In this meditation episode, the ocean as an icon and pointer to God is discussed. This is a short reflection on the created world, icons, and the divine.

In this episode, Tolstoy’s “The Death of Ivan Ilyich” is analyzed. The question of how to live and love in the face of death is discussed as well. In this text, there’s the timeless theme of the choice between orientation to the temporal versus the eternal.

In this episode, the Prodigal Son and St. Augustine are analyzed and compared. The question: “is Augustine, as the prodigal son, the archetype of the human condition?” is discussed.

In this episode, the question of whether the unfettered pursuit of truth is the only way we can be free, or if freedom itself is the only way we can pursue truth with no burden. Emma interviews Terrence Nolan, a fellow Villanova freshman on the matter. No consensus is reached, but community input is appreciated!

In this episode, Easter is discussed. The human narrative of rising and falling is applied with a Biblical and literary lens (with the Passion of Christ, and St. Augustine’s life). If you’ve ever asked why you enjoy ice cream in the summer or why we sympathize with underdogs, you might like this podcast!

In this episode, academic and social burnout is discussed. Byung-Chul Han’s “The Burnout Society” is referenced. The question of how we became an achievement society prone to burnout from a culturally-rich age of exploration is discussed.

In this episode, the correspondence that lead to St. Augustine’s penning of City of God is analyzed. Marcellinus and Volusian (with whom Augustine has this letter exchange) ask questions that really indicate society’s intellectual and moral conditions in Late Antiquity and during the beginning of the fall of Rome. The title of this podcast refers to a joke about the City of God being a “doorstop of a book” and it’s fitting for the podcast too because it is almost twice as long as the normal Emma•ism episodes!

In this episode, censorship is discussed. The progressing limits to free speech is hindering society’s intellectual and moral development. This new wave of censoring media is the beginning of the end of education and the beginning of the era of indoctrination.

In this episode, Stoicism is discussed. The pursuit of knowledge is almost always a trial-and-error process.

In this episode, perfection and beauty are discussed. The question, “do people designate things as beautiful because of their experience, which is subjective, or is the notion of what is beautiful have its source in God?” is discussed. St. Augustine is also connected in relation with this topic.