{"podcast":{"title":"Ascend - The Great Books Podcast","slug":"ascend-the-great-books-podcast-6733379","podcast_index_feed_id":6733379,"rss_url":"https://feeds.captivate.fm/ascend-the-great-book/","website_url":"https://ascend-the-great-book.captivate.fm","image_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/91cb8b50-c0b7-49d8-9476-279514463e73/TfaX-DfFN1GQWT2CL2LiBMBS.png","author":"Harrison Garlick and Adam Minihan","episode_count":141,"summary":"Welcome to Ascend! We are a weekly Great Books podcast hosted by Deacon Harrison Garlick and Adam Minihan. What are the Great Books? The Great Books are the most impactful texts that have shaped Western civilization. They include ancients like Homer, Plato, St. Augustine, Dante, and St. Thomas Aquinas, and also moderns like Machiavelli, Locke, and Nietzsche. We will explore the Great Books with the light of the Catholic intellectual tradition. Why should we read the Great Books? Everyone is a disciple of someone. A person may have never read Locke or Nietzsche, but he or she thinks like them. Reading the Great Books allows us to reclaim our intellect and understand the origin of the ideas that shape our world. We enter a \"great conversation\" amongst the most learned, intelligent humans in history and benefit from their insights. Is this for first-time readers? YES. Our goal is to host meaningful conversations on the Great Books by working through the texts in chronological order in a slow, attentive manner. Our host Adam Minihan is a first-time reader of Homer. We will start shallow and go deep. All are invited to join. Will any resources be available? YES. We are providing a free…","last_synced_at":"2026-07-14T20:18:29.696270+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/ascend-the-great-books-podcast-6733379"},"episode":{"title":"The Odyssey Book 1 with Dr. Papadopoulos and Dr. Grabowski","slug":"the-odyssey-book-1-with-dr-papadopoulos-and-dr-grabowski","published_at":"2026-04-28T10:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/ascend-the-great-books-podcast-6733379/the-odyssey-book-1-with-dr-papadopoulos-and-dr-grabowski","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/ascend-the-great-books-podcast-6733379","url":"http://mcidfrxn.podcastwebsites.com/episodes/the-odyssey-book-1-with-dr-papadopoulos-and-dr-grabowski","audio_url":"https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/60df1f10-51a9-4c94-ae4c-0419f8f55694.mp3","summary":"Today on Ascend: The Great Books Podcast, Dcn. Harrison Garlick is joined by Dr. Pavlos Papadopoulos of Wyoming Catholic College and Dr. Frank Grabowski of Holy Family Classical School to discuss BOOK ONE of the Odyssey--one of the greatest texts in the Western canon. Check out our NEW 12-WEEK STUDY OF THE ODYSSEY . Follow Ascend on X, Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, and more ! Be sure to use our WRITTEN GUIDE to the Odyssey ! They explore why the epic opens with “man” (not rage, not a god), the meaning of polytropos (“man of twists and turns”), Telemachus’s urgent coming-of-age amid an absent father and predatory suitors, Athena’s masterful mentoring, and Zeus’ striking defense of human responsibility. Along the way they illuminate Homer’s sophisticated anthropology, the poetic dialectic of Homer the philosopher, the haunting parallels with the House of Atreus, and why this ancient poem still speaks so powerfully to questions of masculinity, homecoming, virtue, and human greatness today. Witty, learned, and full of “blood on the floor” interpretive energy, this conversation will leave you hungry for the next eleven weeks—and convinced that Homer is one of the greatest teachers you’ll ever encounter. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to the Great Books Podcast 03:39 The NEW Odyssey: A 12-Week Study 09:29 The Importance of Reading Homer 17:01 Exploring the Opening Lines of the Odyssey 30:14 The Man of Twists and Turns: Understanding Odysseus 35:28 Exploring Odysseus: The Complexity of a Hero 39:26 Justice and Fate: The Role of Aegisthus 42:28 Divine Intervention: Zeus and Human Responsibility 55:30 The Journey Home: Odysseus and Telemachus 01:03:12 Coming of Age: Telemachus's Transformation 01:05:37 Exploring Penelope's Role 01:11:44 Telemachus' Journey to Manhood 01:24:56 Refl…","meta_description":"Today on Ascend: The Great Books Podcast, Dcn. Harrison Garlick is joined by Dr. Pavlos Papadopoulos of Wyoming Catholic College and Dr. Frank Grabowski o…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":5638,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/ascend-the-great-books-podcast-6733379/episodes/the-odyssey-book-1-with-dr-papadopoulos-and-dr-grabowski/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/ascend-the-great-books-podcast-6733379/the-odyssey-book-1-with-dr-papadopoulos-and-dr-grabowski.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}