Josh Bowman chats with Commander William Spears, who serves as a submarine warfare officer in the U.S. Navy. He is also a scholar, writing on topics of leadership and military ethics. He is the author of the recently released book, Stoicism as a Warrior Philosophy (Casemate, 2025), which examines the morality of war and military service through the lens of Stoic philosophy. And that book is our topic today! We discuss the importance of the stoics, virtue, Cicero, Seneca, and more. Link to the book: https://www.casematepublishers.com/9781636246239/stoicism-as-a-warrior-philosophy/ https://williamcspears.com/  ====== The 2026 Ciceronian Society Conference will be held March 12-14 at Creighton University in Omaha, NE.   To learn more about us, our events, this Podcast, our journal, Pietas, to sign up for our newsletter, and TO make your tax deductible gift, please go to https://ciceroniansociety.org/

Josh Bowman chats with Rev. Michael Langer, founder and president of Faithful Presence. As explained on its website, “Faithful Presence is a ministry in our nation's capital, equipping servants and leaders to flourish as they participate in Christ’s mission of making all things new through offering intentional spiritual, emotional, relational, vocational, ideological, cultural, and evangelical discipleship.” We discuss the nature of whole-life discipleship, its importance for Christians in the “public square,” and much more.  To learn more, visit: https://faithful-presence.org/about The 2026 Ciceronian Society Conference will be held March 12-14 at Creighton University in Omaha, NE.   To learn more about us, our events, this Podcast, our journal, Pietas, to sign up for our newsletter, and to make your tax deductible gift, please go to https://ciceroniansociety.org/

Josh Bowman chats with Paul Gutacker, Executive Director of Brazos Fellows, based in Waco, Texas. Brazos Fellows is an annual program that welcomes a small cohort of emerging adults to commit to a common Rule of Life, embrace a rhythm of prayer, study, work, Sabbath, and community, all rooted in the life and worship of a local parish, Christ Church Waco (ACNA). To learn more and apply to be a fellow, visit: https://www.brazosfellows.com/  The standard application deadline is March 1.  Applications open on October 1, and the early consideration deadline is December 1. ====== The 2026 Ciceronian Society Conference will be held March 12-14 at Creighton University in Omaha, NE.   To learn more about us, our events, this Podcast, our journal, Pietas, to sign up for our newsletter, and to make your tax deductible gift, please go to https://ciceroniansociety.org/

Josh Bowman chats with Dr. Alex Fogleman, Associate Dean for Special Programs and Assistant Professor of Theology at Trinity Anglican Seminary, where he oversees the Robert E. Webber Center and the Doctor of Ministry program. He also directs the Catechesis Task Force for the Anglican Church of North America. He is the author of Knowledge, Faith, and Early Christian Initiation (Cambridge University Press, 2023), and the subject of this episode, Making Disciples: Catechesis in History, Theology, and Practice (Eerdmans, 2025), which received awards of merit from The Gospel Coalition and Christianity Today. We dive into church history, Christian formation, discipleship, catechesis, place, friendship, and much more. Buy the book here:  https://www.eerdmans.com/9781467467759/making-disciples/ Robert E. Webber Centerhttps://tas.edu/webber/ The 2026 Ciceronian Society Conference will be held March 12-14 at Creighton University in Omaha, NE.   To learn more about us, our events, this Podcast, our journal, Pietas, to sign up for our newsletter, and  to make your tax deductible gift, please go to https://ciceroniansociety.org/

Josh Bowman is joined by John D. Wilsey, James Patterson, Claire Baker, and Annie Crawford for an entertaining reflection on the seasons of Advent and Christmas. We discuss holiday favorites and how the Ciceronian themes of Tradition, Place, and ‘Things Divine’ come alive this time of year. If you enjoy conversations like this, please consider registering for our upcoming conference, March 12-14 at Creighton University in Omaha, NE. https://ciceroniansociety.org/conference/2026-conference-registration/ Merry Christmas!

Josh Bowman reflects on where the Ciceronian Society has been in 2025 and where we’re going in 2026. He also offers some commentary on where we as Christians find ourselves socially and culturally, and what that means for institutions like ours.  If you’re grateful for this Podcast and for the work of the Ciceronian Society, please prayerfully consider a year-end gift. There are several ways to give, with more information found here: https://ciceroniansociety.org/donate/ To learn more about the upcoming conference and to register, visit https://ciceroniansociety.org/conference/ Link to From Christendom to Apostolic Mission, published by the Univ. of Mary: https://bookstore.umary.edu/MerchDetail?MerchID=1638495&num=0&start=9&end=12&type=1&CategoryName=Books&CatID=29630&Name=Books#.YPb7oRNKhTZ

Chris Anadale and Bill Batchelder interview Madeleine Austin, winner of the 2025 Batchelder Award for the Study of Place. Her winning paper was titled "An Everyman's Environmentalism: Love of Place as a Virtue." Madeleine lives in Pittsboro, North Carolina with her husband, Joshua. She is a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute and the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, where she completed her MA in Political Theory in 2024. Chris is podcast editor for the Ciceronian Society and Associate Professor of Philosophy at Mount St. Mary's University in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Bill is chairman of the Ciceronian Society and Professor of History at Waynesburg University. The Batchelder Award was established in memory of Bill’s father.  More about the Batchelder Award: https://ciceroniansociety.org/conference/batchelder-award/ Recent essay by Madeleine: https://www.frontporchrepublic.com/2025/08/the-way-from-st-martins-on-the-virtue-of-paths/ 0:00 Introduction 1:45 About the Batchelder Award 7:21 Conversation The 2026 Ciceronian Society Conference will be held March 12-14 at Creighton University in Omaha, NE.   To learn more about us, our events, this Podcast, our journal, Pietas, to sign up for our newsletter, and to make your tax deductible gift, please go to https://ciceroniansociety.org/

Josh Bowman chats with the Acton Institute’s Dylan Pahman about his new book, The Kingdom of God and the Common Good: Orthodox Christian Social Thought (Ancient Faith Press). We discuss the history of, and possibilities for, Orthodox Christianity in its engagement with questions of social and economic thought.   Buy the book here: https://store.ancientfaith.com/the-kingdom-of-god-and-the-common-good-orthodox-christian-social-thought/ St. Nicholas Cabasilas Institute: https://cabasilasinstitute.org/ The 2026 Ciceronian Society Conference will be held March 12-14 at Creighton University in Omaha, NE.   To learn more about us, our events, this Podcast, our journal, Pietas, to sign up for our newsletter, and to make your tax deductible gift, please go to https://ciceroniansociety.org/

This special episode is a recording from our 2025 Conference in Harrisonburg, Virginia. The panel is "Inspirations for Classical Education," and the speakers are: Stephen McGinley (Mount St. Mary's University & Good Soil Farm) - "Festivity, Education, and Farming" Gerald Boersma (Ave Maria University) - "A Pagan Paideia and the Contested Ressourcement of the Fathers" Mary Clare Young (University of Virginia) - "The Virtuous Classroom: Lessons from a Roman Educator" Mandi Gerth (University of Dallas) - "The Poetic Discipline: Lousie Cowan and the Necessity of Literature in Liberal Education" If you like this panel, please consider attending our next conference, March 12-14, 2026, in Omaha, Nebraska. For details, go to https://ciceroniansociety.org/conference/2026-conference-registration/ 0:00 Episode Introduction 1:56 Panel Introduction 3:28 McGinley 28:25 Boersma 49:38 Gerth 1:09:41 Young

Josh Bowman chats with Winston Brady of Thales Press and Thales Academy about his evocative and moving novel, The Inferno (Fidelis Press, 2023). We discuss the nature of sin and repentance, as well as themes of vice, evil, greed, American History, suicide, depression, and Hell. Winston’s story, creatively described in his novel, is a testimony of God’s redeeming love and forgiveness.  ** This episode discusses suicide and may contain content that is disturbing to some. Listener discretion is advised. Also, if you are experiencing a mental health crisis, please seek immediate help from a professional or from emergency services. For example, dial 988, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. ** Buy the book here: https://www.fidelispublishing.com/authors/winston-brady The 2026 Ciceronian Society Conference will be held March 12-14 at Creighton University in Omaha, NE.   To learn more about us, our events, this Podcast, our journal, Pietas, to sign up for our newsletter, and to make your tax deductible gift, please go to https://ciceroniansociety.org/

This special episode is a recording from our 2025 Conference in Harrisonburg, Virginia. The panel is "Theological Perspectives on the Market," and the speakers are: John Robinson (James Madison University) - "Scarcity, Isolation, and Dependence: Economic Insight in CS Lewis's The Great Divorce" Erik Matson (Mercatus Center) - "Economics and Evil" Paul Radich (Catholic University of America) - "From the Invisible Hand to the Inexorable Hammer: Cosmological Affinity between Adam Smith and Karl Marx" Dylan Pahman (Acton Institute) - "The Fourth Face of Power: Toward a Pure Theory of Friendship" If you like this panel, please consider attending our next conference, March 12-14, 2026, in Omaha, Nebraska. For details, go to https://ciceroniansociety.org/conference/2026-conference-registration/ 0:00 Episode Introduction 1:56 Panel Introduction 4:15 Robinson 15:30 Matson 32:47 Radich 47:28 Pahman 1:07:31 Q & A To find out more about our activities, sign up for our newsletter, or make your tax-deductible gift, please visit https://ciceroniansociety.org/

Josh Bowman leads a discussion on the recently republished 1973 book The Social Philosophers: Community and Conflict in Western Thought (American Philosophical Society Press, 2025) by the American sociologist Robert Nisbet (1913-1996). Joining him are Luke Sheahan of Duquesne University, author of the foreword to this edition, and Paul Mueller of the American Institute for Economic Research.  Nisbet’s book focuses on the historical development of communities that he categorizes as military, political, religious, revolutionary, ecological, and plural. Which community is dominant today? What are communities even for?  To check out the book itself, go to: https://www.amphilsoc.org/publications/social-philosophers-community-and-conflict-western-thought The 2026 Ciceronian Society Conference will be held March 12-14 at Creighton University in Omaha, NE.   To learn more about us, our events, this Podcast, our journal, Pietas, to sign up for our newsletter, and to make your tax deductible gift, please go to https://ciceroniansociety.org/

This special episode is a recording of a panel at the June 2025 meeting of the Academy of Philosophy and Letters in College Park, Maryland. We are grateful to the APL for their permission to publish this recording. The panel is titled "Book Roundtable – Aristocratic Voices: Forgotten Arguments about Virtue, Authority, and Inequality" and the panelists are: Ethan Alexander-Davey, Campbell University, “Aristocracy and the Forms That Fit” Matthew T. Cantirino, The University of Dallas, “Henry Adams: Aristocracy in an American?” Luke C. Sheahan, Duquesne University, “Authority, Hierarchy, and the Social Bond in the Aristocratic Thought of Robert Nisbet” Michael Federici, Middle Tennessee State University, “Irving Babbitt on Democracy and Leadership” Michael Harding, Montgomery College, “Against the Tarantulas: Nietzsche on Aristocracy” To find out more about our activities, sign up for our newsletter, or make your tax-deductible gift, please visit https://ciceroniansociety.org/ To learn more about the APL and their programs, visit https://philosophyandletters.org/ The APL 2025 Conference schedule is here: https://philosophyandletters.org/2025/02/14/2025-conference-schedule/ 0:00 Introduction 7:51 Ethan Alexander-Davey, Panel Introduction 20:52 Matthew Cantirino on Henry Adams 37:13 Luke Sheahan on Robert Nisbet 49:35 Michael Federici on Irving Babbit 1:01:09 Michael Harding on Nietzsche's Tarantulas

Josh Bowman talks with Kevin DeJuan Lewis Jr., the state of Michigan’s director for an organization called TakeCharge. “TakeCharge is committed to supporting the notion that the promise of America is available to everyone regardless of race or social station.” The organization focuses primarily on renewing families, marriages, and faith among Black Americans.   To learn more, visit https://takechargeus.com/   The 2026 Ciceronian Society Conference will be held March 12-14 at Creighton University in Omaha, NE.   To learn more about us, our events, this Podcast, our journal, Pietas, to sign up for our newsletter, and to make your tax deductible gift, please go to https://ciceroniansociety.org/

This special episode is a recording from our 2025 Conference in Harrisonburg, Virginia. The panel is "The Gifts of Christian Humanism," and the speakers are: Chris Armstrong (Anselm House) - "Twentieth Century Christian Humanism and the Retrieval of the Premodern Real" Darryl Falconburg (Russell Kirk Center) - "Christian Humanism and the Renewal of Education" Jason Jewell (State University System of Florida) - "Irving Babbitt and the Natural Law" If you like this panel, please consider attending our next conference, March 12-14, 2026, in Omaha, Nebraska. For details, go to https://ciceroniansociety.org/conference/2026-conference-registration/ 0:00 Introduction1:34 Biographies & Prayer4:43 Armstrong24:52 Falconburg44:09 Jewell1:02:52 Q & A 

Josh Bowman speaks with Joy Moore, a Nebraska native, mother, and writer now living in South Dakota. She is also an adjunct law professor at the Univ. of South Dakota. This episode focuses on her newest project concerning the topic of friendship. The 2026 Ciceronian Society Conference will be held March 12-14 at Creighton University in Omaha, NE.  We hope you’ll join us! Register here: https://ciceroniansociety.org/conference/2026-conference-registration/ To learn more about us, our events, this Podcast, our journal, Pietas, to sign up for our newsletter, and make your tax deductible gift, please go to https://ciceroniansociety.org/

Josh Bowman interviews Nate Roberts, founder of the Michigan Academy of Folk Music (MAFM). (This 2025 episode combines 2 episodes previously published in 2023.) In the first half of this episode, we talk through Nate and MAFM’s approach to music education and its overlap with classical education, homeschooling, and more. In the second half, we talk about the role of music in discipleship and moral and spiritual formation generally. https://www.mifolkmusic.com/ Listeners may be interested to hear some of Nate’s recordings. Search for the following albums where you listen to music: Unadorned and Commonplace by Hayes Griffin & Nate Roberts Structures by Nate Roberts and Doug Scheuerell Dendrophilia by Nate Roberts Trio The Meaning of a Tree by the Field Hymnal If you enjoy learning and writing about any of the topics discussed in this Podcast, we encourage you to visit our website to sign-up for our newsletter and to register for our upcoming conference. https://ciceroniansociety.org/

Ethan Alexander-Davey and Glenn Cronin discuss the penetrating insights of the 19th century Russian Orthodox writer Konstantin Leontiev, an aristocratic voice who has become an important figure in Russian intellectual and political life since 1991, but remains unknown in the West. The conversation focuses on Dr. Cronin’s recent book, Disenchanted Wanderer: The Apocalyptic Vision of Konstantin Leontiev. Leontiev’s political philosophy combines a Nietzschean aestheticism with Orthodox Christian culture, which he called “Byzantinism.” Works by Glenn Cronin Disenchanted Wanderer: The Apocalyptic Vision of Konstantin Leontiev https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501760181/disenchanted-wanderer/   The Enduring Enigma of Lev Tikhomirov https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501783456/the-enduring-enigma-of-lev-tikhomirov/#bookTabs=1   Works by Ethan Alexander-Davey Aristocratic Souls in Democratic Times https://www.amazon.com/Aristocratic-Souls-Democratic-Political-Theory/dp/1498553265/   Aristocracy and the Καλλίπολις: Konstantin Leontiev and the Politics of ‘Flourishing Complexity' https://www.academia.edu/44382561/Aristocracy_and_the_%CE%9A%CE%B1%CE%BB%CE%BB%CE%AF%CF%80%CE%BF%CE%BB%CE%B9%CF%82_Konstantin_Leontiev_and_the_Politics_of_Flourishing_Complexity   Konstantin Leontiev in English Byzantinism and Slavdom https://www.amazon.com/Byzantinism-Slavdom-Konstantin-Leontiev/dp/B08LNLCLCL/   Lev Tikhomirov in English Why I Ceased to be a Revolutionary https://www.amazon.com/Why-Ceased-Revolutionary-Beginnings-Ends/dp/B08LNJKZ96/ The 2026 Ciceronian Society Conference will be held March 12-14 at Creighton University in Omaha, NE. Panel and paper proposals are due September 1, 2025. To lea...

Josh Bowman talks with his longtime friend and former professor, Paul R. Dehart on his new book, The Social Contract in the Ruins: Natural Law and Government by Consent (Univ. of Missouri, 2024). DeHart is Professor of Political Science at Texas State University. DeHart argues that modern attempts to root political obligation and morality in contractarian thought on voluntarist terms are self-referentially incoherent as well as a normative failure. What implications might this have for the American Founding and Constitutional thought? Can the classical natural law tradition get along with social contract theory? Is social contract theory worth saving? Does the “consent of the governed” even matter?  We discuss this and much more, giving attention to thinkers such as Aristotle, Cicero, Aquinas, Hobbes, Locke, Althuisus, Richard Hooker, and many others.  Dr. DeHart’s profile at Texas State University https://faculty.txst.edu/profile/1922208 His Books: The Social Contract in the Ruins: Natural Law and Government by Consent (Univ. of Missouri, 2024) https://upress.missouri.edu/9780826223050/the-social-contract-in-the-ruins/ Uncovering the Constitution's Moral Design (Univ. of Missouri, 2017) https://upress.missouri.edu/9780826221308/uncovering-the-constitutions-moral-design/ Also mentioned: The Foundations of Modern Political Thought, Vol. 2: The Age of Reformation, by Quentin Skinner And works by Francis Oakeley, J. Budziszewski, A. John Simmons, Brian Tierney, and others.  The 2026 Ciceronian Society Conference will be held March 12-14 at Creighton University in Omaha, NE. Panel and paper proposals are due September 1, 2025. To learn more about us, our events, this Podcast, our journal, Pietas, to sign up for our newsletter, and to make your tax deductible gift, please go to https://ciceroniansociety.org/ 0:00 Introduction3:38 Social Contract Theory14:30 SCT vs Natural Law Tradition24:23 Why It Fails38:01 American Founding52:24 Covenantal Realism1:12:19 How to Handle Disagreements1:23:18 First Principles1:26:57 Paucity of Consent

Josh Bowman leads a discussion of Aristocratic Voices: Forgotten Arguments about Virtue, Authority, and Inequality (Lexington Books, 2025) co-edited by Richard Avramenko and Ethan Alexander-Davey. Ethan joins us for the talk along with two chapter authors, Luke Sheahan and Michael Harding.  Our conversation covers a lot of ground, considering the thought of W.H. Riehl, Robert Nisbet, and Nietzsche, as well as some discussion of Hegel, Cicero, Tocqueville, Burke, Philip Rieff, the French Revolution and much more.  https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/aristocratic-voices-9781666933147/ The 2026 Ciceronian Society Conference will be held March 12-14 at Creighton University in Omaha, NE. Panel and paper proposals are due September 1, 2025. To learn more about us, our events, this Podcast, our journal, Pietas, to sign up for our newsletter, and to make your tax deductible gift, please go to https://ciceroniansociety.org/ 0:00 Introduction3:37 Three Implications of Inequality13:41 Nisbet's Diagnosis19:42 Bureaucracy as New Elite?23:07 Nietzsche36:37 Wilhelm Heinrich Riehl47:27 Lack of Courage53:22 Tarantulas, Eternal Recurrence59:52 Nisbet & Civic Associations1:08:08 Next Research Steps