Re-run: Episode 41 - James Baldwin is bringing the fire with Dr. Cornel West
Release Date: 08/11/2023
Episode 78: Law and Literature with Donald Kochan
Sacred and Profane Love
In this season finale, I speak with Donald Kochan, who is a Professor of Law at George Washington University's Antonin Scalia Law School. We discuss George Orwell's essay, "Politics and the English Language". I hope you enjoy our conversation.
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Episode 77: Rooney's "Beautiful World Where Are You?" with Rachel Wiseman and Anastasia Berg
Sacred and Profane Love
In this episode, I speak with Rachel Wiseman and Anastasia Berg, both of whom are editors at The Point magazine, about Sally Rooney's "Beautiful World Where Are You?" I hope you enjoy our conversation.
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Episode 76: James's "The Portrait of a Lady" with Merve Emre
Sacred and Profane Love
In this episode, I speak with Merve Emre, renowned author and literary critic, on Henry James's "The Portrait of a Lady". I hope you enjoy our conversation.
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Episode 75: Ghali's "Beer in the Snooker Club" with Phil Klay
Sacred and Profane Love
In this episode, I speak with National Book Award winner Phil Klay, author of "Redeployment" and "Missionaries". We discuss a novel you've probably never heard of, but very fun: "Beer in the Snooker Club" by Egyptian writer Waguih Ghali. I hope you enjoy our conversation.
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Episode 74: Boethius's "Consolation of Philosophy" with John Marenbon
Sacred and Profane Love
In this episode, I speak with John Marenbon, Cambridge Professor of medieval philosophy and world expert on Boethius, about Boethius's masterwork "Consolation of Philosophy". I hope you enjoy our conversation.
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Episode 73: St. Bonaventure's "Journey of the Mind into God" with Carlos Eire
Sacred and Profane Love
In this episode, I speak with Carlos Eire, renowned historian of the late medieval and early modern era and winner of the National Book Award for Nonfiction for "Waiting for Snow in Havana." In this episode, we discuss St. Bonaventure and desire. I hope you enjoy our conversation.
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Episode 72: The 'Sacred' and the 'Profane' with Michael Foley
Sacred and Profane Love
In this episode, Professor Michael Foley and I discuss the differences between the titular concepts of this podcast, namely, the 'sacred' and the 'profane'. I hope you enjoy our conversation.
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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!
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.