ClassicalU Podcast

In this episode, Jesse Hake talks with Sarah Kwilinski about her new ClassicalU course, Restoring Wonder for Every Learner: Universal Design in the Classical Tradition , and how classical education can faithfully serve every learner through what she calls "durable hospitality." Drawing on more than twenty-five years in special education and the influence of Dr. Amy Gilbert Richards , Sarah explain...

Recorded on site at True North Classical Academy , Jesse Hake speaks with Patricio Mendez , philosophy teacher and the Director of EdTech & Analytics, about recovering teaching as a vocation of love rather than a transaction of grades. Mendez describes his philosophy course as an effort not merely to teach the history of philosophy, but to help students philosophize, encounter wisdom, and ente...

In this episode of the ClassicalU Podcast , Jesse Hake speaks with Jessica Hooten-Wilson about her forthcoming book on Christian women whose lives and work have often been neglected because they are “too Christian for the feminists and too feminist for the Christians.” Hooten-Wilson looks to women at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as models for overcoming false divides between...

In this episode of the ClassicalU Podcast , Jesse Hake—joined by guests Dr. Brian Williams and Jake Tawney —explores the pressing question of AI and human formation in the classroom. Framed by the classical vision of education as the formation of the whole person, the conversation challenges the assumption that efficiency, output, or technological adoption should drive educational practice. Drawin...

In this episode of the ClassicalU Podcast , Jesse Hake speaks with Dr. Patrick R. Manning about his book Be Still and Know: Contemplative Practice for Christian Schools and Educators . Drawing from the deep wells of the Christian contemplative tradition—from the Desert Fathers and Mothers to Benedictine, Ignatian, and Dominican spirituality—Manning argues that contemplation is not foreign to Chris...

In this episode of the ClassicalU Podcast, host Jesse Hake—joined by Scholé Academy Director Dr. Joylynn Blake —welcomes the leaders of Scholé Academy’s three Houses of Study: Monika Minehart , Fr. Nathan Dickinson , and Presb. Maria Koulianos . As representatives of three great Christian traditions, Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican, these classical educators engage in a rich conversation on soul...

In this episode of the ClassicalU Podcast, Jesse Hake speaks with Dr. Shannon Valenzuela about her new course releasing this spring on medieval literature and the harmonics of story. Beginning with Boethius’s Consolation of Philosophy and culminating in Dante’s Divine Comedy , Dr. Valenzuela shows how medieval authors understood stories as reflections of cosmic order, proportion, pattern, and harm...

In this Christmas-season episode, Jesse Hake speaks with author, retired parish priest, and former university chaplain Addison Hodges Hart about Father Christmas, St. Nicholas, and the meaning of the Nativity, drawing on stories and poetry ranging from Tolkien’s Letters from Father Christmas , C. S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and "The Turn of the Tide", John Masefield’s The Box o...

In this episode of the ClassicalU Podcast , philosopher D. C. Schindler joins Jesse Hake for a conversation on the metaphysical and theological foundations of classical education. Interview questions address epistemology, anthropology, the nature of true authority, and the dangers of mixing culture wars and Christian nationalism with classical education. Drawing from thinkers like Balthasar, Piepe...

In this conversation, Jesse Hake welcomes Dr. Christopher Perrin to explore leadership in the virtue and liberal arts tradition. Drawing from the ClassicalU courses Leadership and the Liberal Arts and Essential School Leadership , Dr. Perrin reflects on how classical and Christian traditions of virtue shape a truly human vision of leadership—one rooted not in dominance but in service, humility, an...

In this wide-ranging conversation, sociologist, educator  and ClassicalU course presenter Angel Adams Parham joins Jesse Hake to explore the idea of an “American classical education.” Drawing, in part, upon her work on “ The Black Intellectual Tradition ” and Women in the Liberal Arts Tradition , Angel makes a compelling case for expanding our understanding of classical education to include voices...

In this rich and wide-ranging conversation, scholar Louis Markos joins host Jesse Hake to discuss his upcoming ClassicalU course , and forthcoming companion book on Dante’s Divine Comedy . Markos explores Dante’s visionary architecture of Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise, not merely as allegory, but as a deeply experiential and spiritually transformative journey. Sharing his creative process for writ...

In this episode of the ClassicalU Podcast, host Jesse Hake interviews John Mays, the founder of the Novare Science curriculum. The discussion centers around Mays' new course, "Cultivating Wonder Throughout the School" as a help to educators integrating a sense of wonder and mystery into their teaching across various subjects. Mays shares his journey from focusing on wonder in the sciences to expan...

Kim Warman, lower school dean and teacher at Coram Deo Academy in Carmel, Indiana, shares insights from her new ClassicalU course, Launching Your Classical Classroom , which provides practical support for new grammar school teachers. She reflects on her own educational journey, having experienced both non-classical and classical education before attending Hillsdale College and teaching at several...

In this episode, Jesse Hake speaks with ClassicalU presenter Russ Gregg who co-founded Hope Academy and the Spreading Hope Network . Drawing on decades of work bringing classical Christian education to under-resourced urban communities, Gregg reflects on his transition from leading a single school to enabling the launch of over twenty schools across the U.S., supported by both visionary founders a...

In this ClassicalU podcast episode, Jesse Hake speaks with Dr. Christopher Perrin and Carrie Eben about their new book The Good Teacher , which expands into ten principles from ClassicalU’s original course titled “Eight Essential Principles of Classical Pedagogy.” The conversation traces the book's origins, how Carrie and Christopher collaborated, and the vision behind their claim that pedagogy is...

In this episode of the ClassicalU Podcast, we welcome back Christine Perrin to talk about the deeply Christian engagement with the epic tradition found in Marilynne Robinson’s novels. Christine has taught these novels over several years with profound blessings in the lives of students. The conversation explores the themes of homecoming ( nostos ) and glory ( kleos ) and how these novels illuminate...

The respective directors of Scholé Academy and ClassicalU , Joylynn Blake and Jesse Hake, mix work and pleasure in this unscripted conversation about the essence and inspiration of classical education. Jesse inquires about the personal history and stories that lie behind Joylynn's love for educational opportunity. Along the way, they chat about their work as colleagues at Classical Academic Press...

Get to know ClassicalU's new full time team member Rebecca Richard as she and director Jesse Hake talk about the love of learning, late blooming, Charlotte Mason, scholé, and life at sea. You will also hear about Rebecca's personal top picks among our courses: Common Arts Education by Chris Hall, Charlotte Mason: A Liberal Education for All by Jason Barney, and Disability and Classical Education b...

 In this bonus Nativity episode, Jesse Hake chats with Wheaton College Professor of Art History, Matthew Milliner about Mary and his book Mother of the Lamb: The Story of a Global Icon . Among several connections made to the classical liberal arts, this conversation overlaps with much in Jesse's "Lecture 12: Mythic Cosmos" in ClassicalU's course on Women in the Liberal Arts Tradition . Start your...

Jesse Hake interviews Fr. Wesley Walker on a wide range of topics related to classical Christian education, including the work and influence of Hugh of St. Victor, the importance of incorporating American literature and history into the classical curriculum, the connections between teaching and priestly vocations, and contemporary resources relevant to the classical Christian renewal. Topics cover...

Jesse Hake chats with Sarah Flynn, a classical Christian education pioneer in Australia and founder of Logos Australis . Sarah is an educator with a background in ecology, environmental studies, and Aboriginal studies in addition to being instrumental in promoting classical education in Australia. Among other topics, Sarah and Jesse consider relationships between integrating indigenous approaches...

In this episode, Christopher Perrin engages with both Junius Johnson and Christine Perrin on the topics of contemplative, embodied, sacramental, and liturgical learning. Together they consider how these truths should inform our classroom practices in light of a sacramental sense of time, the church calendar, and the fact that humans are embodied creatures. Among others, this conversation relates t...

Jesse Hake talks with author and Grove City College professor Jeffrey Bilbro about his forthcoming course on ClassicalU about how teachers can cultivate Wendell Berry's virtues of renewal within their classrooms. Bilbro's course is based on his book Virtues of Renewal: Wendell Berry’s Sustainable Forms and relates to material in existing ClassicalU courses including The Art of Poetry and Scholé (R...

In this episode, Jesse Hake talks with author, professor, and executive leader Dr. Kelisha B. Graves about her book on educator and civil rights activist Nannie Helen Burroughs (1879 to 1961) as well as about what is broken and how we should respond to today's predominant "factory model" of education. Our conversation also considered the educational legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. and several ot...