These programs include new and archive interviews, readings from important journal and magazine articles, lectures by important scholars, and the occasional illustrated essay about seasonal music. The ten most recent Features are available to all from our app, and the most recent one is available on our home page. Members have access to hundreds of past Features and may download them to the app for later listening.
Volume 97 excerpts
Hear excerpts from interviews with Mark Noll, Stanley Fish, James Peters, Scott Moore, and Makoto Fujimura. (28 minutes)
Reality and the relations that constitute us
Reuben Slife discusses key concerns in the work of David L. Schindler (1943–2022). 31 (minutes)
David Cayley, R.I.P.
David Cayley (1946–2026) describes Ivan Illich’s insights into the “instrumental attitude” that defines modernity, in particular the blurring of the distinction between mechanisms and organisms. (39 minutes)
Poetry and the shaping of virtue
Glenn C. Arbery discusses the Vanderbilt Agrarians, poetry, and the moral imagination and the shaping of virtue. (32 minutes)
Robert Wilken, R.I.P.
Robert Wilken (1936–2026) describes the likenesses between the cultural challenges of the late 20th century and the early Church’s era. (14 minutes)
Volume 102 excerpts
Hear excerpts from interviews with Daniel M. Bell Jr., Lew Daly, Adam K. Webb, Stratford Caldecott, James Matthew Wilson, and Thomas Hibbs. (30 minutes)
A divided individual on stage
Playwright Tim McIntosh (My Name Is Søren Kierkegaard) discusses his interest in Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1836), whose life has not — until now — been the subject of any major dramatic artistic work. (21 minutes)
The Lord of the dance
In this essay, Vigen Guroian journeys through C. S. Lewis’s Narnia chronicles to discover the “motifs of faith and redemption” that illuminate and illustrate the Christian experience. (41 minutes)
Love the stranger, embody the kingdom
Christine Pohl argues that an understanding and practice of hospitality should be recovered because of its centrality to Christian life and discipleship. (56 minutes)
A history of Catholic social doctrine
F. Russell Hittinger highlights the key movements and influential thinkers in the history of Catholic social teaching. (44 minutes)
Excerpts from Volume 112
Hear excerpts from interviews with Christian Smith, David L. Schindler, Sara Anson Vaux, Melvyn Bragg, Timothy Larsen, and Ralph C. Wood. (34 minutes)
Poetry and attention
Poet Scott Cairns reflects on the beauty of language and the power of words. (18 minutes)
We are not “stochastic parrots”
In this essay, Talbot Brewer argues that our understanding of the nature of words and their relationship to human nature is “teetering” due to artificial intelligence chatbot systems and large language models (LLMs). (42 minutes)
God at the center of all
George Marsden discusses the unique philosophical and theological insights Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758) had into his own era. (35 minutes)
Necessary introspection
Ken Myers introduces listeners to liturgical music for traditional Holy Week services, music that encourages deep introspection and contemplation of sorrow. (27 minutes)
On disposable experience
Todd Gitlin argues that we simultaneously resent and crave the experience of media saturation, and that it ultimately cheapens our lives. (33 minutes)
