Forged: Timeless Ways of Living

Humanitas Institute
  • 5.0 (8)
  • Education

Forged: A timeless way of living. A podcast about forging lives of discipline, delight, craft, and calling that carry enduring wisdom into modern life.

Episodes

  1. Festival as a Way of Life: Father Nathan Carr on Joy, Time, and Christian Formation

    6d ago

    Festival as a Way of Life: Father Nathan Carr on Joy, Time, and Christian Formation

    What would it mean to practice festival at home, in school, and in church? In this episode of Forged, Brian Williams speaks with Father Nathan Carr about the posture and practice of festival as a way of living with joy, gratitude, and holy attention in the midst of ordinary time. Drawing from his work as priest, headmaster, husband, father, and author of Festive School, Carr reflects on Christian calendars, prayer books, school feasts, household rituals, and the slow formation of children who learn not merely to observe the good, but to receive and name it. This conversation is an invitation to recover joy as discipline, delight as formation, and celebration as a serious part of Christian life. Together, Brian and Father Carr consider how homes, schools, and churches can resist anxiety, urgency, cynicism, and suspicion by learning to inhabit time differently. From Benedictine hours and red-letter feast days to hidden Wise Men during Advent and children serving in the liturgy, this episode explores the small, concrete practices that teach us to see the world as gift. About the GuestFather Nathan Carr serves as Vicar and Priest-in-Charge of St. John’s Episcopal Oklahoma City, Missioner for Strategic Development for the Diocese and Bishop, and Headmaster of The Academy—an 1100-student Christian School of Classics with 3 campuses throughout the OK  metro. He and his wife Sarah co-own Commonplace Books OKC, chase six children around day and night (one of whom is now married!), and are now willing to take naps in the middle of the day. Nathan is author of Festive School, watches far too many car repair shows in his spare time, and serves as Chairman of the Ralston College Board of Governors. Guest LinksThe Academy | https://theacademyok.org Commonplace Books OKC | https://commonplacebooksokc.com/ Festive School | https://classicalacademicpress.com/products/festive-school?_pos=1&_sid=665198961&_ss=r Student Prayer Book | https://classicalacademicpress.com/products/student-prayer-book?_pos=1&_sid=674d00509&_ss=r Humanitas LinksHumanitas Institute | https://humanitasinstitute.org X | https://x.com/HIClassicalEd Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/humanitas_institute/ TikTok | https://www.tiktok.com/@humanitas_institute Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61588606585070 YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/@TheHumanitasInstitute

    1h 15m
  2. The Harmony of the Parts: on Beauty, Place, and Belonging

    May 29

    The Harmony of the Parts: on Beauty, Place, and Belonging

    What does beauty have to do with the spaces where we learn, teach, worship, and gather? In this shared bonus episode of Composed and Forged, Christine Perrin speaks with Brian Williams about Templeton Hall, the home of the Templeton Honors College, and the deep work of making a place that feels whole, hospitable, and human. Their conversation moves from architecture and furniture to poetry, asking how beauty forms us before we can fully explain what it has done. This is an episode about attention, creation, community, and the grace of places that help us breathe more deeply and live more faithfully. Brian reflects on the making of Templeton Hall at Eastern University as an act of stewardship, one that honors the old while creating room for students and faculty to dwell together in the pursuit of the true, the good, the beautiful. Christine and Brian consider why beauty is not a luxury, why material places matter to Christian formation, and how the experience of a beautiful space can awaken desire for God. The episode closes fittingly with Hopkins’s “Pied Beauty,” a poem of praise for the dappled, particular, and creaturely world. References and LinksTempleton Honors College | https://templeton.eastern.edu/Templeton Hall | https://templeton.eastern.edu/life-community/templeton-hallChristopher Alexander, The Timeless Way of Building | https://www.amazon.com/Timeless-Way-Building-Christopher-Alexander/dp/0195024028Gregory Wolfe, Beauty Will Save the World | https://www.amazon.com/Beauty-Will-Save-World-Ideological/dp/1610171004Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Idiot | https://www.amazon.com/Idiot-Penguin-Classics-Fyodor-Dostoyevsky/dp/014044792XC. S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy | https://www.amazon.com/Surprised-Joy-Shape-Early-Life/dp/0062565435Charles Williams, The Descent of the Dove | https://angelicopress.com/products/the-descent-of-the-dove?srsltid=AfmBOop0_4ZZscz8U6o_ldEPhSYpkPOBsrJotPNumtbWjmzkJWtypzrJGerard Manley Hopkins, “God’s Grandeur” | https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44395/gods-grandeurGerard Manley Hopkins, “Pied Beauty” | https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44399/pied-beauty Connect with the Humanitas InstituteHumanitas Institute | https://humanitasinstitute.orgX | https://x.com/HIClassicalEdInstagram | https://www.instagram.com/humanitas_institute/TikTok | https://www.tiktok.com/@humanitas_instituteFacebook | https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61588606585070YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/@TheHumanitasInstitute

    1h 5m
  3. Sara Hall on the Love of the Grind

    May 18

    Sara Hall on the Love of the Grind

    What does distance running teach us about the body, failure, and the long work of becoming whole? In this episode of Forged, Brian Williams speaks with American distance running legend Sara Hall about the discipline and delight of a life spent running, competing, recovering, parenting, and learning to receive her identity from God rather than performance. On her 43rd birthday, Sara reflects on more than twenty-five years in elite running, the injuries and disappointments that reshaped her, the joy of competition when it is rightly ordered, and the deeper love that has sustained her through the grind. The conversation also turns toward family, marriage, adoption, Ethiopia, and the work Sara and Ryan Hall have pursued through the Hall Steps Foundation. Sara offers a grounded picture of vocation in motion: a life shaped by training, service, sleep, dinner around the table, and the steady grace of being loved apart from achievement. About the GuestSara Hall is a professional runner, Christian, and author. Sara Hall has been a fixture atop American distance running for more than two decades: first as a national high school champion, then as an NCAA star at Stanford University, and later, as the only pro runner to ever win U.S. titles in the mile and the marathon. She has 10 national titles to her name and was the top American finisher at the World Athletics Championships. She is also the former half marathon national record holder, the runner-up from the 2020 London Marathon, and a two-time winner of the Mastercard New York Mini 10K. Hall attended Stanford University where she was a seven-time All-American. While at Stanford, she met her current husband and coach, Ryan Hall, who owns the American record in the men’s half marathon. The two got married in 2005 and four years later formed the Hall Steps Foundation to help fight world poverty through better health. In 2015, they adopted four sisters from Ethiopia. Guest LinksFor the Love of the Grind | https://static.macmillan.com/static/smp/the-love-of-the-grind-9781250404282/The Hall Steps Foundation | https://www.thestepsfoundation.org/ Connect with the Humanitas InstituteHumanitas Institute | https://humanitasinstitute.orgX | https://x.com/HIClassicalEdInstagram | https://www.instagram.com/humanitas_institute/TikTok | https://www.tiktok.com/@humanitas_instituteFacebook | https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61588606585070YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/@TheHumanitasInstitute

    55 min
  4. Makers by Nature: Bruce Herman on Art, Beauty, and the Call to Create

    May 4

    Makers by Nature: Bruce Herman on Art, Beauty, and the Call to Create

    What is art for, and why does beauty awaken deep longings within us? In this conversation, Brian Williams joins artist, Bruce Herman, in his studio to explore the human calling to create, the role beauty plays in shaping the soul, and the discipline of learning to see. Herman argues that we are not merely consumers but makers by nature, and that art at its best is a form of hospitality that invites others into a meaningful encounter. Through stories of childhood wonder, reflections on modern art, and the language of longing, this episode offers a compelling vision of everyday creativity, from painting and poetry to spreadsheets and shared meals. About the GuestAn American painter, author, and speaker, Herman lives (with his wife Meg, extended family, and assorted friendly beasts) in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Herman’s paintings, prints, and drawings have been exhibited nationally in more than 150 shows––in most major cities, including New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington––as well as internationally in Italy, England, Japan, Hong Kong, Canada, and Israel. Guest LinksBruce Herman Website | http://www.bruceherman.com/Makers by Nature | https://www.ivpress.com/makers-by-nature  Connect with the Humanitas InstituteHumanitas Institute | https://humanitasinstitute.orgX | https://x.com/HIClassicalEdInstagram | https://www.instagram.com/humanitas_institute/TikTok | https://www.tiktok.com/@humanitas_instituteFacebook | https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61588606585070YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/@TheHumanitasInstitute

    1h 14m
  5. Tilling Soil & Soul: Michael Lamb on the Craft of Character

    Apr 20

    Tilling Soil & Soul: Michael Lamb on the Craft of Character

    What forms a life of character? In this episode of Forged, Brian Williams talks with Michael Lamb about the moral formation that happens through work, friendship, habit, and hope. From Lamb’s childhood on a Tennessee tobacco farm to his work helping universities cultivate virtue, this conversation explores how people learn discipline, responsibility, humility, and shared purpose. It is a rich reflection on education, moral ecology, political hope, and the slow work of becoming the sort of person who can love the good and pursue it with others. Along the way, Brian and Michael consider what today’s families and schools can learn from agrarian life, why friendship and accountability matter for both adults and students, and why poetry can train us to pay attention. They close with Seamus Heaney’s “Digging,” a fitting meditation on inheritance, vocation, and the probing work of the pen.About the Guest Michael Lamb is the F. M. Kirby Foundation Chair of Leadership and Character, Senior Executive Director of the Program for Leadership and Character, and Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Humanities at Wake Forest University. He earned a B.A. from Rhodes College, Ph.D. from Princeton University, and second B.A. from the University of Oxford, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar. A recipient of teaching awards from Princeton, Oxford, and Wake Forest, he is the author of A Commonwealth of Hope: Augustine’s Political Thought and co-editor of The Arts of Leading, Cultivating Virtue in the University, and with Brian A. Williams, Everyday Ethics: Moral Theology and the Practices of Ordinary Life. Guest Links The Program for Leadership and Character | https://leadershipandcharacter.wfu.edu/Michael Lamb’s Website | https://kmichaellamb.com/Michael Lamb’s Book List | https://kmichaellamb.com/books/ Connect with the Humanitas Institute Humanitas Institute | https://humanitasinstitute.orgX | https://x.com/HIClassicalEdInstagram | https://www.instagram.com/humanitas_institute/TikTok | https://www.tiktok.com/@humanitas_instituteFacebook | https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61588606585070YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/@TheHumanitasInstitute

    1h 7m
  6. The Reading Man: Shilo Brooks on Making a Life with Books

    Apr 6

    The Reading Man: Shilo Brooks on Making a Life with Books

    What do books do to a man? In this conversation, Shilo Brooks and Brian Williams discuss reading, ambition, teaching, and the making of a life. Brooks reflects on growing up in West Texas, discovering the great books almost by accident, and learning to read not merely for school or profession, but for wisdom, courage, and the ordering of desire. Together they consider why men stop reading, what is lost when they do, and why the best books are not simply objects of study or instruments of advancement, but companions in the long work of formation. They do more than convey information. They enlarge the soul, sharpen judgment, deepen wonder, and usher us into a richer and more serious way of being in the world. Along the way, Brooks discusses the teachers who first put serious books in his hands and the books that shaped him, from Fitzgerald’s This Side of Paradise to Xenophon’s Education of Cyrus. The conversation ranges from landscape and longing to teaching and apprenticeship, and from the allure of ambition to the discipline of moderating it through wisdom. This is a conversation about books as guides for life, about the formation of men, and about the kind of education that moves from the classroom to the soul. About the Guest Shilo Brooks is President and CEO of the George W. Bush Presidential Center and Professor of Practice in the Department of Political Science at SMU. He was previously Executive Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University, where he taught in the Department of Politics. Brooks is host of The Free Press’ Old School podcast and author of a forthcoming book on noble ambition from Penguin Random House. Born and raised in West Texas, Brooks received his Ph.D. in political science from Boston College and his B.A. in liberal arts from the Great Books Program at St. John’s College. He and his wife Siobhan have one daughter – Clementine. Guest LinksThe Bush Center on Instagram @thebushcenterOld School Podcast on Instagram @OldSchoolPod Connect with the Humanitas Institute HumanitasInstitute.orgX | https://x.com/HIClassicalEdInstagram | https://www.instagram.com/humanitas_institute/TikTok | https://www.tiktok.com/@humanitas_instituteFacebook | https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61588606585070YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/@TheHumanitasInstitute

    1h 6m
  7. Pursuing embodied wonder and material wisdom: Chris Hall on the Common Arts

    Mar 23

    Pursuing embodied wonder and material wisdom: Chris Hall on the Common Arts

    In this episode of Forged, Chris Hall reflects on the formative power of the “common arts”—the ordinary skills and embodied practices that introduce us to the givenness of the world and manifest our humanity. Drawing on stories from the classroom and the farm, Hall argues that formation and education flourish when intellectual study is joined to hands-on craft, inviting students into apprenticeship, real responsibility, and attentiveness to the natural world. He also addresses the cultural divide between academic learning and vocational skill, urging a recovery of an older vision in which the liberal arts, practical arts, and fine arts enrich one another for the sake of a fully embodied, fully aware human life of discipline, delight, craft, and calling.

    1h 5m
  8. Contemplate or Exploit: Andy Crouch on Technology, Formation, and the Innovation Bargain

    Mar 9

    Contemplate or Exploit: Andy Crouch on Technology, Formation, and the Innovation Bargain

    In this Forged conversation, Andy Crouch argues that “we either contemplate or we exploit”—a bracing claim that frames his vision for stewarding our humanity in an age of technological convenience. Drawing on a biblical account of the human person as heart, soul, mind, and strength, he contends that genuine flourishing is found through the relational, embodied labors of home, church, and school. Crouch names the “innovation bargain” as a crucial lens for reckoning with technology’s costs, and he calls listeners back to shared household rhythms and focal practices as ordinary disciplines for becoming more fully human.

    1h 21m
  9. Crafting a Poetic Life with Malcolm Guite

    Feb 20

    Crafting a Poetic Life with Malcolm Guite

    Poet, priest, and professor Malcolm Guite invites us into a conversation that moves from the Arthurian legend of the wounded king and ruined land to our own modern struggle to see the world as meaningful and alive. He shares how a childhood encounter with the Grail stories taught him that one reckless act can wound a whole world, and how healing begins with recovering wonder. Guite makes a compelling case for poetry and story as wisdom-bearers that help restore our vision. He closes with his radiant poem “O Sapientia,” a final invitation to recognize hidden wisdom “disguised as everything.”

    56 min
  10. The Ranger, the Teacher, and the Farmer: Forging a Coherent Life with Doug Woolery

    Feb 4

    The Ranger, the Teacher, and the Farmer: Forging a Coherent Life with Doug Woolery

    In this episode of Forged, host Brian Williams speaks with Doug Woolery—Army Ranger, teacher, coach, and farmer—about a life shaped by service, learning, and faith. Doug reflects on his journey from the military to the classroom, the impact of male educators, the importance of parental involvement, and the quiet lessons of farming. Drawing on his experiences as a parent and grandparent, he shares insights on coherence, contentment, and living a well-rounded life.

    1h 13m
  11. The Opening Question

    Feb 4

    The Opening Question

    In the inaugural episode of the Forged and Composed podcasts, our hosts come together for a conversation about what it means to “forge” and “compose” a life marked by beauty, order, and purpose. Their dialogue explores human flourishing, focal practices, and the formative power of beauty, art, and community. Drawing on personal experience, they reflect on hospitality, generosity, nature, and the role of exemplars in shaping lives marked by meaning and fulfillment. Join us at the beginning.

    54 min
  • 11 Episodes

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8 Ratings

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Forged: A timeless way of living. A podcast about forging lives of discipline, delight, craft, and calling that carry enduring wisdom into modern life.

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