Simple Gifts

Simple Gifts

By John and Jenny WiseEducationArtsBooksHistory
Download on the App Store

Simple Gifts episodes

  • PARADISE LOST, by John Milton, Book 3, Part 4

    Book three of PARADISE LOST begins with the poet offering a paean to the 'celestial light,' his muse, and while lamenting his temporal blindness, he asks the light to shine inward so "that I may see and tell/Of things invisible to mortal sight."

    His vision then turns to heaven and discussion between Father and Son and the plan of redemption freely undertaken by the eternal Word, and the angelic choir sings the glory of the Eternal Godhead's justice and mercy.

    The vision then shifts again to Satan, who arriving on earth seeks for Eden.

    If you’d like to support us, donate through Paypal at [email protected]

    https://www.youtube.com/c/TheChristianAtheist/featured

    https://www.facebook.com/JnJWiseWords

    https://wisewordsforyouroccasion.wordpress.com

     

    #paradiselost #paradise #johnmilton #milton #poetry #poem #epic #epicpoem #classicpoetry #classicpoem #classics #westernliterature #satan #hell #earth #christianity #religion #thechristianatheist #drjohndwise #drjohnwise #johnwise #christian #atheist #christianity #atheism #jesus #jesuschrist #god #bible #oldtestament #newtestament #nocompromise #rationality #faith #philosophy #philosopher #culture #society #hegelism #hegel #reason #incarnation #history#psychology #theology #literature #humanities #hardquestions #postmodernism #woke #wisdom #ethics #science #poetry

    13 min
  • George Orwell’s ANIMAL FARM, Chapter 5, Part 1

    C S Lewis said: "ANIMAL FARM is formally almost perfect; light, strong, balanced. There is not a sentence that does not contribute to the whole. The myth says all the author wants it to say and (equally important) it doesn't say anything else."

    Lewis did not like 1984: "Tragedy demands a certain minimum stature in the victim; and the hero and heroine of 1984 do not reach that minimum.... In Animal Farm all this is changed. The greed and cunning of the pigs is tragic ... because we are made to care about all the honest, well-meaning, or even heroic beasts whom they exploit. The death of Boxer the horse moves us more than all the more elaborate cruelties of the other book. And not only moves, but convinces."

    "One result is that the satire becomes more effective. Wit and humour (absent from the longer work) are employed with devastating effect. The great sentence 'All animals are equal but some are more equal than others' bites deeper than the whole of 1984. Thus the shorter book does all that the longer does. But it also does more. Paradoxically, when Orwell turns all his characters into animals he makes them more fully human."

    Wokist totalitarianism is blossoming and colonizing every segment of our culture. Boxer and Winston will again suffer and die, unless we "wake up" from the Wokist dystopian dream.

    It Is Time, SLEEPERS, [to] AWAKE!

    If you’d like to support us, donate through Paypal at [email protected]

    https://www.youtube.com/c/TheChristianAtheist/featured 

    https://www.facebook.com/JnJWiseWords 
    https://wisewordsforyouroccasion.wordpress.com 

    #georgeorwell #animalfarm  #classic #classicdystopianliterature #dystopianliterature #dystopianfiction #dystopian #literature #fiction #psychologicalliterature #psychological #psychology #totalitarian #totalitarianfiction #totalitarianliterature #20thcentury #20thcenturyliterature #woke #wokism #orwell

    11 min
  • John Locke’s SECOND TREATISE OF GOVERNMENT, Part 7

    Chapter 6, Sections 52 - 60

    John Locke's Second Treatise of Government was thought by Thomas Jefferson one of the most important influences on his own political thinking, and while it is disputed, one of the most important philosophical voices in the formation of the United States and its founding documents.

    As such, it is vital to Americans in these days to understand and know Locke's ideas. History is being rewritten at a level approaching the Doublethink of George Orwell, and we must know and proclaim the Truth, the ultimate safeguard of our liberties against the forces of tyranny.

    If you’d like to support us, donate through Paypal at [email protected]

    https://www.youtube.com/c/TheChristianAtheist/featured

    https://www.facebook.com/JnJWiseWords

    https://wisewordsforyouroccasion.wordpress.com

     

    #johnlocke #locke #secondtreatise #secondtreatiseongovernment #government #politicalthought #politicaltheory #politicalphilosophy #philosophy #philosophical #philosopher #philosophicalvoice #unitedstates #unitedstateshistory #thomasjefferson #america #americans #foundingfathers #liberty #safeguardofliberty #tyranny #safeguardsagainsttyranny

    15 min
  • Winston Churchill, ”Iron Curtain,” March 5, 1946, Part 3

    Churchill was no longer Prime Minister when he delivered this famous speech at Westminster College in Fulton Missouri on March 5th, 1946. Having been invited by the college's president, encouraged by President Truman with a promise to introduce him if he came, the newly deposed Prime Minister, as 'leader of the opposition' in Britain aptly defined the world stage for the next half-century:

    "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe.... all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject ... not only to Soviet influence but to a very high ... measure of control from Moscow.... [T}his is certainly not the Liberated Europe we fought to build up. Nor is it one which contains the essentials of permanent peace."

    Hope lay in the Western democracies and the "special relationship" between Britain and the United States.

    His warnings were even more prophetic than he himself knew:

    "However, in a great number of countries, far from the Russian frontiers and throughout the world, Communist fifth columns are established and work in complete unity and absolute obedience to the directions they receive from the Communist center. Except in the British Commonwealth and in the United States where Communism is in its infancy, the Communist parties or fifth columns constitute a growing challenge and peril to Christian civilization. These are somber facts for anyone to have to recite on the morrow of a victory gained by so much splendid comradeship in arms and in the cause of freedom and democracy; but we should be most unwise not to face them squarely while time remains."

    As Vergil said, fugit inreparabile tempus, and it is shorter now than it was then. Sleepers Awake!

     

    If you’d like to support us, donate through Paypal at [email protected]

     

    https://www.youtube.com/c/TheChristianAtheist/featured

    https://www.facebook.com/JnJWiseWords

    https://wisewordsforyouroccasion.wordpress.com

     

    #churchil #winston #winstonchurchil #worldwarii #worldwar2 #worldwartwo #worldwar #england #america #europe #europeanwar #americanwar #englandwar #warineurope #primeminister #bristishprimeminister #parliament #historicchurchillspeeches #houseofcommons #bbc #britishhistory #god #bible #oldtestament #newtestament #nocompromise #rationality #faith #philosophy #philosopher #culture #society #hegelism #hegel #reason #incarnation #history#psychology #theology #literature #humanities #hardquestions #postmodernism #woke #wisdom #ethics #science #poetry #fultonmissouri #ironcurtain #westminstercollege #fugitinreparabiletempus #sleepersawake

    14 min
  • PARADISE LOST, by John Milton, Book 3, Part 3

    Book three of PARADISE LOST begins (lines 1-55) with the poet offering a paean to the 'celestial light,' his muse, and while lamenting his temporal blindness, he asks the light to shine inward so "that I may see and tell/Of things invisible to mortal sight."

    His vision then turns to heaven and discussion between Father and Son and the plan of redemption freely undertaken by the eternal Word, and the angelic choir sings the glory of the Eternal Godhead's justice and mercy.

    The vision then shifts again to Satan, who arriving on earth seeks for Eden.

    If you’d like to support us, donate through Paypal at [email protected]

    https://www.youtube.com/c/TheChristianAtheist/featured

    https://www.facebook.com/JnJWiseWords

    https://wisewordsforyouroccasion.wordpress.com

     

    #paradiselost #paradise #johnmilton #milton #poetry #poem #epic #epicpoem #classicpoetry #classicpoem #classics #westernliterature #satan #hell #earth #christianity #religion #thechristianatheist #drjohndwise #drjohnwise #johnwise #christian #atheist #christianity #atheism #jesus #jesuschrist #god #bible #oldtestament #newtestament #nocompromise #rationality #faith #philosophy #philosopher #culture #society #hegelism #hegel #reason #incarnation #history#psychology #theology #literature #humanities #hardquestions #postmodernism #woke #wisdom #ethics #science #poetry

    12 min
  • George Orwell’s ANIMAL FARM, Chapter 4

    C S Lewis said: "ANIMAL FARM is formally almost perfect; light, strong, balanced. There is not a sentence that does not contribute to the whole. The myth says all the author wants it to say and (equally important) it doesn't say anything else."

    Lewis did not like 1984: "Tragedy demands a certain minimum stature in the victim; and the hero and heroine of 1984 do not reach that minimum.... In Animal Farm all this is changed. The greed and cunning of the pigs is tragic ... because we are made to care about all the honest, well-meaning, or even heroic beasts whom they exploit. The death of Boxer the horse moves us more than all the more elaborate cruelties of the other book. And not only moves, but convinces."

    "One result is that the satire becomes more effective. Wit and humour (absent from the longer work) are employed with devastating effect. The great sentence 'All animals are equal but some are more equal than others' bites deeper than the whole of 1984. Thus the shorter book does all that the longer does. But it also does more. Paradoxically, when Orwell turns all his characters into animals he makes them more fully human."

    Wokist totalitarianism is blossoming and colonizing every segment of our culture. Boxer and Winston will again suffer and die, unless we "wake up" from the Wokist dystopian dream.

    It Is Time, SLEEPERS, [to] AWAKE!

    If you’d like to support us, donate through Paypal at [email protected]

    https://www.youtube.com/c/TheChristianAtheist/featured 

    https://www.facebook.com/JnJWiseWords 
    https://wisewordsforyouroccasion.wordpress.com 

    #georgeorwell #animalfarm  #classic #classicdystopianliterature #dystopianliterature #dystopianfiction #dystopian #literature #fiction #psychologicalliterature #psychological #psychology #totalitarian #totalitarianfiction #totalitarianliterature #20thcentury #20thcenturyliterature #woke #wokism #orwell

    12 min
  • John Locke’s SECOND TREATISE OF GOVERNMENT, Part 6

    Chapter 5, Sections 41 - 51

    John Locke's Second Treatise of Government was thought by Thomas Jefferson one of the most important influences on his own political thinking, and while it is disputed, one of the most important philosophical voices in the formation of the United States and its founding documents.

    As such, it is vital to Americans in these days to understand and know Locke's ideas. History is being rewritten at a level approaching the Doublethink of George Orwell, and we must know and proclaim the Truth, the ultimate safeguard of our liberties against the forces of tyranny.

    If you’d like to support us, donate through Paypal at [email protected]

    https://www.youtube.com/c/TheChristianAtheist/featured

    https://www.facebook.com/JnJWiseWords

    https://wisewordsforyouroccasion.wordpress.com

     

    #johnlocke #locke #secondtreatise #secondtreatiseongovernment #government #politicalthought #politicaltheory #politicalphilosophy #philosophy #philosophical #philosopher #philosophicalvoice #unitedstates #unitedstateshistory #thomasjefferson #america #americans #foundingfathers #liberty #safeguardofliberty #tyranny #safeguardsagainsttyranny

    15 min
  • Winston Churchill, ”Iron Curtain,” March 5, 1946, Part 2

    Churchill was no longer Prime Minister when he delivered this famous speech at Westminster College in Fulton Missouri on March 5th, 1946. Having been invited by the college's president, encouraged by President Truman with a promise to introduce him if he came, the newly deposed Prime Minister, as 'leader of the opposition' in Britain aptly defined the world stage for the next half-century:

    "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe.... all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject ... not only to Soviet influence but to a very high ... measure of control from Moscow.... [T}his is certainly not the Liberated Europe we fought to build up. Nor is it one which contains the essentials of permanent peace."

    Hope lay in the Western democracies and the "special relationship" between Britain and the United States.

    His warnings were even more prophetic than he himself knew:

    "However, in a great number of countries, far from the Russian frontiers and throughout the world, Communist fifth columns are established and work in complete unity and absolute obedience to the directions they receive from the Communist center. Except in the British Commonwealth and in the United States where Communism is in its infancy, the Communist parties or fifth columns constitute a growing challenge and peril to Christian civilization. These are somber facts for anyone to have to recite on the morrow of a victory gained by so much splendid comradeship in arms and in the cause of freedom and democracy; but we should be most unwise not to face them squarely while time remains."

    As Vergil said, fugit inreparabile tempus, and it is shorter now than it was then. Sleepers Awake!

     

    If you’d like to support us, donate through Paypal at [email protected]

     

    https://www.youtube.com/c/TheChristianAtheist/featured

    https://www.facebook.com/JnJWiseWords

    https://wisewordsforyouroccasion.wordpress.com

     

    #churchil #winston #winstonchurchil #worldwarii #worldwar2 #worldwartwo #worldwar #england #america #europe #europeanwar #americanwar #englandwar #warineurope #primeminister #bristishprimeminister #parliament #historicchurchillspeeches #houseofcommons #bbc #britishhistory #god #bible #oldtestament #newtestament #nocompromise #rationality #faith #philosophy #philosopher #culture #society #hegelism #hegel #reason #incarnation #history#psychology #theology #literature #humanities #hardquestions #postmodernism #woke #wisdom #ethics #science #poetry #fultonmissouri #ironcurtain #westminstercollege #fugitinreparabiletempus #sleepersawake

    14 min
  • MERE CHRISTIANITY, C. S. Lewis, ”Preface”
    MERE CHRISTIANITY is Lewis’s most well-known Christian text. For that reason, I was hesitant to read it to our podcast, wanting to promote his lesser known, but excellent series of essays.
    I have always found the ”Preface” a worthy and incisive part of what MERE CHRISTIANITY gives us. For me, there are two points drawn from it that have stayed with me from the moment I first read the text, one a metaphor and the other a point of special theoretical importance concerning the use of language.
    The latter first. Our use of language is indexical. That is, its purpose is communication, which contains the notion of ”common” within itself. While language changes and evolves, Lewis sets a stake in the ground here around which I myself have ever-after tied myself. ”Christianity” means SOMETHING, as do all useful words. I would guess that Lewis, like me, would concede that what it means is never fully captured in any human use of the term. None of us know the Divine Mystery in Christ, but we can agree about the pointing function, and we can agree that whatever is added to (or taken from) the reality by our use of the term, is false and wrong. The ”mere” of MERE CHRISTIANITY means that we are talking of reality itself, and it is God who defines it, not us. Our purpose in relation to Christianity is discovery, not construction. Our duty is faithfulness to the Divine idea, not the formation and promotion of our own.
    ”The point is not a theological or moral one. It is only a question of using words so that we can all understand what is being said.”
    Finally, the metaphor. In The Magician’s Nephew Digory and Polly explore the attic in their row home, finding that it traverses all the homes in their row, a sort of neutral place between homes, not part of any but connecting them all. Likewise, by magic they travel to the Wood Between the Worlds, a sleepy, rich, uneventful place, a place of potential but not actual commitment, action and opportunity. Different worlds are accessed here by choosing and committing oneself to a pool. One is either all in, or all out. For me, this metaphor has represented the place of indecision, most notably between theism and atheism. Agnosticism is the one completely defensible intellectual position, but it gets us nowhere when we simply stay there. It seems to me cowardice, unmanly lack of decision and commitment, but it is also a necessary way-station on the journey to somewhere. It is Socrates to Plato, the bare plains of reality, of ignorance stark and barren. The temptation is to fall asleep here instead of moving on into the richness of commitment and life, but this is only found by jumping into faith feet first. Lewis ends his Preface here with a variation on this same metaphor. Mere Christianity, he says, ”is more like a hall out of which doors open into several rooms.... The hall is a place to wait in, a place from which to try various doors, not a place to live in .... you must regard it as waiting, not as camping ... and ... even in the hall you must begin trying to obey the rules which are common to the whole house.... When you have reached your own room, be kind to those who have chosen different doors and to those who are still in the hall. If they are wrong they need your prayers all the more; and if they are your enemies, then you are under orders to pray for them. That is one of the rules common to the whole house.” I think that even for Lewis the Wood Between the Worlds and the Hall form one continuous paradoxical metaphor.
    If you’d like to support us, donate through Paypal at [email protected]
    https://www.youtube.com/c/TheChristianAtheist/featured
    https://www.facebook.com/JnJWiseWords
    https://wisewordsforyouroccasion.wordpress.com
    #god #bible #oldtestament #newtestament #nocompromise #rationality #faith #philosophy #philosopher #culture #society #hegelism #hegel #reason #incarnation #history#psychology #theology #literature #humanities #hardquestions #postmodernism #woke #wisdom #e
    20 min
  • PARADISE LOST, by John Milton, Book 3, Part 2

    Book three of PARADISE LOST begins (lines 1-55) with the poet offering a paean to the 'celestial light,' his muse, and while lamenting his temporal blindness, he asks the light to shine inward so "that I may see and tell/Of things invisible to mortal sight."

    His vision then turns to heaven and discussion between Father and Son and the plan of redemption freely undertaken by the eternal Word, and the angelic choir sings the glory of the Eternal Godhead's justice and mercy.

    The vision then shifts again to Satan, who arriving on earth seeks for Eden.

    If you’d like to support us, donate through Paypal at [email protected]

    https://www.youtube.com/c/TheChristianAtheist/featured

    https://www.facebook.com/JnJWiseWords

    https://wisewordsforyouroccasion.wordpress.com

     

    #paradiselost #paradise #johnmilton #milton #poetry #poem #epic #epicpoem #classicpoetry #classicpoem #classics #westernliterature #satan #hell #earth #christianity #religion #thechristianatheist #drjohndwise #drjohnwise #johnwise #christian #atheist #christianity #atheism #jesus #jesuschrist #god #bible #oldtestament #newtestament #nocompromise #rationality #faith #philosophy #philosopher #culture #society #hegelism #hegel #reason #incarnation #history#psychology #theology #literature #humanities #hardquestions #postmodernism #woke #wisdom #ethics #science #poetry

    15 min

About Simple Gifts

From the publisher's feed

Simple Gifts is the gift of time and freedom. It is the simple presentation of the written word spoken without commentary. Join us in ruminating on great stories, poems, history, philosophy, theology, art and science. Amidst chaos, find the “valley of love and delight,” a true simplicity, where “to bow and to bend we will not be ashamed,” where we can ponder the greatest words ever written, turning them over and over, “till by turning, turning, we come round right.”