A Great Books Monastery | Episode LXXIX
12/01/24 • 47 min
When civilization is crashing down all around you, what do you do? Retreat to the hills, build a monastery, and preserve what you can. That is exactly what Cassiodorus did in the 6th century when he founded the Vivarium, an Italian monastery dedicated to copying, emending, and preserving the classics of Greek and Roman literature. In this episode, Jonathan and Ryan take a look at the proposed curriculum and list of great books and authors that Cassiodorus recommended for his students.
Richard M. Gamble's The Great Tradition: https://amzn.to/3Q4lRnO
Rule of Saint Benedict: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780375700170
Athanasius' Life of Anthony: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780809122950
Virgil's Georgics: https://amzn.to/417pzFK
New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/
Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.
Music: Save Us Now by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
When civilization is crashing down all around you, what do you do? Retreat to the hills, build a monastery, and preserve what you can. That is exactly what Cassiodorus did in the 6th century when he founded the Vivarium, an Italian monastery dedicated to copying, emending, and preserving the classics of Greek and Roman literature. In this episode, Jonathan and Ryan take a look at the proposed curriculum and list of great books and authors that Cassiodorus recommended for his students.
Richard M. Gamble's The Great Tradition: https://amzn.to/3Q4lRnO
Rule of Saint Benedict: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780375700170
Athanasius' Life of Anthony: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780809122950
Virgil's Georgics: https://amzn.to/417pzFK
New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/
Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.
Music: Save Us Now by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
Previous Episode
The Barren Contemplative Life | Episode LXXVIII
This week, Jonathan and Ryan discuss two early medieval selections from Richard M. Gamble's The Great Tradition, one taken from Gregory the Great, perhaps the most significant pope in the history of Christendom, and another from Alcuin of York, adviser to Charlemagne and architect of the Carolingian Renaissance. Both Gregory and Alcuin were churchmen, statesmen, scholars, and are linked closely to the Christianization of Britain. Jonathan and Ryan discuss the relation between rational thought and proper grammar, the Great Books according to Medievals, and whether education properly belongs to the contemplative life or the active life.
Richard M. Gamble's The Great Tradition: https://amzn.to/3Q4lRnO
Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780140445657
New Humanists episode with Tim Griffith on Latin Teaching: https://newhumanists.buzzsprout.com/1791279/episodes/14692390-the-art-of-language-teaching-feat-tim-griffith-episode-lxiv
Andrew Beck interview in Align: https://www.theblaze.com/align/interview-beck-stone-co-founder-andrew-beck
New Humanists episode with John Peterson: https://newhumanists.buzzsprout.com/1791279/episodes/12698279-education-that-makes-aquinas-look-modern-feat-john-peterson-episode-xlvi
New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/
Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.
Music: Save Us Now by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
Next Episode
What the Modern World Lost | Episode LXXX
Representative government, freedom of religion, the right to privacy - these are just some of the liberties of the modern world which we cherish. But at what cost? After the French Revolution and the subsequent rise and fall of Napoleon, the French classical liberal Benjamin Constant undertook an examination of ancient liberty as compared to modern liberty, in a bid to defend the modern liberal project against its detractors. But Constant is honest about the downsides of the modern liberal regime, and explains what rights and powers from the ancient world modern men can no longer exercise.
Benjamin Constant's The Liberty of Ancients Compared with that of Moderns: https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/constant-the-liberty-of-ancients-compared-with-that-of-moderns-1819
Jean-Jacques Rousseau's The Social Contract: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780141191751
Thucydides' The Peloponnesian War: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780684827902
Herodotus' Histories: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781400031146
Stendhal's The Red and the Black: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780140447644
Julius Caesar's The Gallic War: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780674990807
New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/
Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.
Music: Save Us Now by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
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