Risking Enchantment (Rachel Sherlock)

"Arise, make haste, my love, my dove, my beautiful one, and come. For the winter is now past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers have appeared in our land." Cant., ii. 10-12.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Maria Connolly

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Works Mentioned

'Why Walking Helps Us Think' by Ferris Jabr

Greetings of John Paul II to the Delegates of the Italian Alpine Club

Saint's Quotes on Flowers

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis

Walden by Henry David Thoreau

Theology of Hans Urs Von Balthasar, Word on Fire Institute

The Secret Garden by Francis Hodgson Burnett (illustrated by Inga Moore)

Percy the Park Keeper by Nick Butterworth

St. Patrick's Breastplate

The Deer's Cry

Rose Harrington

'In the countryside, England’s Catholic heritage remains hidden in plain sight' by Charlie Hart

Little Gidding by T.S. Eliot

Pippa's Song by Robert Browning

Spring by Gerard Manley Hopkins

God's Grandeur by Gerard Manley Hopkins

The Starlight Night by Gerard Manley Hopkins

A Prayer in Spring by Robert Frost

A Woodland Glade by William Trost Richards

John Williams Waterhouse

On Hearing the First Cuckoo of Spring by Frederick Delius

Bradi Barth

Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Harding

Sense and Sensibility (1995)

Emma (2009)

House of Flying Daggers (2004)

Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)

Mary Poppins (1964)

Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham

Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne

Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter

Alice in Wonderland (1951)

Short Stories of Oscar Wilde

Watership Down by Richard Adams

Well-Cultivated Words Slightly Foxed Podcast

Nature & Story Sightly Foxed Podcast

On Flowers with Amy Merrick Cultivating Place

What We're Enjoying at the Moment

Maria: Hallows Yarn, This is Knit

Rachel: Endeavour (TV Series)

‘But my dear Sebastian, you can’t seriously believe it all’

‘Can’t I?’

‘I mean about Christmas and the star and the three kings and the ox and the ass.’

‘Oh yes, I believe that. It’s a lovely idea.’

‘But you can’t believe things because they’re a lovely idea.’

‘But I do. That’s how I believe.’

• Brideshead Revisited

Risking Enchantment returns for its autumn/winter season. As promised our first episode back is about Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh. We discuss the novel in terms of its theme of the idolization of beauty, and look at how beauty both pulls characters away from God and draws them close to Him. We compare Sebastian’s childlike and childish approach to beauty and life, with Charles’ devotion but ultimately superficial love of beauty and art. At the heart of the discussion is Waugh’s self-proclaimed theme of the operation of divine grace, and how beauty provides an opportunity for this grace to be received.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Phoebe Watson

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Worked Referenced

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

Brideshead Revisited (TV mini series, 1981)

Scoop by Evelyn Waugh

“A Twitch upon the Thread: Grace in Brideshead Revisited” by Annesley Anderson

“Brideshead Revisited During Lent” by Patrick Tomassi

“The rejection of beauty in Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited” by Laura White

“From Arcadia to Ascesis: the necessary loss of pleasure in Brideshead Revisited” by Joanna Bratten

The Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot

What We’re Enjoying at the Moment

Rachel: Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome

Phoebe: The Scent of Water by Elizabeth Goudge

"We are watchful for works written in a contemporary idiom that yet reach the roots of fundamental questions, that honor the almost three-thousand-year-long conversations committed to these questions, and that incite our hunger for the splendor of truth."

Masthead for Wiseblood Books

We are delighted to welcome to the podcast Mary Finnegan, deputy editor at Wiseblood Books, a small Catholic press which fosters works of fiction, poetry, and philosophy. In our episode today we discuss the process of publishing, how to strive for excellent in craft while encouraging new writers, and publishing as a vocation. We dive into Dana Gioia's essay "The Catholic Writer Today" and address the problems facing Catholic writing and publishing in our current times.

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Mary Finnegan

Follow us on social media: @seekingwatson @maryraphaela

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Wiseblood Books: https://www.wisebloodbooks.com/

University of St Thomas: Masters in Fine Arts in Creative Writing

Dappled Things: https://www.dappledthings.org/

Works Mentioned

"The Catholic Writer Today" by Dana Gioia - Article in First Things

The Catholic Writer Today by Dana Gioia - Monograph by Wiseblood

Mystery and Manners by Flannery O'Connor

"Christianity and Poetry" by Dana Gioia - Article in First Things

Christianity and Poetry by Dana Gioia - Monograph by Wiseblood

Under Satan's Sun by Georges Bernanos

The Demons: A Double-Volume Novel by Heimito von Doderer

Seneca: The Madness of Hercules, Translated and Introduced by Dana Gioia 

Memory's Abacus: Poems by Anna Lewis

Painting Over the Growth Chart: Poems, by Dan Rattelle

Works of Mercy by Sally Thomas 

How to Think Like a Poet by Ryan Wilson

What We're Enjoying at the Moment

"A Theology of Fiction" by Cassandra Nelson

The End of the Affair by Graham Greene

''Bless that good, good woman who hung the crucifix round my neck! For it is a comfort and a strength to me whenever I touch it. '' - Dracula

In this episode Phoebe and Rachel discuss the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, and delve into the use and misuse of sacraments and sacramentals in the story. Also discussed is Eleanor Bourg Nicholson's novel A Bloody Habit which takes a more Catholic approach to the vampire story.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Phoebe Watson

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Follow Phoebe on Instagram: @phoebe_lucy_watson

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Works Mentioned:

Dracula by Bram Stoker

A Bloody Habit by Eleanor Bourg Nicholson

"Oh, the Horror!" by Tom Riley

"Bram Stoker’s Dracula" - Crisis Magazine

"Vampires, demons, and the cross: Catholicism and horror" by Deacon Steven D. Greydanus

"Cinemanemia or Revenge of the Bloodsucked" by Eleanor Bourg Nicholson

Delving into the mind of a catholic novelist with Eleanor Bourg Nicholson - Fountains of Carrots podcast

The Well and the Shallows by G.K. Chesterton

What We're Enjoying at the Moment

Phoebe: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Rachel: Murder in the Cathedral by T.S. Eliot

“My films show the world’s beauty. Beauty otherwise unnoticed.”

- Hayao Miyazaki

In this episode of Risking Enchantment I'm joined by animator Robyn Conroy to discuss the highly acclaimed Studio Ghibli, a Japanese animation company whose films offer a deep sense of the goodness of life and the beauty of nature.

Studio Ghibli is cornerstone of Japanese entertainment culture, and has reached a global audience with films like Spirited Away, My Neighbour Totoro, and Howl’s Moving Castle. It has been instrumental in preserving the tradition of 2D animation and the vast artist talent on show in its films has been a powerhouse of inspiration for all kinds of film makers. In this episode, Robyn and I discuss Studio Ghibli’s founder, Hayao Miyazaki and how he brings audiences into his worlds of goodness and beauty. Miyazaki brings together a love of the natural world, a commitment to close observation, and a belief in the goodness of life itself. While not creating stories from a specifically Christian perspective, Miyazaki’s films are filled with wonder and awe in God’s creation, and a deep sense of morality and virtue.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Robyn Conroy

Follow Rachel on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow Robyn on Instagram: @robynconroyart

Watch Robyn’s short film: The Beekeeper

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

 Related Episode:

• Over the Garden Wall: Finding Dante in the Unknown
• Stranger Things in Stranger Times: Nostalgia in the Digital Age
• The Prince of Egypt: An Epic in Animation
• Cartoon Saloon: Celtic and Christian Coexistence
• Howl's Moving Castle and the Fascination of Fairy Stories

Works Referenced:

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)

My Neighbor Totoro (1988)

Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)

Whisper of the Heart (1995)

Princess Mononoke (1997)

Spirited Away (2001)

Howl's Moving Castle (2004)

Ponyo (2008)

The Red Turtle (2016)

“Miyazaki's Reality” by Michael Toscano, First Things

“The worlds of Hayao Miyazaki” by Steven D. Greydanus, Decent Films

“Animated Nature: Aesthetics, Ethics, and Empathy in Miyazaki Hayao's Ecophilosophy” by Pamela Gossin

“Studio Ghibli Finds the True, the Good and the Beautiful” by Michelle McDaniel, National Catholic Register

‘“The Earth Speaks to Us All”: A Critical Appreciation of Filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki’s Shintō Environmental Philosophy’ by Adam Barkman, Christian Scholar’s Review

Hayao Miyazaki | The Mind of a Master

The Conflicting Ideals of Hayao Miyazaki | Video Essay

Spirited Away Production Notes

“The Ecological Imagination of Hayao Miyazaki: A Retrospective on Four Fantastical Worlds” by Isaac Yuen, Orion Magazine

“Hildegard of Bingen's Lament for the Environmental Crisis Caused by Human Sin” by Nathaniel Campbell, Church Life Journal

The Poems and Prose of Gerard Manly Hopkins

Maxims II

What We’re Enjoying at the Moment

Rachel: Cargo by Pio Hartnett

Robyn: Djo 

“Joyful singing and music is likewise a constant invitation to believers and to all people of good will to work hard to give humanity a future rich in hope.”

-Pope Benedict XVI

In this episode we are joined by Katie Marquette, host of the Born of Wonder podcast. We discuss our love of music, what can learn about the human desire to write new songs about our common experiences, and how participating in the creation of music unites us to the music imbued in God’s creation.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Katie Marquette

Listen to Katie’s podcast: Born of Wonder

Follow Rachel on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow Katie on social media: @bornofwonder

Read Katie on Substack: https://bornofwonder.substack.com/

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Join Katie Marquette on a pilgrimage to Ireland: https://www.bornofwonder.com/come-to-ireland-with-me

Rachel was also previously a guest on the Born of Wonder podcast. To listen to that episode, click here: S7:10 EP102: Taylor Swift and the Power of Collective Experience with Rachel Sherlock

Works Referenced:

Music is fundamentally joy, says this professor of music

What about Bad Music?

Pope Benedict XVI and The Power of Music

The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis

Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi – The Four Seasons

What We’re Enjoying at the Moment

Katie: Les Misérables [Katie’s recent episode on this topic: S7:12 EP 104: The Economy of Love in Les Miserables with Maddie Dobrowski]

Rachel: Detectorists

“[H]ope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies”

• The Shawshank Redemption

In this episode of Risking Enchantment, Rachel and Phoebe discuss one of the most highly acclaimed and best beloved films of all time, The Shawshank Redemption. Released in 1994, it slowly grew to prominence, now dominating the top rank on lists of best movies. What draws audiences to this story of Andy Dufrense, a quiet man sent to prison for the murder of his wife and her lover? We explore the film’s themes of hope and the building up of a rich inner life, as well as its masterful storytelling and even the biblical influences to be found in its symbolism. 

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Phoebe Watson

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Works Referenced

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

The Passion of the Christ (2004)

Bishop Barron: Andy Dufrense as a Christ figure

The Hidden Meaning of the Shawshank Redemption

Shawshank's Hollowed-Out Bible

On Fairy-Stories by J.R.R. Tolkien

Spe salvi by Pope Benedict XVI

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas

What We’re Enjoying at the Moment

Phoebe: Calamity Jane

Rachel: To Catch a Thief / The Stella Cinema, Dublin

"It is emptiness like the hollow in the reed, the narrow restless emptiness which can have only one destiny: to receive the piper’s breath and to utter the song that is in his heart." - Caryll Houselander

In our Christmas episode of Risking Enchantment, we are looking at a seasonal devotional classic, Caryll Houselander’s The Reed of God. This small book packs a powerful punch in its meditations on the humanity of Mary, the Mother of God. We discuss its themes of emptiness, the promise of fulfillment and the secrecy of God’s life growing within us. We reflect on how Christmas can be a time of both joy and grief, but that we can bear God into the world in all the small moments and acts of service in our lives.

We would like to wish all our listeners a very happy Christmas season. Risking Enchantment will return in February 2024. 

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Phoebe Watson

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Works Mentioned:

The Reed of God by Caryll Houselander

A Rocking Horse Catholic by Caryll Houselander

“Reed of God”, Catholic Insight by Sarah Gould

“Journey of the Magi” by T.S. Eliot

“Into the Dark with God”, You Crown the Year with your Goodness by Hans Urs Von Balthasar

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

What We’re Enjoying at the Moment

Phoebe: Christmas Choral Concerts - The Dublin Bach Singers and Culwick Choral Society

Rachel: “Holy Ghost” and “Manna”, Manna Part: 1 by Chris Renzema

“52:10” and “The Color Green”, A Liturgy, A Legacy and a Ragamuffin Band by Rich Mullins

Principium by The Arcadian Wild

‘Out of the east came the Magi bearing gifts,

hastening in their journey to the Christ child;

but now Irish scholars arrive from western lands,

bringing their precious gifts of learning’.

- Sedulius Scottus

As we’re approaching the celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, we’re turning our focus to the patron saints of Ireland, St. Patrick and St Brigid. Greg Daly joins us to discuss the modern conceptions and celebrations of these saints: who they were as historical figures, who they weren’t as pagan deities, and how to approach their many miracle stories from our current perspective. We delve into the incredible achievements and faith of early Christian Ireland, and highlight the issues around the current trend of erasing faith from the celebration of Irish saints and Irish history in general.

Wishing our listeners a very happy St. Patrick’s Day.

“Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona duit!”

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Greg Daly

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Follow Greg on social media: @GregDalyIC, @thirstygargoyle 

http://thethirstygargoyle.blogspot.com/

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Find out more about Leaven Magazine at https://leavenmagazine.ie/

Works Mentioned:

A History of the Irish Church 400-700 AD

The Life of St. Brigid of Kildare by Cogitosus

“Distant glimmerings of Irish light”, Leaven by Fr Conor McDonough

“An unlikely saviour: Without folklore and folk traditions, Catholicism in Ireland might not have survived centuries of persecution and oppression”, Leaven by Francis Young

Ireland's Golden Age: 'The work of angelic, not human, skill’

“The New Paganism” by Hilaire Belloc

Heretics by G.K. Chesterton

What we’re enjoying at the moment:

Greg: Sherlock Holmes (1984 TV series)

Rachel: Bleak House by Charles Dickens

We are delighted to welcome Elizabeth Lev to the podcast. Elizabeth is an acclaimed art historian based in Rome, and author of several books including How Catholic Art Saved the Faith: The Triumph of Beauty and Truth in Counter-Reformation Art.

In this episode we have a discussion about how early Christians evangelised to the Romans through art and architecture by highlighting continuity with Roman myth while also showing how Christianity redeemed and transfigured those earlier stories. We also talk about how that is a possible means of evangelising to people today.

Follow Elizabeth Lev:

Twitter: @lizlevrome

Instagram: @lizlevinrome

Website: elizabeth-lev.com

Elizabeth also runs Masters' Gallery Rome where you can join to get great lectures about Roman art.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, 

Follow us on social media: @seekingwatson 

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Works Mentioned:

The Spirit of the Liturgy by Pope Benedict XVI

Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose by Flannery O'Connor

"Myth Became Fact", World Dominion by C.S. Lewis

“The Unknown is at turns gothic and autumnal, grim and threatening or comforting and even silly, with seasons of harvest and hearth giving way to snow and silence.”

- Martin Cahill

In this episode of Risking Enchantment I'm joined by professional animator Robyn Conroy to discuss the little known gem of autumnal animation that is Cartoon Network's 2014 Over the Garden Wall.

The story centres on two brothers, Wirt and Greg, who find themselves lost in strange woods, adrift in time, in a place called The Unknown. With the help of Beatrice, an impatient bluebird they travel through this mysterious place encountering strange and eerie situations in search of a way home. Throughout their journey, they outwit a series of minor antagonists, yet The Beast— an unidentifiable, manipulative monster — consistently looms in the brothers’ shadows, waiting for their moment of weakness.

In the episode we discuss our love for the show and it's grounding in the virtues of hope and self-sacrifice, as well as the rich tapestry of literary and artistic allusions which form a backdrop to the story. In particular we look at how the series draws on Dante's Inferno, and how show creator Patrick McHale embraces nostalgia and Americana in order to create a uniquely American fairy tale for the modern age.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Robyn Conroy

Follow Rachel on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow Robyn on Instagram: @robynconroyart

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

 Robyn's previous episodes on Risking Enchantment include:

• Stranger Things in Stranger Times: Nostalgia in the Digital Age
• The Prince of Egypt: An Epic in Animation
• Cartoon Saloon: Celtic and Christian Coexistence

Works Referenced:

Over the Garden Wall (2014)

“Over the Garden Wall Deep Dive: Background & Cultural Context” by Bella Trucco

The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri

‘“Where have we come and where shall we end?”: An Examination of Patrick McHale’s Over the Garden Wall as a Contemporaryof Patrick McHale’s Over the Garden Wall as a Contemporary Otherworld JourneyOtherworld Journey’ by Kayla Justice

Over the Garden Wall is Dante's Inferno (Symbolism Analysis) by Trey the Explainer

Is Over The Garden Wall About Having Faith? by PBS Digital Studios

What We’re Enjoying at the Moment

Robyn: Midnights by Taylor Swift

Rachel: The Fortnight in September by R.C. Sherriff

“The Beauty of the House is immeasurable; its Kindness infinite"

In this episode Rachel and Phoebe discuss Susanna Clarke's new novel Piranesi. Set in a mysterious world, all contained in one vast house of marble statues and rising tides, the novel gives a wonderful opportunity to examine the way humans interact with the world around them.

Works Mentioned:

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, BBC miniseries

The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

“This critique of progress was something I borrowed from CS Lewis” - Susanna Clarke, Interview in the Hindustani Times

Laudato Si, by Pope Francis

General Audience 17 January 2001, Pope John Paul II

"The Wobbly Chronology of Disenchantment" Church Life Journal, by Haley Stewart

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

"The House of Asterion" by Jorge Luis Borges

"The Library of Babel" by Jorge Luis Borges

Things We're Enjoying at the Moment

Phoebe: Season of Autumn

Rachel: The Labyrinth of Spirits by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

"All these things happen on Christmas Eve, they are all told of on Christmas Eve. For ghost stories to be told on any other evening than the evening of the twenty-fourth of December would be impossible in English society as at present regulated. Therefore, in introducing the sad but authentic ghost stories that follow hereafter, I feel that it is unnecessary to inform the student of Anglo-Saxon literature that the date on which they were told and on which the incidents took place was—Christmas Eve." - Jerome K. Jerome

In our Christmas episode of Risking Enchantment, Rachel and Phoebe discuss the history of Christmas ghost stories, their popularity in the Victorian era and the impact of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. We also look at the ghostly elements that can be drawn out of the nativity story and how spooky stories can actually help us enter into the spirit of the season.

We hope you enjoy the episode and wish you all a very Merry Christmas and blessings for the new year ahead.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Phoebe Watson

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Works referenced:

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

The Lamp magazine - Christmas Ghost Story Competitions

After-Supper Ghost Stories by Jerome K. Jerome 

"The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral" Ghost Stories by M.R. James

The Mezzotint (TV Movie 2021)

"How Fear Departed the Long Gallery", Ghost Stories by E.F. Benson

The Goblin Who Stole a Sexton by Charles Dickens

For the Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio by W.H. Auden

"Into the Dark With God: A Christmas Meditation on the Incarnation, for a Troubled World" by Hans Urs Von Balthasar

The Everlasting Man by G.K. Chesterton

"The History of Christmas Ghost Stories" by Francis Young

Winters in the World by Eleanor Parker

The Snowman (1982)

Shadows by George MacDonald

Things We're Enjoying at the Moment

Phoebe: The Story Story Podcast

Rachel: Little Women (1994) and Dickens Audiobooks

“Why is it that of all the billions and billions of strange objects in the Cosmos - novas, quasars, pulsars, black holes - you are beyond doubt the strangest”

- Walker Percy Lost in the Cosmos

In this episode Rachel is joined by Shane Jenkins to discuss Walker Percy’s satirical self-help book Lost in the Cosmos. In this book Percy explores ideas of the self, as well as the problems of modernity, scientism, identity crisis, and the breakdown of meaning in the modern age. Lost is the Cosmos is a complex and often troubling book but it also contains many keen observations and humorous moments. 

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Shane Jenkins

Follow us on social media: @seekingwatson @shanekins

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Works Mentioned

Lost in the Cosmos by Walker Percy

The Moviegoer by Walker Percy

“Everything is Broken” Tablet by Alana Newhouse

Mystery and Manners by Flannery O’Connor

Thoughts after Lambeth by T.S. Eliot

“Is Pope Francis Anti-Modern?” The New Atlantis by M. Anthony Mills

What We’re Enjoying at the Moment

Shane: Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.

Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Hippo Campus (band)

Rachel: Tickets to my Downfall by MGK (album)

"The man on his holiday becomes the man he might have been, the man he could have been, had things worked out a little differently. All men are equal on their holidays: all are free to dream their castles without thought of expense, or skill of architect. Dreams based upon such a delicate fabric must be nursed with reverence and held away from the crude light of tomorrow week."

- R.C. Sherriff

For our first official episode back, Rachel and Phoebe reflect on the importance of holidays, and the unique opportunity they hold to show virtue and love for your family or fellow travelers. We discuss R.C. Sherriff's tender portrayal of the small family moments on their traditional trip to the sea in The Fortnight in September, and we return to Elizabeth von Arnim's The Enchanted April to look at how selfishness and a need to protect one's own experience and comfort takes away from the spirit of generosity necessary for a good holiday.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Phoebe Watson

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Works mentioned:

The Fortnight in September by R.C. Sherriff

The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim

'The War on Holidays' Utopia of Usurers, by G.K. Chesterton

What's Wrong with the World by G.K. Chesterton

What we’re enjoying at the moment:

Phoebe: Evangelium Conference

Rachel: Open mic nights

“A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.” - Italo Calvino

In this episode Rachel and Phoebe are back to discuss Classic literature, what is it and why does it matter? We take a look at our own reading journeys and our hopes to try to become “well-read”, as well as a look at what Classic literature means to us, the question of whether all reading is good reading, and the tips and tricks that have helped us tackle bigger and more imposing books.

We’d love to hear your own experiences and favourite classics, as well as any feedback about what the classics mean to you, and what books you think should be included.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Phoebe Watson

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Works Mentioned

Why Read the Classics by Italo Calvino

“On the Reading of Old Books” by C.S. Lewis

84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

The Collected Letters of CS Lewis, volume III: Narnia, Cambridge, and Joy 1950-1963 

The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis

“Little Gidding” by T.S. Eliot

“The need for more Catholic authors” by Niall Gooch

Slightly Foxed Quartley Magazine

“End of audiobook snobbery as scientists find reading and listening activates the same parts of the brain”

What We’re Enjoying at the Moment

Phoebe: Wolfwalkers (2020) (Listen to our episode about Cartoon Saloon’s film’s here)

Rachel: Journals and Magazine - Slightly Foxed, The Lamp, Leaven, Country Living Magazine

“Books shouldn’t be daunting, they should be funny, exciting and wonderful; and learning to be a reader gives a terrific advantage.” -Roald Dahl

In this episode, Phoebe and I discuss the wonderful, wacky and sometimes wicked world of Roald Dahl's stories, and we look to Chesterton to see how we should approach humour from a Christian perspective. Many thanks to Fr. Conor McDonough for the advice.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Phoebe Watson

Follow us on social media: @seekingwatson @phoebe_lucy_watson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Works mentioned (all by Roald Dahl unless otherwise stated):

Matilda

The BFG

George Marvellous Medicine

The Witches

The Twits

Roald Dahl Audiobook set 1

Roald Dahl Audiobook set 2

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Illustrators: Quentin Blake, Tony Ross

Marget Talbot, The New Yorker, "The Candy Man, Why children love Roald Dahl’s stories—and many adults don’t."

Matilda the Musical

Matilda (1996 film)

G.K. Chesterton on Fairytales: “The Red Angel,” Tremendous Trifles

Chesterton on Vulgar Jokes

G.K. Chesterton "On Mr. McCabe and a Divine Frivolity"

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Jen Campbell, The Importance of Seeing Yourself in Media

Chesterton on Puritanism, Illustrated London News

Joe Sommerlad, The Independent "World Book Day 2019: Roald Dahl's 10 best children's books, from Matilda to The Twits"

What We’re Enjoying at the Moment

Phoebe:

My Neighbour Totoro

Rachel:

Elizabeth Lev talk: Behind the Veil of the Sistine Chapel

How Catholic Art Saved the Faith by Elizabeth Lev

"One writes such a story [The Lord of the Rings] not out of the leaves of trees still to be observed, nor by means of botany and soil-science; but it grows like a seed in the dark out of the leaf-mold of the mind: out of all that has been seen or thought or read, that has long ago been forgotten, descending into the deeps."

- J.R.R. Tolkien

For this episode we are delighted to be joined by Dr. Holly Ordway, Fellow of Faith and Culture at the Word on Fire Institute. We discuss her recent title, Tolkien's Modern Reading: Middle-earth Beyond the Middle Ages, which addresses the claim that Tolkien read very little modern fiction, and took no serious notice of it. What Holly reveals is that Tolkien was in fact was intimately connected with the literature of his own time and concerned with the issues and crises of modernity. 

In this episode we discuss Holly's book and also take an in-depth look at some of the themes in Tolkien's writings that may have been influenced by this interest in modern literature.

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Dr Holly Ordway

Follow Rachel on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow Holly on social media: @HollyOrdway

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Find out more about Holly at http://www.hollyordway.com/

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Works Mentioned

• Tolkien’s Modern Reading: Middle-earth Beyond the Middle Ages by Dr Holly Ordway
• "Imaginative Apologetics" by Dr Holly Ordway - Word on Fire Institute Course
• The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien
• Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
• Tolkien and the Great War by John Garth
• The House of the Wolfings by William Morris
• “The Ruin”, Anglo-Saxon elegy

What We’re Enjoying at the Moment Holly: Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome Rachel: Inside by Bo Burnham

“I'm capable of a great jerk, an effort, and then a relaxation—but steady, every-day goodness is beyond me. I must be a moral kangaroo!”

-Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell

In our final episode before the summer break, Phoebe and Rachel are joined by their good friend, and long-time Risking Enchantment listener, Jacob Moran, to discuss his favourite novel: Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell. We discuss how Gaskell demonstrates the precariousness of the moral life, even or perhaps especially in middle class and comfortable lives. The novel highlights the need to cultivate every-day virtue and how easily we can stray from our principles. We explore these themes through the various contrasting characters, including Molly Gibson with her steadfast virtue in difficult circumstances, her step-mother Mrs Gibson with all her facade of care.

We hope you enjoy the summer and we look forward to returning with more Risking Enchantment episodes in September.

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Phoebe Watson, Jacob Moran

Follow us on social media: Rachel: @seekingwatson Jacob: @piousmouse

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Works Mentioned:

Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell

Keeping Your Word: Unfashionable Virtues in North and South - Risking Enchantment

‘Advice’ by Robert Crawford

What We’re Enjoying at the Moment

Collective Recommendation: 

The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel - Jenny Nicholson

Phoebe:

Murder in the Cathedral by T.S. Eliot - performed by CityLit Theatre, Chicago

Rachel:

Wildcat (2023)

Jacob:

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

"The joy of the festival, drawing together the memory of both earthly and divine blessings, points to the eternal joy of heaven by giving us a small, imperfect glimpse of the eternal feast.

"Why We Feast: A Matter of Life and Death", R. Jared Staudt

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Phoebe Watson

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Works Mentioned:

Comfort Food by Jamie Oliver

"Why does God care if you give up chocolate?" Called to More, by Rachel Sherlock

"Why We Feast: A Matter of Life and Death", R. Jared Staudt

In Tune with the World: A Theory of Festivity by Josef Pieper

"Go deeper: Food in children’s books" by Imogen Russell

Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis

Food and Faith by Norman Wirzba

Brambly Hedge: Spring Story by Jill Barklem

Brambly Hedge: Autumn Story by Jill Barklem

The Redwall series by Brian Jacques

"The Lost Art of Feasting" by David Mathis

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling

"Lower Sacraments: Theological Eating in the Fiction of C. S. Lewis" by Gregory Philip Hartley

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

"Nourishment, Delight, and Fellowship: The Purpose of Food in The Chronicles of Narnia" by Jonathan Darville

The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

What We're Enjoying at the Moment

Phoebe: Alice and Wonderland ballet, Royal Opera House recording

Rachel: High Society (film)

"The young warrior awoke, dauntless from the dust, majesty arose, victorious and wise."

-The Descent into Hell

In this episode Chloe and Rachel discuss their love of Old English literature, along with three Old English poems on the theme of Easter: The Dream of the Rood, The Descent into Hell, and Christ II

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock and Chloe Colla

Follow us on social media: @seekingwatson and @ChloeAMDG

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Works and Authors mentioned:

Tolkien & the Anglo-Saxon Heritage of Beowulf

He Descended into Hell, Called to More

A Clerk of Oxford

The Healthy Wyrdness of the the Anglo-Saxons

Some Anglo-Saxon Easter Customs

The Dream of the Rood

"The Dream of the Rood" and the Practice of Penitential Meditation

The Institute of Catholic Culture: Dream of the Rood, A Poetic Vision of the Cross of Christ

'Steadfast Cross'

The Descent into Hell

'Open wæs þæt eorðærn': the Harrowing of Hell

Christ II

Christ the Bird and the Play of Hope: An Anglo-Saxon Ascension

What We're Enjoying at the Moment:

Chloe: The radio plays of Lord Peter Wimsey

Rachel: National Theatre at Home - Treasure Island, Frankenstein

“Fiction is hard if not impossible to write because fiction is so very much an incarnation art…The fact is that the materials of the fiction are the humblest. Fiction is about everything human and we are made out of dust, and if you scorn getting yourself dusty, then you shouldn’t try to write fiction. It’s not a grand enough job for you.” - Flannery O’Connor

In this episode we are joined by Shane Jenkins to discuss the mystery of the author Flannery O’Connor. We delve into her personal writing, in her prayer journal, her letters and her essays, in order to try to understand her and her writing. Much touted for her Catholicism, nevertheless many readers, especially Catholic readers, struggle with the bleak and grotesque imagery in her writing. While the power of her fiction stands on its own, in this episode we take a look at how Flannery’s personality, so vivid in her personal writing, helps position and give context to her fiction in a way that opens it up for readers today.

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Shane Jenkins

Follow us on social media: @seekingwatson @shanekins

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Works Mentioned

Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose by Flannery O’Connor

The Habit of Being by Flannery O’Connor

Prayer Journal by Flannery O’Connor

The Complete Short Stories by Flannery O’Connor

Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor

Bishop Barron Presents | Ethan and Maya Hawke - Understanding Flannery

Wildcat (2023)

Flannery O'Connor Collection, Word on Fire Classics

What We’re Enjoying at the Moment:

Shane:

Typhoon

The 1975

John Lucas

Rachel

The Bear

“‘You will find,’ he explained, ‘that when the kings are bullies who believe in force, the people are bullies too. If I don't stand for law, I won't have law among my people.’”

In this episode Rachel and Phoebe discuss the figure of King Arthur in Malory’s Le Morte Darthur, the biblical echoes of his kingship, his attempt to create a just society and his failure to embody Christ-like ideals. We also discuss the new Catholic magazine, Leaven, launched by friend of the show, Greg Daly. It’s a digital magazine which showcases a coherently and distinctly Irish Catholic vision, and explores a mix of topics from science to literature, pop culture to social justice, history to philosophy and beyond. It’s first edition features articles and interviews with a range of established and new Catholic writers, including an article by Rachel on the theme of Pentecost in Arthurian myth, which forms a backdrop to this podcast episode. 

Click here to get your copy of Leaven:

Leaven Magazine leavenmagazine.ie

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Phoebe Watson

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Works mentioned in this episode:

Le Morte Darthur, The Winchester Manuscript by Sir Thomas Malory

The Once and Future King by T.H. White

“The Sword of the Spirit,” Leaven by Rachel Sherlock

“King Arthur and the Liturgical Year,” quiteirregular by Jem Bloomfield 

“Lancelot Versus the Pentecostal Oath,” Arthurian Literature by Kiera Schneider

“A Real Catholic Monarchy,” The Distributist Review by John C. Médaille

“Reflections for the Feast of Christ the King,” Vatican News by Fr. Antony Kadavil

“Christ the King of the Universe,” National Catholic Reporter by Mary M. McGlone, CSJ

What We’re Enjoying at the Moment:

Phoebe: The Sound of Music

Rachel: 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

"[T]he first aim of Dante, in his landscape imagery [in the Earthly Paradise], is to show evidence of this perfect liberty, and of the purity and sinlessness of the new nature, converting pathless ways into happy ones."

- John Ruskin

For the first episode back from the summer Rachel is joined by Theology Professor Matthew Rothaus Moser to discuss Dante's Divine Comedy and its themes of nature and Creation.

Matthew Rothaus Moser is Theology Professor at Azusa Pacific University. He has a recently published title Love Itself is Understanding: Hans Urs von Balthasar’s Theology of the Saints and has a forthcoming title Dante and the Poetic Practice of Theology.

To mark the 700th anniversary of Dante’s death, in this episode Rachel and Matthew discuss the depictions of nature in The Divine Comedy, in particular the end of Purgatorio where Dante enters Eden. We trace how Dante builds the imagery of forests, trees, rivers and more over the course of the Comedy. We discuss the various themes and theology that Dante is exploring with this imagery, from humanity’s current state of exile from the Garden of Earthly Delights, to the power of natural contemplation to turn us towards God, to the ways in which God reveals himself to us through his creation.

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Matthew Rothaus Moser

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @M_Rothaus_Moser

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Works Mentioned:

The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri

La Vita Nuova by Dante Alighieri

Sacred and Profane Love Podcast: Episodes 32,33,34

The Divine Ideas Tradition in Christian Mystical Theology by Mark A. McIntosh

“Narrator and Landscape in the "Commedia": An Approach to Dante's Earthly Paradise”

Kenneth A. Bleeth

After Dinner Scholar Podcast: Dante: “The Infinite Beauty of the World” with Dr. Jason Baxter

Dante: Knowing Oneself, Knowing God, by Christian Moev

“Scripture as Enigma: Biblical Allusion in Dante's Earthly Paradise” by Eleanor Cook

“All Smiles: Poetry and Theology in Dante” by Peter S. Hawkins

 Orchestra: or a Poeme of Dauncing by Sir John Davies

What We’re Enjoying At the Moment

Matthew

Looking East in Winter Contemporary Thought and the Eastern Christian Tradition by Rowan Williams

The California Mountains

Rachel

The Rat Catcher’s Olympics by Colin Cotterill

“If we insist on keeping Hell (or even earth) we shall not see Heaven: if we accept Heaven we shall not be able to retain even the smallest and most intimate souvenirs of Hell.”

― C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce

In this episode we are delighted to welcome to the show David Bates, co-host of the Pints with Jack podcast. He joins Phoebe and Rachel to discuss The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis’ imaginary supposition of Hell, Purgatory and Heaven. We talk about how Lewis demonstrates the ways that sin traps us and prevents us from entering into the joy of heaven, as well as Lewis’ unique ability to capture the vital energy and attraction of virtue. 

Check out David’s podcast: Pints with Jack 

@PintswithJack on: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube

Check out David’s wife Marie’s podcast: Pints with Chesterton 

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Phoebe Watson, David Bates

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Works mentioned in this episode:

The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis

The Marriage of Heaven and Hell by William Blake

Inaugural Homily, Pope Benedict XVI

New Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton

“The Age of Anxiety” by W.H. Auden

The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis

The Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien

Leaf by Niggle by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Misquotable C.S. Lewis: What He Didn't Say, What He Actually Said, and Why It Matters by William O’Flaherty

What We're Enjoying at the Moment

David: Speaking to his unborn son

Phoebe: Smith of Wootten Major by J.R.R. Tolkien

Rachel: Brideshead Revisited, 1981 TV Series

"I will smite Egypt with all my wonders"

- The Prince of Egypt

For this episode of Risking Enchantment, we are joined by animator and friend Robyn Conroy to talk about the 1998 Dreamwork's film The Prince of Egypt. A fantastic film in its own right, it is also an interesting modern example of a biblical story becoming a prestigious entertainment and artistic event. We talk about the incredible visuals and music of the movie, as well as the filmmaker's faithful and accurate adaptation of this sacred story. An excellent family movie for Lent, The Prince of Egypt is a masterful example of both animated and musical storytelling.

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Robyn Conroy

Follow Rachel on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow Robyn on Instagram: @robynconroyart

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Works Mentioned:

The Prince of Egypt (1998)

The Making of The Prince of Egypt (YouTube)

"An Ecumenical ‘Prince of Egypt’" By Teresa Watanabe, Los Angeles Times

Francis of Assisi by G.K. Chesterton

What We're Enjoying At the Moment

Robyn: Principium, Album by The Arcadian Wild

Rachel: Dubliners by James Joyce, audiobook read by Andrew Scott

"This seeming paradox reflects two concurrently pervasive - and strikingly contradictory - perspectives. One is to be engrossed by the past, the other to dispense with it."

The Past is a Foreign Country - Revisited

By David Lowenthal

We are delighted to welcome Catholic author and writer Fiorella de Maria. To find out more about her, and for links to all her titles visit her website:

https://www.fiorellademaria.com/

In this episode we discuss the issues that the modern age has in the ways in interacts with history, from sanitising the past in books and films to tearing down statues.

Works Mentioned:

See No Evil: A Father Gabriel Mystery by Fiorella de Maria 

The Abolition of Women by Fiorella de Maria (written under Fiorella Nash)

Poor Banished Children by Fiorella de Maria

"History Versus the Historians" Lunacy and Letters by G.K Chesterton

The Past is a Foreign Country - Revised Edition by David Lowenthal

The Go-Between by L.P. Hartley

The Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain

"On The Incarnation" Introduction to Athanasius by C.S. Lewis

Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Literature by C.S. Lewis

We'll Never Tell Them by Fiorella de Maria

Things We're Enjoying at the Moment

Fiorella: Spending time with family

Rachel: Vanilla Ice-cream Recipe in the Financial Times

"Men reverently doffed their hats; women wept and knelt before the pictures, and some even crawled like penitents through the show."

Jesus, Illustrated: Tissot’s New Testament" by Ken Johnson

In this episode, Rachel is joined by Shane Jenkins, who was previously on our Risking Enchantment episode 'Time and T.S. Eliot: Modern and Eternal Poetry'. In this episode they discuss the life and work of painter James Tissot. Once famous for his paintings of materialistic extravagance, Tissot had a profound and dramatic conversion in the middle of his life, after which he dedicated his life to chronicling the whole of the life of Christ through painting. In the episode Shane and Rachel discuss the various elements of his work that particularly interested him, and also offer a counterpoint to his work in the work of Gustave Dore. Also discussed is the need for art to accompany the Bible's words, and the newly published Word on Fire Bible.

We would like to take this time to thank you for listening to Risking Enchantment this year and to wish you all a very Merry Christmas.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Shane Jenkins

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Works Mentioned:

Shane's blog article on Tissot and the link to his Slideshow of Tissot's paintings:

'James Tissot's "Life of Christ": The Complete Online Gallery and Introduction', In Praise of Follies by Shane Jenkins

"The risqué artist who found God" The Catholic Herald by Laura Freeman

"Jesus, Illustrated: Tissot’s New Testament" The New York Times by Ken Johnson

The Blind Leading the Blind by Tissot

Maltreatments in the House Caiaphus by Tissot

Behold the Man, Ecce Homo by Tissot

Let Him be Crucified by Tissot

What Our Lord Saw from the Cross by Tissot

The Annunciation by Tissot

Jesus Ministered to by Angels by Tissot

The Snow Queen by Vladyslav Yerko

Jesus Carried up to a Pinnacle of the Temple by Tissot

The Grotto of the Agony by Tissot

Christ Retreats to the Mountain at Night by Tissot

Inner Voices (Christ Comforting the Wanderers) by Tissot

A Wild Ride Through the Night by Walter Moers

'“From the Smallest Fragment”: The Archaeology of the Doré Bible' Nineteenth Century Art Worldwide by Sarah C. Schaefer

Word on Fire Bible (Volume 1) The Gospel

What We're Enjoying at the Moment:

Shane: How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill

Rachel: David Copperfield by Charles Dickens (audiobook read by Richard Armitage)

'The things I believed most then, the things I believe most now, are the things called fairy tales. They seem to me to be the entirely reasonable things.' G.K. Chesterton

In this episode Rachel and Phoebe discuss Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones, why it's a great example of a fairy story and how fairy stories help us to know and love the world around us.

Upcoming Events: Great and Main Podcast,

Ignite Conference, Dominicans Cork

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Phoebe Watson

Follow us on social media: @seekingwatson @phoebe_lucy_watson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Works Mentioned:

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

Howl’s Moving Castle (2004, Studio Ghibli)

Reflections: On the Magic of Writing by Diana Wynne Jones

The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

The Enchanted Wood by Enid Blyton

‘The Ethics of Elfland’ Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton

On Fairy-Stories by J.R.R. Tolkien

Cartoon Saloon: Celtic and Christian Coexistence - Risking Enchantment

‘Fairy Tales’ All Things Considered by G.K. Chesterton

‘Glory and Splendor - part 3: The Beauty of Language’ by Peter Kreeft

‘The Language of Beauty - part 4: Words and Things’ by Peter Kreeft

On Stories: And Other Essays on Literature by C.S. Lewis

What We’re Enjoying at the Moment

Phoebe:  Ad Limina: A Novella of Catholics in Space by Cyril Jones-Kellett

Rachel: Sherlock Holmes (1984 TV series), Sherlock Holmes (2009 film), Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011 film), Sherlock (TV series).

“The great abstract nouns of the classical English moralists are unblushingly and uncompromisingly used: good sense, courage, contentment, fortitude…Contrasted with the world of modern fiction, Jane Austen’s is at once less soft and less cruel.” - C.S. Lewis, “A Note on Jane Austen”

In this episode, we are joined by Haley Stewart, a Catholic convert, writer, speaker, podcaster, and Managing Editor of Word on Fire Spark, their new publishing line for children and young readers. We discuss Haley’s new book, coming this March, Jane Austen's Genius Guide to Life: On Love, Friendship, and Becoming the Person God Created You to Be by Haley Stewart. We talk about the profound and vibrant ways Jane Austen explores morals and virtues in her novels. In particular we highlight the themes of prudence and constancy in Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park, respectively, as well as speaking about Austen’s peculiar genius for rendering the moral journeys of her characters. 

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Haley Stewart

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Follow Haley on social media: @HaleyCarrots

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Find Haley Stewart’s Work:

Jane Austen's Genius Guide to Life: On Love, Friendship, and Becoming the Person God Created You to Be by Haley Stewart

The Grace of Enough: Pursuing Less and Living More in a Throwaway Culture by Haley Stewart

Carrots for Michaelmas blog

Fountains of Carrots Podcast

Word on Fire Institute

Works Mentioned:

Jane Austen's Genius Guide to Life: On Love, Friendship, and Becoming the Person God Created You to Be by Haley Stewart

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

Emma by Jane Austen

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Persuasion by Jane Austen

Love and Friendship by Jane Austen, introduction by G.K. Chesterton

The Illustrated Letters of Jane Austen, Selected and Introduced by Penelope Hughes-Hallett

“A Note on Jane Austen”, Selected Literary Essays by C.S. Lewis

Things We’re Enjoying at the Moment

Haley: All Creatures Great and Small (2020 TV Series)

Rachel: Caper Board Game

Apologies for re-releasing this old episode, there was a technical issue which needed to be resolved. New episode of Risking Enchantment coming soon. Thank you for your patience!

“You may learn something, and whether what you see be fair or evil, that may be profitable, and yet it may not. Seeing is both good and perilous.”

• The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

In this episode of Risking Enchantment we’re discussing one of our favourite topics: The Lord of the Rings. We’re taking a look at the way Tolkien’s characters are often forced to make decisions and take action with very limited information. We also explore Tolkien’s theme of the tendency to despair that can be caused by receiving too much information, especially through magical means, a theme with great relevance today especially when drawn in comparison to technology and the transmission of news online. We look at the way that Tolkien’s interest in this element of his story impacts his writing approach, crafting the books in their leapfrogging narrative style, as well as the possible origins of this interest in his work as a signal’s officer in World War 1.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Phoebe Watson

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Works Referenced

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Lord of the Rings (dir. Peter Jackson) Appendices Bonus Material

“JRR Tolkien, World War One Signals Officer” by Elizabeth Bruton

The Road to Middle Earth by Tom Shippey

Dracula by Bram Stoker

What we’re Enjoying at the Moment

Phoebe: Dracula by Bram Stoker

Rachel: Winters in the World by Eleanor Parker

Both: Living (2022, dir Oliver Hermanus)

“[Paradox is] truth standing on its head to gain attention." - G.K. Chesterton

In this Easter episode of Risking Enchantment, Rachel and Phoebe discuss two of Chesterton’s books: Manalive and St. Francis of Assisi. We draw out the similarities in themes, characters, and messages between the two books, in particular the use of paradoxes and seeming contradictions, as well as the general atmosphere of vibrant and energetic virtue. The main characters of each of these books, Innocent Smith, and St. Francis of Assisi both turn the world upside down in various ways, inverting people’s expectations and confounding their preconceptions. In both cases Chesterton uses his typical contrarian charm to show his readers the wondrous gift of life through God.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Phoebe Watson

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Works Mentioned in this Episode:

Manalive by G.K. Chesterton

St. Francis of Assisi by G.K. Chesterton

Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton

“Chesterton and Saint Francis” by Joseph Pearce

“Reason Exhausted: Paradoxes of G. K. Chesterton and C. S. Lewis” by Sara Park McLaughlin

“Two Kinds of Paradox” by G.K. Chesterton

What We're Enjoying at the Moment:

Phoebe: Georgette Heyer Novels

Rachel: Holiday to Rome

"Romance is the deepest thing in life; romance is deeper even than reality."

- G.K. Chesterton

In this last episode of Risking Enchantment before the summer break, Rachel and Phoebe share their experience of watching musicals from the Golden Age of Hollywood. We discuss their peculiar charm, the effects of the era in which they were made, from cultural mores to filming techniques, and why they are a beautiful resource for those looking to see God's beauty in the world.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Phoebe Watson

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Films Referenced and Recommended in this Episode

• Singin' in the Rain
• Sound of Music
• High Society
• An American in Paris
• Funny Face
• Mary Poppins
• The Wizard of Oz
• The Sound of Music
• The King and I
• My Fair Lady
• Meet Me in St Louis
• Guys and Dolls
• White Christmas

Other Works Referenced

Manalive! by G.K. Chesterton

The Healing Power of Gene Kelly by Emily Kubincanek

'Why Hollywood Matters', talk given by Barbara Nicholosi

'The Golden Age of Censorship' by Peter Tonguette

What We're Enjoying at the Moment

Rachel: Financial Times Cryptic Crosswords

Phoebe: Victorian Doll House Book

“Spring was moving in the air above and in the earth below and around him, penetrating even his dark and lowly little house with its spirit of divine discontent and longing."

In our first episode back after the summer Phoebe and Rachel discuss the sense of longing found in The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. 

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Phoebe Watson

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Follow Phoebe on Instagram: @phoebe_lucy_watson

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Works Mentioned

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame (illus. Inga Moore)

Audiobook: Read by Michael Hordern

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis

Surprised by Joy by C.S. Lewis

The Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis

The Pilgrim’s Regress by C.S. Lewis

‘Tinturn Abbey’ by William Wordsworth

‘The Buried Life’ by Matthew Arnold

‘The Day is Done’ by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Not That It Matters by A.A. Milne

Tolkien On Fairy-stories, expanded edition, edited by Verlyn Flieger and Douglas A. Anderson

The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

“Tolkien, Lewis, and The Wind in the Willows” by Roy Peachey, The Catholic World Reporter

“God’s Whispers in The Wind in the Willows” by Justin D Lyons, Bereans at the Gate

‘Little Gidding’ by T.S. Eliot

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

“The Longing of the Wind in the Willows” by Chris Wheeler, The Rabbit Room

Beyond the Wild Wood by Alan Jacobs, First Things

What We’re Enjoying at the Moment

Phoebe: Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery

Rachel: Mount Usher Gardens

“The Word himself was the first Gardener. In the beginning he planted a tree in the garden of Eden that grew the fruit of immortal life"

- Vigen Guroian

In this episode Rachel is joined by Reba Luiken, director of Allen Centennial Garden at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, to discuss how gardening grounds us, both in the gifts of our bodies and the gifts of Creation. We talk about how we can look to Nature to understand God, and how the seasonal year helps us to understand our faith and the sacraments.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Reba Luiken

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Works Mentioned in this Episode

Inheriting Paradise by Vigen Guroian

The Fragrance of God by Vigen Guroian

Walden by Henry David Thoreau

Springing into the Season - Risking Enchantment

"Christ the Gardener of our Souls" by Brent Klaske, Angelus Press

"Godly Gardening", Food and Faith: A Theology of Eating by Norman Wirzba

The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien

Beasts at Bedtime: Revealing the Environmental Wisdom in Children's Literature by Liam Heneghan

The Secret Garden by Lucy Maud Montegomery

Laudato si' by Pope Francis

The Grace of Enough: Pursuing Less and Living More in a Throwaway Culture by Haley Stewart

Things We're Enjoying At The Moment

Reba: Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness by Ingrid Fetell Lee

Rachel: Mary Poppins Soundtrack, LP

[Joseph’s] incomparable example as a saint fortunate among so many for having lived a common life with Jesus and Mary—a life of service to Christ, a service born of love.

- Saint Paul VI on the Feast of Saint Joseph (March 19, 1966)

We’re delighted to welcome Elizabeth Lev back to the podcast. In her first episode, ​​Elizabeth Lev: Founding Christian Art and Redeeming Roman Myth we discussed her book How Catholic Art Saved the Faith: The Triumph of Beauty and Truth in Counter-Reformation Art the how early Christians evangelised to the Romans through art and architecture. Now Elizabeth is joining us again to discuss her new book The Silent Knight: A History of St. Joseph as Depicted in Art. We talk about Pope Francis’ call to turn in prayer to St Joseph in our current age, the many ways that St Joseph has been represented in art throughout the centuries, and how this art can help us to cultivate a devotion to him.

Follow Elizabeth Lev:

Twitter: @lizlevrome

Instagram: @lizlevinrome

Website: elizabeth-lev.com

Elizabeth also runs Masters' Gallery Rome where you can join to get great lectures about Roman art.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, 

Follow us on social media: @seekingwatson 

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Works Mentioned:

How Catholic Art Saved the Faith: The Triumph of Beauty and Truth in Counter-Reformation Art by Elizabeth Lev

The Silent Knight: A History of St. Joseph as Depicted in Art by Elizabeth Lev

Patris Corde by Pope Francis

Joseph the Worker by Modesto Faustini

Flight to Egypt by Giotto

Washing of the Feet by Giotto

St Joseph Cradling the Infant Christ by Guido Reni

Rest on the Flight to Egypt by Caravaggio

Christ Crowning Saint Joseph by Francisco de Zurbarán

St. Joseph and the Child Jesus by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo

Flight to Egypt by Gislebertus, Autun Cathedral

Death of Saint Joseph by Giuseppe Maria Crespi

Death of Saint Joseph by William Blake

Limbo by Sister Mary Ada

Rest on the Flight to Egypt by Barroci

Nuptials of the Virgin by Rosso Fiorrentino

The Holy Family with a Palm Tree by Raphael

Betrothed – Glimpses of the Betrothal of Mary and Joseph by Paraic Maher

The Nagasaki Martyrs by the Cuzco School

St. Joseph and the Child Jesus by Dony MacManus

The Holy Family by Janet McKenzie

St. Joseph Terror of Demons by Bernadette Carstensen

St. Joseph and the Christ Child by Francesco Grandi

What We’re Enjoying At the Moment

Face to Face: Portraits of the Divine in Early Christianity by Robin M Jensen

Gods and Fighting Men by Lady Augusta Gregory

“There is something in us, as storytellers and as listeners to stories, that demands the redemptive act, that demands that what falls at least be offered the chance to be restored." - Flannery O'Connor

For this episode of the podcast we're doubling up the Sherlocks as Rachel is joined by her brother Michael to discuss the film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. In this episode we place the film in the tradition of the Southern Gothic genre and talk about the influence of Flannery O'Connor on the film's story and storytelling technique. We delve into O'Connor's use of violence and grace, and analyze the role of God in our yearning for both justice and mercy.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Michael Sherlock

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Works Referenced:

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)

A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor

Mystery and Manners by Flannery O'Connor

'How Three Billboards went from film fest darling to awards-season controversy' by Alissa Wilkinson

'Beyond Grief and Anger: A Review of “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”' by Fr. Damien Ference

"Three Billboards, Flannery O’Connor, and Hope" by Philip Bunn 

The Violent Bear It Away by Flannery O'Connor

The Habit of Being by Flannery O'Connor

What We’re Enjoying at the Moment

Michael: Breaking Bad

Rachel: Machine Gun Kelly, Mainstream Sellout Tour

“Somebody, after all, had to make a start.” - Sophie Scholl

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Greg Daly

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Follow Greg on social media: @GregDalyIC, @thirstygargoyle 

http://thethirstygargoyle.blogspot.com/

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Works Mentioned:

Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (2005)

Cultural Amnesia: Necessary Memories from History and the Arts by Clive James

‘The White Rose of Conscience’ Irish Catholic by Greg Daly

At the Heart of the White Rose: Letters and Diaries of Hans and Sophie Scholl

Saint John Paul the Great: His Five Loves by Jason Evert

Sophie Scholl – The Final Days (2005) Review by Steven Greydanus, Decent Films

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

The Great War in Modern Memory by Paul Fussell

The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis

If This is a Man by Primo Levi

What We’re Enjoying at the Moment:

Greg:

Middlemarch by George Eliot

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

Rachel:

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham (audiobook read by Michael Hordern)

“I now see that I spent most of my life in doing neither what I ought nor what I liked”.

C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

Risking Enchantment is back for 2022, and in our first episode back Rachel is joined by Phoebe, to discuss our resolutions for how we hope to spend our time in the coming year. Using the above quote as inspiration, we discuss how to balance productivity with leisure, how schedules enable us to achieve our goals but can also lead us into the tyranny of efficiency, and how leisure is part of God’s plan for us but in our modern age true leisure is hard to achieve. We look to literary references to help us understand how best to spend our time, whether it’s the story of nuns and the tolling bell of their schedule in Rumer Godden’s book In This House of Brede, or Fran Lebowitz’s life of idleness as listed her humorous book Metropolitan Life.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Phoebe Watson

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Works Mentioned in this Episode:

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

“The Lost Art of Intentionality” - Word on Fire

From The Writing Life by Annie Dillard

Idle Moments: Literary Loafers through the Ages and Pages - The Slightly Foxed Podcast

The Fran Lebowitz Reader by Fran Lebowitz

Heretics by G.K. Chesterton

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden

The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise by Cardinal Robert Sarah

Wonder in a Digital Age - Born of Wonder podcast

“Burnt Norton” by T.S. Eliot

“The Three Sicknesses of U.S. Society: Racism, Poverty, and War” by Martin Luther King Jr 

What We're Enjoying at the Moment:

Phoebe: The Lord of the Rings, audiobook read by Rob Inglis

Rachel: That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis

"I looked at her, with my mind full of that other lovely face which had so ominously recalled her to my memory on the terrace by moonlight. I had seen Anne Catherick's likeness in Miss Fairlie. I now saw Miss Fairlie's likeness in Anne Catherick."

- Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White

We are joined for this episode of Risking Enchantment by Catholic author Eleanor Bourg Nicholson. Eleanor has recently published two Gothic novels, A Bloody Habit (2018) and Brother Wolf (2021). She joins us to talk about the Gothic genre, and why it's both relevant and interesting to Catholic writers and readers. We also delve into the theme of gothic doubles, a theme powerfully explored in many of the classic novels of the genre including Dracula, Frankenstein and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

We also look at how the trope is explored in Sensation fiction, a genre adjacent to Gothic fiction, in particular in the novel The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. While Gothic fiction has the source of its uncanny doubling in the preternatural and phantasmagorical, Sensation fiction looks to the find the horror in the real societal problems found in the Victorian Age. Where the former genre examines how find ourselves reflected in the falleness of literal monsters, the latter genre examines how we find ourselves reflected in the villany and duplicity of our society.

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Eleanor Bourg Nicholson

Follow Rachel on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow Eleanor on Facebook here.

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Buy A Bloody Habit by Eleanor Bourg Nicholson here.

Buy Brother Wolf by Eleanor Bourg Nicholson here.

Find out more about Eleanor Bourg Nicholson's work with Homeschool Connections here.

Related Risking Enchantment Episodes:

Dracula: The Presence of Evil and the Power of Sacramentals

Monsters and Morality in Romanticism

Works Mentioned:

A Bloody Habit by Eleanor Bourg Nicholson

Brother Wolf by Eleanor Bourg Nicholson

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

Dracula by Bram Stoker

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

The Victorian Age in Literature by G.K. Chesterton

What We're Enjoying at the Moment:

Eleanor: The Lord of the Rings on Audiobook

Rachel: The Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clarke

“For us, we like going back to a time—and I’m sure nostalgia is feeding into that—where cell phones and the internet weren’t around. If you went off with friends, it felt like you really could get lost on a grand adventure.”

- The Duffer Brothers

In this episode of Risking Enchantment I'm joined by Robyn Conroy, a professional animator who previously joined us for our episodes 'Cartoon Saloon: Celtic and Christian Coexistence' and 'The Prince of Egypt: An Epic in Animation'.

This time she joins us to discuss the hit Netflix series Stranger Things. Set in the 1980s in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana, Stranger Things is a sci-fi horror series centered on the supernatural events occurring around the town, including the appearance of a girl with psychic and telepathic abilities.

In the episode we discuss our love for the show and it's grounding in the virtues of loyalty, friendship and courage. We also talk about the complicated relationship our society has with the past and nostalgia, as typified by the success of Stranger Thing's 80's setting. We look at the negative effect of an over reliance on nostalgia, as well as a look at how the digital age might be impacting our ability to embrace the present and even encounter the mystery of our faith.

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Robyn Conroy

Follow Rachel on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow Robyn on Instagram: @robynconroyart

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Works Mentioned:

Stranger Things, created by The Duffer Brothers

"Why do we like 'Stranger Things' so much? A BYU professor explains"  

On Fairy Stories by J.R.R. Tolkien

 The Past Is a Foreign Country—Revisited by David Lowenthal

"Jack Antonoff has a 'Strange Desire' for the '80s"

1999 by Charli XCX

2002 by Anne-Marie

The 90s by Finneas

Coney Island ft. The National by Taylor Swift

"‘Stranger Things’ is all too familiar"

"The Strangness of Stranger Things"

"Gateway to the upside down"

What We're Enjoying at the Moment

Robyn: Take the Sadness out of Saturday Night by Bleacher

Rachel: An American in Paris

"Our Lord began his public life on the Mount of the Beatitudes and closed it on the Mount of Calvary. This books tells the story of how he practiced the meekness, the mercy, and the poverty of the Beatitudes." - Ven. Fulton Sheen

In this episode of Risking Enchantment Rachel and Phoebe discuss the short book by Ven. Fulton Sheen called The Cross and the Beatitudes. In this book, Sheen correlates the Beatitudes to the seven last words of Christ, and in so doing he illuminates how Christ embodied the Beatitudes not only in his ministry but in the Passion itself. It is a book full of insight and wisdom, and at under 100 pages it is an ideal devotional to read this Holy Week. 

We wish you all a prayerful Holy Week and a blessed Easter Season.

Works Mentioned:

The Cross and the Beatitudes by Ven. Fulton Sheen

The Beauty and Ugliness of the Cross - Risking Enchantment

Sacred Songs for Sorrowful Times: Music for Holy Week - Risking Enchantment

The World’s First Love by Ven. Fulton Sheen

“The Beatitudes Confront the Seven Deadly Sins” by Dennis and Rose Wingfield

Perelandra by C.S. Lewis

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

"The Seven Words Spoken by Jesus Christ on the Cross" by St. Alphonsus Liguori

What We're Enjoying at the Moment:

Phoebe:

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

Pints with Jack: Season 4 - The Screwtape Letters

Rachel:

Tolkien's Modern Reading: Middle-earth Beyond the Middle Ages by Holly Ordway

Boreas/Zephyrus Vinyl by The Oh Hellos

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

R: Lord of the Rings, The Habit of Being, Brambly Hedge P: Anne of Green Gables, Out of the Silent Planet, The World’s First Love M: Narnia, The Happy Prince and Other Tales, 'When I Have Fears’

R:Mercy Street, All Colours of the Night, Winter P: The Point of No Return M: Mrs Dalloway

"First become a person" - St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross

This bonus episode is the recording of a talk I gave over this summer for the Youth 2000 summer festival on Catholic womanhood.

The slides discussed in the talk can be found by clicking the following link: Presentation Slides

To find out more about Youth 2000 Ireland and their mission click here: Youth 2000

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Titles mentioned: The Music of the Night in The Phantom of the Opera, Advent by Patrick Kavanagh, The Shadows by George MacDonald, Into the Dark with God by Hans Urs Von Balthasar.

Enjoying now: The Fall of Gondolin by J.R.R. Tolkien, Sherlock Holmes the ITV series, Over the Garden Wall, The Once and Future King by T.H.White.

"The whole story of her life... It was here waiting for her …

She had never needed to think about it before. It had been quite easy to fill her life with unimportant trivialities that left her no time for self-knowledge."

- Absent in the Spring

In this episode of Risking Enchantment Rachel and Phoebe discuss two books: Absent in the Spring by Agatha Christie and Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis. Both lesser known works by well-known authors, they were nevertheless esteemed by their authors to be among their best work. They also both share several core themes: the quest for truth, the need to know and understand yourself, and the dangers of love without grace.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Phoebe Watson

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Follow Phoebe on Instagram: @phoebe_lucy_watson

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Works Mentioned:

Absent in the Spring by Agatha Christie

Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis

Agatha Christie: An Autobiography by Agatha Christie

The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis

The Habit of Being by Flannery O'Connor

A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis

What We're Enjoying at the Moment

Phoebe: Pints with Jack Podcast

Rachel: Dialogues des Carmélites, opera by Poulenc shown on Met Opera

“Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.”

• David Copperfield, Charles Dickens

We are joined for this episode of Risking Enchantment by Catholic author Eleanor Bourg Nicholson. Eleanor has previously published several Gothic novels including, A Bloody Habit (2018) and Brother Wolf (2021), with her latest novel Wake of Malice set to publish later this year.

In this episode we discuss our deep love of the novels of Charles Dickens. We explore three of his greatest works, David Copperfield, Nicholas Nickleby and Great Expectations, each of which follows a young male protagonist through the many adventures, triumphs and pitfalls of his life. In each case we look at the virtues and the failings of these heroes, the Romantic tropes that Dickens employs to characterize them, and the subversions of these that he uses, particularly in the case of Great Expectations.

Works Mentioned:

Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

Dickens: A Critical Study by G.K. Chesterton

David Copperfield: Ignatius Critical Edition (coming soon) by Charles Dickens

“The Age of Cant” by Theodore Dalrymple

What We are Enjoying at the Moment

Eleanor: Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Rachel: Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell

"The power of finding beauty in the humblest things makes home happy and life lovely." - Louisa May Alcott

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Phoebe Watson

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Works mentioned:

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Good Wives by Louisa May Alcott

Little Women (2019) dir. Greta Gerwig

Little Women (2017 TV series) dir. Vanessa Caswill

Little Women (1994) dir Gillian Armstrong

Jack and Jill: A Village Story by Louisa May Alcott

Fountains of Carrots, Ep 123 Bringing Beauty to the World Through the Beauty of Home with Carrie Gress and Noelle Mering

The G.K. Chesterton Collection by G.K. Chesterton

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

The Catechism of the Catholic Church

The Home of Carl and Karin Larsson

"Greta Gerwig shows us ‘Little Women’ like never before" by Haley Stewart 

What We're Enjoying at the Moment

Phoebe: Weldon's Practical Needlework

Rachel: A Bloody Habit by Eleanor Bourg Nicholson 

“He found himself wondering at times, especially in the autumn, about the wild lands, and strange visions of mountains that he had never seen came into his dreams. He began to say to himself: ‘Perhaps I shall cross the River myself one day.’ To which the other half of his mind always replied: ‘Not yet.’”

• J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

In this episode of the podcast Rachel and Phoebe discuss their love of autumn, the glory of its natural splendour and the joy to be found in the rituals of decoration homes and drawing in from the elements. But within this discussion is an exploration of the seeming boom in the commercialisation and content packaging of the season, seen across social media and even high street shops. Among the points discussed are René Girard’s theory of mimetic desire, how social media draws us into both inspiration and envy, and how to find a balanced way to embrace the season.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Phoebe Watson

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Works Referenced

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

WOF 348: The Power of Mimetic Desire w/ Luke Burgis, The Word on Fire Podcast

Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life by Luke Burgis

The Sorrows of Autumn - Born of Wonder Podcast

Daydress 

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

Persuasion by Jane Austen 

Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montegomery

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien edited by Humphrey Carpenter

Anne of Avonlea by Lucy Maud Montegomery

Danny the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl

Thomas Wingfold, Curate by George MacDonald

The Hawk in the Rain by Ted Hughes

‘October’ by Edward Thomas

What We’re Enjoying at the Moment

Rachel: See How They Run (2022)

Phoebe: A Tangled Web by Lucy Maud Montegomery

“Healing is impossible in loneliness; it is the opposite of loneliness. Conviviality is healing. To be healed we must come with all the other creatures to the feast of Creation.” - Wendell Berry

In this, our last episode before the summer break, Phoebe is back to discuss some of our favourite children’s literature. We explore the theme of health and healing, in Goodnight Mr. Tom and The Secret Garden, and how both stories show the importance of nature and community in human flourishing. Looking to the writing of Wendell Berry we discuss how our health, our environment and our society are all interconnected, and how our faith informs how we should cultivate all three of those strands of life.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Phoebe Watson

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Works mentioned:

Goodnight Mr. Tom by Michelle Magorian

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim

Heidi by Johanna Spyri

‘Health is Membership’ by Wendell Berry

The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays of Wendell Berry by Wendell Berry

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis

What we’re enjoying at the moment:

Phoebe: The appendices discs to The Lord of the Rings extended edition

Rachel: Sam Amidon (musician)

But if there’s nothing, if there’s nothing Then what’s that song that keeps hounding me? In the still dark of the morning Just one more cradle down the creek Au revoir my little memories Then tell me: this is not your loss, this is your offering

- Wake, 'Offerings'

In this episode we are joined again by Shane Jenkins to discuss the album Offerings by Typhoon. Led by singer-songwriter Kyle Morton, the album is a fascinating, at times difficult, but ultimately transfixing examination of the end of a life. It follows various characters through the experience of dementia, sickness and death, allowing the listener to enter into that space through its rich musicality and lyricism. In our episode we pull out some of the imagery of the album, it's literary and biblical references and allusions and address its powerful and important themes.

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Shane Jenkins

Follow us on social media: @seekingwatson @shanekins

Shane's Website: https://sjenkin46.wixsite.com/ipofollies/about

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Works Mentioned

Offerings by Typhoon

Hunger and Thirst by Typhoon

White Lighter by Typhoon

"Kyle Morton & Typhoon: In Conversation with Great Minds" — The DePaul Humanities Center

The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri

'Little Gidding', The Four Quartets, by T.S. Eliot

The Choruses from The Rock by T.S. Eliot

'The Hound of Heaven' by Francis Thompson

8 1/2, dir. Frederico Fellini

Lost in the Cosmos by Walker Percy

What We're Enjoying at the Moment

Shane:

Cargo by Pio Harnett

Rachel:

The Cormoran Strike series by Robert Galbraith

"There will be time, there will be time

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Shane Jenkins

Follow us on social media: @seekingwatson @shanekins

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Works Mentioned

Talk Bhride Podcast

"Influences: The Power of T.S. Eliot" by Seamus Heaney

The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot

The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

Theology of Hans Urs Von Balthasar, Word on Fire Institute

Tractatus Logico - Philosophicus by Ludwig Wittgenstein

Philosophical Investigations by Ludwig Wittgenstein

The Wasteland by T.S. Eliot

A Reader's Guide to T.S. Eliot's "Four Quartets"

Burnt Norton by T.S. Eliot

East Coker by T.S. Eliot

The Dry Salvages by T.S. Eliot

Little Gidding by T.S. Eliot

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

The Confessions by St. Augustine

A Preface to Paradise Lost by C.S. Lewis

"G. K. Chesterton & T. S. Eliot: Friends or Enemies?" by Joseph Pearce

Tradition and the Individual Talent by T.S. Eliot

Thoughts After Lambeth by T.S. Eliot

Chorus from the Rock by T.S. Eliot

Things We're Enjoying at the Moment

Shane: Portal of the Mystery of Hope by Charles Peguy

Rachel: The Letter for the King by Tonke Dragt, Pushkin Press

“The perfect stillness of the night was thrilled by a more solemn silence. The darkness held a presence that was all the more felt because it was not seen. I could not any more have doubted that He was there than that I was. Indeed, I felt myself to be, if possible, the less real of the two.” —William James

In this episode of Risking Enchantment, we are delighted to welcome back Katie Marquette, host of the podcast Born of Wonder, to talk about the experience of liminal spaces, what it means to encounter the numinous, and how we interpret this in our lives of faith. We discuss the Eucharist as the meeting point between heaven and earth, but also the moments of the 'thinning of the veil' to be found in nature and even our own homes.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Katie Marquette

Listen to Katie’s podcast: Born of Wonder

Follow Rachel on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow Katie on social media: @bornofwonder

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Rachel was also previously a guest on the Born of Wonder podcast. To listen to that episode, click here: Falling in Love with Words: Nora Ephron and You’ve Got Mail with Rachel Sherlock

Works Referenced:

Born of Wonder: S4:9 EP51: The Lure of the Edge and Trying to Capture it

Born of Wonder: S4:10 EP52: Thin Places: Lifting the Veil Between Heaven and Earth

A Photographer at the Ends of the Earth

Thomas Joshua Cooper | The World's Edge

Rudolf Otto's 'Mysterium Tremendum et Fascinans' of the Numinous Experience

Otto on the Numinous

November: A Thin Place

The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis

The Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis

'Effing the Ineffable' by Roger Scruton

Letters to Malcolm by C.S. Lewis

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham

What We're Enjoying At the Moment:

Katie: Three Blind Mice by Agatha Christie

Rachel: House of David by Molly O'Mahony

“When Mary has struck her roots in a soul, she produces there marvels of grace, which she alone can produce, because she alone is the fruitful Virgin who never has had, and never will have, her equal in purity and in fruitfulness.”

― Louis De Montfort, True Devotion to Mary

With Advent as the ideal time to reflect on Mary and her place in our lives, Phoebe and Rachel discuss some of their favourite Marian devotions, the paintings and images that accompany these images, and how these devotions can lead us to a fuller understanding of Christ and our Catholic faith.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Phoebe Watson

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Works mentioned: [Marian Devotions discussed in bold]

'The Virgin' by William Wordsworth

The World's First Love by St Louis De Montfort

Margery Kempe's meditations : the context of medieval devotional literatures, liturgy and iconography (St Bernard of Clairveaux quote)

Theotokos

Cyril of Alexandria Second Letter to Nestorius

Star of the Sea

St Bonaventure

The Secret Of The Rosary by St Louis De Montfort

The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien

St Thomas Aquinas

St Bernard of Clairveaux

From Forty Dreams of St. John Bosco, compiled and edited by Fr. J. Bacchiarello, S.D.B

Mary Star of the Sea, by Bernadette Carstensen (painting)

Stella Maris, by Lawrence Klimecki (painting)

Stella Maris, Our Lady Star of the Sea by Josiah, HeartofIESVS (painting)

Our Lady, Help of Christians

Song of Solomon 6:10

Hortus Conclusus

Song of Solomon 4:12

Annunciation, by Fra Angelico (painting)

The Annuciation, by Arthur Hacker (painting)

Madonna im Rosenhag, by Stefan Lochner (painting)

Frankfurter Paradiesgärtleins (painting)

The Virgin in the Hortus conclusus:Healing the Body and Healing the Soul by Naoë Kukita Yoshikawa

Flower Theology by John S. Stokes, Jr.

"The Adventure of the Naval Treaty" The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

St Jerome

Our Lady of Sorrows

Ven Francis Nguyễn Văn Thuận

"Why Our Lady of Sorrows" by Fr Steve Grunow, Word on Fire

"Our Lady of Sorrows, Pray for the Church" by Rev. Karl Clemens, C.SS.R. Remnant Newspaper

“The Virgin with Angels” and "Pieta" by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (painting)

"Mother of Sorrows" by Robert Hugh Benson

Our Lady of Guadalupe

What We're Enjoying at the Moment

Phoebe: Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Rachel: Why Hollywood Matters by Barbara Nicolosi, video

“[God] gave you strength to do what your conscience told you was right; and I don’t see that we need any higher or holier strength than that; or wisdom either."

- Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South

In this episode Rachel and Phoebe discuss North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. Often dubbed ‘The Victorian Pride and Prejudice’ it is a wonderful love story but also a story of class struggles, the industrial revolution and religious turmoil. Throughout all these themes is Gaskell’s exploration of the importance of following your conscience, maintaining your principles and speaking and acting honestly. Rachel and Phoebe look at the ways in which each of these ‘unfashionable virtues’ are represented in the novel, and why they still apply to us in the modern day.

After this episode, Risking Enchantment will be taking a break over the summer and will return in September. To get notified when it returns, or to keep up to date with any additional content, sign up to our newsletter at: Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Phoebe Watson

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Works Mentioned:

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux by Thérèse de Lisieux

Illustrated London News by G.K. Chesterton

The Catechism of the Catholic Church

What's Wrong with the World by G.K. Chesterton

"The Inner Ring" by C.S. Lewis

What We're Enjoying at the Moment

Phoebe: Garden's World

Rachel: From Up on Poppy Hill (film. 2013), Whisper of the Heart (film. 1995)

Welcome back to Risking Enchantment! For our first episode of 2024, Rachel and Phoebe discuss the place that poetry has in our everyday lives, its importance in our faith, and why it’s good to learn poetry by heart. We highlight some of the poems that have been most impactful in our lives and spotlight some of the great resources for Catholics interested in poetry today.

Click here for more information about Select Tours: Irish Wisdom and Wonder Pilgrimage with Katie Marquette and Christy Isinger.

Click here to browse Wiseblood Books.

Works Mentioned:

“Have it by Heart”, The Spectator by Douglas Murray

“Influences”, The Boston Review by Seamus Heaney

“Christianity and Poetry”, First Things by Dana Gioia

100 Great Catholic Poems by Sally Read

“America, and Fall, Needs Poetry”, The American Conservative by Katya Sedgwick

“Should Catholics care about poetry?”, Catholic News Agency, by Mary Farrow

“Catholics Need Poetry” Word on Fire by Andrew Tolkmith

Wiseblood Books

“The Integral Humanism of Poetry,” Evangelisation and Culture by James Matthew Wilson

Poems Referenced:

“The Lovesong of J.Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot

“A Christmas Childhood” by Patrick Kavanagh

“Wind” by Ted Hughes

“Advent” by Patrick Kavanagh

“Little Gidding” by T.S. Eliot

Murder in the Cathedral by T.S. Eliot

“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost

“The Road not Taken” by Robert Frost

“Oíche Nollaig na mBan” by Seán Ó Ríordáin

“‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers” by Emily Dickinson

The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare

Hamlet by William Shakespeare

“Ceasefire” by Michael Longely

“The Wasteland” by T.S. Eliot

"I have seen beauty thrive in the most fragile of places. I have seen the book. The book that turned darkness into light."

In this episode I am joined by Robyn Conroy to discuss the representation of Celtic and Christian heritage in the animated movies, The Secret of Kells and Song of the Sea by Irish animation company Cartoon Saloon. Along with highlighting the beautiful artwork of these movies we also delve into how Catholics can interact with other kinds of cultural traditions and beliefs.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Robyn Conroy

Follow us on social media: @seekingwatson @robynconroyart

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Works Mentioned:

The Beekeeper trailer

Cartoon Saloon

The Secret of Kells

Song of the Sea

Revealing The Secret of Kells, Part 1, Image Journal

Decent Films - The Song of the Sea, Review

Song of the Sea Blog 

 "On Fairy-Stories" Tree and Leaf: Including Mythopoeia by J.R.R. Tolkien

"Three Objections to Fairy Tales and C. S. Lewis's Response"

"Great Films for Kids: Song of the Sea"

"Fairy Tales" All Things Considered by G.K. Chesterton

Folk Catholicism, Wikipedia

The Importance of Myths and Fairy Tales for Christian Children, Catholic Exchange

What We're Enjoying at the Moment

Robyn: Man in the High Castle, TV series

Rachel: Great British Bake Off

"A story that was a metaphor for American capitalism in the tale of a great king with three sons: the oldest was given his passion and aggressiveness, the second his sweet nature and child-like qualities, and the third his intelligence, cunning, and coldness. Suddenly I saw the story as one of succession and power."

- Francis Ford Coppola, The Godfather Notebook

In this episodes, I’m delighted to be joined by Katie Marquette, host of the Born of Wonder podcast. We’re discussing one of our favourite films, The Godfather. We explore the film’s themes of power, the desire for justice, and the complexity of family loyalty. We discuss the film’s artistic achievement and how it utilizes its Catholic backdrop to powerful effect.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Katie Marquette

Listen to Katie’s podcast: Born of Wonder

Follow Rachel on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow Katie on social media: @bornofwonder

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Rachel was also recently a guest on the Born of Wonder podcast. To listen to that episode, click here: Falling in Love with Words: Nora Ephron and You’ve Got Mail with Rachel Sherlock

Works Referenced:

The Godfather, Part 1

The Godfather, Part 2

“At 50 years, 'The Godfather' still impacts how Hollywood depicts gangs, violence”, National Catholic Report

“The Godfather’s two endings: Lighting a candle and the wrong side of the door”, Decent Films

“Cycle of Sin: Christian Themes in The Godfather”, Critics at Large

The Godfather: How Michael Corleone Evolves

What We’re Enjoying at the Moment:

Katie: The Autumn Season

Rachel: Castle Howard: Into the Woods - A Fairytale Christmas

    Laysongs by Chris Thile

Often dismissed as 'the Dark Ages' of the Church before the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, the Middle Ages was in fact a fascinating era for Christian preaching. Richly textual, highly informed, and even, entertaining, Fr Conor McDonough OP joins us on the podcast to discuss a Dominican perspective on preaching, especially in the Middle Ages, as well as the work of Humbert of Romans in his Treatise on Preaching.

“The Word Eclipsed?: Preaching in the Early Middle Ages” by R Emmet McLaughlin

Dominion by Tom Holland

Confessions by St Augustine

“Eynsham and Ælfric” Clerk of Oxford blog, Eleanor Parker

“Performing the Seven Deadly Sins: How One Late-Medieval English Preacher did it” by Alan J. Fletcher

Treatise on Preaching by Humbert of Romans

What we’re enjoying at the moment:

Fr. Conor: Pearl (poem)

Rachel: Farewell my Lovely by Raymond Chandler

“The human mind has no more power of inventing a new value than of imagining a new primary colour, or, indeed, of creating a new sun and a new sky for it to move in.”

• C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man

In this episode we are joined by Michael Ward, author of the award-winning and best-selling Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C.S. Lewis and After Humanity: A Guide to C.S. Lewis’s The Abolition of Man. We discuss Michael’s theory, laid out in Planet Narnia, that Lewis wrote the series to have each book centred around the influence of each of the seven heavenly bodies of medieval cosmology. We also discuss Lewis’ work the need for objective truth, especially in education, in The Abolition of Man, how he represented these ideas through fiction in his Space Trilogy, in particular the last book of the series That Hideous Strength.

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Michael Ward

Follow Rachel on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Find out more about Michael at: https://michaelward.net/

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Works Mentioned

Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C.S. Lewis by Michael Ward

The Narnia Code: C. S. Lewis and the Secret of the Seven Heavens by Michael Ward

After Humanity: A Guide to C.S. Lewis’s The Abolition of Man by Michael Ward

The Narnia Chronicles by C.S. Lewis

The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis

The Space Trilogy by C.S. Lewis

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis

Manalive! By G.K Chesterton

Sherlock (TV Series)

What We’re Enjoying at the Moment

Michael: A Man for all Seasons (1966)

      Any Human Heart by William Boyd

Rachel: Sabrina (1964)

"At the touch of Vermeer's brush, the canvas transforms, so to speak, into a spectral, silver-backed

mirror; into a magical retina... we are elevated from the realm of reality into the paradise of essentiality."

Paul Claudel

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Greg Daly

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Follow Greg on social media: @GregDalyIC, @thirstygargoyle 

http://thethirstygargoyle.blogspot.com/

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Works mentioned:

(All are paintings by Vermeer unless otherwise stated)

Girl with a Pearl Earring

The Return of the Prodigal Son by Rembrandt

Belshazzar's Feast by Rembrandt

Saint Praxedis

Christ in the House of Martha and Mary

The Procuress

Woman with a Pearl Necklace

Woman Holding a Balance

Woman Reading a Letter

The Astronomer

The Geographer

Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid

The Lacemaker

Vermeer by Paul Claudel, Salmagundi Magazine

The Allegory of Faith

How Catholic Art Saved the Faith by Elizabeth Lev

Vermeer's Pregnant Women: On Human Generation and Pictorial Representation by Karin Leonhard

The Allegory of Painting

The Little Street

A Hidden Life Review

What We're Enjoying at the Moment:

Greg: Middlemarch by George Eliot

Rachel: The Sleeping Beauty Ballet, The Gentlemen, Uncut Gems, 1917

“Do not fear death, but rather the unlived life. You don't have to live forever. You just have to live.” - Tuck Everlasting

In this episode, Rachel and Phoebe explore a variety of stories that explore the desire for immortality, and the challenge of embracing the reality of death. Beginning from perhaps a surprising starting point, the teen fantasy film Tuck Everlasting, we move into the depictions of the temptations to grasp eternal life in J.R.R. Tolkien’s work and in C.S. Lewis’ The Magician’s Nephew. We draw out the parallels to the conceptions of unfallen Man in the Bible. We also discuss how we need to embrace the time that is given us, not to grasp on to our youth but to look forward to the future, both in this life and the next.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Phoebe Watson

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Works Mentioned

Tuck Everlasting (2002)

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien

Leaf by Niggle by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

Tolkien’s Modern Reading by Holly Ordway

The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien edited by Humphrey Carpenter

About Time (2013)

‘"The Gift of Death": Tolkien's Philosophy of Mortality’ by Grant C. Sterling

Groundhog Day and the Meaning of Time, Born of Wonder podcast

What we’re Enjoying at the Moment

Phoebe: Good Evening, Mrs Craven: The Wartime Stories of Mollie Panter-Downes by Mollie Panter-Downes

The Thing about Austen podcast

Rachel: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)

"The romance of the police force is thus the whole romance of man. It is based on the fact that morality is the most dark and daring of conspiracies." - G.K. Chesterton

In this episode we discuss Detective Fiction and the Detection Club, and whether or not this genre has a uniquely Catholic lens.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock and Chloe Chloe

Follow us on social media: @seekingwatson and @ChloeAMDG

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Works and Authors mentioned:

A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle

“The Blue Cross,” The Innocence of Father Brown by G.K. Chesterton

Chesterton.org

"The Great Detectives: G.K. Chesterton – Father Brown" by John Peterson

The Club of Queer Trades by G.K. Chesterton

"Detective Fiction Reinvention and Didacticism in G. K. Chesterton’s Father Brown" by Clifford James Stumme

"Detective fiction and the religious imagination" by David A. King

"A Defence of Detective Stories" by G.K. Chesterton

Taken by the Flood by Agatha Christie (Poirot)

Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie (Poirot)

Appointment with Death by Agatha Christie (Poirot)

The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie (Miss Marple)

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis

"The Christian World of Agatha Christie" by Nick Baldock

Creed or Chaos?: Why Christians Must Choose Either Dogma or Disaster (Or, Why It Really Does Matter What You Believe) by Dorothy L. Sayers

Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers

The Belief of Catholics by Ronald Knox

The Viaduct Murder by Ronald Knox

"Studies in Sherlock Holmes" Essays in Satire by Ronald Knox

Brighton Rock by Graham Greene

"The Catholic Novels of Graham Greene" by Edward Short

"What Makes Great Detective Fiction, According to T. S. Eliot" by Paul Grimstad

East Coker by T.S. Eliot

What We're Enjoying at the Moment

Chloe: Downton Abbey

Rachel: The Bookcase, Carlisle, G.K's Weekly: A Sampler

“The more we are proud that the Bethlehem story is plain enough to be understood by the shepherds, and almost by the sheep, the more do we let ourselves go, in dark and gorgeous imaginative frescoes or pageants about the mystery and majesty of the Three Magian Kings.” - G.K. Chesterton

For our last episode of 2021, Phoebe is back again to discuss the wonderful paradox in celebrating Christmas that calls for both humility and extravagance. We discuss the mystery of the Christmas story, and the deep humility that Christ demonstrates to us in coming as a child in a manager, as well as our responding call to humility and generosity. We also discuss our need for splendour in our liturgies but also in our culture and our surroundings. We delve into the magic of The Nutcracker Ballet and the splendour to be found in our own Christmas decorations.

We hope you enjoy the episode and wish you all a very Merry Christmas and blessings for the new year ahead.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Phoebe Watson

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

The Nutcracker - Royal Opera House

“The House of Christmas” by G.K. Chesterton

Sermons for Christmas and Epiphany by St. Augustine

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham

By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder

What’s Wrong with the World by G.K. Chesterton

Adela Cathcart by George MacDonald

“A Letter About Christmas” by Ronald Knox

“Preface to Paradise Lost” by C.S. Lewis

All Things Considered by G.K. Chesterton

What We’re Enjoying at the Moment

Phoebe: The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald

Rachel: Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives by Pope Benedict XVI

After an unexpected hiatus, Risking Enchantment is back. In this episode we’re taking a look at some classic family movies and what they can tell us about our attitudes towards growing up, and our modern tendency to stay in a perpetual adolescence. We’re looking at the kingdom of Vulgaria in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, where children are illegal but the toy maker is in high demand from the Baron and Baroness. We are also discussing Jim Henson’s Labyrinth where Sarah goes on a journey to leave behind some of her childish ways, and toys, in order to step up to her responsibilities and make new friends.

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Phoebe Watson

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Works Mentioned:

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)

Labyrinth (1986)

“You Have No Power Over Me”: When David Bowie Was Satan (A Tribute Of Sorts)

"You Remind Me of the Babe With the Power": How Jim Henson Redefined the Portrayal of Young Girls in Fanastial Movies in His Film, Labyrinth

Everyone needs to grow up

Childless society gone to the dogs, warns Pope

"On Three Ways of Writing for Children" by C.S. Lewis

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

"The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T.S. Eliot

"How T.S. Eliot Predicted the Coming of Male Millennials"

"The Drift from Domesticity" by G.K. Chesterton

What We're Enjoying at the Moment

Phoebe: A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter

Rachel: Offerings by Typhoon (album)

“What does the Lord want of me?  Of course, this is always a great adventure, but life can be successful only if we have the courage to be adventurous, trusting that the Lord will never leave me alone, that the Lord will go with me and help me.”

    – Pope Benedict XVI

For this episode of Risking Enchantment, Rachel and Phoebe discuss Arthur Ransome’s series of children’s books known as the Swallows and Amazons series. These books are full of wonder and imagination as well as practical detail, as they follow a group of children spending their holidays in the Lake District of northern England. The children sail, set up camp, climb mountains and have many delightful adventures. In our podcast discussion we explore the importance of this sense of adventure for both children and adults, and how this relates to our spiritual lives and how we embrace God’s plan for us. We discuss the balance of duty and responsibility with the sense of freedom that this kind of adventuring perspective brings, and we highlight the connection with Creation that can come from being out in nature.

Works mentioned in this episode

Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome

Swallowdale by Arthur Ransome

Winter Holiday by Arthur Ransome

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Matilda by Roald Dahl

‘Swallows and Amazons for Ever!’ Slightly Foxed, by Jim Ring

Spe Salvi by Pope Benedict XVI

“Encounter of His Holiness Benedict XVI with the Youth, Saint Peter's Square, Thursday, 6 April 2006”

S2:9 EP18: Wonder in a Digital Age, Born of Wonder podcast

“Swallows, Amazons and Adventure, Part 1” by Jon Sparks

“Oxford Junior Dictionary’s replacement of ‘natural’ words with 21st-century terms sparks outcry”, The Guardian, Alison Flood

What We’re Enjoying at the Moment:

Phoebe: BBC’s Hildegard von Bingen - In Portrait (1994)

Rachel: Knitting

Who will remember, passing through this Gate,

the unheroic dead who fed the guns?

Who shall absolve the foulness of their fate,-

Those doomed, conscripted, unvictorious ones?"

Siegfried Sassoon, 'On Passing The New Menin Gate'

November has for many centuries held a place for Catholics as the Month of the Dead, a time to reflect and pray for the departed. In the last century it has also become the month of commemorating The First World War as well as soldiers and veterans more broadly. In this episode of Risking Enchantment, Greg Daly joins us to discuss The Great War, how we remember it, how we commemorate it, and the complexities surrounding these commemorations.

We discuss the prevalence of poppies in Remembrance services, where that tradition comes from and why there is more to commemoration than paper flowers. We look at the experiences of those on the Western Front in the First World War and the soldier’s own complex feelings about topics such as heroism, morality and commemoration. Finally we also touch on the importance of incorporating their Christian faith into our remembrance of them.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Greg Daly

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Follow Greg on social media: @GregDalyIC, @thirstygargoyle 

http://thethirstygargoyle.blogspot.com/

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Find out more about Leaven Magazine at https://leavenmagazine.ie/

Works Mentioned

“Why has Remembrance become weird?” by Niall Gooch

 “The Future of Memory: Remembrance In Years To Come” by Niall Gooch

“In Flander’s Field” by John McCrae

“We Shall Keep the Faith” by Moina Michael

“On Passing the New Menin Gate” by Siegfried Sassoon

Blueprint for Armageddon - Hardcore History, podcast by Dan Carlin

They Shall Not Grow Old, dir. Peter Jackson

The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien

Now It Can Be Told by Philip Gibbs

What we’re enjoying at the moment:

Greg: Fraiser, Purgatorio, and Hell Boy Mark Minola

Rachel: 

O Brother Where Art Thou, 

The Hound of Death, by Agatha Christie, audiobook read by Christopher Lee

“The music had such an extraordinary force of reality that we realized, no longer by deduction, but by the impact on our hearts, that it could not have originated from nothingness, but could only have come to be through the power of the Truth that became real in the composer's inspiration.”

Pope Benedict XVI

In this episode, Phoebe and Rachel discuss the great works of music that can help us enter into Holy Week, especially as many of us are not currently able to attend the liturgies.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Phoebe Watson

Follow us on social media: @seekingwatson @phoebe_lucy_watson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Works Mentioned:

Spirit of the Liturgy by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger

Square Notes Podcast: Introduction to Gregorian Chant – with Dr. William Mahrt

NPR: Listen: The Sound Of The Hagia Sophia, More Than 500 Years Ago

The Lost Voices of Hagia Sophia by Cappella Romana

Pastoral Letter on Sacred Music in Divine Worship “Sing to the LORD a New Song” by Archbishop Alexander K. Sample

Square Notes Podcast: An Archbishop’s Reflections on Sacred Music – with Archbishop Alexander K. Sample

The Magnificat Online

Why Hollywood Matters - Barbara Nicolosi

Address of His Holiness Pope Francis to Participants in the International Conference on Sacred Music

Pope Benedict’s Words After Receiving Honorary Doctorate in Castel Gandolfo

Benedict and Beethoven: The Outgoing Pope’s Musical Life

Musical Pieces:

Les Rameux (The Palms) by Fauré

(In English)

Requiem Mass by Fauré (Version listened to: Nigel Short, London Symphony Orchestra Chamber Ensemble and Tenebrae)

Lamentations of Jeremiah by Palestrina

Lamentations of Jeremiah by Tallis

Miserere mei, Deus by Allegri

Pange Lingua by Thomas Aquinas

Adoramus Te Devote by Thomas Aquinas

St John’s Passion by Bach

St Matthew’s Passion by Bach

Paul Hume, quoted in Music for Lent and Easter: St Matthew Passion by Bach

The Seven Last Words of Christ by Haydn (Version listened to: Conducted by Nicholas Harnoncourt)

Stabat Mater by Vivaldi

The Lament of the Mother of God by John Tavener

O Sacred Head Now Wounded

At the Cross her Station Keeping

Jesus, Remember Me

Behold the Wood of the Cross

Resurrexit by Berlioz

The Messiah by Handel

Thine be the Glory

Westminster Mass by Panufnik

What We’re Enjoying at the Moment

Phoebe:

Embroidery and Home Crafts

The Sleeping Beauty Ballet

Rachel

Escape to the Countryside

Cheers

O Come Let Us Adore Him

Happy Christmas from us here at Risking Enchantment

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Phoebe Watson

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Works mentioned: [Christmas Carols discussed in bold]

'Christmas Ballad', Spirit of Christmas by G.K. Chesterton

Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord, Homily of his Holiness Benedict XVI, Monday, 24 December 2012

In the Bleak Midwinter

'Into the Dark with God' by Hans Urs Von Balthasar

'Journey of the Magi' by T.S. Eliot

Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

'The Importance of Singing Carols' by Dr. Peter Kwasniewski

We Three Kings

'A Letter About Christmas' by Ronald Knox

Three Kings from Persian Lands Afar

Good King Wenceslaus

'A day to honor 'Good King Wenceslas', National Catholic Review by John L. Allen Jr.

Bring a Torch Jeanette Isabella

What we're enjoying that the moment:

Our handmade mice from Maria Connolly

Phoebe: Handel's Messiah

Rachel: Klaus (film)

“[T]he Middle Ages…was in some ways immeasurably more humane and creative than its modern successors. It was happy to see human life as fully part of the natural world, shaped by the cycles of the sun and moon and the seasons; it was able to articulate a belief that material considerations, convenience, and economic productivity are not the highest goods, and not the only standards by which life should be lived.” - Eleanor Parker, A Clerk of Oxford

For this first episode of 2023, I’m delighted to be joined by Eleanor Parker, author of Winters in the World: A Journey Through the Anglo-Saxon Year. Eleanor teaches Old and Middle English literature at Brasenose College, Oxford as well as being columnist for History Today and many other publications. She is known online, especially on Twitter for her blog A Clerk of Oxford.

In our discussion, we delve into the experience of the seasons in Anglo-Saxon England, how they perceived the natural world around them through poetry and literature, and how they integrated the seasons with their faith through the liturgical year. We also speak about our modern experience of the seasons, what has changed, and what has remained the same for over a thousand years, and what we can learn from the Anglo-Saxons about living the year well.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Eleanor Parker

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow Eleanor on Twitter: @ClerkofOxford

Click the links below to buy her books

Read her blog, Clerk of Oxford

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Works referenced:

Winters in the World: A Journey through the Anglo-Saxon Year by Eleanor Parker

Conquered: The Last Children of Anglo-Saxon England by Eleanor Parker

‘A Clerk of Oxford’ blog - Eleanor Parker

Easter in Old English Poetic Imagination - Risking Enchantment

“'This doubtful day of feast or fast': Good Friday and the Annunciation”, A Clerk of Oxford, Eleanor Parker

“The sad loss of our common rituals”, Unherd, Eleanor Parker

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Literature by C.S. Lewis

The Menologium

Maxims II

The Wanderer

Things We're Enjoying at the Moment

Eleanor: The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (audiobook)

Rachel: Collected Longer Poems by W.H. Auden

"We are not here to triumph by fighting, by stratagem, or by resistance,

Not to fight with beasts as men. We have only to conquer 

Now, by suffering. This is the easier victory."

- T.S. Eliot, Murder in the Cathedral

In this episode, Rachel and Phoebe delve into two texts, T.S. Eliot's verse drama Murder in the Cathedral about the death of St. Thomas Becket, and the opera Dialogues des Carmélites by Poulenc, about the execution of a community of nuns towards the end of the French Revolution. Drawing on both of these texts we discuss the moral dilemma of 'doing the right thing for the wrong reason' and how these fictional accounts of martyred saints can help us prepare our soul for martyrdom and a life led in obedience to God's will.

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Phoebe Watson

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Works Mentioned:

“A Temple of the Holy Ghost” A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor

Dialogues des Carmélites by Poulenc 

Murder in the Cathedral by T.S. Eliot 

Francis of Assisi by G.K. Chesterton

“Patience - Our Share in Your Passion” The Joy of Believing by Ven. Madeleine Delbrêl

Orthodoxy by G.K Chesterton

What we are Enjoying at the Moment

Phoebe: Risking Enchantment: A Pilgrimage in Paintings: Tissot's “Life of Christ"

Rachel: Taskmaster

"Then whoever was born a poet became an architect... in the direction of architecture,—gushed forth through that art, and its Iliads assumed the form of cathedrals." - Victor Hugo

This week's episode comes from Rome, where we discuss the heritage and perspective that architecture gives to the Catholic faith. We discuss the recent fire at Notre Dame and look into Victor Hugo's famous novel on the cathedral to find out why these buildings hold a special place in our faith and history.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock and Phoebe Watson

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Works and Authors mentioned:

Elizabeth Lev 

Built Form of Theology: The Natural Sympathies of Catholicism and Classicism

Elizabeth Lev on Notre Dame

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (This Will Kill That)

To make Britain Richer, Make Britain Beautiful

The Neuroscience of Architecture: The Good, the Bad—and the Beautiful

The Liturgical Arts Journal

What We're Enjoying at the Moment

Phoebe 

TV: Erased

Book: The Wanderings of Clare Skymer by George MacDonald

Rachel

Film: The Sisters Brothers

“When our women fail in courage, Shall our men be fearless still”

In this episode, Phoebe Watson joins us to discuss the perspective of women and families on the home front of World War 1 and the courage that was displayed by the characters of Rilla of Ingleside, the last book in Lucy Maud Montegomery's Anne of Green Gables series.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Phoebe Watson

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Works mentioned in the episode

Fountains of Carrots podcast, with Haley Stewart and Christy Isinger

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montegomery

Rilla of Ingleside by L. M. Montegomery

Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History Podcast: Blue Print for Armageddon

Mary and Christ’s Suffering by Fulton Sheen

Catholic Stuff You Should Know - Courage and Subordination

Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield

“The Efficacy of Prayer,” originally from The World’s Last Night and Other Essays by C.S. Lewis

"The Superfluous Woman" by Vera Brittain

What we're enjoying at the moment:

Phoebe

Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History Podcast: Blue Print for Armageddon

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

Rachel

They Shall Not Grow Old, dir. Peter Jackson

‘I hope I never ridicule what is wise or good. Follies and nonsense, whims and inconsistencies do divert me, I own, and I laugh at them whenever I can.' Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

We're delighted to be back from our summer break and we've launched back into the thick of things. In this episode Phoebe and I are looking at the novels of Jane Austen and what her heroines can teach us about holding onto moral integrity and our Christian call to overcome our personal failings to love with true freedom. 

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Phoebe Watson

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Works Mentioned:

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

Emma by Jane Austen

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Persuasion by Jane Austen

The History of England’  by ‘a partial, prejudiced, & ignorant historian’ (Jane Austen)

'Jane Austen’s Morality of Marriage' by Guy McClung, The Imaginative Conservative

'Polite Lies: The Veiled Heroine of Sense and Sensibility' by Susan Morgan, Nineteenth-Century Fiction

The Habit of Being by Flannery O'Connor

'In Defense of Fanny Price: Why You Don’t Like Mansfield Park as Much as You Should' by Haley Stweart, Carrots for Michaelmas

Fountains of Carrots Podcast

'How to go to Confession', Catholic Stuff You Should Know

What we're enjoying at the moment

Phoebe:

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

Rachel:

Band of Brothers

Chernobyl

‘Friendship is not only the message of the gospel, it is also the best medium for conveying it. As our Lord says ‘I no longer call you servant I now call you friends.’

- Dr. Scott Hahn

In this episode Maria and I discuss our excitement at the upcoming canonisation of John Henry Newman. We explore what Newman has taught us about friendship and the particular role it played in his own life and spiritual journey. We also take a moment to highlight our favourite poems of his and to mark his place in the literary world.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Maria Connolly

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Works Mentioned:

Apologia Pro Vita Sua by John Henry Newman

'A Letter Addressed to the Duke of Norfolk on Occasion of Mr. Gladstone's Recent Expostulation' Certain Difficulties Felt by Anglicans in Catholic Teaching, Volume 2 by John Henry Newman

In His Own Words: Newman on Friendship

Dr Scott Hahn on Newman's conversion

‘Sermon on Love of Relations and Friends’ by John Henry Newman

‘Sermon on Personal Influence, the Means of Propagating the Truth’ by John Henry Newman

Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis

'Tolstoy and the Cult of Simplicity' by G.K. Chesterton

'The Parting of Friends' by John Henry Newman

Snapdragon by John Henry Newman

'The Death of Gerontius' by John Henry Newman

'The Queen of Seasons' by John Henry Newman

What We're Enjoying at the Moment:

Maria: Georgette Heyer novels

Rachel: You've Got Mail

"For everything there is a season" Eccl 3:1. We discuss how and why we should bring the liturgical year into our homes and into our lives.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock and Maria Connolly

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com 

Titles Discussed:

The Catholic All Year Compendium: Liturgical Living for Real Life by Kendra Tierney

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

In Tune with the World: A Theory of Festivity by Josef Pieper

Quas Primas by Pope Pius XI

Things we're enjoying:

Maria: Fair Isle knitting

Rachel: Bedtime on iTunes Clock App and Screen Time App

Dracula, Frankenstein, Mr Hyde, the monsters of Romantic and Gothic novels have become important cultural touchstones. We take a look at how reading about these monsters can help you explore Catholicism and morality.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock and Chloe Colla

Follow us on social media: @seekingwatson and @ChloeAMDG

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Books discussed:

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

Dracula by Bram Stoker

The Monk by Matthew Lewis

Other Items referenced:

Reason’s Shadow: Romanticism’s Impact on Catholic Thought by Kristen Drahos

Robert Louis Stevenson by G.K. Chesterton, extract read can be found here

Fountains of Carrots Podcast, Episode 091: Delving into the Mind of a Catholic Novelist with Eleanor Bourg Nicholson

Dracula and Dominican Vampire Slayers: A Bloody Habit by Eleanor Bourg Nicholson Review by Karen Ullo

The Catholicity of Monsters by Karen Ullo

Anti-Catholicism in Matthew Lewis’ The Monk by Kate Adams

“This demon in the garb of a monk”: Shakespeare, the Gothic and the discourse of anti-Catholicism by David Salter

What We’re Enjoying at the Moment:

Chloe: You’ve Got Mail

Rachel: Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi, The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

"The truth shall make you odd." Flannery O'Connor. With Ash Wednesday only just gone, it's easy to recall why Catholicism is often criticised for being strange and set apart. In this week's episode we discuss why that is no bad thing.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock and Matthias Conroy

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com 

Works and Authors mentioned:

Catholicism: The Pivotal Players Series, Episode 5 G.K. Chesterton

"Met Gala: The Charge of Blasphemy and Pope Rihanna" written by Natalie Carnes

"How Agatha Christie helped to save the Latin Mass" by Joseph Shaw

Paradise Lost, Preface by C.S. Lewis

Institute of Christ the King: Church Restoration Video

"This is your brain on 'contemplative architecture'" by Daniel Esparza

Summa Theologiae: The power of sensuality (Prima Pars, Q. 81), St. Thomas Aquinas

Benedictine Monks, Ireland - Documentary

Nigerian soldiers fighting Boko Haram, seen holding Mass on the battleground https://twitter.com/ConnectCatholic/status/1098645369297219584

The Habit of Being by Flannery O’Connor 

The Medium and the Light: Reflections on Religion and Media Marshall McLuhan 

"The new Sisterhood: Traditional Orders are Booming" by Joanna Bogle

"Thanks to Salvador Dalí" by Frank Weathers

God in the Gallery by Matthew Milliner

5 People its Easy to Forget are Catholic

I Confess, The Wrong Man, Vertigo (dir. Alfred Hitchcock)

Dappled Things 

Giovanni Gasparro

The Mocking of Christ by Fra Angelico

What We're Enjoying at the Moment:

Matthias:

“Convertere, Israël, ad Dominum Deum Tuum!” by Br. Evagrius

Bleachers MTV Unplugged Concert 

Rachel:

You Were Never Really Here (film)

"Christ wanted love to be called his single commandment. This we owe to all men. Nobody is excepted.”

- Bartolomé de las Casas

In this episode I am joined by Conor Gaffey to discuss some of the most well known stories about Christian and Catholic missionaries. At turns revered and despised, missionaries remain as fascinating figures in modern storytelling. We discuss the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, as well as the films, The Mission, directed by Ronald Joffé and Silence, directed by Martin Scorsese. Taking these narratives as a starting point we discuss what it means to introduce Christianity to a culture, the failings and virtues of historical missions and what it means to be brought to the edge of faith.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Conor Gaffey

Follow us on social media: @seekingwatson, @ConorGaffey

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Works Mentioned:

Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe

The Mission, directed by Roland Joffé

Silence, directed by Martin Scorsese

Decent Films Reviews: The Mission (1986)

Decent Films Reviews: Silence (2016)

What We're Enjoying at the Moment

Conor:

The Lion King (2019)

Spirit by Beyoncé

Rachel:

Nothing Arrived (Acoustic) by Villagers

"There is no higher contemplation than that of the Passion of Jesus Christ" - St. John of God.

We discuss the place of the crucifix in the Catholic faith, and why it is considered an object of beauty.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock and Phoebe Watson

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Works and Authors mentioned:

Why does the Cross Attract Us by Fr Hugh Barbour

Sermon 27 by St. Augustine of Hippo

A Song for the Suffering Body of Christ by Matthew Becklo

Only Love is Credible by Hans Urs Von Balthasar

‘The Scapegoat and the Trinity’, You Crown the Year with Your Goodness by Hans Urs Von Balthasar

The Cross Must be Deeply Ugly to be Beautiful by Nathaniel Peters

The Serious Sacrificial Body by Timothy O’Malley

The Isenheim Altarpiece by Matthias Grünewald

The Crucified Christ by Diego Velásquez

Christ on the Cross by Léon Bonnat

Scourged Cross Image

The Scorzelli Cross

Via Crucis by Albert Servaes

The Habit of Being, by Flannery O’Connor

“Four Quartets”, Part II: East Coker by T.S. Eliot

The Cross and the Beatitudes: Lessons on Love and Forgiveness by Fulton Sheen

What We’re Enjoying At the Moment

Phoebe Gutta Percha Willie by George MacDonald Ranald Bannerman’s Boyhood by George MacDonald

Rachel The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz

The Once and Future King is a retelling of the Arthurian legend by author T.H. White and provides a fascinating examination of the ideals and failings of chivalry.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock and Phoebe Watson

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com 

Works and Authors mentioned:

The Once and Future King by T.H. White

Le Morte D’Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory

De Laude Novae Militiae by Bernard of Clairveaux

The Song of Roland

David Eddings

Tamora Pierce

The Letters of J.R.R Tolkien by Humphrey Carpenter

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

'The Necessity of Chivarly', On Present Concerns, by C.S. Lewis

Things we like

The works of Georgette Heyer

Dappled Things Journal

"Have courage, and be kind" as we take a look at some examples of modern female protagonists, the pitfalls of their portrayals and what they could learn from the lives of the saints.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock and Phoebe Watson

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Works mentioned:

Barbara Nicolosi (Podcast: The Church of the Masses)

Wonder Woman

Captain Marvel

Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi

Star Wars: Rogue One

Twilight

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

Dumbo (2019)

A Wrinkle in Time (2018)

A Series of Unfortunate Events (Book series and film adaptation)

Beauty and the Beast (2017)

Cinderella (2015)

Harry Potter (film series)

That Time Disney Remade Beauty and the Beast, Lindsay Ellis (YouTube video)

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

War and Peace (2016 TV series)

Anne of Green Gables

Anne with an E

Our Lady of Sorrows by Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson

Quote on Holiness by Pope Benedict XVI

Prayer of Discernment by Bl. John Henry Newman

The Life-Giving Will of the Father by Fr. Bonaventure Perquin, O.P.

Prayer of Abandonment by Thomas Merton

The Story of a Soul by St. Therese of Liseux

What We’re Enjoying at the Moment Phoebe: Anne of the Island by L.M. Montgomery The Club of Queer Trades by G.K. Chesterton

Rachel: Eighth Grade

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Ben Conroy, Matthias Conroy

Follow us on social media: @seekingwatson, @BenJDConroy, @ItsJustLupin 

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Works mentioned:

The Young Pope (2016)

'Vatican newspaper finally critiques ‘The Young Pope’ — one year after its release'

'Waiting for a Young Pope' by Matthew Schmitz

The Medium and the Light by Marshall McLuhan

'Review: ‘The Young Pope’ Is Beautiful and Ridiculous' by James Poniewozik

What We're Enjoying at the Moment

Ben: Breaking Bad

Matthias: Attack on Titan

Rachel: Your Name (2016)

"Can we not say that the virtuous lives of the saints are the measuring lines stretched out over our souls to make sure our lives take the proper shape and measure up to their good example?" - St Anthony of Padua

To celebrate All Saints Day we take a look at the real impacts the saints can have on our lives by discussing some of the saints who themselves were inspired by saints, and how this helped them on their spiritual journey. We look at the four Theresas: Teresa of Avila, Therese of Lisieux, Mother Theresa, and Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, as well as two saints inspired by St Francis Xavier.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Phoebe Watson

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

What We're Enjoying at the Moment:

Phoebe: The Goblin King

Rachel: Over the Garden Wall

"Simplicity is a virtue most worthy of love, because it leads us straight to the Kingdom of Heaven.” - Saint Vincent de Paul. We take a look at the stories and writings that encapsulate a love for a simple and small life.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock and Phoebe Watson

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com 

Titles Discussed:

The Brambly Hedge Series by Jill Barklem

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

Small is Beautiful: A Study of Economics As If People Mattered by E.F. Schumacher

Leisure: The Basis of Culture by Josef Pieper

The Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

Goodnight Mr Tom by Michelle Magorian

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge

A Remaining Christmas by Hilaire Belloc

Studio Ghibli Films: Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away

The Wise Woman by George MacDonald

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

What We're Enjoying

Restoring British Landmarks (TV Series)

Baumgartner Restoration (YouTube Channel)

“Our Lady, upon which all my own small perception of beauty both in majesty and simplicity is founded.” - J.R.R. Tolkien. In this episode of Risking Enchantment we discuss the female characters of The Lord of the Rings, and Middle Earth in general. We look at Tolkien's approach to women characters, the ideals and flaws they portray and how his Catholic faith informed his ideas of femininity.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock and Maria Connolly

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Works and Authors mentioned:

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, ed. Humphrey Carpenter

The Gospel According to Tolkien by Ralph C. Wood

The Once and Future King by T.H White

Risking Enchantment Episode 6: The Fall of Chivalry in Arthurian Legend

Secret Fire: The Spiritual Vision of J R R Tolkien by Stratford Caldecott 

YouTube: The History of Galadriel- Lord of the Rings Lore

YouTube: Shelob Lore - Lord of the Rings Lore

Beren and Luthien by J.R.R. Tolkien, ed. Christopher Tolkien

What We’re Enjoying At the Moment

Rachel: Ronald Knox's Murder Mysteries

Tea with Tolkien 

"Even when they explore the darkest depths of the soul or the most unsettling aspects of evil, artists give voice in a way to the universal desire for redemption"

 In this episode we look at the approaches Catholics and Christians can have in encountering evil and violence in film.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock and Phoebe Watson

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Works and Authors mentioned:

Christians and Movies: The Danger Within, Not Without - Patheos

"No Movies Please, We’re Catholic" - National Catholic Register

Why Do People like Violent Movies - Psychcentral

Faith and Film Criticism: The Challenge of the Catholic Critic - Decent Films

Inter Mirifica

What is Wrong with Movie Violence? - LA Review of Books

Painfotainment - Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History

Experiencing Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find” - JStor

A Good Man is Hard to Find - Flannery O’Connor

Flannery O’Connor and the Violence of Christianity - Word on Fire

Passion Confessions

Christian Art and the Use of Violence - The Common Vision

The Scandal of Forgiveness in Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri

Movies Discussed:

The Passion of the Christ

Mad Max: Fury Road

Hacksaw Ridge

You Were Never Really Here

Requiem For a Dream

Three Billboards outside Ebbing Missouri

What We’re Enjoying at the Moment

Phoebe: Holy Week Liturgies

Rachel: Guys and Dolls, War Horse (Play)