

The Pillars: Jerusalem, Athens, and the Western Mind
Lobel Center for Jewish Classical Education
Welcome to The Pillars: Jerusalem, Athens, and the Western Mind, a podcast that tells the story of the prophets, philosophers, and poets who created the West.
In this podcast, Rabbi Dr. Mitchell Rocklin guides listeners through more than 3,000 years of Western history, offering a coherent, civilizational story of how the West came to be—along with a deepened understanding of the challenges it now faces. While many of the texts discussed will be familiar to students of the humanities, Rabbi Rocklin offers a new framework for understanding them—a framework in which the teachings of the Jewish religious tradition play a central role. For, as Rabbi Rocklin explains, Western civilization can only be understood as the product of a transformative and ongoing collision between the great traditions of Jerusalem and Athens—between the religious spirit of the Jews and the philosophical spirit of the Greeks.
In this podcast, Rabbi Dr. Mitchell Rocklin guides listeners through more than 3,000 years of Western history, offering a coherent, civilizational story of how the West came to be—along with a deepened understanding of the challenges it now faces. While many of the texts discussed will be familiar to students of the humanities, Rabbi Rocklin offers a new framework for understanding them—a framework in which the teachings of the Jewish religious tradition play a central role. For, as Rabbi Rocklin explains, Western civilization can only be understood as the product of a transformative and ongoing collision between the great traditions of Jerusalem and Athens—between the religious spirit of the Jews and the philosophical spirit of the Greeks.
Top mentioned books
Here are the most frequently recommended books on The Pillars: Jerusalem, Athens, and the Western Mind podcast:

#1 Mentioned in 3 episodes
The Iliad

#2 Mentioned in 3 episodes
Genesis
Artificial Intelligence, Hope, and the Human Spirit

#3 Mentioned in 3 episodes
The Epic of Gilgamesh

#4 Mentioned in 2 episodes
The Odyssey

#5 Mentioned in 2 episodes
Proverbs 4
Get Wisdom at Any Cost

#6 Mentioned in 2 episodes
Theogony

#7 Mentioned in 2 episodes
The Closing of the American Mind
#8 Mentioned in 2 episodes
Dallaire's Book of Greek Myths
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#9 Mentioned in 1 episodes
Virgil
Aeneid VIII

#10 Mentioned in 1 episodes
Book of Judges
None

#11 Mentioned in 1 episodes
Isaiah
null

#12 Mentioned in 1 episodes
Jeremiah
#13 Mentioned in 1 episodes
Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov
null

#14 Mentioned in 1 episodes
Twelve Prophets
#15 Mentioned in 1 episodes
Shakespeare's Hamlet

#16 Mentioned in 1 episodes
Job

#17 Mentioned in 1 episodes
The Third Book of Kings
null

#18 Mentioned in 1 episodes
Ezra–Nehemiah

#19 Mentioned in 1 episodes
Aeneid
#20 Mentioned in 1 episodes