The Commons

In this episode of The Commons, Brian Phillips chats with Dr. Craigh Bernthal, professor of English at Cal State Fullerton, about J.R.R. Tolkien. Dr. Bernthal is the author of Tolkien's Sacramental Vision: Discerning the Holy in Middle Earth.

Topics include: 

- How Dr. Bernthal discovered a love of Tolkien

- What a sacramental vision is and how Tolkien captures it

- Tolkien as medievel in a modern world

- Tolkien's interesting story

- and much more

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In this episode of The Commons, Brian Phillips chats with Dr. Gregory Thornbury, President of The King's College in New York City, about the challenges of running a Christian, Liberal Arts-driven college in a place like New York City. 

Topics include: 

• What it's like being known as "America's first hipster college president"
• Why The King's College has embraced the challenge of being in NYC
• The challenges of that sort of existence
• The place of the Liberal Arts at TKC
• The challenges facing Christian higher education nationwide
• Advice for making college choices

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This episode is brought to you by our friends at the Institute for Excellence in Writing, purveyors of Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization. Learn more here. 

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As always, press the arrow above to listen. Or subscribe to the CiRCE Institute Podcast Network via iTunes here or on Stitcher here.  

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In this episode of The Commons, Brian Phillips chats with special guest Angelina Stanford about why mystery stories matter as cultural artifacts.

Topics include: why mystery stories are so beloved, why it's right that we love them, how they respond to nihilistic modernism, and much more. 

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This episode is brought to by our friends at Roman Roads Media, purveyors of the Old Western Culture series, featuring Wes Callihan. 

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In this episode of The Commons, Brian Phillips chats with our very own Chuck Hicks (head of operations and resident music scholar here at CiRCE) about bluegrass music, the southern agrarians, and classical education.

Topics include:

• How bluegrass came to be
• How bluegrass music was a reaction to the modern age (7:30)
• The evolution of the form (13:20) 
• Bluegrass and the southern agrarians (19:00)
• Bluegrass and modern pop culture (23:29)
• Connections to classical education (31:05)

Musical selections discussed in today's episode:

• Bill Monroe "Mule Skinner Blues" (1940): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIuuI00XY_Y
• Flatt & Scruggs "Foggy Mountain Breakdown": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_Y3mnj-8lA
• David "Stringbean; Akeman "Run Li'l Rabbit" :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uOy3WdT3mY

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In this episode of The Commons, Brian Phillips chats with David Goodwin, President of the Association of Classical Christian Schools, and Kirk Vanderleest, headmaster at the Ambrose School in Boise, Idaho, about the challenges of school leadership.

Topics include:

• the board/headmaster relationship
• the board/parent relationship
• what a healthy transition in leadership looks like
• filling staff vacancies
• and things they learned while on the job.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Commons, hosted by Dr. Brian Phillips, contemplates the lives and times of people worth imitating, and the ideas they offer us. 

In this episode, Brian chats with author S.D. Smith. Conversation touches on his new book, his web project for parents called Story Warren, creating good children's literature for adults, and the relationship between the critic and the curator. 

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If you like this podcast please consider contributing to our end of year fundraising efforts. We need to raise another $6500 in the next 3 weeks. Every amount helps. Head over to circeinstitute.com/donate to help!

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The Commons, hosted by Dr. Brian Phillips, contemplates the lives and times of people worth imitating, and the ideas they offer us. 

In this episode, Brian chats with our man Matt Bianco about which student is more complete: the jock or the nerd. Discussion centers on the role of music, gymnastics, and play in a classical education, with a hearty helping of Plato along the way. 

As always, press the arrow above to listen or subscribe to the CiRCE Institute Podcast Network via iTunes here or on Stitcher here. 

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This episode of the CiRCE Institute Podcast Network is brought to you by The Classic Learning Test, a liberal-arts-based alternative to the SAT and ACT. Learn more at CLTEXAM.COM. 

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The Commons, hosted by Dr. Brian Phillips, contemplates the lives and times of people worth imitating. 

In this episode, Brian chats with our man Matt Bianco about Ray Bradbury's contemporary classic, Fahrenheit 451, and the connections the guys see between it and the Benedict Option: that is, what does it have to say about living in a culture that is falling apart? 

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This episode of the CiRCE Institute Podcast Network is brought to you by our good friend Professor Carol. Click here to save 25% on all music and art history resources! 

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Brian chats with Jonathan Rogers, author of Saint Patrick (among other biographies), about the remarkable faith - and fascinating legends - of St. Patrick. 

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This episode of the CiRCE Institute Podcast Network is brought to you by New College Franklin and Roman Roads Media. 

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