Risking Enchantment

“The glory of colour, which was his chief gift, is a strange blend of dark beauty and almost spectral luminosity.” - A.Kelly

In this episode Rachel and Phoebe put a spotlight on one of Ireland’s great artists: Harry Clarke. Famed for his stained glass art, Clarke’s work can be found in churches throughout Ireland, exhibiting his astounding use of colour and his distinctive figurative style. We discuss his place in Irish art history and his work establishing a distinctively Irish style in the 20th century. We contrast his religious work with his secular, often literary based pieces, and his use of gothic and grotesque elements in both. And we discuss how Clarke’s distinctive style draws the humanity out in his depictions of saints and his biblical scenes.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Phoebe Watson

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

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 Works Mentioned:

To see the stained glass pieces discussed in this episode, visit the Risking Enchantment Substack.

Dark Beauty: Hidden Detail in Harry Clarke’s Stained Glass by Lucy Costigan and Michael Cullen

Poems / by Theodore Maynard ; with an introduction by G.K. Chesterton

Alarms and Discursions by G.K.Chesterton

Orthodoxy by G.K Chesterton

What We’re Enjoying at the Moment

Phoebe: Murder on the Orient Express (on stage)

Rachel: A Spring Harvest by Geoffrey Bache Smith

"I tried to save the Shire, and it has been saved, but not for me. It must often be so, Sam, when things are in danger: some one has to give them up, lose them, so that others may keep them."

- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King

In this episode, Jacob Moran returns to join me on a dive back into Middle-Earth, this time to explore the character of Frodo Baggins. Even among fans of The Lord of the Rings, Frodo comes in for a deal of criticism and even maligning, usually centred around his likeability and his failure at the end of the quest. Yet to misunderstand Frodo is to misunderstand a crucial part of what Tolkien is saying about heroism and virtue. In this episode Rachel and Jacob discuss Frodo's qualities, his example of self-sacrifice and his willingness to lay down even his likeability in order to save his friends and his home.

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock and Jacob Moran

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Works Mentioned:

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, ed Humphrey Carpenter

The Once and Future King by T.H. White

The Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

Murder in the Cathedral by T.S. Eliot

What We're Enjoying at the Moment:

Rachel: Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens

Jacob: DnD campaign planning

"I was feeling like I never was young

Followed a dream and a strange desire

You picked me up in the dead of the night

And gave me a chance to move on inside of your mystery"

- You're Still a Mystery, Bleachers

In this February episode of Risking Enchantment, Matthias Conroy joins after a five year absence to talk about one of our favourite bands and albums, Strange Desire by Bleachers.

Bleachers is founded and fronted by pop producer extraordinaire Jack Antonoff. While he is most famous for his work co-writing and producing the music of Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey and The 1975, Jack’s band Bleachers gives him the space to explore emotions and experiences close to his heart, namely love, grief, sorrow and hope. While in no way a Christian album, Strange Desire gives a depth of wisdom to the experience of love that gives us glimpses of divine love. Even the album’s title ‘Strange Desire’ has an almost Augustinian quality, hinting at our restless hearts yearning for the world beyond our senses. In the episode we discuss and explore the themes of the album and show how we can encounter God in unlikely places in our life and in our culture.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Phoebe Watson

The Risking Enchantment Substack account: https://riskingenchantment.substack.com/

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

For links to the works mentioned in this podcast, visit our substack post below:

https://riskingenchantment.substack.com/p/strange-desire-and-the-mystery-of

What We’re Enjoying at the Moment:

Matthias:

David Bennet Piano - YouTube Channel

Rachel:

A Father Who Keeps His Promises by Scott Hahn

"[T]he life and work of the Forerunner, especially as presented in the gospel of John, greatly illuminates the poetic character of Christian life—indeed of all life"

- Dwight Lindley, "The Poetics of John the Baptist"

Risking Enchantment is back for 2025 and for our first episode of the year we’re taking a look at St. John the Baptist. We discuss a fictionalised depiction of his imprisonment by Henriette Brey, a 20th-century Catholic writer, as well at looking at how this foremost of saints is represented in art and how his very life and divine mission gives us a lens to understand art from a Christian perspective.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Phoebe Watson

Important Links:

The new Risking Enchantment Substack account: https://riskingenchantment.substack.com/

Sign up as a paid subscriber in order to receive our monthly newsletter of recommendations.

The video of the conference panel featuring my talk: “The Ends of the Affairs: Medieval Ideals, Modern Trysts, and the Offering of Redemption in the Works of Graham Greene and T. H. White”

FC24: A Hint of an Explanation – Graham Greene

The chapter discussed in this episode: “Out of the Depths” When The Soul Is In Darkness: A Book For Those That Labor And Are Burdened by Henriette Brey

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Works Mentioned

“Out of the Depths” When The Soul Is In Darkness: A Book For Those That Labor And Are Burdened by Henriette Brey

“The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot

“The Poetics of John the Baptist”, by Dwight Lindley - Dappled Things

L’Apparition by Gustave Moreau

Isenheim Altarpiece by Matthias Grunewald

John the Baptist by Donatello (V&A Hall of Casts)

Saint John the Baptist by Leonardo da Vinci

Bacchus by Leonardo da Vinci

What We’re Enjoying at the Moment

Phoebe: Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

  12 Angry Men

Rachel: When Harry Met Sally

  Word on Fire Bible Series

"I can imagine that if there existed a God who loved, the devil would be driven to destroy even the weakest, most faulty imitation of that love. Wouldn’t he be afraid that the habit of love might grow, and wouldn’t he try to trap us all into being traitors, into helping him extinguish love."

- Graham Greene

This episode of Risking Enchantment features a recording of paper given by Rachel Sherlock at this year's Fall Conference held by the de Nicola Institute for Ethics in Culture in Notre Dame University, held in conjuction with the Biennial Catholic Imagination Conference. the theme was Ever Ancient, Ever New: On Catholic Imagination. The focus of the conference was on the literary arts and so this paper was part of a panel on the author Graham Greene.

Host: Rachel Sherlock

Follow Rachel on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Find out more about the conference: https://ethicscenter.nd.edu/programs/fall-conference/2024-ever-ancient-ever-new/

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

“I am not a reformer nor an embalmer! I am not a ‘reformer’ (by exercise of power) since it seems doomed to Sarumanism. But ‘embalming’ has its own punishments.”

-J.R.R. Tolkien

For this episode we are delighted to be joined by Dr. Holly Ordway, Fellow of Faith and Culture at the Word on Fire Institute. We discuss her recent title, Tolkien's Faith: A Spiritual Biography, which traces Tolkien’s experience of the Catholic faith throughout his life, how he integrated it into his daily practices, his personal life and his work. We discuss his early religious experiences, his opinions on changes in the liturgy, and the ways he integrated his work and faith in his translation work especially on the Book of Jonah.

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Dr Holly Ordway

Follow Rachel on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow Holly on social media: @HollyOrdway

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Find out more about Holly at http://www.hollyordway.com/

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Works Mentioned

Tolkien’s Faith: A Spiritual Biography by Dr Holly Orday

Tolkien’s Modern Reading: Middle-earth Beyond the Middle Ages by Dr Holly Ordway

The Letters of J.R.R Tolkien

Tolkien and the Great War by John Garth

What We’re Enjoying at the Moment

Holly: The Three Investigators Series by Robert Arthur, Jr.

Rachel: The End of the Affair by Graham Greene

“I'm capable of a great jerk, an effort, and then a relaxation—but steady, every-day goodness is beyond me. I must be a moral kangaroo!”

-Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell

In our final episode before the summer break, Phoebe and Rachel are joined by their good friend, and long-time Risking Enchantment listener, Jacob Moran, to discuss his favourite novel: Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell. We discuss how Gaskell demonstrates the precariousness of the moral life, even or perhaps especially in middle class and comfortable lives. The novel highlights the need to cultivate every-day virtue and how easily we can stray from our principles. We explore these themes through the various contrasting characters, including Molly Gibson with her steadfast virtue in difficult circumstances, her step-mother Mrs Gibson with all her facade of care.

We hope you enjoy the summer and we look forward to returning with more Risking Enchantment episodes in September.

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Phoebe Watson, Jacob Moran

Follow us on social media: Rachel: @seekingwatson Jacob: @piousmouse

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Works Mentioned:

Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell

Keeping Your Word: Unfashionable Virtues in North and South - Risking Enchantment

‘Advice’ by Robert Crawford

What We’re Enjoying at the Moment

Collective Recommendation: 

The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel - Jenny Nicholson

Phoebe:

Murder in the Cathedral by T.S. Eliot - performed by CityLit Theatre, Chicago

Rachel:

Wildcat (2023)

Jacob:

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

“Joyful singing and music is likewise a constant invitation to believers and to all people of good will to work hard to give humanity a future rich in hope.”

-Pope Benedict XVI

In this episode we are joined by Katie Marquette, host of the Born of Wonder podcast. We discuss our love of music, what can learn about the human desire to write new songs about our common experiences, and how participating in the creation of music unites us to the music imbued in God’s creation.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Katie Marquette

Listen to Katie’s podcast: Born of Wonder

Follow Rachel on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow Katie on social media: @bornofwonder

Read Katie on Substack: https://bornofwonder.substack.com/

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Join Katie Marquette on a pilgrimage to Ireland: https://www.bornofwonder.com/come-to-ireland-with-me

Rachel was also previously a guest on the Born of Wonder podcast. To listen to that episode, click here: S7:10 EP102: Taylor Swift and the Power of Collective Experience with Rachel Sherlock

Works Referenced:

Music is fundamentally joy, says this professor of music

What about Bad Music?

Pope Benedict XVI and The Power of Music

The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis

Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi – The Four Seasons

What We’re Enjoying at the Moment

Katie: Les Misérables [Katie’s recent episode on this topic: S7:12 EP 104: The Economy of Love in Les Miserables with Maddie Dobrowski]

Rachel: Detectorists

"We are watchful for works written in a contemporary idiom that yet reach the roots of fundamental questions, that honor the almost three-thousand-year-long conversations committed to these questions, and that incite our hunger for the splendor of truth."

Masthead for Wiseblood Books

We are delighted to welcome to the podcast Mary Finnegan, deputy editor at Wiseblood Books, a small Catholic press which fosters works of fiction, poetry, and philosophy. In our episode today we discuss the process of publishing, how to strive for excellent in craft while encouraging new writers, and publishing as a vocation. We dive into Dana Gioia's essay "The Catholic Writer Today" and address the problems facing Catholic writing and publishing in our current times.

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Mary Finnegan

Follow us on social media: @seekingwatson @maryraphaela

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Wiseblood Books: https://www.wisebloodbooks.com/

University of St Thomas: Masters in Fine Arts in Creative Writing

Dappled Things: https://www.dappledthings.org/

Works Mentioned

"The Catholic Writer Today" by Dana Gioia - Article in First Things

The Catholic Writer Today by Dana Gioia - Monograph by Wiseblood

Mystery and Manners by Flannery O'Connor

"Christianity and Poetry" by Dana Gioia - Article in First Things

Christianity and Poetry by Dana Gioia - Monograph by Wiseblood

Under Satan's Sun by Georges Bernanos

The Demons: A Double-Volume Novel by Heimito von Doderer

Seneca: The Madness of Hercules, Translated and Introduced by Dana Gioia 

Memory's Abacus: Poems by Anna Lewis

Painting Over the Growth Chart: Poems, by Dan Rattelle

Works of Mercy by Sally Thomas 

How to Think Like a Poet by Ryan Wilson

What We're Enjoying at the Moment

"A Theology of Fiction" by Cassandra Nelson

The End of the Affair by Graham Greene

“What does the Lord want of me?  Of course, this is always a great adventure, but life can be successful only if we have the courage to be adventurous, trusting that the Lord will never leave me alone, that the Lord will go with me and help me.”

    – Pope Benedict XVI

For this episode of Risking Enchantment, Rachel and Phoebe discuss Arthur Ransome’s series of children’s books known as the Swallows and Amazons series. These books are full of wonder and imagination as well as practical detail, as they follow a group of children spending their holidays in the Lake District of northern England. The children sail, set up camp, climb mountains and have many delightful adventures. In our podcast discussion we explore the importance of this sense of adventure for both children and adults, and how this relates to our spiritual lives and how we embrace God’s plan for us. We discuss the balance of duty and responsibility with the sense of freedom that this kind of adventuring perspective brings, and we highlight the connection with Creation that can come from being out in nature.

Works mentioned in this episode

Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome

Swallowdale by Arthur Ransome

Winter Holiday by Arthur Ransome

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Matilda by Roald Dahl

‘Swallows and Amazons for Ever!’ Slightly Foxed, by Jim Ring

Spe Salvi by Pope Benedict XVI

“Encounter of His Holiness Benedict XVI with the Youth, Saint Peter's Square, Thursday, 6 April 2006”

S2:9 EP18: Wonder in a Digital Age, Born of Wonder podcast

“Swallows, Amazons and Adventure, Part 1” by Jon Sparks

“Oxford Junior Dictionary’s replacement of ‘natural’ words with 21st-century terms sparks outcry”, The Guardian, Alison Flood

What We’re Enjoying at the Moment:

Phoebe: BBC’s Hildegard von Bingen - In Portrait (1994)

Rachel: Knitting