The Center for Western Studies
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As we continue to consider the cultural works of the West, this is another of our Director's live conference lectures, given in 2011, just months after the death of the composer Henryk Gorecki, a Polish Catholic, who's Symphony #3 became an int
As we continue to investigate the great books, music, and ideas of our Western Civilization, we thought it would be good to offer a live conference lecture from 2010 that Director Hodges gave on Olivier Messiaen's masterful QUARTET FOR THE END
In 1970, Alexandr Solzhenitsyn was awarded the Nobel prize for literature, but due to the repressive regime of the USSR, was not allowed to leave his native Russia to receive it. His speech, written with the intention of reading it in Sweden, w
In this episode, we dive into the second part of the great myth of Cupid and Psyche, told from the perspective of one of her ugly stepsisters -- and we finally come to the meaning of the title.
Director Hodges and Ben Cumming discuss CS Lewis' marvelous fiction, TILL WE HAVE FACES, a retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche.
In this episode, our culture samplers dive into another of Flannery O'Connors great short stories, REVELATION. In it we compare Mrs. Turpin with Mrs. May of GREENLEAF, and the point of pride that tempts us all to judge one another.
In this episode, Director Hodges, and co-host Ben discuss the great Flannery O'Connor short story GREENLEAF. If you have not read it, we suggest that you take the 20 minutes to read it before you listen, as we give spoilers...who is this Mrs. M
Director Hodges and co-host Ben Cumming discuss Joseph Conrad's book HEART OF DARKNESS and address the death of Romanticism and the beginning of the 20th century.
In this episode, Director Hodges and Ben finish off the long series that has investigated the elements of civilization, and come to some conclusions about how we might best preserve ours. Hint: it is not by aiming to preserve civilization...
Jordan Peterson doesn't know us from Adam, but he gave a precise rendering of the points we have been making since last October about the need to recognize Faith as the basis for any rational activity. Director Hodges and Ben discuss "those che
Here is a speech Director Hodges gave for a fund raising dinner for Classical Education. It places education in the ongoing discussion about civilization and culture. Education is how we pass on the insights of our forefathers to our children,
In the ongoing process of summarizing the last 6 months of podcasts about civilization, Director Hodges walks us through an essay by Pope Benedict XVI, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, who asks many of the same questions we have been considering in a
What is the point of the signs in THE SILVER CHAIR if even after muffing three of the four, the children complete the quest anyway? Is Lewis depicting an aspect of the Christian life? What would that be?
In this episode, we discuss CS Lewis' magnum opus. Both Benedict and Lewis argued that without the Tao, civilization will die, and Mankind will be abolished. Destroying all restraints leads not to freedom but to meaninglessness. How does that
What did the late Pope have to say about the importance of the Faith in culture? Director Hodges and Ben Cumming discuss an article Joseph Ratzinger wrote.
Director Hodges comments on an article by Anthony Esolen, found in Chronicles of American Culture magazine, entitled: There Is A Culture War, Like it Or Not.
One of the most important of the ideas that constitute the foundation of a civilization is the idea of beauty. Director Hodges offers one of his recent lectures on our human experience of the beautiful, touching on the field of aesthetics, incl
TS Eliot wrote a very pithy essay, The Idea of A Christian Society which addresses something of what we have been talking about for several months: what is a civilization, and what must we do to retain it? Director Hodges and Ben Cumming discus
When God wants to get our attention, He brings suffering, or He brings beauty -- how are we to address beauty?
Can God speak to us through our suffering? In this episode, Director Hodges and Ben discuss how suffering can be used to draw us closer to Him, and how similarly He can use beauty to do the same thing.
Leo Tolstoy wrote a short story about an old man who is visited by Jesus in a dream on Christmas Eve, and He promises to come in person on Christmas Day... Here is our Christmas present to you, a reading of the story by Director Hodges. Merry C
In this next episode about Civilization, Director Hodges and Ben extend their discussion about identity, addressing our modern day fixation on self-identity. Can we know who we are when we define ourselves?
It seems that our identities as individuals and as members of a civilization are intermingled. In this episode, Director Hodges and Ben Cumming discuss the notions of identity - how do we teach our children who they are? Includes a description
In our series on the foundations of civilization, we have come through the Logos, to definitions of words and the importance of a common language, and now to how language leads to stories that give voice to meaning. In this discussion, Director
What does it mean to live the "good life"? Director Hodges and Ben discuss the pursuit of happiness, flourishing, and how different civilizations have understood the fulfilled human life.
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