVER: Exactly.TRALDI: This is a phrase that Lizzy Bennet does use with regard to Darcy. And how do we actually figure out who the trustworthy and untrustworthy people are?OLIVER: And if you're too philosophical about that, in the sort of analytic sense, I think you can end up not paying enough attention to the particulars of that question.TRALDI: Yes.OLIVER: Because when you actually try and do it, it's really, really hard.TRALDI: Yes. And I think this is the sort of—reading Austen, you get a sense of—and there are very few philosophy papers on things like this. Reading Austen, you get a sense of, what sorts of details in a normal life are the ones that I can extract information from to make out somebody else's character?In philosophy, we do ask, what is a good character and what is the good action in this sort of situation? What is the bad action in this sort of situation? But it's not for the philosopher to say, “Okay, in the sorts of situations you're likely to be in, what do you pay—where do you direct your attention to try to figure out these things about?”And it's not—I don't think Austen—it's not super subtle either. In Persuasion—I mentioned in the essay—in Persuasion, it starts out by saying Anne really cared about paying off the family's debts, and the rest of her family didn't give a s**t, you know? And it's sort of like, okay, so we just immediately are like, Anne's the sort of person who you might want to have a business transaction with because if she has a debt to you, she might actually pay it. And I forget if that's the exact detail, but it's something like that, you know?OLIVER: And there's also the novelist—Jane Austen is very good at what you don't see, which aga

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Why Thomism Still Matters w/ Dr. Gaven Kerr

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 31, 2026 65:11

Dr. Gaven Kerr returns to the podcast to discuss his recent editted volume Thomism Revisited: https://amzn.to/4m3Z4Jx For more philosophy content, head to Pat's Substack: https://journalofabsolutetruth.substack.com/

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Debating Roman Catholic Absolute Simplicity & Aquinas: Jay Dyer Vs. Dr. Francis Feingold

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 19, 2026 139:19 Transcription Available

Click Subscribe! My Site: https://jaysanalysis.com My Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/JayDyer My Book: https://jaysanalysis.com/shop/ My TV Show: https://www.gaia.com/series/hollywood-decoded Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jay_D007 Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JaysAnalysis/ Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaysanalysis/ Follow on Gab: https://gab.ai/JayDyer Dr. Feingold is Assistant Professor Of Philosophy at St. Patrick's Seminary and University, with a specialty in medieval philosophy (esp. Aquinas), metaphysics (esp. philosophy of God), ethics (esp. moral psychology). Areas of competence: Ancient philosophy, modern philosophy, political philosophy, epistemology, and free will. We will be debating whether the Thomistic and Roman Dogma of absolute divine simplicity is true.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/jay-sanalysis--1423846/support.

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Why Garrigou-Lagrange matters now

Credo Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 23, 2026

Garrigou-Lagrange is one of the most important theologians of the last century. He had that rare gift of illuminating Thomism for a modern world. Or we could say, to steal… Download Audio

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Thomas Aquinas, Multiple Thomisms, and Christian Philosophy - Feast Of St. Thomas Lecture (part 6)

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 23, 2026 13:44

This is part 1 of the recording of the invited inaugural Feast Day Of Saint Thomas lecture given at Mount Angel Abbey and Seminary. The full recording includes my lecture, Thomas Aquinas, Multiple Thomisms, and Christian Philosophy, a response by associate dean and professor Justin Shaun Coyle, and my answers to his and others' questions. Thomas Aquinas' works, thought, and approach have been viewed at times as an exemplar for Christian philosophy by many. His influence in Catholic circles in some times was massive and practically unavoidable, while in others Thomism was marginalized. In this talk, I focus on one period in which attentive engagement with Thomas Aquinas' thought, taking form as various and often rival Thomisms, was at a peak, an era centered by the 1930s Christian philosophy debates. I outline a narrative that starts with the Thomist revival in the late 19th century, discusses some key positions staked out during the modernist crisis and the 1930s debates, and takes us up to our own times. I bring the lecture to a close by providing a few suggestions for productively engaging, interpreting, and incorporating the insights and spirit of Saint Thomas. To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler If you'd like to make a direct contribution, you can do so here - www.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Purchase Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologiae - amzn.to/2ITcKYQ

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Thomas Aquinas, Multiple Thomisms, and Christian Philosophy - Feast Of St. Thomas Lecture (part 5)

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 21, 2026 16:05

This is part 5 of the recording of the invited inaugural Feast Day Of Saint Thomas lecture given at Mount Angel Abbey and Seminary. The full recording includes my lecture, Thomas Aquinas, Multiple Thomisms, and Christian Philosophy, a response by associate dean and professor Justin Shaun Coyle, and my answers to his and others' questions. Thomas Aquinas' works, thought, and approach have been viewed at times as an exemplar for Christian philosophy by many. His influence in Catholic circles in some times was massive and practically unavoidable, while in others Thomism was marginalized. In this talk, I focus on one period in which attentive engagement with Thomas Aquinas' thought, taking form as various and often rival Thomisms, was at a peak, an era centered by the 1930s Christian philosophy debates. I outline a narrative that starts with the Thomist revival in the late 19th century, discusses some key positions staked out during the modernist crisis and the 1930s debates, and takes us up to our own times. I bring the lecture to a close by providing a few suggestions for productively engaging, interpreting, and incorporating the insights and spirit of Saint Thomas. To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler If you'd like to make a direct contribution, you can do so here - www.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Purchase Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologiae - amzn.to/2ITcKYQ

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Thomas Aquinas, Multiple Thomisms, and Christian Philosophy - Feast Of St. Thomas Lecture (part 4)

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 20, 2026 16:14

This is part 4 of the recording of the invited inaugural Feast Day Of Saint Thomas lecture given at Mount Angel Abbey and Seminary. The full recording includes my lecture, Thomas Aquinas, Multiple Thomisms, and Christian Philosophy, a response by associate dean and professor Justin Shaun Coyle, and my answers to his and others' questions. Thomas Aquinas' works, thought, and approach have been viewed at times as an exemplar for Christian philosophy by many. His influence in Catholic circles in some times was massive and practically unavoidable, while in others Thomism was marginalized. In this talk, I focus on one period in which attentive engagement with Thomas Aquinas' thought, taking form as various and often rival Thomisms, was at a peak, an era centered by the 1930s Christian philosophy debates. I outline a narrative that starts with the Thomist revival in the late 19th century, discusses some key positions staked out during the modernist crisis and the 1930s debates, and takes us up to our own times. I bring the lecture to a close by providing a few suggestions for productively engaging, interpreting, and incorporating the insights and spirit of Saint Thomas. To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler If you'd like to make a direct contribution, you can do so here - www.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Purchase Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologiae - amzn.to/2ITcKYQ

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Thomas Aquinas, Multiple Thomisms, and Christian Philosophy - Feast Of St. Thomas Lecture (part 3)

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 19, 2026 12:11

This is part 3 of the recording of the invited inaugural Feast Day Of Saint Thomas lecture given at Mount Angel Abbey and Seminary. The full recording includes my lecture, Thomas Aquinas, Multiple Thomisms, and Christian Philosophy, a response by associate dean and professor Justin Shaun Coyle, and my answers to his and others' questions. Thomas Aquinas' works, thought, and approach have been viewed at times as an exemplar for Christian philosophy by many. His influence in Catholic circles in some times was massive and practically unavoidable, while in others Thomism was marginalized. In this talk, I focus on one period in which attentive engagement with Thomas Aquinas' thought, taking form as various and often rival Thomisms, was at a peak, an era centered by the 1930s Christian philosophy debates. I outline a narrative that starts with the Thomist revival in the late 19th century, discusses some key positions staked out during the modernist crisis and the 1930s debates, and takes us up to our own times. I bring the lecture to a close by providing a few suggestions for productively engaging, interpreting, and incorporating the insights and spirit of Saint Thomas. To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler If you'd like to make a direct contribution, you can do so here - www.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Purchase Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologiae - amzn.to/2ITcKYQ

catholic feast lecture seminary thomas aquinas st thomas saint thomas thomism christian philosophy thomist summa theologiae reasonio mount angel abbey

Thomas Aquinas, Multiple Thomisms, and Christian Philosophy - Feast Of St. Thomas Lecture (part 2)

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 18, 2026 18:05

This is part 2 of the recording of the invited inaugural Feast Day Of Saint Thomas lecture given at Mount Angel Abbey and Seminary. The full recording includes my lecture, Thomas Aquinas, Multiple Thomisms, and Christian Philosophy, a response by associate dean and professor Justin Shaun Coyle, and my answers to his and others' questions. Thomas Aquinas' works, thought, and approach have been viewed at times as an exemplar for Christian philosophy by many. His influence in Catholic circles in some times was massive and practically unavoidable, while in others Thomism was marginalized. In this talk, I focus on one period in which attentive engagement with Thomas Aquinas' thought, taking form as various and often rival Thomisms, was at a peak, an era centered by the 1930s Christian philosophy debates. I outline a narrative that starts with the Thomist revival in the late 19th century, discusses some key positions staked out during the modernist crisis and the 1930s debates, and takes us up to our own times. I bring the lecture to a close by providing a few suggestions for productively engaging, interpreting, and incorporating the insights and spirit of Saint Thomas. To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler If you'd like to make a direct contribution, you can do so here - www.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Purchase Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologiae - amzn.to/2ITcKYQ

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Thomas Aquinas, Multiple Thomisms, and Christian Philosophy - Feast Of St. Thomas Lecture (part 1)

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Play Episode Listen Later Feb 17, 2026 16:03

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28 Jan 26 – Saint Thomas Aquinas, the Key to Renewing the Church

The Terry & Jesse Show

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 5, 2026 54:52

https://rumble.com/embed/v732x08/?pub=84ufd In this episode, Fr. Charles Murr reflects on the enduring wisdom of St. Thomas Aquinas and the profound consequences of the Church drifting away from his clear, reasoned theology. Drawing on history, philosophy, and pastoral experience, Fr. Murr explains how Aquinas provided a framework that harmonized faith and reason, safeguarded doctrine, and brought clarity to Catholic teaching. The conversation examines how, over time, this Thomistic foundation was set aside as modernism gained influence within the Church—leading to confusion, doctrinal ambiguity, and a loss of intellectual coherence. Fr. Murr discusses why Aquinas remains essential today, not as a relic of the past, but as a guide for recovering clarity, confidence, and fidelity in Catholic thought. This episode invites listeners to reconsider the importance of Thomism and why returning to the wisdom of St. Thomas Aquinas is critical for addressing the challenges facing the Church today.

Free Will & Moral Responsibility | A Conversation with Dr. James Joiner

The Nathan Jacobs Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 1, 2026 93:46

Enroll in Dr. Joiner's class: https://myprofer.com/coursesContribute to the East West Lecture Series fundraiser: theeastwestseries.com Dr. James Joiner discusses libertarian free will, contrasting it with compatibilist and determinist positions through the lens of patristic theology and developmental psychology. The conversation examines Gregory of Nyssa's theological anthropology, the concept of synergistic cooperation in theosis, and cross-cultural evidence for the universality of free choice. Dr. Joiner argues that both ancient Christian thought and contemporary research support the view that human beings possess genuine self-determination, exploring implications for moral responsibility, bioethics, and the differences between Eastern and Western theological frameworks.All the links: Substack: https://nathanajacobs.substack.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenathanjacobspodcastWebsite: https://www.nathanajacobs.com/X: https://x.com/NathanJacobsPodSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0hSskUtCwDT40uFbqTk3QSApple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-nathan-jacobs-podcastFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/nathanandrewjacobsAcademia: https://vanderbilt.academia.edu/NathanAJacobsOther words for the algorithm… free will, libertarian free will, compatibilism, determinism, Gregory of Nyssa, Cappadocian Fathers, patristic theology, Eastern Orthodox theology, church fathers, theological anthropology, theosis, deification, synergy, moral responsibility, praise and blame, developmental psychology, moral agency, self-determination, Christian anthropology, Christian East, Christian West, philosophy of religion, free will debate, moral psychology, bioethics, applied philosophy, Basil the Great, John Chrysostom, patristics, Orthodox Christianity, Byzantine theology, ancient philosophy, Christian philosophy, systematic theology, philosophical theology, Aristotelian ethics, virtue ethics, moral philosophy, conscience, moral intuition, Augustine, Pelagianism, divine sovereignty, human freedom, image of God, imago Dei, salvation, soteriology, grace, divine grace, sanctification, spiritual formation, Desert Fathers, Maximus the Confessor, Origen, Irenaeus, moral development, character formation, passions, will and intellect, Thomas Aquinas, Thomism, Kant, autonomy, phenomenology, David Bentley Hart, Kallistos Ware, Vladimir Lossky, ecumenical councils, Nicene Creed, liturgical theology, mystical theology, apophatic theology, hesychasm, spiritual senses, nous, William James, neuroscience and free will, agent causation, Peter van Inwagen, Alvin Plantinga, natural law theory, Neoplatonism, Plato, metaphysics, causation

Silk Road Seminar with J.P. Marceau

Dr. John Vervaeke

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 23, 2025 78:44

Thank you for joining us live for this month's Silk Road Seminar, featuring JP Marceau. JP Marceau is a philosopher and author specializing in the integration of Neoplatonism, Thomism, and Cognitive Science. With a Master's degree in the Philosophy of Mind, his work emerges from a personal and intellectual journey that moves from early materialism and reductionism toward a non-reductionist, participatory understanding of reality. His research focuses on bridging abstract philosophical frameworks with lived religious practice, particularly within a renewed vision of Christianity. He is the author of Post-Reductionist Christianity: A Path of the Meaning Crisis, where he uses the language of cognitive science to articulate and defend a Platonic vision of Christianity. JP is also a frequent collaborator with Jonathan Pageau and contributes to The Symbolic World through French-language content, helping extend symbolic and participatory approaches to meaning-making. In this seminar, JP explores the limitations of reductionism and materialism, offering an alternative framework grounded in relational ontology, symbolism, and participatory knowing. The conversation moves through topics such as the hard problem of consciousness, the role of myth and symbolism, the contrast between substance-based and relational metaphysics, and the integration of Eastern and Western Christian thought. At its core, the dialogue points toward a vision of reality rooted in love, transformation, and the co-participation of the human and the divine. Silk Road Seminars are live, hour-long conversations hosted by John Vervaeke, weaving together ideas from cognitive science, philosophy, psychology, and wisdom traditions. Each seminar is streamed live on YouTube and followed by an exclusive Q&A where participants can engage directly with John and the guest. To be entered onto the guest list for the live Q&A, sign up at the Gamma Tier (or above) on The Lectern: https://lectern.teachable.com/p/lectern-lounge University students (undergraduate through doctoral level) receive free access to the Q&A. Email proof of student status to: ethan@vervaekefoundation.org Students added to the guest list also receive access to previous Silk Road Seminars. If you'd like to support John's work through a goodwill donation, consider joining the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnvervaeke John Vervaeke online: https://johnvervaeke.com/ https://twitter.com/drjohnvervaeke https://www.youtube.com/@johnvervaeke https://www.patreon.com/johnvervaeke

Thinking About the Virtue of Faith with St Thomas Part II

Sed Contra: A Podcast of Catholic Theology

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 27, 2025 60:22

The first of a two part series on faith, this episode dives into the question: what is faith, in conversation with St. Thomas Aquinas?Part I: https://sed-contra-a-podcast-of-catholic-theology.simplecast.com/episodes/thinking-about-the-virtue-of-faith-with-st-thomas-part-i

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Thinking About the Virtue of Faith with St Thomas Part I

Sed Contra: A Podcast of Catholic Theology

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 30, 2025 64:00

The first of a two part series on faith, this episode dives into the question: what is faith, in conversation with St. Thomas Aquinas?

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Dr RR Baliga's Philosophical Discourses: Thomas Aquinas (Italy, 1225–1274 CE) – Summa Theologica

Dr. Baliga's Internal Medicine Podcasts

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 23, 2025 4:28

✨ St. Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) — Dominican friar, philosopher & theologian — is among the most influential thinkers in Western tradition.

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408: Nestigen - Luther and Erasmus on the Bondage of the Will

Banned Books

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 12, 2025 163:14

Dazed & Confused. In this episode, we continue our series on The Bondage of the Will (1525), by Martin Luther. We read Dr. James Nestingen's historical introduction to the treatise and delve into the ways two theologians differed in their exegesis of Scripture, their interpretation of Christian doctrine, and the early and medieval church-theological traditions that influenced Erasmus and Luther as they engaged in a back-and-forth. SHOW NOTES: The Captivation of the Will: Luther Vs. Erasmus on Freedom and Bondage by Gerhard O. Forde https://amzn.to/4mOYuPx Thomism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomism Luther: Right or Wrong? by Harry J. McSorley https://amzn.to/460OkFF Mary Harrington: 'The only way out is through.' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_7cBBEbOJA Luther's Philosophical Theses (1517) - Luther AE31 https://amzn.to/4mdlK8C More from 1517: Support 1517 Podcast Network: https://www.1517.org/donate-podcasts 1517 Podcasts: http://www.1517.org/podcasts 1517 on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@1517org 1517 Podcast Network on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/channel/1517-podcast-network/id6442751370 1517 Events Schedule: https://www.1517.org/events 1517 Academy - Free Theological Education: https://academy.1517.org/ What's New from 1517: Untamed Prayers: 365 Daily Devotions on Christ in the Book of Psalms by Chad Bird https://www.amazon.com/Untamed-Prayers-Devotions-Christ-Psalms/dp/1964419263 Remembering Your Baptism: A 40-Day Devotional by Kathryn Morales https://shop.1517.org/collections/new-releases/products/9781964419039-remembering-your-baptism Sinner Saint by Luke Kjolhaug https://shop.1517.org/products/9781964419152-sinner-saint The Impossible Prize: A Theology of Addiction by Donavan Riley https://shop.1517.org/products/9781962654708-the-impossible-prize More from the hosts: Donovan Riley https://www.1517.org/contributors/donavon-riley Christopher Gillespie https://www.1517.org/contributors/christopher-gillespie MORE LINKS: Tin Foil Haloes https://t.me/bannedpastors Warrior Priest Gym & Podcast https://thewarriorpriestpodcast.wordpress.com St John's Lutheran Church (Webster, MN) - FB Live Bible Study Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/356667039608511 Gillespie's Sermons and Catechesis http://youtube.com/stjohnrandomlake Donavon's Substack https://donavonlriley.substack.com Gillespie's Substack https://substack.com/@christophergillespie Gillespie Coffee https://gillespie.coffee Gillespie Media https://gillespie.media CONTACT and FOLLOW: Email mailto:BannedBooks@1517.org Facebook https://www.facebook.com/BannedBooksPod/ Twitter https://twitter.com/bannedbooks1517 SUBSCRIBE: YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@BannedBooks Rumble https://rumble.com/c/c-1223313 Odysee https://odysee.com/@bannedbooks:5 Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/banned-books/id1370993639 Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2ahA20sZMpBxg9vgiRVQba Overcast https://overcast.fm/itunes1370993639/banned-books

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After 'After Virtue' with Jason Blakely

Mere Fidelity

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 25, 2025 54:23

In this episode, Derek Rishmawy, Alastair Roberts, and Brad East are joined by political theorist Jason Blakely to explore the life, work, and legacy of Alasdair MacIntyre. Best known for After Virtue, MacIntyre diagnosed the deep moral confusion of modernity and called for a return to virtue, tradition, and narrative. The conversation traces his journey from Marxism to Thomism, unpacks his critique of Enlightenment liberalism, and considers how his thought challenges both the postliberal right and progressive deconstruction. Along the way, the hosts reflect on what it means to form moral communities in a world of fragmented ethics. Chapters: 00:00 Beyond Mere Technocratic Pragmatism 02:01 Life, Work, and Legacy of Alisdair MacIntyre 07:00 After Virtue 09:53 Nuking the Enlightenment 14:20 Practice vs. Theory 16:55 In the Aristotelian Weeds 19:47 Objectivity 24:26 Where Is Sin? 28:44 Public Religion 32:51 Narrate Like the Wind! 37:50 The Religious Option 39:25 Competing Narratives 44:45 Post-Liberalism and the Benedict Option 51:03 How to Get Started

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Barbecue Judging, Scythe Harvesting, and Christian Marriage

The Catholic Man Show

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 20, 2025 61:30

BBQ Judging, Scythe Harvesting, and Christian MarriageBarbecue Competition Judging: Adam shares his first experience as a barbecue competition judge at a local Catholic church and school fundraiser in Tulsa, where he was joined by his son Jude (assistant judge) and two priests.Judged four categories: chicken, pulled pork, ribs, and brisket (Adam insists brisket is the primary measure; David (wrongly) argues for ribs).12 pit masters competed; judged on appearance, taste, tenderness, texture, uniqueness, and overall (max score 25).Advice from Joe Martin's son: Take one bite per entry to avoid overeating (48 bites total across 40 minutes).Adam judged strictly (e.g., scores as low as 14, zero for appearance), while priests gave higher scores (23–24), highlighting differing standards.Event fostered camaraderie among pit masters (12 hours together) and service to attendees, teaching kids sacrifice, friendship, and craft articulation.Shout-out to Brian Schooley for organizing; Adam and David plan to enter as The Catholic Man Show next year, with Jim in a dunk tank.Main DiscussionWheat Harvest with a ScytheDavid's Experience: David harvested two 45x45-foot wheat plots using a scythe, finding it soothing, peaceful, and in tune with nature despite being exhausting.Quotes Wendell Berry: “The means we use to do our work almost certainly affects the way we look at the world” (via an X account, @minahan8).Compared to last year's sickle (felt “commie”), the scythe was efficient for small-scale farming; not practical for large-scale but satisfying.Kids raked straw (post-harvest, nutritionless due to seeding) for pig bedding or garden mulch; straw vs. hay explained (hay retains nutrition).Adam plans to borrow David's scythe for his own wheat harvest, nervous about back strain.Wendell Berry Reflection: Hosts revisit Berry's essays, appreciating his beautiful, idealistic conclusions but finding his reasoning insufficient (e.g., abandoning tractors would starve people).Compare Berry's idealism to J.R.R. Tolkien and Guardini's Letters at Lake Como; both depict lovely worlds but lack practical solutions for modern challenges.Christian Marriage and Pope Leo XIIIIntroduction to Pope Leo XIII: Adam introduces Pope Leo XIII (1810–1903), a prophetic figure who addressed modernity's challenges (secularism, communism, liberalism) in the late 19th century.Known for Rerum Novarum (1891, Catholic social teaching), reviving Thomism in seminaries (to counter Nietzsche, Hegel, and communism), and engaging modern society.His encyclical Arcanum Divinae Sapientiae (1880) emphasizes Christian marriage as a divine, not secular, institution, foundational to society.Critiqued rise of divorce, moral relativism, and civil interference undermining marriage's sanctity; argued church, not state, holds primary authority over marriage.Marriage as Trinitarian Image: Marriage mirrors the Trinity's relational society, where spousal love is so real it produces a third (child), reflecting Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.Secular view (Enlightenment-era and today) reduces marriage to a consensual contract, ignoring its sacramental, stable, and permanent nature.State has a role in regulating marriage per natural law, but church's supernatural authority supersedes.Ephesians 5 and Mutual SubmissionScriptural Basis: Leo XIII references Ephesians 5 (footnoted), where St. Paul instructs mutual submission out of reverence for Christ, with specific roles: wives submit to husbands, husbands love wives as Christ loved the church.Secular society fixates on “wives submit,” ignoring mutual submission and...

Pope Leo XIII

popular Wiki of the Day

Play Episode Listen Later May 11, 2025 3:29

pWotD Episode 2929: Pope Leo XIII Welcome to Popular Wiki of the Day, spotlighting Wikipedia's most visited pages, giving you a peek into what the world is curious about today.With 363,646 views on Friday, 9 May 2025 our article of the day is Pope Leo XIII.Pope Leo XIII (Italian: Leone XIII; born Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 until his death in July 1903. He had the fourth-longest reign of any pope, behind those of Peter the Apostle, Pius IX (his immediate predecessor), and John Paul II.He is well known for his intellectualism and his attempts to define the position of the Catholic Church with regard to modern thinking. In his 1891 encyclical Rerum novarum, Pope Leo outlined the rights of workers to a fair wage, safe working conditions, and the formation of trade unions, while affirming the rights to property and free enterprise, opposing both socialism and laissez-faire capitalism. With that encyclical, he became popularly called the "Social Pope" and the "Pope of the Workers", also having created the foundations for modern thinking in the social doctrines of the Catholic Church, influencing his successors. He influenced the Mariology of the Catholic Church and promoted both the rosary and the scapular. Upon his election, he immediately sought to revive Thomism, the theological system of Augustine of Hippo and Thomas Aquinas, wishing to make it the official political, theological, and philosophical foundation of the Catholic Church. As a result, he sponsored the Editio Leonina in 1879.Leo XIII is remembered for his belief that pastoral activity in political sociology is also a vital mission of the church as a vehicle of social justice and maintaining the rights and dignities of the human person. He issued a record eleven papal encyclicals on the rosary, earning him the title "Rosary Pope". He also approved two new Marian scapulars. He was the first pope to have never held any control over the Papal States, which had been dissolved by 1870, since Stephen II in the 8th century. Similarly, many of his policies were oriented toward mitigating the loss of the Papal States in an attempt to overcome the loss of temporal power, but nonetheless continuing the Roman Question. After his death in 1903, he was buried in the Vatican Grottoes. In 1924, his remains were transferred to the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 09:06 UTC on Sunday, 11 May 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Pope Leo XIII on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Kendra.

4/29/25 - Fr. Michael Copenhagen - Did Christ Descend Into Hell?

Ask A Priest Live

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 29, 2025 52:59

Fr. Michael Copenhagen is a Melkite (Eastern Catholic) priest, husband, and father, at St. Nicholas the Wonderworker Melkite Catholic Church in Gates, New York. He holds a Bachelors of Sacred Theology from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. DESCRIPTION: In Today's Show: Why don't more priests offer continuous Catechism classes? If the Blessed Mother was protected from sin, why not the rest of humanity? Is it allowable to listen to an Orthodox Divine Liturgy since they are not in union with the Holy Catholic Church? How binding are abstinence rules put forth by the parents of a household during Lent? In the Eastern Rite, are Thursdays dedicated to Saints Peter, Paul and St. Nicholas? Or all the apostles and St. Nicholas? Is there any hope that the eastern Catholic Churches will grow in number? Did Christ descend into Hell? Can Eastern Catholics become pope? What is the Byzantine Catholic teaching on Thomism? What is the Eastern Rite's solution to getting rid of spite, resentment and anger? Visit the show page at thestationofthecross.com/askapriest to listen live, check out the weekly lineup, listen to podcasts of past episodes, watch live video, find show resources, sign up for our mailing list of upcoming shows, and submit your question for Father!

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Engaging with Thomas Aquinas

Reformed Forum

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 18, 2025 63:15

In this thought-provoking episode, we welcome back Dr. Leonardo De Chirico, a leading Reformed evangelical theologian and pastor in Rome, for a consideration of the legacy and ongoing influence of Thomas Aquinas. Drawing from his recent book, Engaging with Thomas Aquinas: An Evangelical Approach (Apollos), Dr. De Chirico offers a critical yet charitable appraisal of Aquinas's theological architecture and enduring impact on Roman Catholicism. Together, Camden and Leonardo explore key themes such as the Catholic Church's dual nature—Roman and Catholic—the evolving role of Thomism across church history, and the tensions within Roman Catholic thought on Vatican II and modernity. Listeners will also hear how Protestants have historically interacted with Aquinas and why an eclectic, biblically grounded engagement remains vital today. This episode offers not only theological clarity but pastoral wisdom for evangelicals navigating the complexities of tradition, authority, and theological retrieval in a post-Reformation world. Links Leonardo De Chirico, Engaging with Thomas Aquinas: An Evangelical Approach (Apollos) Vatican Files The Reformanda Initiative Rome Scholars and Leaders Network The Reformanda Initiative podcast Watch on YouTube. Chapters 00:07 Introduction 11:09 Engaging with Thomas Aquinas 17:53 Thomas Aquinas’s Lasting Influence 29:07 Approaching Thomas Critically 37:00 Thomas as an Architectural Thinker 41:46 A Protestant Perspective 53:54 Five Guidelines for Evangelicals Engaging with Aquinas 58:53 Conclusion Participants: Camden Bucey, Leonardo De Chirico

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Leonardo De Chirico | Engaging with Thomas Aquinas

Reformed Forum

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 18, 2025 63:15

In this thought-provoking episode, we welcome back Dr. Leonardo De Chirico, a leading Reformed evangelical theologian and pastor in Rome, for a consideration of the legacy and ongoing influence of Thomas Aquinas. Drawing from his recent book, Engaging with Thomas Aquinas: An Evangelical Approach (Apollos), Dr. De Chirico offers a critical yet charitable appraisal of Aquinas's theological architecture and enduring impact on Roman Catholicism. Together, Camden and Leonardo explore key themes such as the Catholic Church's dual nature—Roman and Catholic—the evolving role of Thomism across church history, and the tensions within Roman Catholic thought on Vatican II and modernity. Listeners will also hear how Protestants have historically interacted with Aquinas and why an eclectic, biblically grounded engagement remains vital today. This episode offers not only theological clarity but pastoral wisdom for evangelicals navigating the complexities of tradition, authority, and theological retrieval in a post-Reformation world. Watch on YouTube. Links Leonardo De Chirico, Engaging with Thomas Aquinas: An Evangelical Approach (Apollos) Vatican Files The Reformanda Initiative Rome Scholars and Leaders Network The Reformanda Initiative podcast Participants: Camden Bucey, Leonardo De Chirico

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Ep. 23: Calvin, Thomism, and Natural Law Libertarianism, with Jonathan McIntosh

The Reformed Libertarians Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 10, 2025 62:18

An interview with Dr. Jonathan McIntosh on several of his presentations at The George Buchanan Forum. We discuss errors in Calvin's view of civil government, and we mention the God-ordained check on abuse and tyranny. We then discuss McIntosh's outline of a classical or Thomistic natural law tradition approach to libertarianism, and his critique of the Aristotelian-Thomist view of politics. We also discuss the neglected figurative or typological character of old covenant civil law by scholastic thinkers. We conclude with information about The George Buchanan Forum and other articles from McIntosh.https://reformedlibertarians.com/023Main Points of Discussion00:00 Introduction00:32 Episode description01:30 Guest intro and background10:11 Errors of Calvin's view of civil government15:21 Value in such critique and why Calvin's erroneous view is popular19:53 Comments on Reformers vs Calvin and obsta principiis23:03 Natural Law Libertarianism31:59 Moral realism, harm, and double effect39:32 Errors of a Thomist view of politics43:56 Neglected “figurative” or typological character of Mosaic civil law in a scholastic view51:18 Respective specifications of moral and civil law56:00 Errors of an establishmentarian view1:00:21 The George Buchanan forumAdditional Resources:Links for Dr. Jonathan McIntosh- on fb: https://facebook.com/jonathan.mcintosh.161- on x: https://x.com/DrJMcIntosh- blog: https://jonathansmcintosh.wordpress.com - other blog: https://naturallawlibertarian.wordpress.com - His book The Flame Imperishable: Tolkien, St. Thomas, and the Metaphysics of Faerie:https://amazon.com/dp/1621383156 - articles: "Theonomy, General Equity, and Libertarianism"https://reformedlibertarians.com/theonomy-general-equity-and-libertarianism-by-jonathan-mcintosh/ “Aquinas and Libertarianism: Coercion and the Common Good in the Summa's Definition of Law”https://www.marketsandmorality.com/index.php/mandm/article/view/1587 “The Libertarian Aquinas”https://libertarianchristians.com/2021/04/05/the-libertarian-aquinas/ Links for The George Buchanan Forum- website: https://tgbf.org - on FB: https://facebook.com/TheGeorgeBuchananForum - on X: https://x.com/BuchananForum - on YT: https://youtube.com/@thegeorgebuchananforum6899 - Presentation by Jeremy Bunch on “George Buchanan & Scots Reformed Resistance Theory”:https://youtube.com/watch?v=JZcpcYqhs5o The Silence Of St. Thomas, by Josef Pieperhttps://amazon.com/dp/1890318787 On the “School of Salamanca” or late Spanish Scholastics' (early modern Roman Catholic Thomists) economic views:https://mises.org/mises-wire/true-founders-economics-school-salamanca ( See also Alejandro Cafuen's Faith and Liberty: The Economic Thought of the Late Scholasticshttps://store.mises.org/Faith-and-Liberty-The-Economic-Thought-of-the-Late-Scholastics-P170.aspx )A more favorable view of Van Til, contra Aquinashttps://reformedforum.org/podcasts/ctc745/ ( See the full course on the Doctrine of Revelation by Lane Tipton here:https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLt5DwS6MFoBBE-_RkMx4umfvDlligzvj1 )The 1st presentation discussed: “Evaluating Calvin: A Critique of On Civil Government,” by Jonathan McIntoshhttps://youtube.com/watch?v=DS9RW3e7eMQ The Reformed Political Resistance bibliographyhttps://tinyurl.com/RefoPoliResistBib Johannes Althusius rightly contradicts Calvin on political and domestic abuse in Politica, chapter 18, section 105https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/althusius-politica#lf0002_footnote_nt_293_ref Rutherford in Lex Rex under question 23, explains that there is no God-given requirement to suffer abuse or tyrannyhttps://books.google.com/books?id=SK8rAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA111 The 2nd presentation discussed: “Towards a Natural Law Libertarianism,” by Jonathan McIntoshhttps://youtube.com/watch?v=TSQvD9wNXCg ( See also: “Why We Need To Get Serious About Natural Rights,” by Jonathan McIntoshhttps://youtube.com/watch?v=3aO0L1q4CUc David VanDrunen on “What Is Natural Law?”https://credomag.com/article/what-is-natural-law/ Aggression vs harm: “How Do Libertarians Define Crime?,” by Kerry Baldwinhttps://mereliberty.com/lci/how-do-libertarians-define-crime/ On the Doctrine of Double Effecthttps://plato.stanford.edu/entries/double-effect/ Writings by Herman Dooyeweerdhttps://herman-dooyeweerd.blogspot.com The 3rd presentation discussed: “Figuratively Speaking: the Old Testament, Natural Law, and Libertarianism,” by Jonathan McIntoshhttps://youtube.com/watch?v=97OvUMcYKTk Economic and political essays by Frederic Bastiathttps://mises.org/library/book/bastiat-collection For A New Liberty by Murray Rothbardhttps://mises.org/library/book/new-liberty-libertarian-manifesto The Ethics Of Liberty by Murray Rothbard- text: https://cdn.mises.org/The%20Ethics%20of%20Liberty%2020191108.pdf - audio: https://mises.org/podcasts/ethics-liberty “Against Civil Establishment Of Religion,” by Gregory Baushttps://reformedliber...

007 - Trad Disputed Questions - Platonic Thomism? with Sebastian Morello [PREVIEW]

The Meaning of Catholic

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 2, 2025 17:39

This is a preview. Join the Guild community or become a Patron of one of the following for full access:https://www.traditionsanity.com/welcomehttps://meaningofcatholic.com/registerhttps://www.patreon.com/traditionalthomist---BOOKS discussed in this episode: The World As God's Icon: Creator and Creation in the Platonic Thought of Thomas Aquinas https://a.co/d/e70YLILMysticism, Magic, and Monasteries https://osjustipress.com/products/mysticism-magic-monasteries?_pos=1&_sid=568cab54d&_ss=r -- The Meaning of Catholic is a collaborative lay apostolate dedicated to uniting Catholics against the enemies of holy Church through the domestic church, catechetics, and the public promotion of truth and charity. https://meaningofcatholic.com/-Confession of Faith: https://meaningofcatholic.com/my-confession-of-faith/-Internet Promise: https://meaningofcatholic.com/my-promise/ Join the Guild to support our work and access the online community, free books, and exclusive content: https://meaningofcatholic.com/registeror donate: http://meaningofcatholic.com/donateor if you can't afford to join and would like free membership, contact us: https://meaningofcatholic.com/contactJoin our lay sodality which offers up penance for clergy and seminarians: https://meaningofcatholic.com/2022/03/01/fellowship-st-anthony/

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Schism, Heretical Bishops, and Pope Benedict XVI (Dr. Richard DeClue)

Pints With Aquinas

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 1, 2025 82:05

Richard G. DeClue, Jr., S.Th.D. is the Professor of Theology at the Word on Fire Institute. In addition to his undergraduate degree in theology (Belmont Abbey College), he earned three ecclesiastical degrees in theology at the Catholic University of America. He specializes in systematic theology with a particular interest and expertise in the thought of Joseph Ratzinger / Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. His STL thesis treated Ratzinger's Eucharistic ecclesiology in comparison to the Eastern Orthodox theologian John Zizioulas. His doctoral dissertation expounded and evaluated Ratzinger's theology of divine revelation. Dr. DeClue has published articles in peer-reviewed journals on Ratzinger's theology, and he taught a college course on the thought of Pope Benedict XVI. He is also interested in the ecclesiology of Henri de Lubac, the debate over nature and grace, and developing a rapprochement between Communio (ressourcement) theology and Thomism. The Mind of Benedict XVI by Dr. Richard DeClue: https://bookstore.wordonfire.org/products/the-mind-of-benedict-xvi

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The Dumb Ox and the Prince of Paradox - Chesterton and Aquinas

Uncommon Sense

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 28, 2025 40:35

Joe geeks out with colleague, Jen Finke, about G.K. Chesterton and Saint Thomas Aquinas! To buy the book, visit https://www.chesterton.org/store/product/st-thomas-aquinas/ Read a chapter online here: https://www.chesterton.org/approach-to-thomism/ Learn more from Dale Ahlquist, here: https://www.chesterton.org/lecture-67/ FOLLOW US Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chestertonsociety Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AmericanChestertonSociety X: https://twitter.com/chestertonsoc SUPPORT Consider making a donation: https://www.chesterton.org/give/ Visit our Shop at https://www.chesterton.org/shop/

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Aquinas and the Early Chinese Masters with Dr. Joshua R. Brown

Chasing Leviathan

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 26, 2024 66:33

On this episode of Chasing Leviathan, PJ and Dr. Joshua R. Brown discuss his book 'Aquinas and the Early Chinese Masters,' exploring the intersection of Chinese philosophy and Catholic theology. Brown shares his personal journey from Southern Baptist to Catholic theologian, and his influence by his Malaysian-Chinese wife. Their discussion delves into the philosophical dialogue between Thomism and Confucianism, and they discuss how these traditions are similar. The dialogue emphasizes the importance of understanding virtue in a broader context and encourages listeners to reflect on their own moral journeys. Make sure to check out Dr. Brown's book: Aquinas and the Early Chinese Masters: Chinese Philosophy and Catholic Theology

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Dethrone Davos: Save America | Preserving America's God-Given Freedoms with Teddy Pierce

Uncommon Sense with Ginny Robinson

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 19, 2024 36:38

In this episode of Uncommon Sense with Ginny Robinson, Ginny sits down with Teddy Pierce, a writer, speaker, and political commentator whose educational background in Aristotelian philosophy and Thomistic ethics fuels his advocacy for America's founding principles and the Natural Law.Teddy discusses his book, Dethrone Davos: Save America, and the urgent need to confront the dangers of collectivist ideologies, moral relativism, and communism. Ginny and Teddy unpack how these forces threaten America's God-ordained freedoms and what we, as individuals and a nation, can do to stand firm against them.Tune in to discover why standing on the principles of God's truth is more critical than ever.—https://policecoffee.com/—Order Teddy's book, Dethrone Davos: Save America: https://www.amazon.com/Dethrone-Davos-America-Theodore-Pierce-ebook/dp/B0D5NKGGNC—Order my book, Culture: The Dangers of Herd Mentality and Why We're Headed in the Wrong Direction: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/SLYWFXAB6479S

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Ep. #275 - A Brief History of Thomism w/ Dr. Matthew K. Minerd

Classical Theism Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 14, 2024 76:08

Dr. Matthew K. Minerd joins us to discuss the history of Thomism and its major players. He also provides several important resources for those who want to dive deeper into this topic.

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The Golden Legend: A "Brothers Grimm" Telling of the Lives of the Saints

greek walmart morning show astro militant tutoring apostolate thomism

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 11, 2024 53:10 Transcription Available

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!Emphasizing the transformative power of faith, we debate whether teaching kids through the lives of saints or through apologetics is more effective, culminating in heartfelt personal conversion stories.Next, we critique Dr. Peter Kreeft's approach to Thomism, stressing the importance of understanding Aquinas through his commentators. We explore the influence of modern Catholic figures like Scott Hahn and popular platforms such as "Pints with Aquinas" on personal faith journeys. Our conversation then moves into the controversial realm of ecumenism, examining its implications for the Church's relationship with Islam and offering pointed critiques of Pope Francis' approach to interfaith dialogue. We invite you to reflect on the challenges modern ecumenism poses to Catholic doctrine and practice, and what it means for the future of the Church.Our final segment is a rich tapestry of discussions, starting with a reflection on Eusebius's Church History and gripping accounts like the fall of the Temple in 70 AD. We brainstorm potential future guests, including Jonathan Pageau and Patrick Madrid, while navigating the complexities of securing high-profile names. We also address contentious issues like immigration and the alignment of Church leaders with secular political agendas. Emphasizing the importance of maintaining a spiritual routine amidst distractions, we seek your prayers for Joey's wife, who faces a delicate pregnancy situation. Join us for this compelling episode packed with faith, reflection, and community.Support the show********************************************************https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise: https://shop.avoidingbabylon.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comRSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rssSpiritusTV: https://spiritustv.com/@avoidingbabylonOdysee: https://odysee.com/@AvoidingBabylon

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Saturday Morning Show w/ ASTRO (Walmart Thomism)

Militant Thomist

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 6, 2024 113:04

You know the drill. NEW AQUINAS ACADEMY Link: https://www.christianbwagner.com/newaquinasacademy Discord: https://aquinas.cc/la/en/~DePrinNat.C1 Donate: https://www.patreon.com/newaquinasacademy FURTHER RESOURCES To get Tutoring: https://www.christianbwagner.com/book-online Annotated Thomist: https://www.christianbwagner.com/annotated-thomist Scholastic Courses: https://www.christianbwagner.com/courses SPONSOR Use the code “Militant” for 20% off to learn Greek here: https://fluentgreeknt.com/ MUSIC https://youtu.be/ePYe3lqsu-g https://youtu.be/Hi5YgbiNB1U SUPPORT Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ5DQ8zCOmeAqOcKTbSb7fg Become a Patron: https://www.patreon.com/MilitantThomist Donate: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?business=9XM8FACTLFDW2&no_recurring=0&item_name=Support+my+Apostolate¤cy_code=USD FOLLOW Website: https://www.christianbwagner.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MilitantThomist Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/543689120339579 Twitter: https://twitter.com/MilitantThomist Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/militantthomist/ WATCH https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ5DQ8zCOmeAqOcKTbSb7fg LISTEN Podcast: https://www.christianbwagner.com/podcast Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0exZN1vHDyLuRjnUI3sHXt?si=XHs8risyS1ebLCkWwKLblQ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/militant-thomist/id1603094572 Anchor: https://anchor.fm/militantthomist SHOP Book Store: https://www.christianbwagner.com/shop Merch: https://www.christianbwagner.com/merch

74. Discussing the 7 Sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church

The Reformanda Initiative

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 17, 2024 47:32

In this episode Reid and Leonardo have a fascinating discussion about the 7 sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church and the theology of the sacraments. The discussion is framed by Leonardo's latest Vatican File that interacts with the book, "The Seven Sacraments of the Catholic Church" by the Roman Catholic scholar and professor Romanus Cessario.231. Why Does the Roman Catholic Church Have Seven Sacraments? A Thomist answer and a preliminary evangelical critiquehttps://vaticanfiles.org/en/2024/08/vf231/Support the Show.

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No Salvation Outside of Thomism? - with Christian Wagner and Nick Cavazos

greek militant tutoring divine revelation apostolate thomism

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 9, 2024 119:57 Transcription Available

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!Have you ever wondered why some people abandon their religious roots for entirely new spiritual paths? In this episode of "Avoiding Babylon," we start with captivating personal tales of transitioning from Protestantism to Catholicism. We discuss the prejudices against those born into the Catholic faith and the idea of convert supremacy, all while sharing how influential figures like RC Sproul and John MacArthur have shaped our spiritual journeys. Through these stories, we aim to paint a vivid picture of how different denominations and theological traditions have influenced our faith.Next, we dive deep into the intricacies of justification and liturgical practices, from the ancient methods of fourth-century ascetics to the modern debate between the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) and the Novus Ordo. We analyze how engaging with historical liturgies and studying scriptural prophecies can ignite profound theological exploration. The discussion further explores the impact of Sola Scriptura on Western materialism and the role of relics and apostolic miracles in validating early Christian practices. This segment promises to offer rich insights into how ancient traditions can profoundly shape contemporary faith.Finally, we tackle some of the most complex and contentious topics in modern faith and culture. From the moral and ethical considerations surrounding marital obligations to the evolving understanding of gender roles, nationalism, and race, we leave no stone unturned. We reflect on the emotional and social dynamics within marriages, the influence of prominent figures like Harrison Butker, and the controversial viewpoints on U.S. foreign policy and ethnic influence. Through a mix of humor, personal anecdotes, and historical context, this episode offers a compelling exploration of faith, culture, and identity that will leave you questioning and reflecting long after the episode ends.Support the Show.********************************************************https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise: https://shop.avoidingbabylon.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comRSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rssSpiritusTV: https://spiritustv.com/@avoidingbabylonOdysee: https://odysee.com/@AvoidingBabylon

western catholic catholicism sola scriptura protestantism john macarthur harrison butker podcast apps rc sproul cavazos no salvation novus ordo thomism christian wagner commerchandise

Thomism on God and Free Creation (De Revelatione 12.5)

Militant Thomist

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 17, 2024 34:46

Thank you for supporting Scholastic Answers Here is the next part on my series on Divine Revelation. NEW AQUINAS ACADEMY Link: https://www.christianbwagner.com/newaquinasacademy Discord: https://aquinas.cc/la/en/~DePrinNat.C1 Donate: https://www.patreon.com/newaquinasacademy FURTHER RESOURCES To get Tutoring: https://www.christianbwagner.com/book-online Annotated Thomist: https://www.christianbwagner.com/annotated-thomist Scholastic Courses: https://www.christianbwagner.com/courses SPONSOR Use the code “Militant” for 20% off to learn Greek here: https://fluentgreeknt.com/ MUSIC https://youtu.be/ePYe3lqsu-g https://youtu.be/Hi5YgbiNB1U SUPPORT Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ5DQ8zCOmeAqOcKTbSb7fg Become a Patron: https://www.patreon.com/MilitantThomist Donate: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?business=9XM8FACTLFDW2&no_recurring=0&item_name=Support+my+Apostolate¤cy_code=USD SusbscribeStar: https://www.subscribestar.com/militant-thomist FOLLOW Website: https://www.christianbwagner.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MilitantThomist Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/543689120339579 Twitter: https://twitter.com/MilitantThomist Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/militantthomist/ WATCH https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ5DQ8zCOmeAqOcKTbSb7fg LISTEN Podcast: https://www.christianbwagner.com/podcast Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0exZN1vHDyLuRjnUI3sHXt?si=XHs8risyS1ebLCkWwKLblQ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/militant-thomist/id1603094572 Anchor: https://anchor.fm/militantthomist SHOP Book Store: https://www.christianbwagner.com/shop Merch: https://www.christianbwagner.com/merch

Part 1 - OPEN DEBATE: Roman Catholic MELTDOWNS, Thomism Ended By Theophanies! Vs Jay Dyer

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 7, 2024 141:36

Open call for all opponents to come make their case! Libertarians, Atheists, Protestants, Catholics, Muslims, Black Hebrew Israelites, pagans / Neo-pagans, etc., can all come make their case. This Yves Congar paper backs up my claims about the difference between Cappadocian and Augustinian views of the Triad: https://www.crossroadsinitiative.com/media/articles/augustine-the-trinity-and-the-filioque-yves-congar/Send Superchats at any time here: https://streamlabs.com/jaydyer/tip Get started with Bitcoin here: https://www.swanbitcoin.com/jaydyer/ The New Philosophy Course is here: https://marketplace.autonomyagora.com/philosophy101 Set up recurring Choq subscription with the discount code JAY44LIFE for 44% off now https://choq.com Lore coffee is here: https://www.patristicfaith.com/coffee/ Orders for the Red Book are here: https://jaysanalysis.com/product/the-red-book-essays-on-theology-philosophy-new-jay-dyer-book/ Subscribe to my site here: https://jaysanalysis.com/membership-account/membership-levels/ Follow me on R0kfin here: https://rokfin.com/jaydyerBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/jay-sanalysis--1423846/support.

Part 2 - OPEN DEBATE: Roman Catholic MELTDOWNS, Thomism Ended By Theophanies! Vs Jay Dyer

west phd institute east prof theology oxford university henri orthodox orthodoxy compatible byzantine advanced study marquette university regent university thomism theological inquiry

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 7, 2024 118:22

Open call for all opponents to come make their case! Libertarians, Atheists, Protestants, Catholics, Muslims, Black Hebrew Israelites, pagans / Neo-pagans, etc., can all come make their case. This Yves Congar paper backs up my claims about the difference between Cappadocian and Augustinian views of the Triad: https://www.crossroadsinitiative.com/media/articles/augustine-the-trinity-and-the-filioque-yves-congar/ Send Superchats at any time here: https://streamlabs.com/jaydyer/tip Get started with Bitcoin here: https://www.swanbitcoin.com/jaydyer/ The New Philosophy Course is here: https://marketplace.autonomyagora.com/philosophy101 Set up recurring Choq subscription with the discount code JAY44LIFE for 44% off now https://choq.com Lore coffee is here: https://www.patristicfaith.com/coffee/ Orders for the Red Book are here: https://jaysanalysis.com/product/the-red-book-essays-on-theology-philosophy-new-jay-dyer-book/ Subscribe to my site here: https://jaysanalysis.com/membership-account/membership-levels/ Follow me on R0kfin here: https://rokfin.com/jaydyerBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/jay-sanalysis--1423846/support.

West vs East: Is Thomism Compatible with Orthodoxy | Prof. Marcus Plested

The Thomistic Institute

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 22, 2024 44:05

This lecture was given on February 6th, 2024, at Regent University. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events About the speaker: Marcus Plested holds the Henri de Lubac Chair in Theology at Marquette University. He holds a PhD from Oxford University and has been a member of the Center of Theological Inquiry and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ. He has taught, lectured, and published widely in patristic, Byzantine, and modern Orthodox theology. He is the author of two books to date: The Macarian Legacy: The Place of Macarius-Symeon in the Eastern Christian Tradition (Oxford: OUP 2004) and Orthodox Readings of Aquinas (Oxford: OUP 2012).

No Such Thing As Biblical Worldview

Called to Communion

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 21, 2024 51:00

There is no such thing as a Biblical Worldview, and what is the Catholic view of predestination and Molinism vs. Thomism?

catholic biblical worldview thomism molinism

No Such Thing As Biblical Worldview

Called to Communion

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 21, 2024 51:00

There is no such thing as a Biblical Worldview, and what is the Catholic view of predestination and Molinism vs. Thomism?

catholic biblical worldview thomism molinism

Catholic Thomist Discussion: Diverging on TAG, ADS, Theophanies & Epistemology - AJ Barker