The Pillars: Jerusalem, Athens, and the Western Mind

Lobel Center for Jewish Classical Education
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Oct 22, 2025 • 43min

Shakespeare's Hamlet: The First Modern Play

Arguably Shakespeare's greatest play, Hamlet will catapult us into the modern era of literature. To unpack that notion, we'll explore the following questions: In what sense does Hamlet have a foothold in both the classical and modern eras? How does Hamlet grapple with the Biblical, covenantal tension between man's significance, on the one hand, and insignificance, on the other? Why is Hamlet's conversation with his conscience an answer to Machiavelli? Recommended Reading: Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2012. Folger Shakespeare Library.
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Oct 16, 2025 • 34min

Montaigne and Shakespeare: The Rise of the Individual

Explore the emergence of modernity through Montaigne and Shakespeare's writings. Discover Montaigne’s love for history as a means to understand human character. Delve into his unique approach to education that resonates today. Learn how Shakespeare distinguishes his characters by their agency and inner lives. Uncover the impacts of religious individualism on theater and how censorship shaped drama. Finally, reflect on the lasting influence of these thinkers in shaping individual complexity in Western thought.
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Oct 9, 2025 • 41min

Kabbalah: Mysticism and Science

The study of Kabbalah—Jewish mysticism—will play an outsized role in shaping not only Western thought but even modern science. To explore the topic, we'll turn to the following questions: What is Kabbalah and why did it become important, as an area of study, for Christian thinkers and scholars? How does Kabbalah further develop the notion of human agency? What role did Kabbalah play in the development of modern science? Recommended Reading: Coudert, Allison P. Hebraica Veritas: Christian Hebraists and the Study of Judaism in Early Modern Europe. Oregon: Pickwick Publications, 2024.
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Oct 1, 2025 • 45min

Swords, Spurs, and Gunpowder: A History of Religious Wars

The amount of bloodshed that took place following the Protestant Reformation is staggering. As we try to make sense of the religious wars, we'll explore the following questions: What role did chivalric virtues play in bolstering Protestantism in France? Why did local Catholics in the Low Countries oppose an inquisition against Protestants? How did the Treaty of Westphalia, which recognized Protestantism as legitimate, differ from the Peace of Augsburg a century earlier?
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Sep 25, 2025 • 49min

Rifts and Splits: Calvinism, Anglicanism, and Counter-Reformation

In the aftermath of the Protestant Reformation, religious Europe continued to splinter. On today's episode, Rabbi Rocklin will answer the following questions: How did John Calvin's views of free will and predestination lead to a culture in which hard work and monetary success was seen as valuable? How does Anglicanism occupy a middle ground between Lutheranism and Calvinism? Over the course of the Council of Trent, how did the Catholic Church clarify its doctrine in response to Luther's criticisms?
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Sep 17, 2025 • 49min

Erasmus: Humanist and Reformer

Erasmus was arguably the greatest scholar and foremost humanist of the Northern Renaissance. As we learn more about him, we'll explore the following questions: How was Erasmus' Greek language scholarship foundational to the Protestant Reformation? What were Erasmus' basic criticisms of the Catholic Church? How did those critiques differ from Luther's? Why is it still important to read Erasmus today, despite his fundamental character flaws? Recommended Reading: Shepherd, Victor. Interpreting Martin Luther: An Introduction to His Life and Thought. Canada: Regent College Publishing, 2008.  Reverend Dr. Victor Shepherd's website: https://victorshepherd.ca/
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Sep 10, 2025 • 34min

Europe in Crisis: The Struggle for the Church

Political turmoil swept across Europe in the wake of the Protestant Reformation. To help us expand the topic, Rabbi Rocklin will answer the following questions: How did Luther's approach to religious reform encourage a rise in centralized power? Why was it necessary to divide the Holy Roman Empire in the Peace of Augsburg? How did Rashi, an eleventh century Jewish scholar, indirectly influence Luther's interpretation of scripture?
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Sep 3, 2025 • 34min

Martin Luther: Reformer or Revolutionary

Few events in Christian history had a more dramatic impact than the Protestant Reformation. As we survey this seismic event, Rabbi Rocklin will answer the following questions: How did the spirit of the Renaissance that swept through Europe foster a culture that could lead to the Reformation? What theological debates led to Martin Luther's eventual split from the Roman Catholic Church? How is Luther's insistence that the Bible can be translated into the vernacular an outgrowth of his view of the ordinary man?
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Aug 27, 2025 • 48min

The Age of Exploration: Europe's Commerce and Classes

The spirit of discovery in the Renaissance will push Europe to expand its trade horizons and reshape its economy. On today's episode, we'll address the following questions: What were the technological innovations in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries that made long-distance sailing easier? Why did Portugal, of all countries, become a dominant force in expanding European trade in the East? How did the Age of Exploration completely pull Europe out of a feudal economic system and into an era of mercantilism?
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Aug 20, 2025 • 35min

Of Kings, Nobles, and Commoners: The Emergence of the New Monarchs

Consolidation of power will dramatically alter politics, wars, and loyalties in Europe. To help us expand this notion, we'll explore the following questions: What caused political power in Europe to shift from being localized in the hands of the lords to being wielded by royal families ruling vast territories? How did a rise in national loyalties lead to increasing suspicion of divergent religious groups? Why were the common people important to kings such that kings allied themselves with the populace against the nobility?

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