Christians Reading Classics

Latest Episodes:

Moby-Dick, with Kyle Harper Oct 22, 2026

Show notes

Moby-Dick is a whale hunt on the surface, but underneath it’s a confrontation with a world that won’t fully make sense. Kyle Harper, a historian of whales and the wider animal world, joins us to argue for Herman Melville’s masterpiece as the great American novel and to pin down what we really mean when we call something a “classic.” Kyle explains why timeless books survive changing tastes: they keep asking the fundamental questions about truth, God, knowledge, and what it means to be human.

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Listen and read The Daily Liturgy by going to http://mereorthodoxy.com/daily-liturgy

All Quiet on the Western Front, with Jason Barnhart Oct 15, 2026

Show notes

A single sentence can hold an entire war: “All quiet on the Western Front.” That understatement is exactly why Erich Maria Remarque’s novel still haunts readers almost a century later, and why we wanted to slow down and read it carefully rather than treat it like a history lesson.
Today we are joined by Jason Barnhart, a peace theologian and professor of historical theology, to talk through the transparency, humanity, and paradoxes that make All Quiet on the Western Front a true classic of war literature.

Listen and read The Daily Liturgy by going to http://mereorthodoxy.com/daily-liturgy

Billy Budd, with Christine Norvell Oct 08, 2026

Show notes

A beautiful story can still be brutal, and Billy Budd proves it. Christine Norvell, author of The Sycamore Fig Tree, joins to discuss Melville’s unforgettable portrait of a sailor who seems almost made for admiration—which makes his tragedy that much more thought-provoking.

Listen and read The Daily Liturgy by going to http://mereorthodoxy.com/daily-liturgy

Aristotle, with Philip Freeman Oct 01, 2026

Show notes

Aristotle is everywhere in Western civilization, but most of us meet him as a difficult assignment instead of a real human being with a complicated story. We sit down with classicist and biographer Philip Freeman, author of Aristotle: The First Teacher, to follow Aristotle from an out-of-the-way town in northern Greece to the intellectual pressure cooker of Plato’s Academy and then into his own ambitious project at the Lyceum.

Listen and read The Daily Liturgy by going to http://mereorthodoxy.com/daily-liturgy

Howard Thurman For Our Time with Myles Werntz Sep 24, 2026

Show notes

We’re joined by Miles Werntz, associate professor of theology at Abilene Christian University and editor of Nothing Can Separate Us: Healing for Souls and Nations, a reader of Thurman’s writings. Together we trace Thurman’s story from the segregated South to Morehouse and Howard University, through his journey to India to meet Mahatma Gandhi, and into his bold experiment of founding one of America’s earliest intentionally interracial churches. Along the way we explore why Thurman distinguishes “the religion of Jesus” from what Christianity has sometimes become, and how that distinction both helps and troubles readers who love the church.

Listen and read The Daily Liturgy by going to http://mereorthodoxy.com/daily-liturgy

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh, with Daniel McInerny Sep 17, 2026

Show notes

The complicated struggle of faith is no new phenomenon. Philosopher and novelist Daniel McInerny joins today to revisit Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited and ask why this Catholic classic still feels like it is describing our own age, our own friendships, and our own hunger for beauty. Along the way, we tackle a surprisingly practical question for readers and writers alike: what is a classic, really? Not just a book that tells timeless truths, but a work that pushes a tradition forward and deepens the conversation about what a human being is for.

Listen and read The Daily Liturgy by going to http://mereorthodoxy.com/daily-liturgy

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, with Eric Hutchinson Sep 10, 2026

Show notes

Marcus Aurelius, the Roman Emperor known for his philosophical insights, penned his thoughts in a private notebook that became one of the most enduring classics of Western literature. In this episode, Nadya Williams speaks with Eric Hutchinson, Associate Professor of Classics at Hillsdale College, to delve into the essence of Aurelius's Meditations and the Stoic principles that shaped his life.

Listen and read The Daily Liturgy by going to http://mereorthodoxy.com/daily-liturgy

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, with Daniel K. Williams Sep 03, 2026

Show notes

In this episode, we explore the enduring power of C.S. Lewis's 'Mere Christianity' and its place in the broader history of Christian apologetics. Daniel K. Williams, a historian and expert in apologetics, shares insights into what makes a work of apologetics a classic, how Lewis's work has influenced generations, and the evolving landscape of Christian defense strategies.

Listen and read The Daily Liturgy by going to http://mereorthodoxy.com/daily-liturgy

Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner, with Matt Stewart Aug 27, 2026

Show notes

Wallace Stegner scholar Matt Stewart talks with Nadya Williams about why quiet novels can hit harder than flashy ones and how Crossing to Safety turns friendship, academia, and marriage into real drama. We also ask what makes a classic, how books survive by luck as much as merit, and why long obedience in relationships might be the rarest plot of all.

Listen and read The Daily Liturgy by going to http://mereorthodoxy.com/daily-liturgy

A Canticle For Leibowitz by Walter Miller with Brad Birzer Aug 20, 2026

Show notes

A monastery in the desert preserves the shattered remnants of civilisation after nuclear fire, and the relics include something chilling: the technical knowledge that could destroy the world all over again. That is the dark engine driving Walter M. Miller Jr.’s A Canticle for Leibowitz, and it is why this 1959 post-apocalyptic science fiction classic still refuses to go stale.

Listen and read The Daily Liturgy by going to http://mereorthodoxy.com/daily-liturgy

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