New Humanists

Send us a textIn I See Satan Fall Like Lightning, René Girard argues that the Bible definitively refutes the lies of pagan mythology. The pagan myths conceal the mimetic cycle and founding murder that are at the heart of human politics. The Bible, on the other hand, exposes myth and politics as satanic, and offers the Crucifixion and Resurrection as the medicine to heal human society of this curse. Dr. Patrick Downey, of St. Mary’s College of California, joins Jonathan and Ryan to discuss Girard, paganism vs. Christianity, the Inklings, and the modern concern for victims.René Girard’s I See Satan Fall Like Lightning: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781570753190Patrick Downey’s Serious Comedy: https://davenant.kindful.com/?campaign=1156789&fbclid=IwAR0wgsKvwgchD0MT6jKWhDO0d89qVW6cuyHpkeG-jUlGeo_Zq4EKrxcBwugPatrick Downey’s Desperately Wicked: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780830828944Albertus Magnus Institute: https://magnusinstitute.org/Sophocles’ Theban Plays: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780140440034Philostratus’ Life of Apollonius of Tyana: https://amzn.to/3mcUqf1Robert Alter’s The Art of Biblical Narrative: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780465022557Plato’s Republic: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780465094080New 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 textThis is the lecture that sparked worldwide outcry - for all the wrong reasons. In reality, the Regensburg Address is a sparkling meditation on theology, philosophy, and education. Pope Benedict XVI is able to compress profound reflections on the Bible and Greek philosophy into what is a short and accessible lecture. After castigating the media for their bad reporting on the address, Jonathan and Ryan take it apart to reveal its beauty and complexity, covering varied topics including Socrates, the Burning Bush, German philosophy, the Scholastic-Humanist quarrel, Catholicism vs. Protestantism, and the structure of the university.Pope Benedict XVI’s Regensburg Lecture (“Faith, Reason and the University: Memories and Reflections”): https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/speeches/2006/september/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20060912_university-regensburg.htmlSiren Çelik’s Manuel II Palaiologos: https://bookshop.org/books/manuel-ii-palaiologos-1350-1425-a-byzantine-emperor-in-a-time-of-tumult/9781108836593Pope Benedict XVI’s Truth and Tolerance: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781586170356Erika Rummel’s The Humanist-Scholastic Debate in the Renaissance and the Reformation: https://amzn.to/3kBFyWwErasmus’ In Praise of Folly: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780140446081Sir Anthony Kenny’s Immanuel Kant: A Very Brief History: https://amzn.to/30x7lArSir Roger Scruton’s Kant: A Very Short Introduction: https://amzn.to/3kG5vE7Beginner Latin 1: Middle School: https://ancientlanguage.com/beginner-latin-middle-school/Beginner Latin 1: High School: https://ancientlanguage.com/beginner-latin-high-school/Honors Latin 1 (for students who’ve studied Latin before): https://ancientlanguage.com/honors-latin/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 textAt the end of his academic career at Oxford University, J.R.R. Tolkien gave his “Valedictory Address,” an analysis of the decline of humane letters, the specious distinction between “lang” and “lit” that has grown up in the academy, and a stirring expression of hope in the future of philological study even amidst unfavorable conditions. Colin Chan Redemer, a professor at Saint Mary’s College of California and Vice President of the Davenant Institute, joins Jonathan and Ryan to discuss Tolkien’s vision for the liberal arts and what proponents of Great Books education have to learn from him.Tolkien’s Valedictory Address (free): http://faculty.smu.edu/bwheeler/tolkien/online_reader/oxfordaddress.pdfTolkien’s Valedictory Address in essay collection The Monsters and the Critics: https://amzn.to/3pAg8vsAd Fontes podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-ad-fontes-podcast/id1557560666Davenant Hall: https://davenantinstitute.org/davenant-hallNew 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 textShakespeare’s Roman trilogy reaches a climax in The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra, a love- and wine-drenched account of Octavius Caesar’s defeat of Mark Antony and Cleopatra, and his consolidation of power over the nascent Roman Empire. The play is punctuated by bountiful allusions to Virgil's Aeneid. But besides the haunting downfall of the play’s title characters, in the background of the action arises the specter of a new religious creed, Christianity. Katherine Bradshaw joins Jonathan and Ryan again, to take the measure of Shakespeare’s Roman trilogy.Jan Blits’s edition of The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra: https://amzn.to/3DolBcKVirgil’s Aeneid, trans. Robert Fagles: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780143105138Virgil’s Aeneid, Latin-English: https://amzn.to/3BAWOS7Niccolo Machiavelli’s Discourses on Livy (free): https://oll.libertyfund.org/title/detmold-the-historical-political-and-diplomatic-writings-vol-2#lf0076-02_label_026Niccolo Machiavelli’s Discourses on Livy, trans. Harvey Mansfield https://amzn.to/3DBfVMkDante’s Divine Comedy: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780142437544René Girard’s I See Satan Fall Like Lightning: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781570753190New 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 hothouse of prewar Vienna played host to an unprecedented concentration of genius which eventually gave birth to modernism. Present on the scene was a young Eric Voegelin. Late in his career Voegelin wrote an essay “On Classical Studies,” in which he explained what the discipline of Classics is, the difference between classical and modern accounts of reality, and how to keep the flame of classical wisdom alive in the modern academy. With Voegelin as their guide, Jonathan and Ryan ponder Classics, modernity, and higher education.Eric Voegelin’s On Classical Studies: https://theimaginativeconservative.org/2012/02/on-classical-studies-by-eric-voegelin.htmlRichard Gamble’s The Great Tradition: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781935191568On Vienna in 1913: https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21859771Karl Schorske’s Fin-De-Siecle Vienna: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780394744780C.S. Lewis’s The Abolition of Man: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780060652944Friedrich August Wolf’s Prolegomena Ad Homerum: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781108066037Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger’s Truth and Tolerance: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781586170356John Heath’s and Victor Davis Hanson’s Who Killed Homer?: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781893554269Come learn Greek with Ryan! https://ancientlanguage.com/beginner-ancient-greek/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 textALI Fellow Katherine Bradshaw returns to New Humanists, in installment number two of our discussion of Shakespeare's Roman plays. This week, we talk about The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. What happened to the nascent republic of Coriolanus? Why does a dictator now rule Rome? And how does his murder give birth to a new regime?Jan Blits's edition of Julius Caesar: https://amzn.to/3lune16Blits's monograph, Rome and the Spirit of Caesar: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781498525268René Girard's Theater of Envy: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781587318603Plutarch's Life of Caesar (free): https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/plutarch/lives/caesar*.htmlPlutarch's Life of Caesar (Greek-English): https://amzn.to/3CkGTHDSuetonius' The Twelve Caesars (English): https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780140455168Suetonius's The Twelve Caesars Vol. I (English-Latin): https://amzn.to/3zgkBoeJulius Caesar, 1953 film: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045943/Julius Caesar, 2017 Royal Shakespeare Company production: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6848180/Latin courses at ALI: https://ancientlanguage.com/register-latin/Greek courses at ALI: https://ancientlanguage.com/register-greek/Hebrew courses at ALI: https://ancientlanguage.com/register-hebrew/

Send us a textDid Shakespeare actually know anything about Ancient Rome? Or was he just writing Classical Fan-Fiction? ALI Greek & Latin Fellow Katherine Bradshaw, a scholar of both Shakespeare and the Classical world, joins Jonathan and Ryan for a discussion of The Tragedy of Coriolanus, one of the last plays Shakespeare wrote: an examination of the Roman Republic in its infancy, and what happens when Roman pietas goes horribly awry.Jan Blits’s edition of Coriolanus: https://amzn.to/3C1TEaKThe New Thinkery, Ep. 28 on Coriolanus feat. Jan Blits: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/interview-professor-jan-blits-on-shakespeares-coriolanus/id1524739522?i=1000507558606Plutarch’s Life of Coriolanus (free): https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Coriolanus*.htmlPlutarch’s Life of Coriolanus (Greek-English):https://amzn.to/2WB0hk9Katherine’s favorite Coriolanus adaptation: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1372686/

Send us a textAleksandr Solzhenitsyn is an unlikely candidate for “humanist,” especially because of his denunciation of humanism in his infamous Harvard Address. Does the great Russian dissident have something to teach aspiring humanists? Jonathan and Ryan take a look at two famous exhortations from Solzhenitsyn, “Live Not By Lies,” an essay from 1974, and “A World Split Apart,” the commencement address he delivered at Harvard in 1978 - as well as the subsequent backlash Solzhenitsyn faced for his criticism of American liberalism.Solzhenitsyn’s “Live Not By Lies”: https://www.solzhenitsyncenter.org/live-not-by-liesSolzhenitsyn’s “A World Split Apart” (Harvard Address), text and video: https://www.solzhenitsyncenter.org/a-world-split-apartThe EPPC’s Solzhenitsyn at Harvard: https://amzn.to/3kk9kzBColin Redemer’s “Live Not By Dreher Alone”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vl61h3DKaNwRod Dreher’s Live Not By Lies: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780593087398Vaclav Havel’s “The Power of the Powerless”: https://web.archive.org/web/20120107141633/http://www.vaclavhavel.cz/showtrans.php?cat=clanky&val=72_aj_clanky.html&typ=HTMLHarold Berman’s Law and Revolution: https://amzn.to/3eJg9abLinks 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 textWhat is humane education? Are there techniques you can use to get students to appreciate the great books? Jonathan and Ryan discuss Donald Phillip Verene’s The Art of Humane Education, a powerful series of short letters about teaching, eloquence, the western canon, science and technology. And memes - don’t forget about the memes.Donald Phillip Verene’s The Art of Humane Education: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780801440397Jonathan Gregg’s How to Escape the Hyperclassical Trap: https://ancientlanguage.com/how-to-escape-hyperclassical-trap/S.A. Dance’s The Idea of a Classical School: https://ancientlanguage.com/the-idea-of-a-classical-school/Augustine’s Confessions: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780199537822Peter Brown’s Augustine of Hippo: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780520280410The New Thinkery podcast: https://thenewthinkery.com/Friedrich Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781940177359Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you 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 continue their discussion of Alan Jacobs’s book The Year of Our Lord 1943: Christian Humanism in an Age of Crisis. This book stars C.S. Lewis, Simone Weil, W.H. Auden, Jacques Maritain, and T.S. Eliot, and on this episode of New Humanists, your hosts continue to tease out the implications for our current transhumanist moment, hitting on technology, education, the family, and power. This is the second part of a two-part look into the Jacobs book.Alan Jacobs’s The Year of Our Lord 1943: Christian Humanism in an Age of Crisis: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780190864651Cicero’s Pro Archia Poeta: https://amzn.to/3phQwS1Free in Latin: https://la.wikisource.org/wiki/Pro_A._Licinio_Archia_poetaFree in English: https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0019%3Atext%3DArch.The Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity in Latin: https://archive.org/details/MN5140ucmf_2/page/n71/mode/2upThe Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity in English: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0324.htmSimone Weil’s The Iliad or the Poem of Force: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780820463612Free in French: https://teuwissen.ch/imlift/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Weil-L_Iliade_ou_le_poeme_de_la_force.pdfFree in English: http://www.holoka.com/pdf-files/weil.pdfLinks may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you 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