The Wisdom of Michael Oakeshott w/ Elizabeth Corey

If philosophy is about the search for truth, what happens when the tool we use in the search — our very mind — is littered with abstractions, deformed by biases, and dismissive of experience? We will hardly arrive at the truth. In exploring our modes of experiences and the ways we think, philosopher Michael Oakeshott uncovered the popular mistakes and ideological misunderstandings that cloud instead of clarify, mislead instead of enlighten. Join Baylor University Professor Elizabeth Corey and me as we chat about the brilliant ideas of Michael Oakeshott and why he matters today on The Evangelization & Culture Podcast.  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.  

How did a poor immigrant boy from Brooklyn rise to become Yale's Sterling Professor of Classics and History, achieve fame as the world's greatest scholar on Thucydides, and find himself compared to none other than Herodotus? Even more, how did he cultivate the wisdom of a mentor, the devotion of a father, and the kindness of a friend? Join Hillsdale Professor Paul Rahe and me as we explore the incredible journey and unlikely genius of Donald Kagan on The Evangelization & Culture Podcast.  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.

Soviet tyrant Joseph Stalin purportedly quipped, "One death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic." Why has the twentieth century seen more Christians martyred than all previous centuries combined? And why are we curiously unaware of or numb to it? Join Bishop Robert Barron and me as we discuss his troubling yet important new book, What Do Their Deaths Demand? Christian Persecution Today on The Evangelization & Culture Podcast. 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.

How and why has a nearly three-thousand-year-old story about a man trying to find his way home electrified the twenty-first-century world? And in revisiting this story, what lessons can we learn about the wonder and vexation of the human condition? Join Dr. Patrick J. Deneen of the University of Notre Dame and me as we explore American Odyssey: What an Ancient Story Reveals about Our Divided Souls, his new book tackling Homer's old one, on The Evangelization & Culture Podcast. 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 his masterful book Orthodoxy, G. K. Chesterton writes of an English yachtsman who set off to find a new island in the South Seas and, through slight miscalculation, landed confused and red-faced in merry old England. Award-winning novelist Christopher Beha can relate to that man. Drawn from his Catholic roots into the heady philosophy of Locke and Hobbes, Kant and Rousseau, Nietzsche and Heidegger, he found brilliant thought but also a glaring incompleteness. Join Christopher Beha and I as we discuss his tumultuous journey home to Catholicism in his riveting book Why I Am Not an Atheist on The Evangelization & Culture Podcast. 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.    

Responding to an inquiry about writing the Declaration of Independence, an aging Thomas Jefferson answered, "Neither aiming at originality of principle or sentiment, nor yet copied from any particular and previous writing, it was intended to be an expression of the American mind." When the founders signed the Declaration, what were the historical, philosophical, and religious influences that brought it into being? Join Dr. Matthew Spalding and I as we discuss The Making of the American Mind, his captivating book on the origins, meaning, and writing of the Declaration of Independence on The Evangelization & Culture Podcast. 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.  

Is our system of American education forming young adults who can achieve nearly anything but discern almost nothing? Are we striving to create masters of facts and monsters of efficiency or men and women of wisdom and purpose? What happens when the "How" of education eclipses the "Why"? Join Yale professor William Deresiewicz and me as we discuss his classic book, Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life, on The Evangelization & Culture Podcast. 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.

French Foreign Minister Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord quipped, "A diplomat who says 'yes' means 'maybe,' a diplomat who says 'maybe' means 'no,' and a diplomat who says 'no' is no diplomat." President Harry Truman observed, "Tact is the ability to step on a man's toes without messing up the shine on his shoes." And Prime Minister Winston Churchill grumbled, "Diplomacy is the art of telling people to go to hell in such a way that they ask for directions." Thanks to diplomacy, unlikely nations have grown empires, prevented wars, forged friendships, and made peace. Its successful execution is rooted in a keen understanding of human nature. Join A. Wess Mitchell and me as we discuss his book Great Power Diplomacy on The Evangelization & Culture Podcast.   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.

How did a young agnostic wracked with doubt and contemplating suicide become one of the greatest Catholic philosophers of the twentieth century? Join me as I talk with Therese Cory and Christopher Enabnit of the University of Notre Dame's Jacques Maritain Center about the life, impact, and continuing relevance of Jacques Maritain on The Evangelization & Culture Podcast. 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.

Catholic schools are indispensable to the proper formation of our young. Many are blessed with visionary leaders, devoted teachers, balanced budgets, and a heart for Christ. But many Catholic schools struggle with tepid leadership, burned-out teachers, rising debts, and a loss of Catholic identity. What can be done to reclaim Catholic identity and revive the success of Catholic schools? Join Michael Ortner and I as we explore insights from The Catholic School Playbook about how to make Catholic schools soar once again on The Evangelization & Culture Podcast. 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.