Re-run: Episode 50 - "Are the Humanities in Crisis" with Zena Hitz and Chad Wellmon
Release Date: 08/25/2023
Episode 71: Dana Gioia on the Tragic Thought of Seneca
Sacred and Profane Love
In this season finale, internationally acclaimed poet Dana Gioia and I discuss Seneca's thought in general, and his tragic work The Madness of Hercules in particular. I hope you enjoy our conversation!
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Episode 70: The Poetry of John Donne w/ Lars Engle
Sacred and Profane Love
In this episode, I speak with my colleague, Lars Engle, on the poetry and person of John Donne. There is no poet more attuned to the connections between the sacred and the profane than Donne, and it was a pleasure to hear Donne's poetic voice through Engle's readings. I hope you enjoy our conversation!
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Episode 69: Cormac McCarthy's "Blood Meridian" w/ Aaron Gwyn
Sacred and Profane Love
In this episode, I discuss Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian with Aaron Gwyn. I hope you enjoy our conversation!
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Episode 68: The Poetry of Jonathan Swift with Steve Karian
Sacred and Profane Love
In this episode, I speak with Stephen Karian, renowned scholar of 18th century British literature, on the poems of Jonathan Swift, the promise and perils of satire, and the pleasures of reading profane poetry written by one of the great Divines. I hope you enjoy our conversation. Read along with us at .
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Episode 67: Poetry, Art, and Truth with Carl Phillips
Sacred and Profane Love
In this episode, I am joined by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Carl Phillips to discuss poetry, classic texts, art, and truth. I hope you enjoy our conversation!
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Episode 66: Ovid's "The Art of Love" with Julia Hejduk
Sacred and Profane Love
In this episode, I speak with the classicist Julia Hejduk on Ovid's The Art of Love. I hope you enjoy our conversation!
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Episode 65: Boris Dralyuk on Nabokov’s Pnin
Sacred and Profane Love
In this episode, I speak with my colleague at TU, Boris Dralyuk on Vladmir Nabokov’s delightful take on the campus novel, Pnin. We explore our endearing hero’s journey from being a man on the wrong train to becoming an American behind the wheel at long last. I hope you enjoy our conversation.
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Episode 64: Patrick Deneen on DeLillo's White Noise
Sacred and Profane Love
In this episode, I speak with the political theorist Patrick Deneen about Don DeLillo’s award winning novel, White Noise. We explore the novel’s undercurrents of existential angst in a world of distraction, amnesia, and unfulfilled longings. I hope you enjoy our conversation.
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The Podcast Returns!
Sacred and Profane Love
Six years ago I launched a literature, philosophy, and theology podcast. I had no assumptions that anyone would listen to it; it was an output for a grant project on virtue, happiness, and meaning of life. Today, I am thrilled to announce the launch of season 5 of Sacred and Profane Love, now fully supported by , where I am privileged to serve as dean of their Honors College. In this episode, I explain the hiatus and share some exciting news about the podcast, including our new friends over at Switchyard. Learn more at .
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Re-run: Episode 43 - The Closing of the American Mind with Brad Carson
Sacred and Profane Love
This week, we revisit Episode 43 with Brad Carson on Allan Bloom’s The Closing of the American Mind!
info_outlineThrowback to the big five-oh: Episode 50 with Zena Hitz and Chad Wellmon!
On April 26, 2022, The Institute for Human Ecology at the Catholic University of America hosted a launch event to reveal the new design and website of Sacred and Profane Love. I am pleased to share the audio of that event as episode 50, but you can also watch a video of it here.
This event, with Zena Hitz and Chad Wellmon, was titled “Are the Humanities in Crisis” and the two starting points for the conversation were two books that we have already discussed separately on the podcast: Zena’s Lost in Thought and Chad’s Permanent Crisis. I wrote about the first book here, the second book here, discussed the first book here, and discussed the second book here. It seems fitting that our fiftieth episode should get into the very issues that gave rise to the impetus to start the podcast in the first place, which was and remains the need to show the value of humanistic inquiry and reflection, both inside and outside of the academy. As always, I hope you enjoy our conversation.