What does it mean to have the sovereign creator of the universe say to you, "Well done my good and faithful servant?" This is one of the questions C.S. Lewis answered in a sermon he preached on June 8, 1941, titled "The Weight of Glory." In this episode Dirk talks with humanities instructors Rick Poole and Alex Markos about this and other topics Lewis addressed in this beautiful and insightful sermon. 

In this episode Dirk discusses Geneva's theme verse for the year (Ecclesiastes 3:11) with Dr. Eric Covington and Brian Odom.

In this episode Dirk talks to Geneva Art teacher Cathy Lester and 5th grade Bible and History teacher Daniel Player about the final transcendental virtue, Beauty.

In this episode Dirk finishes his conversation about Dante's Divine Comedy.

The year 2021 marked the 700th anniversary of the death of the great Florentine poet Dante Alighieri. To mark that anniversary, Rhetoric School Headmaster Dirk Russell and Logic School Headmaster Jeff Jones will host a Lyceum Lunch Lecture Series on the Divine Comedy starting on Wed. Feb. 2 at noon. In preparation Dirk hosts a conversation with Humanities Department Head Aaron Southwick and Humanities teacher Rick Poole about the man Dante Alighieri and his most famous work, The Divine Comedy.

In this episode Dirk continues his conversation with Dr. Eric Covington and Luis Arizpe about the virtue goodness. 

In this episode Dirk talks with Dr. Eric Covington and Luis Arizpe about the virtue goodness.

Book Recommendations:

Cicero "On the Good Life"

Peter Kreeft "Summa of the Summa

In this episode Dirk talks with Geneva's Head of School Dr. David Corbin about truth and how it is revealed in Plato's "Allegory of the Cave."

Copy and paste this link in your browser to read "The Allegory of the Cave"

https://yale.learningu.org/download/ca778ca3-7e93-4fa6-a03f-471e6f15028f/H2664_Allegory%20of%20the%20Cave%20.pdf

Bibliography

The Abolition of Man C.S. Lewis

The Consolation of Philosophy Boethius

After Virtue Peter Kreeft

Mere Christianity C.S. Lewis

Orthodoxy G.K. Chesterton

The Divine Comedy: Inferno Dante Alighieri

Episode Notes

Riddell Memorial Lectures – Each year New Castle College hosts a lecture series called the “Riddell Memorial Lecture.” The 1943-1944 Lecture was delivered by C.S. Lewis and the Abolition of Man was his topic. In 2019-2020, Lucy Winkett (Anglican Priest) delivered a lecture entitled, “Good News in an Age of Fake News? The Place of Mercy in a Post-Truth Society.” In his lecture Lewis warned of the dangers of subjectivism and just a few years later we are living in a “post-truth” society. The warning issued by Lewis was clearly ignored.

Dante’s Inferno – At one point in the discussion the point was made that adopting subjectivism was madness, the ultimate reduction to absurdity. It was compared to being frozen in a lake of ice at the bottom of Dante’s Inferno, flapping your wings making the situation worse. In Dante’s Inferno Satan is enslaved at the bottom of hell, but instead of fire his lower half is ensconced in ice. He has three heads and six wings that he flaps incessantly which produces three cold winds. Thus, the more he flaps the more certain it becomes that he cannot escape.

"The Abolition of Man" C.S. Lewis

"The Divine Comedy" Dante Alighieri