Seneca & The Madness of Hercules w/ Dana Gioia

When everything is telling people to do things in a way that will make them sick, fat, and unhealthy, to be healthy is an act of rebellion. In his 2021 book The Resistance Training Revolution, Mind Pump host and fitness trainer Sal Di Stefano bluntly tells us the fitness industry has been plagued with more myths than ancient Greece. Join us as Sal and I discuss fitness and faith. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

The year was 1984 when a sixteen-year-old Mike Piazza had a visitor come to watch him hit baseballs in the batting cage his father crafted at their Phoenixville, PA home. The keen-eyed and deeply impressed visitor was none other than Ted Williams, the greatest baseball hitter of all time. Join me and Hall of Fame catcher Mike Piazza as we explore his life in baseball and his Catholic faith. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.  

To explore the history of the Catholic Church is to encounter soaring heights and catastrophic depths, the grace of the Divine and the grit of our sin. At the center of this two-millennia spiritual odyssey has been the goodness of the saints, the beauty of the arts, and the pride of fallen man. How do we begin to comprehend the seismic sweep and enduring impact of our Catholic history? Join me and Joseph Pearce as we pore over his new book, The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful.  Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

When we pray the Liturgy of the Hours, we are transformed by our encounter with the Divine. When we sing the Liturgy of the Hours, we encounter the Divine in a new and sublime light. How does singing center our worship? Join me and Paul Rose of SingTheHours.org as we explore how our prayer lives can deepen as we enflesh the bones of sacred prayer with sublime music.  Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly here, on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

What does it take to be named Adolf Hitler’s “Enemy Number One”? According to the life of Catholic philosopher Dietrich von Hildebrand—the man the Nazis hated—it takes uncommon courage, conviction, and clarity. Join me and John Henry Crosby, the president and founder of The Hildebrand Project, as we discuss Hildebrand’s gripping memoirs, My Battle Against Hitler.  Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

“In almost all of [Seneca’s] tragedies,” sixteenth century playwright Giambattisa Giraldi Cinthio confessed, “he surpassed . . . all the Greeks who ever wrote—in wisdom, in gravity, in decorum, in majesty, and in memorable aphorism.” And yet no one seems to remember him. Who was this ingenious ancient Roman thinker and writer? Join me and celebrated poet Dana Gioia as we discuss Seneca’s The Madness of Hercules and why Seneca is still supremely relevant today. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

While many argue that Adolf Hitler was “made” upon the 1939 outbreak of World War II or his 1933 accession to the Chancellorship of Germany, one historian reasons that the ordinary man became Führer in 1923. With the French occupying industrial portions of Germany, the economy fell into a tailspin and political radicalism skyrocketed. This led a rabid German corporal with a toothbrush mustache to orchestrate the infamous Beer Hall Putsch. Join me and Professor Mark Jones as we discuss the rarely considered origins of Adolf Hitler in his book, 1923.  Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or on your favorite podcast hosting platform. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

How did a young, passionate politico rise to accompany Richard Nixon into the Oval Office only to find himself convicted and imprisoned for false statements about political dirty tricks? Join Tod and former Deputy Assistant to the President, Dwight Chapin, as we explore his rise and fall and the lessons learned about the complexity of human nature in his gripping memoir, The President’s Man. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or on your favorite podcast hosting platform. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

What happens when a cradle Catholic wanders from his faith, succeeds brilliantly as a Protestant in the Academy, only to find himself convicted through his own research and the grace of God of the truth of the Catholic Faith? As G.K. Chesterton wrote, “The moment a man ceases to pull against the Church he feels a tug towards it. . . . The moment he tries to be fair to it he begins to be fond of it. Join me and Professor Francis Beckwith as we explore his tale of a Catholic reversion. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or on your favorite podcast hosting platform. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

The respected, middle-aged Kate Montclair has an inoperable brain cancer. She is going to die. But how? Her friend Adele, the vivacious leader of the Death Symposium, knows just how to help her. Join me and Christendom associate professor of philosophy and novelist Daniel McInerny as we explore the profound tensions and irresistible temptations surrounding incurable illness and the fashionable choice of euthanasia. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or on your favorite podcast hosting platform. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.