From the Center

In this episode, Director Hodges and Ben finish off the long series that has investigated the elements of civilization, and come to some conclusions about how we might best preserve ours. Hint: it is not by aiming to preserve civilization...

Jordan Peterson doesn't know us from Adam, but he gave a precise rendering of the points we have been making since last October about the need to recognize Faith as the basis for any rational activity. Director Hodges and Ben discuss "those cheeky French" and how their modern ideas have led the West away from the rich legacy of the Middle Ages where they themselves used to reign. And the discussion leads to how to approach saving Western Civilization.

Here is a speech Director Hodges gave for a fund raising dinner for Classical Education. It places education in the ongoing discussion about civilization and culture. Education is how we pass on the insights of our forefathers to our children, and the best way to do that is through a recovery of the lost telos of education.

In the ongoing process of summarizing the last 6 months of podcasts about civilization, Director Hodges walks us through an essay by Pope Benedict XVI, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, who asks many of the same questions we have been considering in a far more concise way. In it, we assess the place of power, the law, and revelation.

What is the point of the signs in THE SILVER CHAIR if even after muffing three of the four, the children complete the quest anyway? Is Lewis depicting an aspect of the Christian life? What would that be?

In this episode, we discuss CS Lewis' magnum opus. Both Benedict and Lewis argued that without the Tao, civilization will die, and Mankind will be abolished. Destroying all restraints leads not to freedom but to meaninglessness. How does that happen? Have a listen.

What did the late Pope have to say about the importance of the Faith in culture? Director Hodges and Ben Cumming discuss an article Joseph Ratzinger wrote.

Director Hodges comments on an article by Anthony Esolen, found in Chronicles of American Culture magazine, entitled: There Is A Culture War, Like it Or Not.

One of the most important of the ideas that constitute the foundation of a civilization is the idea of beauty. Director Hodges offers one of his recent lectures on our human experience of the beautiful, touching on the field of aesthetics, including thinkers from the Middle Ages to the 20th century. Thomas Aquinas, Hume, Kant, and Hans von Balthasar.

TS Eliot wrote a very pithy essay, The Idea of A Christian Society which addresses something of what we have been talking about for several months: what is a civilization, and what must we do to retain it? Director Hodges and Ben Cumming discuss Eliot's essay, and consider definitions of some of the terms found in Schumpeter's book on Communism and Capitalism.