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A discussion on beauty in art and culture and its place in the Catholic faith.
Episodes
Saturday Nov 09, 2024
Saturday Nov 09, 2024
"I can imagine that if there existed a God who loved, the devil would be driven to destroy even the weakest, most faulty imitation of that love. Wouldn’t he be afraid that the habit of love might grow, and wouldn’t he try to trap us all into being traitors, into helping him extinguish love."
- Graham Greene
This episode of Risking Enchantment features a recording of paper given by Rachel Sherlock at this year's Fall Conference held by the de Nicola Institute for Ethics in Culture in Notre Dame University, held in conjuction with the Biennial Catholic Imagination Conference. the theme was Ever Ancient, Ever New: On Catholic Imagination. The focus of the conference was on the literary arts and so this paper was part of a panel on the author Graham Greene.
Host: Rachel Sherlock
Follow Rachel on social media: @seekingwatson
Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast
Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com
Find out more about the conference: https://ethicscenter.nd.edu/programs/fall-conference/2024-ever-ancient-ever-new/
Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast
Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod
Sunday Sep 22, 2024
Sunday Sep 22, 2024
“I am not a reformer nor an embalmer! I am not a ‘reformer’ (by exercise of power) since it seems doomed to Sarumanism. But ‘embalming’ has its own punishments.”
-J.R.R. Tolkien
For this episode we are delighted to be joined by Dr. Holly Ordway, Fellow of Faith and Culture at the Word on Fire Institute. We discuss her recent title, Tolkien's Faith: A Spiritual Biography, which traces Tolkien’s experience of the Catholic faith throughout his life, how he integrated it into his daily practices, his personal life and his work. We discuss his early religious experiences, his opinions on changes in the liturgy, and the ways he integrated his work and faith in his translation work especially on the Book of Jonah.
Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Dr Holly Ordway
Follow Rachel on social media: @seekingwatson
Follow Holly on social media: @HollyOrdway
Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast
Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com
Find out more about Holly at http://www.hollyordway.com/
Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast
Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod
Works Mentioned
Tolkien’s Faith: A Spiritual Biography by Dr Holly Orday
Tolkien’s Modern Reading: Middle-earth Beyond the Middle Ages by Dr Holly Ordway
The Letters of J.R.R Tolkien
Tolkien and the Great War by John Garth
What We’re Enjoying at the Moment
Holly: The Three Investigators Series by Robert Arthur, Jr.
Rachel: The End of the Affair by Graham Greene
Saturday Jun 08, 2024
Saturday Jun 08, 2024
“I'm capable of a great jerk, an effort, and then a relaxation—but steady, every-day goodness is beyond me. I must be a moral kangaroo!”
-Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell
In our final episode before the summer break, Phoebe and Rachel are joined by their good friend, and long-time Risking Enchantment listener, Jacob Moran, to discuss his favourite novel: Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell. We discuss how Gaskell demonstrates the precariousness of the moral life, even or perhaps especially in middle class and comfortable lives. The novel highlights the need to cultivate every-day virtue and how easily we can stray from our principles. We explore these themes through the various contrasting characters, including Molly Gibson with her steadfast virtue in difficult circumstances, her step-mother Mrs Gibson with all her facade of care.
We hope you enjoy the summer and we look forward to returning with more Risking Enchantment episodes in September.
Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Phoebe Watson, Jacob Moran
Follow us on social media: Rachel: @seekingwatson Jacob: @piousmouse
Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast
Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com
Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast
Works Mentioned:
Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell
Keeping Your Word: Unfashionable Virtues in North and South - Risking Enchantment
‘Advice’ by Robert Crawford
What We’re Enjoying at the Moment
Collective Recommendation:
The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel - Jenny Nicholson
Phoebe:
Murder in the Cathedral by T.S. Eliot - performed by CityLit Theatre, Chicago
Rachel:
Wildcat (2023)
Jacob:
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
Tuesday May 07, 2024
Tuesday May 07, 2024
“Joyful singing and music is likewise a constant invitation to believers and to all people of good will to work hard to give humanity a future rich in hope.”
-Pope Benedict XVI
In this episode we are joined by Katie Marquette, host of the Born of Wonder podcast. We discuss our love of music, what can learn about the human desire to write new songs about our common experiences, and how participating in the creation of music unites us to the music imbued in God’s creation.
Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod
Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Katie Marquette
Listen to Katie’s podcast: Born of Wonder
Follow Rachel on social media: @seekingwatson
Follow Katie on social media: @bornofwonder
Read Katie on Substack: https://bornofwonder.substack.com/
Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast
Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com
Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast
Join Katie Marquette on a pilgrimage to Ireland: https://www.bornofwonder.com/come-to-ireland-with-me
Rachel was also previously a guest on the Born of Wonder podcast. To listen to that episode, click here: S7:10 EP102: Taylor Swift and the Power of Collective Experience with Rachel Sherlock
Works Referenced:
Music is fundamentally joy, says this professor of music
Pope Benedict XVI and The Power of Music
The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis
Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi – The Four Seasons
What We’re Enjoying at the Moment
Katie: Les Misérables [Katie’s recent episode on this topic: S7:12 EP 104: The Economy of Love in Les Miserables with Maddie Dobrowski]
Rachel: Detectorists
Thursday Apr 18, 2024
Thursday Apr 18, 2024
"We are watchful for works written in a contemporary idiom that yet reach the roots of fundamental questions, that honor the almost three-thousand-year-long conversations committed to these questions, and that incite our hunger for the splendor of truth."
Masthead for Wiseblood Books
We are delighted to welcome to the podcast Mary Finnegan, deputy editor at Wiseblood Books, a small Catholic press which fosters works of fiction, poetry, and philosophy. In our episode today we discuss the process of publishing, how to strive for excellent in craft while encouraging new writers, and publishing as a vocation. We dive into Dana Gioia's essay "The Catholic Writer Today" and address the problems facing Catholic writing and publishing in our current times.
Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Mary Finnegan
Follow us on social media: @seekingwatson @maryraphaela
Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast
Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com
Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast
Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod
Wiseblood Books: https://www.wisebloodbooks.com/
University of St Thomas: Masters in Fine Arts in Creative Writing
Dappled Things: https://www.dappledthings.org/
Works Mentioned
"The Catholic Writer Today" by Dana Gioia - Article in First Things
The Catholic Writer Today by Dana Gioia - Monograph by Wiseblood
Mystery and Manners by Flannery O'Connor
"Christianity and Poetry" by Dana Gioia - Article in First Things
Christianity and Poetry by Dana Gioia - Monograph by Wiseblood
Under Satan's Sun by Georges Bernanos
The Demons: A Double-Volume Novel by Heimito von Doderer
Seneca: The Madness of Hercules, Translated and Introduced by Dana Gioia
Memory's Abacus: Poems by Anna Lewis
Painting Over the Growth Chart: Poems, by Dan Rattelle
Works of Mercy by Sally Thomas
How to Think Like a Poet by Ryan Wilson
What We're Enjoying at the Moment
"A Theology of Fiction" by Cassandra Nelson
The End of the Affair by Graham Greene
Saturday Mar 30, 2024
Saturday Mar 30, 2024
“What does the Lord want of me? Of course, this is always a great adventure, but life can be successful only if we have the courage to be adventurous, trusting that the Lord will never leave me alone, that the Lord will go with me and help me.”
– Pope Benedict XVI
For this episode of Risking Enchantment, Rachel and Phoebe discuss Arthur Ransome’s series of children’s books known as the Swallows and Amazons series. These books are full of wonder and imagination as well as practical detail, as they follow a group of children spending their holidays in the Lake District of northern England. The children sail, set up camp, climb mountains and have many delightful adventures. In our podcast discussion we explore the importance of this sense of adventure for both children and adults, and how this relates to our spiritual lives and how we embrace God’s plan for us. We discuss the balance of duty and responsibility with the sense of freedom that this kind of adventuring perspective brings, and we highlight the connection with Creation that can come from being out in nature.
Works mentioned in this episode
Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome
Swallowdale by Arthur Ransome
Winter Holiday by Arthur Ransome
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Matilda by Roald Dahl
‘Swallows and Amazons for Ever!’ Slightly Foxed, by Jim Ring
Spe Salvi by Pope Benedict XVI
S2:9 EP18: Wonder in a Digital Age, Born of Wonder podcast
“Swallows, Amazons and Adventure, Part 1” by Jon Sparks
“Oxford Junior Dictionary’s replacement of ‘natural’ words with 21st-century terms sparks outcry”, The Guardian, Alison Flood
What We’re Enjoying at the Moment:
Phoebe: BBC’s Hildegard von Bingen - In Portrait (1994)
Rachel: Knitting
Sunday Mar 10, 2024
Sunday Mar 10, 2024
“Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.”
- David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
We are joined for this episode of Risking Enchantment by Catholic author Eleanor Bourg Nicholson. Eleanor has previously published several Gothic novels including, A Bloody Habit (2018) and Brother Wolf (2021), with her latest novel Wake of Malice set to publish later this year.
In this episode we discuss our deep love of the novels of Charles Dickens. We explore three of his greatest works, David Copperfield, Nicholas Nickleby and Great Expectations, each of which follows a young male protagonist through the many adventures, triumphs and pitfalls of his life. In each case we look at the virtues and the failings of these heroes, the Romantic tropes that Dickens employs to characterize them, and the subversions of these that he uses, particularly in the case of Great Expectations.
Works Mentioned:
Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Dickens: A Critical Study by G.K. Chesterton
David Copperfield: Ignatius Critical Edition (coming soon) by Charles Dickens
“The Age of Cant” by Theodore Dalrymple
What We are Enjoying at the Moment
Eleanor: Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Rachel: Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell
Thursday Feb 22, 2024
Thursday Feb 22, 2024
But if there’s nothing, if there’s nothing
Then what’s that song that keeps hounding me?
In the still dark of the morning
Just one more cradle down the creek
Au revoir my little memories
Then tell me: this is not your loss, this is your offering
- Wake, 'Offerings'
In this episode we are joined again by Shane Jenkins to discuss the album Offerings by Typhoon. Led by singer-songwriter Kyle Morton, the album is a fascinating, at times difficult, but ultimately transfixing examination of the end of a life. It follows various characters through the experience of dementia, sickness and death, allowing the listener to enter into that space through its rich musicality and lyricism. In our episode we pull out some of the imagery of the album, it's literary and biblical references and allusions and address its powerful and important themes.
Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Shane Jenkins
Follow us on social media: @seekingwatson @shanekins
Shane's Website: https://sjenkin46.wixsite.com/ipofollies/about
Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast
Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com
Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast
Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod
Works Mentioned
Offerings by Typhoon
Hunger and Thirst by Typhoon
White Lighter by Typhoon
"Kyle Morton & Typhoon: In Conversation with Great Minds" — The DePaul Humanities Center
The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri
'Little Gidding', The Four Quartets, by T.S. Eliot
The Choruses from The Rock by T.S. Eliot
'The Hound of Heaven' by Francis Thompson
8 1/2, dir. Frederico Fellini
Lost in the Cosmos by Walker Percy
What We're Enjoying at the Moment
Shane:
Cargo by Pio Harnett
Rachel:
The Cormoran Strike series by Robert Galbraith
Thursday Feb 08, 2024
Thursday Feb 08, 2024
Welcome back to Risking Enchantment! For our first episode of 2024, Rachel and Phoebe discuss the place that poetry has in our everyday lives, its importance in our faith, and why it’s good to learn poetry by heart. We highlight some of the poems that have been most impactful in our lives and spotlight some of the great resources for Catholics interested in poetry today.
Click here to browse Wiseblood Books.
Works Mentioned:
“Have it by Heart”, The Spectator by Douglas Murray
“Influences”, The Boston Review by Seamus Heaney
“Christianity and Poetry”, First Things by Dana Gioia
100 Great Catholic Poems by Sally Read
“America, and Fall, Needs Poetry”, The American Conservative by Katya Sedgwick
“Should Catholics care about poetry?”, Catholic News Agency, by Mary Farrow
“Catholics Need Poetry” Word on Fire by Andrew Tolkmith
“The Integral Humanism of Poetry,” Evangelisation and Culture by James Matthew Wilson
Poems Referenced:
“The Lovesong of J.Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot
“A Christmas Childhood” by Patrick Kavanagh
“Wind” by Ted Hughes
“Advent” by Patrick Kavanagh
“Little Gidding” by T.S. Eliot
Murder in the Cathedral by T.S. Eliot
“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost
“The Road not Taken” by Robert Frost
“Oíche Nollaig na mBan” by Seán Ó Ríordáin
“‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers” by Emily Dickinson
The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
“Ceasefire” by Michael Longely
“The Wasteland” by T.S. Eliot
Friday Dec 22, 2023
Friday Dec 22, 2023
"It is emptiness like the hollow in the reed, the narrow restless emptiness which can have only one destiny: to receive the piper’s breath and to utter the song that is in his heart." - Caryll Houselander
In our Christmas episode of Risking Enchantment, we are looking at a seasonal devotional classic, Caryll Houselander’s The Reed of God. This small book packs a powerful punch in its meditations on the humanity of Mary, the Mother of God. We discuss its themes of emptiness, the promise of fulfillment and the secrecy of God’s life growing within us. We reflect on how Christmas can be a time of both joy and grief, but that we can bear God into the world in all the small moments and acts of service in our lives.
We would like to wish all our listeners a very happy Christmas season. Risking Enchantment will return in February 2024.
Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Phoebe Watson
Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson
Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast
Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com
Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast
Works Mentioned:
The Reed of God by Caryll Houselander
A Rocking Horse Catholic by Caryll Houselander
“Reed of God”, Catholic Insight by Sarah Gould
“Journey of the Magi” by T.S. Eliot
“Into the Dark with God”, You Crown the Year with your Goodness by Hans Urs Von Balthasar
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
What We’re Enjoying at the Moment
Phoebe: Christmas Choral Concerts - The Dublin Bach Singers and Culwick Choral Society
Rachel: “Holy Ghost” and “Manna”, Manna Part: 1 by Chris Renzema
“52:10” and “The Color Green”, A Liturgy, A Legacy and a Ragamuffin Band by Rich Mullins
Principium by The Arcadian Wild