Episodes
Tuesday Feb 06, 2024
The Eucharist and Wyoming Catholic College with Dr. Jeremy Holmes
Tuesday Feb 06, 2024
Tuesday Feb 06, 2024
This podcasts is "about the Great Books and the liberal arts," something that sets The After-Dinner Scholar apart from other audio blogs from Wyoming Catholic Collage.
Case in point, the college has launched a new podcast entitled “The Eucharist with Wyoming Catholic College” inspired by conversations about the National Eucharistic Revival.
The podcast features Wyoming Catholic College President Kyle Washut and, our guest, theology professor and academic dean, Dr. Jeremy Holmes.
Tuesday Dec 26, 2023
A Christmas Week Full of Martyrs with President Kyle Washut
Tuesday Dec 26, 2023
Tuesday Dec 26, 2023
This podcast was posted on December 26, the day after Christmas. It was the commemoration of St. Stephen’s martyrdom described in Acts chapter 7. On the 27th, we remember St. John, the only apostle who was not martyred. The 28th is the memorial of the Holy Innocents who were murdered by King Herod in his attempt to kill Jesus. And finally on Friday, we remember the martyrdom of St. Thomas a Becket.
Why do we do that during Christmas week? Wyoming Catholic College President Kyle Washut clarifies it for us.
Tuesday Dec 19, 2023
Pondering the Incarnation of the Divine Son with Dr. Jeremy Holmes
Tuesday Dec 19, 2023
Tuesday Dec 19, 2023
During the first weeks of Advent, the Church directs our attention to the second advent of Christ, that day when he will come again in glory to gather his people into his resurrection, remake this tired, sinful world, and set all wrongs right. When he “will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain" (Revelation 21:4).
In this last week, we focus on his first coming as the babe of Bethlehem, his coming into our world of tears, death, morning, and crying.
Theologian Dr. Jeremy Holmes in his personal spiritual life, in his scholarship, in the classroom, and in his book Cur Deus Verba: Why the Word Became Word has spend a great deal of time considering the mystery of the Incarnation, of God become flesh.
Morten Lawridsen's "O magnum mysterium," which Dr. Holmes mentioned, can be found here.
Tuesday Nov 28, 2023
Jesus Christ, King of the Universe with Dr. Kent Lasnoski
Tuesday Nov 28, 2023
Tuesday Nov 28, 2023
Last Sunday was the Solemnity of Jesus Christ, King of the Universe which was instituted by Pope Pius XI with his 1925 encyclical Quas Primas (In the First) as a response to “those bitter enmities and rivalries between nations, which still hinder much the cause of peace; that insatiable greed which is so often hidden under a pretense of public spirit and patriotism, and gives rise to so many private quarrels; a blind and immoderate selfishness, making men seek nothing but their own comfort and advantage, and measure everything by these; no peace in the home, because men have forgotten or neglect their duty; the unity and stability of the family undermined; society, in a word, shaken to its foundations and on the way to ruin.”
Rather than sounding nearly 100 years old, Pius’ words sound as though they were written yesterday. Theologian Dr. Kent Lasnoski discusses why we need to pay a bit more attention to this last Sunday in the Church year as we prepare for Advent.
Tuesday Jul 18, 2023
”Nature and Nature’s God” with Dr. Daniel Shields
Tuesday Jul 18, 2023
Tuesday Jul 18, 2023
…[W]hatever is in motion must be put in motion by another,” wrote St. Thomas Aquinas at the beginning of his Summa Theologiae, “If that by which it is put in motion be itself put in motion, then this also must needs be put in motion by another, and that by another again. But this cannot go on to infinity, because then there would be no first mover, and, consequently, no other mover; seeing that subsequent movers move only inasmuch as they are put in motion by the first mover; as the staff moves only because it is put in motion by the hand. Therefore it is necessary to arrive at a first mover, put in motion by no other; and this everyone understands to be God.”
This proof of God’s existence is the first of five that Thomas presents at the beginning of the Summa. And while that seems simple and convincing to most of us, many scholars are certain that the proof is not at all convincing insofar as it relies on Medieval physics and cosmology.
In his new book, Nature and Nature’s God: The Scientific and Philosophical Validity of Aquinas’ Proof of an Unmoved Mover Wyoming Catholic College philosopher Dr. Daniel Shields argues that those scholars should take another look at Thomas’ argument.
Tuesday Apr 25, 2023
St. Thomas on Providence with Dr. Michael Bolin
Tuesday Apr 25, 2023
Tuesday Apr 25, 2023
“We know,” St. Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome, “that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose.”
Those words from St. Paul can and should comfort us. Nothing happens in our lives or our world that God does not intend to bring about good for His children. His providential care surrounds us. On the other hand, terrible things happen in our lives and in the world around us. Does God will evil? Allow evil? Maybe evil is not what we think it is?
Dr. Michael Bolin has been reading St. Thomas Aquinas’ Compendium Theologiae with our Wyoming Catholic College sophomores considering, among other things, that “all things are governed by divine providence.”
Tuesday Apr 04, 2023
Jesus Condemned Commentary by St. Augustine read by Dr. Jim Tonkowich
Tuesday Apr 04, 2023
Tuesday Apr 04, 2023
St. Augustine of Hippo who lived AD 354 – 430 delivered 124 lectures moving verse-by-verse through the entire the Gospel of John. This being Holy Week, here is lecture 116 in which Augustine discussed Jesus’ final condemnation by Pontius Pilate in John 19:1-16.
This is what St. Augustine had to say.
The text is copyrighted by d by the Christian Classics Ethereal Library.
Tuesday Mar 28, 2023
Sacred Signs with Dr. Kent Lasnoski
Tuesday Mar 28, 2023
Tuesday Mar 28, 2023
Papal biographer and scholar George Weigel is fond of saying that for Catholics, “stuff matters.” Stuff like our physical bodies, bread, wine, water, incense, candles, bells, linen, altars, and ashes. Catholic Christianity is deeply incarnational, rooted firmly in God’s good Creation. And that rooting shows itself most clearly when we worship, that is, in the liturgy of the Mass.
Fr. Romano Guardini was one of the towering Catholic intellectuals of the twentieth century who for all his erudition, wrote a simple little book entitled Sacred Signs in which he gently and simply explained this connection between material and the inner world of the spirit.
The book is a favorite of theologian Dr. Kent Lasnoski and a wonderful book to read during these last weeks of Lent.
Tuesday Jan 31, 2023
Augustine’s Confessions with Dr. Daniel Shields
Tuesday Jan 31, 2023
Tuesday Jan 31, 2023
St. Augustine was a prominent teacher of rhetoric in Roman North Africa and in Italy. Despite his success, he was restless, constantly casting about for what was true until he found his rest through faith in Christ. A great sinner, we learn in his Confessions who became a great saint.
Dr. Daniel Shields is attending sophomore humanities this semester and has been reading through Confessions with our students and he shares with us what he finds so compelling about the book.
Tuesday Jan 10, 2023
Pro-Life After Dobbs 1: Humanae Vitae with Dr. Jeremy Holmes
Tuesday Jan 10, 2023
Tuesday Jan 10, 2023
At a banquet for a local pregnancy care center the speaker noted the U. S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs overturned Roe v. Wade. It’s true and thanks be to God. But, the speaker suggested, quoting Winston Churchill, “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” That is, the battle rages on and could be uglier than ever.
With that in mind, this week and next will focus on the theology and philosophy of life beginning this week as theologian, Dr. Jeremy Holmes, discusses the encyclical Humanae Vitae.