New Humanists
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Join the hosts of New Humanists and founders of the Ancient Language Institute, Jonathan Roberts and Ryan Hammill, on their quest to discover what a renewed humanism looks like for the modern world. The Ancient Language Institute is an online language school and think tank, dedicated to changing the way ancient languages are taught.
Available episodes
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May 15, 2023
Democracy Dies with Lysander, feat. Alex Petkas | Episode XLVII
Lysander is a troubling figure. As a child, he was a charity case who excelled his more affluent peers; he never cared for wealth, and yet overlooked the rapaciousness of his friends, allowing money and luxury into Sparta, corrupting it. He liberated the Greek world from the yoke of Athenian imperialism, but then installed oligarchic juntas to rule with an iron fist. He conquered Athens itself, but campaigned at a war council to spare the city from destruction. But once inside the city, he threatened the Athenians with extermination if they didn't obey him. Alex Petkas, the host of the Cost of Glory podcast, joins Jonathan and Ryan in discussing Plutarch's account of the extraordinary Lysander.
Alex Petkas's Cost of Glory podcast (Lysander 1): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lysander-1-death-of-democracy/id1580153815?i=1000565510664
Ancient Life Coach: https://ancientlifecoach.com/
Speak Lead Retreat: https://ancientlifecoach.com/retreat/
Herodotus' Histories: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781400031146
Isocrates' Evagoras: https://amzn.to/40NyCaP
Pindar's Olympian Odes: https://amzn.to/429sk6m
Plutarch's Parallel Lives, including Lysander (Loeb edition): https://amzn.to/3HjDnC8
Plutarch's Parallel Lives, including Lysander (Penguin edition): https://amzn.to/44amYK5
University of Chicago's Penelope Parallel Lives: https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/plutarch/lives/home.html
Euripides' Electra: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780226035598
Xenophon's Anabasis: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780307906854
Andrew Roberts's Napoleon: A Life: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780143127857
Sean McMeekin's Stalin's War: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781541672796
Alex Petkas's Cost of Glory episode 1 on the Anabasis: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/xenophon-anabasis-i-power-highlights/id1580153815?i=1000597494893
Xenophon's Hellenika: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781400034765
Steven Pressfield's Tides of War: https://amzn.to/3oQF9Eq
Paul Cartledge's Agesilaos and the Crisis of Sparta: https://amzn.to/3LDaFi3
New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/
Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.
Music: Save Us Now by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
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May 1, 2023
Education that Makes Aquinas Look Modern, feat. John Peterson | Episode XLVI
In his wise and humane Didascalicon, the teacher, canon regular, and mystical theologian Hugh of St. Victor lays out his advice and instructions for teachers and students engaged in liberal study. The heir of centuries of thought in Christendom on the liberal arts, Hugh and his contemporaries were on the precipice of a revolution--the western rediscovery of Aristotle and the subsequent revolution of theology and philosophy, championed above all by Thomas Aquinas. University of Dallas professor John Peterson joins Jonathan and Ryan to discuss the Didascalicon and its role in liberal education.
Classical Education Graduate Program at the University of Dallas: https://udallas.edu/braniff/academics/ma/classical_education/
Richard M. Gamble’s The Great Tradition: https://amzn.to/3Q4lRnO
Hugh of St. Victor's Didascalicon (Latin): http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/03d/1096-1141,_Hugo_De_S_Victore,_Didascalicon,_LT.pdf
Hugh of St. Victor's Didascalicon (English): https://archive.org/details/didascaliconmedi00hugh/mode/2up
Bruce A. Kimball's The Liberal Arts Tradition: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780761851325
Ryan N.S. Topping's Renewing the Mind: https://amzn.to/41xlb08
W.H. Cowley's The Seven Liberal Arts Hoax: https://www.jstor.org/stable/27565196
New Humanists episode on Giambattista Vico: https://podcasts.apple.com/hr/podcast/messing-up-your-kids-education-episode-xxxviii/id1570296135?i=1000591833664
Doug Lemov's Teach Like a Champion 3.0: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781119712619
John Peterson's Review of Teach Like a Champion 3.0: https://www.pdcnet.org/principia/content/principia_2022_0001_0001_0119_0123+
Plato's Republic: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780465094080
Augustine's Confessions: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780199537822
Livy's Ab Urbe Condita: https://amzn.to/3gYwtbh
Machiavelli's Discourses on Livy: https://amzn.to/3NtNBSj
Jacob Klein's The Idea of Liberal Education: https://www.scribd.com/document/46831695/The-Idea-of-Liberal-Education-Jacob-Klein
Martianus Capella's The Marriage of Philology and Mercury: https://amzn.to/41NZh8t
New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/
Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.
Music: Save Us Now by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
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Apr 15, 2023
The Danger of Plato | Episode XLV
Does Plato, and philosophy more generally, belong in schools? In a lecture, professor and Davenant Institute VP Colin Redemer suggests that Plato is too dangerous to be allowed into classical schools. Jonathan and Ryan take a look at this lecture and at the response it received, focusing on esoteric writing, reason versus revelation, and the Platonic-Christian-American synthesis.
The Davenant Institute's Reforming Classical Education: https://davenantinstitute.org/reforming-classical-education
Austin Hoffman's Awkward Family Dinner: A Review of Reforming Classical Education: https://www.frontporchrepublic.com/2023/02/awkward-family-dinner-a-review-of-reforming-classical-education/
Colin Redemer's Revisiting Platonic Education: The Ever Shareable Feast: https://adfontesjournal.com/web-exclusives/revisiting-platonic-education-the-ever-sharable-feast/
Leo Strauss's Persecution and the Art of Writing: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780226777115
Plato's Theages: https://amzn.to/3UE4DRl
T.S. Eliot's Second Thoughts About Humanism: https://muse.jhu.edu/document/408
New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/
Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.
Music: Save Us Now by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
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Apr 1, 2023
Can Humanism Replace Christianity? | Episode XLIV
Irving Babbitt was the architect of New Humanism. He was also T.S. Eliot's mentor at Harvard. But in 1928, the newly Anglican Eliot's essay criticizing his old mentor's humanistic project was published, which provoked a terse, and sharp, rebuke from Babbitt. What is the relationship between traditional religion and humanistic learning? Can humanism provide society with the standards needed for democratic life? In this episode, we take a look at Babbitt's and Eliot's writings on the subject.
T.S. Eliot's The Humanism of Irving Babbitt: https://muse.jhu.edu/document/374
T.S. Eliot's Second Thoughts About Humanism: https://muse.jhu.edu/document/408
Irving Babbitt's Democracy and Leadership: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780913966556
Jay Parini's Irving Babbitt Revisited: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3856831
The Davenant Institute's Reforming Classical Education: https://davenantinstitute.org/reforming-classical-education
T.S. Eliot's Little Gidding: http://www.columbia.edu/itc/history/winter/w3206/edit/tseliotlittlegidding.html
New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/
Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.
Music: Save Us Now by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
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Mar 15, 2023
Wars of Ancient Religion | No Republic Was Ever Greater
The duel between the Horatii brothers and the Curiatii brothers seemed to settle the Roman-Alban dispute and give Rome authority over Alba. But wily Mettius Fufetius has a trick or two up his sleeve. Meanwhile, the one surviving Horatius brother strikes down his sister in cold blood, an incident Jacques-Louis David drew but never ended up painting. The civilized three-on-three duel now threatens to give way to an all-out war of extermination between Rome and Alba. This is the sixth episode of "No Republic Was Ever Greater," a podcast series examining the rise of the Roman Empire through the work of Livy and Machiavelli.
Livy's Ab Urbe Condita: https://amzn.to/3gYwtbh
Machiavelli's Discourses on Livy: https://amzn.to/3NtNBSj
Fustel de Coulanges's La Cité Antique (French): https://amzn.to/3yzATuZ
Fustel de Coulanges's The Ancient City (English): https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780648690542
Jacques-Louis David's Oath of the Horatii: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oath_of_the_Horatii
Nicolas Poussin's Rape of the Sabine Women: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rape_of_the_Sabine_Women#/media/File:L'Enl%C3%A8vement_des_Sabines_%E2%80%93_Nicolas_Poussin_%E2%80%93_Mus%C3%A9e_du_Louvre,_INV_7290_%E2%80%93_Q3110586.jpg
Arlette Clavet's Unpublished Studies for 'The Oath of the Horatii': https://www.jstor.org/stable/1552932
Corneille's Horace: https://amzn.to/41zF1Iy
New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/
Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.
Music: Save Us Now by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
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Mar 1, 2023
The Roman Will to Power | No Republic Was Ever Greater
After the long peace of Numa's reign, Rome gets a new king, even more ferocious than Romulus: Tullus Hostilius. As soon as he comes to power, he begins looking for a way to start a war (while keeping a good conscience about it). This is the fifth episode of "No Republic Was Ever Greater," a podcast series examining the rise of the Roman Empire through the work of Livy and Machiavelli.
Livy's Ab Urbe Condita: https://amzn.to/3gYwtbh
Machiavelli's Discourses on Livy: https://amzn.to/3NtNBSj
Fustel de Coulanges's La Cité Antique (French): https://amzn.to/3yzATuZ
Fustel de Coulanges's The Ancient City (English): https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780648690542
Friedrich Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780140449235
J.R.R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780547928210
Hesiod's Theogony: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780199538317
Jacques-Louis David's Oath of the Horatii: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oath_of_the_Horatii
New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/
Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.
Music: Save Us Now by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
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Feb 15, 2023
Lincoln with the Bard, feat. Ted J. Richards | Episode XLI
Abraham Lincoln spent less than 1 year of his life going to school. Nevertheless, he became a lawyer, a surveyor, and one of the greatest statesmen in American history. He also carried on correspondence with one of the country's leading Shakespearean actors about the relative merits of different plays and speeches in Shakespeare's dramatic oeuvre. In no speech is the self-educated Lincoln's close attention to the Bard more in evidence than in his political comeback speech, the Peoria Address denouncing the Kansas-Nebraska Act. What do the veiled Shakespearean references in that speech reveal about Lincoln and the crisis that slavery posed to free government?
Abraham Lincoln's Peoria Speech: https://www.nps.gov/liho/learn/historyculture/peoriaspeech.htm
Ted J. Richards's Lincoln and Shakespeare at Peoria: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10457097.2021.1983355?journalCode=vpps20
Lewis E. Lehrman's Lincoln at Peoria: https://amzn.to/3WXKW6p
Lord Charnwood's Abraham Lincoln: A Biography: https://amzn.to/3wXmTdw
Folger Shakespeare Library's Hamlet: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780743477123
Alexander Pope's An Essay on Criticism: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/69379/an-essay-on-criticism
Harry Jaffa's Crisis of the House Divided: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780226391182
Harry Jaffa's A New Birth of Freedom: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781538114322
John Channing Briggs's Lincoln's Speeches Reconsidered: https://amzn.to/3xnDyqV
Diana Schaub's His Greatest Speeches: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781250763457
New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/
Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.
Music: Save Us Now by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
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Feb 1, 2023
Numa Numa Yeah | No Republic Was Ever Greater, Ep. 4
When Romulus dies, the city of Rome is riven by ethnic conflict between Romans and Sabines, and class conflict between senators and plebeians. The city cannot agree on its next king; an interregnum ensues. The stalemate is eventually resolved in favor of Numa Pompilius, who is crowned king of Rome in a mysterious, mystical ceremony which almost seems like a human sacrifice. This is the fourth episode of "No Republic Was Ever Greater," a podcast series examining the rise of the Roman Empire through the work of Livy and Machiavelli.
Livy's Ab Urbe Condita: https://amzn.to/3gYwtbh
Machiavelli's Discourses on Livy: https://amzn.to/3NtNBSj
René Girard's Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780804722155
Plato's Republic: https://amzn.to/3H2XOU1
New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/
Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.
Music: Save Us Now by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
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Jan 15, 2023
Milton Against the Trivium | Episode XXXIX
John Milton's clarion call to educators to "repair the ruins of our first parents" has inspired countless teachers and parents in the classical education movement and beyond. But is Milton really the classical education ally he appears to be? In "On Education" he pays lip service to grammar, logic, and rhetoric - the three components of the Trivium - but he also disparages scholasticism, ignores metaphysics, and deplores medieval education. Join Jonathan and Ryan as they discuss Milton's education manifesto.
Richard M. Gamble’s The Great Tradition: https://amzn.to/3Q4lRnO
John Milton's Of Education: https://milton.host.dartmouth.edu/reading_room/of_education/text.shtml
Johann Heinrich Alsted's Loci Communes: https://digitale.bibliothek.uni-halle.de/vd17/content/titleinfo/5175418
Jan Comenius' Orbis Pictus: https://amzn.to/3vQb08A
Hans H. Ørberg's Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata: https://amzn.to/3hoLz7V
New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/
Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.
Music: Save Us Now by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
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Jan 1, 2023
Messing Up Your Kid's Education | Episode XXXVIII
Giambattista Vico was a Renaissance Man after the Renaissance, but he was largely forgotten for centuries. As a professor of rhetoric, he often had the occasion to speak and write about the education of the young. We take a look at some of his orations on the topic, which are a mine of profound insight. Vico has some complaints that will sound very familiar, like, "Parents all just want their kids to become lawyers or doctors and get rich."
Richard M. Gamble’s The Great Tradition: https://amzn.to/3Q4lRnO
New Humanists episode on A.G. Sertillanges: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/me-an-intellectual-episode-xxvi/id1570296135?i=1000568461907
New Humanists episode on Donald Phillip Verene: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-art-of-humane-education-episode-iv/id1570296135?i=1000529006912
Donald Phillip Verene's History of Philosophy: https://amzn.to/3HK7zYa
New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/
Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.
Music: Save Us Now by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
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Dec 15, 2022
Reflections on the Sexual Revolution in France | Episode XXXVII
After reading Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France, a member of the French National Assembly wrote to Burke, asking for more of his analysis on the revolution then underway. In reply, Burke wrote a long letter which included a sustained attack on the preeminent philosopher of the revolution: Jean-Jacques Rousseau. This analysis identifies that at the heart of the uprising in France lies an attempt to totally transform education - and in particular, its role in forming norms around sexual behavior.
Richard M. Gamble’s The Great Tradition: https://amzn.to/3Q4lRnO
Richard Price's A Discourse on the Love of Our Country: https://oll.libertyfund.org/title/price-a-discourse-on-the-love-of-our-country
Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780199539024
Edmund Burke's Letter to a Member of the National Assembly: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/15700/15700-h/15700-h.htm#MEMBER_OF_THE_NATIONAL_ASSEMBLY
C.S. Lewis' The Abolition of M…
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Dec 1, 2022
The Startup City | No Republic Was Ever Greater, Ep. 3
What if you gathered a bunch of friends, went out to the desert of Arizona, and built the greatest city that the world had ever seen? That is what Romulus does, and what Livy chronicles (except it's not in Arizona). We explore the challenges a founder faces in a startup city, how to fill it with people, and how to unify the inhabitants into one, cohesive people.
Livy's Ab Urbe Condita: https://amzn.to/3gYwtbh
Machiavelli's Discourses on Livy: https://amzn.to/3NtNBSj
William Golding's Lord of the Flies: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780399501487
Fustel de Coulanges's La Cité Antique (French): https://amzn.to/3yzATuZ
Fustel de Coulanges's The Ancient City (English): https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780648690542
Saint Augustine's City of God: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780140448948
New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/
Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you,…
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Nov 15, 2022
How to Stage a Coup | No Republic Was Ever Greater, Ep. 2
This is the second episode of our series about Livy's "Ab Urbe Condita," called "No Republic Was Ever Greater." The story of the founding of Rome continues with the story of twin brothers Romulus and Remus, as they escape certain death in a coup against their grandfather, grow up as shepherd bandits, and stage a counter-coup to return their grandfather to power.
Livy's Ab Urbe Condita: https://amzn.to/3gYwtbh
Machiavelli's Discourses on Livy: https://amzn.to/3NtNBSj
Fustel de Coulanges's La Cité Antique (French): https://amzn.to/3yzATuZ
Fustel de Coulanges's The Ancient City (English): https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780648690542
New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/
Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.
Music: Save Us Now by Shane Ivers - https…
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Nov 1, 2022
No Republic Was Ever Greater, Ep. 1
This is the first episode of a new series on New Humanists, called "No Republic Was Ever Greater." We are walking through the masterpiece, "Ab Urbe Condita," by Ancient Roman historian Titus Livy and the great commentary on Livy, Renaissance philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli's Discourses. In this episode, we consider the lessons that founders and leaders can learn from Livy's account of the Trojan hero Aeneas.
Livy's Ab Urbe Condita: https://amzn.to/3gYwtbh
Machiavelli's Discourses on Livy: https://amzn.to/3NtNBSj
Paul Cantor's Lecture 1 of 3 on Romeo and Juliet: https://youtu.be/XnaSBpwQDhY?t=3124
Dan Carlin's Death Throes of the Republic: https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-death-throes-of-the-republic-series/
Herodotus' The Histories: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781400031146
Thucydides' The Peloponnesian War: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780684827902
Barack Obama's Remarks to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs: https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/rema…
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Oct 15, 2022
Was Virgil Divinely Inspired? | Episode XXXIII
The late antique and medieval Church saw Virgil as a pagan herald of Christ, due to the seemign messianic prophecies in Eclogue IV. In a 1953 essay titled "Vergil and the Christian World," T.S. Eliot argues that the Christian sympathies in Virgil's poetry go even deeper than that single poem, and in fact suffuse the entire Virgilian corpus.
T.S. Eliot's Vergil and the Christian World: https://www.jstor.org/stable/27538181
Vergil's Eclogue 4 (Latin): https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/vergil/ec4.shtml
Vergil's Eclogue 4 (English): http://classics.mit.edu/Virgil/eclogue.4.iv.html
Virgil's Eclogues, Georgics, and Aeneid (Latin-English): https://amzn.to/3VlnUqr
Fustel de Coulanges's La Cité Antique (French): https://amzn.to/3yzATuZ
Fustel de Coulanges's The Ancient City (English): https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780648690542
Alan Jacobs's The Year of Our Lord 1943: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780190864651
T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land: https://poets.org/poem/waste-land
Plutarch's On t…
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Oct 1, 2022
The First English Conversation, feat. Dr. Colin Gorrie | Episode XXXII
Ælfric's Colloquy is a dialogue between a teacher and his students, written both in Old English and Latin, designed to teach Latin to Anglo-Saxon schoolboys. It is also the earliest record of a (relatively) realistic English-language conversation. In celebration of the Ancient Language Institute's new Old English program, Dr. Colin Gorrie joins Jonathan and Ryan to walk through the Colloquy and to talk about language learning, education, and literacy in medieval England.
Ælfric's Colloquy (Old English): https://www.kul.pl/files/165/history%20of%20english/texts2009/aelfriccolloquy-translation.pdf
Colloquium Ælfrici (Latine): https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/12358426/colloquium-aelfrici-1-nos-pueri-rogamus-te-magister-ut-doceas-nos-
Ælfric's Colloquy (modern English translation): https://www.kentarchaeology.ac/authors/016.pdf
David Sedaris's "Me Talk Pretty One Day": https://www.esquire.com/lifestyle/a1419/talk-pretty-0399/
Eleanor Dickey's Learn Latin from the Romans: htt…
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Sep 15, 2022
Maybe the Liberal Arts Are Useful? | Episode XXXI
Are classical educators dooming their students to poverty? Even back in the early 1800s, that accusation was gaining steam. Edward Copleston was a titanic figure at Oxford's Oriel College in the early 19th century, and inspired John Henry Newman, among others. Facing attacks by utilitarian critics of Oxford, Copleston launched a defense of classical education in his “Reply to the Calumnies of the Edinburgh Review Against Oxford.”
Richard M. Gamble’s The Great Tradition: https://amzn.to/3Q4lRnO
Augustine’s Confessions, trans. R.S. Pine-Coffin: https://amzn.to/3U7vrsn
New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/
Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.
Music: Save Us Now by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
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Sep 1, 2022
Newman on Knowledge for Its Own Sake, feat. Dr. Robert Jackson | Episode XXX
Is knowledge its own end? Or is it a means to something else? In Discourse Five of his The Idea of a University, John Henry Newman juxtaposes Cato and Cicero as opponents on this question, but Newman’s juxtaposition is not without its own difficulties. Jonathan’s old teacher, Dr. Robert Jackson of the Great Hearts Institute, joins the podcast to talk Newman, knowledge, and education.
John Henry Newman’s The Idea of a University: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780268011505
Great Hearts Academies: https://www.greatheartsamerica.org/
Great Hearts Institute: https://greathearts.institute/
National Symposium for Classical Education: https://classicaleducationsymposium.org/
Cicero’s Pro Archia Poeta: https://amzn.to/3QxfSbe
Aristotle’s Metaphysics: https://amzn.to/3Cc9pyf
New Humanists Episode XI: Benedict in Regensburg: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/benedict-in-regensburg-faith-reason-and-the/id1570296135?i=1000542008795
G.E.M. Anscombe’s Modern Moral Philosophy:…
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Aug 15, 2022
The Classical Definition of Classical Education | Episode XXIX
Milton and Shakespeare? Or Homer and Virgil? Why should our students study Greeks and Romans when we have English-language poets, philosophers, and historians worthy to be placed on the same level as the ancients? Maybe because the “ancients” aren’t really so ancient after all…
So argues Thomas Arnold in his defense of the classical curriculum he instituted at Rugby School. Jonathan and Ryan use Arnold’s “Use of the Classics” essay, his defense of classical education, to distinguish between two things that are nowadays often conflated: a “classical” curriculum and a “Great Books” curriculum.
Richard M. Gamble’s The Great Tradition: https://amzn.to/3Q4lRnO
Lytton Strachey’s Eminent Victorians: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780199555017
Helen Andrews’s Boomers: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780593086759
Thomas Hughes’s Tom Brown’s Schooldays: https://amzn.to/3vEZNYQ
New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlan…
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Aug 1, 2022
Doing the (Intellectual) Work | Episode XXVIII
The intellectual life can’t just be reading all day. Eventually, you have to sit down and do the work. According to A.G. Sertillanges, the intellectual vocation finds its fulfillment in creation. Jonathan and Ryan wrap up their reading of Sertillanges’s The Intellectual Life as they walk through the final three chapters.
There was a software problem with recording this week. Apologies for the occasionally scratchy audio quality.
A.G. Sertillanges’s The Intellectual Life: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780813206462
New Humanists episode on Seneca and reading: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dont-read-too-much-episode-xix/id1570296135?i=1000554117391
Nicolás Gómez Dávila’s Aphorism #2,223: http://don-colacho.blogspot.com/2010/11/2223.html
Jonathan Roberts’s Review of Kirk MacGregor’s Luis de Molina: https://web.archive.org/web/20210804195625/http://calvinistinternational.com/2016/04/01/luis-de-molina-catholic-theologian-kirk-macgregor/
Carl Trueman’s Lectures…
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Jul 15, 2022
The Intellectual Life, Continued | Episode XXVII
Jonathan and Ryan continue their discussion of A.G. Sertillanges’s marvelous The Intellectual Life. In chapters 4 -6, Sertillanges touches on, among other things, sleep, the pursuit of wisdom in everyday life, and breadth of study in service of depth.
A.G. Sertillanges’s The Intellectual Life: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780813206462
Editorial Note: The mention of the “dies academicus” refers, not to our episode on Eric Voegelin (as we mistakenly said), but to our episode on Pope Benedict XVI: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/benedict-in-regensburg-faith-reason-and-the/id1570296135?i=1000542008795
New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/
Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.
Music: Save Us Now by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansou…
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Jul 1, 2022
Me, an Intellectual | Episode XXVI
The French Thomist A.G. Sertillanges, O.P., is most famous for The Intellectual Life: Its Spirit, Conditions, Methods. The book is a moving and handy meditation inspired by Thomas Aquinas’ Letter to Brother John about what it will take to devote your life to contemplation. This is the first episode in a three-part series on The Intellectual Life in which Jonathan and Ryan examine their own lives to see how Sertillanges can help them out.
A.G. Sertillanges’s The Intellectual Life: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780813206462
The Ad Fontes Podcast, episode feat. Ryan: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/now-youre-talking-my-ancient-language/id1557560666?i=1000559442987
Robert Cardinal Sarah’s The Power of Silence: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781621641919
Plato’s Symposium: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780674991842
New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/
Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no…
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Jun 15, 2022
Academic Leadership | Episode XXV
Who is at the helm of the ship of state? Is the United States doomed to go the way of the Titanic? In the essay “Academic Leadership,” Paul Elmer More expounds on the crucial role that humanistic study plays in cultivating a natural aristocracy that guides and protects the body politic. More, along with Irving Babbitt, was a luminary of the New Humanism movement and an essayist, prolific letter-writer, editor, and Christian Platonist.
Paul Elmer More’s Academic Leadership (free): https://jkalb.freeshell.org/more/leaders.html
Richard M. Gamble’s The Great Tradition: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781935191568
Sir Thomas Elyot’s The Book Named the Governor: https://amzn.to/3977IWO
René Girard’s A Theater of Envy: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781587318603
New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/
Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, t…
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Jun 1, 2022
Justin Martyr’s First Apology, feat. Calvin Goligher | Episode XXIV
Was Socrates a Christian? Did Plato meet Jeremiah? Are pagan myths based on garbled versions of the Hebrew prophets? Welcome to Justin Martyr’s First Apology, a plea to the Roman Emperor to stop killing Christians, a philosophical defense of Christianity, and a master class in biblical exegesis. ALI Latin & Greek Fellow Calvin Goligher returns to New Humanists to discuss the poetry, philosophy, and revelation in Justin Martyr with Jonathan and Ryan.
Justin Martyr’s First Apology (free in English): https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0126.htm
Dennis Minns and Paul Parvis’s Justin, Philosopher and Martyr: Apologies (critical edition): https://amzn.to/3GJOMtp
Justin Martyr’s Dialogue with Trypho: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0128.htm
Pliny-Trajan correspondence on Christians: https://faculty.georgetown.edu/jod/texts/pliny.html
Plato’s Republic: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780465094080
Yoram Hazony’s The Philosophy of Hebrew Scripture: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/97…
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May 16, 2022
Beowulf, feat. Colin Gorrie | Episode XXIII
Where is Geatland? Beowulf has been taken as a founding poem for England, yet England never appears in the poem. Linguist Colin Gorrie joins Jonathan and Ryan to discuss this heroic and tragic Old English masterpiece, the history of scholarship surrounding the poem, and J.R.R. Tolkien’s titanic contribution to modern understanding of it.
Seamus Heaney’s translation of Beowulf: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780393320978
Dick Ringler’s translation of Beowulf: https://amzn.to/3sv1yWQ
J.R.R. Tolkien’s translation and commentary on Beowulf: https://amzn.to/3w81O09
Colin Gorrie’s Why the Grammar-Translation Method Does Not Work (And What Does): https://ancientlanguage.com/why-grammar-translation-method-does-not-work/
J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Monsters and the Critics: https://amzn.to/3FE4rdo
Tom Shippey’s Lecture 1 of 3 on J.R.R. Tolkien’s Beowulf: https://youtu.be/FPBt05KUfzg
Norton Critical Edition of Beowulf: https://amzn.to/3McPv8y
Virgil’s Aeneid: https://amzn.to/3F…
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May 2, 2022
Should Everyone Be Educated? | Episode 22
Making humanistic education democratic and freely available was its downfall, at least in the eyes of Albert Jay Nock, as he discusses in The Theory of Education in the United States. Taking a cue as well from Plato’s Republic, Jonathan and Ryan address the apparent tension between the excellence of the tradition and the equalitarian, democratic mores of American life. Should everyone be educated? Can they be?
Richard Gamble’s Great Tradition: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781935191568
Albert Jay Nock’s The Theory of Education in the United States: https://amzn.to/38v94tR
Albert Jay Nock’s Memoirs of a Superfluous Man: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781610160353
Plato’s Republic: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780465094080
Dorothy Sayers’s The Lost Tools of Learning: https://www.pccs.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/LostToolsOfLearning-DorothySayers.pdf
New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/
Links may have referral…
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Apr 15, 2022
The Iliad, or the Poem of Force | Episode XXI
“The true hero, the true subject, the center of the Iliad is force,” wrote Simone Weil. And yet, she said that Homer’s poem is “the purest and loveliest of mirrors.” How can a poem that revels in the visceral description of death and that chronicles the destruction of a great city be so pure and lovely? Jonathan and Ryan take a look into this epic mirror and into Weil’s justly famous essay on it.
Simone Weil’s The Iliad, or the Poem of Force (free English translation): http://biblio3.url.edu.gt/SinParedes/08/Weil-Poem-LM.pdf
Simone Weil’s The Iliad, or the Poem of Force (bilingual French-English critical edition): https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780820463612
Homer’s Iliad: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780374529055
Aeschylus' Oresteia: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780140443332
Sophocles' Theban Plays: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780156027649
Ovid’s Metamorphoses: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780156001267
Virgil’s Aeneid: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/97805…
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Apr 1, 2022
The Trivium According to Dorothy Sayers | Episode XX
The Lost Tools of Learning, a 1947 lecture delivered at Oxford by Dorothy Sayers, was largely ignored at the time and in England until decades later in the United States, when it became a foundation text of the Classical Christian Education movement. Despite being the lecture that launched 1,000 classical schools, Dorothy Sayers appears to undermine the classical tradition and repeatedly side with educational progressives. Jonathan and Ryan dig into the lecture, its impact on the CCE movement, and some pedagogical alternatives.
Richard M. Gamble’s The Great Tradition: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781935191568
Dorothy Sayers’s Lost Tools of Learning: https://www.pccs.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/LostToolsOfLearning-DorothySayers.pdf
Dorothy Sayers’s translation of Dante’s Inferno: https://amzn.to/36yr31C
Jonathan Roberts’s Classical Schools Are Not Really Classical: https://ancientlanguage.com/classical-schools-not-classical/
C. Stephen Jaeger’s The Envy of Angels: h…
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Mar 15, 2022
Don’t Read Too Much | Episode XIX
In one of his many letters to his nephew Lucilius, the famous Stoic philosopher, playwright, and statesman, Seneca, advises his nephew to avoid reading too much. Jonathan and Ryan take up the philosopher’s advice and consider what dangers there are, if any, in reading too much or too widely.
Seneca’s Epistle 2 (free in English): https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Moral_letters_to_Lucilius/Letter_2
Seneca’s Epistles 1-65 (English - Latin): https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780674990845
Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780812968255
Joseph Keegin’s What is College? https://fxxfy.net/2021/09/08/what-is-college/
St. Thomas Aquinas’ Question 166: https://www.newadvent.org/summa/3166.htm
C.S. Lewis’s Learning in War-Time: https://bradleyggreen.com/attachments/Lewis.Learning%20in%20War-Time.pdf
Cicero’s Pro Archia Poeta: https://amzn.to/3KLj8fT
New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/
Links may h…
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Mar 1, 2022
Oakeshott Teaches Us How (and What) to Think, feat. Dale Stenberg | Episode XVIII
Should teachers teach their pupils what to think? Or how to think? The great English philosopher Michael Oakeshott says it’s not so simple. Students certainly must learn how to think, but can only do so by learning about things in particular - in other words, by learning what to think. Jonathan and Ryan are joined to discuss this excellent Oakeshott lecture on learning and education by Dale Stenberg.
The Davenant Institute: https://davenantinstitute.org/
Pilgrim Faith Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pilgrim-faith-podcast/id1494222569
Pietas Classical Christian: https://pietasclassical.com/
Richard M. Gamble’s The Great Tradition: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781935191568
Carl Trueman’s Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781433556333
Alastair Roberts’ blog: https://alastairadversaria.com/
Donald Phillip Verene’s The Art of Humane Education: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780801440397
C.S. Lewis’s An Experiment in Critici…
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Feb 15, 2022
The Original New Humanist, featuring Dr. Eric Adler and Katherine Bradshaw | Episode XVII
Long before the New Humanists podcast was born, Irving Babbitt helped found the movement now known as New Humanism. University of Maryland Professor of Classics Dr. Eric Adler, along with his former student (and current ALI Fellow) Katherine Bradshaw, join the podcast to discuss the original New Humanist and what we might stand to gain from him in our debates about education, the humanities, and the canon.
Irving Babbitt’s “What Is Humanism?”: http://www.nhinet.org/lac1.htm
Irving Babbitt’s “What I Believe: Rousseau and Religion” from Spanish Character and Other Essays: https://amzn.to/34ZP9RH
Dr. Eric Adler’s The Battle of the Classics: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780197518786
Dr. Eric Adler’s Classics, the Culture Wars, and Beyond: https://amzn.to/36a7V9H
Dr. Eric Adler’s Valorizing the Barbarians: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780292744035
C.S. Lewis’ Abolition of Man: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780060652944
Alan Jacobs’ The Year of Our Lord 1943: h…
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Feb 1, 2022
T.S. Eliot’s Praise for Privilege | Episode XVI
It is tempting to dismiss T.S. Eliot’s musings on class, society, and education as the complaints of a cranky reactionary. But the great Anglo-American poet is worth reckoning with - if for no other reason than how profoundly he challenges the democratic norms that in the 21st century we simply assume as first principles. Jonathan and Ryan take a look at Eliot’s chapter on education from his book Notes Towards the Definition of Culture, and they try to square Eliot with the egalitarian promises of the American Dream.
T.S. Eliot’s Notes Towards the Definition of Culture: https://amzn.to/3fkKCLJ
Alan Jacobs’ The Year of Our Lord 1943: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780190864651
New Humanists episode on Jacobs’ book (Part I): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/transhumanism-in-the-year-of-our-lord-2021-pt-1-episode-ii/id1570296135?i=1000525644529
New Humanists episode on Jacobs’ book (Part II): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/transhumanism-in-the-year-of-our-lord-p…
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Jan 15, 2022
Athanasius’ On the Incarnation, feat. Calvin Goligher | Episode XV
Athanasius the Great, Athanasius contra mundum, the Hammer of the Arians. The great defender of orthodox Christology is no mere rigorist or martinet; he possesses a “classical simplicity” in his writing and a subtle theological mind. ALI Latin Fellow Calvin Goligher joins to discuss the great church father and his book On the Incarnation.
Athanasius’ On the Incarnation with C.S. Lewis’ preface (Greek-English): https://amzn.to/3zagHyR
Athanasius’ Life of Anthony: https://amzn.to/3mQqrcU
Athanasius’ Orations Against the Arians (Greek): https://amzn.to/3zoHVSD
Athanasius’ Orations Against the Arians (free in English): https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/2816.htm
Charles Kingsley’s Hypatia (free): https://www.gutenberg.org/files/6308/6308-h/6308-h.htm
Charles Kingsley’s Hypatia (hard copy): https://amzn.to/3zkr57q
Lecture on the Insufficiency of Creedal Hermeneutics: https://calvinistinternational.com/2014/11/18/the-insufficiency-of-creedal-hermeneutics/
Learn to re…
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Jan 1, 2022
C.S. Lewis on Old Books | Episode XIV
At the same time that he was delivering the Mere Christianity radio addresses to a war-torn England, C.S. Lewis penned a now-famous preface to an edition of On the Incarnation by Saint Athanasius. In this short preface, Lewis makes a memorable defense of reading old books, while also revealing some of his thoughts behind the concept of “mere Christianity.”
C.S. Lewis’ “On the Reading of Old Books” (free): https://learning.hccs.edu/faculty/christina.hemati/phil1301/readings/lewis-on-the-reading-of-old-books/view
Athanasius’ On the Incarnation with C.S. Lewis’ preface (Greek-English): https://amzn.to/3zagHyR
C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780060652920
Michael Ward’s After Humanity: https://amzn.to/3pMzsFP
Plato’s The Last Days of Socrates: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780140449280
A.E. Housman’s A Shropshire Lad XL: https://poets.org/poem/shropshire-lad-xl
C.S. Lewis’ The Pilgrim’s Regress: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/97808…
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Dec 15, 2021
Learning to Read the Bible, feat. Dr. Dru Johnson and Tyler Foster | Episode XIII
Rather than trying to pull the mask off the Hebrew Bible to reveal something (a monster?) hidden underneath, what if you attended to the actual narrative of the Bible? What would you learn? Robert Alter’s groundbreaking The Art of Biblical Narrative attempts to do just that. Dr. Dru Johnson of The King’s College in NYC and ALI’s own Greek and Hebrew Fellow Tyler Foster join Jonathan and Ryan as we discuss how to read the Bible, Alter-style.
Robert Alter’s The Art of Biblical Narrative: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780465022557
Robert Alter’s The Five Books of Moses: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780393333930
Dru Johnson’s Biblical Philosophy: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781108932691
The Center for Hebraic Thought: https://hebraicthought.org/
The Biblical Mind: https://thebiblicalmind.org/
Learn Biblical Hebrew with Tyler and the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/biblical-hebrew/
New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institut…
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Dec 1, 2021
René Girard, Myth, and the Bible, feat. Dr. Patrick Downey
In I See Satan Fall Like Lightning, René Girard argues that the Bible definitively refutes the lies of pagan mythology. The pagan myths conceal the mimetic cycle and founding murder that are at the heart of human politics. The Bible, on the other hand, exposes myth and politics as satanic, and offers the Crucifixion and Resurrection as the medicine to heal human society of this curse. Dr. Patrick Downey, of St. Mary’s College of California, joins Jonathan and Ryan to discuss Girard, paganism vs. Christianity, the Inklings, and the modern concern for victims.
René Girard’s I See Satan Fall Like Lightning: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781570753190
Patrick Downey’s Serious Comedy: https://davenant.kindful.com/?campaign=1156789&fbclid=IwAR0wgsKvwgchD0MT6jKWhDO0d89qVW6cuyHpkeG-jUlGeo_Zq4EKrxcBwug
Patrick Downey’s Desperately Wicked: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780830828944
Albertus Magnus Institute: https://magnusinstitute.org/
Sophocles’ Theban Plays: https://bookshop.o…
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Nov 15, 2021
Benedict in Regensburg: Faith, Reason, and the University | Episode XI
This is the lecture that sparked worldwide outcry - for all the wrong reasons. In reality, the Regensburg Address is a sparkling meditation on theology, philosophy, and education. Pope Benedict XVI is able to compress profound reflections on the Bible and Greek philosophy into what is a short and accessible lecture. After castigating the media for their bad reporting on the address, Jonathan and Ryan take it apart to reveal its beauty and complexity, covering varied topics including Socrates, the Burning Bush, German philosophy, the Scholastic-Humanist quarrel, Catholicism vs. Protestantism, and the structure of the university.
Pope Benedict XVI’s Regensburg Lecture (“Faith, Reason and the University: Memories and Reflections”): https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/speeches/2006/september/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20060912_university-regensburg.html
Siren Çelik’s Manuel II Palaiologos: https://bookshop.org/books/manuel-ii-palaiologos-1350-1425-a-byzantine-emperor-in…
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Nov 1, 2021
Tolkien, Philology, and the Great Books, feat. Colin Chan Redemer | Episode X
At the end of his academic career at Oxford University, J.R.R. Tolkien gave his “Valedictory Address,” an analysis of the decline of humane letters, the specious distinction between “lang” and “lit” that has grown up in the academy, and a stirring expression of hope in the future of philological study even amidst unfavorable conditions. Colin Chan Redemer, a professor at Saint Mary’s College of California and Vice President of the Davenant Institute, joins Jonathan and Ryan to discuss Tolkien’s vision for the liberal arts and what proponents of Great Books education have to learn from him.
Tolkien’s Valedictory Address (free): http://faculty.smu.edu/bwheeler/tolkien/online_reader/oxfordaddress.pdf
Tolkien’s Valedictory Address in essay collection The Monsters and the Critics: https://amzn.to/3pAg8vs
Ad Fontes podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-ad-fontes-podcast/id1557560666
Davenant Hall: https://davenantinstitute.org/davenant-hall
New Humanists…
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Oct 15, 2021
Antony and Cleopatra, feat. Katherine Bradshaw | Episode IX
Shakespeare’s Roman trilogy reaches a climax in The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra, a love- and wine-drenched account of Octavius Caesar’s defeat of Mark Antony and Cleopatra, and his consolidation of power over the nascent Roman Empire. The play is punctuated by bountiful allusions to Virgil's Aeneid. But besides the haunting downfall of the play’s title characters, in the background of the action arises the specter of a new religious creed, Christianity. Katherine Bradshaw joins Jonathan and Ryan again, to take the measure of Shakespeare’s Roman trilogy.
Jan Blits’s edition of The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra: https://amzn.to/3DolBcK
Virgil’s Aeneid, trans. Robert Fagles: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780143105138
Virgil’s Aeneid, Latin-English: https://amzn.to/3BAWOS7
Niccolo Machiavelli’s Discourses on Livy (free): https://oll.libertyfund.org/title/detmold-the-historical-political-and-diplomatic-writings-vol-2#lf0076-02_label_026
Niccolo Machiavelli’s Dis…
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Oct 1, 2021
Voegelin on Classics
The hothouse of prewar Vienna played host to an unprecedented concentration of genius which eventually gave birth to modernism. Present on the scene was a young Eric Voegelin. Late in his career Voegelin wrote an essay “On Classical Studies,” in which he explained what the discipline of Classics is, the difference between classical and modern accounts of reality, and how to keep the flame of classical wisdom alive in the modern academy. With Voegelin as their guide, Jonathan and Ryan ponder Classics, modernity, and higher education.
Eric Voegelin’s On Classical Studies: https://theimaginativeconservative.org/2012/02/on-classical-studies-by-eric-voegelin.html
Richard Gamble’s The Great Tradition: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781935191568
On Vienna in 1913: https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21859771
Karl Schorske’s Fin-De-Siecle Vienna: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780394744780
C.S. Lewis’s The Abolition of Man: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780060652944
Friedrich Aug…
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Sep 15, 2021
Julius Caesar, feat. Katherine Bradshaw | Episode VII
ALI Fellow Katherine Bradshaw returns to New Humanists, in installment number two of our discussion of Shakespeare's Roman plays. This week, we talk about The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. What happened to the nascent republic of Coriolanus? Why does a dictator now rule Rome? And how does his murder give birth to a new regime?
Jan Blits's edition of Julius Caesar: https://amzn.to/3lune16
Blits's monograph, Rome and the Spirit of Caesar: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781498525268
René Girard's Theater of Envy: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781587318603
Plutarch's Life of Caesar (free): https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/plutarch/lives/caesar*.html
Plutarch's Life of Caesar (Greek-English): https://amzn.to/3CkGTHD
Suetonius' The Twelve Caesars (English): https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780140455168
Suetonius's The Twelve Caesars Vol. I (English-Latin): https://amzn.to/3zgkBoe
Julius Caesar, 1953 film: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045943/
Julius Caesar, 2017 Royal Sha…
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Aug 19, 2021
Coriolanus, feat. Katherine Bradshaw | Episode VI
Did Shakespeare actually know anything about Ancient Rome? Or was he just writing Classical Fan-Fiction? ALI Greek & Latin Fellow Katherine Bradshaw, a scholar of both Shakespeare and the Classical world, joins Jonathan and Ryan for a discussion of The Tragedy of Coriolanus, one of the last plays Shakespeare wrote: an examination of the Roman Republic in its infancy, and what happens when Roman pietas goes horribly awry.
Jan Blits’s edition of Coriolanus: https://amzn.to/3C1TEaK
The New Thinkery, Ep. 28 on Coriolanus feat. Jan Blits: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/interview-professor-jan-blits-on-shakespeares-coriolanus/id1524739522?i=1000507558606
Plutarch’s Life of Coriolanus (free): https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Coriolanus*.html
Plutarch’s Life of Coriolanus (Greek-English):
https://amzn.to/2WB0hk9
Katherine’s favorite Coriolanus adaptation: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1372686/
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Aug 2, 2021
Solzhenitsyn's Exhortations | Episode V
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is an unlikely candidate for “humanist,” especially because of his denunciation of humanism in his infamous Harvard Address. Does the great Russian dissident have something to teach aspiring humanists? Jonathan and Ryan take a look at two famous exhortations from Solzhenitsyn, “Live Not By Lies,” an essay from 1974, and “A World Split Apart,” the commencement address he delivered at Harvard in 1978 - as well as the subsequent backlash Solzhenitsyn faced for his criticism of American liberalism.
Solzhenitsyn’s “Live Not By Lies”: https://www.solzhenitsyncenter.org/live-not-by-lies
Solzhenitsyn’s “A World Split Apart” (Harvard Address), text and video: https://www.solzhenitsyncenter.org/a-world-split-apart
The EPPC’s Solzhenitsyn at Harvard: https://amzn.to/3kk9kzB
Colin Redemer’s “Live Not By Dreher Alone”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vl61h3DKaNw
Rod Dreher’s Live Not By Lies: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780593087398
V…
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Jul 15, 2021
The Art of Humane Education | Episode IV
What is humane education? Are there techniques you can use to get students to appreciate the great books? Jonathan and Ryan discuss Donald Phillip Verene’s The Art of Humane Education, a powerful series of short letters about teaching, eloquence, the western canon, science and technology. And memes - don’t forget about the memes.
Donald Phillip Verene’s The Art of Humane Education: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780801440397
Jonathan Gregg’s How to Escape the Hyperclassical Trap: https://ancientlanguage.com/how-to-escape-hyperclassical-trap/
S.A. Dance’s The Idea of a Classical School: https://ancientlanguage.com/the-idea-of-a-classical-school/
Augustine’s Confessions: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780199537822
Peter Brown’s Augustine of Hippo:* **https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780520280410*
The New Thinkery podcast: https://thenewthinkery.com/
Friedrich Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781940177359
Links may have referral codes, whi…
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Jul 1, 2021
Transhumanism in the Year of Our Lord, Pt. 2 | Episode III
Jonathan and Ryan continue their discussion of Alan Jacobs’s book The Year of Our Lord 1943: Christian Humanism in an Age of Crisis. This book stars C.S. Lewis, Simone Weil, W.H. Auden, Jacques Maritain, and T.S. Eliot, and on this episode of New Humanists, your hosts continue to tease out the implications for our current transhumanist moment, hitting on technology, education, the family, and power. This is the second part of a two-part look into the Jacobs book.
Alan Jacobs’s The Year of Our Lord 1943: Christian Humanism in an Age of Crisis: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780190864651
Cicero’s Pro Archia Poeta: https://amzn.to/3phQwS1
Free in Latin: https://la.wikisource.org/wiki/Pro_A._Licinio_Archia_poeta
Free in English: https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0019%3Atext%3DArch.
The Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity in Latin: https://archive.org/details/MN5140ucmf_2/page/n71/mode/2up
The Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity in Eng…
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Jun 15, 2021
Transhumanism in the Year of Our Lord 2021, Pt. 1 | Episode II
Jonathan and Ryan dive into Alan Jacobs’s book The Year of Our Lord 1943: Christian Humanism in an Age of Crisis. This book stars C.S. Lewis, Simone Weil, W.H. Auden, Jacques Maritain, and T.S. Eliot, and on this episode of New Humanists, your hosts tease out the implications for our current transhumanist moment, hitting on technology, education, the family, and power. This is the first part of a two-part look into the Jacobs book.
Alan Jacobs’s The Year of Our Lord 1943: Christian Humanism in an Age of Crisis: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780190864651
Cicero’s Pro Archia Poeta: https://amzn.to/3phQwS1
Free in Latin: https://la.wikisource.org/wiki/Pro_A._Licinio_Archia_poeta
Free in English: https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0019%3Atext%3DArch.
W.H. Auden’s “Under Which Lyre: A Reactionary Tract for the Times” recited: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZE_bhSUgG8
W.H. Auden’s “Under Which Lyre: A Reactionary Tract for the Times…
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Jun 1, 2021
Humanist After All | Episode I
This is the inaugural episode of New Humanists, the podcast of the Ancient Language Institute, found at ancientlanguage.com. ALI founders Jonathan Roberts and Ryan Hammill dive into what ALI is all about, how and why to learn Latin, what’s wrong with classical education, and ask the question, “Who are the new humanists?”
Jonathan’s essay on classical education: https://ancientlanguage.com/classical-schools-not-classical/
Plato’s Symposium (Greek with facing-page English translation): https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780674991842
C.S. Lewis’s Surprised by Joy: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780062565433
ALI’s Latin program: https://ancientlanguage.com/learn-latin/
Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you.
Music: Save Us Now by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
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