Men with Chests

Michael Ward returns to discuss Chapter 15: The Descent of the Gods. We spend most of our time discussing the various descenders and Lewis's use of the medieval cosmos in his works. Ward knows a great deal about this, which made for a fascinating conversation. https://www.instagram.com/menwchests/

In this episode I cover one particular scene from Chapter 15 where Mark's Chest grows because of his response to an act of impiety he's commanded to perform by Professor Frost. Later in the week, Michael Ward and I discuss this and other parts of the chapter, especially the opening scene when the gods descend. So I'm leaving most of that for the episode later in the week.  https://w...

Jason Lepojarvi is a native of Finland who now resides in Oregon where he is heading up the inaugural Undiscovered Lewis conference at George Fox University. As a native Finnish speaker, he made for a fitting guest to discuss the similarities and differences between the Finnish word Sisu and what Lewis calls "the Chest" in Abolition of Man. https://www.instagram.com/menwchests/

In the first episode from Chapter 14, we covered the scene between Mark and Frost where Frost spells out the logical implications of his materialistic worldview. In this episode, we assess Jane's eye-opening experience. This takes us into the three concentric circles of imagination, reason, and volition.     https://www.instagram.com/menwchests/

Dr. Ashenden wrote one of the first books on Charles Williams. He joins me to discuss it along with topics related to it. He also shares a bit about his days working undercover in the USSR.  https://www.instagram.com/menwchests/ Click the 5 stars and look for the second episode on Chapter 14 next week.

There's a lot of ground to cover in Chapter 14, so for this episode, I just begin by looking at the first section of the chapter - Mark's interaction with Frost and his experience in the objectivity room. Frost is a logically consistent materialist. As such he provides some great material in his conversation with Mark. Another episode on the chapter forthcoming.  https://www.instagram.co...

Andrew Lazo joins me to go through Chapter 13: They Have Pulled Down: Deep Heaven on Their Heads. Andrew Lazo is one of the hosts of Pints With Jack and he's also an expert on Lewis's last novel  Till We Have Faces . Merlin shows up in this chapter and dialogues with the Company at St. Anne's. His conversation with Ransom is some of the richest dialogue in the entire book. Andrew an...

Chapter 12 introduces us to the macrobes as Frost attempts to initiate Mark into the highest order of the N.I.C.E.  https://www.instagram.com/menwchests/

Inklings scholar Sorina Higgins joins me to discuss Charles Williams, late nineteenth and early twentieth-century British secret societies, and how these matters relate to That Hideous Strength.  Sorina's website: https://sorinahiggins.com/ Blog: https://theoddestinkling.wordpress.com/

In this episode, we talk about eldils and how they relate to the Hebrew word elohim. We discuss the Greek word daimon/daemon and Dr. Dimble's commentary about neutral spiritual beings. And we see a disagreement between Frost and Wither regarding the best way to manipulate Mark to their own ends. https://www.instagram.com/menwchests/   

It's a short episode, but we cover some big ideas - materialism, the  intellectus , wraiths/ghosts, and the Hegelian dialectic.  Scroll down and click the 5 stars  Follow the show: https://www.instagram.com/menwchests/ 

Because I didn't have time to record the episode on Chapter 10 of That Hideous Strength for Monday, I'm putting up the Socratic Hour episode that was to be posted on Thursday. The episode on That Hideous Strength will be up on Thursday. In this Socratic Hour, I'm joined by medieval scholar and host of The Inklings Variety Hour, Chris Pipkin. Chris covers the works and ideas of Lewis...

Jason Baxter is a professor at Notre Dame and a scholar of the medieval era. We discuss a variety of medieval things relevant to That Hideous Strength. This was a great conversation, one of my favorites thus far in the Socratic Hour series. Dr. Baxter is the author of The Medieval Mind of C.S. Lewis. You can get a signed copy of the book here: https://www.jasonmbaxter.com/home/books. For the lates...

In this chapter, we begin to explore the relationship between what Lewis called the twins of magic and science in The Abolition of Man. This will continue to be a major item in many of the remaining chapters as Merlin enters the story. 

"The Funeral of a Great Myth" is very relevant for That Hideous Strength. In the essay, Lewis explains how the belief in infinite unilinear Progress is the motivation for popularizing science into a Myth, instead of doing the scientific discipline well. The goal of the N.I.C.E. is Progress as defined by the Conditioners and science is merely the instrument along with magic. Lewis not onl...

Mark learns what the final goal of the N.I.C.E. is from Filostrato and Straik...

Lou Markos joins me once again. This time around we discuss Romanticism, daemons, Materialist Magicians, and other things relevant to  That Hideous Strength . 

Chapter 7 is all about Jane. She has a big turn in this chapter and comes to recognize objective beauty. In this episode we do something a bit different - I cover and read part of the chapter with a guest who's particularly fitted to speak on femininity.  Anneliese's podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/feminine-not-feminist-podcast/id1656867030 

Mark writes newspaper articles for planned riots before they occur as part of the N.I.C.E.'s strategy for acquiring "emergency" powers. Meanwhile, Jane heads for St. Anne's after merely brushing past the creepy Professor Frost on the street. 

Christiana Hale is the author of  Deeper Heaven: A Reader's Guide to C.S. Lewis's Ransom Trilogy   (link below). We discuss a whole host of topics from That Hideous Strength as well as the other two books in the trilogy. This is one of my favorite Socratic Hour episodes yet! Christiana's book: https://romanroadspress.com/store/deeper-heaven/ Click 5 stars and leave a review!

Mark is left in a state of limbo as his conversations with Fairy Hardcastle, Wither, and Feverstone all prove useless. He can't find out just what his role with the institute is meant to be, and when he does, he thinks it to be below him. In these conversations with Mark and the various N.I.C.E. members, we discover more of the N.I.C.E.'s tactics for "progress." You can find wh...

Chapter 4 introduces us to a key character from the N.I.C.E. - Reverend Straik - the mad parson. Mark continues to see just what "progress" looks like, we see that Mark still has a connection with what is objectively beautiful, and we continue to see what masculine and feminine selfishness looks like in the relationship between Mark and Jane.  

John Mark Reynolds once said that That Hideous Strength is "the truest account of the state of the West written in the last one hundred years." In this episode, we discuss why. Amongst many other things, Dr. Reynolds is the founder of the Saint Constantine School in Houston. He reads That Hideous Strength every year and has done so since he was 10. The guy knows a thing or two about That...

We cover a lot in this chapter. Mark meets a host of characters from the N.I.C.E., including Wither, Filostrato, Fairy Hardcastle, and a chemist looking to get out of the institute's clutches (Bill Hingest). Jane continues to be disturbed by her dreams and the details she finds out about their importance. We dip into Lewis's essay "The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment," we con...

Dr. Michael Ward of Oxford joins me to discuss the medieval cosmos, That Hideous Strength, astrology and astronomy, among other things. Dr. Ward is the author of Planet Narnia, After Humanity, and is widely regarded as the foremost Lewis scholar alive today.