Sword&Spade

Jason Craig
  • 5.0 (15)
  • Self-Improvement

The Sword&Spade podcast is about...

  1. 2d ago

    The Moral Case for Hunting: Why the Hunter Cares More for Creation Than Any Activist w/ Sebastian Morello

    In a world engineered to keep men indoors and inside their heads, philosopher and author Sebastian Morello—student of the late Roger Scruton and author of The Woodland Philosophy—argues that the path back to reality, to genuine culture, and to God runs through the wild. Drawing on a life of fox hunting, deer stalking, and spearfishing, Sebastian makes the moral and philosophical case that the huntsman is not a relic but a model. He is one of the few men left who still lives in right relation with the created order. If you've ever suspected that something essential has been lost in modernity and that the fix won't come from a screen, this conversation is for you. In This Episode, We Cover: How Sebastian came under the mentorship of Roger Scruton—and why that relationship changed his philosophy, his faith, and his life outdoorsWhy hunters and small farmers develop a deeper moral bond with animals than any Disney-fied conservationist ever couldThe difference between a mechanistic and an organicist worldview—and why it explains everything wrong with modern politics, land management, and cultureWhy recovering Catholic culture requires men to first recover their bodies, their places, and their patient relation to the landPractical advice for the man who wants to become a huntsman and why no amount of YouTube videos can replace a real mentorChapters: 00:00: Introduction07:19: Meeting Roger Scruton and the meaning of mentorship12:13: Why hunt? The philosopher's question18:55: Modernity's disease—ideology, atomism, and lost reality26:07: The hunter's moral relation with his quarry33:27: Conservation and the attack on rural England47:49: Organicist vs. mechanistic—two visions of the world59:19: Recovering culture—becoming bodies again01:08:15: Why mentorship cannot be replaced01:15:41: Brotherhood forged through the huntResources Mentioned: The Woodland Philosophy by Sebastian MorelloOn Hunting by Roger ScrutonPersons: The Difference Between Someone and Something by Robert SpaemannFraternusJOIN 2500+ MEN READING SERIOUS, YET ACCESSIBLE ESSAYS ON VIRTUE, CULTURE, AND LIVING WELL: https://fraternus.org/sword-and-spade/ Produced by Saint Kolbe Studios.

    1h 22m

  2. May 28

    Why a Father's Invisible Library Is His Most Important Inheritance w/ Dr. Jason Baxter

    The men who shaped you left you something—a set of stories, images, and convictions you draw on long after they're gone. Dr. Jason Baxter, Dante scholar and author of The Medieval Mind of C.S. Lewis and Why Literature Still Matters, joins Jason Craig to make the case that literature is the hidden architecture of masculine formation—and that fathers who neglect it are leaving their sons with less than they think. This is a conversation for every father who wants to give his children more than rules. In This Episode, We Cover: Why a father alone is never enough—and how the men who surrounded Dr. Baxter as a boy shaped him in ways his own father couldn'tWhat an all-boys classroom reveals about how young men actually learn, compete, and form brotherhood—and what co-education quietly costs themHow fathers can take an active role in courtship culture, not as enforcers but as patrons who set the stage for their daughters and the men around themWhy the "invisible library" a man builds through literature is the very thing he'll reach for when a friend's marriage is falling apart and platitudes won't doHow the medieval integration of beauty, ethics, science, and poetry offers a richer model of formation than any list of commandments—and what that means for how we raise our sonsChapters: 00:00: Introduction03:49: Introducing Dr. Jason Baxter06:55: The Men Who Made Him18:52: Boys, Girls, and the Classroom27:06: Fathers, Courtship, and the Dating Market36:41: Why Literature Still Matters48:27: The Medieval Mind: Integration vs. Fragmentation01:02:08: Marriage as the School of Manhood01:09:46: Forming the Imagination at Home01:13:29: The Invisible LibraryResources Mentioned: A Beginner's Guide to Dante's Divine Comedy by Jason M. BaxterThe Medieval Mind of C.S. Lewis by Jason M. BaxterWhy Literature Still Matters by Jason M. BaxterThe Crisis of Narration by Byung-Chul HanJasonMBaxter.comJOIN 2500+ MEN READING SERIOUS, YET ACCESSIBLE ESSAYS ON VIRTUE, CULTURE, AND LIVING WELL: https://fraternus.org/sword-and-spade/ Produced by Saint Kolbe Studios

    1h 17m

  3. May 21

    The Christian Imagination: The Imago Dei in the Age of AI with Stephen Crotts

    Jason Craig sits down with Stephen Crotts—illustrator of Malcolm Guite's Galahad and the Grail—to talk about what it means to be a maker in an age of AI slop, why creativity is a duty rooted in the Imago Dei, and how recovering a sense of place is essential to being human.  In This Episode, We Cover: Why AI can never bear the Imago Dei—and what that means for human art and expressionThe difference between dominion and domination, and how a Christian view of creation shapes an artist's workHow building a home culture of making—music, art, and craft—forms children and familiesThe ancient process of woodcut printmaking and why embodied craft matters in a disembodied ageWhy art belongs in its proper context and what we lose when it's pulled from worship into the museumChapters: 00:00 Introduction02:23 AI and the Image of God04:00 Growing up in a creative family08:30 Dominion vs. domination: a Christian view of creation16:30 Building a culture of music and making at home24:15 The woodcut printmaking process27:40 "It's not expression if it's not made by humans"34:10 Art at its highest is devotional38:40 What it means for art to have meaning45:08 Finding local stories and images to focus onResources Mentioned: Galahad and the Grail by Malcolm Guite, illustrated by Stephen CrottsStephen Crotts' website"A British Eucharistic Odyssey: Galahad and the Grail Reviewed" by Theo HowardJOIN 2500+ MEN READING SERIOUS, YET ACCESSIBLE ESSAYS ON VIRTUE, CULTURE, AND LIVING WELL: https://fraternus.org/sword-and-spade/ Produced by Saint Kolbe Studios.

    57 min

  4. May 14

    The Way Forward Is the Way Back: Rick Seigmund on Protecting Your Family, Homes, and Craft

    Rick Seigmund spent two decades on the front lines of federal law enforcement fighting human trafficking and online predation — and came home with a message most men aren't ready to hear. Now a woodworker, finish carpenter, and founder of the Family Readiness Project, Rick joins Jason to connect what might seem like two very different callings: building something permanent, and protecting something priceless.  In This Episode, We Cover: How an engaged, present father is the single greatest deterrent to online predators and groomersThe tactics of online predators operating through gaming platforms, and what fathers need to know about the openly Satanic 764 groupWhy building trust and honest communication with your sons before the storm is the only real family readiness that mattersThe "enshittification" of the American home, what reclaiming craft actually looks like, and why the way forward is the way backWhy historic wood windows outperform every modern replacement — and the class-action lawsuits that prove the industry liedChapters: 00:00: Introduction and Rick Seigmund's Background05:01: Why Historic Wood Windows Beat Modern Replacements11:08: Throwaway Homes and the Loss of Craft16:50: The Way Forward Is the Way Back24:00: Building Your Forever Home36:57: From Craftsman to Defender: The Full Man45:00: Law Enforcement, Human Trafficking, and the Birth of FRP47:10: The Engaged Father Is a Predator's Worst Nightmare01:04:52: Online Dangers: Gaming Platforms, Groomers, and the 764 Group01:12:09: Culture Is the Best DefenseResources Mentioned: Family Readiness ProjectBrent Hull — Historic PreservationEnshittification by Cory DoctorowJOIN 2500+ MEN READING SERIOUS, YET ACCESSIBLE ESSAYS ON VIRTUE, CULTURE, AND LIVING WELL: https://fraternus.org/sword-and-spade/ Produced by Saint Kolbe Studios

    1h 19m

  5. May 7

    You Believe in Myths: David Russell Mosley on Myth, Fatherhood, and Classical Education

    David Russell Mosley—convert, poet, and teacher —joins Jason Craig to discuss the cultural heritage of the Church, the importance of aesthetic choices, and what it means to be present as a father. They explore how classical education should prepare children not to live in the past, but to make new things worthy of the tradition they've inherited. In This Episode, We Cover: The "tweed-y pipe" aesthetic and why how we dress reflects what we aspire to beDavid's conversion journey from evangelical Christianity to Catholicism through beauty and liturgyWhy classical education isn't about romanticizing the medieval past but equipping students to create the futureThe critical importance of fatherly presence—being there to discuss, encourage, and walk alongside your childrenHow the father-son relationship mirrors the Trinitarian life and the doctrine of deificationChapters: 00:00: Introduction to David Russell Mosley01:16: Sword and Spade Magazine Explained03:41: The Tweed-y Pipe Aesthetic and Cultivating Taste08:59: David's Conversion to Christ and the Church29:50: The Doctrine of Deification and Becoming Little Christs42:50: Conversion to Catholicism in Nottingham49:22: Teaching at a Chesterton Academy in Spokane52:50: Understanding Myth as a Way of Engaging Truth01:07:35: Myth, Household, and the Domestic Church01:13:05: Fatherly Presence and the Filial Image Resources Mentioned: Mosley's Marginalia — David Russell Mosley's SubstackHow Catholic liturgy helped a father through family tragedyJOIN 2500+ MEN READING SERIOUS, YET ACCESSIBLE ESSAYS ON VIRTUE, CULTURE, AND LIVING WELL: https://fraternus.org/sword-and-spade Produced by Saint Kolbe Studios

    1h 18m

  6. Apr 30

    What Aristotle Got Wrong About Work (and What Christ Set Right) w/ Jacob Imam

    Dr. Jacob Imam of The College of St. Joseph the Worker and New Polity joins Jason to talk about a school that refuses to choose between the life of the mind and the life of the hands. The College of St. Joseph the Worker trains men in both the Catholic intellectual tradition and the skilled trades, graduating students with two certifications and no debt. In This Episode, We Cover: Dr. Imam's origin story: raised by a lapsed Muslim father and an evangelical Protestant mother in Seattle, and the conversion that followedThe founding vision of the College of St. Joseph the WorkerThe ancient pagan contempt for manual labor, from Aristotle's Politics to Cicero's On Duties, and how Christ's years at a carpenter's bench eradicated all of itWhy the liberal arts and the manual arts don't compete but strengthen each otherThe crisis in American construction, the rootlessness at its root, and the debt every graduate carries back to the community that formed himChapters: 00:00: Introduction01:29: Jacob Imam's Origin Story13:09: What Is the College of St. Joseph the Worker?16:41: How Higher Education Has Failed19:56: The Ancient Case Against Manual Labor—and Why Christ Changed Everything28:45: The Active and Contemplative Life32:37: Students Arriving at the College35:33: The Trades Crisis: Why Now37:28: Why Modern Homes Are Built to Fail49:42: Going Away to Come Back BetterResources Mentioned: College of St. Joseph the WorkerNew PolityJOIN 2500+ MEN READING SERIOUS, YET ACCESSIBLE ESSAYS ON VIRTUE, CULTURE, AND LIVING WELL: https://fraternus.org/sword-and-spade/ Produced by Saint Kolbe Studios

    57 min

  7. Apr 23

    Apologetics Without the Ego: Joe Heschmeyer on Winning Souls, Not Arguments

    Joe Heschmeyer has spent nearly two decades at the forefront of Catholic apologetics—first as a blogger and lawyer, now as an apologist for Catholic Answers. In this conversation with Jason Craig, Joe unpacks what the explosion of online apologetics has gotten right, where it  goes wrong, and what Catholic men most need to hear about bringing the faith from the internet into actual life. In This Episode: How Catholic apologetics went from the fringes to a dominant force online—and what that shift has produced in the pewsThe ego trap inside apologetics culture: when defending the faith becomes about winning arguments rather than winning soulsPascal's method for correction: why understanding what someone gets right is the key to showing them where they errSt. Thomas Aquinas's four marks of a man growing in wisdom, and how they apply to every conversation you'll have todayWhat new converts most need after RCIAChapters: 00:00: Welcome & Jason's Conversion Story02:22: The Rise of Catholic Apologetics Online08:11: Church Architecture as Theology14:28: Joe's Journey From Law to Apologetics24:58: When Apologetics Becomes About Ego32:57: Translating Online Zeal Into Real-Life Witness35:43: Pascal's Method for Winning Hearts45:40: St. Thomas Aquinas on Growing in Wisdom01:10:39: Advice for New Converts01:14:31: Rootedness, Community, and the Faith That BakesResources Mentioned: Catholic AnswersShameless Popery PodcastFraternusThe Rise of Christianity by Rodney StarkPensées by Blaise PascalJOIN 2500+ MEN READING SERIOUS, YET ACCESSIBLE ESSAYS ON VIRTUE, CULTURE, AND LIVING WELL: https://fraternus.org/sword-and-spade/ Produced by Saint Kolbe Studios

    1h 20m

  8. Apr 16

    The Gatekeepers of Culture: Gregory Wolfe on Literature, Faith, and the Books That Last

    Gregory Wolfe has spent 40 years hunting for something most men assume doesn't exist anymore: serious, beautiful, Catholic literature written by people still alive. As the founder of Image journal and now publisher of Slant Books, he's found it—and he's here to make the case that the Church's artistic tradition isn't in a museum. It's being written right now by people you've never heard of. That's on us to fix. What We Cover Why newness is not the enemy of tradition and never has beenWhy Waugh, Greene, and O'Connor were condemned by Catholics before they were celebrated by themHow T.S. Eliot's conversion to the Church of England unlocked a new way of reading modernist poetryWhy Michelangelo's Pietà caused riots in Rome — and what that tells us about art todayThe Catholic writers most Catholics have never heard of — and why that's a problemChapters 00:00: Who Is Gregory Wolfe?04:29: From Mimeograph to Magazine: A Life in Publishing10:23: The Church of What's Happening Now14:21: Why Newness Matters in Art19:46: T.S. Eliot and the Living Tradition25:32: The Shock of the New (Even Michelangelo's Pietà)31:24: Waugh, Greene, and O'Connor Were Condemned—Then Celebrated39:01: The Still Small Voice: What Contemporary Fiction Whispers44:36: Catholic Writers You've Never Heard Of (But Should Know)49:51: Tell It Slant: The Mission of Slant BooksResources Mentioned Slant BooksChild of These Tears by Molly McNettWe Shall Not All Sleep by Tony WoodliefRedeployment by Phil KlayImage JournalJOIN 2500+ MEN READING SERIOUS, YET ACCESSIBLE ESSAYS ON VIRTUE, CULTURE, AND LIVING WELL: https://fraternus.org/sword-and-spade/ Produced by Saint Kolbe Studios

    1h 4m
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
15 Ratings

About

The Sword&Spade podcast is about...

Information

  • Creator
    Jason Craig
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    23
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Jason Craig

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