The Classical Mind

Father Wesley Walker and Dr. Junius Johnson dive into Hesiod’s Theogony and Works and Days , two deeply foundational texts of ancient Greek literature. While Homer offers sweeping literary narratives of heroes, Hesiod gives us something that feels distinctly older and simpler: a mythic origin story crossed with a didactic farming manual. The hosts discuss how Hesiod’s works functioned as literal t...

In this season finale of The Classical Mind , Father Wesley Walker and Dr. Junius Johnson bring their epic journey through J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy to a close with The Return of the King . Picking up from the alternating structural threads of the narrative, Junius and Wesley delve into why Book Five stands out as a high-water mark for epic storytelling. They unpack Tolkien’s...

Dr. Junius Johnson and Fr. Wesley Walker are joined by poet-priest-scholar Malcolm Guite for a deep dive into J.R.R. Tolkien’s unfinished alliterative poem, The Fall of Arthur — and make the case that it deserves to be read as seriously as anything else in Tolkien’s body of work. Recommended Reading * Malcolm: The Inklings and King Arthur , ed. Sørina Higgins * Junius: Marie Borroff’s translation...

The middle book of a trilogy is always the dark one, and The Two Towers is no exception. Fr. Wesley Walker and Dr. Junius Johnson return to Middle-earth for the second leg of The Lord of the Rings , and this time things really are on the edge of the knife. Gollum, Hugh of Saint Victor, Ents and the Entmoot, Gimli, Sarumon and Gandalf, and Boromir and Faramir. It’s all there! Endnotes * Junius: Tol...

Warning: this episode discusses the film in full, spoilers included. If you haven’t seen it yet, go watch it first and come back. Fr. Wesley Walker and Dr. Junius Johnson head to the theater for another Classical Mind Goes to the Movies episode, this time tackling Christopher Nolan’s big-screen adaptation of The Odyssey . Have you seen Nolan's The Odyssey? Let us know what you thought in the comme...

Everyone knows The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia . Fewer people know the full story of the friendship that helped make both of them possible. In this special bonus episode, Dr. Junius Johnson sits down with Kirk Manton of Eastgate Creative to talk about The Forge of Friendship , a five-part documentary series, ten years in the making, telling the story of the relationship between...

The Lord of the Rings didn’t just launch a genre — it set the standard every fantasy writer since has been measured against. This month, Fr. Wesley Walker and Dr. Junius Johnson begin their journey through J.R.R. Tolkien’s masterpiece with The Fellowship of the Ring , the first volume of the trilogy that turned Middle-earth into the mythology of the modern imagination. In this episode, Wesley and...

Discover the official Season 5 reading schedule for The Classical Mind podcast! Join Junius and Wesley as they lay out the next 12-month literary journey through the Western canon. Here is the list: * October 2026: Theogony by Hesiod * December 2026: The Life of Moses by Gregory of Nyssa * January: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson * February 2027: Around the Wo...

In this summer episode of The Classical Mind , hosts Dr. Junius Johnson and Father Wesley Walker welcome back three-time guest Heidi White , co-host of the Close Reads podcast and author of The Divided Soul . Together, the trio dives deep into William Shakespeare’s beloved masterpiece, A Midsummer Night’s Dream , analyzing its intricate narrative layers through the compelling lens of duty versus d...

Welcome to another episode of The Classical Mind , the podcast where we explore the great books of the Western tradition! In this episode, hosts Father Wesley Walker and Dr. Junius Johnson are thrilled to welcome a special guest, Dr. Grace Hamman. Dr. Hamman holds a PhD from Duke University, focuses on late medieval poetry and contemplative writing, and hosts the Old Books with Grace podcast. Toge...

In this concluding chapter of our journey through Dante’s Commedia , Dr. Junius Johnson and Fr. Wesley Walker are joined by Dr. Jonathan Juilfs to explore the radiant heights of Paradiso . The conversation centers on the idea that the third canticle is not a boring landscape of static perfection, but rather the very “point” of the entire project grounded in the medieval understanding of capacity a...

In this episode of The Classical Mind , Fr. Wesley Walker and Dr. Junius Johnson welcome back Heidi White to explore the middle canticle of Dante’s Divine Comedy , the Purgatorio . Is Purgatory “cosmic extra innings” or a “cosmic decontamination chamber” for the saved? How do Inferno and Purgatorio differ? Give a listen as Heidi, Junius, and Wesley discuss the moral and structural architecture of...

In this episode of The Classical Mind , Dr. Junius Johnson sits down with Buck Holler from the CiRCE Institute to discuss "Tapestry," a new writing and grammar curriculum designed to bridge the gap between early elementary studies and the advanced persuasive essays found in The Lost Tools of Writing . Holler explains that for twenty-five centuries, the study of grammar and literature were consider...

Round 1: Voting will be open from Monday (3/16) until Monday (3/23) ***Vote Now!*** Round 2: Voting will be open from Monday (3/23) until Saturday (3/30) Round 3: The first semi-final round will be Monday (3/30) until Wednesday (4/1); the second semi-final round will be Thursday (4/2) until Saturday (4/4) Round 4 (the final): Voting will be open from Monday (4/6) until Monday (4/13) In this specia...

In this episode, Father Wesley Walker and Dr. Junius Johnson are joined by Dante scholar Catherine Illingworth to navigate the harrowing depths of Dante’s Inferno . The conversation centers on the profound medieval understanding of sin not merely as a broken rule, but as a fundamental distortion of love and human nature. The hosts and their guest explore how the damned souls, such as Francesca and...

This bonus episode of The Classical Mind serves as “front matter” to prepare listeners for a three-month reading marathon of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy . Join Wesley and Junius as they explain that the work is a “comedy” not because of humor, but because of its trajectory: it begins in the darkness of Inferno and ends with the “blessed life” and vision of God in Paradiso . The discussion expl...

In this episode of The Classical Mind , Fr. Wesley Walker and Dr. Junius Johnson explore George MacDonald’s 1895 fantasy novel, Lilith . The discussion navigates the tension between MacDonald’s occasionally “fumbling” literary style and the profound, “mythopoeic” power of his spiritual vision. The episode also touches on MacDonald’s universalist leanings and his belief that even “evil that is good...

In this episode of The Classical Mind, hosts Father Wesley Walker and Dr. Junius Johnson dive deep into the fascinating, complex topic of Medieval Exegesis—”specifically how the medievals read the scriptures.” Moving beyond single book analysis, this discussion traces the history of Christian exegesis from the Patristic era (Paul, Origen) to the evolution of the foundational Four Senses of Scriptu...

In this special year-end bonus episode, hosts Father Wesley Walker and Dr. Junius Johnson take a break from their usual Great Books discussion to share their personal Top 5 favorite books read this year—works that fell (mostly) outside of the main Classical Mind reading list. The Classical Mind is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free o...

In this episode of The Classical Mind, Junius and Wesley dive deep into Herman Melville’s Billy Budd, Sailor — a haunting naval novella exploring innocence, evil, law, mutiny, and biblical symbolism aboard a British warship during the Napoleonic era. Melville’s final, posthumously published work blends gripping maritime drama with profound moral and theological questions. We unpack what Makes Bill...

In this episode, Junius and Wesley take on the latest film adaptation of Frankenstein , asking what makes a great adaptation of a classic work — and whether this one succeeds. From Mary Shelley’s 19th-century vision of creation and responsibility to modern cinematic retellings, they explore how filmmakers interpret, distort, and occasionally deepen the original novel’s moral and theological questi...

In this episode, Father Wesley and Dr. Junius dive deep into St. Anselm’s Proslogion , the short yet monumental work that introduced one of the most enduring and debated arguments in the history of philosophy and theology: the ontological argument for God’s existence. The hosts explore Anselm’s background as monk, abbot, and Archbishop of Canterbury, highlighting his tumultuous life amid royal and...

In this episode of The Classical Mind , we take on Shakespeare’s most provocative comedy, The Taming of the Shrew . Junius and Wesley dig into the play’s strange structure—from the unclosed frame of Christopher Sly to the unsettling symmetry between performance and identity. What does it mean that the “prologue” is itself a play? And how does that affect the way we read Katherina’s transformation—...

Let’s go back to the 19th century and talk about one of the scariest novels we’ve ever read on the Classical Mind (but maybe not for the reasons you might think) with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein . On this episode, Junius and Wesley discuss the different editions of this book before getting into some of its underlying philosophy like the responsibilities a creator has to their creatures and vice-ve...

The Classical Mind has officially reached 2,000 subscribers! To celebrate, Junius and Wesley unveil the Season 4 reading list! The method of selection is a little different this year to accommodate Wesley’s upcoming PhD studies. Stick around after the reading list is unveiled for a discussion about the purpose of literature, how reading helps us grow, a discussion on the dilemma of re-reading vs....