The Permanent Things
By Benjamin Myers
Hosted by Benjamin Myers, a professor in the Western Civilization sequence at Oklahoma Baptist University.
The Permanent ThingsMay 01, 2020
History's Deadliest Utopias
In this episode, I talk to Dr. Daniel Spillman, a professor in OBU's Western Civ. sequence, about the dangers of Utopian thinking and the death toll that comes from immanentizing the eschaton.
Books mentioned in this episode:
Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville
Communism: A History by Richard Pipes
Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick
Locking Eyebrows with the Old Masters: Stanley Lombardo on Homer, Virgil, and Translation
In this episode I discuss Homer and Virgil with the eminent classicist and translator Stanley Lombardo. I am particularly taken by Lombardo's concept of "Locking eyebrows with the old masters," that is reading to see the world through the eyes of Homer or Virgil.
A note on audio quality: because my usual podcasting long-distance service failed us, I had to resort to speaking with Prof. Lombardo via cell phone. The audio quality in this episode is thus not up to the usual show standards. The quality of the conversation, however, more than makes up for that.
Books mentioned in this episode:
Homer's Iliad, trans. Stanley Lombardo
Homer's Odyssey, trans. Stanley Lombardo
Virgil's Aeneid, trans. Stanley Lombardo
Frederick Douglass, a Man of Faith (with D.H. Dilbeck)
D.H. Dilbeck, author of Frederick Douglass: America's Prophet, discusses the role of faith in the life of the famous abolitionist and runaway slave.
Books mentioned in this episode:
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, by Frederick Douglass
My Bondage and My Freedom, by Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass: America's Prophet, by D.H. Dilbeck
Carol Humphrey on the Press and the American Revolution
Books mentioned in this episode:
The American Revolution and the Press: The Promise of Independence by Carol Sue Humphrey
Prelude to Independence: The Newspaper War on Britain, 1764-1776 by Arthur Schlesinger
The History of Printing in America by Isiah Thomas
Six Questions about the American Constitution with Dr. Christopher McMillion
In this episode, I ask Dr. Christopher McMillion, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Oklahoma Baptist University, six questions about the American constitution.
Books mentioned:
The Constitution of the United State of America
Ratification: The People Debate the Constitution, by Pauline Maier
Modernity and Secularization with Alan Noble
In this episode, I'm joined by Alan Noble, editor of Christ and Pop Culture and author of Disruptive Witness, for a discussion of modernity, secularization, and the work of Charles Taylor.
Books Mentioned in this Episode:
A Secular Age, by Charles Taylor
Liquid Modernity, by Zygmunt Bauman
How to (Not) be Secular, by James K.A. Smith
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, by C.S. Lewis
Disruptive Witness: Speaking Truth in a Distracted Age, by Alan Noble
A Very Short Introduction to the Christian Liberal Arts
In this episode, I take a few minutes to explain why the liberal arts matter for the church.
Books mentioned:
Politics by Aristotle
Confesssions by Augustine
The Voice of Liberal Learning by Michael Oakeshott
The Enlightenment and the Christian Worldview
I'm joined by Tawa Anderson, apologist and philosopher, to discuss points of agreement and points of conflict between the eighteenth-century Enlightenment and the traditional Christian view of the world.
Books mentioned in this episode:
An Introduction to Christian Worldview: Pursuing God's Perspective in a Pluralistic World, by Tawa Anderson, David Naugle, and Michael Clark
The Universe Next Door: A Basic Worldview Catalog, by James Sire
A History of Western Philosophy: From the Pre-Socratics to Postmodernism, by C. Stephen Evans
"What is Enlightenment" by Immanuel Kant
Why Read Milton?
In this episode, I talk with Dr. Christopher Hair about the work of John Milton, particularly his Paradise Lost. We discuss the unique charms of Milton's work and what makes Milton such an important writer for understanding the past and for thinking about today.
Books mentioned in this episode:
Paradise Lost by John Milton
Areopagitica by John Milton
Hamlet and Memento Mori
In this episode I take a solo flight to talk about death and its inevitability. Starting from the Princess Bride and Hamlet, we take a brief tour of the memento mori topos in Western literature from Homer and the Bible to Gerard Manley Hopkins and Robert Frost.
Works Mentioned in the Episode:
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
The Iliad by Homer
The Odyssey by Homer
The Aeneid by Virgil
Confessions by Augustine
The Divine Comedy by Dante
The Dance of Death by Hans Holberlin the Younger
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
Devotions Upon Divergent Occasions by John Donne
Idylls of the King by Alfred Lord Tennyson
In Memoriam by Alfred Lord Tennyson
"Nothing Gold Can Stay" by Robert Frost
"Spring and Fall" by Gerard Manley Hopkins
Reading the Reformation
In this episode, I talk to Matthew Emerson, Dickinson Associate Professor of Religion at OBU, about the Protestant Reformation and the books it produced.
Books mentioned in this episode:
The Dawn of the Reformation by Heiko Oberman
Galatians by Martin Luther
Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin
The Story of Scripture by Matthew Emerson
The Revival of Classical Learning, Part 2
In part two of this two-part series on classical education, I talk with Fr. Nathan Carr, headmaster of the Academy of Classical Christian Studies in OKC.
Learn more about The Academy of Classical Christian Studies
Books mentioned:
Restoring the Soul of the University, by Perry Glanzer, Nathan Alleman, and Todd Ream
Norms and Nobility, by David Hicks
The Revival of Classical Learning, Part 1
In this episode, I talk to Bobby Goodrich, from Great Hearts Academies, about the philosophy behind and the appeal of classical education.
Learn more about Great Hearts and about classical education at https://www.greatheartsamerica.org
Thomas Aquinas
In this episode, I talk to Dr. Peter Epps about the ideas and influence of Thomas Aquinas.
Books mentioned include:
Ralph McInerny's A First Glance at St. Thomas Aquinas: A Handbook for Peeping Thomists
Benarnd McGinn's Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologiae
The Roots of American Order
In this episode we explore the roots of the American political order in ancient Athens and Rome, as well as in medieval England. Our guest is Dr. Christopher McMillion, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Oklahoma Baptist University