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Zena Hitz is with us again.

She teaches liberal arts at St. John's College in Annapolis

and is the author of Lost in Thought,

The Hidden Pleasures of the Intellectual Life,

which we covered here a year or so ago.

And her new book is A Philosopher Looks at the Religious Life, Our Topic

Today. Welcome, Professor Hitz. Thanks so much, Mark. It's great to be here. Now, by religious

life, you mean much more than going to church. As your examples of St. Anthony and St. Francis indicate, what are some of the bigger features of the religious life?

Well, first of all, it's Christian religious life that I focus on, especially the Catholic and Orthodox traditions.

So there are practices in other religions that are out of my expertise,

...