Episodes
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In this episode, I cover The Birth of Love myth in Plato’s Symposium dialogue. I don’t usually think of Plato as a myth maker, but here he is offering a different spin on the birth of Eros to show how love’s parentage shows our need for Beauty. The ladder of love leads to Plato’s heavenly form of Beauty in a wonderful way. I talk about this myth, Plato’s use of myth, and myth in general in the art of persuasion.
Books / Articles Referenced:
* Plato: Selected Myths / Translation by Catalin Partenie / Oxford World’s Classics
* Hesiod: Theogony / Translation by M.L. West / Oxford World’s Classics
* Plotinus: The Enneads on Love / Translation by Stephen Mackenna / Penguin Classics
* From Plato to Christ / Louis Markos
* God in the Dock: Myth Became Fact / CS. Lewis
* Better Than Sex! / Deacon Harrison Garlick
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What is the good life? This is the question addressed in Philebus, one of Plato’s later dialogues, written in the late 350s BC. Philebus and his counterpart Protarchus (a pupil of Gorgias) argue for pleasure as the highest pursuit and good. Plato (through Socrates) argues for wisdom and knowledge. Can either of these be the sole pursuit of the life well-lived? The goal of the dialogue is to rank pleasure and wisdom.
Plato quickly establishes the necessity for a third option in this quest - a mixture of pleasure and wisdom. It’s impossible to have pleasure without thought and memory and a life solely dedicated to wisdom would be a bit dry. However, pleasure by its nature is unlimited, and therefore cannot be ranked or measured.
Plato then distinguishes between true and false pleasures. True pleasures are those that don’t involve pain (like witnessing a sunset or hearing a beautiful piece of music). False pleasures are those based upon false beliefs (like I’m going to win the lottery), bad measurement/distance (another beer now will hurt in the morning), and relief from pain (showing the absurdity of hedonism that more pain leads to more pleasure).
Plato concludes with a ranking or Ladder of Goods:
* Goodness in Moderation
* In Beauty
* In Intellect and Reason (Wisdom from the beginning)
* Knowledge
* Good/True Pleasures (Pleasure from the beginning, only false pleasures are not allowed)
The key point in this dialogue is that the good life does not consist of getting more of either of the initial pursuits, pleasure or wisdom. Instead, it consists of getting the correct balance between the two.
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Missing episodes?
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In today’s podcast episode, I cover the legend of The Flowering Hawthorn and its connection to the King Arthur legend. It’s a tale that begins with Joseph of Arimathea. He’s the rich man who buried Jesus in his tomb. Tradition holds that Joseph traveled to England many years after the resurrection carrying with him the blood of Jesus, a staff, and possibly, the holy grail. Joseph’s staff began to bud each Christmas Day in Glastonbury, England.
The story is told across the ages by bards, poets, and kings. Glastonbury attracted pilgrims from around the world to come and see this flowering hawthorn.
Is the story true? Or is it just speculation, legend, or tradition? We may never know, but there are enough connection points in this story that make it delightfully intriguing.
I recorded this video episode at the Christ Church meadow in Oxford, England.
Photos
Here are a set of photos sent to me by Stephen Crotts who visited these sites last year. Crotts is the illustrator of the new Arthuriad, an Epic Poem by Malcolm Guite, recounting the King Arthur legend.
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In this podcast episode, I cover the life and ideas of two of the earliest Greek Philosophers, Anaximander & Anaximenes of Miletus. Anaximander is credited with introducing the idea of the First Principle, of which his was the infinite, and Anaximenes, Air.
Books Referenced:
* Early Greek Philosophy - Translation by Jonathan Barnes - Penguin Classics
* The First Philosophers - Translation by Robin Waterfield - Oxford World’s Classics
* Lives of the Eminent Philosophers - Diogenes Laertius - Loeb Classical Library
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.booksoftitans.com/subscribe -
In this podcast episode, I cover the life and ideas of Parmenides of Elea. Robin Waterfield calls him “the single most important Pre-socratic thinker.” He introduced a puzzle about Being that required a response by philosophers who followed him. From that puzzle, we have the Atom / Void idea from Democritus and the Forms / Shadows idea from Plato. Plato even has a dialogue named after this influential philosopher who lived from 515 - 450BC.
Books Referenced:
* Early Greek Philosophy - Translation by Jonathan Barnes - Penguin Classics
* The First Philosophers - Translation by Robin Waterfield - Oxford World’s Classics
* Lives of the Eminent Philosophers - Diogenes Laertius - Loeb Classical Library
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.booksoftitans.com/subscribe -
In this podcast episode, I cover the life and ideas of Gorgias, the father of the Sophistic Movement. We can pinpoint a shift from philosophy to sophism in the life of Gorgias. Each of the early Greek philosophers had a First Principle, an arche they considered to be the foundation of everything else. That stops with the Sophists. Instead of a love of wisdom using speech to seek after truth, the Sophists value persuasion and the ability to get results irrespective of truth.
The work of most early Greek philosophers only survives in minor fragments. With Gorgias, we have some surviving full works that are simply delightful. I talk about the life of Gorgias, these surviving works, and the one thing the stuck out to me the most about this early Sophist.
Books Referenced:
* The Greek Sophists - Translation by John Dillon and Tania Gergel - Penguin Classics
* The First Philosophers - Translation by Robin Waterfield - Oxford World’s Classics
* Lives of the Sophists - Philostratus - Loeb Classical Library 134
Show Notes:
* Encomium of Helen
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In this podcast episode, I cover the life and ideas of Democritus of Abdera. He is one of my favorite early Greek philosophers, mainly because of his wisdom/ethical sayings. He barely made the Presocratic cut, being just 1 - 10 years before Socrates. However, his ideas, way ahead of their time, were picked up by Aristotle and Epicurus and have influenced humankind to our time. A true Renaissance Man before it was popular 😉, Democritus is worthy of study. His First Principle(s) of Atoms and the Void are revolutionary and are great responses to the ideas of earlier philosophers.
Books Referenced:
* Early Greek Philosophy - Translation by Jonathan Barnes - Penguin Classics
* The First Philosophers - Translation by Robin Waterfield - Oxford World’s Classics
* Lives of the Eminent Philosophers - Diogenes Laertius - Loeb Classical Library
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.booksoftitans.com/subscribe -
In this podcast episode, I cover the life and ideas of Anaxagoras of Clazomenae. His first principle, the thing that organized everything else, was the nous or the mind. He thought that in the beginning, there was an original mixture of unchanging seeds that a mind set in motion and began to organize. Anaxagoras was born in Asia Minor and moved to Athens, becoming one of the first philosophers to establish Athens as a hub of philosophy. In fact, Anaxagoras is a philosophical grandfather to Socrates through his student Archelaus. Socrates learned from Archelaus who learned from Anaxagoras.
Books Referenced:
* Early Greek Philosophy - Translation by Jonathan Barnes - Penguin Classics
* The First Philosophers - Translation by Robin Waterfield - Oxford World’s Classics
* Lives of the Eminent Philosophers - Diogenes Laertius - Loeb Classical Library
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.booksoftitans.com/subscribe -
In this podcast episode, I cover the life and ideas of Empedocles of Acragas. He lived from 495 - 435 BC before dramatically diving into the volcano at Mt. Etna to prove he was immortal. As we find out in this episode, the accounts of the life and death of Empedocles are varied and contradictory and contain an element of myth, which is appropriate given his use of epic poetry to present his ideas. With Empedocles, we have the largest stash of fragments of any of the early Greek Philosophers.
Books Referenced:
* Early Greek Philosophy - Translation by Jonathan Barnes - Penguin Classics
* The First Philosophers - Translation by Robin Waterfield - Oxford World’s Classics
* Lives of the Eminent Philosophers - Diogenes Laertius - Loeb Classical Library
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.booksoftitans.com/subscribe -
Aristotle called Thales the Father of Natural Philosophy. At a very high level, he’s credited with shifting from mythos to logos, from a mythological explanation of the world to one based upon natural observation. Thales believed that water was the underlying principle of everything, that an immortal soul existed, and that earthquakes were caused by waves underneath a flat earth instead of by the gods.
Thales of Miletus is one of the earliest Greek philosophers (625 - 545 BC) and in this podcast episode, I look at his life, his ideas, and his impact both now and then.
Books Referenced:
* Early Greek Philosophy - Translation by Jonathan Barnes - Penguin Classics
* The First Philosophers - Translation by Robin Waterfield - Oxford World’s Classics
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.booksoftitans.com/subscribe -
Last week, I talked about the life and philosophy of Heraclitus of Ephesus. A number of his surviving fragments deal with the concept of Logos, what Eva Brann calls “the order that is the cosmos.” This week, I’m taking a deeper look into what Heraclitus meant by Logos and how that might help us better understand John’s use of it in the New Testament Gospel, where he writes, “In the beginning was the Logos…”
In The Logos of Heraclitus, Eva Brann considers the fragments of Heraclitus in order to arrange a cohesive philosophy containing Logos, fire, and flux. I share what I learned from this short book and how it expanded my understanding of the Logos.
Show Notes:
* March 13, 2026 Episode about Heraclitus
* Purchase The Logos of Heraclitus by Eva Brann
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.booksoftitans.com/subscribe -
For the next month or so, I’m going to highlight different early Greek Philosophers on the podcast and in my Substack articles. Last year, I started reading Plato’s dialogues and realized that I didn’t know the philosophers or their ideas that he was referencing. I stopped reading the dialogues in order to get to know these Greek Philosophers.
In this episode, I cover Heraclitus, a philosopher famous for his ideas on flux, fire, and the logos. While we don’t have his complete work On Nature, we do have fragments that provide an understanding of his main ideas. This will be a two-part episode with this first one focusing on the life and ideas of Heraclitus and the second one focusing on Heraclitus’ idea of the logos.
Here are the books I referenced for this podcast episode:
* Early Greek Philosophy - Translation by Jonathan Barnes - Penguin Classics
* Heraclitus Fragments - Translation by Brooks Haxton - Penguin Classics
* The First Philosophers - Translation by Robin Waterfield - Oxford World’s Classics
* Heraclitean Fire - Erwin Chargaff - Book 20 in 2017
* Lives of the Eminent Philosophers by Diogene Laertius - Vol 2 of Loeb.
* Major Works of Gerard Manley Hopkins - Oxford University Press
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.booksoftitans.com/subscribe -
I start each year reading straight through a different version of the Bible during January & February. This year, I selected the Intertextual Tanakh for the Five Books of Moses and the Early Prophets and used the Bibliotheca version for The Latter Prophets, The Writings, and The New Testament. In this episode, I share what stuck out this year over the 80 hours of reading through the Bible.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.booksoftitans.com/subscribe -
Here’s episode 7 covering my 2026 read-through of the Bible. I talk about the ideas that have stuck out to me while reading the New Testament books of the Gospels, Acts, Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians.
Show Notes:
Dr. Jason Staples’ Suggested Bible Reading Order (start at the 1hr 16 minute mark):
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.booksoftitans.com/subscribe -
Here’s episode 6 covering my 2026 read-through of the Bible. I talk about the ideas that have stuck out to me while reading the books of Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles.
Show Notes:
Purchase The Intertextual Tanakh from Landmark Booksellers.
Dr. Jason Staples’ Suggested Bible Reading Order (start at the 1hr 16 minute mark):
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.booksoftitans.com/subscribe -
This special mid-week episode is a deep dive into the musical Hadestown, Anaïs Mitchell’s folk opera that reimagines the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice in a haunting, jazz-inflected underworld. Last week, I had the joy of playing violin in the on-stage band for a series of local youth-theater performances of Hadestown, and sharing the stage with my daughter made the entire experience unforgettable.
During preparation, I became captivated by the music, the storytelling, and the rich threads of Greek mythology woven throughout Hadestown. I also discovered that the show’s writer published a book, Working on a Song: The Lyrics of Hadestown, which opens a window into the creative process behind the musical.
In this episode, I explore:
* The Greek myths at the heart of Hadestown
* The subtle ways the musical reshapes and reimagines those myths
* The connection points between this story and narratives found in the Bible
This musical moved me in a way that very few others ever have.
Audio Recordings
Original Broadway Cast Recording
Spotify / Apple Music
Live from London
Spotify / Apple Music
This one is my personal favorite but it only contains about half of the songs. Hermes is played by a female and she just absolutely kills it. I love her passion.
Talking Hadestown: Commentary & Songs
Spotify / Apple Music
This is a neat recording where Anaïs Mitchell talks about some of the songs from Hadestown.
The Book
Working on a Song: The Lyrics of Hadestown by Anaïs Mitchell
The Band
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.booksoftitans.com/subscribe -
Here’s episode 5 covering my 2026 read-through of the Bible. I talk about the ideas that have stuck out to me while reading the books of Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, and Daniel. I also highlight some overarching themes so far from this reading.
Show Notes:
Purchase The Intertextual Tanakh from Landmark Booksellers.
Dr. Jason Staples’ Suggested Bible Reading Order (start at the 1hr 16 minute mark):
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.booksoftitans.com/subscribe -
Here’s episode 4 covering my 2026 read-through of the Bible. I talk about the ideas that have stuck out to me while reading the books of Ezekiel, the 12 Minor Prophets (Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi), and the Psalms. I also highlight some overarching themes so far from this reading.
Show Notes:
Purchase The Intertextual Tanakh from Landmark Booksellers.
Dr. Jason Staples’ Suggested Bible Reading Order (start at the 1hr 16 minute mark)
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.booksoftitans.com/subscribe -
Here’s episode 3 covering my 2026 read-through of the Bible. I talk about the ideas that have stuck out to me while reading the books of Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, and Jeremiah. I also highlight some overarching themes so far from this reading.
Show Notes:
Purchase The Intertextual Tanakh from Landmark Booksellers.
Dr. Jason Staples’ Suggested Bible Reading Order (start at the 1hr 16 minute mark)
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.booksoftitans.com/subscribe -
Here’s episode 2 covering my 2026 read-through of the Bible. I talk about the ideas that have stuck out to me while reading the books of Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, and Samuel. I also highlight some overarching themes so far from this reading.
Show Notes:
Purchase The Intertextual Tanakh from Landmark Booksellers
Dr. Jason Staples’ Suggested Bible Reading Order (start at the 1hr 16 minute mark)
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.booksoftitans.com/subscribe - Show more
