New Humanists

Send us a textLeonardo Bruni was the titan of Renaissance historians and a prolific humanist. In a long letter to an aristocratic Italian woman, Battista Malatesta, he lays out his philosophy of humanistic education, which is meant to help the student achieve glory. But laziness or ineptitude, he says, threatens the student always, and will drag her down to crawl alongside other mediocrities. Bruni insists on deep reading of the greatest orators, poets, and historians, alongside biblical and theological study.Richard M. Gamble's The Great Tradition: https://amzn.to/3Q4lRnOI Tatti Renaissance Library's Humanist Educational Treatises (containing Bruni's entire letter in Latin and English): https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780674007598Leonardo Bruni's History of the Florentine People (Volume I): https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780674005068Donald Phillip Verene's The Art of Humane Education: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780801440397C.S. Lewis's On Stories (includes The Parthenon and The Optative): https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780062643605New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.Music: Save Us Now by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

Send us a textMichel de Montaigne was a native Latin speaker in modern Europe and yet a great innovator in French letters; among other things, he invited the genre known as the essay. His elegant, searching essays are intended to expose the reality of his own soul - and that of his readers. In "On Schoolmasters' Learning," this most studios of men wonders aloud whether education is actually good for you. After all, look at all the people obsessed with books and yet completely useless for anything productive. Maybe study actually harms your soul?Michel de Montaigne's Complete Essays: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780140446043Cicero's Pro Archia Poeta: https://amzn.to/49k1zjcAristophanes' Clouds: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780801485749The Cost of Glory | Lucullus I: https://share.transistor.fm/s/4ef111e2Plato's Hippias Major: https://amzn.to/3SI8PA6New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.Music: Save Us Now by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

Send us a textAeneas Silvius was an accomplished Renaissance humanist, author of erotic literature, and influential aide to emperors and popes (and an antipope). Then, he became a pope himself. As Pope Pius II, he then added memoirist, urban planner, and antiquarian to his list of accomplishments. He contributed to the popular Renaissance "mirror of princes" genre in a letter to a young boy-king in Central Europe, where he makes the case for reading pagan poetry as a Christian.Richard M. Gamble's The Great Tradition: https://amzn.to/3Q4lRnONew Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.Music: Save Us Now by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

Send us a textJonathan and Ryan turn to a set of selections from the Prince of Humanists himself, Desiderius Erasmus. In Liber Antibarbarorum, Erasmus pillories the precious Christians who refuse to read pagan authors on account of their own squeamish consciences. In Education of a Christian Prince, and On the Education of Children, Erasmus gives principled arguments for humanistic education and practical advice for those responsible for carrying it out.Roland Bainton's Erasmus of Christendom: https://amzn.to/3v8NlTCDesiderius Erasmus' Praise of Folly: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780691165646Desiderius Erasmus' Education of a Christian Prince: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780521588119Luther and Erasmus: Free Will and Salvation: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780664241582Richard M. Gamble's The Great Tradition: https://amzn.to/3Q4lRnOEric Adler on The New Thinkery: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/eric-adler-on-the-new-humanism/id1524739522?i=1000638422051New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.Music: Save Us Now by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

The podcast discusses T.S. Eliot's essay on religious education and its relevance in modern society. It explores the importance of clear beliefs in education and the influence of high-level philosophy. The podcast also delves into controversial topics in education, the significance of studying Latin and Greek, and the two options of belief systems: Christianity or materialism.

Send us a textIn The Greek State, Friedrich Nietzsche argues that the Greek polis existed in order to hold the many in slavery so that the Olympian few could give birth to the beautiful Helen known as Greek culture, and that the Greek state had to be periodically renewed by war so that it could continue to create geniuses. This, he says, is the esoteric meaning behind Plato's Republic. Jonathan and Ryan take a look at this "preface to an unwritten book" and examine the ethical, metaphysical, and historical implications of Nietzsche's argument.Friedrich Nietzsche's The Greek State: https://www.stephenhicks.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Nietzsche-Greek-State-text.pdfJacob Burkhardt's The Greeks and Greek Civilization: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780312244477C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780060652920T.S. Eliot's Vergil and the Christian World: https://www.jstor.org/stable/27538181Jacob Burkhardt's The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy: https://amzn.to/49RKXk1New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.Music: Save Us Now by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

Send us a textWhy was it that the Greeks, the most humane of all peoples, also possessed such a tigerish lust for blood? Why did the Greeks so delight in Homer's depiction of cruelty and death in the Iliad? That is the question animating Friedrich Nietzsche's preface to an unwritten book, "Homer's Contest." Nietzsche turns to the dark Hellenic past, the "womb of Homer" for an explanation, and finds it in Strife, the double-souled goddess lauded by Hesiod.  Friedrich Nietzsche's Homer's Contest: http://www.northamericannietzschesociety.com/uploads/7/3/2/5/73251013/nietzscheana5.pdfLee Fratantuono's Madness Unchained: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780739122426Robin Lane Fox's Homer and His Iliad: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781541600447Hesiod's Theogony, Works and Days: https://amzn.to/467Nh3lDan Carlin's Death Throes of the Republic: https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-death-throes-of-the-republic-series/C.S. Lewis's Surprised by Joy: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780062565433Jacob Burkhardt's The Greeks and Greek Civilization: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780312244477René Girard's Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780804722155New Humanists episode on Simone Weil's "The Iliad, or the Poem of Force": https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-iliad-or-the-poem-of-force-episode-xxi/id1570296135?i=1000557727910New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.Music: Save Us Now by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

Send us a textThomas Elyot wrote "The Boke named the Governour," the first book about education written in the English language, an outstanding example in the crowded field of Renaissance-era mirrors for princes. The mirrors for princes were works designed to instruct and train future kings, nobles, and leading men. Machiavelli and Erasmus wrote famous mirrors for princes, but what does the English tradition of this genre have to show us?Richard M. Gamble’s The Great Tradition: https://amzn.to/3Q4lRnOThomas Elyot's The Boke named The Governour: https://www.luminarium.org/renascence-editions/gov/gov1.htmNiccolo Machiavelli's The Prince: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780199535699Desiderius Erasmus' The Education of a Christian Prince: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780521588119Niccolo Machiavelli's Discourses on Livy: https://amzn.to/463xl2yPlutarch's Parallel Lives (inc. Lycurgus): https://amzn.to/3YbAPxkNew Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.Music: Save Us Now by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

Martin Luther, a religious reformer and advocate for public schools in Germany, discusses German education, ancient language instruction, and the debate over public schools vs. homeschooling. Luther emphasizes the importance of instruction in ancient languages, the significance of studying history, and the connection between the gospel, languages, and education. He also explores his views on political reform, household responsibilities, and the benefits of enjoyable education. The podcast delves into Luther's rhetorical strategies, his criticisms of modern education, and the influence of the Renaissance on education.

Explore Ulrich Zwingli's views on education and society, Christian redemption and the corrupted nature of humans. Discover the tradition of Jesus' birth, the concept of choosing between glory and a quiet life, reflections on the educational value of Age of Empires, and the importance of speech and rhetoric in humanism.