Some of the audio we distribute has been provided by partnering organizations. These Bonus Features include lectures and “audio reprints” — readings from magazines, journals, and blog posts.
“Ecce homo”
In this lecture, Orthodox theologian John Behr draws from the book of Genesis and early Church Fathers Irenaeus, Ignatius, Maximus to answer the question, What is a human being? (53 minutes)
The construction of the empty self
Angela Franks explains the history of the modern concept of identity as a project and shows how it falls short of a holistic Christian view of the self. (minutes)
The mystery and dignity of the human person
Jens Zimmermann reflects on why a defense of personhood is a crucial task for the future of humanity. (47 minutes)
Implications of an “absent” God
David L. Schindler (1943–2022) explores the implications for a civilization that discards the reality that being is grounded in God. (minutes)
The unmasking of self-fictions
Glenn Arbery describes what the genre of tragedy reveals about human experience and how it does this work of revelation. (63 minutes)
“The secret at the heart of poetry”
Glenn Arbery explores how lyric poetry works to reveal essential insights into human and transcendent experience. (47 minutes)
Quiet misanthropy vs. Christian humanism
Bishop Robert Barron explores the misanthropic and inherently unstable anthropology at the heart of the modern university and offers an alternative for human flourishing. (46 minutes)
“We become what we behold”
Peter Crawford explores how a sacramental education involves helping students to behold a world saturated with signs that point to Christ — and then to act as faithful stewards. (68 minutes)
The “two-foldness” of human nature
In this lecture, Marc Barnes critiques the current reigning system of gender for its ironies, internal inconsistencies, and failure to satisfy or “work” on its own terms. (32 minutes)
The nature of things
In this 2026 lecture, Mary Harrington explores modernity’s “Thomophobic epistemological straitjacket” that bans serious inquiry into the nature of things. (41 minutes)
The reclaiming of authentic liberalism
John Médaille examines the Christian roots of liberalism and how liberalism might be recovered from the heresy of secularism. (51 minutes)
Catechesis in “Screentopia”
In this lecture, Brad East builds a case for why he believes digital technology is the greatest threat facing American Christians today. (57 minutes)
“Your life is a miracle”
In this lecture, L. M. Sacasas questions whether Byung-Chul Han’s critique of modern life as a “burnout society” is still accurate. (40 minutes)
Turning Petrarchan love poetry on its head
Dr. Benedict Whalen examines the influence of Petrarchan love poetry on Europe, and he reveals through a close read of Romeo and Juliet how Shakespeare subverted key features of Petrarch’s love poems to rich effect. (54 minutes)
A living tradition
In this lecture, James Matthew Wilson explores the nature of tradition as a “condition of possibility” that situates both reason and poetry. (49 minutes)
Human beings as “word-bearers”
In this lecture, D. C. Schindler argues that misology — hatred for reason and contempt for language — is a deep cause of our current cultural crisis. (56 minutes)
