{"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 Books 20-21 with Thomas Lackey and Dr. Grabowski","slug":"the-odyssey-books-20-21-with-thomas-lackey-and-dr-grabowski","published_at":"2026-06-30T13:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/ascend-the-great-books-podcast-6733379/the-odyssey-books-20-21-with-thomas-lackey-and-dr-grabowski","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/ascend-the-great-books-podcast-6733379","url":"http://mcidfrxn.podcastwebsites.com/episodes/the-odyssey-books-20-21-with-thomas-lackey-and-dr-grabowski","audio_url":"https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/481bf46d-218b-4216-9127-0d0e77b555da.mp3","summary":"Today on Ascend: The Great Books Podcast, we are discussing Books 20 & 21 with Mr. Thomas Lackey and Dr. Frank Grabowski. NEW ARTICLE: Why Should Christians Read Homer? Check out our COLLECTION OF WRITTEN GUIDES . In this episode of Ascend: The Great Books Podcast, Deacon Harrison Garlick and guests Dr. Frank Grabowski and Thomas Lackey dive into Books 20 and 21 of Homer’s Odyssey, where the stage is set for the long-awaited slaughter of the suitors. The portents multiply: Theoclymenus’s terrifying vision of the palace drenched in blood and gore, Athena’s divine orchestration, and Penelope’s masterful test with Odysseus’s legendary bow. Amid feasts for Apollo, disloyal servants, and growing frenzy, Odysseus the beggar masters his patience while Telemachus comes fully into his own—echoing the father-son reunion and the maturation arc that began in Book 2. The conversation has rich insights on Homeric anthropology, the thumos (spirited), xenia’s sacred bonds, ritual symbolism, and the limits of repentance under divine justice. Listeners will relish the similes, prophecies ignored at peril, subtle Christological resonances, and the masterful dramatic pause Homer builds before the violence erupts in Book 22. Whether you’re tracking Odysseus’s cunning, Telemachus’s growth, or the poem’s deeper moral and theological layers, this episode delivers fresh appreciation for why the Odyssey endures. Don’t miss it—especially with Dr. Patrick Deneen joining soon to connect the epic to our own age. Subscribe, grab the written guide, and join the journey on Patreon, YouTube, or thegreatbookspodcast.com. Keywords: Odyssey Book 20 summary, Odyssey Book 21 analysis, Homer Odyssey Books 20 and 21, Penelope bow test, Odysseus bow contest, Theoclymenus prophecy vision, slaughter of the s…","meta_description":"Today on Ascend: The Great Books Podcast, we are discussing Books 20 & 21 with Mr. Thomas Lackey and Dr. Frank Grabowski. NEW ARTICLE: Why Should Chri…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":5128,"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-books-20-21-with-thomas-lackey-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-books-20-21-with-thomas-lackey-and-dr-grabowski.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}