Ascend - The Great Books Podcast
Welcome to Ascend!
We are a weekly Great Books podcast hosted by Deacon Harrison Garlick and Adam Minihan.
What are the Great Books?
The Great Books are the most impactful texts that have shaped Western civilization. They include ancients like Homer, Plato, St. Augustine, Dante, and St. Thomas Aquinas, and also moderns like Machiavelli, Locke, and Nietzsche. We will explore the Great Books with the light of the Catholic intellectual tradition.
Why should we read the Great Books?
Everyone is a disciple of someone. A person may have never read Locke or Nietzsche, but he or she thinks like them. Reading the Great Books allows us to reclaim our intellect and understand the origin of the ideas that shape our world. We enter a "great conversation" amongst the most learned, intelligent humans in history and benefit from their insights.
Is this for first-time readers?
YES. Our goal is to host meaningful conversations on the Great Books by working through the texts in chronological order in a slow, attentive manner. Our host Adam Minihan is a first-time reader of Homer. We will start shallow and go deep. All are invited to join.
Will any resources be available?
YES. We are providing a free 115 Question & Answer Guide to the Iliad written by Deacon Harrison Garlick in addition to our weekly conversations. It will be available on the website (launching next week).
Go pick up a copy of the Iliad!
We look forward to reading Homer with you in 2024.
Latest Episode
Previous Episodes
- Teaching Plato's First Alcibiades with Dr. Daniel Shields 19.08.2025
- First Alcibiades by Plato Part Two with Alec Bianco and Athenian Stranger 12.08.2025
- First Alcibiades by Plato Part One with Alec Bianco and Athenian Stranger 05.08.2025
- The Life of Alcibiades by Plutarch with Alex from Cost of Glory 29.07.2025
- Plato 101: An Introduction with Friends 22.07.2025
- NEW BOOK: The Transhumanist Temptation with Grayson Quay 16.07.2025
- Homer and the Greek Plays: A Roundtable with Friends 15.07.2025
- The Frogs by Aristophanes with Tsh Oxenreider 08.07.2025
- The Clouds by Aristophanes with Dr. Zina Hitz 01.07.2025
- Madness and Piety: A Discussion on The Bacchae Part II 24.06.2025
- Madness and Piety: A Discussion on The Bacchae Part I 17.06.2025
- Cursed by the Gods: Oedipus at Colonus Part Two 10.06.2025
- Cursed by the Gods: Oedipus at Colonus Part One 03.06.2025
- Know Thyself: A Discussion on Oedipus the King by Sophocles 27.05.2025
- The Dark Sign of the Gods: Antigone by Sophocles Part II 20.05.2025
- The Dark Sign of the Gods: Antigone by Sophocles Part I 13.05.2025
- Prometheus Bound by Aeschylus with Dr. Jared Zimmerer 06.05.2025
- How to Read the Bible like St. Thomas Aquinas and Dante 29.04.2025
- Lying as Contraceptive Speech: Lessons from Dante's Inferno 22.04.2025
- Dante's Inferno Ep. 7: Cantos 32-34 with Evan Amato 15.04.2025
