PODCAST · society
From the Center
by The Center for Western Studies
Discussions about ideas, the arts, and culture, with Director John Hodges with friends and faculty of the Center for Western Studies.
Episodes
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Feeding the Soul: Stories for a Child's Imagination
In this episode, Director Hodges and Ben discuss the nature of children's stories and how they offer another world for contemplation, a world beyond our own that lives on in our minds long into adulthood.
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Repeating History? Parallels with the Fall of the Roman Republic
Are there similarities between the decline of the West today and the decline of the Republic of Rome after the Punic Wars? Director Hodges muses about the similarities, and comments on an article written by H. A. Scott Trask, in Chronicles Magazine. Other important recommendations: Tom Holland's...
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Henryk Gorecki's SYMPHONY OF SORROWFUL SONGS
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 international hit on the popular song charts of 1993. In...
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Messiaen's QUARTET FOR THE END OF TIME
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 OF TIME, for violin, cello, clarinet, and piano.…
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A Timeless Moment: Solzhenitsyn's Nobel Acceptance Speech
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, was never given -- but it has circulated ever since as…
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Till We Have Faces, Part II: The Resolution and Meaning
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.
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Till We Have Faces, Part I
Director Hodges and Ben Cumming discuss CS Lewis' marvelous fiction, TILL WE HAVE FACES, a retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche.
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Flannery Does It Again: REVELATION
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.
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Flannery O'Connor's GREENLEAF Discussed
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. May, and does she see the world correctly?
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Where Does Evil Lie? A Discussion of Conrad's HEART OF DARKNESS
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.
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First and Second Things: The Foundation of Civilization
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...
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Civilization and Reformation: Jordan Peterson Corroborates CWS!
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 cheeky French" and how their modern ideas have led the...
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What DO They Teach Them in These Schools?
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, and the best way to do that is through a recovery of...
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Power, Law, and Revelation: the Essentials of Civilization
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 far more concise way. In it, we assess the place of...
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Reflection on THE SILVER CHAIR
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?
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No Tao, No Civilization: Lewis' Abolition of Man
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 happen? Have a listen.
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Pope Benedict XVI on the Culture
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.
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Is There a Culture War Going On?
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.
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How Do We Experience the Beautiful?
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, including thinkers from the Middle Ages to the 20th...
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On the Idea of A Christian Society: Discussing Eliot's Essay
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 discuss Eliot's essay, and consider definitions of some of...
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Suffering and Beauty part 2
When God wants to get our attention, He brings suffering, or He brings beauty -- how are we to address beauty?
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On Suffering and Beauty part 1
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.
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Identity Part 2 - Meaning: How Do We Know Who We Are?
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?
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Identity and Civilization part 1: Who Are We?
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 of the track of modern philosophy from Descartes to...
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Story Telling and its Place in Civilization: a Discussion with Junius
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 Hodges speaks with Dr. Junius Johnson, scholar and...
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Civilization and Eudaimonia
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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The Need to Thank: How is it Essential to Civilization?
With Thanksgiving coming up, Director Hodges and Ben discuss the place of giving Thanks in the life of a civilization. GK Chesterton said, on being asked why he was a Christian, "I was happy, and I wanted someone to thank."
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Sacrifices: All Civilizations Do It -- Why?
In our continuing investigations regarding the foundations of Civilizations, Director Hodges and Ben discuss the common practice of Sacrifice. It seems a strange thing to do, but it seems every civilization has practiced it in one form or another. Some more gruesome than others, but there is an...
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Key Element of a Civilization: Language
What is the essence of language? Director Hodges and Kyle Dillon explore the place of the Logos in the common speech of a Civilization, and how it makes community possible.
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Of the Foundations of Civilizations
How did Western Civilization start, and how was it different than other Middle Eastern Civilizations? In this episode, Director Hodges and Ben Cumming describe the foundations of the West, and compare them to the ways of Mesopotamian Civilizations: Paul's supernatural leading and ideas compared...
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Civilizations and their Axioms: Can we discern among Axioms?
Are all Civilizations the same? In this episode, Director Hodges and Ben discuss whether or not two civilizations can judge each other. Since axioms are, by definition, givens and cannot be arrived at by reason, what criteria are there for discerning between or among the assumptions made by...
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On Civilization and Culture: What's the Diff?
We're back! In this episode, the first of a series on the state of Western Civilization, Director Hodges wades into the definitions of "civilization" and "culture" with Ben Cumming. We would love you to engage with us! Please send comments and questions to our email, [email protected], and we...
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Responding to Social Justice: A Summary of our Recent Podcasts
Starting back in February, we have been attempting to piece together elements that would assist in addressing the large and multi-faceted notion of "Social Justice." We discussed biblical definitions of terms like justice and forgiveness, we reviewed the history of the social justice movement...
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Magic in the Mundane: The Real Reason for Fairy Tales
In this episode, Director Hodges gives an apology for Fairy Tales. Borrowing extensively on the writings of GK Chesterton, he shows how our present culture often misunderstands the purpose for Fairy Tales, and thus misses out on what can be learned from them.
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The Enlightenment Strikes Back: Reasoning Atheists Oppose "Theory"
We live in an interesting time. Christians and Atheists find themselves on the same side in a debate against those who would reject Reason and put the ideology/religion of "Theory" (Critical Theory) in its place. In this episode, Director Hodges and Pastor Kyle Dillon discuss the book "Cynical...
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Beauty in the Middle Ages: The Wonders of Number, Light, and Symbol
"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right?" How many times have we heard that? But the implication that beauty is purely a subjective thing is a relatively recent notion. It comes originally from Plato, but Irish novelist Margaret Hungerford may have coined the phrase in the 19th century...but...
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Of Negative and Positive Rights: What Part Do They Play in Culture? Part 2
In this, the second part of a discussion with Cal Beisner, Director Hodges and he continue their discussion on the nature of rights. What is justice, and how can it be properly understood? What is the place of forgiveness, and grace, and can they be distributed by a government? And as Christians,...
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Of Negative and Positive Rights: What Part Do They Play in Culture? Pt 1.
Negative rights and positive rights are not the same things. To provide what you do not have is a positive, to keep you from losing what you already have is a negative. Are either of them truly rights in the way that the American Declaration describes unalienable rights? The government is geared…
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Tenors are People Too: A Conversation with Philip Himebook
Director Hodges sits down with Philip Himebook and talks about Christians in the performing arts, their collaborations (Hodges conducting, Himebook on stage), and their approaches to social media.
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The Attraction of "Wokeness": A Conversation with Doug Groothuis
The Evangelical Church is struggling to make sense of the Social Justice movement. Why is it so attractive? How does it engage with bible-believing Christians? What does it offer the Church? Director Hodges discusses these questions with Dr. Doug Groothuis, professor of philosophy and apologetics...
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History of Critical Theory Part II: Neo-Marxism in the 20th century
Director Hodges discusses the roots of what is called "Critical Theory," with faculty member Jonathan (Jack) Vowell, who is working on his PhD in literary criticism. In this second of two parts, they discuss how Marx's ideas have been adjusted to address more generally the entire culture, going...
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History of Critical Theory Pt I: Marx and Materialism
In an ongoing effort to make sense of the ideas that are most influential in our present day, Director Hodges discusses the roots of what is called "Critical Theory," with faculty member Jonathan (Jack) Vowell, who is working on his PhD in literary criticism. In this first of two parts, they...
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Does Reason Get Us to Truth? The Kafkatrap Defined and Addressed
For centuries we held that logical reasoning, supported by Revelation, was the way to get to the truth of any issue. At least to the best our finite minds can accomplish. In the last couple of centuries, while we have lost our communal trust in Revelation, we have at least retained the notion…
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On Forgiveness: A Conversation with Ronnie Stevens
Since justice is on so many minds these days, we thought it would be good to discuss the call to forgive. Director Hodges has a conversation with world-class bible teacher, writer, missionary, and pastor Ronnie Stevens.
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Of Tzedek and Mishpat: A Biblical View of Justice
How does the bible approach the idea of Justice? It seems to be on everyone's mind these days, so Director Hodges and Pastor Kyle Dillon discuss how the word is used in the bible, and what implications it might have on our considerations of Social Justice.
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Post-modernism, part II: The Roots of Irrationality
This is the second part of a two-part investigation into the history of the ideas that brought us to this place today. It began with Descartes and Rationalism, but in this episode, we begin with Nietzsche at the end of the 19th century and work our way to today. Hodges and Vowell in the...
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Post-modernism Part 1: The Roots of Irrationality
At the end of our year at the Center, we offer an extended lecture on Post-modernism, and set of ideas closely related to Modernism, and to a degree outdated now, as we are moving into a new era, too new to name completely. In this first half of a long episode that we have broken into two parts…
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What is Conservatism? The Moral Imagination II
Continuing the last episode, Hodges continues to lay out his four-points of "paleo-conservative" thought, taken from Burke, Eliot, Kirk, and others. The need for #3 intergenerational community, and for #4, common religion as a pre-requisite for healthy society. One mistake: In the recommendation...
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What is Conservatism? The Moral Imagination Part I
One of our most popular episodes has been the one we did on Socialism. We thought that the word "Conservative" has lost some of its meaning today, so we decided to address the essence of what some have called "Paleo-conservativism" in distinction to "Neo-Conservativism." Hodges and Vowell discuss...
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It's Not Fair! - A Meditation on the Tenth Commandment
Why would God require that we not covet? Is it for our benefit somehow? Or maybe it is just so that God won't have to listen to us whine? What if the answer to most of our social conflicts today is as simple as keeping the tenth commandment? In another solo podcast, Director Hodges muses about…
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How many episodes does From the Center have?
From the Center currently has 103 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
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Discussions about ideas, the arts, and culture, with Director John Hodges with friends and faculty of the Center for Western Studies.
How often does From the Center release new episodes?
From the Center publishes regularly with 103 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
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From the Center is created and hosted by The Center for Western Studies.
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