The Ramsay Centre Podcast

In the sixth Ramsay Lecture for 2022 US author and cultural critic Mary Eberstadt expands on the central thesis of her 2013 title, How the West Really Lost God, arguing that the decline in Western churchgoing is more attributable to the collapse of the Western family, especially since the 1960s, than any other commonly touted cause.In pressing her case, she disputes prevailing arguments about why Christianity is in decline, including what she claims is the dominant theory, ‘that material prosperity drives out God.’ Citing an array of historical and statistical evidence, she shows that poorer and less educated Westerners are less likely to go to church, with greater religious devotion among the wealthy and middle class. She also examines the psychological impact of the two world wars of the 20th century, as well as the impact of industrialization and mass mobility. While conceding that these have had some impact on religious devotion, she argues that the biggest cause of religious decline is the breakdown of the family unit, flowing on from the sexual revolution of the 1960s.

What is the effect of reading a whole curriculum of ‘Great Books’? Can prolonged exposure to such texts radically alter the course of a life? Can they speak to people from all cultural and socio-economic backgrounds? In the sixth Ramsay Lecture for 2022, Columbia University academic, Dr Roosevelt Montás speaks with Ramsay Centre CEO Professor Simon Haines and evidences, from his own life-story, how the Great Books can lift people out of their circumstances and transform lives. The personal transformation of Dr Montás is detailed in hi,s 2021 volume, Rescuing Socrates: How the Great Books Changed my Life and Why They Matter for a New Generation. In his book, Dr Montás describes how, as a poor immigrant schoolboy from the Dominican Republic with limited English, he made a chance discovery of ‘beautiful editions’ of Socrates and Shakespeare in the neighbourhood trash in Queens, New York. His determination to read these books, to understand their ‘compelling narratives’, saw him begin a journey of discovery that took him from his lowly neighbourhood high school to study at the prestigious Ivy League Columbia University, where he rose to.direct the University’s world-famous Core Curriculum.In a wide-spanning conversation, Professor Haines and Dr Montás discuss:How four authors – Plato, Augustine, Freud, and Gandhi – had a profound impact on Montás’s life. The history of Columbia’s Core Curriculum as a democratising force, aimed at levelling the playing field between those who have access to cultural capital and those who do not.The peculiarity of a liberal arts education – the personal journey that differentiates it from a technical or professional education.The problematic absence of women writers in the Western canon, but why that should be a basis for learning and examination, not a reason to abandon the study of great works.How ancient texts should be read as contemporary works, relating to students’ current experiences.The intrinsic value of knowledge and the need for universities to offer students the opportunity to engage with their humanity, rather than simply be treated as customers, preparing for a vocation.Moral absolutism and the need for students to balance idealism with nuance and scepticism.Dr Montás’s mixed optimism for the future of the humanities.Please join us for this special and insightful recorded conversation between Dr Roosevelt Montás and Ramsay Centre CEO Professor Simon Haines.

In the fifth Ramsay Lecture for 2022, former NSW Premier and Foreign Minister, and one of Australia’s most well-read public figures, and an author himself, Professor the Hon Bob Carr delivers a cogent and illuminating lecture on how politics and books have influenced and shaped his life.In this wide-ranging address, Professor Carr, who is also the longest continuously serving Premier in NSW history, reveals his literary influences and outlines the case for ‘cultural literacy’. He discusses his favourite biographies, with special reference to US Presidents, as well as former NSW Premier William Arthur Holman and Australia’s 16th Prime Minister Ben Chifley. Professor Carr contemplates the Western canon and its relation to what is studied in schools and universities today and reflects on how we should approach figures from our past, ultimately confirming his steadfast belief that history is the most serious and urgent of the humanities. Please join us for this insightful lecture and discussion between Professor the Hon Bob Carr and Ramsay Centre CEO Professor Simon Haines.

 In the first in-person Ramsay Lecture for 2022, former Commissioner of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission, the Hon Dr Gary Johns, grants us an in-depth view into the current state of the Australian charity sector.  As Commissioner of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission since 2017, former ALP Minister, the Hon Dr Gary Johns has gained unique insights into the state of the Australian charity sector. As outgoing Commissioner, he offers his praise for the immense value and distinctive contribution that charities afford to Australian society, in addition to his parting thoughts on how Australia could enhance their contribution. In a show of support for the work of charities, Dr Johns argues that all charities should be granted the privilege of a tax deduction for the donor. However, he believes that charities ‘need to demonstrate added value in pursuit of their charitable purposes’. He expresses the view that a tax deduction should be granted if charities meet a number of conditions, including efforts to raise donations and recruit volunteers, thus satisfying a ‘clear means of delivering’ test, reporting the source of government funds, and not spending charity funds on political campaign advertising.  Please join us for this insightful lecture and discussion between the Hon Dr Gary Johns and Ramsay Centre CEO Professor Simon Haines.

In the third Ramsay Lecture for 2022, one of Australia’s leading public intellectuals and our most distinguished independent literary critical voice, Peter Craven, poses and answers the question – Classics and why we must keep them alive.In this lecture Peter Craven journeys back in time, taking us through centuries of great works, through various translations and adaptations, through famous dramatisations, and through the infusion of ancient cultures into each another.  In so doing, he discusses the classic works that have impacted him, and which he believes to be the best ever produced.  Peter also reveals the connectedness of great works to one another and shows how the classics serve as points of entry to our understanding of other cultures and world history in general.Provocatively, Mr Craven argues that it is through the classics we learn that “…the history of civilisation is at the same time, as Walter Benjamin reminded us, the history of barbarism: Athens executed Socrates and Rome executed Christ..” And that “…Renaissance England, Shakespeare’s England, was an axe-blade world, a world of religious persecution and an exorbitant abuse of power.”Mr Craven discusses the need to resist some unjustified cancelling of the classics, and to ensure that deserving modern works are passed onto future generations.“We need to be constantly aware that literature can be a difficult pleasure, something that was not forgotten in the wake of modernism.  We need to be our own library of Alexandria and resist the flames flickering all around us.”Please join us for this ‘tour de force’ lecture and conversation between Peter Craven and Ramsay Centre CEO Professor Simon Haines.

In the second Ramsay Lecture for 2022, Walkley Award winner and distinguished China commentator Rowan Callick OBE offers unique insight into the Chinese Communist Party (CPP) and argues that the Party’s actions are subsuming China’s great culture as we know it.  Drawing on some 20 years of reporting, Rowan Callick lists examples of manipulation of Chinese life by the CPP to ensure its own survival. He discusses how the CCP control over media and social media, national celebrations and events, education, and even printing presses has worked to suppress traditional elements of Chinese culture so that only Party-friendly elements remain. During his lecture, Rowan discusses the achievements of China’s ‘marvellous civilisation’ and its cultural treasures and laments that ‘an extraordinarily pervasive and ambitious CPP’ has seen these fade into memory as it creates its own ‘grim simulacrum of a civilisation’. Despite the CCP’s tight grip over Chinese society, he believes that the will and genius of the Chinese population will ultimately see their civilisation survive.  Please join us for this insightful lecture and discussion between Rowan Callick and Ramsay Centre CEO Professor Simon Haines.  

In the first Ramsay Lecture for 2022, world-famous historian, author and broadcaster Professor Bettany Hughes OBE, takes us on a journey piecing together the story of Venus and Aphrodite throughout the ages. In this exclusive lecture, the fourth in the series delivered by Professor Hughes for the Ramsay Centre, Bettany draws upon research from her 2019 book, Venus and Aphrodite: History of a Goddess, to demonstrate why Venus matters today and her enormous appeal as a pagan deity who survived the advent of Christianity and was even transposed into Marian imagery. Professor Hughes analyses the central role of Venus, whose gender-fluid representation as a goddess of desire, war and cities, encompassed a wide range of possibilities in human relations, reminding us of the powerful nature of love as an act of symbiosis. Through her archaeological revelations and philosophical deliberations, Bettany reveals Venus/Aphrodite as a persona who is as relevant now as she was in ancient Rome and Greece. Please join us on this incredible journey. 

What has been the impact of Christianity on the development of Western civilisation? Could it have been so profound that it is now hidden from view? Even in a secular West, are we ‘goldfish swimming in a Christian pond’? In our final Ramsay Lecture for 2021, Centre Academic Director and Deputy CEO Dr. Stephen McInerney interviews award-winning UK historian, biographer and broadcaster Tom Holland. Mr. Holland is author of the 2019 Sunday Times best-seller Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind. In their discussion Mr Holland presses his case for the central place of Christianity in the formation of Western values, arguing ‘Christianity is the most enduring and influential legacy of the ancient world, (and) its emergence the single most transformative development in Western history. In this exclusive interview Dr McInerney and Mr Holland discuss: How Mr Holland’s interest in antiquity led him to explore the shift from the brutality of ancient times to a more compassionate society today; The crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the ‘myth’ which lies at the heart of the development of Western values; The changing symbolism of the cross and its relationship to concepts of power;  Christianity’s permeation in other ‘secular’ structures; and The influence of Christianity on modern concepts of love. Please join us for this wide-spanning conversation. 

In the eighth Ramsay Lecture for 2021, world-famous historian, author and broadcaster, Professor Bettany Hughes OBE, takes us back to Golden Age Athens, as seen through the eyes of Socrates, the ancient Greek philosopher and arguably the true father of western thought. In her exclusive lecture Professor Hughes draws on her comprehensive research on Socrates, as he left no written record. Through archaeological discoveries and research into the accounts of people who lived alongside him, Bettany pieces together Socrates’ life experiences - his youth, his time as a soldier, his search for the ‘good life’ and his death, and how these all laid the foundation for his philosophy, still relevant and being taught across the world today. Please join us on this incredible journey. 

In this seventh Ramsay Lecture for 2021, Professor Gigi Foster joins Ramsay Centre CEO, Professor Simon Haines, in discussion on The Great Covid Panic:  What Happened, Why, and What To Do Next.