The Permanent Things Benjamin Myers
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- Education
Conversation about the liberal arts and the great books and big ideas that have shaped the Western world. Soli Deo Gloria.
Hosted by Benjamin Myers, a professor in the Western Civilization sequence at Oklahoma Baptist University.
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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
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
1984 by George Orwell
Animal Farm by George Orwell -
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
The Federalist Papers
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