We want what other people have. We conjure up rivalries. And we scapegoat our enemies in the process. What on earth are we doing? Join me and Fr. Elias Carr as we unpack philosopher René Girard’s mimetic theory and the “scapegoat mechanism” on the Evangelization & Culture Podcast. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

What exactly is the “life of the mind”? Is it merely a matter of being bookish, bespectacled, and (*gasp*) potentially boring? Or is the “life of the mind” awash with limitless wonder, captivating wisdom, and life-changing vocation? Join me and St. John’s College tutor Dr. Zena Hitz as we dive deeply into the joyful adventure of intellectual formation as told in her award-winning book, Lost in Thought: The Hidden Pleasures of an Intellectual Life.  Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

In his new book, Dr. Carl Trueman writes, “The very rhetoric and concepts of critical theory, the other, intersectionality, and their like have become influential tools of wielding power rather than dismantling it. And so—as Frankfurt School members Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno themselves would no doubt point out—things have become their opposite; the liberator has become the tyrant, the tools of freedom have become the weapons of oppression.” Perhaps Goethe’s Mephistopheles captures critical theory best when he uttered to Faust, “I am the spirit that negates.” Join me and Dr. Carl Trueman as we discuss the philosophy and the danger of critical theory in his new book To Change All Worlds: Critical Theory from Marx to Marcuse. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

In the preface to Ryan Wilson and April Limner’s anthology, Contemporary Catholic Poetry, Ryan writes, “One of the things human beings are always forgetting is that the world is greater than any individual’s idea of it. The world is more complex, more manifold, more mysterious than any mortal mind can fully comprehend, as is the human individual.” As Henry David Thoreau once wrote, “I’ve never met a man who was fully awake.” Join me and Ryan Wilson as we discuss contemporary Catholic poetry and poetry’s magnificent wake-up call. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

A spirited debate has arisen in the Catholic scientific community: How do we understand intelligent design? Should Catholic scientists subscribe to a “God in the gaps” argument where scientifically inexplicable phenomena provide irrefutable evidence for the hand of God? Or should they understand intelligent design less through a biological lens than a philosophical lens helped by the works of St. Thomas Aquinas? As Catholics, if we believe God is the source and sustenance of creation, is the argument over intelligent design a quibbling quarrel or of seismic importance? Join me as I discuss The Question of Intelligent Design with professors Dan Kuebler and Christopher Baglow. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

What happens when a young law student volunteers for a presidential campaign one day, only to find himself assisting with President Nixon’s memoirs and penning President Reagan’s inaugural address the next? Through these surreal experiences, what did Ken Khachigian learn about his presidents, himself, and the complexity of human nature? Join me and Ken Khachigian as we discuss his gripping memoir, Behind Closed Doors: In the Room with Reagan and Nixon.  Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

What happens when a gaggle of talented Dominican priests and brothers, steeped in prayer and study, pick up guitar and banjo, fiddle and washboard? You get crackin’ good music for the front porch—music that explores the soaring heights of God and the gritty trudge of man. Join me and Fr. Justin Bolger as we delve into the inspiration for and the music of The Hillbilly Thomists. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

Catholicism is the inspiration for soaring architecture, exquisite artwork, and sublime music. But what about poetry? And where should one begin? Eminent poet and Catholic convert Sally Read tells us that, “Poetry is the sister of prayer.” Join me and Sally Read as we discuss the extraordinary works of Catholic verse over two millennia in 100 Great Catholic Poems. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

In a letter to the Massachusetts militia, John Adams wrote, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” What are the origins of our system of democracy? How is it faring in the modern world? And what becomes of democracy if it is no longer informed by a moral and religious sensibility? Join me and Bishop Barron, as we discuss the gripping perils and hopeful potential of democracy.  Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

What exactly is liberalism? And what has it become? Having evolved from a hard-earned freedom to be virtuous, to a freedom for unaccountable licentiousness, liberalism—according to Dr. Patrick Deneen—has failed. Join me and Dr. Deneen, author of Why Liberalism Failed and Regime Change, as we discuss what happened to a compelling idea and what we should do next. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

In 1978, a Soviet dissident and former Gulag prisoner Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn stood before the graduating class of Harvard University and offered the commencement address. But it wasn’t the address they expected (or necessarily wanted). In fact, it caused great angst among the contented intellectual classes. Join me and Dr. Gary Saul Morson, eminent professor of Russian literature as we consider the shock and lasting relevance of Solzhenitsyn’s Harvard address.  Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

G.K. Chesterton once observed, “What the world wants, what the world is waiting for, is not Modern Poetry or Classical Poetry or Neo-Classical Poetry—but Good Poetry.” Well, have I got some good poetry for you! Join me and award-winning poet James Matthew Wilson as we delve into why poetry matters and unpack excerpts from his new book, Saint Thomas and the Forbidden Birds. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

Contrary to the opinion of many outside of the Catholic Church, Mary is not worshiped—she is loved and venerated. As the earthly Mother of God, Mary prays with us and for us, forever telling us what she told friends at the Wedding at Cana, “Do whatever Jesus tells you.” Join me and journalist Alexandra DeSanctis as we explore the strength and beauty of the Mother of God and just why Mary matters. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

Recently, Fr. Stephen Gadberry found an otherwise idyllic Saturday morning upset by a searing engagement with a parishioner in need. Reflecting on the experience later, he mused, “You have a plan and God has a plan and your plan doesn’t matter.” Join me and Fr. Stephen Gadberry as we discuss life’s uncertain paths and the loving God who forever accompanies us.  Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

In the wake of a willful youth and a harrowing brush with death, Tammy Peterson discovered something: she is not in control. Through reluctant surrender and a budding trust, a prayerful companion, and a grandmother’s Rosary, Tammy Peterson found her way to the Catholic Church. Join Tod and Tammy Peterson as they explore her winding road and exhilarating entry into the rich graces of the Catholic faith.   Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

In the ruinous aftermath of the Second World War, the Catholic intellectual tradition found itself at a crossroads. Had the wisdom of St. Thomas Aquinas, an anchoring point for over half a century, sufficed in responding to the ideological inferno that was World War II? Or was there a need for a Ressourcement—a “return to the sources” of our Catholic faith, including the Church Fathers? Join Tod and Dr. Jason Paone as they delve into the intellectual history of the Ressourcement movement and why Word on Fire believes it is necessary for a New Ressourcement today.     Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

The word “humanism” was still in its nineteenth century infancy when it was stolen and transformed by Marxists and atheists. But, today, is there a religious humanism that champions human dignity, acknowledges man’s response to God’s saving grace, and wills the good of the other on their way to God? Join me and Professor Randall Poole as we discuss a Catholic humanism that invigorates the spirit while rebutting empty ideology. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

“The truth doesn’t change according to your ability to stomach it emotionally.” So said the ingenious, straight-talking novelist Flannery O’Connor. Who profoundly influenced the faith and fiction of one of the finest (and most shocking) writers of the twentieth century? None other than St. Thomas Aquinas. Join Tod and Fr. Damian Ference as they explore the thought of Flannery O’Connor in his powerful new book, Understanding the Hillbilly Thomist. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

What would happen if a brilliant philosopher penned influential works that undermine the religious and moral underpinnings of society only to replace them with utility and appetite? It doesn’t end well. Join Tod and Professor Aaron Alexander Zubia as we dive into his new book, The Political Thought of David Hume. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

Crushed under an oppressive Communist regime in twentieth century Czechoslovakia, Václav Havel decided that enough was enough. Taking to his pen, the playwright and dissident crafted essays that changed the landscape of resistance. Join me and Professor Flagg Taylor as we unpack Stories and Totalitarianism and The Power of the Powerless, two of Havel’s penetrating essays that still have enduring impact to this very day. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

When everything is telling people to do things in a way that will make them sick, fat, and unhealthy, to be healthy is an act of rebellion. In his 2021 book The Resistance Training Revolution, Mind Pump host and fitness trainer Sal Di Stefano bluntly tells us the fitness industry has been plagued with more myths than ancient Greece. Join us as Sal and I discuss fitness and faith. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

The year was 1984 when a sixteen-year-old Mike Piazza had a visitor come to watch him hit baseballs in the batting cage his father crafted at their Phoenixville, PA home. The keen-eyed and deeply impressed visitor was none other than Ted Williams, the greatest baseball hitter of all time. Join me and Hall of Fame catcher Mike Piazza as we explore his life in baseball and his Catholic faith. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

To explore the history of the Catholic Church is to encounter soaring heights and catastrophic depths, the grace of the Divine and the grit of our sin. At the center of this two-millennia spiritual odyssey has been the goodness of the saints, the beauty of the arts, and the pride of fallen man. How do we begin to comprehend the seismic sweep and enduring impact of our Catholic history? Join me and Joseph Pearce as we pore over his new book, The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful.  Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

When we pray the Liturgy of the Hours, we are transformed by our encounter with the Divine. When we sing the Liturgy of the Hours, we encounter the Divine in a new and sublime light. How does singing center our worship? Join me and Paul Rose of SingTheHours.org as we explore how our prayer lives can deepen as we enflesh the bones of sacred prayer with sublime music.  Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly here, on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

What does it take to be named Adolf Hitler’s “Enemy Number One”? According to the life of Catholic philosopher Dietrich von Hildebrand—the man the Nazis hated—it takes uncommon courage, conviction, and clarity. Join me and John Henry Crosby, the president and founder of The Hildebrand Project, as we discuss Hildebrand’s gripping memoirs, My Battle Against Hitler.  Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

“In almost all of [Seneca’s] tragedies,” sixteenth century playwright Giambattisa Giraldi Cinthio confessed, “he surpassed . . . all the Greeks who ever wrote—in wisdom, in gravity, in decorum, in majesty, and in memorable aphorism.” And yet no one seems to remember him. Who was this ingenious ancient Roman thinker and writer? Join me and celebrated poet Dana Gioia as we discuss Seneca’s The Madness of Hercules and why Seneca is still supremely relevant today. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

While many argue that Adolf Hitler was “made” upon the 1939 outbreak of World War II or his 1933 accession to the Chancellorship of Germany, one historian reasons that the ordinary man became Führer in 1923. With the French occupying industrial portions of Germany, the economy fell into a tailspin and political radicalism skyrocketed. This led a rabid German corporal with a toothbrush mustache to orchestrate the infamous Beer Hall Putsch. Join me and Professor Mark Jones as we discuss the rarely considered origins of Adolf Hitler in his book, 1923.  Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or on your favorite podcast hosting platform. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

How did a young, passionate politico rise to accompany Richard Nixon into the Oval Office only to find himself convicted and imprisoned for false statements about political dirty tricks? Join Tod and former Deputy Assistant to the President, Dwight Chapin, as we explore his rise and fall and the lessons learned about the complexity of human nature in his gripping memoir, The President’s Man. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or on your favorite podcast hosting platform. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

What happens when a cradle Catholic wanders from his faith, succeeds brilliantly as a Protestant in the Academy, only to find himself convicted through his own research and the grace of God of the truth of the Catholic Faith? As G.K. Chesterton wrote, “The moment a man ceases to pull against the Church he feels a tug towards it. . . . The moment he tries to be fair to it he begins to be fond of it. Join me and Professor Francis Beckwith as we explore his tale of a Catholic reversion. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or on your favorite podcast hosting platform. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

The respected, middle-aged Kate Montclair has an inoperable brain cancer. She is going to die. But how? Her friend Adele, the vivacious leader of the Death Symposium, knows just how to help her. Join me and Christendom associate professor of philosophy and novelist Daniel McInerny as we explore the profound tensions and irresistible temptations surrounding incurable illness and the fashionable choice of euthanasia. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or on your favorite podcast hosting platform. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

"I am inclined to set it up as a canon,” C.S. Lewis clucked, “that a children’s story that is enjoyed only by children is a bad children’s story.” To read children’s literature as a child is to be immersed in a world of wonder. To read them again as an adult is to begin to understand what they truly meant. Join me and Word on Fire Spark Editor Haley Stewart as we explore exactly why children’s literature matters. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or on your favorite podcast hosting platform. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

“When Christ calls a man, he bids them come and die.” So said Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer who was executed by the Nazis at Flossenbürg concentration camp. True commitment to Christ is no lark; it is seismic. Join me and Bishop Robert Barron as we discuss The Strangest Way—the nature, impact, and responsibility that comes with authentic conversion to Catholicism. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or on your favorite podcast hosting platform. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

What happens when you assert control, determine your destiny, and then find out that you are going to die shortly from an incurable cancer? If you are Tammy Peterson, you embrace the cross, pray the Rosary, and find yourself completely and utterly transformed. Join me and Tammy Peterson as we explore her harrowing journey from the consuming darkness of cancer to the blinding light of Christ. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or on your favorite podcast hosting platform. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

What if there was an incandescent Truth, but no one felt it worth fighting for? Meet Turnbull and MacIan, a fiery atheist editor and an ardent Catholic highlander, as they physically duel and verbally joust over the highest of things while an ideological world conspires to affect their silence. Join me and the President of the Society for G.K. Chesterton, Dale Ahlquist, as we explore Chesterton’s ingenious novel, The Ball and the Cross. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or on your favorite podcast hosting platform. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

Before Pope John Paul II shook the foundations of the Communist world, there was the inspired witness and breathtaking courage of Hungary’s József Cardinal Mindszenty. Carrying a picture of Christ bearing his crown of thorns, Mindszenty drew strength from its Latin inscription, Devictus vincit (Defeated, he is victorious). Join me and Professor Daniel Mahoney as we delve into the gripping Memoirs of Cardinal Mindszenty which reveal the faith of a Catholic giant and the crucible in which he was formed. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or on your favorite podcast hosting platform. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

How did four English women—a genius, a firecracker, a polymath, and a synthesizer—enter a stultifying philosophical milieu at Oxford and change ethics forever? Join me as I discuss Elizabeth Anscombe, Iris Murdoch, Mary Midgely, and Phillipa Foot with Professor Benjamin Lipscomb and his captivating book, The Women Are Up to Something. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or on your favorite podcast hosting platform. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

French pediatrician and geneticist Jérôme Lejeune insisted, “We need to be clear: The quality of a civilization can be measured by the respect it has for its weakest members. There is no other criterion.” After he criticized the cozy relationship between the scientific community and the practice of aborting patients with Down syndrome, Lejeune wrote to his wife, “Today, I lost my Nobel prize.” Join me and Mark Bradford, the Word on Fire Fellow for Persons with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, as we discuss how Jérôme Lejeune changed his life and the lives of those with challenging disabilities. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or on your favorite podcast hosting platform. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

Friends, why do we love being distracted from the important things of life? The great French philosopher Blaise Pascal observed, “The sole cause of man’s unhappiness is that he does not know how to stay quietly in his room.” On today’s episode of “The Word on Fire Show,” Brandon Vogt and I discuss why it is so hard to be still and contemplate reality, and how we can get better at it. A listener asks, what are some things laity can do to build unity in the Church? Links Bishop Barron at World Youth Day Christianity for Modern Pagans: Pascal’s Pensees Edited, Outlined, and Explained by Peter Kreeft Saintly Creatures: 14 Tales of Animals and Their Holy Companions by Alexi Sargeant NOTE: Do you like this podcast? Become a patron and get some great perks for helping, like free books, bonus content, and more. Word on Fire is a non-profit ministry that depends on the support of our listeners…like you! So be part of this mission, and join us today!

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia possessed a towering intellect, a sharp wit, and a deep Catholic faith. When asked if Justice Scalia was cognizant of the grand impression he made, his daughter Meg would answer, “Oh, yes. I mean, he was putting on a show—but it was a great show.” Join me and Newsmax Chief White House Correspondent James Rosen and author of Scalia: Rise to Greatness as we explore the character and jurisprudence of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or on your favorite podcast hosting platform. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

Fr. Leonard Andrie writes, “Isolated and exhausted, Elijah, the worn-out prophet lies by a broom tree. He is, without question, a portrait of despair. He not only wants to resign his office as prophet but says in exasperation, ‘It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors’ (1 Kings 19:4).”  He asks to die because of his perceived failure. But God is not done with him yet. And, likewise, he is not done with you. Join me in the Spirit-filled conversation with St. Therese of Deephaven’s Fr. Leonard Andrie. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or on your favorite podcast hosting platform. Get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

According to Dr. Tracey Rowland, “Pope Benedict XVI was not just a shy man who enjoyed writing books, listening to Mozart, and feeding stray cats, but a Church Doctor with an absolutely reliable sense for where the theological ‘true north’ lies.” Join me and internationally renowned and Ratzinger Prize awarded Benedict XVI scholar, Dr. Tracey Rowland, as we explore the astounding intellectual legacy of Pope Benedict XVI. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or on your favorite podcast hosting platform. Get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

What happens when a young writer with a graduate degree finds himself out of work, out of money, yet insatiably hungry for purpose? If you are Joshua Hren, you launch Wiseblood Books, a burgeoning publishing company that champions creative, award-winning fiction of great sublimity and Catholic sensibility. Join us as we explore the art of Catholic publishing with Dr. Joshua Hren.   Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or on your favorite podcast hosting platform. Get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

What Belarusian Svetlana Alexievich observed, upon winning the Nobel Prize for Literature, could as easily be ascribed to the Russian novelists: “Suffering is our capital, our national resource. . . Not oil or gas—but suffering.” What is it about Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, Chekhov and Turgenev that so keenly wrestles with suffering and the human soul? Dr. Gary Saul Morson, a scholar of Russian literature at Northwestern University, joins me in exploring the depths of suffering in Russian literature.  Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or on your favorite podcast hosting platform. Get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

Living as a young man under Nazi occupation, a priest enduring Communist oppression, and a pope in an unbelievable world, St. John Paul II was no stranger to suffering. Eminent thinker and papal biographer, George Weigel, insists that John Paul II was a towering spiritual father because he "knew suffering from the inside." Join us as we explore what St. John Paul II can teach us about faith and suffering in the modern world. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or on your favorite podcast hosting platform. Get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

Catholicism engages everything. In the Evangelization & Culture Podcast, Tod Worner discusses faith and politics, history and literature, art and humor, work and leisure—everything. Catholicism is the joyful secret meant to be shared—with everyone, everywhere, and for all time. In each episode, you'll hear stimulating conversation with renowned intellectuals of our time. Tod also shares a reflection of his own and a book recommendation.   Get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.