Category: FF

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FF / Heiner

1 Mar, 2016

The leaders we deserve

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I’m heading back to the United States this month to spend some time with my family, and I’m headed back to an America whipped up into a political frenzy. Europeans do not mistake an accent for an ideology, but when they hear my accent these days they do want to know what I think of the Trump juggernaut. Before I focus on the electorate I should note that democracy, a form of government I’m not particularly fond of, necessarily requires a virtuous and informed electorate in order to thrive (it will survive and subsist on much less).  It’s also important...

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FF / Podcasts

28 Feb, 2016

Christianity and Classical Culture, Episode 3: Is Christianity Simply One of The “Great Monotheistic Religions”?

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What do we mean when we say “the great monotheistic religions”? Can we even grant the premise of the question? How can we reconcile admiration for classical culture, which was polytheistic, with the practice of Christianity, which is monotheistic? How did the early Christian fathers, including St. Augustine and Tertullian, examine this tension between Athens and Jerusalem? Can we argue that the timing of the Incarnation allowed for the Church to derive maximum benefit from Roman law and government and Greek philosophy? Dr. Thomas Fleming and host Stephen Heiner examine these and many other questions on this month’s episode. Original...

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FF / Podcasts / TBR

27 Feb, 2016

The Best Revenge, Episode 2: Rome

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In this episode host Stephen Heiner and guest Dr. Thomas Fleming discuss the Eternal City: Rome. Topics covered include: What makes it “eternal”? What happened to Rome and the papal states during the so-called “unification” of Italy? Why is the Victor Emmanuel monument an eyesore? Piazza Navona: what you should know The beauty of the Baths of Caracalla and the Colosseum Some important tips for the visitor, including importantly, how to spot the best gelato and what kind of wine you might ask for The legendary museum endurance of Gail Fleming Why Rick Steves should be avoided Original Air Date:...

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Feature / FF / Fleming / On the House

24 Feb, 2016

On the House: East is East, and West is Wuss, Part I

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This piece was published in a very slightly different form in 1999.  It is being offered free to our free subscribers, and I hope that they will enjoy it.  I also hope that they will see their way to joining us more fully by subscribing to the website. If a civilized man, as it is sometimes said, can hold two ideas in his mind at the same time; post-civilized man goes one step farther and sees nothing wrong with maintaining contradictory opinions on any subject that comes up: We say simultaneously that the Russians are animalistic drunkards with no aptitude...

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FF / Heiner

23 Feb, 2016

Boris and Brexit

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I was in the Metro.  I looked down at the newspaper the man on my left was reading.  It featured three characters.  One, a Boris Johnson jumping up and screaming “F*#% Europe!”  To his right a flustered and disturbed David Cameron wheels around, saying, “Trump?”  To his right a French footman bows and says, in French, “No, it’s the Mayor of London…” Later that same day I was writing in a cafe and four tables over I heard snippets of a conversation in French in which the words “Boris” and “Brexit” featured prominently. It was the day after Boris had delivered...

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FF / Heiner

16 Feb, 2016

Sickness and Technology

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Dear Readers Technology is supposed to be a tool we use.  If it’s reliable, sometimes we can be shocked at its letting us down.  Last week Dr. Fleming and I spent 45 minutes trying to get him properly and digitally into our virtual studio so we could record a podcast.  We had performed the exact same actions just a few days earlier with absolutely zero trouble.  Ah, the idiosyncrasies of our digital masters. Dr. Fleming showed remarkable patience throughout and while we could have persevered on that afternoon to try for a makeshift solution, he wisely relented, and planned a...

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FF / LAT / Podcasts

3 Feb, 2016

Latin, Episode 2

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On this episode Dr Fleming starts with an excerpt from the Gospel of St. Matthew. He uses the passage as a teaching device to look at endings of words. This discussion segues into nouns and verbs, declensions and conjugations, and hints and tips for learning and studying. We also address some listener feedback from Episode Zero, before finishing with our “Latin Word of the Month” in which Dr. Fleming discusses English words and their Latin ancestors. The text of the second passage that Stephen reads is: “In diebus autem illis venit Johannes Baptista praedicans in desert Iudaeae et dickens penitential...

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FF / Fleming

23 Jan, 2016

Ransom Notes, III

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Pastor Brent MacGuire writes in with two questions:   When the enclitic “-ne” is added to a word to make an interrogative, does the stressed syllable, per the law of the penult, get pushed back or does it remain as it did before?  “ah MAHT nay” or “AH maht nay”?  Same question for the enclitic “que.” If you try to check this on the internet, as I did (being away from my library), you will find a good deal of  false information.  In fact, the general rule is that when enclitic particles are added to a word, the word accent has...

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FF / Podcasts / Transcripts

12 Jan, 2016

Christianity and Classical Culture, Episode 2: Immigration

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What is the Christian Tradition regarding immigration? How is that tradition related to the way the ancients saw this issue? What’s a responsible and realistic way to examine this important issue in today’s postmodern soup? Dr. Fleming takes on this timeless issue which is on the minds of many, not just in America, but in Europe as well. Original Air Date: January 12, 2016 Show Run Time: 47 minutes Show Guest(s): Dr. Thomas Fleming Show Host(s): Stephen Heiner Transcript available now for Charter Subscribers and a la carte purchase. Christianity and Classical Culture℗ is a Production of the Fleming Foundation....

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FF / Fleming

6 Jan, 2016

Ransom Notes 2

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Dallas Shipp writes in to ask:  “You once wrote that whenever a talking head on television referred to a storm or a shooting as a ‘tragedy,’ their misuse of the word amounted to nihilism. Could you elaborate and explain your point? TJF:  I don’t recall using the word “nihilism,” but I have frequently argued against the trivializing of the word tragedy by applying it to accident victims and people who have suffered in a disaster.  The trivialization works in two directions.  First, it reduces to the word tragedy to meaning something like “terrible misfortune” or “incomprehensible suffering.”   It is...