That's So Second Millennium

Life keeps happening. Pope Sixtus is the next name on the docket and I will get it out by July. Another fascinating history if not as long as Leo or Gregory. I have promised a former student to read along with her: Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky, Fathers and Sons by Turgenev, and Paradise Lost by you know who. So I will attempt to drop a few thoughts about that sometime over the course of June...

The talk I actually gave at the retreat...I ended up not even giving the Man of God talk. Artwork: The Ghent Altarpiece, 15th century

I would have liked to get an episode of the bracket out during the actual NCAA tournament, but I was asked to give two talks at a confirmation retreat, so I'm giving those to you as bonus episodes. Stay tuned later in April for an episode featuring the name Sixtus...only five of them but quite the history. --Paul Image credit for Christ, the Man of Sorrows: https://www.wga.hu/html/c/ceccarel/sorro...

SHOW NOTES FOR “A CALENDAR OF GREGORIES” The bracket is back! Paul’s application of March Madness oddsmaking to the name and fame of popes throughout history returns in this episode. Co-hosts Paul and Bill, after completing a tour of popes called Leo, now look at Pope Gregory, a popular name that appeared in sixteen iterations. This makes for an informative roller coaster ride through the past. Th...

Leo - Episode P2   Artwork: by Francesco Solimena - Web Gallery of Art: Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons   “That’s So Second Millennium” retains its online longevity, posting this 149th episode. We invite listeners to keep returning with us to our past-present-future perspectives on the world’s third millennium (Anno Domini or Common Era). Former college professor Dr. Paul Giesting (call him Paul)...

Dr. Paul Giesting and Bill Schmitt welcome listeners back for new episodes of our “legacy” podcast, “That’s So Second Millennium.” See below for biographies. Check out our archived episodes: That's So Second Millennium Here’s a chronological list of popes . For context in this episode, start with Pope Leo XIII (#256) and look through the 20th century for Popes Pius X, XI, and XII. (Please forgive...

Paul felt it was important to put Daniel's book title in the episode title, but Bill's suggested title is too good not to place somewhere: TSSM: NEW BOOK EXPLORES MEANING IN MOTION In this new episode of the “That’s So Second Millennium” podcast, your host Paul Giesting , assistant professor of mathematics and sciences at Wyoming Catholic College , interviews his faculty colleague, Dr. Daniel Shie...

The co-hosts announce that the TSSM podcast, now posting our 146th episode, will begin a hiatus, but all programs and show notes will continue to be archived and accessible . This episode allows Dr. Paul Giesting and Bill Schmitt to look back on their four-and-a-half years of interviews and discussions seeking a greater synthesis of knowledge: an exploration of science and religion, philosophy and...

Paul and Bill welcomed Paul Seungoh Chung to discuss how people can converse constructively about God despite their different backgrounds and different faith journeys. Dr. Chung, who has taught Christianity and science courses at the University of Toronto, is the author of God at the Crossroads of Worldviews: Toward a Different Debate about the Existence of God (University of Notre Dame Press, 201...

This month's episode focuses on the psychology of emotions and the need to respect them. On the one hand we do not want to be controlled by negative emotions, but on the other, we cannot simply will them away. Further, we need positive emotions in order to live rich and loving lives; we cannot simply force our way forward forever. Not respecting our emotions leads them to hijack us in many ways. A...

For August Paul interviewed Scott Gazzoli of the Causing the Effect podcast. He's a wealth manager in Brooklyn who has been through a long and harsh spiritual journey. We touch on fitness and the psychology of achievement and spend the most time talking about the deceptiveness of material goals--money, sex, physical pleasure--how spiritually and psychologically they turn out to be deceptive and de...

Matt Swaim is the co-host of the Son Rise Morning Show , heard Monday through Friday 6-8 am on hundreds of stations in the nationwide EWTN Catholic radio network. He is also the outreach manager for the Coming Home Network , an apostolate that helps non-Catholic Christians who desire to learn more about, and consider entrance into, the Catholic Church. He co-hosts a podcast, “On the Journey,” for...

Paul and Bill spoke with Louis Albarran , associate professor of theology at Holy Cross College in Notre Dame, IN. Albarran holds a master’s degree and a Ph. D. from the University of Dayton, and he specializes in the connection of religion, culture, and the physicality of devotional practices, with a focus on the Latino Catholic culture. Albarran spoke of the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe, as to...

Quick hit running down the SCS Conference for 2022 at Mundelein Seminary outside Chicago. The conference theme was the environment. Info on the conference SCS YouTube channel with videos of talks Link to the slides for Paul's talk on uranium and nuclear power

Christopher Bell, president and executive director of Good Counsel Homes, is “on the frontline of the pro-life movement,” as The Catholic World Report wrote in a 2021 profile . Chris and TSSM co-host Bill Schmitt have been friends since their college years, when they were both studying journalism. Co-host Paul Giesting joined the two native Long Islanders for a discussion of Catholic values in the...

In this episode, Paul and Bill situate themselves geographically, updating each other on their latest activities and changes in locale. Paul is on a medical mission to Billings, Montana, at the moment. Bill has moved from South Bend, where he was an adjunct professor at Holy Cross College, to Troy, NY, the hometown of his wife. Uranium mining is on Paul’s mind during his brief departure from Wyomi...

  Darcia Narvaez , who holds a Ph. D. in psychology from the University of Minnesota, is a prolific public intellectual who uses many tools of multimedia communication to do research and to address needs of everyday people. Her work enhances and taps deeply rooted wisdom about human nature so that it can be applied in everday tasks, such as parenting. She is a Professor of Psychology Emerita at th...

As the emcee noted at a concert here in Lander, a Musical History Tour, the Renaissance--the period when Europe revived its intellectual life by re-evaluating the writings of the Hellenistic past--ends around the year 1600, give or take. By that time, the focus had shifted toward going beyond the ancients instead of merely revisiting their achievements. This shift in focus happened on a different...

Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers ( deaconharold.com ) is a Catholic deacon and public speaker. Bill and I had the privilege of interviewing him earlier this month. Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers is one of the most incisive and authentic Catholic speakers and authors who have arisen to serve the New Evangelization, including an outreach to the younger generations who hunger to combine secular reality and mea...

Paul and Bill were privileged to talk with Father Robert Spitzer, SJ, the founding director of the Magis Center in Orange County, California. Father Spitzer’s biography includes service as the president of Gonzaga University and the authorship of numerous books about various aspects of theology, philosophy, spirituality, apologetics, happiness and the meaning of life, and much more. He has produce...

David Seitz, OFS, is a long-time professed member of the Secular Franciscan Order who holds an M.A. in theology from Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit. He has written a book, available on line, called Come Let Us Worship: Reflections on the Words and Prayers of the Mass. He produces podcasts, videos, blogs, and speaks publicly, offering reflection for spiritual growth based on the life and works of...

Here's our pre-conversation with Matthew Cloud prior to the full interview. In this segment we talk a little bit about the Ubuntu distro, the ubuntu philosophy of computer science, and 4th and 5th generation tools for generating working code to solve computer science problems in the context of Matthew's role connected to a grant for cybersecurity education through Ivy Tech and other schools in sev...

Paul and Bill discussed computer education and cyber-security with Matthew Cloud , professor of the practice in the computer science program at Holy Cross College in Notre Dame, IN. Cloud has extensive experience in education, not only through classroom teaching at schools including Indiana’s Ivy Tech network of community colleges, but also through project management, curriculum development, and s...

A solo episode from Paul today inspired by the content of Wyoming Catholic College’s Deductive Reasoning in Science course (SCI 301). Greek arithmetic and the Pythagoreans The crisis of incommensurables (irrational numbers) The triumph of geometry over arithmetic Emphasis on axiomatic systems and proofs: Euclid Archimedes: physics within the Euclidean paradigm Aristotle and the medieval: qualitati...

Jordan Wales, PhD , who teaches theology at Hillsdale College in Michigan, spoke with Paul and Bill about his research at the intersection of robotics and religion . He discussed a compelling concern in the future relationship between human beings and technology. In particular, the concern, about which he spoke at the 2021 conference of the Society of Catholic Scientists , dealt with the interacti...