The After Dinner Scholar

The Use of Power and the Possibility of Grace in Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” with Dr. Glenn Arbery

At the end of his life, William Shakespeare moved from what could be called his Tragedy period to his Romance period. While plays such as King Lear, Hamlet, and Macbeth end on stages strewn with dead bodies, the Romances including The Tempest end with the realization of hope beyond hope.

In such a world, Shakespeare imagined a great magician with immense power over the wind, the sea, and the lives of people including his enemies.

The Tempest, argues Wyoming Catholic College President Glenn Arbery, is the story of how the magician, Prospero, uses that power.

Lecture: The Exodus and America by Dr. Virginia Arbery

That imagery of the Exodus goes far beyond Moses leading the people of Israel in about 1446 BC. It was alive and well on the shores of New England in 1630 and remains with us today as what Wyoming Catholic College professor Dr. Virginia Arbery calls “the root of American self-understanding.”

Dr. Arbery spoke about the New England Puritans and the imagery of the Exodus at the Wyoming School of Catholic Thought this past June. Here is her lecture in its entirety.

The documents Dr. Arbery cites in her lecture are: The Mayflower Compact, "A Model of Christian Charity" by Governor John Winthrop and The Life of William Bradford and The Life of John Winthrop both from Cotton Mather's Magnalia Christi Americana

The Puritans, the Exodus, and the American Experience with Dr. Virginia Arbery

Who are we as Americans? Dr. Virginia Arbery, Associate Professor of Humanities at Wyoming Catholic College points out that the New England Puritan self-understanding is the root of our American self-understanding. Their sense of an exodus from England with a new beginning in the New World to found “A City on a Hill,” a New Jerusalem, remains with us today. Dr. Virginia Arbery is our guest on this edition of The After Dinner Scholar.

Lecture: Romano Guardini and the Modern World by Dr. Thaddeus Kozinski

The question of how Christians should live in our current era is a live and open one. At the 2017 Wyoming School of Catholic Thought, Dr. Thaddeus Kozinski our Academic Dean spoke about Romano Guardini, Charles Taylor, our current culture, and the options we can consider. Here is his lecture in its entirety.

Romano Guardini, the End of the Modern World, and the Options We Face with Dr. Thaddeus Kozinski

Fr. Romano Guardini, a professor at the University of Berlin at the time, witnessed first-hand the rise of Adolph Hitler and the Nazis, the destruction wrought by World War II, and the cultural and social aftermath. Coming out of that experience he wrote The End of the Modern World in 1957. 

In this podcast, Dr. Thaddeus Kozinski, Academic Dean at Wyoming Catholic College, discusses Guardini’s observations as they are related to the theme of exile and our present day. 

(Photo by Greg Tonkowich)

Lecture: Dante's Exile by Dr. Jason Baxter

In Dante Alighieri Purgatorio, the second canticle of The Divine Comedy, Dante the pilgrim, finally cleansed from all sin and disordered love, reaches the Garden of Eden atop Mount Purgatory. And while there is more to his pilgrimage, his exile is at an end.

Wyoming Catholic College Associate Professor of Fine Arts and Humanities Dr. Jason Baxter discussed the return from that exile in Dante Alighieri at teh 2017 Wyoming School of Catholic Thought. Here is his lecture in its entirety.

The Garden of Eden and Dante's Return from Exile with Dr. Jason Baxter

In Dante Alighieri Purgatorio, the second canticle of The Divine Comedy, Dante the pilgrim, finally cleansed from all sin and disordered love, reaches the Garden of Eden atop Mount Purgatory. And while there is more to his pilgrimage, his exile is at an end.

Dr. Jason Baxter, Associate Professor of Fine Arts and Humanities here at Wyoming Catholic College discusses how the final Canti of Purgatorio describe the return from exile to sanity, to complete humanness, to purity of heart, to natural contemplation, and, with the arrival of Dante’s beloved Beatrice, to true love.

Lecture: Plato's Cave by Dr. Thaddeus Kozinski

One of Plato's most famous texts comes from Book 7 of The Republic and is known as The Allegory of the Cave. Imagine, Plato’s protagonist Socrates says, people chained up in a cave since birth and unable to see anything but shadows on the wall in front of them. Would they not think the shadows were the only reality there is? But what if someone escaped and ran into the sunlight world beyond the cave?

At the 2017 Wyoming School of Catholic Thought, Wyoming Catholic College Academic Dean Dr. Thaddeus Kozinski discussed the Plato’s cave and the theme of our exile.

Lost in a World of Images: Plato’s Cave with Dr. Thaddeus Kozinski

At the Wyoming School of Catholic Thought this past June, Wyoming Catholic College Academic Dean Dr. Thaddeus Kozinski began his lecture stating, “Plato’s cave is a television set.” And beginning with the question of why study Plato at all, he discussed our exile from the real, an exile that can only be remedied by grace and contemplation.

Dr. Kozinski is this week's guest on The After Dinner Scholar.

Lecture: Moses and Israel: From Exile to Freedom by Dr. Jeremy Holmes

Reflecting on the death of Moses, the writer of the 34^th chapter of Deuteronomy said, “Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, who did all those signs and wonders the Lord sent him to do in Egypt—to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land.  For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.”

At the 2017 Wyoming School of Catholic Thought, Bible scholar and Wyoming Catholic College professor Jeremy Holmes reflected on how the Exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land and the life of Moses illustrate the theme of Returning from Exile. Here is his lecture in its entirety.