The Catholic Culture Podcast

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Episode 38 - Garrigou-Lagrange, The Sacred Monster of Thomism - Matthew K. Minerd May 15, 2019

Show notes

The name of Garrigou-Lagrange has long been a byword for a fusty, rigid Thomism of days gone by, allegedly more concerned with centuries of accretions built up by scholastic commentators than with the original teaching of the Angelic Doctor himself. Only in traditionalist circles was his name still spoken with respect.

But recent years have seen a wider reevaluation of this French Dominican priest and theologian, and a new translation of his work The Sense of Mystery: Clarity and Obscurity in the Intellectual Life shows that Garrigou has been unfairly dismissed as a purveyor of airless theology.

The translator of this work, Matthew K. Minerd, joins the podcast to discuss Fr. Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange's legacy and some of the book's central themes. These include mystery from on high and from below (not only spirit but also matter is mysterious), the importance of common sense for philosophy, the different senses in which we use the word "to be", the supernaturality of faith, and the eminence of the Deity beyond any of His attributes insofar as we know and name them by reason.

Through all these topics it becomes abundantly clear that only by preserving the distinction between natural and supernatural can theology remain itself.

Links

Buy The Sense of Mystery: Clarity and Obscurity in the Intellectual Life http://www.emmausacademic.com/publications/2018/5/18/sense-of-mystery

An excellent article on chastity by Matthew https://www.hprweb.com/2017/10/on-the-lowly-yet-vital-importance-of-chastity/

This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Episode 37 - Sculpting Two Benedicts - Jago May 08, 2019

Show notes

The young Italian sculptor Jago is best known to Catholics for his marble bust of Pope Benedict XVI, which the Pope himself awarded with a pontifical medal. Upon Benedict's resignation, Jago radically reworked the piece into its current form, Habemus Hominem. In this episode Jago discusses the meaning of marble, how he had to teach himself because his art professors opposed studying the great masters of the past, and his innovative use of social media as a new, decentralized form of patronage.

Links

Jago on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/jago.artist

Video of Jago transforming his bust of Pope Benedict https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqVwRookYJ0

Article on Habemus Hominem https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2018/02/21/shirtless-statue-pope-benedict-causes-art-sensation-rome/

Episode 36 - Bridges to Hell or Heaven: "Toxic Femininity" and the Spirit of Anti-Mary - Carrie Gress May 01, 2019

Show notes

One of the core things that has gone wrong with our culture in the past several decades is the denigration of every virtue associated with the perfect woman, Mary. Gentleness, humility, (true) beauty and especially motherhood: these are all antithetical to the radical feminism that is now thoroughly mainstream. If modern women are rejecting the very model of womanhood, it's no wonder the data tells us they're miserable. What they have embraced instead is described by Carrie Gress as the spirit of anti-Mary.

Carrie's new book, The Anti-Mary Exposed: Rescuing the Culture from Toxic Femininity, details how Satan has used women's malcontent as an entry point to completely devastate them and the culture they were meant to create and nurture. She dispels the illusion of the sisterhood, as early radical feminism was filled with backstabbing, mental illness, and unhappy women who hated not only men but each other. She argues that the misbehavior of so many women today is a defense mechanism due to the lack of unconditional love from their parents. Finally, she points women to Mary and her virtues as a way of finding contentment in the unconditional love of God the Father, and of rediscovering the feminine beauty that will be crucial to healing our culture's wounds.

Links

The Anti-Mary Exposed: Rescuing the Culture from Toxic Femininity https://www.tanbooks.com/index.php/the-anti-mary-exposed.html

Episode 4 – The Marian Option – Carrie Gress https://www.catholicculture.org/podcast/index.cfm?id=4

Carrie Gress http://www.carriegress.com/

Theology of Home (used to be Helena Daily) https://theologyofhome.com/

This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Episode 35 - Moral Blindness and Abortion - Abby Johnson Apr 17, 2019

Show notes

Abby Johnson was the youngest clinic director in Planned Parenthood history. After witnessing an abortion on ultrasound, she quit, became a Catholic, and founded And Then There Were None, an organization which has helped over 500 workers leave the abortion industry. We discuss the new film Unplanned, based on her memoir by the same name, and delve into the vicious cycle of moral blindness which enabled her to work in the abortion business.

Links

Unplanned movie https://www.unplannedfilm.com/

Unplanned book http://www.unplannedthebook.com/

Abby's Twitter https://twitter.com/abbyjohnson

And Then There Were None https://abortionworker.com/

This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Episode 34 - The Memoirs of St. Peter - Michael Pakaluk Apr 03, 2019

Show notes

Michael Pakaluk has written a new translation and commentary of Mark's Gospel. Mark was relating very recent events, with details only an eyewitness (most likely Peter) would have mentioned. This earliest Gospel set the standard for what words and deeds of Christ would be included by the other evangelists, and reflected on by Christians until the end of the age. If these are indeed the memoirs of St. Peter "as told to" St. Mark, then, as Pakaluk says, all of the Gospels bear the mark of the Petrine ministry.

Links

The Memoirs of St. Peter https://www.regnery.com/books/the-memoirs-of-st-peter/

Michael Pakaluk at Catholic U https://business.catholic.edu/faculty-and-research/faculty-profiles/pakaluk-michael/index.html

Episode 33 - Structure and Freedom in Music and in Christ - Mark Christopher Brandt Mar 27, 2019

Show notes

The quest for freedom in structure is fundamental to Catholic spiritual life (particularly during this season of Lent). It's also fundamental to musical improvisation. How can you be free and spontaneous without giving way to anarchy and sin, which lead to death? How can you be organized and disciplined without succumbing to the living death of rigidity? How can you make new music in the moment, with no predetermined composition, that nonetheless has order and beauty? And how can you do all this without taking yourself too seriously? Only the Holy Spirit makes these things possible.

My friend Mark Christopher Brandt—improvising pianist, composer and spiritual writer—has spent his life pursuing these paradoxes in the confluence of life as a musician and life in Christ. We discuss his ongoing series of fully improvised albums, most recently the DVD Structure and Freedom, as well as his books of meditations for the Stations of the Cross and the Rosary.

Links

Mark's website http://www.markchristopherbrandt.com

Structure and Freedom DVD https://markchristopherbrandt.com/structure-and-freedom-dvd.html

Sunflowers and Roses (soundtrack album to Structure and Freedom) https://markchristopherbrandt.com/sunflowers-and-roses-album.html

Mark's spiritual books https://markchristopherbrandt.com/spiritual-books.html

2017 interview about Mark's album The Nightingale https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-0-nightingale-mark-christopher-brandt/

Episode 32 - Antoni Gaudí, Patron Saint of Architects? - Gabriela Gonzalez-Cremona Mar 20, 2019

Show notes

For many people who have never been to Spain, their only image of the country may be the strange spires of Barcelona's La Sagrada Familia, designed by Antoni Gaudí. It is certainly the best-known building in Spain, despite still not being finished—and construction began in 1882! Indeed, Gaudí knew the building would not be completed in his lifetime, but was at peace with this, saying, "My client is not in a hurry." He was an ascetic with a deep devotion to the Holy Family, and there is an ongoing cause for his beatification with which my guest is involved.

Links

Images of Gaudí's works https://www.pinterest.com/ukiahyaya/antoni-gaudi/?lp=true

Association for the Beatification of Antoni Gaudí

http://translate.google.com/translate?client=tmpg&hl=en&langpair=es|en&u=http%3A//www.gaudibeatificatio.com/

The Association's book on Gaudí and the beatification effort http://www.gaudibeatificatio.com/files/docs/GAUDI-BOOK.pdf

Episode 31 - Some Jazz You Should Hear Mar 13, 2019

Show notes

You may or may not know that I have a background in jazz piano (I wrote and performed the intro and outro music for this show, for example). In this album I introduce you to about ten of my very favorite jazz albums. This is an experimental solo episode, but don't worry, we'll be back to interviews next week.

Links

The main list:

Charlie Parker, "Parker's Mood" (1948) (listen to this original version, not the overdubbed version from Clint Eastwood's depressing film Bird!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Wa7El-k3jQ

Best of the Savoy and Dial Master Takes (I mentioned the complete set in the episode but this is more approachable): https://www.amazon.com/Best-Complete-Savoy-Studio-Recordings/dp/B000067FUO/

"Koko": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okrNwE6GI70

Erroll Garner, The Complete Concert by the Sea (1958): https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Concert-Sea-Erroll-Garner/dp/B00ZJ5QXDO/

"I'll Remember April": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_aILGaLqyc

Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto, Getz/Gilberto (1964): https://www.amazon.com/Getz-Gilberto-Stan/dp/B0000047CX/

"Desafinado": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=So718wk426c

Wes Montgomery and the Wynton Kelly Trio, Smokin' at the Half Note (1965): https://www.amazon.com/Smokin-At-Half-Note-Remastered/dp/B0006VXF4G/

"Unit 7": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D12_468jvNk

Miles Davis, Kind of Blue (1959): https://www.amazon.com/Kind-Blue-Miles-Davis/dp/B000002ADT/

"Blue in Green": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veDgWww1hIQ

Bill Evans's liner notes: https://www.sfjazz.org/onthecorner/bill-evans-kind-blue-liner-notes/

Bill Evans, Alone (1968): https://www.amazon.com/Alone-VME-Bill-Evans/dp/B00006C79A/

"Here's That Rainy Day": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMa2VaV3Voo

Miles Davis, Nefertiti (1968): https://www.amazon.com/Nefertiti-Miles-Davis/dp/B003O5MODY/

"Nefertiti": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHBIfBex7Ig

Herbie Hancock, Speak Like a Child (1968): https://www.amazon.com/Speak-Like-Child-Herbie-Hancock/dp/B0007LLQ3W/

"Speak Like a Child": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTNLWi-xAkE

Chick Corea, Friends (1978): https://www.amazon.com/Friends-CHICK-COREA/dp/B01LVWGSGJ

"Waltz for Dave": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNdowVQ9nxE

Other albums mentioned:

Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, Bird and Diz (1950): https://www.amazon.com/Bird-Diz-Charlie-Parker/dp/B009R50YU0/

"Bloomdido": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MCGweQ8Oso

Elis Regina and Antonio Carlos Jobim, Elis & Tom (1974): https://www.amazon.com/Elis-Antonio-Carlos-Jobim-Regina/dp/B0017YWG2S

"Aguas de Março": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1tOV7y94DY

Miles Davis, Miles Smiles (1967): https://www.amazon.com/Miles-Smiles-Davis/dp/B016QE48TM/

"Footprints": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62p-CXrYmf4

Herbie Hancock et al., Tribute to Miles (1992): https://www.amazon.com/Tribute-Miles-Various-Artists/dp/B000002MG7/

"Elegy": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_DJJyJ5Ogg

Chick Corea, Three Quartets (1981): https://www.amazon.com/Three-Quartets-Chick-Corea/dp/B000003OZE/

"Quartet No. 2, Pt. 2: Tribute to John Coltrane": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQx96DsZXxA

Episode 30--What Tolkien's Visual Art Tells Us About His Creative Mind--John McQuillen and Holly Ordway Feb 27, 2019

Show notes

While Tolkien's brilliance as a world-builder and storyteller is well-established, fewer people are aware of just how unique (and obsessive) his creative process was, or that he was a gifted visual artist. That is changing thanks to an unprecedented exhibition of Tolkien's personal items, manuscripts and artworks, Tolkien: Maker of Middle-Earth, currently on display at the Morgan Library in Manhattan.

John McQuillen, Assistant Curator at the Morgan Library, and Holly Ordway, author of the upcoming study Tolkien's Modern Sources, join me to discuss the exhibition, which sheds light on Tolkien's use of visual art to help him solidify his literary vision, the role his stories and artworks played in his family life, and (perhaps surprising to many who view Tolkien as a conservative fuddy-duddy) his willingness to draw on an eclectic range of sources, including distinctly modern ones, to enhance his creative expression.

Links

Tolkien: Maker of Middle-Earth at the Morgan (view selected images from the exhibition) https://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/tolkien

The exhibition book, Tolkien: Maker of Middle-Earth by Catherine McIlwaine https://www.amazon.com/Tolkien-Maker-Middle-earth-Catherine-McIlwaine/dp/1851244859

Holly Ordway http://www.hollyordway.com/

Sheen Center for Thought & Culture https://www.sheencenter.org/

Past Tolkien-related episodes

Episode 15: Online Education with The Tolkien Professor—Corey Olsen https://www.catholicculture.org/podcast/index.cfm?id=15

Episode 16: Extremely Specific Middle-earth Q&A with The Tolkien Professor—Corey Olsen https://www.catholicculture.org/podcast/index.cfm?id=16

This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Episode 29 - Catholic Feminism: Should We? - Abigail Rine Favale Feb 19, 2019

Show notes

Today there is more pressure than ever before on both women and men to embrace feminism. In her outstanding memoir, Into the Deep, Abigail Rine Favale gives a resonant account of her journey from an evangelical childhood to a Christian feminism which inevitably gave way to the secular, postmodern variety. This ideology gradually gutted her faith—a process interrupted by childbirth and a sudden and unexpected conversion to Catholicism.

We discuss the feasibility of Catholic feminism, the danger of interpreting Scripture and doctrine through a predetermined ideological hermeneutic, facile uses of the word "equality", the totalizing nature of all ideology, the role of intuition in the spiritual life, and more.

Links

Buy Into the Deep: An Unlikely Catholic Conversion using discount code "DEEP" for 40% off https://wipfandstock.com/into-the-deep.html

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