Christ and Classics

Dr. Louis Markos leads the discussion in Episode 8 of the Christ & Classics Podcast: the Classics, the Christ, and Classical Christian Education. In this episode Dr. Markos explains to us how Christ is the complete Truth to which all other truth in the pagan classics intimates and foreshadows. In addition, we discuss with Dr. Markos the vital role of classical schools in America and why they are superior to public, progressive models of education.

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Dr. Louis Markos is a Professor of English, Scholar-in-Residence, and Robert H. Ray Chair in Humanities at Houston Christian University. He teaches courses on Romantic and Victorian Poetry and Prose, C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien, Mythology and the Epic, and Film and Art. He’s the author of 25 books (such as The Myth Made Fact: Reading Greek and Roman Mythology through Christian Eyes, From Achilles to Christ: Why Christians Should Read the Pagan Classics), as well as countless articles on sites like TGC, Reformation21, The Imaginative Conservative, and The Federalist. He’s a big advocate for classical Christian education, and speaks at conferences, such as the Association of Classical Christian School’s Repairing the Ruins conference.

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You can find Dr. Markos' writings and lectures in a variety of places!

What is a god in Homer’s Iliad? What is immortality for the Greeks—simply never dying? How can both Aphrodite and Ares, being a god and goddess, become injured? Being divine, how do their injuries in battle compare with human injuries? When Athena lifts a “mist” from Diomedes’ eyes to distinguish between gods and men, what does he really see? When the gods fight for men, do they really have the best interest of the men in mind? Once again, Devin and Colton consider these questions (and more) in Episode 6: Iliad, Book 5.

In this episode of Christ & Classics, Devin and Colton ask why rage takes the center stage in the Iliad. Menelaus rages against Paris. Apollo rages against the Greeks. Agamemnon rages against Achilles. Achilles (especially) rages against Agamemnon. The gods are even angry with one another! What role does anger play within Homer’s epic, and what does it have to do with Zeus’s overarching will seen in the prologue?

In this episode of Christ & Classics, Devin and Colton explore Zeus’s reasoning and will to dupe Agamemnon in a dream, which then results in Agamemnon seeking to deceive his own troops. Why is this? How does this relate to Book 1 and the conflict between Achilles and Agamemnon?  Also, Devin and Colton take on the “Catalog of Ships” and question its literary purpose within Homer’s Iliad. Why would Homer spend such detail cataloging all the Greek vessels and the city-states they each represent? How does this relate to Zeus’s vow to Thetis to exalt Achilles over the Achaeans (mainly Agamemnon)? And might the literary function of the “Catalog of Ships” compare to the genealogies we read in the Old Testament?

How can a war book be considered a family book? Why is Aphrodite the only character who loves Paris? Why does Paris’ cowardice make for band husbandhood? Why does Helen, Paris’ illegitimate wife, repent of her harlotry here in Book 3, and what does she truly desire? And who really wins the duel between Menelaus and Paris after Aphrodite intervenes? Devin and Colton attempt to answer (or perhaps simply refine) these questions in Episode 4, Iliad Book 3.

In this debut episode Devin and Colton explain the contours of the Christ & Classics Podcast. Who are these two obscure and unknown individuals? Why this Podcast? What makes a book into a Great Book? What does it mean to read the Great Books in light of Christ? What will the Podcast accomplish as the weeks roll on? All these questions and more Devin and Colton will attempt to answer in here in Episode 1!