Spe Salvi Institute Podcast

Jennifer Newsome Martin, the new director of the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture and a Notre Dame theologian, joins Andrew Petiprin and Bobby Mixa to discuss Charles Péguy and his writings on hope and modernity.

Andrew and Bobby talk to Dr. Michael Hanby about technocratic totalitarianism, the fate of truth in the Modern Age, and why we need the French poet Charles Péguy.

Andrew and Bobby talk to the Cultural Debris podcast host and writer, Alan Cornett, about cultural renaissance, the connection between culture and agriculture, Russell Kirk’s conservatism, and abstraction as the enemy of the real.

In this episode, Andrew and Bobby talk to theologian Rodney Howsare about leisure, festivity, and work. The conversation covers Josef Pieper’s Leisure: The Basis of Culture, Matthew B. Crawford’s The World Beyond Your Head: How to Flourish in an Age of Distraction, Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business, and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World.

In this episode, Andrew and Bobby discuss Andrew’s new book Popcorn with the Pope: A Guide to the Vatican Film List and why cinema needs to be upheld as an art. They talk about some of the great luminaries in film history, such as Andrei Tarkovsky, Ingmar Bergman, Krzysztof Kieślowski, Terrence Malick and more.

Andrew and Bobby talk to philosopher D.C. Schindler about the nature of liberalism, its rejection of reality, technology and habits of attention, the importance of Hegel, the Catholic affirmation of reality, and his new book God and the City: An Essay in Political Metaphysics. 

In this episode, Andrew and Bobby talk to Carl E. Olson, editor of Catholic World Report and Ignatius Insight and author of many books such as Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead? and Will Catholics Be "Left Behind”?, about the Rapture, Eschatology, Theosis, and the Eucharist. 

In this episode, Konrad Milewski, author of Escape from the American Cage: How to Regain Life, Liberty, and Happiness and Gain Truth, Dignity, and Love, describes what he sees in America and how Americans can regain their lost independence by living in accordance with “The New Declaration”, which not only is focused on helping Americans regain their right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness but also find truth, purpose, attain dignity, build meaningful relationships and find love.

In this episode, Andrew and Bobby discuss Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s recent UnHerd article “Why I now a Christian” and why she went from Islam and atheism to Christianity. They also discuss her claim that atheism cannot sustain a civilization. But can Christianity? All these themes and more are covered in this episode. Read Ali’s essay at UnHerd to see why it is so important: https://unherd.com/2023/11/why-i-am-now-a-christian/

In this episode, Andrew and Bobby talk to Flagg Taylor about Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s 2006 film The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen) and anti-Communist dissidents in Czechoslovakia and Poland (e.g. Vaclav Benda and Czesław Miłosz).