Classical Stuff You Should Know

"A History of Private Life" is a look at the culture of Rome from the perspective of the commoner. What was it like to be a regular ol' Joe during the time of the Caesars?

The Bible has passages that are seemingly contradictory. In this episode, Graeme leads us through a case study of one of such contradiction and why it might be exactly what it seems.

Christopher Marlowe was a contemporary of Shakespeare's, and he wrote poorly. Specifically, he wrote eponymous play for this episode. Not only that but SPY STUFF?!?

In this episode we discuss C.S. Lewis's Perelandra and learn how to punch evil in the mouth.

Bubble Bubble, Toil and Trouble, Graeme discusses witches' stubble. Tells to Burg and 'splains to Bees, That's all that we do this week. Okay, so we talk about Macbeth and how all of the weird stuff that happens with Nature in this book is an inroads into the real themes of the play.

Magbee worries that A.J. is a little too fascinated with evil, so A.J. leaned into it and investigated how we currently think of evil. We follow the train of thought from Augustine to Aquinas. Turns out everything is pretty great.

Josh Gibbs, a favorite of ours, just put out a new book containing essays on Christmas. We discuss them here. Because Christmas is awesome, and you should awesome too.

In this episodes, we discuss how biography and the artist affect our interpretation, or really, how it shouldn't. We also read W.H. Auden's "The Fall of Rome." It's good I guess.

Alright, don't get cross with me. I did a more modern book. It's interesting, though, and we talk a little about LSD, some about busses, and a bunch about gambling. See? It's fun.

We've reached the final summit of Purgatory, and lemme tell ya. Things get a little weird in this one. We've got eagles, random giants, a parade, and more!

we're nearing the top of the mountain of Dante's Purgatorio with the illustrious Thomas Magbee leading the charge. We talk to some more sinners, walk through some fire, and leave Virgil behind. Plus, fanboy.

First, I get it, I hate the extra s after the apostrophe, but what're you gonna do, the MLA team are a bunch of nut jobs. That said, it doesn't matter anyway. We're all just doomed forever.

Graeme wrote his grad thesis on C.S. Lewis's "Till We Have Faces." Prepare to laugh your way through an episode, because--hoo boy--Graeme's grad paper was a doozy. It's like reading "Modeland" by Tyra Banks, but with less mascara.

Turns out, purgatory is great for fitness. In this episode, Thomas continues to guide us through Dante's Purgatorio, and we learn about Envy, Pride, Sloth, and Wrath.

In Camus's excellent (and refreshingly brief) novel, he embraces the absurd. Also, murder! Days at the sea! A.J. wonders if he's broken at his core!

In this episode we finish discussing man's tendency to let our mimetic rivalry escalate into scandal, leading to an eventual sacrificial scapegoat. Honestly, it all seems kinda fun to me.

In the middle of Dostoyevsky's excellent book, the main character discusses an article he's written on "The Great Man," so we decide to do the same thing (while adding a little background and summary at the same time).

Magbee, a counselor in his own right, discusses Andrew Purves's book. How should one view counseling and brain chemistry, pastoring and sin? It's a toughy, and that's coming from somebody with SAD. Seriously. I have a thing called "S.A.D." that makes me sad.

Whenever Graeme likes to say something intelligent, one thing that I apparently love to do is fasten on one small element of his argument and dig my heels in. This week, it's about birds that love each other. The rest of the podcast is a cool thing about psychological readings of scripture.

Don Quixote is a fun book about an old guy who hates windmills. Or maybe it's an epoch defining work of genius. Or maybe it's a book about the dangers of romance.

The second part of The Poetic Edda concerns the exploits of one family of Norse Heroes. Intrigue? Check. Regicide? Check. A pair of shape-shifting brothers, one of whom is an otter that loves munching fish? Double check.

Philosophers always say that the best life is the life of a philosopher, the life of contemplation. I have always disagreed. Listen to Graeme change my mind (this is A.J., by the way).

In this episode, we discuss a psychological reading of Beowulf, and why it fails to approach the text honestly. Weirdly, we all agree. The whole crew. It's strange.

The Poetic Edda are the primary source for most of our information on Norse Mythology. They also happen to be the most heavy-metal myths you've ever heard. Half-corpse god of Hell named "Hel"? Yes, please.

Antonio Gramsci was a Marxist, and we see some of his theories finding purchase today. Don't worry, we don't really get political, but we do discuss the ideas themselves.

In book X of Plato's Republic, he rails on imitative poetry some more, argues for the immortality of the soul, and tells a creepy story about a guy named "Er."

In the old'n days, an artist was like a parasite, but a friendly one. You know, like those birds who clean the teeth of alligators. In this episode we discuss the relationship between patron and artist.

We're almost there, guys, and this is the penultimate chapter of Plato's republic. This one is all about tyranny. A tyranny named Tyrone.

As a follow up to book IX of the republic, Graeme leads us on a thought journey to the medieval land of government. So strap on your cassock and let's get weird.

We've done Dante's Inferno before, so Thomas introduces us to his Purgatorio in this episode. Doesn't "Purgatorio" sound like the Italian version of famous horror movie "The Purge"? It isn't, though.

In book eight of Plato's Republic, Socrates discusses the degradation of an Aristocracy into more mediocre forms of government. Spoiler, democracy is not near the top.

There's a big ol' white horse made of rocks in the UK, and Chesterton wrote some poem about it or whatever. It's okay I guess. Maybe worth a quick jaw wag.

Thomas leads us further up the mountain as we discuss "Climbing Parnassus" by Tracy Lee Simmons. Greek and Latin, he argues, are the organizing principle for classical education. Also, it impresses people when you can tell them what all those words on the dollar bill mean.

Plato finally gets us to the allegory of the cave. We find out that we're just dudes, dudes in a cave, dudes staring at a wall.

Did you know that humans used to be eight limbed creatures that rolled around like silly marshmallows? Yeah, neither did we.

In this actually good episode, Graeme talks about readings of poetry. How do you balance a traditional reading with your own experience? With scales, friend. Scales.

Because of an unexpected illness, A.J. is back on the Plato train till he can get some Mongolian epic ready.

Graeme summarizes the book that is once removed from Lewis's "Abolition of Man": "After Virtue." And I give an awkward intro, as always. Sheesh.

Thomas guides us through "Climbing Parnassus," a defense of classical education and . . . uh . . . THE ELITE?

A house, a play, a baby: three reasons why this advent season we're taking a little bit of a break. We'll be back in January with season 2 of Classical Stuff.

This is the final episode in the Templar trilogy, and we finally find out what happened to those rascally Templar. Basically, they became the illuminati and Kanye joined. Wait. Just kidding. No he didn't. Ignore that. Shoot. I'm going to answer to Kanye for this. Dang it! I've gotta keep my trap shut.

Plato just keeps getting weirder. This chapter seems to be an aside addressing something he glossed over earlier: having women and children in common. That, and he's probably the first true feminist. Oh wait. No he isn't.

The recent passing of Harold necessitates a bit of a memorial from the Classical Stuff boys. In this episode we discuss Harold's legacy, anxiety, and reading.

This is the fourth installment of our series on Plato's Republic. In this one we finally get to the meaning of justice. We also feel bad for some of the warriors. They're getting a pretty raw deal.

In this episode, Thomas reads from "A Guide for the Perplexed." We discuss how seemingly contradictory viewpoints are sometimes not so contradictory.

We continue our long journey toward Jerusalem with the Templar. In this episode: Assassins who would vote in favor of the "legalize it" legislation, leper kings, a bunch of bros who go to Jerusalem to get gold, and REALLY INTENSE HANDSHAKES.

The Knights Templar weren't always the folks running our governments and engineering the weather. Once upon a time, they were holy mercenaries.

St. Francis lived a colorful life, one full of passion, boldly stated vows, and animal congregations.

This is the continuation of the series on Plato's Republic. Book III is where Plato goes a little off the rails. Got a terminal disease? Might as well kick the bucket.

The commonplace book is a compendium of knowledge gleaned from years of reading, but it has to start somewhere.