The After Dinner Scholar

Wyoming Catholic College
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  • SELF-IMPROVEMENT
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Weekly conversations about the Liberal Arts and The Great Books with Wyoming Catholic College professors, board members,and guests.

  1. 05/01/2024

    On Podcasting with Dr. Jim Tonkowich

    The first After-Dinner Scholar podcast on February 1, 2017 began: The 16th century English philosopher, statesman and scientist Francis Bacon famously stated, “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested: that is,” he went on to explain, “some books are to be read only in parts, others to be read, but not curiously, and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.”  Much to my surprise, that first podcast was seven and a half years, 390 episodes, and more than 205,000 downloads ago. And as of this episode, I’m hanging up my headphones and (for the most part) my mortarboard. Links: The Eucharist Podcast with Wyoming Catholic College Mars Hill Audio Journal Dr. Jim Tonkowich at The Stream

    10 min

  2. 04/16/2024

    Dante's Divine Comedy - 2 with Dr. Tiffany Schubert

    Last week Dr. Tiffany Schubert discussed Inferno, the first book of Dante’s Comedy. Our friend and former colleague Jason Baxter remarked that in Inferno, “Dante’s poetic violence is meant to melt down the hard heart so that it can be reforged into something new.” Purgatorio is the place where that melted down and malleable heart finds the forge, the place where the hammer of suffering purges all impurities and fashions our hard hearts into hearts perfected. And finally Paradiso shows us the path of choosing the good, true, and beautiful habitually as we gaze on the Face of God eternally “lost,” as the hymnwriter put it, “in wonder, love, and praise.”

    15 min

  3. 04/09/2024

    Dante's Divine Comedy - 1 with Dr. Tiffany Schubert

    Midway in the journey of our life I came to myself in a dark wood, for the straight way was lost. Ah, how hard it is to tell the nature of that wood, savage, dense and harsh— the very thought of it renews my fear! It is so bitter death is hardly more so. (Inferno 1.1-7) During Lent and now during Easter, our sophomores, under the guidance of Dr. Tiffany Schubert, have been reading Dante's Divine Comedy in their humanities class. And while that reading is academic, no one can avoid Dante’s emphasis throughout the poem on our spiritual lives.

    17 min

  4. 04/02/2024

    Easter Joy with Dr. Jeremy Holmes

    Pope Benedict XVI wrote, "At Easter we rejoice because Christ did not remain in the tomb, his body did not see corruption; he belongs to the world of the living, not to the world of the dead; we rejoice because he is the Alpha and also the Omega, as we proclaim in the rite of the Paschal Candle; he lives not only yesterday, but today and for eternity." Theologian Dr. Jeremy Holmes shares his insights about the risen Christ as we celebrate the Octave of Easter.

    15 min

  5. 03/26/2024

    The Four Last Things in Holy Week with Dr. Kent Lasnoski

    Saint Ephrem the Syrian said, “We give glory to you, Lord, who raised up your cross to span the jaws of death like a bridge by which souls might pass from the region of the dead to the land of the living.” The cross is the bridge from death to life, from Hell to Heaven, from the judgment we deserve to the grace we can never deserve, from eternal captivity to the self to eternal freedom in God. With that in mind, during this Holy Week, it seemed appropriate to rebroadcast a conversation with theologian Dr. Kent Lasnoski about the four last things.

    13 min

  6. 03/19/2024

    Biology, Theology, and Philosophy with Dr. Daniel Shields

    The Catechism of the Catholic Church (159) declares Though faith is above reason, there can never be any real discrepancy between faith and reason. Since the same God who reveals mysteries and infuses faith has bestowed the light of reason on the human mind, God cannot deny himself, nor can truth ever contradict truth. During their final spring semester in their science course, Wyoming Catholic College seniors consider the theory of evolution. Their professor, Dr. Daniel Shields guides them towards, as the college catalog puts it, “the ultimate goal of achieving a coherent synthesis of faith and reason.”

    15 min

  7. 03/12/2024

    On the French Revolution with Dr. Pavlos Papadopoulos

    Observing the French Revolution, British Member of Parliament, Edmund Burke, noted, “But what is liberty without wisdom and without virtue? It is the greatest of all possible evils; for it is folly, vice, and madness, without tuition or restraint.” Over the past few weeks, our Wyoming Catholic College juniors have been considering the French Revolution with their professor Dr. Pavlos Papadopoulos.

    17 min

  8. 03/05/2024

    Contemplating Nature with Dr. Stanley Grove

    It’s been a strange winter here in Lander, Wyoming beginning with nearly two feet of snow on Thanksgiving—of which about fourteen inches fell between four and eight PM. Another foot or so just before Christmas and nothing but dribs and drabs after that. And now—a bit early—what’s left of that snow is melting in warm, early spring weather. Not that we don’t think about getting outside and enjoying nature even in the depths of January, but as the days warm, fishing, gardening, hiking, and all the joys of the warm seasons become topics of conversation. Nature. Nature is a fundamental part of a Wyoming Catholic College education because—well, nature is fundamental. Dr. Stanley Grove shares about the place of nature in the college's curriculum and in our lives.

    16 min
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About

Weekly conversations about the Liberal Arts and The Great Books with Wyoming Catholic College professors, board members,and guests.

Information

  • Creator
    Wyoming Catholic College
  • Years Active
    2017 - 2024
  • Episodes
    100
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2023 . All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    The After Dinner Scholar