J.R.R. Tolkien is commonly perceived as a reactionary who totally rejected the modern world, and whose literary influences began and ended with the Middle Ages. Holly Ordway's new book, Tolkien's Modern Reading: Middle-earth Beyond the Middle Ages, debunks that view of Tolkien's life and work. Ordway begins with an invaluable critique of the sources of this misconception, especially the official biography written by Humphrey Carpenter, who admitted his own bias and desire to portray Tolkien as an uptight fuddy-duddy. She then proceeds to examine the works of modern literature we know Tolkien read, gleaning insights about how he may have been influenced either by acceptance or rejection of what he found in those works. In this interview we focus on Tolkien's reading of the father of modern fantasy, William Morris, the adventure writer H. Rider Haggard, the now-unknown religious romance John Inglesant, and even literary modernists like James Joyce and Roy Campbell, and realists like Sinclair Lewis. Watch this conversation on YouTube: https://youtu.be/0_J46A7QhhQ Links Tolkien’s Modern Reading https://store.wordonfire.org/products/tmr Daphne Castell interview with Tolkien https://fantasticmetropolis.com/i/tolkien Diana Glyer’s books on the Inklings: The Company They Keep https://www.amazon.com/Company-They-Keep-Tolkien-Community/dp/0873389913 Bandersnatch https://www.amazon.com/Bandersnatch-Tolkien-Creative-Collaboration-Inklings/dp/1606352768   Some of the many books enjoyed by Tolkien mentioned in this episode: William Morris, The House of the Wolfings and The Roots of the Mountains H. Rider Haggard, She Joseph Henry Shorthouse, John Inglesant Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland Andrew Lang’s fairy tale collections Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit books E.A. Wyke-Smith, The Marvellous Land of Snergs John Buchan, The Thirty-Nine Steps and the other Richard Hannay books This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

We celebrate our 100th episode with the return of a favorite Catholic Culture Podcast guest, former Pennsylvania Poet Laureate Samuel Hazo. At 92, Sam is still writing books, most recently a new collection of poems and a novel, published by Wiseblood Books. In this episode Sam reads and discusses poems from his new collection, The Next Time We Saw Paris, a recurring theme of which is how each experience in time passes away, yet in passing away it becomes a singular whole which remains present as such in memory. He discusses his founding of the International Poetry Forum in Pittsburgh, which hosted public readings by many of the greatest contemporary poets, including W.H. Auden, Seamus Heaney, and Czeslaw Milosz. Other topics include the importance of hearing poetry read aloud, the development of Sam's poetic voice into something very like natural speech, and the hidden power of women. Watch this discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/mg4Ao-eTIwI Links The Next Time We Saw Paris https://www.wisebloodbooks.com/store/p108/The-Next-Time-We-Saw-Paris.html If Nobody Calls, I'm Not Home https://www.wisebloodbooks.com/store/p98/If_Nobody_Calls%2C_I%27m_Not_Home%3A_The_Open_Letters_of_Bim_Nakely%2C_by_Samuel_Hazo.html Sam Hazo's website https://www.samhazopoet.com Catholic Culture Podcast interview with Hazo on Maritain https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-28-introduction-to-maritains-poetic-philosophy-samuel-hazo/ The Daily Poem podcast https://shows.acast.com/the-daily-poem This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

To celebrate the approach of Episode 100 of the Catholic Culture Podcast, here is the interview that started it all. Originally published on August 4, 2017, this interview turned out so well that we decided to launch a whole series of interviews on Catholic arts and culture. The podcast launched several months later, on May 1, 2018. Catholic composer and pianist Mark Christopher Brandt joined Thomas Mirus to discuss his classical album and suite The Nightingale, inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's story "The Emperor and the Nightingale". The discussion was a double delight as it covered not only the album itself, but also an extended exploration of the spiritual themes of Andersen's classic fairy tale, especially what it conveys about the true meaning of freedom. Mark has been a guest on the Catholic Culture Podcast twice since this first interview. (Since then, too, Thomas has played on Mark's classical album The Butterfly, along with Katherine Colburn, the cellist whose skills are so highly praised in the Nightingale interview.) All music used with permission from Mark Christopher Brandt and Lionheart Music East. Links Read: Hans Christian Anderson’s fairy tale “The Nightingale” http://hca.gilead.org.il/nighting.html Mark Christopher Brandt’s The Nightingale: Physical CD https://markchristopherbrandt.com/the-nightingale-album.html iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-nightingale/id1253776983 Amazon MP3 https://www.amazon.com/Nightingale-Katherine-Colburn-Christopher-Brandt/dp/B073LJ96LV/ Score: The Nightingale sheet music https://markchristopherbrandt.com/the-nightingale-scores-and-parts-store.html The artists: Pianist and composer Mark Christopher Brandt http://markchristopherbrandt.com/ Flutist Yana Nikol http://yananikol.com/ Cellist Katherine Colburn at Prince William String Academy https://pwstringacademy.com/ Engineer Bill McElroy at Slipped Disc Audio https://www.slippeddiscaudio.com/billbio.htm More: Round Trip: The Making of an Artist documentary https://markchristopherbrandt.com/round-trip-the-making-of-an-artist-dvd---store.html Mark's appearances on the Catholic Culture Podcast: 33 - Structure and Freedom in Music and in Christ https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-33-structure-and-freedom-in-music-and-in-christ-mark-christopher-brandt/ 68 - What I Learned From Making Music with Mark Christopher Brandt https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-68-what-i-learned-from-making-music-with-mark-christopher-brandt/ This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

This Ash Wednesday, following a note from the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, many American parishes did not distribute ashes in the customary way of smudging a cross on the forehead and saying one of two possible formulas to each recipient. Instead, as an ostensible anti-COVID precaution, they sprinkled ashes on the top of the head and said the formula once to the whole congregation. Today’s guest, Gail Finke, wrote a thought-provoking article, not so much on the appropriateness of changing the usual practice this year because of the pandemic, but on an attitude so often taken in discussing Ash Wednesday every year. There is a certain spiritual elitism which regards concern for the external rite, including the rare opportunity to explicitly witness to the faith in a public way, as the province of those of little or superficial faith, or even of the vain. If someone objects to a seemingly unnecessary change, he is said to be overly concerned with the inessential. Yet the experience of the past several decades has shown us definitively that the elimination of “inessential” devotions has had catastrophic effects on the faith of Catholics. External expressions of devotion are important. The little things which set Catholics apart are important. Constant change and disorientation are not good for the people of God. The assumption that those who object to it must have little faith is arrogant. The indifference to the reality that the large number who do have weak faith will easily fall away when denied the rites of the Church—“you don’t need to go to Mass, just make a spiritual communion”—is callous and legalistic. Links Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/LYkXheSxHXs Gail Finke, “Are We Going to Throw Out Ash Wednesday Too?” https://www.crisismagazine.com/2021/are-we-going-to-throw-out-ash-wednesday-too Thomas Humphries, “The Case of the Great Pandemic Liturgical Flip-Flop” https://churchlifejournal.nd.edu/articles/the-case-of-the-great-pandemic-liturgical-flip-flop/ Driving Home the Faith radio show produced by Gail www.sacredheartradio.com Ep. 84, Disobey Lockdown Now w/ Douglas Farrow and Andrew Busch https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/84-disobey-lockdown-now-douglas-farrow-andrew-busch/ This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Famous for his chanted performances of Beowulf in the original Old English, Benjamin Bagby is the closest thing you'll find today to an Anglo-Saxon bard. Bagby joins the show to describe how he reconstructed Beowulf as a sung tale, giving a demonstration of his Anglo-Saxon harp which is modeled on harps found in burial sites from over a millennium ago. He also discusses the recordings of the complete works of St. Hildegard of Bingen made by his ensemble, Sequentia. All music and video by Bagby and Sequentia used with permission.    Watch this interview on YouTube: https://youtu.be/uZLEM75RO_w   LINKS   Bagby's Beowulf site and DVD https://www.bagbybeowulf.com   Video of Bagby's full performance at 92Y https://youtu.be/2WcIK_8f7oQ    Sequentia https://www.sequentia.org   Featured piece by St. Hildegard, O Vis Aeternitatis, recorded by Sequentia from their album Canticles of Ecstasy https://youtu.be/_Vcv2HdApcs   This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/BatWN05pP1I Catholic geneticist Daniel Toma is the author of Vestige of Eden, Image of Eternity: Common Experience, the Hierarchy of Being, and Modern Science. He joins the podcast to discuss what natural science, including the fossil record, can teach us about the hierarchy of being and the liturgical structure of all creation, with deified man as rational head of the physical cosmos bringing all material creation into union with God. Links Daniel Toma, Vestige of Eden, Image of Eternity https://www.hfsbooks.com/books/vestige-of-eden-image-of-eternity-toma/ This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/4Uv7MvEHixg The Hillbilly Thomists, a bluegrass group entirely composed of Dominican friars, have just released their second album, Living for the Other Side. Percussionist Fr. Joseph Hagan, who happens to be a priest at Thomas's parish, joins the show to talk about the new album, the connections between bluegrass and the Apocalypse, and music as an expression of the Dominican mission of preaching. All songs used with permission. Links https://www.hillbillythomists.com/ Music video, "Our Help Is in the Name of the Lord" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKDG9DF7mhA This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/zkfJ-gSMdUg Today’s Catholic culture is marked by a profound and settled religious indifferentism. Among many Catholics, to say what the Church has always taught—that Jesus Christ is the one way to salvation—is considered offensive, or at best, rash. In certain countries, the bishops’ conferences have practically made a policy against seeking converts from other religions (or lack thereof). Catholics, ruled by fear of human respect and compromised by their own private sins, are finding more and more reasons not to proclaim Christ’s moral teachings as well. Ralph Martin, whose new book A Church in Crisis: Pathways Forward is a comprehensive spiritual diagnosis of our present situation, joins the show to discuss the many factors contributing to religious indifferentism. These include theological doubts about whether anyone really goes to hell (thanks, Balthasar), the therapeutic culture which has lost any sense of sin and justice, the focus on legalistic analysis of culpability rather than the need to change, and fear of human respect. Links A Church in Crisis https://stpaulcenter.com/product/a-church-in-crisis-pathways-forward/ Jeff Mirus’s review of A Church in Crisis https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/mapping-crisis-ralph-martins-blockbuster-book/ Renewal Ministries https://www.renewalministries.net/  The Fulfillment of All Desire https://stpaulcenter.com/product/the-fulfillment-of-all-desire/ Newman sermon, “Christian Reverence” on Catholic Culture Audiobooks https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/st-john-henry-newman-christian-reverence/ This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/3Czyd0XSEso The alarmists were right: ideas that were only a few years ago complacently dismissed as the perennial agitation of a few campus loonies are now pervasive in the corporate world, mass media and pop culture. Critical race theory, transgender ideology, the obsessive search for oppressive power relations in every aspect of life and every feature of language, the demand for all to be activists, shutting down of dissenting speech as violence: common sense or the gift of a solid Catholic formation will suffice for most who reject these ideologies. But some will want a more rigorous critique or a deeper understanding of the philosophical roots of radical leftist activism. To that end, Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay have written Cynical Theories, a very helpful primer on the development of modern activism from 1960s postmodernist philosophy. In this episode, Thomas and political philosopher Darel Paul discuss the book, which tracks how postcolonial theory, queer theory, women’s/gender studies, critical race theory, and other activist fields have instantiated or adapted the following central principles and themes of postmodernism: Postmodern principles: Radical skepticism about the ability to know anything, cultural constructivism Society is formed of systems of power and hierarchies which decide what and how things can be known Postmodern themes: The blurring of boundaries, the power of language, cultural relativism, loss of the individual and the universal The episode concludes with a critique of Pluckrose and Lindsay’s prescription of a return to Enlightenment liberalism as a corrective to postmodernism. Contents [1:41] Reasons for discussing Cynical Theories [4:36] Evidence of postmodernist activist movements reaching the mainstream [10:58] What the book contributes to the discourse on woke ideology [15:00] Similarities and differences between postmodernism and Marxism [26:25] The core postmodern principles and themes [38:53] Policing speech as a tool of power rather than a rational means of communicating truth [47:58] The proliferation of postmodern principles into a number of activist fields [49:47] Defining one’s identity in terms of suffering and oppression [55:07] Tension between postmodern rejection of categories and the need to have categories to critique power relations; the emergence of queer theory; deliberate incoherence as liberation [1:01:06] Conundrum for LGBTQ activists: gain “normal” status or destroy idea of normality? [1:06:40] Gender theory vs. critical race theory on categories [1:18:50] Postmodernism as a class ideology? [1:24:17] The postcolonial critique of science; epistemic relativism [1:27:30] Critique of Pluckrose and Lindsay’s advocacy of a return to Enlightenment liberalism [1:32:51] Liberalism as an inherently negative and deconstructive philosophy [1:40:04] Postmodernism as an extension and/or consequence of liberalism [2:04:33] How to communicate truth to someone who believes language is merely power?  Links Pluckrose and Lindsay, Cynical Theories https://www.amazon.com/Cynical-Theories-Scholarship-Everything-Identity_and/dp/1634312023 Darel Paul, “Against Racialism” https://www.firstthings.com/article/2020/10/against-racialism Darel Paul, “Listening at the Great Awokening” https://areomagazine.com/2019/04/17/listening-at-the-great-awokening/ Darel Paul, “The Global Community Is a Fantasy” https://americanmind.org/salvo/the-global-community-is-a-fantasy/ Darel Paul, From Tolerance to Equality https://www.baylorpress.com/9781481306959/from-tolerance-to-equality/ Ep. 61 on liberalism as an anti-culture with James Matthew Wilson https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-61-liberal-anti-culture-vs-western-vision-soul-pt-i-james-matthew-wilson/ Ep. 18 on the vice of acedia manifested in our refusal to accept our given nature https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-18-acedia-forgotten-capital-sin-rj-snell/ Christmas episodes: It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) film discussion w/ Patrick Coffin https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/its-wonderful-life-1946-w-patrick-coffin/ CCP 59 – The Glorious English Carol https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-59-glorious-english-carol/ This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

All music by Thomas Tallis used with permission of the artists and labels listed below. Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/i-oMO9qqzKA As a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, Thomas Tallis (1505-1585) composed sacred music for four successive English monarchs, starting with Henry VIII and ending with Elizabeth. Those were turbulent times in England, especially for a church musician. Those were turbulent times in England, especially for a church musician. Like his colleague (and probable pupil) William Byrd, Tallis was able to adapt his compositional style to meet the constantly shifting ideological demands of the regimes under which he served. Unlike the combative Byrd, who in his later years removed himself from court life and made a point of his loyalty to Rome, Tallis may have simply gone with the flow.  We don’t know for sure, because there is very little information about his life. Here to tell us what we do know is singer and scholar Kerry McCarthy, author of a concise new book on Tallis’s life and music in Oxford University Press’s Master Musicians Series (which also includes her book on Byrd previously discussed on this podcast). She enthusiastically discusses his music, his times, the foundation of polyphony in plainchant which was obliterated by the Reformation, the various compositional techniques of the time, and the nature of the medieval modes with which these composers worked. Links Kerry McCarthy, Tallis https://global.oup.com/academic/product/tallis-9780190635213 Hear Kerry sing with Capella Romana in a groundbreaking recreation of the acoustics of a sixth-century Byzantine cathedral! Lost Voices of Hagia Sophia: Medieval Byzantine Chant https://cappellaromana.org/product/lost-voices-of-hagia-sophia-medieval-byzantine-chant/ Kerry McCarthy discusses Byrd on this podcast: Pt. 1 https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-49-catholic-composer-in-queen-elizabeths-court-pt-i-kerry-mccarthy/ Pt. 2 https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-50a-catholic-composer-in-queen-elizabeths-court-pt-iikerry-mccarthy/ This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio Music heard in this episode Thomas Tallis: “If ye love me” performed by The Gesualdo Six, c/o Hyperion https://www.amazon.com/English-Motets-Gesualdo-Six/dp/B078X98G4B/ Video from their YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/yHe2FDlHHa8 “Lesson Two Parts in One” performed by Matthieu Latreille https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EsptIeArHI “Miserere nostri” (Tallis/Byrd), “In jejunio et fletu” performed by Alamire, c/o Obsidian https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004H4OHXG/ref=dm_ws_sp_ps_dp “Puer natus est nobis: Agnus Dei”, “Psalm Tunes from Archbishop Parker’s Psalter”, “Spem in alium” performed by Chapelle Du Roi, from their Complete Works of Tallis c/o Signum Records UK https://signumrecords.com Chapelle’s Du Roi’s Complete Works of Tallis available affordably in the US here https://www.amazon.com/Tallis-Complete-Chapelle-Du-Roi/dp/B005JWXA1K/ Ralph Vaughan Williams: “Fantasia on a Theme from Thomas Tallis” performed by Academy of Saint-Martin-in-the-Fields, dir. Neville Mariner https://www.amazon.com/Williams-Greensleeves-Tallis-Neville-Marriner/dp/B000004CVM/