The Catholic Culture Podcast

Michael Pakaluk, acting dean at the Catholic University of America, shares insights from his new translation of Mark’s Gospel, believed to be based on St. Peter's eyewitness accounts. He discusses the narrative techniques of Mark and how tense shifts create urgency and emotional depth. Pakaluk emphasizes the human aspects of Christ, portraying him as a relatable figure. He also explores the significance of healing miracles and the secrecy surrounding them, reflecting on their impact on public perception and the portrayal of Jesus's humanity.

The quest for freedom in structure is fundamental to Catholic spiritual life (particularly during this season of Lent). It’s also fundamental to musical improvisation. How can you be free and spontaneous without giving way to anarchy and sin, which lead to death?  How can you be organized and disciplined without succumbing to the living death of rigidity? How can you make new music in the moment, with no predetermined composition, that nonetheless has order and beauty? And how can you do all this without taking yourself too seriously? Only the Holy Spirit makes these things possible. My friend Mark Christopher Brandt—improvising pianist, composer and spiritual writer—has spent his life pursuing these paradoxes in the confluence of life as a musician and life in Christ. We discuss his ongoing series of fully improvised albums, most recently the DVD Structure and Freedom, as well as his books of meditations for the Stations of the Cross and the Rosary. Links Mark’s website http://www.markchristopherbrandt.com Structure and Freedom DVD https://markchristopherbrandt.com/structure-and-freedom-dvd.html Sunflowers and Roses (soundtrack album to Structure and Freedom) https://markchristopherbrandt.com/sunflowers-and-roses-album.html Mark's spiritual books https://markchristopherbrandt.com/spiritual-books.html 2017 interview about Mark’s album The Nightingale https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-0-nightingale-mark-christopher-brandt/  

For many people who have never been to Spain, their only image of the country may be the strange spires of Barcelona’s La Sagrada Familia, designed by Antoni Gaudí. It is certainly the best-known building in Spain, despite still not being finished—and construction began in 1882! Indeed, Gaudí knew the building would not be completed in his lifetime, but was at peace with this, saying, “My client is not in a hurry.” He was an ascetic with a deep devotion to the Holy Family, and there is an ongoing cause for his beatification with which my guest is involved.   Links Images of Gaudí’s works https://www.pinterest.com/ukiahyaya/antoni-gaudi/?lp=true Association for the Beatification of Antoni Gaudí http://translate.google.com/translate?client=tmpg&hl=en&langpair=es|en&u=http%3A//www.gaudibeatificatio.com/ The Association’s book on Gaudí and the beatification effort http://www.gaudibeatificatio.com/files/docs/GAUDI-BOOK.pdf

You may or may not know that I have a background in jazz piano (I wrote and performed the intro and outro music for this show, for example). In this album I introduce you to about ten of my very favorite jazz albums. This is an experimental solo episode, but don’t worry, we’ll be back to interviews next week.   Links The main list: Charlie Parker, “Parker’s Mood” (1948) (listen to this original version, not the overdubbed version from Clint Eastwood’s depressing film Bird!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Wa7El-k3jQ Best of the Savoy and Dial Master Takes (I mentioned the complete set in the episode but this is more approachable): https://www.amazon.com/Best-Complete-Savoy-Studio-Recordings/dp/B000067FUO/ “Koko”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okrNwE6GI70 Erroll Garner, The Complete Concert by the Sea (1958): https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Concert-Sea-Erroll-Garner/dp/B00ZJ5QXDO/                  “I’ll Remember April”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_aILGaLqyc Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto, Getz/Gilberto (1964): https://www.amazon.com/Getz-Gilberto-Stan/dp/B0000047CX/                  “Desafinado”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=So718wk426c Wes Montgomery and the Wynton Kelly Trio, Smokin’ at the Half Note (1965): https://www.amazon.com/Smokin-At-Half-Note-Remastered/dp/B0006VXF4G/                  “Unit 7”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D12_468jvNk Miles Davis, Kind of Blue (1959): https://www.amazon.com/Kind-Blue-Miles-Davis/dp/B000002ADT/  “Blue in Green”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veDgWww1hIQ Bill Evans’s liner notes: https://www.sfjazz.org/onthecorner/bill-evans-kind-blue-liner-notes/ Bill Evans, Alone (1968): https://www.amazon.com/Alone-VME-Bill-Evans/dp/B00006C79A/                  “Here’s That Rainy Day”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMa2VaV3Voo Miles Davis, Nefertiti (1968): https://www.amazon.com/Nefertiti-Miles-Davis/dp/B003O5MODY/                 “Nefertiti”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHBIfBex7Ig Herbie Hancock, Speak Like a Child (1968): https://www.amazon.com/Speak-Like-Child-Herbie-Hancock/dp/B0007LLQ3W/                 “Speak Like a Child”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTNLWi-xAkE Chick Corea, Friends (1978): https://www.amazon.com/Friends-CHICK-COREA/dp/B01LVWGSGJ "Waltz for Dave": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNdowVQ9nxE   Other albums mentioned: Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, Bird and Diz (1950): https://www.amazon.com/Bird-Diz-Charlie-Parker/dp/B009R50YU0/                 “Bloomdido”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MCGweQ8Oso Elis Regina and Antonio Carlos Jobim, Elis & Tom (1974): https://www.amazon.com/Elis-Antonio-Carlos-Jobim-Regina/dp/B0017YWG2S                 “Aguas de Março”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1tOV7y94DY Miles Davis, Miles Smiles (1967): https://www.amazon.com/Miles-Smiles-Davis/dp/B016QE48TM/                 “Footprints”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62p-CXrYmf4 Herbie Hancock et al., Tribute to Miles (1992): https://www.amazon.com/Tribute-Miles-Various-Artists/dp/B000002MG7/ “Elegy”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_DJJyJ5Ogg Chick Corea, Three Quartets (1981): https://www.amazon.com/Three-Quartets-Chick-Corea/dp/B000003OZE/                 “Quartet No. 2, Pt. 2: Tribute to John Coltrane”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQx96DsZXxA

While Tolkien’s brilliance as a world-builder and storyteller is well-established, fewer people are aware of just how unique (and obsessive) his creative process was, or that he was a gifted visual artist. That is changing thanks to an unprecedented exhibition of Tolkien’s personal items, manuscripts and artworks, Tolkien: Maker of Middle-Earth, currently on display at the Morgan Library in Manhattan. John McQuillen, Assistant Curator at the Morgan Library, and Holly Ordway, author of the upcoming study Tolkien’s Modern Sources, join me to discuss the exhibition, which sheds light on Tolkien’s use of visual art to help him solidify his literary vision, the role his stories and artworks played in his family life, and (perhaps surprising to many who view Tolkien as a conservative fuddy-duddy) his willingness to draw on an eclectic range of sources, including distinctly modern ones, to enhance his creative expression.   Links Tolkien: Maker of Middle-Earth at the Morgan (view selected images from the exhibition) https://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/tolkien The exhibition book, Tolkien: Maker of Middle-Earth by Catherine McIlwaine https://www.amazon.com/Tolkien-Maker-Middle-earth-Catherine-McIlwaine/dp/1851244859 Holly Ordway http://www.hollyordway.com/ Sheen Center for Thought & Culture https://www.sheencenter.org/ Past Tolkien-related episodes Episode 15: Online Education with The Tolkien Professor—Corey Olsen https://www.catholicculture.org/podcast/index.cfm?id=15 Episode 16: Extremely Specific Middle-earth Q&A with The Tolkien Professor—Corey Olsen https://www.catholicculture.org/podcast/index.cfm?id=16 This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Today there is more pressure than ever before on both women and men to embrace feminism. In her outstanding memoir, Into the Deep, Abigail Rine Favale gives a resonant account of her journey from an evangelical childhood to a Christian feminism which inevitably gave way to the secular, postmodern variety. This ideology gradually gutted her faith—a process interrupted by childbirth and a sudden and unexpected conversion to Catholicism. We discuss the feasibility of Catholic feminism, the danger of interpreting Scripture and doctrine through a predetermined ideological hermeneutic, facile uses of the word "equality", the totalizing nature of all ideology, the role of intuition in the spiritual life, and more. Links Buy Into the Deep: An Unlikely Catholic Conversion using discount code “DEEP” for 40% off https://wipfandstock.com/into-the-deep.html Recent articles by Abigail Rine Favale “Confessions of a Feminist Heretic” http://churchlife.nd.edu/2019/01/11/confessions-of-a-feminist-heretic/ “Sex and Symbol” http://churchlife.nd.edu/2018/06/19/sex-and-symbol/ “Hildegard of Bingen’s Vital Contribution to the Concept of Woman” http://churchlife.nd.edu/2018/12/11/hildegard-of-bingens-vital-contribution-to-the-concept-of-woman/ Other articles Dawn Eden, “Eve of Deconstruction: Feminism and John Paul II” https://www.catholicity.com/commentary/eden/03324.html Thomas V. Mirus, “Should women be meek and mild like Mary?” https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/otc.cfm?id=1594 This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

This episode is not to be missed! There is an ongoing and much-needed revival of Jacques Maritain’s philosophy of art. Accomplished poet Samuel Hazo makes a most valuable contribution to that revival with The World Within the World: Maritain and the Poet. He wrote the book 60 years ago, with a preface by Maritain himself (the only book about him to receive that honor), but it was only recently published. In this conversation, we go over some of the most important points in Maritain’s thought on poetry; Dr. Hazo provides many an illuminating anecdote and off-the-cuff recitation of poems by himself and others to concretize ideas that might, to the non-artist, seem esoteric. Links https://www.samhazopoet.com/ Dr. Hazo’s most recent books: The World Within the World: Maritain and the Poet https://www.amazon.com/World-within-Word-Maritain-Poet/dp/0996930574/ When Not Yet Is Now (upcoming poetry collection) https://www.amazon.com/When-Not-Yet-Samuel-Hazo/dp/0999513451/ The Pittsburgh That Stays Within You, Fifth Edition https://www.amazon.com/Pittsburgh-That-Stays-Within-You-ebook/dp/B077MNLR42/ This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Many people want to study the great books of the western world in a group setting, but are unable to study at a Great Books college like St. John’s, and it’s not easy to find people willing to commit to read and meet to discuss the books regularly. I was in that club until I found a new company called Online Great Books. It provides both the books and the people to discuss them with via video conferencing software, all on a schedule that normal, busy folks can keep up with. I want to let people in on the fun I’ve been having, so I invited OGB founder Scott Hambrick to join me on the show. OGB’s latest enrollment period began on January 28th (the day before this podcast came out) and will stay open for about seven days. Get in there using discount code “catholicculture” for 25% off your first three months!  Links Join Online Great Books via this referral link https://hj424.isrefer.com/go/ogbmemberships/tmirus/ Learn more about OGB https://onlinegreatbooks.com/ Mortimer Adler’s list of the Great Books of the Western World http://www.interleaves.org/~rteeter/gbww.html Online Great Books Podcast https://onlinegreatbooks.com/onlinegreatbooks-podcast/ The Underground History of American Education https://www.amazon.com/Underground-History-American-Education-Investigation/dp/0945700040/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8 Today's reading: C.S. Lewis, "Willing Slaves of the Welfare State" http://liberty-tree.ca/research/willing_slaves_of_the_welfare_state This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Fr. Basil Cole returns to discuss what he has been teaching the student brothers at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C., in a course on the arts, contemplation and virtue. Links Episode 11: Music and Morals—Fr. Basil Cole, O.P. https://www.catholicculture.org/podcast/index.cfm?id=11 Fr. Basil’s dissertation, The Moral and Psychological Effects of Music: A Theological Appraisal https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=11968 Fr. Basil’s articles at Catholic Culture https://www.catholicculture.org/search/resultslist.cfm?requesttype=docbrowseauth&resourcetype=1&catlabel=author&catid=85 Readings mentioned: Jacques Maritain, Art and Scholasticism https://maritain.nd.edu/jmc/etext/art.htm Josef Pieper, Only the Lover Sings https://www.ignatius.com/Only-the-Lover-Sings-P1873.aspx Pope St. John Paul II, Letter to Artists https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=988&repos=1&subrepos=0&searchid=1905529 Pope Benedict XVI, Address to Artists https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=9187&repos=1&subrepos=0&searchid=1905530 Pope St. Paul VI, Address to Artists http://w2.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/speeches/1965/documents/hf_p-vi_spe_19651208_epilogo-concilio-artisti.html Francis J. Kovach, Philosophy of Beauty https://www.amazon.com/Philosophy-Beauty-Frances-J-Kovach/dp/0806113634

Phil Lawler, Jeff Mirus, and Thomas Mirus discuss selections from their article rounding up their favorite books and other media of 2018. Links Article: The best books we read in 2018 https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/otc.cfm?id=1591