There's a lot of ground to cover in Chapter 14, so for this episode, I just begin by looking at the first section of the chapter - Mark's interaction with Frost and his experience in the objectivity room. Frost is a logically consistent materialist. As such he provides some great material in his conversation with Mark. Another episode on the chapter forthcoming. https://www.instagram.com/menwchests/ Click the 5 stars at the bottom of the show page.
Mar 05, 2024•38 min•Season 1Ep. 52
Andrew Lazo joins me to go through Chapter 13: They Have Pulled Down: Deep Heaven on Their Heads. Andrew Lazo is one of the hosts of Pints With Jack and he's also an expert on Lewis's last novel Till We Have Faces . Merlin shows up in this chapter and dialogues with the Company at St. Anne's. His conversation with Ransom is some of the richest dialogue in the entire book. Andrew and I cover an array of topics as we go through each section in the chapter. We discuss the importance of language, wh...
Feb 26, 2024•1 hr 35 min•Season 1Ep. 51
Chapter 12 introduces us to the macrobes as Frost attempts to initiate Mark into the highest order of the N.I.C.E. https://www.instagram.com/menwchests/
Feb 19, 2024•34 min•Season 1Ep. 50
Inklings scholar Sorina Higgins joins me to discuss Charles Williams, late nineteenth and early twentieth-century British secret societies, and how these matters relate to That Hideous Strength. Sorina's website: https://sorinahiggins.com/ Blog: https://theoddestinkling.wordpress.com/
Feb 15, 2024•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 49
In this episode, we talk about eldils and how they relate to the Hebrew word elohim. We discuss the Greek word daimon/daemon and Dr. Dimble's commentary about neutral spiritual beings. And we see a disagreement between Frost and Wither regarding the best way to manipulate Mark to their own ends. https://www.instagram.com/menwchests/
Feb 12, 2024•28 min•Season 1Ep. 48
It's a short episode, but we cover some big ideas - materialism, the intellectus , wraiths/ghosts, and the Hegelian dialectic. Scroll down and click the 5 stars Follow the show: https://www.instagram.com/menwchests/
Feb 08, 2024•21 min•Season 1Ep. 47
Because I didn't have time to record the episode on Chapter 10 of That Hideous Strength for Monday, I'm putting up the Socratic Hour episode that was to be posted on Thursday. The episode on That Hideous Strength will be up on Thursday. In this Socratic Hour, I'm joined by medieval scholar and host of The Inklings Variety Hour, Chris Pipkin. Chris covers the works and ideas of Lewis, Tolkien, Williams, and Barfield on his show, as well as other related texts. We discuss a range of topics includi...
Feb 05, 2024•1 hr 28 min•Season 1Ep. 46
Jason Baxter is a professor at Notre Dame and a scholar of the medieval era. We discuss a variety of medieval things relevant to That Hideous Strength. This was a great conversation, one of my favorites thus far in the Socratic Hour series. Dr. Baxter is the author of The Medieval Mind of C.S. Lewis. You can get a signed copy of the book here: https://www.jasonmbaxter.com/home/books. For the latest follow his author page on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jason-M.-Baxter/author/B07CWMYDJN?...
Feb 01, 2024•47 min•Season 1Ep. 45
In this chapter, we begin to explore the relationship between what Lewis called the twins of magic and science in The Abolition of Man. This will continue to be a major item in many of the remaining chapters as Merlin enters the story.
Jan 29, 2024•34 min•Season 1Ep. 44
"The Funeral of a Great Myth" is very relevant for That Hideous Strength. In the essay, Lewis explains how the belief in infinite unilinear Progress is the motivation for popularizing science into a Myth, instead of doing the scientific discipline well. The goal of the N.I.C.E. is Progress as defined by the Conditioners and science is merely the instrument along with magic. Lewis not only points out how the Myth forces us to reject Reason, but he also praises the imaginative grandeur of the Myth...
Jan 26, 2024•37 min•Season 1Ep. 43
Mark learns what the final goal of the N.I.C.E. is from Filostrato and Straik...
Jan 22, 2024•26 min•Season 1Ep. 42
Lou Markos joins me once again. This time around we discuss Romanticism, daemons, Materialist Magicians, and other things relevant to That Hideous Strength .
Jan 18, 2024•49 min•Season 1Ep. 41
Chapter 7 is all about Jane. She has a big turn in this chapter and comes to recognize objective beauty. In this episode we do something a bit different - I cover and read part of the chapter with a guest who's particularly fitted to speak on femininity. Anneliese's podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/feminine-not-feminist-podcast/id1656867030
Jan 15, 2024•55 min•Season 1Ep. 40
Mark writes newspaper articles for planned riots before they occur as part of the N.I.C.E.'s strategy for acquiring "emergency" powers. Meanwhile, Jane heads for St. Anne's after merely brushing past the creepy Professor Frost on the street.
Jan 08, 2024•27 min•Season 1Ep. 39
Christiana Hale is the author of Deeper Heaven: A Reader's Guide to C.S. Lewis's Ransom Trilogy (link below). We discuss a whole host of topics from That Hideous Strength as well as the other two books in the trilogy. This is one of my favorite Socratic Hour episodes yet! Christiana's book: https://romanroadspress.com/store/deeper-heaven/ Click 5 stars and leave a review!
Jan 05, 2024•1 hr 24 min•Season 1Ep. 38
Mark is left in a state of limbo as his conversations with Fairy Hardcastle, Wither, and Feverstone all prove useless. He can't find out just what his role with the institute is meant to be, and when he does, he thinks it to be below him. In these conversations with Mark and the various N.I.C.E. members, we discover more of the N.I.C.E.'s tactics for "progress." You can find what's happening with the show on Instagram @menwchests
Jan 02, 2024•28 min•Season 1Ep. 37
Chapter 4 introduces us to a key character from the N.I.C.E. - Reverend Straik - the mad parson. Mark continues to see just what "progress" looks like, we see that Mark still has a connection with what is objectively beautiful, and we continue to see what masculine and feminine selfishness looks like in the relationship between Mark and Jane.
Dec 26, 2023•31 min•Season 1Ep. 36
John Mark Reynolds once said that That Hideous Strength is "the truest account of the state of the West written in the last one hundred years." In this episode, we discuss why. Amongst many other things, Dr. Reynolds is the founder of the Saint Constantine School in Houston. He reads That Hideous Strength every year and has done so since he was 10. The guy knows a thing or two about That Hideous Strength and it's relevance for us today. This was a great conversation. If you like the show, hit th...
Dec 21, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 35
We cover a lot in this chapter. Mark meets a host of characters from the N.I.C.E., including Wither, Filostrato, Fairy Hardcastle, and a chemist looking to get out of the institute's clutches (Bill Hingest). Jane continues to be disturbed by her dreams and the details she finds out about their importance. We dip into Lewis's essay "The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment," we connect some ideas from the chapter back to The Abolition of Man, and we begin to explore the "twins" of scientism and the ...
Dec 18, 2023•42 min•Season 1Ep. 34
Dr. Michael Ward of Oxford joins me to discuss the medieval cosmos, That Hideous Strength, astrology and astronomy, among other things. Dr. Ward is the author of Planet Narnia, After Humanity, and is widely regarded as the foremost Lewis scholar alive today.
Dec 14, 2023•59 min•Season 1Ep. 33
In this chapter Feverstone, an important member of the National Institute for Co-ordinated Experiments (N.I.C.E.), explains the purpose of the institute to Mark. In so doing he reveals what the institute wants Mark to do for them - write propaganda pieces. As the chapter ends, Mark and Jane head their separate ways on two very different journeys.
Dec 11, 2023•24 min•Season 1Ep. 32
Today I discuss gender, as portrayed in Lewis's Ransom Trilogy, with Dr. Crystal Hurd. This topic is a central theme that unites the three books of the trilogy, though it may not be recognized at first. Dr. Hurd is the author of The Leadership of C.S. Lewis. She is also the author of an article on Jane Studdock, which forms the main source of our discussion. It can be found here: https://pillars.taylor.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1238&context=inklings_forever.
Dec 07, 2023•57 min•Season 1Ep. 31
Chapter 1 of That Hideous Strength introduces us to some of the key characters and ideas that we'll be exploring over the next 17 weeks; the draw of the Inner Ring, the nature of reality, the relation between magic and science, and more. Like The Abolition of Man, this is a serious book. Don't be fooled by its categorization as fiction. As Aristotle advised, the art of storytelling can be a better teacher than history.
Dec 04, 2023•31 min•Season 1Ep. 30
Fitting for the week of the first C.S. Lewis Reading Day, I'm joined by the hosts of The C.S. Lewis Book Club. We discuss That Hideous Strength along with the rest of the Ransom Trilogy, their show, and more! The guys are now on to The Pilgrim's Regress. Check out their podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-c-s-lewis-book-club/id1677020346
Dec 01, 2023•1 hr 34 min•Season 1Ep. 29
In honor of the inaugural C.S. Lewis Reading Day, I present Lewis's essay "Is Progress Possible?" The article first appeared in The Observer on July 20, 1958, under the title "Willing Slaves of the Welfare State." Men with Chests began by covering The Abolition of Man , Lewis's most prophetic non-fiction work. In this episode, we cover what is likely his most prophetic essay. His most prophetic book -- That Hideous Strength -- is coming shortly. Thanks to the guys from Pints With Jack for organi...
Nov 29, 2023•16 min•Season 1Ep. 28
"This is a 'tall story' about devilry, though it has behind it a serious 'point' which I have tried to make in my Abolition of Man." -- C.S. Lewis, in the Preface to That Hideous Strength. We've made it! In That Hideous Strength, Lewis illustrates in story form the dire consequences that are likely to come about if the trends he noted in Abolition were to continue unabated. That Hideous Strength doesn't disappoint. You can interact with the show on Instagram or Twitter @MenwChests If you like th...
Nov 27, 2023•18 min•Season 1Ep. 27
In this episode, I talk to Dr. Dorothy Logan, founder of the Freedom Academy and author of Black and White: An Essay on Critical Theory, Freedom, and the Pursuit of Happiness. We discuss Natural Law, Maoism and its parallels to current American society, Hegel and Marx, and more. You can find Dr. Logan's books at https://www.freedomacademy-dorothy.com/.
Nov 24, 2023•1 hr 9 min•Season 1Ep. 26
"Men do not long continue to think what they have forgotten how to say." Lewis wrote that sentence to close his essay "The Death of Words." The abuse of language is a problem dating back to antiquity. In this episode, we look at the connection between language and power and how to return to a stable discourse. Interact with the show's content on Instagram or Twitter @MenwChests
Nov 20, 2023•37 min•Season 1Ep. 25
In this Socratic Hour, I'm joined by podcaster and author Spencer Klavan. Spencer earned his Ph.D. in ancient Greek literature from Oxford, making him a perfect guest to talk about thumos (the chest). He is also the creator of a new Tolkienesque language for the upcoming show "The Pendragon Cycle" from the Daily Wire. We discuss the chest, education, the importance of language, art's relation to morality, the Great War between Lewis and Barfield, and more in this dynamic episode. You can interac...
Nov 15, 2023•1 hr 23 min•Season 1Ep. 24
In this episode, we finish Marcuse's An Essay on Liberation. In the final chapter, Marcuse calls for a new solidarity. Instead of solidarity amongst the proletariat, which was a feature of traditional Marxism, solidarity is now to be found among those who have had their consciousnesses raised into Marcuse's new sensibility complete with its transvaluation of values. An Essay on Liberation: https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/marcuse/works/1969/essay-liberation.pdf
Nov 13, 2023•1 hr 9 min•Season 1Ep. 23
