HoP 399 - Seriously Funny - Rabelais

June 19th, 2022

In his outrageous novel about Pantagruel and Gargantua, Rabelais engages with scholasticism, humanism, medicine, the reformation, and the querelle des femmes.

HoP 392 - John Sellars on Lipsius and Early Modern Stoicism

March 12th, 2022

John Sellars returns to the podcast to discuss Lipsius' work on Seneca and the early modern Neo-Stoic movement.

HoP 391 - Everything is Mine and Nothing - Lipsius and the Revival of Stoicism

February 27th, 2022

Justus Lipsius draws on Seneca and other Stoics to counsel peace of mind in the face of political chaos, but also writes a work on how such chaos can be avoided.

HoP 390 - Born to Be Contrary - Toleration in the Netherlands

February 13th, 2022

Amidst religious conflict in the Netherlands, Dirck Coornhert pleads for religious toleration and freedom of expression.

HoP 385 - I Too Can Ask Questions - Protestant Scholasticism

December 5th, 2021

In a surprise twist, some Protestant thinkers embrace the methods of scholasticism, and even find something to admire in the work of Catholic authors like Aquinas.

HoP 384 - We Are Not Our Own - John Calvin

November 21st, 2021

John Calvin's views on predestination and the limits of human reason.

HoP 383 - Slowly But Surely - Huldrych Zwingli

November 7th, 2021

The Swiss theologian Zwingli launches the Reformation in Switzerland, but clashes with Luther and more radical Protestants.

HoP 382 - No Lord but God - the Peasants’ War and Radical Reformation

October 24th, 2021

Faced with massive political upheaval and the rise of the Anabaptists, Luther argues for a socially conservative version of the Reformation.

HoP 381 - More Lutheran than Luther - Philip Melanchthon

October 10th, 2021

Luther’s close ally Melanchthon uses his knowledge of ancient philosophy and rhetoric in the service of the Reformation.

HoP 380 - Take Your Choice - Erasmus vs Luther on Free Will

September 26th, 2021

Erasmus clashes with Martin Luther over the question whether our wills are free or enslaved to sin.

HoP 378 - Faith, No More - Martin Luther

August 1st, 2021

How Luther’s doctrine of justification by faith alone and his attack on the Church relate to the history of philosophy.

HoP 377 - One Way or Another - Northern Scholasticism

July 18th, 2021

Trends in Aristotelian philosophy in northern and eastern Europe in the fifteenth century, featuring discussion of the “Wegestreit” and the nominalist theology of Gabriel Biel.

HoP 374 - Opposites Attract - Nicholas of Cusa

June 6th, 2021

The radical negative theology of Nicholas of Cusa, and his hope of establishing peace between the religions of the world.

HoP 371 - European Disunion - Introduction to the Reformation

April 25th, 2021

How humanism and scholasticism came together with the Protestant Reformation to create the philosophy of 15-16th century Europe.

HoP 366 - The Men Who Saw Tomorrow - Renaissance Magic and Astrology

February 14th, 2021

Ficino, Pico, Cardano, and other Renaissance thinkers debate whether astrology and magic are legitimate sciences with a foundation in natural philosophy.