Morality

FROM VOL. 134 Philip Turner reflects on how Christian ethics is misplaced if it has as its central concern individual moral behavior or social justice. (28 minutes)

FROM VOL. 141 Susanna Lee discusses moral authority in the heroes of hard-boiled crime fiction. (24 minutes)

FROM VOL. 149 Steven L. Porter discusses The Disappearance of Moral Knowledge, an unfinished manuscript (which he helped to complete) by the late philosopher Dallas Willard. (22 minutes)

Oliver O’Donovan explores how the “religion” of modernity lacks a coherent world in which one may participate with full human agency and moral purpose. (Lecture 3 of 3; 61 minutes)

Oliver O’Donovan introduces listeners to Dutch lay theologian Hugo Grotius, arguing that the questions he tackled relate to perennial concerns about the relationship between divine and human agency, and between civil and ecclesiastical authority. (Lecture 2 of 3; 57 minutes)

Oliver O’Donovan examines St. Augustine’s critique of pagan Roman religion in Book II of his treatise City of God and asks his audience to consider what insights Augustine’s critique has for us today. (Lecture 1 of 3; 51 minutes)

Herbert McCabe, O.P. on the Aristotelian, Thomistic, and MacIntyrean account of the moral life

FROM VOL. 19 Film and literary critic Alan Jacobs discusses how modern audiences relate to the manners and morals portrayed in Jane Austen films. (16 minutes)

In this essay, Judith Martin (a.k.a. Miss Manners) argues that etiquette is “civilization’s first necessity” and an indispensable societal virtue. (21 minutes)

FROM VOL. 121 James K. A. Smith advocates for a return to some pre-modern conceptualizations of the human body. (18 minutes)

FROM VOL. 37 Donald McCullough discusses his insights into the increasingly coarse nature of society and the theological foundations for courtesy. (12 minutes)

FEATURED GUESTS: Charles M. Sennott, Nicholas Orme, J. Budziszewski, Albert Borgmann, James A. Herrick, Darrell Cole, and Jackson Lears

FEATURED GUESTS: John Hare, Clifford Putney, Andrei S. Markovits, Wilmer Mills, Steve Bruce, Colleen Carroll, Michael Budde, and Robert Brimlow

FEATURED GUESTS: James Davison Hunter, Brian C. Robertson, David Myers, Robert Frank, Gayle Brandow Samuels, Thomas Hine, Thomas Hibbs, and Robin Leaver

Four essayists reflect on the relationship between manners and morals, and address the way in which the survival of a democratic society depends upon its citizens' respect for one another. (90 minutes)