New Humanists

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"As only the Catholic and communist know, all education must be ultimately religious education." So argues T.S. Eliot in his essay "Modern Education and the Classics," in which he contrasts three different camps in the world of education: the radical, the liberal, and the orthodox. Eliot seems to say that the only hope for continued erudition in the Greek and Roman classics is a rebirth of Christendom. Jonathan and Ryan discuss Eliot's provocative thesis, along with the lessons he offers to would-be educational reformers.

T.S. Eliot's Modern Education and the Classics: https://muse.jhu.edu/document/615

T.S. Eliot's Selected Essays: https://amzn.to/3GD5mft

Eric Adler's Humanistic Letters: https://amzn.to/41kvlSb

John Peterson's College Is Too Late: https://americanmind.org/features/how-to-save-higher-education/college-is-too-late/

Rod Dreher's The Benedict Option: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780735213302

New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/

Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.

Music: Save Us Now by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

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In The Greek State, Friedrich Nietzsche argues that the Greek polis existed in order to hold the many in slavery so that the Olympian few could give birth to the beautiful Helen known as Greek culture, and that the Greek state had to be periodically renewed by war so that it could continue to create geniuses. This, he says, is the esoteric meaning behind Plato's Republic. Jonathan and Ryan take a look at this "preface to an unwritten book" and examine the ethical, metaphysical, and historical implications of Nietzsche's argument.

Friedrich Nietzsche's The Greek State: https://www.stephenhicks.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Nietzsche-Greek-State-text.pdf

Jacob Burkhardt's The Greeks and Greek Civilization: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780312244477

C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780060652920

T.S. Eliot's Vergil and the Christian World: https://www.jstor.org/stable/27538181

Jacob Burkhardt's The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy: https://amzn.to/49RKXk1

New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/

Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.

Music: Save Us Now by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

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Why was it that the Greeks, the most humane of all peoples, also possessed such a tigerish lust for blood? Why did the Greeks so delight in Homer's depiction of cruelty and death in the Iliad? That is the question animating Friedrich Nietzsche's preface to an unwritten book, "Homer's Contest." Nietzsche turns to the dark Hellenic past, the "womb of Homer" for an explanation, and finds it in Strife, the double-souled goddess lauded by Hesiod.  

Friedrich Nietzsche's Homer's Contest: http://www.northamericannietzschesociety.com/uploads/7/3/2/5/73251013/nietzscheana5.pdf

Lee Fratantuono's Madness Unchained: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780739122426

Robin Lane Fox's Homer and His Iliad: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781541600447

Hesiod's Theogony, Works and Days: https://amzn.to/467Nh3l

Dan Carlin's Death Throes of the Republic: https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-death-throes-of-the-republic-series/

C.S. Lewis's Surprised by Joy: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780062565433

Jacob Burkhardt's The Greeks and Greek Civilization: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780312244477

René Girard's Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780804722155

New Humanists episode on Simone Weil's "The Iliad, or the Poem of Force": https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-iliad-or-the-poem-of-force-episode-xxi/id1570296135?i=1000557727910

New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/

Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.

Music: Save Us Now by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

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Thomas Elyot wrote "The Boke named the Governour," the first book about education written in the English language, an outstanding example in the crowded field of Renaissance-era mirrors for princes. The mirrors for princes were works designed to instruct and train future kings, nobles, and leading men. Machiavelli and Erasmus wrote famous mirrors for princes, but what does the English tradition of this genre have to show us?

Richard M. Gamble’s The Great Tradition: https://amzn.to/3Q4lRnO

Thomas Elyot's The Boke named The Governour: https://www.luminarium.org/renascence-editions/gov/gov1.htm

Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780199535699

Desiderius Erasmus' The Education of a Christian Prince: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780521588119

Niccolo Machiavelli's Discourses on Livy: https://amzn.to/463xl2y

Plutarch's Parallel Lives (inc. Lycurgus): https://amzn.to/3YbAPxk

New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/

Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.

Music: Save Us Now by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

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"Simple necessity has forced men, even among the heathen, to maintain pedagogues and schoomasters if their nation was to be brought to a high standard." In his address "To the Councilmen of All Cities in Germany," Martin Luther exhorts Germany's civic leaders to establish public schools for the education of all German children. Foremost among his priorities in his proposed educational program is instruction in ancient languages, something that, according to Luther, Satan wants to suppress. We dive into German education, ancient language instruction, and the eternal debate over public schools versus homeschooling.

Richard M. Gamble’s The Great Tradition: https://amzn.to/3Q4lRnO

Plutarch's Parallel Lives (inc. Numa and Lycurgus): https://amzn.to/3YbAPxk

Andrew Cuff's Marcus Aurelius, Uncensored: https://beckandstone.com/created/marcus-aurelius-uncensored

New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/

Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.

Music: Save Us Now by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

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Ulrich Zwingli was one of the towering figures of the Reformation, a committed humanist, and a warrior who ultimately fell in battle. He despised the idea that Christianity could render men passive, and in a short treatise from 1523 to a young nobleman, he sketches the outlines of his ideal education for the creature called man: "We are set between the hammer and the anvil, half beast and half angel."

Richard M. Gamble’s The Great Tradition: https://amzn.to/3Q4lRnO

Davenant Institute Ad Fontes podcast on Zwingli: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/zwingli-we-hardly-knew-ye/id1557560666?i=1000545490988

Bruce Gordon's Zwingli: God's Armed Prophet: https://amzn.to/43zIOVN

New Humanists episode on T.S. Eliot's Notes Towards the Definition of Culture: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t-s-eliots-praise-for-privilege-episode-xvi/id1570296135?i=1000549689865

New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/

Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.

Music: Save Us Now by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

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In the opening lecture of his course on Homer, the Professor of Greek at the University of Wittenberg, Phillip Melanchthon, first invokes the aid of the gods and declares that to Homer belongs "the highest and noblest place." Further, Melanchthon proclaims that Homer "alone snatches away the palm of victory from all poets that any age has brought forth, and he leaves them all far behind." Jonathan and Ryan take a look at Melanchthon's encomium for Homer and defense against the many varieties of Homeric critics, both ancient and modern.

Richard M. Gamble’s The Great Tradition: https://amzn.to/3Q4lRnO

C.S. Lewis' The Discarded Image: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781107604704

Homer's Iliad (Greek-English): https://amzn.to/3O2sBEd

Homer's Odyssey (Greek-English): https://amzn.to/46DbOPe

New Humanists Episode on T.S. Eliot's Vergil and Christian World: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/was-virgil-divinely-inspired-episode-xxxiii/id1570296135?i=1000582748821

Daoiri Farrell's The Valley of Knockanure: https://youtu.be/lu-FG92a9Cw

New Humanists Episode on Simone Weil's The Iliad, or the Poem of Force: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-iliad-or-the-poem-of-force-episode-xxi/id1570296135?i=1000557727910

Herodotus' The Histories: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781400031146

Cicero's Pro Archia Poeta Oratio: https://amzn.to/3JS7y4D

New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/

Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.

Music: Save Us Now by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

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A stern prophet of the new and harsh doctrine of predestination. A bloodthirsty tyrant burning people at the stake. A narrowminded dour Puritan. The magnitude of the popularity of these Calvinist stereotypes is matched by their massive distance from the truth of the man. In his affection for the pagan authors, Calvin reveals a deeply humanistic soul, attuned to truth no matter which rock he might find it under. In this episode, Jonathan and Ryan examine a particularly illustrative passage from his Institutes as well as a short passage from his commentary on Titus.

Richard M. Gamble’s The Great Tradition: https://amzn.to/3Q4lRnO

Bruce Gordon's Calvin: https://amzn.to/3NQ4UPa

John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780664220280

Alister McGrath's C.S. Lewis - A Life: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781496410450

C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780060652920

New Humanists episode on C.S. Lewis' Introduction to Athanasius' On the Incarnation: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/c-s-lewis-on-old-books-episode-xiv/id1570296135?i=1000546657094

New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/

Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.

Music: Save Us Now by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

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How do you prepare a royal princess for the throne? In this episode, we look at the writings of two giants of Reformation humanism: Johannes Sturm and Roger Ascham, and in particular, their correspondence about Ascham's work training the future Queen Elizabeth I in Latin and Greek. Ascham himself variously tutored and served as Latin secretary to Lady Jane Grey, the woman who ordered her execution (Queen Mary), and the woman who replaced Queen Mary (Queen Elizabeth). If you think speaking dead languages is a new-fangled approach to language learning, you might be surprised at what Princess Elizabeth was doing in class.

Richard M. Gamble’s The Great Tradition: https://amzn.to/3Q4lRnO

Roger Ascham's The Scholemaster: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1844

Roger Ascham's Toxophilus: https://www.archerylibrary.com/books/toxophilus/

New Humanists episode on Ælfric's Colloquy: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-first-english-conversation-feat-dr-colin-gorrie/id1570296135?i=1000581249310

C. P. Wormald's "The Uses of Literacy in Anglo-Saxon England and Its Neighbours": https://www.jstor.org/stable/3679189

C.S. Lewis' The Abolition of Man: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780060652944

Herodotus' Histories: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781400031146

Shakespeare's The Tempest: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780743482837

New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/

Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.

Music: Save Us Now by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

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King Tarquinius secures his hold on power by expanding the Senate, but encounters a roadblock to strengthening the military in the person of a famous augur. Tarquinius is ruthless, productive, and the first great Roman promoter of "bread and circuses" (among other things, according to Livy, Tarquinius builds the Circus Maximus). Despite his political saavy, however, he comes to a violent, borderline slapstick end.

Livy's Ab Urbe Condita: https://amzn.to/3gYwtbh

Machiavelli's Discourses on Livy: https://amzn.to/3NtNBSj

Virgil's Aeneid: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780143105138

New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/

Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.

Music: Save Us Now by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

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