Risking Enchantment

"Have courage, and be kind" as we take a look at some examples of modern female protagonists, the pitfalls of their portrayals and what they could learn from the lives of the saints.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock and Phoebe Watson

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Works mentioned:

Barbara Nicolosi (Podcast: The Church of the Masses)

Wonder Woman

Captain Marvel

Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi

Star Wars: Rogue One

Twilight

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

Dumbo (2019)

A Wrinkle in Time (2018)

A Series of Unfortunate Events (Book series and film adaptation)

Beauty and the Beast (2017)

Cinderella (2015)

Harry Potter (film series)

That Time Disney Remade Beauty and the Beast, Lindsay Ellis (YouTube video)

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

War and Peace (2016 TV series)

Anne of Green Gables

Anne with an E

Our Lady of Sorrows by Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson

Quote on Holiness by Pope Benedict XVI

Prayer of Discernment by Bl. John Henry Newman

The Life-Giving Will of the Father by Fr. Bonaventure Perquin, O.P.

Prayer of Abandonment by Thomas Merton

The Story of a Soul by St. Therese of Liseux

What We’re Enjoying at the Moment

Rachel:

"Then whoever was born a poet became an architect... in the direction of architecture,—gushed forth through that art, and its Iliads assumed the form of cathedrals." - Victor Hugo

This week's episode comes from Rome, where we discuss the heritage and perspective that architecture gives to the Catholic faith. We discuss the recent fire at Notre Dame and look into Victor Hugo's famous novel on the cathedral to find out why these buildings hold a special place in our faith and history.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock and Phoebe Watson

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Elizabeth Lev 

Built Form of Theology: The Natural Sympathies of Catholicism and Classicism

Elizabeth Lev on Notre Dame

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (This Will Kill That)

To make Britain Richer, Make Britain Beautiful

The Neuroscience of Architecture: The Good, the Bad—and the Beautiful

The Liturgical Arts Journal

What We're Enjoying at the Moment

Phoebe 

TV: Erased

Book: The Wanderings of Clare Skymer by George MacDonald

Rachel

Film: The Sisters Brothers

"The romance of the police force is thus the whole romance of man. It is based on the fact that morality is the most dark and daring of conspiracies." - G.K. Chesterton

In this episode we discuss Detective Fiction and the Detection Club, and whether or not this genre has a uniquely Catholic lens.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle

“The Blue Cross,” The Innocence of Father Brown by G.K. Chesterton

Chesterton.org

"The Great Detectives: G.K. Chesterton – Father Brown" by John Peterson

The Club of Queer Trades by G.K. Chesterton

"Detective Fiction Reinvention and Didacticism in G. K. Chesterton’s Father Brown" by Clifford James Stumme

"Detective fiction and the religious imagination" by David A. King

"A Defence of Detective Stories" by G.K. Chesterton

Taken by the Flood by Agatha Christie (Poirot)

Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie (Poirot)

Appointment with Death by Agatha Christie (Poirot)

The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie (Miss Marple)

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis

"The Christian World of Agatha Christie" by Nick Baldock

Creed or Chaos?: Why Christians Must Choose Either Dogma or Disaster (Or, Why It Really Does Matter What You Believe) by Dorothy L. Sayers

Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers

The Belief of Catholics by Ronald Knox

The Viaduct Murder by Ronald Knox

"Studies in Sherlock Holmes" Essays in Satire by Ronald Knox

Brighton Rock by Graham Greene

"The Catholic Novels of Graham Greene" by Edward Short

"What Makes Great Detective Fiction, According to T. S. Eliot" by Paul Grimstad

East Coker by T.S. Eliot

What We're Enjoying at the Moment

Chloe: Downton Abbey

Rachel: The Bookcase, Carlisle, G.K's Weekly: A Sampler

"Even when they explore the darkest depths of the soul or the most unsettling aspects of evil, artists give voice in a way to the universal desire for redemption"

 In this episode we look at the approaches Catholics and Christians can have in encountering evil and violence in film.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock and Phoebe Watson

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Works and Authors mentioned:

Christians and Movies: The Danger Within, Not Without - Patheos

"No Movies Please, We’re Catholic" - National Catholic Register

Why Do People like Violent Movies - Psychcentral

Faith and Film Criticism: The Challenge of the Catholic Critic - Decent Films

Inter Mirifica

What is Wrong with Movie Violence? - LA Review of Books

Painfotainment - Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History

Experiencing Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find” - JStor

A Good Man is Hard to Find - Flannery O’Connor

Flannery O’Connor and the Violence of Christianity - Word on Fire

Passion Confessions

Christian Art and the Use of Violence - The Common Vision

The Scandal of Forgiveness in Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri

Movies Discussed:

The Passion of the Christ

Mad Max: Fury Road

Hacksaw Ridge

You Were Never Really Here

Requiem For a Dream

Three Billboards outside Ebbing Missouri

What We’re Enjoying at the Moment

Phoebe: Holy Week Liturgies

Rachel: Guys and Dolls, War Horse (Play)

“Our Lady, upon which all my own small perception of beauty both in majesty and simplicity is founded.” - J.R.R. Tolkien. In this episode of Risking Enchantment we discuss the female characters of The Lord of the Rings, and Middle Earth in general. We look at Tolkien's approach to women characters, the ideals and flaws they portray and how his Catholic faith informed his ideas of femininity.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Works and Authors mentioned:

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

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 Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien

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

The Gospel According to Tolkien by Ralph C. Wood

The Once and Future King by T.H White

Risking Enchantment Episode 6: The Fall of Chivalry in Arthurian Legend

Secret Fire: The Spiritual Vision of J R R Tolkien by Stratford Caldecott 

YouTube: The History of Galadriel- Lord of the Rings Lore

YouTube: Shelob Lore - Lord of the Rings Lore

Beren and Luthien by J.R.R. Tolkien, ed. Christopher Tolkien

What We’re Enjoying At the Moment

Rachel: Ronald Knox's Murder Mysteries

Tea with Tolkien 

"There is no higher contemplation than that of the Passion of Jesus Christ" - St. John of God.

We discuss the place of the crucifix in the Catholic faith, and why it is considered an object of beauty.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock and Phoebe Watson

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Works and Authors mentioned:

Why does the Cross Attract Us by Fr Hugh Barbour

Sermon 27 by St. Augustine of Hippo

A Song for the Suffering Body of Christ by Matthew Becklo

Only Love is Credible by Hans Urs Von Balthasar

‘The Scapegoat and the Trinity’, You Crown the Year with Your Goodness by Hans Urs Von Balthasar

The Cross Must be Deeply Ugly to be Beautiful by Nathaniel Peters

The Serious Sacrificial Body by Timothy O’Malley

The Isenheim Altarpiece by Matthias Grünewald

The Crucified Christ by Diego Velásquez

Christ on the Cross by Léon Bonnat

Scourged Cross Image

The Scorzelli Cross

Via Crucis by Albert Servaes

The Habit of Being, by Flannery O’Connor

“Four Quartets”, Part II: East Coker by T.S. Eliot

The Cross and the Beatitudes: Lessons on Love and Forgiveness by Fulton Sheen

What We’re Enjoying At the Moment

Phoebe

Rachel

"The truth shall make you odd." Flannery O'Connor. With Ash Wednesday only just gone, it's easy to recall why Catholicism is often criticised for being strange and set apart. In this week's episode we discuss why that is no bad thing.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock and Matthias Conroy

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com 

Works and Authors mentioned:

Catholicism: The Pivotal Players Series, Episode 5 G.K. Chesterton

"Met Gala: The Charge of Blasphemy and Pope Rihanna" written by Natalie Carnes

"How Agatha Christie helped to save the Latin Mass" by Joseph Shaw

Institute of Christ the King: Church Restoration Video

"This is your brain on 'contemplative architecture'" by Daniel Esparza

Summa Theologiae: The power of sensuality (Prima Pars, Q. 81), St. Thomas Aquinas

Benedictine Monks, Ireland - Documentary

Nigerian soldiers fighting Boko Haram, seen holding Mass on the battleground

The Habit of Being by Flannery O’Connor 

The Medium and the Light: Reflections on Religion and Media Marshall McLuhan 

"The new Sisterhood: Traditional Orders are Booming" by Joanna Bogle

"Thanks to Salvador Dalí" by Frank Weathers

God in the Gallery by Matthew Milliner

5 People its Easy to Forget are Catholic

I Confess, The Wrong Man, Vertigo (dir. Alfred Hitchcock)

Dappled Things 

Giovanni Gasparro

The Mocking of Christ by Fra Angelico

What We're Enjoying at the Moment:

Matthias:

“Convertere, Israël, ad Dominum Deum Tuum!” by Br. Evagrius

Rachel:

You Were Never Really Here (film)

The Once and Future King is a retelling of the Arthurian legend by author T.H. White and provides a fascinating examination of the ideals and failings of chivalry.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock and Phoebe Watson

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com 

Works and Authors mentioned:

The Once and Future King by T.H. White

Le Morte D’Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory

De Laude Novae Militiae by Bernard of Clairveaux

The Song of Roland

David Eddings

Tamora Pierce

The Letters of J.R.R Tolkien by Humphrey Carpenter

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

'The Necessity of Chivarly', On Present Concerns, by C.S. Lewis

Things we like

The works of Georgette Heyer

Dappled Things Journal

"For everything there is a season" Eccl 3:1. We discuss how and why we should bring the liturgical year into our homes and into our lives.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock and Maria Connolly

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com 

Titles Discussed:

The Catholic All Year Compendium: Liturgical Living for Real Life by Kendra Tierney

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

In Tune with the World: A Theory of Festivity by Josef Pieper

Quas Primas by Pope Pius XI

Things we're enjoying:

Maria: Fair Isle knitting

Rachel: Bedtime on iTunes Clock App and Screen Time App

"Simplicity is a virtue most worthy of love, because it leads us straight to the Kingdom of Heaven.” - Saint Vincent de Paul. We take a look at the stories and writings that encapsulate a love for a simple and small life.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock and Phoebe Watson

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com 

Titles Discussed:

The Brambly Hedge Series by Jill Barklem

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

Small is Beautiful: A Study of Economics As If People Mattered by E.F. Schumacher

Leisure: The Basis of Culture by Josef Pieper

The Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

Goodnight Mr Tom by Michelle Magorian

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge

A Remaining Christmas by Hilaire Belloc

Studio Ghibli Films: Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away

The Wise Woman by George MacDonald

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

What We're Enjoying

Restoring British Landmarks (TV Series)

Baumgartner Restoration (YouTube Channel)