Claim OwnershipMen with Chests
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© 2025 Men with Chests
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We have nearly forgotten what it means to be Men with Chests, and the consequences are all around us. Join me as we explore the Great Books, as we go back to the timeless ideas that built the West. In this show we pursue objective truth, goodness, and beauty; we learn about virtue as excellence (arete). We discuss the role that reason, emotion and desire all play in becoming a magnanimous man.
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I join Brian Shepherd once again to talk That Hideous Strength.
Christiana Hale joins me to discuss enjoyment and contemplation in Perelandra. This episode was full of insights, one of my favorite episodes yet.
Ransom diagnosis the causes that led to Alcasan's revivification and then gives the prognosis.
Today is the second year of the CSL reading day and this year's theme is friendship. I take a look at the friendships among the Company at St. Anne's in That Hideous Strength.
Continuing the dialogue between Mark, Filostrato, and Straik in Chapter 8 of That Hideous Strength.
I'm returning to That Hideous Strength to take a close look at the N.I.C.E.'s quest to attain immortality.
I was recently on That Hideous C.S. Lewis podcast with Brian Shepherd to discuss a small portion of That Hideous Strength. Here's the episode from Brian's show.
The final episode of the discussion on Perelandra with Chris Pipkin and Charlie Carter.
The battle between Ransom and the Unman
Charlie, Chris, and I continue to go through Perelandra.
The second installment of my conversation with Chris on The Inklings Variety Hour. This time, we're also joined by Charlie Carter from the Thinklings podcast.
I was recently on The Inklings Variety Hour with Chris Pipkin to discuss Perelandra. This is part 1 of our discussion. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-inklings-variety-hour/id1526380888
Jordan Duncan from the Lesser-Known Lewis podcast joins me to discuss Lewis's essay "The Poison of Subjectivism."
The finale of "On Ethics." An essay where Lewis makes the case for the universality of an ethical code.
We continue our way through Lewis's essay "On Ethics," as he explores the possibility of an ethical vacuum and the idea of instinct as the grounds of ethics.
We begin a short series today on Lewis's essay "On Ethics." This essay is remarkably similar to Abolition of Man, even containing some of the same phrases found in Abolition.
We finish Screwtape's toast. Lewis continues to draw out the implications of envy disguised as being "democratic." When "I'm as good as you" becomes the motto a society aims to actualize, disaster follows. https://www.instagram.com/menwchests/
We continue Screwtape Proposes a Toast, covering the first half of the essay in today's episode. Click the 5 stars if you like the show. You can follow the show at https://www.instagram.com/menwchests/. Check out sisu saunas at https://sisulifestyle.com/.
"Screwtape Proposes a Toast" is an essay of Lewis's that deals with the issue of egalitarianism in education. This essay, written after The Abolition of Man and That Hideous Strength, continues on the theme of Lewis's most prophetic writings. In this episode, we cover the preface of the essay, written late in Lewis's life (1962). https://www.instagram.com/menwchests/
In this Sisu Hour episode, I'm joined by Pete Nelson, the owner and founder of Sisu Sauna. You can find his company and their saunas here: https://sisulifestyle.com/ If you like the show, click the 5 stars and you can follow the show at https://www.instagram.com/menwchests/
Today, we finish Lewis's essay.
Having completed That Hideous Strength, we're now moving on to Lewis's response to a critique of his Ransom Trilogy by J.B.S. Haldane, a contemporary of Lewis's. This essay sheds more light on what Lewis is doing in the Ransom Trilogy and especially That Hideous Strength. This essay is probably the most relevant of all his essays for That Hideous Strength.
Christiana Hale joins me to go through and discuss Chapter 17, the final chapter of That Hideous Strength. https://www.instagram.com/menwchests/
The top officials at the N.I.C.E. meet their end when bedlam ensues at a banquet. Ironically, after abusing language throughout the story, it turns out that gibberish is the cause of the N.I.C.E.'s destruction. "Qui Verbum Dei contempserunt, eis auferetur etiam verbum hominis," Merlin says (They that have despised the word of God, from them shall the word of man also be taken away). Frost follows his materialism to a material death and Wither... well, it's a bit mysterious. Listen...
David Downing joins me to discuss his insights into That Hideous Strength. His book, Planets in Peril, was the first study of the Ransom Trilogy. Dr. Downing is one of the foremost Lewis scholars alive today. https://www.instagram.com/menwchests/
Michael Ward returns to discuss Chapter 15: The Descent of the Gods. We spend most of our time discussing the various descenders and Lewis's use of the medieval cosmos in his works. Ward knows a great deal about this, which made for a fascinating conversation. https://www.instagram.com/menwchests/
In this episode I cover one particular scene from Chapter 15 where Mark's Chest grows because of his response to an act of impiety he's commanded to perform by Professor Frost. Later in the week, Michael Ward and I discuss this and other parts of the chapter, especially the opening scene when the gods descend. So I'm leaving most of that for the episode later in the week. https://www.instagram.com/menwchests/
Jason Lepojarvi is a native of Finland who now resides in Oregon where he is heading up the inaugural Undiscovered Lewis conference at George Fox University. As a native Finnish speaker, he made for a fitting guest to discuss the similarities and differences between the Finnish word Sisu and what Lewis calls "the Chest" in Abolition of Man. https://www.instagram.com/menwchests/
In the first episode from Chapter 14, we covered the scene between Mark and Frost where Frost spells out the logical implications of his materialistic worldview. In this episode, we assess Jane's eye-opening experience. This takes us into the three concentric circles of imagination, reason, and volition. https://www.instagram.com/menwchests/
Dr. Ashenden wrote one of the first books on Charles Williams. He joins me to discuss it along with topics related to it. He also shares a bit about his days working undercover in the USSR. https://www.instagram.com/menwchests/ Click the 5 stars and look for the second episode on Chapter 14 next week.
There's a lot of ground to cover in Chapter 14, so for this episode, I just begin by looking at the first section of the chapter - Mark's interaction with Frost and his experience in the objectivity room. Frost is a logically consistent materialist. As such he provides some great material in his conversation with Mark. Another episode on the chapter forthcoming. https://www.instagram.com/menwchests/ Click the 5 stars at the bottom of the show page.
Andrew Lazo joins me to go through Chapter 13: They Have Pulled Down: Deep Heaven on Their Heads. Andrew Lazo is one of the hosts of Pints With Jack and he's also an expert on Lewis's last novel Till We Have Faces. Merlin shows up in this chapter and dialogues with the Company at St. Anne's. His conversation with Ransom is some of the richest dialogue in the entire book. Andrew and I cover an array of topics as we go through each section in the chapter. We discuss the importance of langu...
Chapter 12 introduces us to the macrobes as Frost attempts to initiate Mark into the highest order of the N.I.C.E. https://www.instagram.com/menwchests/
Inklings scholar Sorina Higgins joins me to discuss Charles Williams, late nineteenth and early twentieth-century British secret societies, and how these matters relate to That Hideous Strength. Sorina's website: https://sorinahiggins.com/ Blog: https://theoddestinkling.wordpress.com/
In this episode, we talk about eldils and how they relate to the Hebrew word elohim. We discuss the Greek word daimon/daemon and Dr. Dimble's commentary about neutral spiritual beings. And we see a disagreement between Frost and Wither regarding the best way to manipulate Mark to their own ends. https://www.instagram.com/menwchests/
It's a short episode, but we cover some big ideas - materialism, the intellectus, wraiths/ghosts, and the Hegelian dialectic. Scroll down and click the 5 stars Follow the show: https://www.instagram.com/menwchests/
Because I didn't have time to record the episode on Chapter 10 of That Hideous Strength for Monday, I'm putting up the Socratic Hour episode that was to be posted on Thursday. The episode on That Hideous Strength will be up on Thursday. In this Socratic Hour, I'm joined by medieval scholar and host of The Inklings Variety Hour, Chris Pipkin. Chris covers the works and ideas of Lewis, Tolkien, Williams, and Barfield on his show, as well as other related texts. We discuss a range of topics incl...
Jason Baxter is a professor at Notre Dame and a scholar of the medieval era. We discuss a variety of medieval things relevant to That Hideous Strength. This was a great conversation, one of my favorites thus far in the Socratic Hour series. Dr. Baxter is the author of The Medieval Mind of C.S. Lewis. You can get a signed copy of the book here: https://www.jasonmbaxter.com/home/books. For the latest follow his author page on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jason-M.-Baxter/author/B07CWMYD...
In this chapter, we begin to explore the relationship between what Lewis called the twins of magic and science in The Abolition of Man. This will continue to be a major item in many of the remaining chapters as Merlin enters the story.
"The Funeral of a Great Myth" is very relevant for That Hideous Strength. In the essay, Lewis explains how the belief in infinite unilinear Progress is the motivation for popularizing science into a Myth, instead of doing the scientific discipline well. The goal of the N.I.C.E. is Progress as defined by the Conditioners and science is merely the instrument along with magic. Lewis not only points out how the Myth forces us to reject Reason, but he also praises the imaginative grandeur of the M...
Mark learns what the final goal of the N.I.C.E. is from Filostrato and Straik...
Lou Markos joins me once again. This time around we discuss Romanticism, daemons, Materialist Magicians, and other things relevant to That Hideous Strength.
Chapter 7 is all about Jane. She has a big turn in this chapter and comes to recognize objective beauty. In this episode we do something a bit different - I cover and read part of the chapter with a guest who's particularly fitted to speak on femininity. Anneliese's podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/feminine-not-feminist-podcast/id1656867030
Mark writes newspaper articles for planned riots before they occur as part of the N.I.C.E.'s strategy for acquiring "emergency" powers. Meanwhile, Jane heads for St. Anne's after merely brushing past the creepy Professor Frost on the street.
Christiana Hale is the author of Deeper Heaven: A Reader's Guide to C.S. Lewis's Ransom Trilogy (link below). We discuss a whole host of topics from That Hideous Strength as well as the other two books in the trilogy. This is one of my favorite Socratic Hour episodes yet! Christiana's book: https://romanroadspress.com/store/deeper-heaven/ Click 5 stars and leave a review!
Mark is left in a state of limbo as his conversations with Fairy Hardcastle, Wither, and Feverstone all prove useless. He can't find out just what his role with the institute is meant to be, and when he does, he thinks it to be below him. In these conversations with Mark and the various N.I.C.E. members, we discover more of the N.I.C.E.'s tactics for "progress." You can find what's happening with the show on Instagram @menwchests
Chapter 4 introduces us to a key character from the N.I.C.E. - Reverend Straik - the mad parson. Mark continues to see just what "progress" looks like, we see that Mark still has a connection with what is objectively beautiful, and we continue to see what masculine and feminine selfishness looks like in the relationship between Mark and Jane.
John Mark Reynolds once said that That Hideous Strength is "the truest account of the state of the West written in the last one hundred years." In this episode, we discuss why. Amongst many other things, Dr. Reynolds is the founder of the Saint Constantine School in Houston. He reads That Hideous Strength every year and has done so since he was 10. The guy knows a thing or two about That Hideous Strength and it's relevance for us today. This was a great conversation. If you like the show, hi...
We cover a lot in this chapter. Mark meets a host of characters from the N.I.C.E., including Wither, Filostrato, Fairy Hardcastle, and a chemist looking to get out of the institute's clutches (Bill Hingest). Jane continues to be disturbed by her dreams and the details she finds out about their importance. We dip into Lewis's essay "The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment," we connect some ideas from the chapter back to The Abolition of Man, and we begin to explore the "twins" of scientism and t...
Dr. Michael Ward of Oxford joins me to discuss the medieval cosmos, That Hideous Strength, astrology and astronomy, among other things. Dr. Ward is the author of Planet Narnia, After Humanity, and is widely regarded as the foremost Lewis scholar alive today.
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