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Our mission is to promote the Catholic intellectual tradition in the university, the church, and the wider public square.

The lectures on this podcast are organized by university students at Temistic Institute chapters around the world.

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For tonight, I thought I'd keep things somewhat informal and hopefully brief

because I actually want to hear your reactions to the questions that I have.

And I'll be honest, there's somewhat tendentious questions,

but I still want to hear your answers nonetheless. So basically, I'm trying to figure out

if the humanities do have an authentic role in the modern American university. And the short answer is, yes, they do,

because I want to keep my day job. I teach in the great text program, so I have to be perfectly

honest with you. I have a very vested interest in wanting to see the humanities continue to thrive in the university.

But I also understand the issues involved.

And does everyone need, for example, a so-called liberal arts or humanities-oriented education?

I have six children, never a dull moment in my house,

ages 24 to 12. So three are still under the roof and two are alumni of Baylor University,

where I teach. One is currently a junior.

My two oldest daughters did, and I didn't push them, I swear to God.

My two oldest daughters did great text.

My eldest son is doing computer science,

and my fourth child is discerning a vocation to the priesthood,

which is great. We're totally encouraging that,

but he wanted to go straight from high school into the seminary.

...