General Introduction – Being-towards-the-end-of-semester – Emmanuels far and near – Thanks, Theology Nerd Throwdown! – Chess update What is a Dystopia? – Topos – Utopias and dystopias – The great temptation – Distinctions Premodern Dystopias – No, not really – Pre-dystopian Thebes – Gods and ideologies – The role of technology – The Persia of…
Tag: J.R.R. Tolkien
The Christian Humanist Podcast, Episode #71: Humility
General Introduction – What’s not on the blog? – Thus begins the triptych of spring 2012 New Testament Humility – The ethics of humility – The Golden Rule, further – Christ’s kenosis and ours – Greatness requires great humility – Gregory the Great Servant Thomist Humility – Aristotelian balance – Seven virtues – The interconnectedness…
Linkin' Donuts
Chris Gehrz of CWC the Radio Show joins the blog scene The role of the humanities in the university and why we’ve failed Two visions of democracy and why one of them is poison On legal briefs as literary texts (or episodes of 24, at any rate) As it turns out, that graduation speaker wasn’t…
The Christian Humanist Podcast, Episode #39: Town and Country
General Introduction – New segment: Michial Farmer’s world of women’s fashion – Thanks for not writing in – Why Nathan is the left-leaner amongst us – What’s on the blog? Aesop Ipsa Loquitur – Is the country mouse a rube? – Other Greek notions about the polis – Plato’s suburban pharmacy – The importance of…
The Christian Humanist Podcast, Episode 26: Friendship
Music this week is “Isn’t That What Friends Are For?” from Bruce Cockburn’s 1999 album Breakfast in New Orleans, Dinner in Timbuktu. General Introduction – What’s on the blog? – All hail Craig Farmer (no relation) – Old Man Gilmour tells us all to get off his lawn Friendship in the Ancient World – Aristotle’s…
The Christian Humanist Podcast, Episode #21: Literary Criticism
That’s the end of Season 2, folks. We’ve had a great time doing the show, and we’re glad you listen. We explain our summer plans in the show itself. Keep listening, and keep reading! General Introduction – So long, Season 2 – Listener feedback – What’s on the blog? – Our summer plans and our…
Attack of the Pathetic Fallacy
I do not recall when I first encountered the notion of a pathetic fallacy: a literature course, doubtless, but I’ve had many of those. I was almost certainly an undergraduate, because the pathetic fallacy was introduced simply as a term, with a plain, dry definition; I was told nothing of its connotative implications, and we…
Hobbits, Monsters, and Augustine
In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. And so he did: Bilbo Baggins, that is. However, the opening sentence of Tolkien’s story could just as easily describe another hobbit–a girl hobbit, who is now referred to be the name “Flo”. Unlike Bilbo’s hole, Flo’s hole was indeed nasty, dirty, and wet–a muddy…
Of Dragon-slaying and Human Dignity
I’ve always been a sucker for a good monster story. As a boy, I would browse through my parents’ books, especially the encyclopedias, and stop whenever I saw an illustration of a monster. This was particularly true of dragons, of which I was specially fond. This was also how I first encountered Beowulf: as a…
The Christian Humanist Podcast, Episode 11: Epic
This week’s music: “Her Right Hand Rules the World,” by They Sang As They Slew, from Get Well (Northern Records, 2004). Great band, great record, great Tolkien reference. General Introduction – Nathan’s back, and he’s angry at us – Another CHP ex cathedra announcement Defining and Misdefining Epic – Thanks, FailBlog – That’s so random…