The Christopher Perrin Show

Episode 45: Going Home with Odysseus Jan 28, 2025

In this episode, Christopher Perrin explores the profound theme of the hero's arduous journey home—as depicted in Homer's The Odyssey. He discusses how Odysseus's return to Ithaca not only signifies a physical homecoming but also a reclaiming of identity and status. Consider in this epic tale the timeless human longing for home and the trials faced along the way.

Episode 44: What We Can Learn from Odysseus, the Man of Many Twists and Turns: The Pros and Cons of Being Curious and Clever Dec 10, 2024

In this episode, Dr. Perrin who teaches the Odyssey to a college class every year, traces the life and quest of Odysseus noting the ways in which his life turns and twists much like our own, and the way his yearning and the story itself anticipate a kind of fulfillment in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.

Episode 43: 20 Words You Must Know to Understand Education: What Education Really Is Nov 12, 2024

In this episode, Dr. Perrin notes the ways we have forgotten the meaning of words that related to education and revives the meaning of about 20 key words we need to know in order to better understand what education really is.

Episode 42: Education as Hospitality and Healing Aug 27, 2024

In this episode, Dr. Perrin describes the way that Christian classical education must offer hospitality to students seeking an intellectual home and healing to the sickness of their souls. While this is not the whole of a robust classical education, it is integral and vital part. (Also with connections to Augustine: Rejoicing in the Truth by Jeffrey Lehman.)

Episode 41: Scholé over Schooling: Learning to be Mary in a Society of Martha Jun 11, 2024

In this episode, Dr. Perrin discusses the difficulty and the importance of keeping with classical learning throughout the entirety of a student's education, and of finding times to be wisdom-seeking Mary in a society that expects everyone to be always-busy Martha.

Episode 40: The Best Teacher is a Good Book May 28, 2024

In this episode Dr. Perrin considers this traditional maxim. Can authors and their books become meaningful teachers and even life-long friends? What is the link between an author and authority? Do we still need living teachers if we have really good books?

Episode 39: Education for the Next Life Apr 23, 2024

In this episode, Dr. Perrin traces that part of the Christian tradition of education that regarded education as a preparation not only for one's earthly life but ultimately for the next, heavenly life. Can such a heavenly focus be of real, earthly merit? The tradition says yes.

Episode 38: Repetition Is the Mother of Memory: The Permanent Learning of Petition Apr 09, 2024

In this episode, Dr. Perrin describes the pedagogical maximum of Repetitio Mater Memoriae, noting that repetition can be a delightful activity of seeking and experiencing the same good thing again and again until it is permanently possessed.

Episode 37: Multum non Multa: The Pedagogical Principle of Going Deep Mar 26, 2024

In this episode, Dr. Perrin describes the ways that teaching a few things deeply and well accelerates learning much better than by superficially covering or skimming over content.

Episode 36: Festina Lente (Make Haste Slowly): The Pedagogical Maxim of Mastering Each Step Mar 12, 2024

In this episode, Dr. Perrin retrieves and describes one of the most essential pedagogical principles every teacher should employ--the art of going farther and faster by going slower.

Episode 35: John Henry Newman and True Education Feb 27, 2024

What is an educated mind? Newman says the mature mind "discerns the end in every beginning, the origin in every end, the law in every interruption, the limit in each delay; because it ever knows where it stands, and how its path lies from one point to another." In this episode, Dr. Perrin summarizes Newman on what the grand goal of education truly is--"the perfection of the intellect."

Episode 34: Cutting School: Why Classical Schools Fragment Education and Turn Learning into Subjects Nov 22, 2023

In this episode, Dr. Perrin laments the ways that classical schools, like progressives schools, regularly "cut up" the curriculum into too many disconnected fragments that become "subjects."

Episode 33: Piling It On: Why Classical Schools Have Too Many Periods and Teach Too Many Subjects Oct 12, 2023

In this episode, Dr. Perrin explains the why classical schools still retain elements of their progressive counterparts and simply try to teach too much.

Episode 32: Friendship and Community in Education (Featuring Davies Owens) Sep 14, 2023

In this episode, Davies Owens (from Basecamp Live) and I co-host the podcast and talk about the ways friendship and fellowship should be at the heart of classical education.

Episode 31: Powerful Education in the Great Tradition Aug 31, 2023

In this episode Christopher Perrin discusses how formative and powerful a great education can be. Tradition is formative but a great tradition is transformative.

Episode 30: The Two Canons: The Biblical Books and the Great Books Aug 17, 2023

It took a long while to fix the canon of Scripture; it also takes a while to determine that a book is truly a Great Book. Dr. Perrin argues that the process by which both canons are established is similar.

Episode 29: The Virtue of Faith Aug 03, 2023

In this episode, Dr. Perrin continues to explore faith as a theological virtue.

Episode 28: The Theological Virtues Jul 20, 2023

In this episode, Dr. Perrin explores how theological virtues such as faith, hope, and love complement the four cardinal virtues.

Episode 27: The Cardinal Virtue of Justice Jul 06, 2023

In this episode Dr. Perrin describes justice as the virtue that enable us to act properly and fairly after having accurately perceived what is real, or the true state of affairs.

Episode 26: The Classical Canon Jun 22, 2023

Episode 25: The Virtue of Prudence (Part Two): False Prudence Jun 08, 2023

In this episode Dr. Perrin describes how prudence can become falsified so that we are not able to perceive what is truly real.

Episode 24: The Virtue of Prudence (Part One): True Prudence May 25, 2023

In this episode Dr. Perrin describes how prudence was the chief, governing virtues among the all of the cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude.

Episode 23: The Virtue of Fortitude in Teaching May 11, 2023

In this episode, Dr. Perrin continues exploring the virtue of fortitude and he discusses the fortitude that is necessary to be a teacher.

Episode 22: The Virtue of Fortitude in Classical Education Apr 27, 2023

In this episode, Dr. Perrin discusses the virtue of fortitude in classical education and how it relates to teaching.

Episode 21: The Importance of Shakespeare in Classical Education, Part II Mar 30, 2023

In this episode, Dr. Perrin continues his discussion with Tim McIntosh, a former professor at Gutenberg College and a current creative director, actor, and playwright. They discuss the importance of Shakespeare and other great authors in classical education, and particularly how plays and other creative outlets positively impact students.

Episode 20: The Importance of Shakespeare in Classical Education Mar 09, 2023

In this episode, Dr. Perrin talks with Tim McIntosh, a former professor at Gutenberg College and a current creative director, actor, and playwright. They discuss the importance of Shakespeare and other great authors in classical education, and particularly how plays and other creative outlets positively impact students.

Episode 19: The Importance of Temperance in Life and Education Feb 23, 2023

In this episode, Dr. Perrin describes the importance of temperance in everyday life and in education.

Episode 18: The Importance of Friendship in Life and Education Feb 09, 2023

In this episode, Dr. Perrin describes the importance of friendship in everyday life and in education.

Episode 17: Metaphors in Classical Education Jan 19, 2023

In this episode, Dr. Perrin describes how metaphors can be used to understand classical education.

Episode 16: Classical Education and Christian Nationalism Jan 05, 2023

In this episode, Dr. Perrin explores the meaning of Christian nationalism and how it relates to classical education.

Episode 15: Remembering Augustine as Historian, Philosopher, & Teacher Dec 08, 2022

In this episode, Dr. Perrin explores the many contributions Augustine made to the modern understanding of history, education, philosophy, and theology.

Episode 14: The Significance of Augustine and Kuyper in CCE Nov 24, 2022

In this episode, Dr. Perrin describes the ongoing importance and relevance of both Augustine and Kuyper in classical Christian education.

Episode 13: Recovering the Word "College" to Renew Classical Education Nov 10, 2022

In this episode, Dr. Perrin explores the meaning of the word, "college" and its role in classical education. What does a college curriculum look like today and how does it compare to what it could look like if classical methods were applied?

Episode 12: Recovering the Word "Education" to Renew Classical Education Oct 27, 2022

In this episode, Dr. Perrin explores the true meaning of the word, "education". What do we mean when we use it and how has this meaning changed over the course of history?

Episode 11: Recovering the Word "Student" to Renew Classical Education Sep 08, 2022

In this episode, Dr. Perrin builds upon Episode 10 by exploring the etymologies and histories behind words that are commonly used in education today.

Episode 10: Recovering a Vocabulary for Classical Education Sep 05, 2022

In this episode, Dr. Perrin discusses words and their importance in education. What words do we use in traditional liberal education? How have we lost the meanings of certain words in our lives?

Episode 09: Starting a Classical College Aug 11, 2022

In this episode, Dr. Perrin and Greg Wilbur of New College Franklin discuss the importance of the intersection between theology and classical education. This conversation was recorded at CiRCE Institute National Conference in Charleston.

Episode 08: The Practice of Lamentation Jul 28, 2022

How have we, as a modern society, forgotten how to lament? What could lamentation do for us, on an individual level and as a whole?

Episode 07: The Resurgence of Classical Education Among African Americans Jul 14, 2022

What was the earliest classical school for African Americans and what effect did it have on the resurgence of the classical movement today?

Episode 06: What Does Jerusalem Have to Do With Athens? Jun 30, 2022

How do we encounter the classical tradition? How do we engage with the sacred inheritance of great writings?

Episode 05: The Sacred Synthesis Jun 16, 2022

What does Jerusalem have to do with Athens? Can the Greek and Roman tradition of classical thought be harmonized with what is taught in the Old and New Testaments or in the Christian tradition?

Episode 04: The Great Idea of the Liberal Arts Jun 02, 2022

What are the liberal arts? Why are they liberal? And why are they arts?

Episode 03: The Great Idea of the Great Conversation May 19, 2022

Conversation is a dance of ideas with at least one partner. Find out why.

Episode 02: The Great Idea of Virtue Apr 30, 2022

What is it for which education should aim and seek? Virtue. Find out why.

Episode 01: The Great Idea of Wisdom Apr 08, 2022

In this inaugural episode, Dr. Perrin make a case for wisdom being the chief aim of education. Sadly, few us can even define wisdom much less know how to...

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