New Humanists

Send us a textIn the opening lecture of his course on Homer, the Professor of Greek at the University of Wittenberg, Phillip Melanchthon, first invokes the aid of the gods and declares that to Homer belongs "the highest and noblest place." Further, Melanchthon proclaims that Homer "alone snatches away the palm of victory from all poets that any age has brought forth, and he leaves them all far behind." Jonathan and Ryan take a look at Melanchthon's encomium for Homer and defense against the many varieties of Homeric critics, both ancient and modern.Richard M. Gamble’s The Great Tradition: https://amzn.to/3Q4lRnOC.S. Lewis' The Discarded Image: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781107604704Homer's Iliad (Greek-English): https://amzn.to/3O2sBEdHomer's Odyssey (Greek-English): https://amzn.to/46DbOPeNew Humanists Episode on T.S. Eliot's Vergil and Christian World: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/was-virgil-divinely-inspired-episode-xxxiii/id1570296135?i=1000582748821Daoiri Farrell's The Valley of Knockanure: https://youtu.be/lu-FG92a9CwNew 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=1000557727910Herodotus' The Histories: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781400031146Cicero's Pro Archia Poeta Oratio: https://amzn.to/3JS7y4DNew 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 textA stern prophet of the new and harsh doctrine of predestination. A bloodthirsty tyrant burning people at the stake. A narrowminded dour Puritan. The magnitude of the popularity of these Calvinist stereotypes is matched by their massive distance from the truth of the man. In his affection for the pagan authors, Calvin reveals a deeply humanistic soul, attuned to truth no matter which rock he might find it under. In this episode, Jonathan and Ryan examine a particularly illustrative passage from his Institutes as well as a short passage from his commentary on Titus.Richard M. Gamble’s The Great Tradition: https://amzn.to/3Q4lRnOBruce Gordon's Calvin: https://amzn.to/3NQ4UPaJohn Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780664220280Alister McGrath's C.S. Lewis - A Life: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781496410450C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780060652920New Humanists episode on C.S. Lewis' Introduction to Athanasius' On the Incarnation: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/c-s-lewis-on-old-books-episode-xiv/id1570296135?i=1000546657094New 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 textHow do you prepare a royal princess for the throne? In this episode, we look at the writings of two giants of Reformation humanism: Johannes Sturm and Roger Ascham, and in particular, their correspondence about Ascham's work training the future Queen Elizabeth I in Latin and Greek. Ascham himself variously tutored and served as Latin secretary to Lady Jane Grey, the woman who ordered her execution (Queen Mary), and the woman who replaced Queen Mary (Queen Elizabeth). If you think speaking dead languages is a new-fangled approach to language learning, you might be surprised at what Princess Elizabeth was doing in class.Richard M. Gamble’s The Great Tradition: https://amzn.to/3Q4lRnORoger Ascham's The Scholemaster: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1844Roger Ascham's Toxophilus: https://www.archerylibrary.com/books/toxophilus/New Humanists episode on Ælfric's Colloquy: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-first-english-conversation-feat-dr-colin-gorrie/id1570296135?i=1000581249310C. P. Wormald's "The Uses of Literacy in Anglo-Saxon England and Its Neighbours": https://www.jstor.org/stable/3679189C.S. Lewis' The Abolition of Man: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780060652944Herodotus' Histories: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781400031146Shakespeare's The Tempest: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780743482837New 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 textKing Tarquinius secures his hold on power by expanding the Senate, but encounters a roadblock to strengthening the military in the person of a famous augur. Tarquinius is ruthless, productive, and the first great Roman promoter of "bread and circuses" (among other things, according to Livy, Tarquinius builds the Circus Maximus). Despite his political saavy, however, he comes to a violent, borderline slapstick end.Livy's Ab Urbe Condita: https://amzn.to/3gYwtbhMachiavelli's Discourses on Livy: https://amzn.to/3NtNBSjVirgil's Aeneid: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780143105138New 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 textStrange omens, plague, occult religious rites. King Tullus Hostilius' reign collapses in something like supernatural madness. The great Ancus Marcius takes over, but is finally deceived by a rich, mysterious newcomer to Rome: Lucius Tarquinius Priscus. Join Jonathan and Ryan as they outline how the first of the Tarquins takes the throne after first disinheriting his own nephew, and then effectively disinheriting the sons of Ancus Marcius, whom Lucius was bound to protect.Livy's Ab Urbe Condita: https://amzn.to/3gYwtbhMachiavelli's Discourses on Livy: https://amzn.to/3NtNBSjRene Girard's I See Satan Fall Like Lightning: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781570753190Philostratus' Life of Apollonius of Tyana: https://amzn.to/3qgEcWNFustel de Coulanges's La Cité Antique (French): https://amzn.to/3yzATuZFustel de Coulanges's The Ancient City (English): https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780648690542New 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 textLysander is a troubling figure. As a child, he was a charity case who excelled his more affluent peers; he never cared for wealth, and yet overlooked the rapaciousness of his friends, allowing money and luxury into Sparta, corrupting it. He liberated the Greek world from the yoke of Athenian imperialism, but then installed oligarchic juntas to rule with an iron fist. He conquered Athens itself, but campaigned at a war council to spare the city from destruction. But once inside the city, he threatened the Athenians with extermination if they didn't obey him. Alex Petkas, the host of the Cost of Glory podcast, joins Jonathan and Ryan in discussing Plutarch's account of the extraordinary Lysander.Alex Petkas's Cost of Glory podcast (Lysander 1): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lysander-1-death-of-democracy/id1580153815?i=1000565510664Ancient Life Coach: https://ancientlifecoach.com/Speak Lead Retreat: https://ancientlifecoach.com/retreat/Herodotus' Histories: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781400031146Isocrates' Evagoras: https://amzn.to/40NyCaPPindar's Olympian Odes: https://amzn.to/429sk6mPlutarch's Parallel Lives, including Lysander (Loeb edition): https://amzn.to/3HjDnC8Plutarch's Parallel Lives, including Lysander (Penguin edition): https://amzn.to/44amYK5University of Chicago's Penelope Parallel Lives: https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/plutarch/lives/home.htmlEuripides' Electra: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780226035598Xenophon's Anabasis: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780307906854Andrew Roberts's Napoleon: A Life: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780143127857Sean McMeekin's Stalin's War: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781541672796Alex Petkas's Cost of Glory episode 1 on the Anabasis: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/xenophon-anabasis-i-power-highlights/id1580153815?i=1000597494893Xenophon's Hellenika: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781400034765Steven Pressfield's Tides of War: https://amzn.to/3oQF9EqPaul Cartledge's Agesilaos and the Crisis of Sparta: https://amzn.to/3LDaFi3New 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 textIn his wise and humane Didascalicon, the teacher, canon regular, and mystical theologian Hugh of St. Victor lays out his advice and instructions for teachers and students engaged in liberal study. The heir of centuries of thought in Christendom on the liberal arts, Hugh and his contemporaries were on the precipice of a revolution--the western rediscovery of Aristotle and the subsequent revolution of theology and philosophy, championed above all by Thomas Aquinas. University of Dallas professor John Peterson joins Jonathan and Ryan to discuss the Didascalicon and its role in liberal education.Classical Education Graduate Program at the University of Dallas: https://udallas.edu/braniff/academics/ma/classical_education/Richard M. Gamble’s The Great Tradition: https://amzn.to/3Q4lRnOHugh of St. Victor's Didascalicon (Latin): http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/03d/1096-1141,_Hugo_De_S_Victore,_Didascalicon,_LT.pdfHugh of St. Victor's Didascalicon (English): https://archive.org/details/didascaliconmedi00hugh/mode/2upBruce A. Kimball's The Liberal Arts Tradition: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780761851325Ryan N.S. Topping's Renewing the Mind: https://amzn.to/41xlb08W.H. Cowley's The Seven Liberal Arts Hoax: https://www.jstor.org/stable/27565196New Humanists episode on Giambattista Vico: https://podcasts.apple.com/hr/podcast/messing-up-your-kids-education-episode-xxxviii/id1570296135?i=1000591833664Doug Lemov's Teach Like a Champion 3.0: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781119712619John Peterson's Review of Teach Like a Champion 3.0: https://www.pdcnet.org/principia/content/principia_2022_0001_0001_0119_0123+Plato's Republic: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780465094080Augustine's Confessions: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780199537822Livy's Ab Urbe Condita: https://amzn.to/3gYwtbhMachiavelli's Discourses on Livy: https://amzn.to/3NtNBSjJacob Klein's The Idea of Liberal Education: https://www.scribd.com/document/46831695/The-Idea-of-Liberal-Education-Jacob-KleinMartianus Capella's The Marriage of Philology and Mercury: https://amzn.to/41NZh8tNew 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 textDoes Plato, and philosophy more generally, belong in schools? In a lecture, professor and Davenant Institute VP Colin Redemer suggests that Plato is too dangerous to be allowed into classical schools. Jonathan and Ryan take a look at this lecture and at the response it received, focusing on esoteric writing, reason versus revelation, and the Platonic-Christian-American synthesis.The Davenant Institute's Reforming Classical Education: https://davenantinstitute.org/reforming-classical-educationAustin Hoffman's Awkward Family Dinner: A Review of Reforming Classical Education: https://www.frontporchrepublic.com/2023/02/awkward-family-dinner-a-review-of-reforming-classical-education/Colin Redemer's Revisiting Platonic Education: The Ever Shareable Feast: https://adfontesjournal.com/web-exclusives/revisiting-platonic-education-the-ever-sharable-feast/Leo Strauss's Persecution and the Art of Writing: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780226777115Plato's Theages: https://amzn.to/3UE4DRlT.S. Eliot's Second Thoughts About Humanism: https://muse.jhu.edu/document/408New 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 textIrving Babbitt was the architect of New Humanism. He was also T.S. Eliot's mentor at Harvard. But in 1928, the newly Anglican Eliot's essay criticizing his old mentor's humanistic project was published, which provoked a terse, and sharp, rebuke from Babbitt. What is the relationship between traditional religion and humanistic learning? Can humanism provide society with the standards needed for democratic life? In this episode, we take a look at Babbitt's and Eliot's writings on the subject.T.S. Eliot's The Humanism of Irving Babbitt: https://muse.jhu.edu/document/374T.S. Eliot's Second Thoughts About Humanism: https://muse.jhu.edu/document/408Irving Babbitt's Democracy and Leadership: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780913966556Jay Parini's Irving Babbitt Revisited: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3856831The Davenant Institute's Reforming Classical Education: https://davenantinstitute.org/reforming-classical-educationT.S. Eliot's Little Gidding: http://www.columbia.edu/itc/history/winter/w3206/edit/tseliotlittlegidding.htmlNew 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 textThe duel between the Horatii brothers and the Curiatii brothers seemed to settle the Roman-Alban dispute and give Rome authority over Alba. But wily Mettius Fufetius has a trick or two up his sleeve. Meanwhile, the one surviving Horatius brother strikes down his sister in cold blood, an incident Jacques-Louis David drew but never ended up painting. The civilized three-on-three duel now threatens to give way to an all-out war of extermination between Rome and Alba. This is the sixth episode of "No Republic Was Ever Greater," a podcast series examining the rise of the Roman Empire through the work of Livy and Machiavelli. Livy's Ab Urbe Condita: https://amzn.to/3gYwtbhMachiavelli's Discourses on Livy: https://amzn.to/3NtNBSjFustel de Coulanges's La Cité Antique (French): https://amzn.to/3yzATuZFustel de Coulanges's The Ancient City (English): https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780648690542Jacques-Louis David's Oath of the Horatii: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oath_of_the_HoratiiNicolas Poussin's Rape of the Sabine Women: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rape_of_the_Sabine_Women#/media/File:L'Enl%C3%A8vement_des_Sabines_%E2%80%93_Nicolas_Poussin_%E2%80%93_Mus%C3%A9e_du_Louvre,_INV_7290_%E2%80%93_Q3110586.jpgArlette Clavet's Unpublished Studies for 'The Oath of the Horatii': https://www.jstor.org/stable/1552932Corneille's Horace: https://amzn.to/41zF1IyNew 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