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A discussion on beauty in art and culture and its place in the Catholic faith.
Episodes
Saturday Apr 16, 2022
Saturday Apr 16, 2022
“[Paradox is] truth standing on its head to gain attention." - G.K. Chesterton
In this Easter episode of Risking Enchantment, Rachel and Phoebe discuss two of Chesterton’s books: Manalive and St. Francis of Assisi. We draw out the similarities in themes, characters, and messages between the two books, in particular the use of paradoxes and seeming contradictions, as well as the general atmosphere of vibrant and energetic virtue. The main characters of each of these books, Innocent Smith, and St. Francis of Assisi both turn the world upside down in various ways, inverting people’s expectations and confounding their preconceptions. In both cases Chesterton uses his typical contrarian charm to show his readers the wondrous gift of life through God.
Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod
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 in this Episode:
Manalive by G.K. Chesterton
St. Francis of Assisi by G.K. Chesterton
Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton
“Chesterton and Saint Francis” by Joseph Pearce
“Reason Exhausted: Paradoxes of G. K. Chesterton and C. S. Lewis” by Sara Park McLaughlin
“Two Kinds of Paradox” by G.K. Chesterton
What We're Enjoying at the Moment:
Phoebe: Georgette Heyer Novels
Rachel: Holiday to Rome
Sunday Apr 03, 2022
Sunday Apr 03, 2022
[Joseph’s] incomparable example as a saint fortunate among so many for having lived a common life with Jesus and Mary—a life of service to Christ, a service born of love.
- Saint Paul VI on the Feast of Saint Joseph (March 19, 1966)
We’re delighted to welcome Elizabeth Lev back to the podcast. In her first episode, Elizabeth Lev: Founding Christian Art and Redeeming Roman Myth we discussed her book How Catholic Art Saved the Faith: The Triumph of Beauty and Truth in Counter-Reformation Art the how early Christians evangelised to the Romans through art and architecture. Now Elizabeth is joining us again to discuss her new book The Silent Knight: A History of St. Joseph as Depicted in Art. We talk about Pope Francis’ call to turn in prayer to St Joseph in our current age, the many ways that St Joseph has been represented in art throughout the centuries, and how this art can help us to cultivate a devotion to him.
Follow Elizabeth Lev:
Twitter: @lizlevrome
Instagram: @lizlevinrome
Website: elizabeth-lev.com
Elizabeth also runs Masters' Gallery Rome where you can join to get great lectures about Roman art.
Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod
Hosts: Rachel Sherlock,
Follow us on social media: @seekingwatson
Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast
Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com
Works Mentioned:
How Catholic Art Saved the Faith: The Triumph of Beauty and Truth in Counter-Reformation Art by Elizabeth Lev
The Silent Knight: A History of St. Joseph as Depicted in Art by Elizabeth Lev
Patris Corde by Pope Francis
Joseph the Worker by Modesto Faustini
Flight to Egypt by Giotto
Washing of the Feet by Giotto
St Joseph Cradling the Infant Christ by Guido Reni
Rest on the Flight to Egypt by Caravaggio
Christ Crowning Saint Joseph by Francisco de Zurbarán
St. Joseph and the Child Jesus by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo
Flight to Egypt by Gislebertus, Autun Cathedral
Death of Saint Joseph by Giuseppe Maria Crespi
Death of Saint Joseph by William Blake
Limbo by Sister Mary Ada
Rest on the Flight to Egypt by Barroci
Nuptials of the Virgin by Rosso Fiorrentino
The Holy Family with a Palm Tree by Raphael
Betrothed – Glimpses of the Betrothal of Mary and Joseph by Paraic Maher
The Nagasaki Martyrs by the Cuzco School
St. Joseph and the Child Jesus by Dony MacManus
The Holy Family by Janet McKenzie
St. Joseph Terror of Demons by Bernadette Carstensen
St. Joseph and the Christ Child by Francesco Grandi
What We’re Enjoying At the Moment
Face to Face: Portraits of the Divine in Early Christianity by Robin M Jensen
Gods and Fighting Men by Lady Augusta Gregory
Friday Mar 11, 2022
Friday Mar 11, 2022
“The Word himself was the first Gardener. In the beginning he planted a tree in the garden of Eden that grew the fruit of immortal life"
- Vigen Guroian
In this episode Rachel is joined by Reba Luiken, director of Allen Centennial Garden at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, to discuss how gardening grounds us, both in the gifts of our bodies and the gifts of Creation. We talk about how we can look to Nature to understand God, and how the seasonal year helps us to understand our faith and the sacraments.
Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod
Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Reba Luiken
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 in this Episode
Inheriting Paradise by Vigen Guroian
The Fragrance of God by Vigen Guroian
Walden by Henry David Thoreau
Springing into the Season - Risking Enchantment
"Christ the Gardener of our Souls" by Brent Klaske, Angelus Press
"Godly Gardening", Food and Faith: A Theology of Eating by Norman Wirzba
The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien
Beasts at Bedtime: Revealing the Environmental Wisdom in Children's Literature by Liam Heneghan
The Secret Garden by Lucy Maud Montegomery
Laudato si' by Pope Francis
The Grace of Enough: Pursuing Less and Living More in a Throwaway Culture by Haley Stewart
Things We're Enjoying At The Moment
Reba: Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness by Ingrid Fetell Lee
Rachel: Mary Poppins Soundtrack, LP
Saturday Feb 26, 2022
Saturday Feb 26, 2022
“The great abstract nouns of the classical English moralists are unblushingly and uncompromisingly used: good sense, courage, contentment, fortitude…Contrasted with the world of modern fiction, Jane Austen’s is at once less soft and less cruel.” - C.S. Lewis, “A Note on Jane Austen”
In this episode, we are joined by Haley Stewart, a Catholic convert, writer, speaker, podcaster, and Managing Editor of Word on Fire Spark, their new publishing line for children and young readers. We discuss Haley’s new book, coming this March, Jane Austen's Genius Guide to Life: On Love, Friendship, and Becoming the Person God Created You to Be by Haley Stewart. We talk about the profound and vibrant ways Jane Austen explores morals and virtues in her novels. In particular we highlight the themes of prudence and constancy in Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park, respectively, as well as speaking about Austen’s peculiar genius for rendering the moral journeys of her characters.
Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod
Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Haley Stewart
Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson
Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast
Follow Haley on social media: @HaleyCarrots
Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com
Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast
Find Haley Stewart’s Work:
The Grace of Enough: Pursuing Less and Living More in a Throwaway Culture by Haley Stewart
Works Mentioned:
Jane Austen's Genius Guide to Life: On Love, Friendship, and Becoming the Person God Created You to Be by Haley Stewart
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
Emma by Jane Austen
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Persuasion by Jane Austen
Love and Friendship by Jane Austen, introduction by G.K. Chesterton
The Illustrated Letters of Jane Austen, Selected and Introduced by Penelope Hughes-Hallett
“A Note on Jane Austen”, Selected Literary Essays by C.S. Lewis
Things We’re Enjoying at the Moment
Haley: All Creatures Great and Small (2020 TV Series)
Rachel: Caper Board Game
Saturday Feb 12, 2022
Saturday Feb 12, 2022
“I now see that I spent most of my life in doing neither what I ought nor what I liked”.
C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
Risking Enchantment is back for 2022, and in our first episode back Rachel is joined by Phoebe, to discuss our resolutions for how we hope to spend our time in the coming year. Using the above quote as inspiration, we discuss how to balance productivity with leisure, how schedules enable us to achieve our goals but can also lead us into the tyranny of efficiency, and how leisure is part of God’s plan for us but in our modern age true leisure is hard to achieve. We look to literary references to help us understand how best to spend our time, whether it’s the story of nuns and the tolling bell of their schedule in Rumer Godden’s book In This House of Brede, or Fran Lebowitz’s life of idleness as listed her humorous book Metropolitan Life.
Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod
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 in this Episode:
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
“The Lost Art of Intentionality” - Word on Fire
From The Writing Life by Annie Dillard
Idle Moments: Literary Loafers through the Ages and Pages - The Slightly Foxed Podcast
The Fran Lebowitz Reader by Fran Lebowitz
Heretics by G.K. Chesterton
The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden
The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise by Cardinal Robert Sarah
Wonder in a Digital Age - Born of Wonder podcast
“Burnt Norton” by T.S. Eliot
“The Three Sicknesses of U.S. Society: Racism, Poverty, and War” by Martin Luther King Jr
What We're Enjoying at the Moment:
Phoebe: The Lord of the Rings, audiobook read by Rob Inglis
Rachel: That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis
Thursday Dec 23, 2021
Thursday Dec 23, 2021
“The more we are proud that the Bethlehem story is plain enough to be understood by the shepherds, and almost by the sheep, the more do we let ourselves go, in dark and gorgeous imaginative frescoes or pageants about the mystery and majesty of the Three Magian Kings.” - G.K. Chesterton
For our last episode of 2021, Phoebe is back again to discuss the wonderful paradox in celebrating Christmas that calls for both humility and extravagance. We discuss the mystery of the Christmas story, and the deep humility that Christ demonstrates to us in coming as a child in a manager, as well as our responding call to humility and generosity. We also discuss our need for splendour in our liturgies but also in our culture and our surroundings. We delve into the magic of The Nutcracker Ballet and the splendour to be found in our own Christmas decorations.
We hope you enjoy the episode and wish you all a very Merry Christmas and blessings for the new year ahead.
Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod
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
The Nutcracker - Royal Opera House
“The House of Christmas” by G.K. Chesterton
Sermons for Christmas and Epiphany by St. Augustine
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham
By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder
What’s Wrong with the World by G.K. Chesterton
Adela Cathcart by George MacDonald
“A Letter About Christmas” by Ronald Knox
“Preface to Paradise Lost” by C.S. Lewis
All Things Considered by G.K. Chesterton
What We’re Enjoying at the Moment
Phoebe: The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald
Rachel: Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives by Pope Benedict XVI
Friday Dec 10, 2021
Friday Dec 10, 2021
“A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.” - Italo Calvino
In this episode Rachel and Phoebe are back to discuss Classic literature, what is it and why does it matter? We take a look at our own reading journeys and our hopes to try to become “well-read”, as well as a look at what Classic literature means to us, the question of whether all reading is good reading, and the tips and tricks that have helped us tackle bigger and more imposing books.
We’d love to hear your own experiences and favourite classics, as well as any feedback about what the classics mean to you, and what books you think should be included.
Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod
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
Why Read the Classics by Italo Calvino
“On the Reading of Old Books” by C.S. Lewis
84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
The Collected Letters of CS Lewis, volume III: Narnia, Cambridge, and Joy 1950-1963
The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis
“Little Gidding” by T.S. Eliot
“The need for more Catholic authors” by Niall Gooch
Slightly Foxed Quartley Magazine
“End of audiobook snobbery as scientists find reading and listening activates the same parts of the brain”
What We’re Enjoying at the Moment
Phoebe: Wolfwalkers (2020) (Listen to our episode about Cartoon Saloon’s film’s here)
Rachel: Journals and Magazine - Slightly Foxed, The Lamp, Leaven, Country Living Magazine
Tuesday Nov 16, 2021
Tuesday Nov 16, 2021
Who will remember, passing through this Gate,
the unheroic dead who fed the guns?
Who shall absolve the foulness of their fate,-
Those doomed, conscripted, unvictorious ones?"
Siegfried Sassoon, 'On Passing The New Menin Gate'
November has for many centuries held a place for Catholics as the Month of the Dead, a time to reflect and pray for the departed. In the last century it has also become the month of commemorating The First World War as well as soldiers and veterans more broadly. In this episode of Risking Enchantment, Greg Daly joins us to discuss The Great War, how we remember it, how we commemorate it, and the complexities surrounding these commemorations.
We discuss the prevalence of poppies in Remembrance services, where that tradition comes from and why there is more to commemoration than paper flowers. We look at the experiences of those on the Western Front in the First World War and the soldier’s own complex feelings about topics such as heroism, morality and commemoration. Finally we also touch on the importance of incorporating their Christian faith into our remembrance of them.
Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod
Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Greg Daly
Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson
Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast
Follow Greg on social media: @GregDalyIC, @thirstygargoyle
http://thethirstygargoyle.blogspot.com/
Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com
Find out more about Leaven Magazine at https://leavenmagazine.ie/
Works Mentioned
“Why has Remembrance become weird?” by Niall Gooch
“The Future of Memory: Remembrance In Years To Come” by Niall Gooch
“In Flander’s Field” by John McCrae
“We Shall Keep the Faith” by Moina Michael
“On Passing the New Menin Gate” by Siegfried Sassoon
Blueprint for Armageddon - Hardcore History, podcast by Dan Carlin
They Shall Not Grow Old, dir. Peter Jackson
The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien
Now It Can Be Told by Philip Gibbs
What we’re enjoying at the moment:
Greg: Fraiser, Purgatorio, and Hell Boy Mark Minola
Rachel:
O Brother Where Art Thou,
The Hound of Death, by Agatha Christie, audiobook read by Christopher Lee
Friday Oct 22, 2021
Friday Oct 22, 2021
"I looked at her, with my mind full of that other lovely face which had so ominously recalled her to my memory on the terrace by moonlight. I had seen Anne Catherick's likeness in Miss Fairlie. I now saw Miss Fairlie's likeness in Anne Catherick."
- Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White
We are joined for this episode of Risking Enchantment by Catholic author Eleanor Bourg Nicholson. Eleanor has recently published two Gothic novels, A Bloody Habit (2018) and Brother Wolf (2021). She joins us to talk about the Gothic genre, and why it's both relevant and interesting to Catholic writers and readers. We also delve into the theme of gothic doubles, a theme powerfully explored in many of the classic novels of the genre including Dracula, Frankenstein and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
We also look at how the trope is explored in Sensation fiction, a genre adjacent to Gothic fiction, in particular in the novel The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. While Gothic fiction has the source of its uncanny doubling in the preternatural and phantasmagorical, Sensation fiction looks to the find the horror in the real societal problems found in the Victorian Age. Where the former genre examines how find ourselves reflected in the falleness of literal monsters, the latter genre examines how we find ourselves reflected in the villany and duplicity of our society.
Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Eleanor Bourg Nicholson
Follow Rachel on social media: @seekingwatson
Follow Eleanor on Facebook here.
Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast
Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com
Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast
Buy A Bloody Habit by Eleanor Bourg Nicholson here.
Buy Brother Wolf by Eleanor Bourg Nicholson here.
Find out more about Eleanor Bourg Nicholson's work with Homeschool Connections here.
Related Risking Enchantment Episodes:
Dracula: The Presence of Evil and the Power of Sacramentals
Monsters and Morality in Romanticism
Works Mentioned:
A Bloody Habit by Eleanor Bourg Nicholson
Brother Wolf by Eleanor Bourg Nicholson
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
The Victorian Age in Literature by G.K. Chesterton
What We're Enjoying at the Moment:
Eleanor: The Lord of the Rings on Audiobook
Rachel: The Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clarke
Monday Oct 11, 2021
Monday Oct 11, 2021
“For us, we like going back to a time—and I’m sure nostalgia is feeding into that—where cell phones and the internet weren’t around. If you went off with friends, it felt like you really could get lost on a grand adventure.”
- The Duffer Brothers
In this episode of Risking Enchantment I'm joined by Robyn Conroy, a professional animator who previously joined us for our episodes 'Cartoon Saloon: Celtic and Christian Coexistence' and 'The Prince of Egypt: An Epic in Animation'.
This time she joins us to discuss the hit Netflix series Stranger Things. Set in the 1980s in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana, Stranger Things is a sci-fi horror series centered on the supernatural events occurring around the town, including the appearance of a girl with psychic and telepathic abilities.
In the episode we discuss our love for the show and it's grounding in the virtues of loyalty, friendship and courage. We also talk about the complicated relationship our society has with the past and nostalgia, as typified by the success of Stranger Thing's 80's setting. We look at the negative effect of an over reliance on nostalgia, as well as a look at how the digital age might be impacting our ability to embrace the present and even encounter the mystery of our faith.
Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Robyn Conroy
Follow Rachel on social media: @seekingwatson
Follow Robyn on Instagram: @robynconroyart
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:
Stranger Things, created by The Duffer Brothers
"Why do we like 'Stranger Things' so much? A BYU professor explains"
On Fairy Stories by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Past Is a Foreign Country—Revisited by David Lowenthal
"Jack Antonoff has a 'Strange Desire' for the '80s"
1999 by Charli XCX
2002 by Anne-Marie
The 90s by Finneas
Coney Island ft. The National by Taylor Swift
"‘Stranger Things’ is all too familiar"
"The Strangness of Stranger Things"
What We're Enjoying at the Moment
Robyn: Take the Sadness out of Saturday Night by Bleacher
Rachel: An American in Paris