Christians Reading Classics | Podcast Guru

Details

Christians Reading Classics is a podcast about classic books being read through a distinctly Christian lens. Hosted by author and classicist, Nadya Williams, Christians Reading Classics introduces—or should we say—re-introduces listeners to classic works that have inspired generations. Interviewing experts who know these books well, the hope is to inspire listeners and awaken their imagination to God's world through literary, theological, and even children's works that have stood the test of time. Christians Reading Classics is a Mere Orthodoxy podcast. Find out more at mereorthodoxy.com

Recent Episodes

Moby-Dick, with Kyle Harper

Moby-Dick is a whale hunt on the surface, but underneath it’s a confrontation with a world that won’t fully make sense. Kyle Harper, a historian of whales and the wider animal world, joins us to argue for Herman Melville’s masterpiece as the great American novel and to pin down what we really mean when we call something a “classic.” Kyle explains why timeless books survive changing tastes: they keep asking the fundamental questions about truth, God, knowledge, and what it means to be human.&n...

59 MIN

All Quiet on the Western Front, with Jason Barnhart

A single sentence can hold an entire war: “All quiet on the Western Front.” That understatement is exactly why Erich Maria Remarque’s novel still haunts readers almost a century later, and why we wanted to slow down and read it carefully rather than treat it like a history lesson. Today we are joined by Jason Barnhart, a peace theologian and professor of historical theology, to talk through the transparency, humanity, and paradoxes that make All Quiet on the Western Front a true classic...

56 MIN

Billy Budd, with Christine Norvell

A beautiful story can still be brutal, and Billy Budd proves it. Christine Norvell, author of The Sycamore Fig Tree, joins to discuss Melville’s unforgettable portrait of a sailor who seems almost made for admiration—which makes his tragedy that much more thought-provoking. Christians Reading Classics is a podcast from Mere Orthodoxy and is listener-supported. If you would like to support this work, become a Mere Orthodoxy Member today at http://mereorthodoxy.com/membership. Listen and read T...

53 MIN

Aristotle, with Philip Freeman

Aristotle is everywhere in Western civilization, but most of us meet him as a difficult assignment instead of a real human being with a complicated story. We sit down with classicist and biographer Philip Freeman, author of Aristotle: The First Teacher, to follow Aristotle from an out-of-the-way town in northern Greece to the intellectual pressure cooker of Plato’s Academy and then into his own ambitious project at the Lyceum. Christians Reading Classics is a podcast from Mere Orthodoxy and i...

46 MIN

Howard Thurman For Our Time with Myles Werntz

We’re joined by Miles Werntz, associate professor of theology at Abilene Christian University and editor of Nothing Can Separate Us: Healing for Souls and Nations, a reader of Thurman’s writings. Together we trace Thurman’s story from the segregated South to Morehouse and Howard University, through his journey to India to meet Mahatma Gandhi, and into his bold experiment of founding one of America’s earliest intentionally interracial churches. Along the way we explore why Thurman distinguishe...

48 MIN