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Audio Reprints

MARS HILL AUDIO  Reprints present oral renditions of distinctive articles and essays from magazines, journals, pamphlets, and websites on subjects of cultural significance. Some articles have been selected to complement the content on recent issues of the MARS HILL AUDIO Journal, offering listeners an opportunity to explore a subject in greater depth or from a slightly different angle. Other articles are chosen to provide a primer on important cultural and theological issues.

{ "product": {"id":4667064090687,"title":"Shop Class as Soulcraft","handle":"arp-2-m","description":"\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eIn the age of think tanks, consulting firms, and IKEA, craftsmanship seems to be in decline. Shop class is becoming rarer, and our children are told that college is the ticket to an “open future” as a “knowledge worker.” This rejection of craftsmanship wrongly ignores the cognitive, social, and remunerative rewards of skilled manual work, and wrongly assumes that white-collar work always engages the mind. In this essay, political philosopher \u003cstrong\u003eMatthew B. Crawford\u003c\/strong\u003e recounts life as a motorcycle mechanic and makes a case for the manual trades as an expression of human flourishing.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis article was originally published in \u003cem\u003eThe New Atlantis, \u003c\/em\u003eSummer 2006. Read by Ken Myers. 55 minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-06-22T09:20:25-04:00","created_at":"2020-06-22T09:20:26-04:00","vendor":"Mars Hill Audio","type":"Audio Reprints","tags":["Craftsmanship","Matthew Crawford","Vocation","Work"],"price":200,"price_min":200,"price_max":200,"available":true,"price_varies":false,"compare_at_price":null,"compare_at_price_min":0,"compare_at_price_max":0,"compare_at_price_varies":false,"variants":[{"id":32620806864959,"title":"Default Title","option1":"Default Title","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":"ARP-2-M","requires_shipping":false,"taxable":true,"featured_image":null,"available":true,"name":"Shop Class as Soulcraft","public_title":null,"options":["Default Title"],"price":200,"weight":0,"compare_at_price":null,"inventory_management":null,"barcode":"","requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]}],"images":["\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-2.jpg?v=1603159613"],"featured_image":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-2.jpg?v=1603159613","options":["Title"],"media":[{"alt":null,"id":7692747735103,"position":1,"preview_image":{"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"width":1060,"src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-2.jpg?v=1603159613"},"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"media_type":"image","src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-2.jpg?v=1603159613","width":1060}],"requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_groups":[],"content":"\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eIn the age of think tanks, consulting firms, and IKEA, craftsmanship seems to be in decline. Shop class is becoming rarer, and our children are told that college is the ticket to an “open future” as a “knowledge worker.” This rejection of craftsmanship wrongly ignores the cognitive, social, and remunerative rewards of skilled manual work, and wrongly assumes that white-collar work always engages the mind. In this essay, political philosopher \u003cstrong\u003eMatthew B. Crawford\u003c\/strong\u003e recounts life as a motorcycle mechanic and makes a case for the manual trades as an expression of human flourishing.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis article was originally published in \u003cem\u003eThe New Atlantis, \u003c\/em\u003eSummer 2006. Read by Ken Myers. 55 minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e"}, "replace": { "published_at": "2006-09-12 16:31:44" } }
Shop Class as Soulcraft

In the age of think tanks, consulting firms, and IKEA, craftsmanship seems to be in decline. Shop class is becoming rarer, and our children are told that college is the ticket to an “open future” as a “knowledge worker.” This rejection of craftsmanship wrongly ignores the cognitive, social, and remunerative rewards of skilled manual work, and wrongly assumes that white-collar work always engages the mind. In this essay, political philosopher Matthew B. Crawford recounts life as a motorcycle mechanic and makes a case for the manual trades as an expression of human flourishing.

This article was originally published in The New Atlantis, Summer 2006. Read by Ken Myers. 55 minutes.

{ "product": {"id":4667063763007,"title":"Virtual Friendship and the New Narcissism","handle":"arp-11-m","description":"\u003cp\u003eSocial networking sites — in widespread use only since 2002 — are changing the shape of relationships for millions of Americans. But how are those changes affecting our understanding and experience of friendship and our sense of personal identity? What happens in personal and social life when we are increasingly connected by weak (and conveniently abandoned) ties? Citing numerous studies by social scientists, \u003cstrong\u003eChristine\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eRosen\u003c\/strong\u003e asks: “Does this technology, with its constant demands to collect (friends and status), and perform (by marketing ourselves), in some ways undermine our ability to attain what it promises—a surer sense of who we are and where we belong?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis article was originally published in \u003cem\u003eThe New Atlantis, \u003c\/em\u003eSummer 2007. \u003c\/span\u003eRead by Ken Myers. 50 minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-06-22T09:20:12-04:00","created_at":"2020-06-22T09:20:13-04:00","vendor":"Mars Hill Audio","type":"Audio Reprints","tags":["Christine Rosen","Social media","Technology"],"price":200,"price_min":200,"price_max":200,"available":true,"price_varies":false,"compare_at_price":null,"compare_at_price_min":0,"compare_at_price_max":0,"compare_at_price_varies":false,"variants":[{"id":32620827443263,"title":"Default Title","option1":"Default Title","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":"ARP-11-M","requires_shipping":false,"taxable":true,"featured_image":null,"available":true,"name":"Virtual Friendship and the New Narcissism","public_title":null,"options":["Default Title"],"price":200,"weight":0,"compare_at_price":null,"inventory_management":null,"barcode":"","requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]}],"images":["\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-11.jpg?v=1603159852"],"featured_image":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-11.jpg?v=1603159852","options":["Title"],"media":[{"alt":null,"id":7692762284095,"position":1,"preview_image":{"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"width":1060,"src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-11.jpg?v=1603159852"},"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"media_type":"image","src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-11.jpg?v=1603159852","width":1060}],"requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_groups":[],"content":"\u003cp\u003eSocial networking sites — in widespread use only since 2002 — are changing the shape of relationships for millions of Americans. But how are those changes affecting our understanding and experience of friendship and our sense of personal identity? What happens in personal and social life when we are increasingly connected by weak (and conveniently abandoned) ties? Citing numerous studies by social scientists, \u003cstrong\u003eChristine\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eRosen\u003c\/strong\u003e asks: “Does this technology, with its constant demands to collect (friends and status), and perform (by marketing ourselves), in some ways undermine our ability to attain what it promises—a surer sense of who we are and where we belong?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis article was originally published in \u003cem\u003eThe New Atlantis, \u003c\/em\u003eSummer 2007. \u003c\/span\u003eRead by Ken Myers. 50 minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e"}, "replace": { "published_at": "2008-06-08 16:42:22" } }
Virtual Friendship and the New Narcissism

Social networking sites — in widespread use only since 2002 — are changing the shape of relationships for millions of Americans. But how are those changes affecting our understanding and experience of friendship and our sense of personal identity? What happens in personal and social life when we are increasingly connected by weak (and conveniently abandoned) ties? Citing numerous studies by social scientists, Christine Rosen asks: “Does this technology, with its constant demands to collect (friends and status), and perform (by marketing ourselves), in some ways undermine our ability to attain what it promises—a surer sense of who we are and where we belong?”

This article was originally published in The New Atlantis, Summer 2007. Read by Ken Myers. 50 minutes.

{ "product": {"id":4667064385599,"title":"The Necessity of the Classics","handle":"arp-6-m","description":"\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eThe classics are, argues \u003cstrong\u003eLouise Cowan\u003c\/strong\u003e, “the primary curricular need of our time.” The classics are poetic in the root sense of the word: they are a form of making (\u003ci\u003epoesis\u003c\/i\u003e), based on mimesis, “the envisioning, or imagining, of fictional analogies, a kind of knowing different from philosophy or history and yet occupying an irreplaceable position in the quest for wisdom.” Cowan (a recipient of the National Humanities Medal) insists that what we label the classics “have become classics because they elicit greatness of soul,” and that such aspiration can only be informed by such works.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis article was originally published in \u003cem\u003eThe Intercollegiate Review, \u003c\/em\u003eFall 2001. \u003c\/span\u003eRead by Ken Myers. 35 minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-06-22T09:20:34-04:00","created_at":"2020-06-22T09:20:35-04:00","vendor":"Mars Hill Audio","type":"Audio Reprints","tags":["Education","Imagination","Literature","Louise Cowan","Mimesis","Poetry"],"price":200,"price_min":200,"price_max":200,"available":true,"price_varies":false,"compare_at_price":null,"compare_at_price_min":0,"compare_at_price_max":0,"compare_at_price_varies":false,"variants":[{"id":32620799819839,"title":"Default Title","option1":"Default Title","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":"ARP-6-M","requires_shipping":false,"taxable":true,"featured_image":null,"available":true,"name":"The Necessity of the Classics","public_title":null,"options":["Default Title"],"price":200,"weight":0,"compare_at_price":null,"inventory_management":null,"barcode":"","requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]}],"images":["\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-6.jpg?v=1603159775"],"featured_image":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-6.jpg?v=1603159775","options":["Title"],"media":[{"alt":null,"id":7692757499967,"position":1,"preview_image":{"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"width":1060,"src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-6.jpg?v=1603159775"},"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"media_type":"image","src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-6.jpg?v=1603159775","width":1060}],"requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_groups":[],"content":"\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eThe classics are, argues \u003cstrong\u003eLouise Cowan\u003c\/strong\u003e, “the primary curricular need of our time.” The classics are poetic in the root sense of the word: they are a form of making (\u003ci\u003epoesis\u003c\/i\u003e), based on mimesis, “the envisioning, or imagining, of fictional analogies, a kind of knowing different from philosophy or history and yet occupying an irreplaceable position in the quest for wisdom.” Cowan (a recipient of the National Humanities Medal) insists that what we label the classics “have become classics because they elicit greatness of soul,” and that such aspiration can only be informed by such works.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis article was originally published in \u003cem\u003eThe Intercollegiate Review, \u003c\/em\u003eFall 2001. \u003c\/span\u003eRead by Ken Myers. 35 minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e"}, "replace": { "published_at": "2006-11-01 16:38:21" } }
The Necessity of the Classics

The classics are, argues Louise Cowan, “the primary curricular need of our time.” The classics are poetic in the root sense of the word: they are a form of making (poesis), based on mimesis, “the envisioning, or imagining, of fictional analogies, a kind of knowing different from philosophy or history and yet occupying an irreplaceable position in the quest for wisdom.” Cowan (a recipient of the National Humanities Medal) insists that what we label the classics “have become classics because they elicit greatness of soul,” and that such aspiration can only be informed by such works.

This article was originally published in The Intercollegiate Review, Fall 2001. Read by Ken Myers. 35 minutes.

{ "product": {"id":4667064188991,"title":"William Wilberforce: A Man Who Changed His Times","handle":"arp-4-m","description":"\u003cp\u003e“God Almighty has set before me two great objects: the suppression of the Slave Trade and the reformation of manners.” William Wilberforce, a young parliamentarian, recorded these audacious ambitions in his diary on October 28, 1787. Forty-six years later and three days before his death, slavery was abolished throughout the entire British empire. Over the course of these years he went from being one of the most vilified men in Europe to one of the most loved and revered in the world. This biographical account of Wilberforce's life and work was written by \u003cstrong\u003eJohn Pollock\u003c\/strong\u003e, and is introduced by J. Douglas Holladay.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis article was originally published as a \u003cem\u003eTrinity Forum Reading,\u003c\/em\u003e1996. \u003c\/span\u003eRead by Ken Myers. 50 minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-06-22T09:20:30-04:00","created_at":"2020-06-22T09:20:32-04:00","vendor":"Mars Hill Audio","type":"Audio Reprints","tags":["John Pollock","Slavery","William Wilberforce"],"price":200,"price_min":200,"price_max":200,"available":true,"price_varies":false,"compare_at_price":null,"compare_at_price_min":0,"compare_at_price_max":0,"compare_at_price_varies":false,"variants":[{"id":32620804702271,"title":"Default Title","option1":"Default Title","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":"ARP-4-M","requires_shipping":false,"taxable":true,"featured_image":null,"available":true,"name":"William Wilberforce: A Man Who Changed His Times","public_title":null,"options":["Default Title"],"price":200,"weight":0,"compare_at_price":null,"inventory_management":null,"barcode":"","requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]}],"images":["\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-4.jpg?v=1603159872"],"featured_image":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-4.jpg?v=1603159872","options":["Title"],"media":[{"alt":null,"id":7692763660351,"position":1,"preview_image":{"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"width":1060,"src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-4.jpg?v=1603159872"},"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"media_type":"image","src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-4.jpg?v=1603159872","width":1060}],"requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_groups":[],"content":"\u003cp\u003e“God Almighty has set before me two great objects: the suppression of the Slave Trade and the reformation of manners.” William Wilberforce, a young parliamentarian, recorded these audacious ambitions in his diary on October 28, 1787. Forty-six years later and three days before his death, slavery was abolished throughout the entire British empire. Over the course of these years he went from being one of the most vilified men in Europe to one of the most loved and revered in the world. This biographical account of Wilberforce's life and work was written by \u003cstrong\u003eJohn Pollock\u003c\/strong\u003e, and is introduced by J. Douglas Holladay.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis article was originally published as a \u003cem\u003eTrinity Forum Reading,\u003c\/em\u003e1996. \u003c\/span\u003eRead by Ken Myers. 50 minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e"}, "replace": { "published_at": "2006-10-16 16:44:42" } }
William Wilberforce: A Man Who Changed His Times

“God Almighty has set before me two great objects: the suppression of the Slave Trade and the reformation of manners.” William Wilberforce, a young parliamentarian, recorded these audacious ambitions in his diary on October 28, 1787. Forty-six years later and three days before his death, slavery was abolished throughout the entire British empire. Over the course of these years he went from being one of the most vilified men in Europe to one of the most loved and revered in the world. This biographical account of Wilberforce's life and work was written by John Pollock, and is introduced by J. Douglas Holladay.

This article was originally published as a Trinity Forum Reading,1996. Read by Ken Myers. 50 minutes.

{ "product": {"id":4667063926847,"title":"Josef Pieper: Leisure and Its Discontents","handle":"arp-15-m","description":"\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eLong before Alasdair MacIntyre or Stanley Hauerwas were reminding us of the significance of historic teaching about virtue, Josef Pieper (1904-1997) was writing confidently about virtue and the virtues. Pieper is best known today for his 1952 book, \u003cem\u003eLeisure, the Basis of Culture\u003c\/em\u003e. When the book was published, \u003cem\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/em\u003e enthused “Pieper’s message for us is plain. . . . The idolatry of the machine, the worship of mindless know-how, the infantile cult of youth and the common mind — all this points to our peculiar leadership in the drift toward the slave society. . . . Pieper’s profound insights are impressive and even formidable.” While the Times may not be quite as excited about Pieper today, we’re pleased to present a primer on Pieper’s ideas in this \u003cem\u003eAudio Reprint:\u003c\/em\u003e “Josef Pieper: Leisure and Its Discontents.” This 1999 essay by \u003cstrong\u003eRoger Kimball\u003c\/strong\u003e introduces listeners to Pieper’s arguments about the nature of leisure, which are claims about the nature of philosophy and of human well-being. The article was originally published in \u003ci\u003eThe New Criterion\u003c\/i\u003e, where Roger Kimball is editor and publisher.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis article was originally published in \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe New Criterion, \u003c\/em\u003eJanuary 1999. Read by Ken Myers. 34 minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-06-22T09:20:19-04:00","created_at":"2020-06-22T09:20:21-04:00","vendor":"Mars Hill Audio","type":"Audio Reprints","tags":["Josef Pieper","Roger Kimball"],"price":200,"price_min":200,"price_max":200,"available":true,"price_varies":false,"compare_at_price":null,"compare_at_price_min":0,"compare_at_price_max":0,"compare_at_price_varies":false,"variants":[{"id":32620817023039,"title":"Default Title","option1":"Default Title","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":"ARP-15-M","requires_shipping":false,"taxable":true,"featured_image":null,"available":true,"name":"Josef Pieper: Leisure and Its Discontents","public_title":null,"options":["Default Title"],"price":200,"weight":0,"compare_at_price":null,"inventory_management":null,"barcode":"","requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]}],"images":["\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-15_rev..jpg?v=1634507890"],"featured_image":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-15_rev..jpg?v=1634507890","options":["Title"],"media":[{"alt":null,"id":21185423638591,"position":1,"preview_image":{"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"width":1060,"src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-15_rev..jpg?v=1634507890"},"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"media_type":"image","src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-15_rev..jpg?v=1634507890","width":1060}],"requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_groups":[],"content":"\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eLong before Alasdair MacIntyre or Stanley Hauerwas were reminding us of the significance of historic teaching about virtue, Josef Pieper (1904-1997) was writing confidently about virtue and the virtues. Pieper is best known today for his 1952 book, \u003cem\u003eLeisure, the Basis of Culture\u003c\/em\u003e. When the book was published, \u003cem\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/em\u003e enthused “Pieper’s message for us is plain. . . . The idolatry of the machine, the worship of mindless know-how, the infantile cult of youth and the common mind — all this points to our peculiar leadership in the drift toward the slave society. . . . Pieper’s profound insights are impressive and even formidable.” While the Times may not be quite as excited about Pieper today, we’re pleased to present a primer on Pieper’s ideas in this \u003cem\u003eAudio Reprint:\u003c\/em\u003e “Josef Pieper: Leisure and Its Discontents.” This 1999 essay by \u003cstrong\u003eRoger Kimball\u003c\/strong\u003e introduces listeners to Pieper’s arguments about the nature of leisure, which are claims about the nature of philosophy and of human well-being. The article was originally published in \u003ci\u003eThe New Criterion\u003c\/i\u003e, where Roger Kimball is editor and publisher.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis article was originally published in \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe New Criterion, \u003c\/em\u003eJanuary 1999. Read by Ken Myers. 34 minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e"}, "replace": { "published_at": "2012-04-26 16:20:49" } }
Josef Pieper: Leisure and Its Discontents

Long before Alasdair MacIntyre or Stanley Hauerwas were reminding us of the significance of historic teaching about virtue, Josef Pieper (1904-1997) was writing confidently about virtue and the virtues. Pieper is best known today for his 1952 book, Leisure, the Basis of Culture. When the book was published, The New York Times enthused “Pieper’s message for us is plain. . . . The idolatry of the machine, the worship of mindless know-how, the infantile cult of youth and the common mind — all this points to our peculiar leadership in the drift toward the slave society. . . . Pieper’s profound insights are impressive and even formidable.” While the Times may not be quite as excited about Pieper today, we’re pleased to present a primer on Pieper’s ideas in this Audio Reprint: “Josef Pieper: Leisure and Its Discontents.” This 1999 essay by Roger Kimball introduces listeners to Pieper’s arguments about the nature of leisure, which are claims about the nature of philosophy and of human well-being. The article was originally published in The New Criterion, where Roger Kimball is editor and publisher.

This article was originally published in The New Criterion, January 1999. Read by Ken Myers. 34 minutes.

{ "product": {"id":4667063861311,"title":"The Music of the Spheres, or the Metaphysics of Music","handle":"arp-13-m","description":"\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eFor 2,500 years in the West, music was understood as a work of discovery, as an expression of something present in the structure of the cosmos. Despite changes in musical styles, the ways composers and musicians arranged melody, harmony, and rhythm were assumed to be expressive of some objective reality in the nature of things. As \u003cstrong\u003eRobert R. Reilly\u003c\/strong\u003e summarizes this view, “Music was number made audible. Music was man's participation in the harmony of the universe.” In the twentieth century, that view was abandoned by courageous pioneers of the avant-garde, and “musical art was reduced to the arbitrary manipulation of fragments of sound.” In this essay, Robert R. Reilly contrasts these two sets of assumptions about music, and introduces two twentieth-century composers who rejected the metaphysics of chaos in their compositions: the Danish composer Vagn Holmboe (1909-1996) and the American John Adams (1947-).\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis article was originally published in \u003cem\u003eThe Intercollegiate Review, \u003c\/em\u003eFall 2001. \u003c\/span\u003eRead by Ken Myers. 43 minutes.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-06-22T09:20:15-04:00","created_at":"2020-06-22T09:20:17-04:00","vendor":"Mars Hill Audio","type":"Audio Reprints","tags":["Music","Robert R. Reilly"],"price":200,"price_min":200,"price_max":200,"available":true,"price_varies":false,"compare_at_price":null,"compare_at_price_min":0,"compare_at_price_max":0,"compare_at_price_varies":false,"variants":[{"id":32620818989119,"title":"Default Title","option1":"Default Title","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":"ARP-13-M","requires_shipping":false,"taxable":true,"featured_image":null,"available":true,"name":"The Music of the Spheres, or the Metaphysics of Music","public_title":null,"options":["Default Title"],"price":200,"weight":0,"compare_at_price":null,"inventory_management":null,"barcode":"","requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]}],"images":["\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-13.jpg?v=1603159705"],"featured_image":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-13.jpg?v=1603159705","options":["Title"],"media":[{"alt":null,"id":7692753666111,"position":1,"preview_image":{"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"width":1060,"src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-13.jpg?v=1603159705"},"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"media_type":"image","src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-13.jpg?v=1603159705","width":1060}],"requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_groups":[],"content":"\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eFor 2,500 years in the West, music was understood as a work of discovery, as an expression of something present in the structure of the cosmos. Despite changes in musical styles, the ways composers and musicians arranged melody, harmony, and rhythm were assumed to be expressive of some objective reality in the nature of things. As \u003cstrong\u003eRobert R. Reilly\u003c\/strong\u003e summarizes this view, “Music was number made audible. Music was man's participation in the harmony of the universe.” In the twentieth century, that view was abandoned by courageous pioneers of the avant-garde, and “musical art was reduced to the arbitrary manipulation of fragments of sound.” In this essay, Robert R. Reilly contrasts these two sets of assumptions about music, and introduces two twentieth-century composers who rejected the metaphysics of chaos in their compositions: the Danish composer Vagn Holmboe (1909-1996) and the American John Adams (1947-).\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis article was originally published in \u003cem\u003eThe Intercollegiate Review, \u003c\/em\u003eFall 2001. \u003c\/span\u003eRead by Ken Myers. 43 minutes.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e"}, "replace": { "published_at": "2009-01-22 11:20:36" } }
The Music of the Spheres, or the Metaphysics of Music

For 2,500 years in the West, music was understood as a work of discovery, as an expression of something present in the structure of the cosmos. Despite changes in musical styles, the ways composers and musicians arranged melody, harmony, and rhythm were assumed to be expressive of some objective reality in the nature of things. As Robert R. Reilly summarizes this view, “Music was number made audible. Music was man's participation in the harmony of the universe.” In the twentieth century, that view was abandoned by courageous pioneers of the avant-garde, and “musical art was reduced to the arbitrary manipulation of fragments of sound.” In this essay, Robert R. Reilly contrasts these two sets of assumptions about music, and introduces two twentieth-century composers who rejected the metaphysics of chaos in their compositions: the Danish composer Vagn Holmboe (1909-1996) and the American John Adams (1947-).

This article was originally published in The Intercollegiate Review, Fall 2001. Read by Ken Myers. 43 minutes.

{ "product": {"id":4667064451135,"title":"Rapidly Rises the Morning Tide: An Essay on P. D. James’s The Children of Men","handle":"arp-7-m","description":"\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e“The key to P. D. James’s fiction, especially her later work, is her Christianity.” So argues \u003cstrong\u003eRalph C. Wood\u003c\/strong\u003e, University Professor of Theology and Literature at Baylor University. “She regards our cultural malaise as having theological no less than ethical cause.” In this essay, Wood discusses the way in which the futuristic dystopia of her novel, \u003ci\u003eThe Children of Men\u003c\/i\u003e, reveals much about the West’s modern spiritual confusion and about the possible sources of hope beyond that chaos.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis article was originally published in \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eTheology Today\u003c\/em\u003e, vol. 51, no. 20 (July 1994). Read by Ken Myers. 39 minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-06-22T09:20:35-04:00","created_at":"2020-06-22T09:20:37-04:00","vendor":"Mars Hill Audio","type":"Audio Reprints","tags":["Fiction","P. D. James","Ralph C. Wood"],"price":200,"price_min":200,"price_max":200,"available":true,"price_varies":false,"compare_at_price":null,"compare_at_price_min":0,"compare_at_price_max":0,"compare_at_price_varies":false,"variants":[{"id":32620798214207,"title":"Default Title","option1":"Default Title","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":"ARP-7-M","requires_shipping":false,"taxable":true,"featured_image":null,"available":true,"name":"Rapidly Rises the Morning Tide: An Essay on P. D. James’s The Children of Men","public_title":null,"options":["Default Title"],"price":200,"weight":0,"compare_at_price":null,"inventory_management":null,"barcode":"","requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]}],"images":["\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-7.jpg?v=1603159551"],"featured_image":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-7.jpg?v=1603159551","options":["Title"],"media":[{"alt":null,"id":7692744720447,"position":1,"preview_image":{"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"width":1060,"src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-7.jpg?v=1603159551"},"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"media_type":"image","src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-7.jpg?v=1603159551","width":1060}],"requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_groups":[],"content":"\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e“The key to P. D. James’s fiction, especially her later work, is her Christianity.” So argues \u003cstrong\u003eRalph C. Wood\u003c\/strong\u003e, University Professor of Theology and Literature at Baylor University. “She regards our cultural malaise as having theological no less than ethical cause.” In this essay, Wood discusses the way in which the futuristic dystopia of her novel, \u003ci\u003eThe Children of Men\u003c\/i\u003e, reveals much about the West’s modern spiritual confusion and about the possible sources of hope beyond that chaos.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis article was originally published in \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eTheology Today\u003c\/em\u003e, vol. 51, no. 20 (July 1994). Read by Ken Myers. 39 minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e"}, "replace": { "published_at": "2006-12-20 18:17:08" } }
Rapidly Rises the Morning Tide: An Essay on P. D. James’s The Children of Men

“The key to P. D. James’s fiction, especially her later work, is her Christianity.” So argues Ralph C. Wood, University Professor of Theology and Literature at Baylor University. “She regards our cultural malaise as having theological no less than ethical cause.” In this essay, Wood discusses the way in which the futuristic dystopia of her novel, The Children of Men, reveals much about the West’s modern spiritual confusion and about the possible sources of hope beyond that chaos.

This article was originally published in Theology Today, vol. 51, no. 20 (July 1994). Read by Ken Myers. 39 minutes.

{ "product": {"id":4667064483903,"title":"The Moral Challenge of Modern Science","handle":"arp-8-m","description":"\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eIt is commonly assumed that science is a morally neutral set of practices which may be used for good or bad purposes. But \u003cstrong\u003eYuval Levin\u003c\/strong\u003e, a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, insists that science has always been “a profoundly moral enterprise, aimed at improving the condition of the human race, relieving suffering, enhancing health, and enriching life.” Because this moral dynamic is so deeply assumed, our society finds it difficult to assess how we ought to use science when the improvement of health comes into conflict with other social goods. In this article, Levin calls for a more deliberate awareness of how science shapes how we ask and answer moral questions together.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis article was originally published in \u003cem\u003eThe New Atlantis, \u003c\/em\u003eFall 2006. \u003c\/span\u003eRead by Ken Myers. 44 minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-06-22T09:20:37-04:00","created_at":"2020-06-22T09:20:39-04:00","vendor":"Mars Hill Audio","type":"Audio Reprints","tags":["Ethics","Science","Yuval Levin"],"price":200,"price_min":200,"price_max":200,"available":true,"price_varies":false,"compare_at_price":null,"compare_at_price_min":0,"compare_at_price_max":0,"compare_at_price_varies":false,"variants":[{"id":32620797034559,"title":"Default Title","option1":"Default Title","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":"ARP-8-M","requires_shipping":false,"taxable":true,"featured_image":null,"available":true,"name":"The Moral Challenge of Modern Science","public_title":null,"options":["Default Title"],"price":200,"weight":0,"compare_at_price":null,"inventory_management":null,"barcode":"","requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]}],"images":["\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-8.jpg?v=1603159676"],"featured_image":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-8.jpg?v=1603159676","options":["Title"],"media":[{"alt":null,"id":7692752257087,"position":1,"preview_image":{"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"width":1060,"src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-8.jpg?v=1603159676"},"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"media_type":"image","src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-8.jpg?v=1603159676","width":1060}],"requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_groups":[],"content":"\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eIt is commonly assumed that science is a morally neutral set of practices which may be used for good or bad purposes. But \u003cstrong\u003eYuval Levin\u003c\/strong\u003e, a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, insists that science has always been “a profoundly moral enterprise, aimed at improving the condition of the human race, relieving suffering, enhancing health, and enriching life.” Because this moral dynamic is so deeply assumed, our society finds it difficult to assess how we ought to use science when the improvement of health comes into conflict with other social goods. In this article, Levin calls for a more deliberate awareness of how science shapes how we ask and answer moral questions together.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis article was originally published in \u003cem\u003eThe New Atlantis, \u003c\/em\u003eFall 2006. \u003c\/span\u003eRead by Ken Myers. 44 minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e"}, "replace": { "published_at": "2007-01-30 18:21:47" } }
The Moral Challenge of Modern Science

It is commonly assumed that science is a morally neutral set of practices which may be used for good or bad purposes. But Yuval Levin, a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, insists that science has always been “a profoundly moral enterprise, aimed at improving the condition of the human race, relieving suffering, enhancing health, and enriching life.” Because this moral dynamic is so deeply assumed, our society finds it difficult to assess how we ought to use science when the improvement of health comes into conflict with other social goods. In this article, Levin calls for a more deliberate awareness of how science shapes how we ask and answer moral questions together.

This article was originally published in The New Atlantis, Fall 2006. Read by Ken Myers. 44 minutes.

{ "product": {"id":4667064123455,"title":"Globalization: Ancient and Modern","handle":"arp-3-m","description":"\u003cp\u003eBeginning with the refreshing observation of the sheer ugliness of the  word \u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003eglobalization\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e” \u003c\/span\u003e(\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003ean adjective, converted into a barbaric verb, then forced into service as a still more barbaric noun\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e”\u003c\/span\u003e), \u003cstrong\u003eJoshua Hochschild\u003c\/strong\u003e observes that this misbegotten word labels a poorly defined concept. Despite its vagueness, it \u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003esuggests a trend toward increased economic and political interdependence, which at once fosters and is fostered by cultural homogenization.\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e” \u003c\/span\u003eHochschild goes on to examine the effects of this trend on local communities and insists that any effort to evaluate globalization requires a return to a \u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003epolitical teleology,\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e” \u003c\/span\u003ereflection on the ends of politics given the ends of human being.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis article was originally published in \u003cem\u003eThe Intercollegiate Review, \u003c\/em\u003eSpring 2006. Read by Ken Myers. 36 Minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-06-22T09:20:29-04:00","created_at":"2020-06-22T09:20:30-04:00","vendor":"Mars Hill Audio","type":"Audio Reprints","tags":["Community","Globalization","Joshua Hochschild"],"price":200,"price_min":200,"price_max":200,"available":true,"price_varies":false,"compare_at_price":null,"compare_at_price_min":0,"compare_at_price_max":0,"compare_at_price_varies":false,"variants":[{"id":32620805652543,"title":"Default Title","option1":"Default Title","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":"ARP-3-M","requires_shipping":false,"taxable":true,"featured_image":null,"available":true,"name":"Globalization: Ancient and Modern","public_title":null,"options":["Default Title"],"price":200,"weight":0,"compare_at_price":null,"inventory_management":null,"barcode":"","requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]}],"images":["\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-3.jpg?v=1603159255"],"featured_image":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-3.jpg?v=1603159255","options":["Title"],"media":[{"alt":null,"id":7692727025727,"position":1,"preview_image":{"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"width":1060,"src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-3.jpg?v=1603159255"},"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"media_type":"image","src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-3.jpg?v=1603159255","width":1060}],"requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_groups":[],"content":"\u003cp\u003eBeginning with the refreshing observation of the sheer ugliness of the  word \u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003eglobalization\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e” \u003c\/span\u003e(\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003ean adjective, converted into a barbaric verb, then forced into service as a still more barbaric noun\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e”\u003c\/span\u003e), \u003cstrong\u003eJoshua Hochschild\u003c\/strong\u003e observes that this misbegotten word labels a poorly defined concept. Despite its vagueness, it \u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003esuggests a trend toward increased economic and political interdependence, which at once fosters and is fostered by cultural homogenization.\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e” \u003c\/span\u003eHochschild goes on to examine the effects of this trend on local communities and insists that any effort to evaluate globalization requires a return to a \u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003epolitical teleology,\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e” \u003c\/span\u003ereflection on the ends of politics given the ends of human being.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis article was originally published in \u003cem\u003eThe Intercollegiate Review, \u003c\/em\u003eSpring 2006. Read by Ken Myers. 36 Minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e"}, "replace": { "published_at": "2006-09-19 16:11:44" } }
Globalization: Ancient and Modern

Beginning with the refreshing observation of the sheer ugliness of the  word globalization” (an adjective, converted into a barbaric verb, then forced into service as a still more barbaric noun), Joshua Hochschild observes that this misbegotten word labels a poorly defined concept. Despite its vagueness, it suggests a trend toward increased economic and political interdependence, which at once fosters and is fostered by cultural homogenization.” Hochschild goes on to examine the effects of this trend on local communities and insists that any effort to evaluate globalization requires a return to a political teleology,” reflection on the ends of politics given the ends of human being.

This article was originally published in The Intercollegiate Review, Spring 2006. Read by Ken Myers. 36 Minutes.

{ "product": {"id":4667063992383,"title":"A Perfect Game: The Metaphysical Meaning of Baseball","handle":"arp-16-m","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn this playful article from \u003cem\u003eFirst Things,\u003c\/em\u003e theologian \u003cstrong\u003eDavid Bentley Hart\u003c\/strong\u003e muses on what is arguably America’s greatest contribution to civilization: baseball. Baseball, as Hart would have it, is the Platonic ideal of sports, “a game utterly saturated by infinity,” a game not contrived by our own artifice, but a discovery long kept secret in the dark mysteries of Reality. Contrary to what Hart disparagingly dubs “the oblong game” — the spatial and temporal confines of which are “pitilessly finite” — baseball in its shape and motion stretches towards endless vistas, unfolding organically according to its own narrative and inner logic while at the same time striving to complete the most perfect of shapes, the circle.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis article was originally published in \u003cem\u003eFirst Things, \u003c\/em\u003eAugust 2010. Read by Ken Myers. 27 minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-06-22T09:20:21-04:00","created_at":"2020-06-22T09:20:22-04:00","vendor":"Mars Hill Audio","type":"Audio Reprints","tags":["Baseball","David Bentley Hart"],"price":200,"price_min":200,"price_max":200,"available":true,"price_varies":false,"compare_at_price":null,"compare_at_price_min":0,"compare_at_price_max":0,"compare_at_price_varies":false,"variants":[{"id":32620812566591,"title":"Default Title","option1":"Default Title","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":"ARP-16-M","requires_shipping":false,"taxable":true,"featured_image":null,"available":true,"name":"A Perfect Game: The Metaphysical Meaning of Baseball","public_title":null,"options":["Default Title"],"price":200,"weight":0,"compare_at_price":null,"inventory_management":null,"barcode":"","requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]}],"images":["\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-16.jpg?v=1603159023"],"featured_image":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-16.jpg?v=1603159023","options":["Title"],"media":[{"alt":null,"id":7692707037247,"position":1,"preview_image":{"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"width":1060,"src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-16.jpg?v=1603159023"},"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"media_type":"image","src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-16.jpg?v=1603159023","width":1060}],"requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_groups":[],"content":"\u003cp\u003eIn this playful article from \u003cem\u003eFirst Things,\u003c\/em\u003e theologian \u003cstrong\u003eDavid Bentley Hart\u003c\/strong\u003e muses on what is arguably America’s greatest contribution to civilization: baseball. Baseball, as Hart would have it, is the Platonic ideal of sports, “a game utterly saturated by infinity,” a game not contrived by our own artifice, but a discovery long kept secret in the dark mysteries of Reality. Contrary to what Hart disparagingly dubs “the oblong game” — the spatial and temporal confines of which are “pitilessly finite” — baseball in its shape and motion stretches towards endless vistas, unfolding organically according to its own narrative and inner logic while at the same time striving to complete the most perfect of shapes, the circle.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis article was originally published in \u003cem\u003eFirst Things, \u003c\/em\u003eAugust 2010. Read by Ken Myers. 27 minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e"}, "replace": { "published_at": "2017-10-27 16:03:07" } }
A Perfect Game: The Metaphysical Meaning of Baseball

In this playful article from First Things, theologian David Bentley Hart muses on what is arguably America’s greatest contribution to civilization: baseball. Baseball, as Hart would have it, is the Platonic ideal of sports, “a game utterly saturated by infinity,” a game not contrived by our own artifice, but a discovery long kept secret in the dark mysteries of Reality. Contrary to what Hart disparagingly dubs “the oblong game” — the spatial and temporal confines of which are “pitilessly finite” — baseball in its shape and motion stretches towards endless vistas, unfolding organically according to its own narrative and inner logic while at the same time striving to complete the most perfect of shapes, the circle.

This article was originally published in First Things, August 2010. Read by Ken Myers. 27 minutes.

{ "product": {"id":4748070486079,"title":"T. S. Eliot: Culture and Anarchy","handle":"arp-25-m","description":"\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Eliot’s argument was never merely that religion ought to be granted a more prominent place in our public life—though he came to argue strongly for that, he saw its limitations as the classic manifestation of civil religion. Rather, his argument was that a theology always and already underpins all of our thought and, in failing to define those foundations properly, we had made an already confusing modern world unintelligible; we had made the real difficulties of religious faith impossible precisely because we no longer understood in what those difficulties consisted.”\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e—James Matthew Wilson\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn this essay, \u003cstrong\u003eJames Matthew Wilson\u003c\/strong\u003e examines T. S. Eliot’s cultural conservatism and religious conversion in light of his intellectual and familial influences. Wilson shows that throughout his life, Eliot grappled with the weaknesses of cultural theories that substituted art for religion, such as those proposed by Matthew Arnold and Eliot’s Harvard professors Irving Babbitt and George Santayana. Rather than filling the vacuum left by religious disbelief, the substitution of “civil religion” or “culture” for true religious faith merely confused and distracted modern man from what was at heart a theological and religious depletion. Contrary to appearances, Wilson argues that Eliot as the young modernist poet remained consistent with Eliot the cultural critic and Eliot the Christian. Despite Eliot’s radical reputation, through his poetry, one sees a working-out of Eliot’s thinking on the role of poetry and culture in light of modern man’s condition and a definite metaphysical account of reality.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePortions of this article were originally published on \u003cem\u003eThe Imaginative Conservative\u003c\/em\u003e website. Read by Ken Myers. 80 minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-08-17T10:19:59-04:00","created_at":"2020-08-17T10:19:58-04:00","vendor":"Mars Hill Audio","type":"Audio Reprints","tags":["Cultural theory","George Santayana","Irving Babbitt","James Matthew Wilson","Matthew Arnold","Poetry","Secularization","T. S. Eliot"],"price":200,"price_min":200,"price_max":200,"available":true,"price_varies":false,"compare_at_price":null,"compare_at_price_min":0,"compare_at_price_max":0,"compare_at_price_varies":false,"variants":[{"id":32905060548671,"title":"Default Title","option1":"Default Title","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":"ARP-25-M","requires_shipping":false,"taxable":true,"featured_image":null,"available":true,"name":"T. S. Eliot: Culture and Anarchy","public_title":null,"options":["Default Title"],"price":200,"weight":0,"compare_at_price":null,"inventory_management":null,"barcode":"","requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]}],"images":["\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-25_rev..jpg?v=1634507128"],"featured_image":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-25_rev..jpg?v=1634507128","options":["Title"],"media":[{"alt":null,"id":21185397751871,"position":1,"preview_image":{"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"width":1060,"src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-25_rev..jpg?v=1634507128"},"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"media_type":"image","src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-25_rev..jpg?v=1634507128","width":1060}],"requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_groups":[],"content":"\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Eliot’s argument was never merely that religion ought to be granted a more prominent place in our public life—though he came to argue strongly for that, he saw its limitations as the classic manifestation of civil religion. Rather, his argument was that a theology always and already underpins all of our thought and, in failing to define those foundations properly, we had made an already confusing modern world unintelligible; we had made the real difficulties of religious faith impossible precisely because we no longer understood in what those difficulties consisted.”\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e—James Matthew Wilson\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn this essay, \u003cstrong\u003eJames Matthew Wilson\u003c\/strong\u003e examines T. S. Eliot’s cultural conservatism and religious conversion in light of his intellectual and familial influences. Wilson shows that throughout his life, Eliot grappled with the weaknesses of cultural theories that substituted art for religion, such as those proposed by Matthew Arnold and Eliot’s Harvard professors Irving Babbitt and George Santayana. Rather than filling the vacuum left by religious disbelief, the substitution of “civil religion” or “culture” for true religious faith merely confused and distracted modern man from what was at heart a theological and religious depletion. Contrary to appearances, Wilson argues that Eliot as the young modernist poet remained consistent with Eliot the cultural critic and Eliot the Christian. Despite Eliot’s radical reputation, through his poetry, one sees a working-out of Eliot’s thinking on the role of poetry and culture in light of modern man’s condition and a definite metaphysical account of reality.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePortions of this article were originally published on \u003cem\u003eThe Imaginative Conservative\u003c\/em\u003e website. Read by Ken Myers. 80 minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e"}, "replace": { "published_at": "2019-06-25 16:32:51" } }
T. S. Eliot: Culture and Anarchy
“Eliot’s argument was never merely that religion ought to be granted a more prominent place in our public life—though he came to argue strongly for that, he saw its limitations as the classic manifestation of civil religion. Rather, his argument was that a theology always and already underpins all of our thought and, in failing to define those foundations properly, we had made an already confusing modern world unintelligible; we had made the real difficulties of religious faith impossible precisely because we no longer understood in what those difficulties consisted.”
—James Matthew Wilson



In this essay, James Matthew Wilson examines T. S. Eliot’s cultural conservatism and religious conversion in light of his intellectual and familial influences. Wilson shows that throughout his life, Eliot grappled with the weaknesses of cultural theories that substituted art for religion, such as those proposed by Matthew Arnold and Eliot’s Harvard professors Irving Babbitt and George Santayana. Rather than filling the vacuum left by religious disbelief, the substitution of “civil religion” or “culture” for true religious faith merely confused and distracted modern man from what was at heart a theological and religious depletion. Contrary to appearances, Wilson argues that Eliot as the young modernist poet remained consistent with Eliot the cultural critic and Eliot the Christian. Despite Eliot’s radical reputation, through his poetry, one sees a working-out of Eliot’s thinking on the role of poetry and culture in light of modern man’s condition and a definite metaphysical account of reality.

Portions of this article were originally published on The Imaginative Conservative website. Read by Ken Myers. 80 minutes.

{ "product": {"id":4667063828543,"title":"Love in the Age of Neuroscience","handle":"arp-12-m","description":"\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eWhen Tom Wolfe’s novel, \u003ci\u003eI Am Charlotte Simmons\u003c\/i\u003e, was originally published in 2004, most of the reviews concentrated on the story’s sexual escapades. The book was received by social conservatives as an indictment of collegiate promiscuity and dismissed by progressives as a tired and embarrassing display of peephole prurience by a once-vital writer now in his grumpy 70s. \u003cstrong\u003eMickey Craig\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003cstrong\u003eJon Fennell\u003c\/strong\u003e argue that sexual confusion is simply a symptom of a larger crisis prominently explored in the book. “The novel invites us to ask: Is love possible in the age of neuroscience? Or have we unmasked human beings only to discover that love is an illusion?”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis article was originally published in \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe New Atlantis, \u003c\/em\u003eFall 2005. Read by Ken Myers. 38 minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-06-22T09:20:14-04:00","created_at":"2020-06-22T09:20:15-04:00","vendor":"Mars Hill Audio","type":"Audio Reprints","tags":["Jon Fennell","Love","Mickey Craig","Sexuality","Tom Wolfe"],"price":200,"price_min":200,"price_max":200,"available":true,"price_varies":false,"compare_at_price":null,"compare_at_price_min":0,"compare_at_price_max":0,"compare_at_price_varies":false,"variants":[{"id":32620821577791,"title":"Default Title","option1":"Default Title","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":"ARP-12-M","requires_shipping":false,"taxable":true,"featured_image":null,"available":true,"name":"Love in the Age of Neuroscience","public_title":null,"options":["Default Title"],"price":200,"weight":0,"compare_at_price":null,"inventory_management":null,"barcode":"","requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]}],"images":["\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-12.jpg?v=1603159503"],"featured_image":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-12.jpg?v=1603159503","options":["Title"],"media":[{"alt":null,"id":7692741607487,"position":1,"preview_image":{"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"width":1060,"src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-12.jpg?v=1603159503"},"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"media_type":"image","src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-12.jpg?v=1603159503","width":1060}],"requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_groups":[],"content":"\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eWhen Tom Wolfe’s novel, \u003ci\u003eI Am Charlotte Simmons\u003c\/i\u003e, was originally published in 2004, most of the reviews concentrated on the story’s sexual escapades. The book was received by social conservatives as an indictment of collegiate promiscuity and dismissed by progressives as a tired and embarrassing display of peephole prurience by a once-vital writer now in his grumpy 70s. \u003cstrong\u003eMickey Craig\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003cstrong\u003eJon Fennell\u003c\/strong\u003e argue that sexual confusion is simply a symptom of a larger crisis prominently explored in the book. “The novel invites us to ask: Is love possible in the age of neuroscience? Or have we unmasked human beings only to discover that love is an illusion?”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis article was originally published in \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe New Atlantis, \u003c\/em\u003eFall 2005. Read by Ken Myers. 38 minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e"}, "replace": { "published_at": "2009-01-22 16:23:21" } }
Love in the Age of Neuroscience

When Tom Wolfe’s novel, I Am Charlotte Simmons, was originally published in 2004, most of the reviews concentrated on the story’s sexual escapades. The book was received by social conservatives as an indictment of collegiate promiscuity and dismissed by progressives as a tired and embarrassing display of peephole prurience by a once-vital writer now in his grumpy 70s. Mickey Craig and Jon Fennell argue that sexual confusion is simply a symptom of a larger crisis prominently explored in the book. “The novel invites us to ask: Is love possible in the age of neuroscience? Or have we unmasked human beings only to discover that love is an illusion?”

This article was originally published in The New Atlantis, Fall 2005. Read by Ken Myers. 38 minutes.

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Leszek Kolakowski and the Anatomy of Totalitarianism

Born in 1927 in Poland, Leszek Kolakowski grew out of his youthful Stalinism to become one of the most penetrating critics of Marxism. In his masterful three-volume Main Currents of Marxism, he concluded: “The self-deification of mankind, to which Marxism gave philosophical expression, has ended in the same way as all such attempts, whether individual or collective: it has revealed itself as the farcical aspect of human bondage.” Kolakowski’s diagnosis of the spiritual crisis of modernity goes far beyond his critique of Marxism; in a variety of books, essays, and public addresses, he regularly returned to the problem of modern culture’s denial of the sacred. This essay by Roger Kimball, editor of The New Criterion, was written on the occasion of the release of a new edition of Main Currents of Marxism, and sets the arguments in that book in the wider context of Kolakowski’s other work.

This article was originally published in The New Criterion, June 2005. Read by Ken Myers. 35 minutes.

{ "product": {"id":4667064549439,"title":"Brave New World at 75","handle":"arp-9-m","description":"\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003eIt is easy to imagine that we see the shadows of our society in Huxley\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003es vision of the future. But could it be that our insistence on seeing Huxley\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003es book as an exceedingly successful prophecy actually prevents us from recognizing its real insight? Is there a way for us to understand the book free of the great distorting influence of our own times?\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e” \u003c\/span\u003eThat's what \u003cstrong\u003eCaitrin Nicol\u003c\/strong\u003e accomplishes in this essay which combines a survey of contemporary reviews of Aldous Huxley\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e’s\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cem\u003eBrave New World\u003c\/em\u003e with some thoughtful reflections on happiness and freedom.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis article was originally published in \u003cem\u003eThe New Atlantis, \u003c\/em\u003eSpring 2007. Read by Ken Myers. 44 minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-06-22T09:20:39-04:00","created_at":"2020-06-22T09:20:41-04:00","vendor":"Mars Hill Audio","type":"Audio Reprints","tags":["Aldous Huxley","Brave New World","Caitrin Nicol"],"price":200,"price_min":200,"price_max":200,"available":true,"price_varies":false,"compare_at_price":null,"compare_at_price_min":0,"compare_at_price_max":0,"compare_at_price_varies":false,"variants":[{"id":32620795363391,"title":"Default Title","option1":"Default Title","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":"ARP-9-M","requires_shipping":false,"taxable":true,"featured_image":null,"available":true,"name":"Brave New World at 75","public_title":null,"options":["Default Title"],"price":200,"weight":0,"compare_at_price":null,"inventory_management":null,"barcode":"","requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]}],"images":["\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-9.jpg?v=1603159055"],"featured_image":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-9.jpg?v=1603159055","options":["Title"],"media":[{"alt":null,"id":7692714016831,"position":1,"preview_image":{"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"width":1060,"src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-9.jpg?v=1603159055"},"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"media_type":"image","src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-9.jpg?v=1603159055","width":1060}],"requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_groups":[],"content":"\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003eIt is easy to imagine that we see the shadows of our society in Huxley\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003es vision of the future. But could it be that our insistence on seeing Huxley\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003es book as an exceedingly successful prophecy actually prevents us from recognizing its real insight? Is there a way for us to understand the book free of the great distorting influence of our own times?\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e” \u003c\/span\u003eThat's what \u003cstrong\u003eCaitrin Nicol\u003c\/strong\u003e accomplishes in this essay which combines a survey of contemporary reviews of Aldous Huxley\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e’s\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cem\u003eBrave New World\u003c\/em\u003e with some thoughtful reflections on happiness and freedom.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis article was originally published in \u003cem\u003eThe New Atlantis, \u003c\/em\u003eSpring 2007. Read by Ken Myers. 44 minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e"}, "replace": { "published_at": "2007-08-18 16:08:45" } }
Brave New World at 75

It is easy to imagine that we see the shadows of our society in Huxleys vision of the future. But could it be that our insistence on seeing Huxleys book as an exceedingly successful prophecy actually prevents us from recognizing its real insight? Is there a way for us to understand the book free of the great distorting influence of our own times?” That's what Caitrin Nicol accomplishes in this essay which combines a survey of contemporary reviews of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World with some thoughtful reflections on happiness and freedom.

This article was originally published in The New Atlantis, Spring 2007. Read by Ken Myers. 44 minutes.

{ "product": {"id":4748097028159,"title":"Conservatism against Itself","handle":"arp-21-m","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn this early article from \u003cem\u003eFirst Things\u003c\/em\u003e, historian \u003cstrong\u003eChristopher Lasch\u003c\/strong\u003e poses the question of whether cultural conservatism is compatible with capitalism. If, as Lasch argues, conservatism is defined by a respect for limits — that human freedom has constraints imposed upon it by nature, history, human fallibility, and “original sin” — then the unrelenting and insatiable quest for ever-increasing standards of comfort that capitalism encourages is completely at odds with conservative values. Despite nineteenth-century attempts to bolster the family as the primary means of curbing the large-scale transfer of “private vices” to “public virtues” implied in liberal economic theory, the effects of twentieth-century capitalism have only underscored how vulnerable the family is when the integrity of its surrounding local institutions is destroyed. Also included in this article is an account of lower-middle class versus upper-middle class cultural values as well as the alternative — though now largely unheard of — economic approaches to liberal capitalism advanced by the distributists and syndicalists.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis article was originally published in \u003cem\u003eFirst Things,\u003c\/em\u003e April 1990. Read by Ken Myers. 42 minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-08-17T10:41:18-04:00","created_at":"2020-08-17T10:41:16-04:00","vendor":"Mars Hill Audio","type":"Audio Reprints","tags":["Capitalism","Christopher Lasch","Conservatism","Economics","Freedom"],"price":200,"price_min":200,"price_max":200,"available":true,"price_varies":false,"compare_at_price":null,"compare_at_price_min":0,"compare_at_price_max":0,"compare_at_price_varies":false,"variants":[{"id":32905102327871,"title":"Default Title","option1":"Default Title","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":"ARP-21-M","requires_shipping":false,"taxable":true,"featured_image":null,"available":true,"name":"Conservatism against Itself","public_title":null,"options":["Default Title"],"price":200,"weight":0,"compare_at_price":null,"inventory_management":null,"barcode":"","requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]}],"images":["\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-21_rev..jpg?v=1634506158"],"featured_image":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-21_rev..jpg?v=1634506158","options":["Title"],"media":[{"alt":null,"id":21185355153471,"position":1,"preview_image":{"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"width":1060,"src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-21_rev..jpg?v=1634506158"},"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"media_type":"image","src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-21_rev..jpg?v=1634506158","width":1060}],"requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_groups":[],"content":"\u003cp\u003eIn this early article from \u003cem\u003eFirst Things\u003c\/em\u003e, historian \u003cstrong\u003eChristopher Lasch\u003c\/strong\u003e poses the question of whether cultural conservatism is compatible with capitalism. If, as Lasch argues, conservatism is defined by a respect for limits — that human freedom has constraints imposed upon it by nature, history, human fallibility, and “original sin” — then the unrelenting and insatiable quest for ever-increasing standards of comfort that capitalism encourages is completely at odds with conservative values. Despite nineteenth-century attempts to bolster the family as the primary means of curbing the large-scale transfer of “private vices” to “public virtues” implied in liberal economic theory, the effects of twentieth-century capitalism have only underscored how vulnerable the family is when the integrity of its surrounding local institutions is destroyed. Also included in this article is an account of lower-middle class versus upper-middle class cultural values as well as the alternative — though now largely unheard of — economic approaches to liberal capitalism advanced by the distributists and syndicalists.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis article was originally published in \u003cem\u003eFirst Things,\u003c\/em\u003e April 1990. Read by Ken Myers. 42 minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e"}, "replace": { "published_at": "2018-06-07 16:10:12" } }
Conservatism against Itself

In this early article from First Things, historian Christopher Lasch poses the question of whether cultural conservatism is compatible with capitalism. If, as Lasch argues, conservatism is defined by a respect for limits — that human freedom has constraints imposed upon it by nature, history, human fallibility, and “original sin” — then the unrelenting and insatiable quest for ever-increasing standards of comfort that capitalism encourages is completely at odds with conservative values. Despite nineteenth-century attempts to bolster the family as the primary means of curbing the large-scale transfer of “private vices” to “public virtues” implied in liberal economic theory, the effects of twentieth-century capitalism have only underscored how vulnerable the family is when the integrity of its surrounding local institutions is destroyed. Also included in this article is an account of lower-middle class versus upper-middle class cultural values as well as the alternative — though now largely unheard of — economic approaches to liberal capitalism advanced by the distributists and syndicalists.

This article was originally published in First Things, April 1990. Read by Ken Myers. 42 minutes.

{ "product": {"id":4835708239935,"title":"One Word of Truth: A Portrait of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn","handle":"arp-5-m","description":"\u003cp\u003e(a \u003cem\u003eTrinity Forum Reading, \u003c\/em\u003e1997)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1989, \u003cstrong\u003eDavid Aikman\u003c\/strong\u003e, then a journalist with \u003cem\u003eTime\u003c\/em\u003e magazine, was granted the first major interview Solzhenitsyn had given an American news organization for years. In this essay, Aikman offers an engaging and lively account of the dramatic and sobering events of Solzhenitsyn's life: from his early years as a Communist, to the beginnings of his literary efforts and his subsequent imprisonment, to his exile and life in the West, to his return to Russia in the 1990s. A portrait emerges of a courageous man devoted to the battle for truth in the context of the distinctive disorders of modern, post-Christian culture. This \u003cem\u003eReprint\u003c\/em\u003e is read by the author, and includes a foreword written and read by \u003cstrong\u003eOs Guinness\u003c\/strong\u003e on the contemporary crisis of truth in the West. \u003cem\u003e107 minutes.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-10-29T21:36:09-04:00","created_at":"2020-10-29T21:36:08-04:00","vendor":"Mars Hill Audio","type":"Audio Reprints","tags":["Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn","David Aikman"],"price":200,"price_min":200,"price_max":200,"available":true,"price_varies":false,"compare_at_price":null,"compare_at_price_min":0,"compare_at_price_max":0,"compare_at_price_varies":false,"variants":[{"id":33182541971519,"title":"Default Title","option1":"Default Title","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":"ARP-5-M","requires_shipping":false,"taxable":true,"featured_image":null,"available":true,"name":"One Word of Truth: A Portrait of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn","public_title":null,"options":["Default Title"],"price":200,"weight":0,"compare_at_price":null,"inventory_management":null,"barcode":"","requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]}],"images":["\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-5.jpg?v=1604021770"],"featured_image":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-5.jpg?v=1604021770","options":["Title"],"media":[{"alt":null,"id":7737027067967,"position":1,"preview_image":{"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"width":1060,"src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-5.jpg?v=1604021770"},"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"media_type":"image","src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-5.jpg?v=1604021770","width":1060}],"requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_groups":[],"content":"\u003cp\u003e(a \u003cem\u003eTrinity Forum Reading, \u003c\/em\u003e1997)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1989, \u003cstrong\u003eDavid Aikman\u003c\/strong\u003e, then a journalist with \u003cem\u003eTime\u003c\/em\u003e magazine, was granted the first major interview Solzhenitsyn had given an American news organization for years. In this essay, Aikman offers an engaging and lively account of the dramatic and sobering events of Solzhenitsyn's life: from his early years as a Communist, to the beginnings of his literary efforts and his subsequent imprisonment, to his exile and life in the West, to his return to Russia in the 1990s. A portrait emerges of a courageous man devoted to the battle for truth in the context of the distinctive disorders of modern, post-Christian culture. This \u003cem\u003eReprint\u003c\/em\u003e is read by the author, and includes a foreword written and read by \u003cstrong\u003eOs Guinness\u003c\/strong\u003e on the contemporary crisis of truth in the West. \u003cem\u003e107 minutes.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e"}, "replace": { "published_at": "2006-10-16 16:28:57" } }
One Word of Truth: A Portrait of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

(a Trinity Forum Reading, 1997)

In 1989, David Aikman, then a journalist with Time magazine, was granted the first major interview Solzhenitsyn had given an American news organization for years. In this essay, Aikman offers an engaging and lively account of the dramatic and sobering events of Solzhenitsyn's life: from his early years as a Communist, to the beginnings of his literary efforts and his subsequent imprisonment, to his exile and life in the West, to his return to Russia in the 1990s. A portrait emerges of a courageous man devoted to the battle for truth in the context of the distinctive disorders of modern, post-Christian culture. This Reprint is read by the author, and includes a foreword written and read by Os Guinness on the contemporary crisis of truth in the West. 107 minutes.

{ "product": {"id":4748183502911,"title":"How the World Lost Its Story","handle":"arp-17-m","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn this article, theologian \u003cstrong\u003eRobert W. Jenson\u003c\/strong\u003e describes how a postmodern world is characterized by the loss of a conviction that we inhabit a “narratable world” that exists coherently outside of ourselves. Although modernity — as opposed to postmodernity — presupposed in its arts and philosophy this narratable world, it did so while at the same time discarding the Judeo-Christian framework that enabled such a supposition in the first place. Increasingly, as the arts prefigured and now as the general culture at large displays, the experience of and confidence in such a coherent narrative has broken down into fragments. How then is the Church to respond to a world that has lost its story? In Jenson's words: “If the church does not find her hearers antecedently inhabiting a narratable world, then the church must herself be that world.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis article was originally published in \u003cem\u003eFirst Things,\u003c\/em\u003e October 1993. Read by Ken Myers. 40 minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-08-17T12:01:44-04:00","created_at":"2020-08-17T12:01:43-04:00","vendor":"Mars Hill Audio","type":"Audio Reprints","tags":["Postmodernity","Robert Jenson","Stories","Theology"],"price":200,"price_min":200,"price_max":200,"available":true,"price_varies":false,"compare_at_price":null,"compare_at_price_min":0,"compare_at_price_max":0,"compare_at_price_varies":false,"variants":[{"id":32905292480575,"title":"Default Title","option1":"Default Title","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":"ARP-17-M","requires_shipping":false,"taxable":true,"featured_image":null,"available":true,"name":"How the World Lost Its Story","public_title":null,"options":["Default Title"],"price":200,"weight":0,"compare_at_price":null,"inventory_management":null,"barcode":"","requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]}],"images":["\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-17_rev..jpg?v=1634508829"],"featured_image":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-17_rev..jpg?v=1634508829","options":["Title"],"media":[{"alt":null,"id":21185475805247,"position":1,"preview_image":{"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"width":1060,"src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-17_rev..jpg?v=1634508829"},"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"media_type":"image","src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-17_rev..jpg?v=1634508829","width":1060}],"requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_groups":[],"content":"\u003cp\u003eIn this article, theologian \u003cstrong\u003eRobert W. Jenson\u003c\/strong\u003e describes how a postmodern world is characterized by the loss of a conviction that we inhabit a “narratable world” that exists coherently outside of ourselves. Although modernity — as opposed to postmodernity — presupposed in its arts and philosophy this narratable world, it did so while at the same time discarding the Judeo-Christian framework that enabled such a supposition in the first place. Increasingly, as the arts prefigured and now as the general culture at large displays, the experience of and confidence in such a coherent narrative has broken down into fragments. How then is the Church to respond to a world that has lost its story? In Jenson's words: “If the church does not find her hearers antecedently inhabiting a narratable world, then the church must herself be that world.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis article was originally published in \u003cem\u003eFirst Things,\u003c\/em\u003e October 1993. Read by Ken Myers. 40 minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e"}, "replace": { "published_at": "2018-03-01 14:18:15" } }
How the World Lost Its Story

In this article, theologian Robert W. Jenson describes how a postmodern world is characterized by the loss of a conviction that we inhabit a “narratable world” that exists coherently outside of ourselves. Although modernity — as opposed to postmodernity — presupposed in its arts and philosophy this narratable world, it did so while at the same time discarding the Judeo-Christian framework that enabled such a supposition in the first place. Increasingly, as the arts prefigured and now as the general culture at large displays, the experience of and confidence in such a coherent narrative has broken down into fragments. How then is the Church to respond to a world that has lost its story? In Jenson's words: “If the church does not find her hearers antecedently inhabiting a narratable world, then the church must herself be that world.”

This article was originally published in First Things, October 1993. Read by Ken Myers. 40 minutes.

{ "product": {"id":4748109578303,"title":"Awakening the Moral Imagination: Teaching Virtues through Fairy Tales","handle":"arp-18-m","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn his article “Awakening the Moral Imagination,” \u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eVigen Guroian\u003c\/strong\u003e discusses the role that fairy tales plays in moral formation. The multi-dimensional world of the fairy tale has the capacity to depict a compelling vision of what is good and evil without reducing moral formation to mere instruction and the moral imagination to advanced utilitarian reasoning skills. In this essay, Guroian also contrasts the features of character and virtue with those of what is more modernly called “values,” and examines how these different approaches to moral consideration reflect conflicting ways of understanding self-formation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis article was originally published in \u003cem\u003eThe Intercollegiate Review, \u003c\/em\u003eFall 1996. Read by Ken Myers. 47 minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-08-17T10:51:53-04:00","created_at":"2020-08-17T10:51:52-04:00","vendor":"Mars Hill Audio","type":"Audio Reprints","tags":["Character Formation","Childhood","Fairy Tales","Featured product","Imagination","Moral imagination","Vigen Guroian","Virtue"],"price":200,"price_min":200,"price_max":200,"available":true,"price_varies":false,"compare_at_price":null,"compare_at_price_min":0,"compare_at_price_max":0,"compare_at_price_varies":false,"variants":[{"id":32905119105087,"title":"Default Title","option1":"Default Title","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":"ARP-18-M","requires_shipping":false,"taxable":true,"featured_image":null,"available":true,"name":"Awakening the Moral Imagination: Teaching Virtues through Fairy Tales","public_title":null,"options":["Default Title"],"price":200,"weight":0,"compare_at_price":null,"inventory_management":null,"barcode":"","requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]}],"images":["\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-18_rev..jpg?v=1634511523"],"featured_image":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-18_rev..jpg?v=1634511523","options":["Title"],"media":[{"alt":null,"id":21185597734975,"position":1,"preview_image":{"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"width":1060,"src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-18_rev..jpg?v=1634511523"},"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"media_type":"image","src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-18_rev..jpg?v=1634511523","width":1060}],"requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_groups":[],"content":"\u003cp\u003eIn his article “Awakening the Moral Imagination,” \u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eVigen Guroian\u003c\/strong\u003e discusses the role that fairy tales plays in moral formation. The multi-dimensional world of the fairy tale has the capacity to depict a compelling vision of what is good and evil without reducing moral formation to mere instruction and the moral imagination to advanced utilitarian reasoning skills. In this essay, Guroian also contrasts the features of character and virtue with those of what is more modernly called “values,” and examines how these different approaches to moral consideration reflect conflicting ways of understanding self-formation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis article was originally published in \u003cem\u003eThe Intercollegiate Review, \u003c\/em\u003eFall 1996. Read by Ken Myers. 47 minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e"}, "replace": { "published_at": "2018-04-05 16:04:33" } }
Awakening the Moral Imagination: Teaching Virtues through Fairy Tales

In his article “Awakening the Moral Imagination,” Vigen Guroian discusses the role that fairy tales plays in moral formation. The multi-dimensional world of the fairy tale has the capacity to depict a compelling vision of what is good and evil without reducing moral formation to mere instruction and the moral imagination to advanced utilitarian reasoning skills. In this essay, Guroian also contrasts the features of character and virtue with those of what is more modernly called “values,” and examines how these different approaches to moral consideration reflect conflicting ways of understanding self-formation.

This article was originally published in The Intercollegiate Review, Fall 1996. Read by Ken Myers. 47 minutes.

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Lewis’s fictional works in terms of a mythological re-presentation of the Christian and pre-modern moral and cosmic vision. The greatest apologetic challenge for Lewis was not so much responding to arguments, as it was persuading an audience whose horizon had been radically altered and shaped by modernity that that which was esteemed and revered in the pre-modern imagination was in fact desirable. The modern imagination seeks meaning in self-liberation, in the quest, in self-authenticating experimentation. By contrast, the world that Lewis presents is that of a finely choreographed dance, one in which perfect freedom is achieved when the individual listens to the music that precedes him and after mastering the steps joins the rest of the cosmos in a dance that he did not create, but which was nevertheless made for him. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis article was originally published in \u003cem\u003eModern Age\u003c\/em\u003e, Fall 1978. Read by Ken Myers. 41 minutes.","published_at":"2020-08-12T17:09:47-04:00","created_at":"2020-08-12T17:09:47-04:00","vendor":"Mars Hill Audio","type":"Audio Reprints","tags":["C. S. Lewis","Imagination","Myth","Thomas Howard"],"price":200,"price_min":200,"price_max":200,"available":true,"price_varies":false,"compare_at_price":null,"compare_at_price_min":0,"compare_at_price_max":0,"compare_at_price_varies":false,"variants":[{"id":32882725978175,"title":"Default Title","option1":"Default Title","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":"ARP-26-M","requires_shipping":false,"taxable":true,"featured_image":null,"available":true,"name":"The “Moral Mythology” of C. S. Lewis","public_title":null,"options":["Default Title"],"price":200,"weight":0,"compare_at_price":null,"inventory_management":null,"barcode":"","requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]}],"images":["\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-26_rev..jpg?v=1634509268"],"featured_image":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-26_rev..jpg?v=1634509268","options":["Title"],"media":[{"alt":null,"id":21185508376639,"position":1,"preview_image":{"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"width":1060,"src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-26_rev..jpg?v=1634509268"},"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"media_type":"image","src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-26_rev..jpg?v=1634509268","width":1060}],"requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_groups":[],"content":"\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e“We are all familiar, of course, with Lewis’ apologetic works. But apologetics was not Lewis’ only gambit. He saw that the problem of speaking in behalf of Christian vision in this century was not solely a matter of countering argument for argument. . . . [T]he problem went deeper than the level which could be reached by polemic. It was a problem of imagination. That is, modern imagination is such that it has no way at all of even calling up the vision of things that Lewis (and all orthodox Christians) believe to be true.”\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e—Thomas Howard\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eIn this essay, literary scholar \u003cstrong\u003eThomas Howard\u003c\/strong\u003e describes C. S. Lewis’s fictional works in terms of a mythological re-presentation of the Christian and pre-modern moral and cosmic vision. The greatest apologetic challenge for Lewis was not so much responding to arguments, as it was persuading an audience whose horizon had been radically altered and shaped by modernity that that which was esteemed and revered in the pre-modern imagination was in fact desirable. The modern imagination seeks meaning in self-liberation, in the quest, in self-authenticating experimentation. By contrast, the world that Lewis presents is that of a finely choreographed dance, one in which perfect freedom is achieved when the individual listens to the music that precedes him and after mastering the steps joins the rest of the cosmos in a dance that he did not create, but which was nevertheless made for him. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis article was originally published in \u003cem\u003eModern Age\u003c\/em\u003e, Fall 1978. Read by Ken Myers. 41 minutes."}, "replace": { "published_at": "2019-11-04 16:41:09" } }
The “Moral Mythology” of C. S. Lewis
“We are all familiar, of course, with Lewis’ apologetic works. But apologetics was not Lewis’ only gambit. He saw that the problem of speaking in behalf of Christian vision in this century was not solely a matter of countering argument for argument. . . . [T]he problem went deeper than the level which could be reached by polemic. It was a problem of imagination. That is, modern imagination is such that it has no way at all of even calling up the vision of things that Lewis (and all orthodox Christians) believe to be true.”
—Thomas Howard

In this essay, literary scholar Thomas Howard describes C. S. Lewis’s fictional works in terms of a mythological re-presentation of the Christian and pre-modern moral and cosmic vision. The greatest apologetic challenge for Lewis was not so much responding to arguments, as it was persuading an audience whose horizon had been radically altered and shaped by modernity that that which was esteemed and revered in the pre-modern imagination was in fact desirable. The modern imagination seeks meaning in self-liberation, in the quest, in self-authenticating experimentation. By contrast, the world that Lewis presents is that of a finely choreographed dance, one in which perfect freedom is achieved when the individual listens to the music that precedes him and after mastering the steps joins the rest of the cosmos in a dance that he did not create, but which was nevertheless made for him.

This article was originally published in Modern Age, Fall 1978. Read by Ken Myers. 41 minutes.
{ "product": {"id":4667063697471,"title":"The Secret of Straussianism","handle":"arp-10-m","description":"\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eLeo Strauss (1899-1973) was one of the most influential political philosophers of the twentieth century. In this essay, \u003cstrong\u003eRichard Sherlock\u003c\/strong\u003e explores the significance of Strauss’s methodology, focusing on how he understood the communication of ideas in classical and modern thought about political order. Strauss’s deep, insightful readings and profound respect for the writers of seminal works manifested a powerful apologetic for the idea of “classic natural right,” even as his intellectual esotericism masked a critical gap in his political philosophy.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis article was originally published in \u003cem\u003eModern Age, \u003c\/em\u003eSummer 2006. \u003c\/span\u003eRead by Ken Myers. 36 minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-06-22T09:20:10-04:00","created_at":"2020-06-22T09:20:11-04:00","vendor":"Mars Hill Audio","type":"Audio Reprints","tags":["Classic Natural Right","Leo Strauss","Political philosophy","Richard Sherlock"],"price":200,"price_min":200,"price_max":200,"available":true,"price_varies":false,"compare_at_price":null,"compare_at_price_min":0,"compare_at_price_max":0,"compare_at_price_varies":false,"variants":[{"id":32620828229695,"title":"Default Title","option1":"Default Title","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":"ARP-10-M","requires_shipping":false,"taxable":true,"featured_image":null,"available":true,"name":"The Secret of Straussianism","public_title":null,"options":["Default Title"],"price":200,"weight":0,"compare_at_price":null,"inventory_management":null,"barcode":"","requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]}],"images":["\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-10.jpg?v=1603159798"],"featured_image":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-10.jpg?v=1603159798","options":["Title"],"media":[{"alt":null,"id":7692759072831,"position":1,"preview_image":{"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"width":1060,"src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-10.jpg?v=1603159798"},"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"media_type":"image","src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-10.jpg?v=1603159798","width":1060}],"requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_groups":[],"content":"\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eLeo Strauss (1899-1973) was one of the most influential political philosophers of the twentieth century. In this essay, \u003cstrong\u003eRichard Sherlock\u003c\/strong\u003e explores the significance of Strauss’s methodology, focusing on how he understood the communication of ideas in classical and modern thought about political order. Strauss’s deep, insightful readings and profound respect for the writers of seminal works manifested a powerful apologetic for the idea of “classic natural right,” even as his intellectual esotericism masked a critical gap in his political philosophy.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis article was originally published in \u003cem\u003eModern Age, \u003c\/em\u003eSummer 2006. \u003c\/span\u003eRead by Ken Myers. 36 minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e"}, "replace": { "published_at": "2007-09-14 16:39:42" } }
The Secret of Straussianism

Leo Strauss (1899-1973) was one of the most influential political philosophers of the twentieth century. In this essay, Richard Sherlock explores the significance of Strauss’s methodology, focusing on how he understood the communication of ideas in classical and modern thought about political order. Strauss’s deep, insightful readings and profound respect for the writers of seminal works manifested a powerful apologetic for the idea of “classic natural right,” even as his intellectual esotericism masked a critical gap in his political philosophy.

This article was originally published in Modern Age, Summer 2006. Read by Ken Myers. 36 minutes.

{ "product": {"id":4742198034495,"title":"John Henry Newman: The Poetics of Devotion","handle":"arp-27-m","description":"English professor \u003cstrong\u003eStephen Gurney\u003c\/strong\u003e takes a closer look at John Henry Newman’s \u003cem\u003eParochial and Plain Sermons,\u003c\/em\u003e which Newman preached at Oxford between 1828 and 1841 before his conversion to Roman Catholicism. John Henry Newman is best known for his role in England's Oxford Movement, a movement which — as Gurney describes — “fused the pre-Reformational spirit of the Catholic Church with the poetic richness of English Romanticism.” Known as the Oxford Tractarians, Newman and his fellow Tractarians, John Keble, Isaac Williams, and Edward Pusey, sought to correct the rationalism of the Enlightenment and the growing materialism within England by reintegrating beauty with the doctrine of the Church’s sacraments, tradition, and ritual. On the polemical and apologetic front, Newman, too, sought to confront growing doubts about the validity of the English church with a renewed emphasis on the directing role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the one, catholic, universal Church.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn this essay, Stephen Gurney shows how in his sermons, Newman draws the listener in through the craft and beauty of his prose — and, for those who heard his sermons, Newman’s entrancing voice — while nonetheless removing himself from the spotlight in order to convey his listeners to the True Presence of Christ. With a delicate and sophisticated balance of subjective devotion and sacramental ecclesiology, Newman’s sermons invite the whole person to participate in a spiritual journey that ends in an encounter with the Divine. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis article was originally published in \u003cem\u003eModern Age\u003c\/em\u003e, Fall 2000. Read by Ken Myers. 51 minutes.","published_at":"2020-08-12T17:05:12-04:00","created_at":"2020-08-12T17:05:11-04:00","vendor":"Mars Hill Audio","type":"Audio Reprints","tags":["John Henry Newman","Oxford Tractarians","Stephen Gurney","True Presence of Christ"],"price":200,"price_min":200,"price_max":200,"available":true,"price_varies":false,"compare_at_price":null,"compare_at_price_min":0,"compare_at_price_max":0,"compare_at_price_varies":false,"variants":[{"id":32882715099199,"title":"Default Title","option1":"Default Title","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":"ARP-27-M","requires_shipping":false,"taxable":true,"featured_image":null,"available":true,"name":"John Henry Newman: The Poetics of Devotion","public_title":null,"options":["Default Title"],"price":200,"weight":0,"compare_at_price":null,"inventory_management":null,"barcode":"","requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]}],"images":["\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-27_rev..jpg?v=1634509081"],"featured_image":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-27_rev..jpg?v=1634509081","options":["Title"],"media":[{"alt":null,"id":21185492680767,"position":1,"preview_image":{"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"width":1060,"src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-27_rev..jpg?v=1634509081"},"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"media_type":"image","src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-27_rev..jpg?v=1634509081","width":1060}],"requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_groups":[],"content":"English professor \u003cstrong\u003eStephen Gurney\u003c\/strong\u003e takes a closer look at John Henry Newman’s \u003cem\u003eParochial and Plain Sermons,\u003c\/em\u003e which Newman preached at Oxford between 1828 and 1841 before his conversion to Roman Catholicism. John Henry Newman is best known for his role in England's Oxford Movement, a movement which — as Gurney describes — “fused the pre-Reformational spirit of the Catholic Church with the poetic richness of English Romanticism.” Known as the Oxford Tractarians, Newman and his fellow Tractarians, John Keble, Isaac Williams, and Edward Pusey, sought to correct the rationalism of the Enlightenment and the growing materialism within England by reintegrating beauty with the doctrine of the Church’s sacraments, tradition, and ritual. On the polemical and apologetic front, Newman, too, sought to confront growing doubts about the validity of the English church with a renewed emphasis on the directing role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the one, catholic, universal Church.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn this essay, Stephen Gurney shows how in his sermons, Newman draws the listener in through the craft and beauty of his prose — and, for those who heard his sermons, Newman’s entrancing voice — while nonetheless removing himself from the spotlight in order to convey his listeners to the True Presence of Christ. With a delicate and sophisticated balance of subjective devotion and sacramental ecclesiology, Newman’s sermons invite the whole person to participate in a spiritual journey that ends in an encounter with the Divine. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis article was originally published in \u003cem\u003eModern Age\u003c\/em\u003e, Fall 2000. Read by Ken Myers. 51 minutes."}, "replace": { "published_at": "2020-05-01 16:19:34" } }
John Henry Newman: The Poetics of Devotion
English professor Stephen Gurney takes a closer look at John Henry Newman’s Parochial and Plain Sermons, which Newman preached at Oxford between 1828 and 1841 before his conversion to Roman Catholicism. John Henry Newman is best known for his role in England's Oxford Movement, a movement which — as Gurney describes — “fused the pre-Reformational spirit of the Catholic Church with the poetic richness of English Romanticism.” Known as the Oxford Tractarians, Newman and his fellow Tractarians, John Keble, Isaac Williams, and Edward Pusey, sought to correct the rationalism of the Enlightenment and the growing materialism within England by reintegrating beauty with the doctrine of the Church’s sacraments, tradition, and ritual. On the polemical and apologetic front, Newman, too, sought to confront growing doubts about the validity of the English church with a renewed emphasis on the directing role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the one, catholic, universal Church.

In this essay, Stephen Gurney shows how in his sermons, Newman draws the listener in through the craft and beauty of his prose — and, for those who heard his sermons, Newman’s entrancing voice — while nonetheless removing himself from the spotlight in order to convey his listeners to the True Presence of Christ. With a delicate and sophisticated balance of subjective devotion and sacramental ecclesiology, Newman’s sermons invite the whole person to participate in a spiritual journey that ends in an encounter with the Divine.

This article was originally published in Modern Age, Fall 2000. Read by Ken Myers. 51 minutes.
{ "product": {"id":4667063894079,"title":"God’s Patient Stet","handle":"arp-14-m","description":"\u003cp\u003eWriting in \u003cem\u003eThe American Scholar\u003c\/em\u003e in 1991, critic Bruce Bawer claimed that Richard Wilbur is \u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003ethe outstanding contemporary instance of the type of poet who writes in strict forms about traditional themes, and whose poems—making, as they do, frequent, appropriate, and instructive use of meter, rhyme, imagery, alliteration, assonance, and even the occasional classical allusion—could serve as models in a textbook of prosody.\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e” \u003c\/span\u003eBut the attentive (and therefore delighted) reader will take less note of Wilbur\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003es model practice than of the sense of marveling that saturates his work. As \u003cstrong\u003eDavid Lyle Jeffrey\u003c\/strong\u003e observes in his article, \u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003eGod\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003es Patient Stet,\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e”\u003c\/span\u003e the sense of consistency one perceives in Wilbur\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003es work \u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003eemerges not only from his craftsmanship as a poet but from his constancy as an affectionate observer of creation, both Nature and human nature.\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e” \u003c\/span\u003eJeffrey\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003es article focuses on the poems in Wilbur\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003es 2010 anthology Anterooms, especially those that are more explicitly Biblical or theological in their allusions. David Lyle Jeffrey is Distinguished Professor of Literature and Humanities at Baylor University.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis article was originally published in \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eFirst Things, \u003c\/em\u003eJuly\/August 2011. Read by Ken Myers. 25 minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-06-22T09:20:17-04:00","created_at":"2020-06-22T09:20:19-04:00","vendor":"Mars Hill Audio","type":"Audio Reprints","tags":["David Lyle Jeffrey","Poetry","Richard Wilbur"],"price":200,"price_min":200,"price_max":200,"available":true,"price_varies":false,"compare_at_price":null,"compare_at_price_min":0,"compare_at_price_max":0,"compare_at_price_varies":false,"variants":[{"id":32620817547327,"title":"Default Title","option1":"Default Title","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":"ARP-14-M","requires_shipping":false,"taxable":true,"featured_image":null,"available":true,"name":"God’s Patient Stet","public_title":null,"options":["Default Title"],"price":200,"weight":0,"compare_at_price":null,"inventory_management":null,"barcode":"","requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]}],"images":["\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-14_rev..jpg?v=1634506955"],"featured_image":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-14_rev..jpg?v=1634506955","options":["Title"],"media":[{"alt":null,"id":21185393950783,"position":1,"preview_image":{"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"width":1060,"src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-14_rev..jpg?v=1634506955"},"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"media_type":"image","src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-14_rev..jpg?v=1634506955","width":1060}],"requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_groups":[],"content":"\u003cp\u003eWriting in \u003cem\u003eThe American Scholar\u003c\/em\u003e in 1991, critic Bruce Bawer claimed that Richard Wilbur is \u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003ethe outstanding contemporary instance of the type of poet who writes in strict forms about traditional themes, and whose poems—making, as they do, frequent, appropriate, and instructive use of meter, rhyme, imagery, alliteration, assonance, and even the occasional classical allusion—could serve as models in a textbook of prosody.\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e” \u003c\/span\u003eBut the attentive (and therefore delighted) reader will take less note of Wilbur\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003es model practice than of the sense of marveling that saturates his work. As \u003cstrong\u003eDavid Lyle Jeffrey\u003c\/strong\u003e observes in his article, \u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003eGod\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003es Patient Stet,\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e”\u003c\/span\u003e the sense of consistency one perceives in Wilbur\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003es work \u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003eemerges not only from his craftsmanship as a poet but from his constancy as an affectionate observer of creation, both Nature and human nature.\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e” \u003c\/span\u003eJeffrey\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003es article focuses on the poems in Wilbur\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003es 2010 anthology Anterooms, especially those that are more explicitly Biblical or theological in their allusions. David Lyle Jeffrey is Distinguished Professor of Literature and Humanities at Baylor University.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis article was originally published in \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eFirst Things, \u003c\/em\u003eJuly\/August 2011. Read by Ken Myers. 25 minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e"}, "replace": { "published_at": "2012-02-28 16:12:59" } }
God’s Patient Stet

Writing in The American Scholar in 1991, critic Bruce Bawer claimed that Richard Wilbur is the outstanding contemporary instance of the type of poet who writes in strict forms about traditional themes, and whose poems—making, as they do, frequent, appropriate, and instructive use of meter, rhyme, imagery, alliteration, assonance, and even the occasional classical allusion—could serve as models in a textbook of prosody.” But the attentive (and therefore delighted) reader will take less note of Wilburs model practice than of the sense of marveling that saturates his work. As David Lyle Jeffrey observes in his article, Gods Patient Stet, the sense of consistency one perceives in Wilburs work emerges not only from his craftsmanship as a poet but from his constancy as an affectionate observer of creation, both Nature and human nature.” Jeffreys article focuses on the poems in Wilburs 2010 anthology Anterooms, especially those that are more explicitly Biblical or theological in their allusions. David Lyle Jeffrey is Distinguished Professor of Literature and Humanities at Baylor University.

This article was originally published in First Things, July/August 2011. Read by Ken Myers. 25 minutes.

{ "product": {"id":4748105154623,"title":"On Christopher Lasch","handle":"arp-19-m","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn this biographical sketch, \u003cstrong\u003eJeremy Beer\u003c\/strong\u003e describes the intellectual trajectory of cultural historian, Christopher Lasch, whose career spanned from the 1960s through the early 1990s. Beer recounts how, despite growing up in a “militantly secular” home and, throughout his career, sympathetically grappling with the works of Marx and Freud, Christopher Lasch distanced himself from the leftist “radical intellectuals,” whose version of progressivism did not coincide with Lasch’s understanding of a healthy democracy. In his scholarship and criticism, Lasch was concerned about democracy, both as an achievable ideal and as an imperfect reality. He rejected the Left-Right dualism of American politics, arguing that the ostensibly opposing ideologies were merely two sides of the same coin that amounted to the refusal to acknowledge human limitations. Lasch’s diagnosis of the modern, “anxiously narcissistic” self involved a sharp critique of the culture that produced it, namely, a culture that condoned the conquest of nature through scientific, technological, and economic methods without any regard for naturally or institutionally based limits on human freedom.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis article was originally published in \u003cem\u003eModern Age,\u003c\/em\u003e Fall 2005. Read by Ken Myers. 55 minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-08-17T10:48:15-04:00","created_at":"2020-08-17T10:48:13-04:00","vendor":"Mars Hill Audio","type":"Audio Reprints","tags":["Christopher Lasch","Democracy","Jeremy Beer"],"price":200,"price_min":200,"price_max":200,"available":true,"price_varies":false,"compare_at_price":null,"compare_at_price_min":0,"compare_at_price_max":0,"compare_at_price_varies":false,"variants":[{"id":32905114779711,"title":"Default Title","option1":"Default Title","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":"ARP-19-M","requires_shipping":false,"taxable":true,"featured_image":null,"available":true,"name":"On Christopher Lasch","public_title":null,"options":["Default Title"],"price":200,"weight":0,"compare_at_price":null,"inventory_management":null,"barcode":"","requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]}],"images":["\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-19_rev..jpg?v=1634507271"],"featured_image":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-19_rev..jpg?v=1634507271","options":["Title"],"media":[{"alt":null,"id":21185403846719,"position":1,"preview_image":{"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"width":1060,"src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-19_rev..jpg?v=1634507271"},"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"media_type":"image","src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-19_rev..jpg?v=1634507271","width":1060}],"requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_groups":[],"content":"\u003cp\u003eIn this biographical sketch, \u003cstrong\u003eJeremy Beer\u003c\/strong\u003e describes the intellectual trajectory of cultural historian, Christopher Lasch, whose career spanned from the 1960s through the early 1990s. Beer recounts how, despite growing up in a “militantly secular” home and, throughout his career, sympathetically grappling with the works of Marx and Freud, Christopher Lasch distanced himself from the leftist “radical intellectuals,” whose version of progressivism did not coincide with Lasch’s understanding of a healthy democracy. In his scholarship and criticism, Lasch was concerned about democracy, both as an achievable ideal and as an imperfect reality. He rejected the Left-Right dualism of American politics, arguing that the ostensibly opposing ideologies were merely two sides of the same coin that amounted to the refusal to acknowledge human limitations. Lasch’s diagnosis of the modern, “anxiously narcissistic” self involved a sharp critique of the culture that produced it, namely, a culture that condoned the conquest of nature through scientific, technological, and economic methods without any regard for naturally or institutionally based limits on human freedom.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis article was originally published in \u003cem\u003eModern Age,\u003c\/em\u003e Fall 2005. Read by Ken Myers. 55 minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e"}, "replace": { "published_at": "2018-05-23 16:27:31" } }
On Christopher Lasch

In this biographical sketch, Jeremy Beer describes the intellectual trajectory of cultural historian, Christopher Lasch, whose career spanned from the 1960s through the early 1990s. Beer recounts how, despite growing up in a “militantly secular” home and, throughout his career, sympathetically grappling with the works of Marx and Freud, Christopher Lasch distanced himself from the leftist “radical intellectuals,” whose version of progressivism did not coincide with Lasch’s understanding of a healthy democracy. In his scholarship and criticism, Lasch was concerned about democracy, both as an achievable ideal and as an imperfect reality. He rejected the Left-Right dualism of American politics, arguing that the ostensibly opposing ideologies were merely two sides of the same coin that amounted to the refusal to acknowledge human limitations. Lasch’s diagnosis of the modern, “anxiously narcissistic” self involved a sharp critique of the culture that produced it, namely, a culture that condoned the conquest of nature through scientific, technological, and economic methods without any regard for naturally or institutionally based limits on human freedom.

This article was originally published in Modern Age, Fall 2005. Read by Ken Myers. 55 minutes.

{ "product": {"id":4748074025023,"title":"The First of Institutions","handle":"arp-24-m","description":"\u003cp\u003eFor the Christian to think about questions of sexuality as they arise today, he or she must first think about the biblical and ecclesial teaching of marriage as “an image of what is truly ultimate.” In this \u003cem\u003eAudio Reprint,\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eGilbert Meilaender\u003c\/strong\u003e argues that notions of sexual fulfillment that ground themselves in self-expression and emotional satisfaction, or in the mutual exchange of love cannot adequately account for the historical, spiritual, communal, and bodily dimensions of sexual union. Although the challenge to establish Christian norms of behavior while avoiding additional conditions for salvation is perennial for the Church, failure to undertake this challenge stimulates a dangerous dualism between body and spirit within the Church itself. By emphasizing that the body is the place of spiritual and moral significance in our lives, Meilaender points out the need for the Church to uphold and enforce normative behaviors of chastity, in order to practice the pastoral role of showing compassion and acceptance with integrity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis article was originally published in \u003cem\u003ePro Ecclesia\u003c\/em\u003e, Vol. VI, No. 4 (1997). Read by Ken Myers. 40 minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-08-17T10:23:03-04:00","created_at":"2020-08-17T10:23:01-04:00","vendor":"Mars Hill Audio","type":"Audio Reprints","tags":["Gilbert Meilaender","Marriage","Sexuality"],"price":200,"price_min":200,"price_max":200,"available":true,"price_varies":false,"compare_at_price":null,"compare_at_price_min":0,"compare_at_price_max":0,"compare_at_price_varies":false,"variants":[{"id":32905072476223,"title":"Default Title","option1":"Default Title","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":"ARP-24-M","requires_shipping":false,"taxable":true,"featured_image":null,"available":true,"name":"The First of Institutions","public_title":null,"options":["Default Title"],"price":200,"weight":0,"compare_at_price":null,"inventory_management":null,"barcode":"","requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]}],"images":["\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-24_rev..jpg?v=1634506770"],"featured_image":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-24_rev..jpg?v=1634506770","options":["Title"],"media":[{"alt":null,"id":21185387102271,"position":1,"preview_image":{"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"width":1060,"src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-24_rev..jpg?v=1634506770"},"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"media_type":"image","src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-24_rev..jpg?v=1634506770","width":1060}],"requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_groups":[],"content":"\u003cp\u003eFor the Christian to think about questions of sexuality as they arise today, he or she must first think about the biblical and ecclesial teaching of marriage as “an image of what is truly ultimate.” In this \u003cem\u003eAudio Reprint,\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eGilbert Meilaender\u003c\/strong\u003e argues that notions of sexual fulfillment that ground themselves in self-expression and emotional satisfaction, or in the mutual exchange of love cannot adequately account for the historical, spiritual, communal, and bodily dimensions of sexual union. Although the challenge to establish Christian norms of behavior while avoiding additional conditions for salvation is perennial for the Church, failure to undertake this challenge stimulates a dangerous dualism between body and spirit within the Church itself. By emphasizing that the body is the place of spiritual and moral significance in our lives, Meilaender points out the need for the Church to uphold and enforce normative behaviors of chastity, in order to practice the pastoral role of showing compassion and acceptance with integrity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis article was originally published in \u003cem\u003ePro Ecclesia\u003c\/em\u003e, Vol. VI, No. 4 (1997). Read by Ken Myers. 40 minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e"}, "replace": { "published_at": "2018-08-07 16:34:12" } }
The First of Institutions

For the Christian to think about questions of sexuality as they arise today, he or she must first think about the biblical and ecclesial teaching of marriage as “an image of what is truly ultimate.” In this Audio Reprint, Gilbert Meilaender argues that notions of sexual fulfillment that ground themselves in self-expression and emotional satisfaction, or in the mutual exchange of love cannot adequately account for the historical, spiritual, communal, and bodily dimensions of sexual union. Although the challenge to establish Christian norms of behavior while avoiding additional conditions for salvation is perennial for the Church, failure to undertake this challenge stimulates a dangerous dualism between body and spirit within the Church itself. By emphasizing that the body is the place of spiritual and moral significance in our lives, Meilaender points out the need for the Church to uphold and enforce normative behaviors of chastity, in order to practice the pastoral role of showing compassion and acceptance with integrity.

This article was originally published in Pro Ecclesia, Vol. VI, No. 4 (1997). Read by Ken Myers. 40 minutes.

{ "product": {"id":4748088737855,"title":"Mortality: The Measure of Our Days","handle":"arp-22-m","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn this \u003cem\u003eAudio Reprint\u003c\/em\u003e, ethicist \u003cstrong\u003eGilbert Meilaender\u003c\/strong\u003e considers the different ways in which we can think about our death, particularly from the paradoxical “simultaneities” of our finite nature and our transcendent desires. We are dual creatures, writes Meilaender, simultaneously bound by nature’s cycles and yet freed from mere finitude by our God-directed ends. To view death solely from one or the other of these realities is to trivialize either our spiritual longings or our historical and physical experiences. Taking his cues from \u003cem\u003eCharlotte’s Web, Bambi,\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eThe Last Battle,\u003c\/em\u003e Meilaender confronts contemporary inclinations to deny death by placing both death and life within a spiritual framework that enables us to “measure our days.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis article was originally published in \u003cem\u003eFirst Things, \u003c\/em\u003eFebruary 1991. Read by Ken Myers. 51 minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-08-17T10:34:37-04:00","created_at":"2020-08-17T10:34:35-04:00","vendor":"Mars Hill Audio","type":"Audio Reprints","tags":["Aging","Children's literature","Death","Ethics","Gilbert Meilaender","Mortality"],"price":200,"price_min":200,"price_max":200,"available":true,"price_varies":false,"compare_at_price":null,"compare_at_price_min":0,"compare_at_price_max":0,"compare_at_price_varies":false,"variants":[{"id":32905093251135,"title":"Default Title","option1":"Default Title","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":"ARP-22-M","requires_shipping":false,"taxable":true,"featured_image":null,"available":true,"name":"Mortality: The Measure of Our Days","public_title":null,"options":["Default Title"],"price":200,"weight":0,"compare_at_price":null,"inventory_management":null,"barcode":"","requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]}],"images":["\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-22_rev..jpg?v=1634506623"],"featured_image":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-22_rev..jpg?v=1634506623","options":["Title"],"media":[{"alt":null,"id":21185382383679,"position":1,"preview_image":{"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"width":1060,"src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-22_rev..jpg?v=1634506623"},"aspect_ratio":0.669,"height":1585,"media_type":"image","src":"\/\/marshillaudio.org\/cdn\/shop\/products\/ARP-22_rev..jpg?v=1634506623","width":1060}],"requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_groups":[],"content":"\u003cp\u003eIn this \u003cem\u003eAudio Reprint\u003c\/em\u003e, ethicist \u003cstrong\u003eGilbert Meilaender\u003c\/strong\u003e considers the different ways in which we can think about our death, particularly from the paradoxical “simultaneities” of our finite nature and our transcendent desires. We are dual creatures, writes Meilaender, simultaneously bound by nature’s cycles and yet freed from mere finitude by our God-directed ends. To view death solely from one or the other of these realities is to trivialize either our spiritual longings or our historical and physical experiences. Taking his cues from \u003cem\u003eCharlotte’s Web, Bambi,\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eThe Last Battle,\u003c\/em\u003e Meilaender confronts contemporary inclinations to deny death by placing both death and life within a spiritual framework that enables us to “measure our days.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis article was originally published in \u003cem\u003eFirst Things, \u003c\/em\u003eFebruary 1991. Read by Ken Myers. 51 minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e"}, "replace": { "published_at": "2018-06-25 18:13:39" } }
Mortality: The Measure of Our Days

In this Audio Reprint, ethicist Gilbert Meilaender considers the different ways in which we can think about our death, particularly from the paradoxical “simultaneities” of our finite nature and our transcendent desires. We are dual creatures, writes Meilaender, simultaneously bound by nature’s cycles and yet freed from mere finitude by our God-directed ends. To view death solely from one or the other of these realities is to trivialize either our spiritual longings or our historical and physical experiences. Taking his cues from Charlotte’s Web, Bambi, and The Last Battle, Meilaender confronts contemporary inclinations to deny death by placing both death and life within a spiritual framework that enables us to “measure our days.”

This article was originally published in First Things, February 1991. Read by Ken Myers. 51 minutes.

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Humanity 4.5
“It’s easy to write transhumanism off as a fringe phenomenon of science fantasy. But this is a mistake, for elements of it are already engulfing us.”
— Mark Shiffman


Transhumanism is an attitude toward humanity that views life and consciousness as data and material limitations (particularly the body) as disposable wetware. Through science and technology, transhumanists hope to achieve immortality by surpassing our current bodily limits, thus crossing over to a different type of humanity. While it is tempting to dismiss transhumanism as a fringe science fiction, professor of classical studies, Mark Shiffman, warns that the Cartesian aspirations of transhumanists are becoming more accepted and more common. And this should not come as a surprise, since the agenda to transcend ourselves emerges from a history of thought that reaches as far back as the thirteenth century. In this Audio Reprint, Shiffman repeats a forgotten account of human history in order to help readers identify our own assumptions about humanity and to reexamine our relationship to God and his creation.

This article was originally published in First Things, November 2015. Read by Ken Myers. 45 minutes.

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Walker Percy and Suicide

In this article, John Desmond uses the novels of Walker Percy to critique the increasing trend in today’s medical fields and in secular society as a whole to affirm, even if tacitly, that suicide is a decision belonging to each individual as a right. Desmond examines how the influence of existentialist philosophers, Albert Camus and Søren Kierkegaard, informed the theme of suicide in Percy’s novels. As a philosophical novelist, Percy was not merely interested in the narrative effect of suicide, but more deeply wanted to probe how modern man finds himself living a form of “spiritual suicide” or “sickness unto death” (in the words of Kierkegaard). Percy’s critique of modernity was — following Alexis de Tocqueville — a critique of Cartesian dualisms that separated mind from body and man from nature, leading eventually to an existential man isolated both from himself and his neighbor.

This article was originally published in Modern Age, Winter 2005. Read by Ken Myers. 24 minutes.

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