Nathaniel Hawthorne begins his 1843 short story “The Birthmark,” “In the latter part of the last century there lived a man of science, an eminent proficient in every branch of natural philosophy, who not long before our story opens had made experience of a spiritual affinity more attractive than any chemical one.” That is, he married a beautiful woman.
The scientist—actually more of an alchemist—gazed at his beautiful wife one day after they were married and remarked, “‘Georgiana has it never occurred to you that the mark upon your cheek might be removed?’”
She was beautiful, but not perfect and her birthmark became his and then her obsession. Surely science and technology could make Georgiana perfect.
Dr. Virginia Arbery spoke to the Wyoming School of Catholic Thought about “The Birthmark” as we considered “The Ancient and Modern Challenges of Technology.” Afterwards we had this conversation.

The Ancient and Modern Challenges of Technology: Nathaniel Hawthorne ”The Birthmark” with Dr. Virginia Arbery

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The first After-Dinner Scholar podcast on February 1, 2017 began:

The 16th century English philosopher, statesman and scientist Francis Bacon famously stated, “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested: that is,” he went on to explain, “some books are to be read only in parts, others to be read, but not curiously, and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.” 

Much to my surprise, that first podcast was seven and a half years, 390 episodes, and more than 205,000 downloads ago. And as of this episode, I’m hanging up my headphones and (for the most part) my mortarboard.
Links:
The Eucharist Podcast with Wyoming Catholic College
Mars Hill Audio Journal
Dr. Jim Tonkowich at The Stream

On Podcasting with Dr. Jim Tonkowich

Last week Dr. Tiffany Schubert discussed Inferno, the first book of Dante’s Comedy. Our friend and former colleague Jason Baxter remarked that in Inferno, “Dante’s poetic violence is meant to melt down the hard heart so that it can be reforged into something new.”
Purgatorio is the place where that melted down and malleable heart finds the forge, the place where the hammer of suffering purges all impurities and fashions our hard hearts into hearts perfected.
And finally Paradiso shows us the path of choosing the good, true, and beautiful habitually as we gaze on the Face of God eternally “lost,” as the hymnwriter put it, “in wonder, love, and praise.”

Dante's Divine Comedy - 2 with Dr. Tiffany Schubert

Midway in the journey of our life
I came to myself in a dark wood,
for the straight way was lost.
Ah, how hard it is to tell
the nature of that wood, savage, dense and harsh—
the very thought of it renews my fear!
It is so bitter death is hardly more so. (Inferno 1.1-7)

During Lent and now during Easter, our sophomores, under the guidance of Dr. Tiffany Schubert, have been reading Dante's Divine Comedy in their humanities class. And while that reading is academic, no one can avoid Dante’s emphasis throughout the poem on our spiritual lives.

Dante's Divine Comedy - 1 with Dr. Tiffany Schubert

Pope Benedict XVI wrote, "At Easter we rejoice because Christ did not remain in the tomb, his body did not see corruption; he belongs to the world of the living, not to the world of the dead; we rejoice because he is the Alpha and also the Omega, as we proclaim in the rite of the Paschal Candle; he lives not only yesterday, but today and for eternity."
Theologian Dr. Jeremy Holmes shares his insights about the risen Christ as we celebrate the Octave of Easter.

Easter Joy with Dr. Jeremy Holmes

Saint Ephrem the Syrian said, “We give glory to you, Lord, who raised up your cross to span the jaws of death like a bridge by which souls might pass from the region of the dead to the land of the living.”
The cross is the bridge from death to life, from Hell to Heaven, from the judgment we deserve to the grace we can never deserve, from eternal captivity to the self to eternal freedom in God.
With that in mind, during this Holy Week, it seemed appropriate to rebroadcast a conversation with theologian Dr. Kent Lasnoski about the four last things.

The Ancient and Modern Challenges of Technology: Nathaniel Hawthorne ”The Birthmark” with Dr. Virginia Arbery

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