In this conversation, Anthony Esolen takes up that unique Biblical language known as “NAB-ish” and considers what vandals have wrought upon our classic hymns.  He takes us through his teaching of “The Literature of Spiritual Crisis”—Cicero, Boethius, and Shakespeare—and renders his judgement on what he considers to be the greatest play ever written.  Dr. Esolen also gives us an unforgettable reading of his dramatic monologue, “Saint Peter,” from his poem "The Hundredfold: Songs for the Lord" (XIV).

 

 

Links of potential interest:

The Hundredfold: Songs for the Lord by Anthony Esolen

Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts

A conversation with Anthony Esolen about the vibrancy and life-giving power of the classroom and the hope that today's Catholic students can give us for the future of the Church and society.  Dr. Esolen also discusses and reads two lyrics from his poem, "The Hundredfold: Songs for the Lord" (16 and 29), considers the diversity of blessedness, and suggests New Jersey's role in inspiring Dante's great poem.

 

 

Links of potential interest:

The Hundredfold: Songs for the Lord by Anthony Esolen

Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts

A conversation with Mary Mumbach, a senior member of the college's faculty and Dean emerita, about the urgency of liberal education.  Throughout the conversation she considers the nature of liberal education and teaching while reflecting on her own teachers.  She also considers how the teacher, the curriculum, classic books, and the concept of paideia cohere and are ordered to a transcendent purpose within her vision of liberal education. 

Mumbach's "The courage of reason and the scandal of education" in Gained Horizons: Regensburg and the Enlargement of Reason

Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts

A conversation with Anthony Esolen about Sigrid Undset and how her life and work teach us not only about the past and ourselves but also how it indicates a way forward in our current moment.  He also takes up the categories of Catholic literature and overlooked authors such as Henryk Sienkiewicz.  Esolen concludes by discussing and reading a dramatic monologue from his poem, "The Hundredfold: Songs for the Lord" (Bartimaeus) and reflects on the forgotten purpose of poetry and art.

 

 

The Hundredfold: Songs for the Lord by Anthony Esolen

Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset

Quo Vadis: A Narrative of the Time of Nero by Henryk Sienkiewicz

Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts

"To heck with college professors," he says halfway through.  In this conversation, Anthony Esolen discusses reading and teaching Whitman and Eliot and considers the paradox of classically trained revolutionaries in the arts.  Dr. Esolen also introduces and discusses his poem The Hundredfold: Songs for the Lord and reads a hymn from that poem (17). Be sure not to miss his impersonation of Marlon Brando.

Links of potential interest:

The Hundredfold: Songs for the Lord by Anthony Esolen

T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland

"Theology After the Revolution"  by R.R. Reno

Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts

With "Good afternoon, my fellow Americans," Dr. Peter Sampo, the college’s founding president, begins this address on the occasion of the college's forty-first commencement exercises at which he received an honorary degree.  In this address Dr. Sampo considers the extraordinary education the college offers within the broader landscape of contemporary culture, concluding with a call to live lives of extraordinary courage.

Links of potential interest:

Peter Sampo on "Paideia"

Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts