The Ralston College Podcast
Episodes
Founding an Empire: Lessons from Augustus with Dr Barry Strauss
28 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this lecture, historian Dr Barry Strauss examines Augustus as the architect of Rome's imperial settlement, tracing how a young heir of extraordinar...
Universities and the Future of Civilization: In Conversation with Iain McGilchrist
20 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Ralston College Dr President Stephen Blackwood speaks with newly appointed Chancellor Dr Iain McGilchrist about the fate of the universities and their...
Taking Up Your Inheritance: A Philosophical Conversation Between Student and Teacher
30 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this conversation, Jay Morris speaks with Dr James Bryson about the modern crisis of meaning and the difficulty of remaining spiritually oriented i...
Drs Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying in Conversation with Ralston College's Students
25 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this wide-ranging conversation with students at Ralston College, evolutionary biologists Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying reflect on how to live w...
The Sophia Lectures With Bret Weinstein - Lecture 4: The Relationship Between Culture and Genes
04 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the fourth and final lecture of the 2025 Sophia Lecture series, Dr Bret Weinstein explores how humanity's evolutionary inheritance, both genetic an...
The Sophia Lectures With Heather Heying - Lecture 3: The Usual Suspects
28 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this third lecture, Dr Heather Heying turns to the conditions sufficient for the emergence of sentient consciousness, exploring how life evolves th...
The Sophia Lectures With Bret Weinstein - Lecture 2: Biological Nature to What End?
21 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In his lecture Biological Nature to What End?, Dr Bret Weinstein explores the principles of evolution as a lens for understanding human nature, cultur...
The Sophia Lectures With Heather Heying - Lecture 1: Foundations
15 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this opening lecture, Dr Heather Heying invites listeners on an exploration of the deep structures that underlie both scientific inquiry and the hu...
Making Sense of Complex Systems with Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying
06 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this informal and wide-ranging conversation with Stephen Blackwood, Drs Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying reflect on the formative influences that ...
Katabasis and Return: A Conversation With Mari Otsu About Her Time at Ralston College
25 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Mari Otsu joins Stephen Blackwood for a deeply personal conversation about her journey through the wounds of materialism, ideology, and spiritual forg...
Society, Technology and Philology with Dr Jason Pedicone: Thoughts on the Study of the Classical Humanities at the Dawn of the Digital Revolution
14 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ralston College presents a lecture by Dr Jason Pedicone, distinguished scholar and classicist and the co-founder and President of the Paideia Institut...
Nature in Augustine's Confessions
23 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ralston College presents a talk by Christopher Snook, Lecturer in the Department of Classics at Dalhousie University, on St. Augustine's great autobio...
Douglas Murray: Reconstructing our Culture | Renewal and Renaissance: A Ralston Symposium
23 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Douglas Murray, revered cultural critic and author, delivers the highlight of Ralston College's symposium of "Renewal and Renaissance," a lecture expl...
What does it take to spark a new Renaissance?
15 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In February 2025, Ralston College hosted a landmark symposium in Savannah, Georgia, bringing together leading thinkers, artists, educators, and studen...
Why We Tell Stories: Greg Hurwitz & Jonathan Pageau in Conversation
03 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
"Why We Tell Stories" is a discussion between Greg Hurwitz & Jonathan Pageau which took place on January 31, 2025. In this exchange, two prominent pro...
The Enduring Consolation of Philosophy with Stephen Blackwood
03 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
"The Enduring Consolation of Philosophy" is the keynote lecture delivered by Dr Stephen Blackwood at the 2024 Symposium of Medieval and Renaissance st...
Dr Iain McGilchrist in Conversation with Ralston College's Students
10 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this intimate question and answer session, conducted in March 2024 with the students enrolled in Ralston College's MA in the Humanities, the world-...
The Sophia Lectures with Iain McGilchrist - Lecture 3: Finitude and the Infinite
13 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In his final Sophia Lecture, "Finitude and the Infinite," Dr Iain McGilchrist grapples with the vital role that the imagination plays in the percepti...
The Sophia Lectures with Iain McGilchrist - Lecture 2: Symmetry and Asymmetry
06 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In his second Sophia Lecture, Dr Iain McGilchrist gives a bracing, counterintuitive account of the fundamental categories of our experience of the wor...
The Sophia Lectures with Iain McGilchrist - Lecture 1: Division and Union
30 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This lecture, like the very essence of Ralston College's mission, explores the profound interplay between division and union—a relationship that ill...
Dr Iain McGilchrist on the Cultivation of Wisdom
23 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A conversation between Dr Iain McGilchrist, neuropsychiatrist, philosopher, and literary critic, and Dr Stephen Blackwood, President of Ralston Colleg...
The Education of Iain McGilchrist, Part II: Medical School and Beyond
17 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The second part of a conversation between the renowned literary scholar and psychiatrist Dr Iain McGilchrist and Ralston College president Dr Stephen ...
The Education of Iain McGilchrist, Part I: From Winchester College to All Souls
09 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A conversation between Dr Iain McGilchrist, the renowned polymath, and Dr Stephen Blackwood, President of Ralston College, about Dr McGilchrist's form...
We Live in the Flicker: T. S. Eliot and Dante on the Spaces Between
18 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ralston College presents a talk by Christopher Snook, Lecturer in the Department of Classics at Dalhousie University, on the influence of Dante's Purg...
The Other Side of Despair: The Search for Meaning in T.S Eliot's "The Waste Land"
13 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ralston College presents a talk by Christopher Snook, Lecturer in the Department of Classics at Dalhousie University, on T.S. Eliot's modernist master...
Jay Parini on Why Poetry Matters
28 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A conversation between Dr Jay Parini, a prolific author and the D.E. Axinn Professor of English and Creative Writing at Middlebury College, and Dr Ste...
Polytheism and the Polis: The Drama of the Individual Before the Self with Paul Epstein | Ralston College
26 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ralston College Humanities MA Dr Paul Epstein is a distinguished classicist and Professor Emeritus of Classics at Oklahoma State University, renow...
Levels of Intelligibility, Levels of the Self: Realizing the Dialectic with Dr John Vervaeke | Ralston College
02 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ralston College Humanities MA Dr John Vervaeke is a cognitive scientist and philosopher who explores the intersections of Neoplatonism, cognitive sci...
Knowing God in the Book of Job | Dr David Novak with Ralston College
19 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ralston College Humanities MA Dr David Novak is a distinguished professor at the University of Toronto, renowned theologian, and esteemed rabbi. H...
Unlocking Consciousness with Dr Stephen Wolfram: AI & Philosophy | Ralston College
05 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ralston College Humanities MA Dr Stephen Wolfram is a renowned computer scientist, physicist, and entrepreneur who earned his PhD in particle phys...
From Homer to Gutenberg: Ancient Greek and Its Afterlives with Dr David Butterfield
01 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
David Butterfield is a renowned classicist and Senior Lecturer at the University of Cambridge. His work centres on the critical study and teaching of ...
Education without Indoctrination: Can It Exist? Stephen Blackwood, John Vervaeke & David Butterfield
28 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Stephen Blackwood is the founding President of Ralston College, with advanced degrees in Classics and Religion and visiting positions at Harvard, Toro...
Self and Story: In Conversation with Gregg Hurwitz
27 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Gregg Hurwitz, the New York Times bestselling author of the Orphan X series and a storyteller whose work spans many mediums and genres, in conversatio...
Language, Thought, and Style: The Articulated Logos in Victorian Literature with Michael D. Hurley
26 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Dr Michael Hurley, Professor of Literature and Theology at Trinity College in the University of Cambridge, delivers a lecture to students in Ralston C...
Radical Thoughts on Human Nature: Stephen Blackwood at Hillsdale College
25 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this lecture, delivered on March 30, 2023, as part of the Drummond Lecture Series at Hillsdale College, Dr. Stephen Blackwood—the founding presid...
The Medieval Cosmos as Permanent Apocalypse with Jonathan Pageau
24 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In his lecture, Jonathan Pageau presents a thoughtful examination of the Last Judgment through the lens of a late-11th-century mosaic, challenging the...
Serious Play: Renaissance Wisdom and Cosmic Choreography | Sophia Lecture 2023 Part 5/5
15 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the culminating fifth lecture of the Sophia Lecture series, Professor Douglas Hedley culminates his exploration by delving into play's theological ...
Unveiling Aesthetics: Art, Suffering, and Transcendence | Sophia Lectures 2023 Part 4/5
14 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the fourth Sophia Lecture, Professor Douglas Hedley explores the transformative power of play in art and human consciousness, examining its philoso...
Wisdom in Paradox: The Seriousness of Play | Sophia Lectures 2023 Part 3/5
13 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the third lecture of the Sophia Lecture series, Professor Douglas Hedley embarks on an intellectual journey that explores the enigmatic nature of p...
Exploring the Inner Word: Play, Poetry, Philosophy | Sophia Lectures 2023 Part 2/5
12 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this second episode of the Sophia Lectures, Professor Douglas Hedley from the University of Cambridge embarks on a deep exploration into the theme ...
The Spirit of Play in Shaping Culture, Creativity, and Spirituality | Sophia Lectures 2023 Part 1/5
11 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
University of Cambridge philosopher, Professor Douglas Hedley, delves into the concept of play and its vital role in understanding the human condition...
The Spirit of Play: A Conversation with Professor Douglas Hedley and Dr Stephen Blackwood
10 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the inaugural episode of the Sophia Lecture Series, Ralston College President Stephen Blackwood and distinguished Cambridge Professor Douglas Hedle...
Ep. 30 - From the Cave of Pythagoras: A Lecture and Discussion with Douglas Hedley
01 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ralston College presents a lecture by University of Cambridge Professor Douglas Hedley on the influential and mysterious pre-Socratic philosopher Pyth...
Ep. 29 - Marie Kawthar Daouda: Baudelaire and the Creation of the Poetic Self
13 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ralston College presents a lecture by Marie Kawthar Daouda on the infamous French poet, Charles Baudelaire. Baudelaire published one collection of poe...
Ep. 28 - Arif Ahmed on David Hume's Disturbing Conception of the Self
24 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ralston College presents a lecture by Arif Ahmed on David Hume's conception of self in Book I of his 'Treatise of Human Nature.' The idea of 'the self...
Ep. 27 - Alan Charles Kors: Voltaire's 'Philosophical Letters,' Part II
03 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ralston College presents a lecture by Alan Charles Kors on Voltaire's great work 'The Philosophical Letters.' Profoundly impressed by the English scie...
Ep. 26 - Alan Charles Kors: Voltaire's 'Philosophical Letters,' Part I
28 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ralston College presents a two-part series of lectures by Alan Charles Kors on Voltaire's great work 'The Philosophical Letters.' Profoundly impressed...
Ep. 25 - Theodore Dalrymple on H. G. Wells's 'The Time Machine'
13 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ralston College presents a lecture delivered on March 17th, 2022 by Theodore Dalrymple (aka Anthony Daniels) on H. G. Wells's extraordinary 'scientifi...
Ep. 24 - Vernon Smith: Self-Interest Reconsidered
11 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Stephen Blackwood speaks with the Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences, Vernon L. Smith. They begin by defining and exploring commonly misunderstood ec...
Ep. 23 - Iain McGilchrist: The Coincidence of Opposites
20 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Ralston College presents a lecture delivered on October 26th, 2021 by Dr Iain McGilchrist followed by a discussion with Dr Stephen Blackwood and quest...
Ep. 22 - Marwa Al-Sabouni: Architecture as a Matter of Life or Death
19 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Ralston College presents a conversation between Stephen Blackwood and award-winning architect and author Marwa Al-Sabouni, followed by an audience Q&A...
Ep. 21 - Alexander Stoddart: Culture as Communion with the Dead
02 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In Part II of their discussion Stephen Blackwood and Alexander Stoddart speak about the transhistorical community of past, present, and future. Stodda...
Ep. 20 - On Becoming Alan Dershowitz
22 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Ralston College presents a conversation between Stephen Blackwood and Alan Dershowitz, followed by an audience Q & A. The discussion begins with Prof...
Ep. 19 - Victor Davis Hanson on Who Killed Homer
15 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Have we killed Homer for good? Stephen Blackwood and historian-farmer Victor Davis Hanson examine the state of the contemporary West by returning to i...
Ep. 18 – Andrew Doyle on Free Speech and Why It Matters
30 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Ralston College presents a lecture with Andrew Doyle followed by a discussion and audience Q & A with Stephen Blackwood. Doyle discusses his new book,...
Ep. 17 - Alexander Stoddart: A Conversation in His Studio
16 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Should art be beautiful? This forbidden question guides Stephen Blackwood's conversation with eminent sculptor and aesthetic luminary, Alexander Stodd...
Ep. 16 - Harry Lewis and Stephen Blackwood: What's an Education For?
05 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Stephen Blackwood speaks with Harry Lewis, legendary Professor of Computer Science at Harvard University (where he taught both Bill Gates and Mark Zuc...
Ep. 15 – Theodore Dalrymple on Turgenev's "Fathers and Sons"
29 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Ralston College presents a lecture by Dr Anthony Daniels (aka Theodore Dalrymple) on Ivan Turgenev's 1862 "Fathers and Sons", followed by a conversati...
Ep. 14 - The Morality of Satire: Andrew Doyle and Stephen Blackwood
06 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How does humor work and why is it needed more than ever? Stephen Blackwood talks with comedian and political satirist Andrew Doyle (aka, Titania McGra...
Ep. 13 - On the Freedom of Thought and Nature: Freeman Dyson and Stephen Blackwood
18 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Stephen Blackwood speaks with Freeman Dyson, the late mathematical-physicist and renowned free thinker. They begin with a discussion of education and ...
Ep. 12 - A Discussion of 'Ivan Ilyich:' Donna Orwin and Stephen Blackwood
24 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In this complementary episode to the reading of 'The Death of Ivan Ilyich,' Stephen Blackwood speaks with Dr Donna Orwin, professor of Russian literat...
Ep. 11 - Tolstoy: The Death of Ivan Ilyich
15 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In this first episode of a new series, Stephen Blackwood reads Leo Tolstoy's classic novella, 'The Death of Ivan Ilyich.' A masterful text from one o...
Ep. 10 - Independence in an Age of Conformity: Stephen Wolfram & Stephen Blackwood
30 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How does one cultivate creativity and independence of mind? Stephen Blackwood talks to physicist and entrepreneur Stephen Wolfram about his precocious...
Ep. 9 - Deep Thinking in a Distracted World: Cal Newport and Stephen Blackwood
03 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Stephen Blackwood talks with Cal Newport, writer and professor of computer science. They begin by reflecting on the historically unparalleled challeng...
Ep. 8 - On Freedom and Truth: Yeonmi Park & Stephen Blackwood
24 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
North Korean defector and human rights champion Yeonmi Park speaks with Stephen Blackwood about her journey to freedom: first from an oppressive polit...
Ep. 7 - Douglas Hedley and Stephen Blackwood: Reason, Imagination, and Reality
13 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What connects truth, imagination, and freedom? Stephen Blackwood talks with philosopher-theologian Douglas Hedley about the human mind and its partici...
Ep. 6 - Iain McGilchrist and Stephen Blackwood: The Unfolding of Life and Thought
19 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In Part II of their conversation, Stephen Blackwood and Iain McGilchrist discuss questions of theology, science, and philosophy, including: the shared...
Ep. 5 - Iain McGilchrist and Stephen Blackwood: On Finding Ourselves Within the Whole
02 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A conversation between Iain McGilchrist and Stephen Blackwood: Dr McGilchrist gives a brief summary of his account of the two sides of the brain and t...
Ep. 4 - Boethius and the Consolation of Philosophy
06 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In this lecture for the Temenos Academy in London, delivered on June 19th, 2019, Stephen Blackwood offers a powerful reading of the ancient Roman wri...
Ep. 3 - Jordan Peterson and Stephen Blackwood: Our Cultural Inflection Point and Higher Education
21 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Dr Jordan Peterson speaks with Dr Stephen Blackwood about our cultural inflection point and higher education, as well as Solzhenitsyn, redemption, and...
Ep. 2 - Jordan Peterson and Roger Scruton: On the Transcendent
21 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
A conversation between Dr Jordan Peterson and Sir Roger Scruton, moderated by Dr Stephen Blackwood, introduced by Professor Douglas Hedley, presented ...
Ep. 1 - Douglas Murray and Stephen Blackwood: On Ideological Madness and Its Antidote
20 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Are we living through an era of madness? Stephen Blackwood sits down with best-selling author Douglas Murray to discuss manifestations of madness in c...