Sacred and Profane Love: Recent Episodes
Sacred and Profane Love
Through wide ranging conversations with philosophers, literary critics, artists, and theologians, philosopher Jennifer A. Frey explores the nature of love and happiness as depicted in important works of literature, poetry, and film.
Our project is supported by a generous grant from the John Templeton Foundation and housed at the University of Chicago.
In this episode, I am joined by Professor Roosevelt Montas to discuss his new book, Rescuing Socrates: How the Great Books Changed my Life and Why They Matter for a New Generation. Montas, a Dominican born American academic, makes the compelling case that study of the Great Books is potentially transformative, especially for students from … Continue reading Episode 45: Roosevelt Montas on Great Books and Intellectual Transformation →
In this episode, I speak with Dr. Kevin Kambo about Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, in light of an essay by Louise Cowan titled “The Tragic Abyss.” Cowan argues that tragedy is “a liturgical confrontation of a deep seated dread which, when brought to light, can be borne only through the medium of poetic language.” We discuss … Continue reading Episode 44: The Tragic Abyss with Dr. Kevin Kambo →
In this episode, I speak with professor of theology Fritz Bauerschmidt about Graham Greene’s novel, The Heart of the Matter. We discuss the moral psychology of sin, and how it is that human beings are able to knowingly act against their own good (in this case: knowingly and deliberatively choose their own eternal damnation). How … Continue reading Sacred and Profane Love Episode 42: Graham Greene’s The Heart of the Matter →
In this episode, I speak with the journalist Damon Linker about the Pulitzer prize winning American playwright, Eugene O’Neill. Our conversation mostly centers around A Long Day’s Journey Into Night, the semi-autobiographical account of the tortured dynamics within in his own family. We discuss O’Neill’s uniquely Catholic variety of atheism, of how his work resonates … Continue reading Sacred and Profane Love Episode 40: The Tragic Vision of Eugene O’Neill →
In this episode, I speak with Michial Farmer about the philosopher and playwright Gabriel Marcel–more specifically, we discuss his play, Thirst, and one of his essays, “The Mystery of the Family.” We talk about how Marcel’s plays give him the materials for his later philosophy, and how Marcel differs from other existentialist philosophers, like Sartre, … Continue reading Episode 39 Sacred and Profane Love: Gabriel Marcel’s Thirst →
Sometimes, you just need to do something fun, and this episode reflects one of those times. I was in DC this summer for a week teaching, so I popped into the Hillsdale College recording studio (where I’ve been before to chat Walker Percy) to talk with one of my favorite children’s lit authors, Matthew Mehan. … Continue reading Bonus Episode Sacred and Profane Love: Matthew Mehan on Children’s Literature →
In this episode, literary critic Morten Høi Jensen and I discuss the Danish novelist and poet, Jens Peter Jacobsen, and his beautiful novel, Niels Lyhne. Niels is a man searching for love and for God, but who finds that God does not answer his prayers and concludes that the universe is without a creator and … Continue reading Episode 35, Sacred and Profane Love: Morten Hoi Jensen on Jens Peter Jacobsen →
“Heaven is a place where nothing, nothing ever happens...” Talking Heads OK, friends, we are finally in Paradise, with our faithful guides Beatrice, St. Bernard, and of course, Professor Matthew Rothaus Moser. It turns out that perfect happiness is resting, delighting, and dwelling in the good. How does Dante manage to write 33 more cantos … Continue reading Episode 34 Sacred and Profane Love: Dante’s Paradiso →
2021 marks the 700th anniversary of Dante Alighieri’s death in Ravenna. This is the second of three episodes exploring Dante’s The Divine Comedy, with Professor Matthew Rothaus Moser (Theology, Honors College, Azusa Pacific University). In this episode, we discuss Dante’s vision of Purgatory, a place where sin is healed and the soul purified, so that a … Continue reading Episode 33 Sacred and Profane Love: Dante’s Purgatorio →
In this episode, I am joined by one of the founding editors of The Point, Jon Baskin, to discuss the prospects of philosophical literary criticism and how we can apply such criticism to the fiction of David Foster Wallace. Baskin elaborates his ideas in a book I highly recommend, Ordinary Unhappiness: The Therapeutic Fiction of … Continue reading Episode 32 Sacred and Profane Love: The Therapeutic Fiction of David Foster Wallace →