The After Dinner Scholar

The Book of Exodus with Dr. Kent Lasnoski

While our English versions of the Old Testament call the book “Exodus,” which means “leaving,” the Hebrew name is the first word of the text, shemoth, “names.” “These are the names,” and those names are the sons of Jacob who God renamed Israel. They and their families—a total of seventy people—escaped famine in the land of Canaan, finding a home with the long-lost son of Jacob, Joseph who, sold into slavery, became Pharaoh’s second-in-command.

Initially they lived well and over the decades those seventy became thousands. Then we read, “there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph” and he and his people were afraid of these hoards of foreigners. So the king, Pharoah enslaved them. Dr. Kent Lasnoski has been reading Exodus with our Wyoming Catholic College freshmen and had this to say about the book.

The Philosophical Side of Theology: St. Thomas’s Compendium with Dr. Jeremy Holmes

When Wyoming Catholic College sophomores take Theology 201: The Mystery of the Trinity, they’re typically surprised that before diving into the theology of the Trinity, they’re up to their ears in philosophy. God exists. God is unmovable. God is eternal. God is necessary. God is everlasting. God is simple.

Such considerations need to come first since without them, theology can lose the moorings it needs in the intellect and in the world as it is.

To help us understand the place of philosophy in our theology, our guest this week is the professor who teaches Theology 201: The Mystery of the Trinity, theologian Dr. Jeremy Holmes.

Books Recommended by Dr. Holmes

• Summa Theologiae by St. Thomas Aquinas (Aquinas Institute Edition)
• Who Designed the Designer?: A Rediscovered Path to God's Existence by Michael Augros
• Aquinas: An Introduction to the Life and Work of the Great Medieval Thinker by F. C. Copleston
• Aquinas (A Beginner's Guide) by Edward Feser
• A Summa of the Summa by Thomas Aquinas and Peter Kreeft

Plutarch, Politics, and the Gracchi Brothers with Dr. Tiffany Schubert

Studying the lives of men and women is complicated, but it is from that study that we see vice and virtue and the end results of each, we learn of honor and dishonor, sacrifice and selfishness, self-discipline and dissipation. 

The Greek Platonist and priest of Apollo at Delphi, Plutarch understood the project of instruction by writing the lives of great Roman and Greeks.

Dr. Tiffany Schubert has been teaching Plutarch’s Lives with the Wyoming Catholic College sophomores.

The Wife of Bath and the Meaning of Marriage with Prof. Adam Cooper

Geoffrey Chaucer begins The Canterbury Tales describing the beauty of April and the countryside coming back to life. It is the time, he tells us, “Than longen folk to goon on pilgrimages.” “And specially,” he adds, “from every shires ende / Of Engelond to Caunterbury they wende.”

A small company of pilgrims forms and, as the go, each tells a tale. 

Like the Samaritan woman Jesus spoke with in John chapter four, The Wife of Bath says she has had five husbands not to mention “other companye in youthe.” She is a wealthy woman who had been on pilgrimage as far as Jerusalem. She is also rather fond of sex and knows quite a bit about marriage.

Prof. Adam Cooper has been reading The Canterbury Tales with Wyoming Catholic College juniors and shared these thoughts.

Points of Light: The Church in the 19th Century with Dr. Jim Tonkowich

"History," commented Harvard University historian, Dr. James Hankins, "is a road to sanity."

"Points of Light: The Church in the 19th Century," the upcoming free, six-week distance learning class with Dr. Jim Tonkowich, is intended to set listeners on that road to sanity in our increasingly insane era.

Why the nineteenth century? The Catholic Church at the dawn of the nineteenth century looked as though she was on the ropes at best and, at worst, down for the count. But God had other plans. 

The course begins Thursday, September 29. To register for this free course, click here.

 

”The Statesman as Thinker” with Dr. Daniel J. Mahoney

“The great difference between the real statesman and the pretender,” wrote Edmund Burke, “is, that the one sees into the future, while the other regards only the present; the one lives by the day, and acts on expedience; the other acts on enduring principles and for immortality.”

Eighteenth century British thinker and Member of Parliament, Edmund Burke is one of six politicians highlighted by Dr. Daniel J. Mahoney in his new book The Statesman as Thinker: Portraits of Greatness, Courage, and Moderation.

Dr. Mahoney, Senior Fellow at the Claremont Institute, Senior Writer at Law and Liberty, and professor emeritus at Assumption University delivered a lecture last Friday at Wyoming Catholic College and was kind enough to record this interview.

Eyes Wide Open: Field Science with Dr. Stanley Grove

On the Middle Fork of the Popo Agie River, a group of young men and women were wading with nets. Others sprawled out on the ground with Petrie dishes and sketchbooks. It's Field Science at Wyoming Catholic College.

What is field science? To quote our website: “this course is an introduction to natural science through field study that puts students in direct contact with the local natural environment. Through the direct experience and methodical observation of the heavens, geological formations, flora, and fauna, observational skills are sharpened and a sense of wonder at nature and natural history is cultivated. Students spend much time outdoors, drawing and recording data in sketchbooks.”

Dr. Stanley Grove has been out in the field with multiple freshmen field science groups and reflects on what the students have learned.

Attuning Self to Community: Matriculation Address 2022 by Dr. Glenn Arbery

At Wyoming Catholic college, “Ours is an education of immersion: immersion in the Western tradition, immersion in the beauty and challenges of the wilderness, immersion in the treasures of our Catholic spiritual heritage.” Last Monday fifty-six freshmen, back from their 21-day backpacking expedition, began their immersion at Wyoming Catholic College.

It is customary, as you might imagine, for the college president, Dr. Glenn Arbery to address the new freshmen. Here is what Dr. Arbery had to say last week to the Wyoming Catholic College class of 2026.

Introduction to ”Spe Salvi” by Dr. Michael Bolin

The 2022 Wyoming School of Catholic Thought featured readings on the topic “Mortality and Eternity” including Pope Benedict XVI's 2007 encyclical Spe Salvi.

“The belief that love can reach into the afterlife,” wrote Pope Benedict, “that reciprocal giving and receiving is possible, in which our affection for one another continues beyond the limits of death—this has been a fundamental conviction of Christianity throughout the ages and it remains a source of comfort today.”

Dr. Michael Bolin gave the 2022 Wyoming School of Catholic Thought participants this introduction to Spe Salvi.

An Introduction to Leon Kass’ ”L’Chaim and Its Limits” by Dr. Daniel Shields

In his essay, “L’Chaim and Its Limits: Why Not Immortality?” Dr. Leon Kass asks, “If life is good and more is better, should we not regard death as a disease and try to cure it?”

While “curing” death may seem far-fetched, the so-called trans-human project seeks to do just that.

Kass, an Orthodox Jew, wrote the essay for those with no or with little religion. Wyoming Catholic College philosopher, Dr. Daniel Shields gave the participants in this year’s Wyoming School of Catholic Thought this introduction to Kass’ essay before we broke into seminar groups.