The standard textbook of theology in medieval universities was the Sentences by Peter Lombard, bishop of Paris from 1095-1160. This collection systematically arranged the theological judgments of Scripture and the Church Fathers on various topics. For almost four centuries, those seeking higher credentials in theology had to study, teach, and comment on Lombard’s Sentences. It was formative for the likes of St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Bonaventure. Over time, the genre of commentaries on the Sentences became its own vehicle for new developments in theology. The Sentences was not replaced by Aquinas’s Summa as a standard textbook until the 16th century.

Philosopher Philipp Rosemann has written two books on the Sentences and its significance for the development of theology. The first, Peter Lombard (2004), is about Lombard and his book. The second, The Story of a Great Medieval Book: Peter Lombard’s “Sentences” (2007), is about the commentary tradition on the Sentences. Rosemann gives fascinating insights into the development as theology as a systematic science, which had profound ramifications for Catholic spiritual life and the history of the West.

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A great spiritual master of our time, Fr. Donald Haggerty, joins the podcast to discuss his important new book, The Hour of Testing: Spiritual Depth and Insight in a Time of Ecclesial Uncertainty. He offers profound reflections on the ongoing, and perhaps future, crisis within the Church, with an eye to arousing an appetite for the greater spiritual intensity God desires his faithful to live out in this time.

It is essential that we see that our Lord Himself is reliving His Passion in His Mystical Body, when the Church suffers betrayal and humiliation at a high institutional level. It is also essential that we see the high stakes in the great loss of souls in this time, so that we may be spurred to a deeper and more sacrificial prayer life. Fr. Haggerty offers spiritual sobriety and counsels for holiness that should not be missed.

Buy The Hour of Testing https://ignatius.com/the-hour-of-testing-htp/

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Mimetic desire, scapegoating: if you've been hearing these terms thrown around lately, it's because the French Catholic philosopher René Girard (1923-2015) is having a renaissance, with powerful people like J.D. Vance and Peter Thiel citing his influence on their thought. Trevor Cribben Merrill, producer of the new documentary Things Hidden: The Life and Legacy of René Girard, joins the podcast to discuss Girard's principal ideas, and reflect on aspects of his thought which seem difficult to reconcile with Catholic doctrine.

Watch Things Hidden https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-vB1HaBsog

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Ryan Hammill of the Ancient Language Institute joins Thomas for a practical discussion about how to learn Latin, as well as the central place of the classical languages (Latin and Greek) in classical Christian education, and the various schools of thought in today’s classical Christian education movement.

Links

Thomas’s article about learning Latin https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/dreamt-learning-latin-heres-how-youll-finally-do-it/

Ancient Language Institute https://ancientlanguage.com/

New Humanists Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/new-humanists/id1570296135

Jonathan Roberts, “Classical Schools Are Not Really Classical” https://ancientlanguage.com/classical-schools-not-classical/

Micah Meadowcroft, “Classical Education’s Aristocracy of Anyone” https://nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/classical-educations-aristocracy-of-anyone

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The Christian West and Its Singers: The First Thousand Years, by the great English musicologist Christopher Page, covers the development of Christian liturgical music from its origins as an elaboration of the role of the lector to its flourishing in the monastic and cathedral singing schools of France, as Roman chant was spread across Europe. One of the most important developments was the gradual development of a system of notation in the late first millennium, culminating in Guido d'Arezzo's invention of the musical staff which allowed singers to learn melodies they had never heard before. Guido was motivated by the desire to reform monastic singing and enable monks to fulfil their duties more easily. This went along with a the development of music theory far beyond anything that could be found in the classical sources.

Christopher Page, The Christian West and Its Singers https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300112573/the-christian-west-and-its-singers/

Gothic Voices ensemble https://gothicvoices.co.uk/

Christopher Page playing Renaissance guitar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KW34ucTnhI&ab_channel=GreshamCollege

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A new biography of Ven. Fulton Sheen gives special attention to his high-profile converts, but reveals many other interesting facets of his life as well. Author Cheryl Hughes joins to discuss Sheen’s at times shockingly direct evangelization methods, his outstanding television presence, his lifelong struggle with vanity and ambition, and the mistreatment he suffered from his rival, Cardinal Spellman.

Links

Cheryl C.D. Hughes, Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen: Convert Maker https://ignatius.com/archbishop-fulton-j-sheen-afsp/

Thomas’s review of Cheryl’s biography of St. Katharine Drexel https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/st-katharine-drexel-shows-how-spiritual-poverty-and-submission-to-providence-go-hand-in-hand/

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St. Anicius Manlius Severius Boethius's book The Consolation of Philosophy, which he wrote in prison while awaiting martyrdom around the year 524, is one of the single most influential works for medieval philosophy and theology. But Boethius also owed much to the pagan philosophy that came before him. Thomas Ward has just written a commentary on Boethius's dialogue for Word on Fire, entitled After Stoicism: Last Words of the Last Roman Philosopher.

Topics discussed include:

• Boethius's debt to Stoic ethics and how he critiques the Stoic view of happiness
• The influence of neo-Platonist philosophy on Boethius
• Questions about the account of deification given by Lady Philosophy - is it more Platonist than Christian?
• Boethius's brilliant arguments about how God's way of knowing differs from ours

Links

Thomas Ward, After Stoicism: Last Words of the Last Roman Philosopher https://bookstore.wordonfire.org/products/after-stoicism?srsltid=AfmBOopBRfuMW6DMx_iUEH9u2gjSswySJAZ__JrdTznAIpZ3Ptj9mDMJ

Way of the Fathers episode on Boethius https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/st-boethius-church-father-and-medieval-scholar/

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There is increasing speculation and concern about the role of AI in the future of the arts. Surprisingly, many Christians are already embracing the use of AI to produce images of the saints. In this episode, Thomas and Susannah Black Roberts make the argument for why AI art is a contradiction in terms. It is analogous to pornography in that it scratches the itch to “create” without actually achieving the object of the desire in question. We should not use technology to replace the human specialties: “God won’t accept worship that we outsource.” Plus, the danger of demonic influence through AI should not be overlooked.

Susannah Black Roberts is a senior editor of Plough and has written for publications including First Things, Fare Forward, Front Porch Republic, Mere Orthodoxy, and The American Conservative.

Links

Susannah’s thread on Twitter https://x.com/suzania/status/1866516737057083862

Plough Quarterly https://www.plough.com/

PloughCast 66: The Technology of Demons w/ Paul Kingsnorth https://www.plough.com/en/topics/life/technology/the-technology-of-demons

David Schaengold, "Computers Can't Do Math" https://www.plough.com/en/topics/life/technology/computers-cant-do-math

Robert Cotton, “Augustine, AI, and the Demon Heuristic” https://mereorthodoxy.com/augustine-ai-and-the-demon-heuristic

The Anchored Argosy https://argosy.substack.com/

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