Magnus Podcast: Conversations from the Catacombs of Liberal Education

Who is man, what is he building, and why does this matter? Alan Cornett of Cultural Debris joins John Johnson to discuss mans relationship with architecture and both the worldly and eternal implications therein. Listen as they explore the architecture behind majestic Italian Cathedrals, bold American Art Deco and oppressive modern urbanism.  Follow Alan @  @culturaldebris  or @alancornett Learn mo...

The Magnus Podcast is BACK and better than ever.  If you’re a returning listener, you’ll notice that this season premiere is a change of pace from previous episodes as we announce a tier of courses in the Magnus Fellowship: The Cohort: A Community of Learning for Liberal Education.  This three-year program is at the heart and soul of the Albertus Magnus Institute; it’s an attempt to make concrete...

Today we bring you the 20th and final episode of season 3. This season we talked about all things liberal arts from music and monarchy to Plato and Socrates to freeing minds and humanizing humans. It only seemed right then, to finish this season with a return to our first guest, Professor Steven Cortright, who opened the show with an episode appropriately titled, “The Liberal Arts". He returns now...

“You creatures of earth, don’t you stop to consider the people over which you think you exercise authority?”  This conversation between two ‘non- serial’ entrepreneurs, Christof Meyer and AMI’s own John Johnson, will change the way you view entrepreneurship and management, and give you a vision of a rightly ordered, God honoring way to run a business that finds it’s roots in the Liberal Arts tradi...

Mother, grandmother, and author, Leila Lawler joins Larissa to talk about raising children faithfully. She explains how we can escape the traps of the modern world and provide something beautiful for our children to imitate, thus creating sacred spaces and harmonious homes. Read her blogs  Like Mother Like Daughter  and Happy Despite Them  to learn more. Interested in her books, Summa Domestica an...

Enjoy the first half of the first lecture in Senior Fellow, Dr. Arias' course, "Philosophy of Man." Building on Aristotle and St. Thomas's philosophical account of the human person, this class focused on St. Thomas's teachings on man's natural and supernatural ends and the means proportioned thereto. Find out how you can learn more about the final cause of man AND access all archived courses- over...

Today, we are offering you another glimpse into the Magnus Fellowship; this time with Senior Fellow, Dr. Helen Freeh's course, "Friendship and Freedom in the Lord of the Rings." This is the first half of the first class of the final 8- week course on The Lord of the Rings, offered over three rounds of 8- week courses. This Fall, Fellows have been finishing the seminar with The Return of the King....

Blessed Feast of St. Albert the Great! On this special day, we spoke with Leigh Bortins of Classical Conversations who, like St. Albert the Great before us, shares our love for a liberating education. Education is never free, and, like all good things, the higher the quality of education, the higher the cost. She joins John and Larissa to discuss how to give our students a high quality education t...

Once again, we are offering you a quick glimpse into the Magnus Fellowship; this time with Senior Fellow, Dr. Finley's class, “Rousseau and the Diabolical and Moral Imagination." This course explores the moral dimensions of the imagination through an examination of literature and philosophy. The aim of the course is to define and understand the concept of “imagination” and to be able to assess its...

Dr. Amir Sabzevary has spent the last thirty years teaching philosophy and religion. Today, he joins John to talk about the journey of both teaching and studying philosophy– how to trek through complicated lives as students and how to reach the unreachable students as teachers. Discover ever so much more on his Youtube Channel . Don't forget! Free Fall courses  in the Magnus Fellowship start next...

This week on the Magnus Podcast, John and Larissa talk moral theology with high school teacher, Rocky Brittain and attempt to answer difficult moral questions according to Catholic Theology and Thomas Aquinas, such as when is it permissible to kill? How should a priest respond when he hears a life changing confession? How should we respond when we disagree with authority?   Do you have thoughts th...

In this fast paced world full of echo chambers and outrage machines, we are fooled into believing a misguided view of justice and rhetoric. Dr. Joshua Phillips joins us to talk about how we can properly understand the connection between justice and humility and the distinction between thinking wonderfully and thinking critically.   Joshua Phillips received a Ph. D. in Speech Communication from Sou...

AMI exists because we, like so many, see a problem with the current university system. What is the modern university providing to its students in comparison to what it ought to be providing?  What is the purpose of a university? We just completed an 8 week summer course on John Henry Newman's, "The Idea of a University," to grapple with these questions and come to understand what a university ough...

"What is the best way of life for a human being?" The Republic is the most complete attempt by Plato to articulate and answer this question. It is characteristic of Plato that, in the Republic, questions about human happiness ultimately cannot be separated from questions of education, of the nature of the city, of the various forms of government, of the structure of the human soul, and of the char...

Musician and composer, Greg Wilbur of New College Franklin contemplates music within the quadrivium; he explains why music ought to be ordered rightly in education and how it rests in harmony with the other Liberal Arts. He even discusses a little bit of conspiracy theories.  Gregory Wilbur is President and Dean of the College, permanent Trustee, and Senior Fellow at New College Franklin. Over the...

“Take courage daughter, the world is not as strong as it seems.”  From the diary of Maria Faustina Brian Fink has returned to the Magnus Podcast to discuss what it means to see reality as it is: to see oneself in order to better understand the enemy, to see the hope in the midst of losing, to see the truth in a poisoned culture, and, ultimately, how to actualize a vision for oneself that is more c...

This conversation with Dr. Gary Hartenburg looks at education from a bird’s-eye view before zooming into talk about virtue, specifically the virtue of prudence, according to Aristotle, and ends with little bit of theology.  Dr. Gary Hartenburg is the Director of the Honors College and an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Houston Christian University. His primary research interests are in ancien...

Earlier this spring, we hosted a lovely webinar on one of the most playful of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, The Nun's Priest's Tale of Chanticleer and the Fox. Now we're releasing it as a podcast so you too can enjoy it! Listen as Dr. Shannon Valenzuela of UD guides us through this delightful introduction to the poet's quirky (and sometimes shocking) combination of the modes of "ernest and game." Co...

How does man know? What are the roles of signs in knowing? What does “meaning” mean? What does man want to know? What are the objects to knowing? In this episode, Dr. Brian Kemple of the Lyceum Institute discusses these questions and opens the door to many, many more. Come join us down this rabbit hole of discovery. Dr. Brian Kemple holds a PhD in Philosophy from the University of St. Thomas, in H...

“We can’t teach the humanities unless the students have been humanized." In this episode, Dr. Jared Staudt discusses the text, Newman’s Idea of A University, and begs the question, ”What does it mean to explore reality?” He challenges educators and teachers to not become complacent, classical educators, but to seek the beautiful alongside their students and provide them with an education that grou...

Across the sea, Charles III has just been coronated King of England and much ado was made in his and his country’s honor.  On our homeland, America is, as always, in the throes of her own democratic controversies.  Now on the podcast, we asked Dr’s Pavlos Papadopoulos and Joseph Pearce to discuss this question: Democracy or Monarchy: Is one the better form of government? You will want to listen to...

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Zena Hitz; tutor at St. John’s College, author of Lost in Thought: The Hidden Pleasures of an Intellectual Life, and Co-founder and President of the Catherine Project. Listen as she discusses what it means to live the good life. Learn more about St. John's College  & check out their own podcast, Continuing the Conversation

“The gates of hell are open night and day; Smooth the descent, and easy is the way: But to return, and view the cheerful skies, In this the task and mighty labor lies.” - from The Aeneid of Virgil The Magnus Podcast returns with Dr. Matthew Bianco of the CiRCE Institute. Listen to this enlightening discussion on Plato and the allegory of the cave, and wonder and the demise of a vacuous society.  D...

We now bring you Spy Wednesday Bonus Episode 2, continuing in the theme of Holy Week. This is an excerpt from our own John Johnson’s course in the Magnus Fellowship: In the end was the word: Eschatology, Mimesis, and the Beloved Disciple.  Remember that all donors giving just $25/month have access to the recordings for the rest of this course, and all the rest of the courses in the Magnus Fellowsh...

In honor of Spy Wednesday, we are bringing you two back to back episodes today, both lectures by your favorite podcast host, the Founder and  Executive Director of our own institute, John Johnson. The first comes from a talk John delivered at a recent convocation of Catholic leaders in New Jersey sponsored by the Diocese of Camden:Tradition and Betrayal: Responding to the Scandal  Enjoy, share, an...