Re-run: Episode 41 - James Baldwin is bringing the fire with Dr. Cornel West
Release Date: 08/11/2023
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 our first episode recorded with a live audience: Dr. Cornel West on James Baldwin!
I am pleased to share a very special episode of Sacred and Profane Love, our first episode recorded in front of a live audience, with the amazing Dr. Cornel West! The context for this episode is that the Classic Learning Test (which has sponsored several episodes this season, and on whose board of academic advisors I happily serve) held its third annual higher education summit in beautiful Annapolis, Maryland, and invited me to record an episode for the educators who had gathered for three wonderful days to discuss aspects of the summit’s theme: "Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire.” The result is the conversation that is episode 41, in which Cornel West and I discuss James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time and Go Tell it on the Mountain. Cornel argues that Baldwin is a “Socratic prophet” and a “love warrior”, and that if we only approach him through a political lens we will miss or misunderstand so much of what he has to say. Cornel helpfully traces out some of Baldwin’s main influences: From Conrad and James to Mahalia Jackson and Ray Charles, but argues that, in the end, Go Tell it on the Mountain is a profoundly Augustinian novel. As always, I hope you enjoy our conversation.