Magnus Podcast: Conversations from the Catacombs of Liberal Education

This week we turn three years old!  This episode of the Magnus Podcast honors the Feast Day of our namesake, St. Albert the Great, celebrates our third birthday, and launches the Great Campaign. Please consider joining the Magnus Fellowship and/or giving to the Great Campaign today! With your help, we can continue to liberate the Liberate Arts.  

Revisit The Waste Land with us. Once again, we are offering you a glimpse into the Magnus Fellowship; this time with Senior Fellow, Dr. Freeh’s class, “The Waste Land Revisited: T.S. Eliot’s Diagnosis of Modernity.” Find out how you can catch the rest of this course AND access all archived courses- over 40 hours of exceptional classes with some of the top educators in liberal learning.  Join the Magnus Fellowship for an education that is as free as it is freeing. 

Enjoy this sneak peak into the Fellowship - week one of Senior Fellow, Dr. Esolen’s course, In the Beginning Was the Word: Poetry and Christology in the Gospel of John.   Find out how you can catch the rest of this course AND access all archived courses- over 40 hours of exceptional discussions and lectures with some of the top educators in liberal learning.   Join the Magnus Fellowship for an education that is as free as it is freeing. 

What is metaphysics? Is it philosophy or science? Is it witchcraft or wizardry? Is it inalterable or constantly changing? Why has it been reinterpreted and misunderstood in today’s culture? How do we return metaphysics to its proper place in the order of knowing and learning? Dr. David Arias is a professor of philosophy at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary in Denton, NE. Prior to coming to Nebraska, Dr. Arias taught philosophy, theology, natural science, mathematics, literature, and various other subjects for eleven years at Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, CA. Dr. Arias has published in both scholarly and popular venues. His main areas of scholarly interest are natural philosophy and metaphysics.He is happily married to Jennaya Arias and together they are the blessed parents of fourteen children. Dr. Arias will be teaching his fourth course for the Magnus Fellowship this coming spring! You can find snippets of his past courses, Metaphysics I, Metaphysics II, and Philosophy of Nature, on earlier episodes of the Magnus Podcast. Donors giving just $25/month have access to ALL archived courses. Subscribe to the emails and/or become a fellow, donor, or both here.  

"Humankind, full of all creative possibilities, is God's work. Humankind alone is called to assist God. Humankind is called to co-create." -Hildegard Von Bingen This week's episode features Dr. Matthew Smith - the founder and president of the new Hildegard College. Named for Hildegard Von Bingen, Hildegard College was founded to create both exceptional thinkers and extraordinary creators; at Hildegard College the desire is that all students become polymaths. Learn now how they're setting out to accomplish this goal. The college is currently accepting applications for its inaugural freshman class. Learn more @ Hildegard.college   

     The modern understanding of mathematics is disenchanting and fragmented. Dr. Andrew Seeley is here to talk about mathematics within the ancient understanding of the quadrivium and the greater context of the human person.      Dr. Andrew Seeley is a Tutor at Thomas Aquinas College in California, Director of the Arts of Liberty Project at University of Dallas, Executive Director of the Institute for Catholic Liberal Education, and on the Board of Directors for the Albertus Magnus Institute. A 1987 graduate of Thomas Aquinas, Dr. Seeley received his Licentiate from the Pontifical Institute in Medieval Studies (Toronto) and a Ph.D. in Medieval Studies from the University of Toronto (1995). His dissertation was a study in St. Thomas’s teaching about the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. He is also on the National Policy Advisory Board for the Catholic High School Honor Roll, Wyoming Catholic College’s Catholic Scholars Advisory Board, and a number of Catholic liberal arts schools around the country.  https://artsofliberty.udallas.edu https://catholicliberaleducation.org Find out how you can watch his Euclid course in the Magnus Fellowship https://magnusinstitute.org/courses/a-tour-of-euclids-elements/

What is the difference between a wanderer and a wayfarer? What does it mean to have hope? How do we live the proper journey of wayfarer? In this episode, John and Larissa talk with Chelsea Niemiec about the virtue of hope and the journey of a wayfarer.  Chelsea is the Director of College Partnerships at The Classic Learning Test and a University of Dallas graduate student studying Classical Education. She recently founded the Catholic Education Invitation.  Follow her on instagram @ classicallychels Learn more about the The Catholic Education Invitation. To learn more about The Classic Learning Test email her @ cniemiec@cltexam.com   You can read her essay "The Hope in Being a Wayfarer" by joining the Fellowship Courtyard (It's like a facebook page for fellows). Apply to the fellowship, join the courtyard, and read her paper- it's quick, easy, and free! Courses begin this week in the Magnus Fellowship and its not too late to enroll!  Apply today!  

Alexander the Great once said, “I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.”   Ali Ghaffari has dedicated his life to this type of leadership, beginning with playing sports as child to becoming a career Naval Officer as an adult, and most recently, to founding a K-8 Classical school in Pasadena MD. Find out how he now runs a thriving school that focuses on the good and the beautiful and a leadership consulting firm that gives organizations the leadership skills to perform exceptionally.    https://www.thefrassaticompany.com https://divinemercy.md

“Once again Do I behold these steep and lofty cliffs, That on a wild secluded scene impress Thoughts of more deep seclusion; and connect The landscape with the quiet of the sky.”   Excerpt from “Lines Written a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey,” by Williams Wordsworth This past summer, we offered our first round of Summer Symposiums in the Magnus Fellowship; enjoy this excerpt from Helen Freeh’s course comparing the views of the early and late romantic poets William Wordsworth and Percy Bysshe Shelley.  You can catch the rest of this symposium, and all other course recordings,  by donating just $25/ month. https://magnusinstitute.org/give/

"We were born not to sue but to command." - William Shakespeare Dr.Joe Wysocki of the Belmont Abbey College is here to discuss the making of monarchies, kings, statesmen and families through the lens of Shakespeare's Henriad.   Check out the Belmont Abbey Honors College- the newest of our endorsed institutions: https://belmontabbeycollege.edu/academics/honors-college/   Dr. Joseph Wysocki is Dean of the Honors College at Belmont Abbey College where he has also served as Assistant Academic Dean, and Chair and Associate Professor of the Politics Department since 2010. He is interested in all of the great books in the Honors College curriculum but has a particular focus on classical political philosophy and American political thought, especially the thought of Alexis de Tocqueville. Dr. Wysocki received his B.A. in Political Science and Economics from Belmont Abbey College and his M.A. and Ph.D in Political Science at Baylor University. He serves on the Council of Scholars for the American Academy for Liberal Education and CLT’s Board of Academic Advisors. He lives in Gastonia, NC with his wife Jeanne and his six children.