Uploaded February 2026 | Updated September 2026, 4 days ago
The great books have never been more accessible, yet we live in a moment increasingly drawn away from them. Their value and transformative power are immediate, but many lack the patience and desire to become truly acquainted with the great minds of antiquity. In this installment of the Career and Life Conversation series, Dr Spencer Klavan joins Ralston College Fellow Connor Livingston for a discussion on the utility of the classics, the confluence of religion and philosophy, and the role of embodiment in human reason, along with what this reveals about artificial intelligence. From Athens to Jerusalem, from Plato to Paul, this exchange offers lofty reflections alongside practical insights for those seeking wisdom in an age that does not make it a priority.
If you have found these conversations meaningful, please consider supporting our work at www.ralston.ac/donate.
Subscribe for updates at: www.ralston.ac/subscribe
Authors and Works Mentioned in this Episode:
Athanasius’s On the Incarnation
C.S. Lewis
Plato’s Republic
Aristotle’s De Anima and Nicomachean Ethics
Socrates
St. Paul
Augustine’s Confessions
Disputation of the Holy Sacrament by Raphael
T.S. Eliot’s The Four Quartets
Dante
Aquinas
Shakespeare
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Owen Barfield
– Chapters —
00:00:10 - Introduction
00:01:57 - Antiquity and Why it Matters
00:08:18 - The Immediacy of the Classics
00:11:05 - Misunderstanding what Philosophy Is
00:25:10 - The Power of Ritual
00:31:14 - The Body Crisis
00:37:00 - Refocusing the Mind to Obey the Will
00:43:18 - Becoming Comfortable with Boredom
00:50:20 - Embracing Monotony
00:53:25 - The Ecology of Cognition and Artificial Intelligence
01:04:58 - Closing
The great books have never been more accessible, yet we live in a moment increasingly drawn away from them. Their value and transformative power are immediate, but many lack the patience and desire to become truly acquainted with the great minds of antiquity. In this installment of the Career and Life Conversation series, Dr Spencer Klavan joins Ralston College Fellow Connor Livingston for a discussion on the utility of the classics, the confluence of religion and philosophy, and the role of embodiment in human reason, along with what this reveals about artificial intelligence. From Athens to Jerusalem, from Plato to Paul, this exchange offers lofty reflections alongside practical insights for those seeking wisdom in an age that does not make it a priority.
If you have found these conversations meaningful, please consider supporting our work at www.ralston.ac/donate.
Subscribe for updates at: www.ralston.ac/subscribe
Authors and Works Mentioned in this Episode:
Athanasius’s On the Incarnation
C.S. Lewis
Plato’s Republic
Aristotle’s De Anima and Nicomachean Ethics
Socrates
St. Paul
Augustine’s Confessions
Disputation of the Holy Sacrament by Raphael
T.S. Eliot’s The Four Quartets
Dante
Aquinas
Shakespeare
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Owen Barfield
– Chapters —
00:00:10 - Introduction
00:01:57 - Antiquity and Why it Matters
00:08:18 - The Immediacy of the Classics
00:11:05 - Misunderstanding what Philosophy Is
00:25:10 - The Power of Ritual
00:31:14 - The Body Crisis
00:37:00 - Refocusing the Mind to Obey the Will
00:43:18 - Becoming Comfortable with Boredom
00:50:20 - Embracing Monotony
00:53:25 - The Ecology of Cognition and Artificial Intelligence
01:04:58 - Closing
