The Catholic Culture Podcast

In his new book published by Word on Fire, Beauty & Imitation: A Philosophical Reflection on the Arts, philosopher and novelist Daniel McInerny argues for a recovery of the Aristotelian understanding of art as fundamentally imitative or mimetic. More boldly, he claims that this imitation is narrative and moral in nature, even in art forms that are not typically considered storytelling arts.

In this episode Daniel introduces this theory of mimesis, after which there is a robust back-and-forth between Daniel and Thomas on whether moral narrative is really the primary purpose of arts like painting and music. 

Poet & philosopher James Matthew Wilson rejoins the show to read poems from his new collection, Saint Thomas and the Forbidden Birds, published by Word on Fire; and to discuss the tradition of English poetry, especially with regard to meter.

Don't miss the title poem, a verse setting of a passage from Aquinas's Summa Theologiae!

Links

Saint Thomas and the Forbidden Birds https://bookstore.wordonfire.org/products/saint-thomas-and-the-forbidden-birds

The Fortunes of Poetry in an Age of Unmaking https://www.wisebloodbooks.com/store/p82/The_Fortunes_of_Poetry_in_an_Age_of_Unmaking%2C_b...

On June 29 and 30, in South Bend, Indiana, there will be a major and even unprecedented event in the history of American Catholic art: a new, full-length classical ballet production with a new story, new music, new sets and costumes, and nationally known dancers - with a cast of about fifty. This fairytale ballet, titled Raffaella, was commissioned by Duncan and Ruth Stroik in honor of their daughter Raffaella Maria Stroik, a dancer with the St. Louis Ballet who passed away tragically in 2018 at the age of 23.

In the first segment, Thomas Mirus interviews impresario Duncan Stroik about...

A new book presenting material from Flannery O’Connor’s unfinished third novel shows the great Catholic writer pushing beyond her established fictional territory. Jessica Hooten Wilson returns to the podcast to discuss her book, Flannery O’Connor’s Why Do the Heathen Rage? A Behind-the-Scenes Look at a Work in Progress.

Please consider donating to Catholic Culture's May fundraising campaign so this show can continue! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Links

Flannery O’Connor’s Why Do the Heathen Rage? A Behind-the-Scenes Look at a Work in Progress https://bakerbookhouse.com/products/542827

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Jan Dismas Zelenka was a Bohemian Catholic baroque composer who has at times been called "The Catholic Bach" because his best compositions are on par with those of J.S. Bach, who indeed knew and esteemed Zelenka. This episode covers Zelenka's career at the Catholic court chapel in Dresden with its grand liturgies inspired by Habsburg piety and Jesuit aspirations to evangelize the Protestants of Saxony.

Please consider donating to Catholic Culture's May fundraising campaign so this show can continue! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Links

Janice Stockigt, Jan Dismas Zelenka (1679-1745): A...

One of the most brilliant philosophers working today, D.C. Schindler, returns to the Catholic Culture Podcast to discuss his latest book, God and the City: An Essay in Political Metaphysics. In it, he draws an analogy between metaphysics as the most comprehensive science in the theoretical order and politics as the most comprehensive science in the practical order. Examining how in metaphysics, God is necessarily involved, yet without being the direct object of that science, Schindler argues that the same is true of the relationship between God and politics. Just as it is in God that the individual...

Today’s guest is a man with two names and two careers. For decades he has been a distinguished poet and translator under the name of A.M. Juster. This is an acronym for his Christian name, Michael J. Astrue, who for many years was a lawyer, biotech executive, and public servant, most notably serving as Commissioner of the Social Security Administration from 2007 to 2013. During this time, his political enemies tried to dig up dirt on him – but all they could find was that he wrote poetry on the side!

Juster has published multiple books of his orig...

Gregory Roper, a professor of literature at the University of Dallas, joins the podcast to discuss medieval “mystery plays” (also called “miracle plays”). In England these plays, often grouped together in cycles spanning all of salvation history, were performed by town guilds for the festival of Corpus Christi. This tradition, which developed out of the liturgy, could be said to represent the revival of drama in Europe, and was an important influence on the Elizabethan theatre. Shakespeare referenced this tradition a number of times in his plays.

The plays, which served a partly didactic purpose, are full of theol...

Erik Varden, bishop of Trondheim, Norway as well as Trappist monk, joins the podcast to discuss his new book Chastity: Reconciliation of the Senses.

Topics discussed include:

The renowned English theologian Fr. John Saward makes his podcast debut to discuss his new book on angels, the role of art and beauty in his theological work, and his turn away from the theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar after years of studying and translating his works.

Fr. Saward’s books named in this episode:

World Invisible: The Catholic Doctrine of the Angels https://angelicopress.com/products/world-invisible-john-saward

The Beauty of Holiness and the Holiness of Beauty: Art, Sanctity and the Truth of Catholicism https://angelicopress.com/products/the-beauty-of-holiness-and-the-holiness-of-beauty

Sweet an...