HoP 325 - Platonic Love - Gemistos Plethon

May 19th, 2019

Was Gemistos Plethon, the last great thinker of the Byzantine tradition, a secret pagan or just a Christian with an unusual enthusiasm for Platonism?

HoP 324 - United We Fall - Latin Philosophy in Byzantium

May 5th, 2019

Thomas Aquinas finds avid readers among Byzantines at the twilight of empire, and is used by both sides of the Hesychast controversy.

HoP 323 - Through His Works You Shall Know Him - Palamas and Hesychasm

April 21st, 2019

Gregory Palamas and the controversy over his teaching that we can go beyond human reason by grasping God through his activities or “energies”.

HoP 321 - Judith Herrin on Byzantium and Islam

March 24th, 2019

Historian Judith Herrin joins us to talk about competition and mutual influence between Islam and Byzantium.

HoP 320 - People of the South - Byzantium and Islam

March 10th, 2019

Intellectual exchange between Christians and Muslims, and the later flowering of Syriac literature including the philosopher Bar Hebraeus.

HoP 315 - Wiser Than Men - Gender in Byzantium

December 30th, 2018

The role of women in Byzantine society and the complex attitudes surrounding eunuchs: did they make up a “third gender”?

HoP 309 - Hooked on Classics - Italos and the Debate over Pagan Learning

October 7th, 2018

The trial of John Italos and other signs of Byzantine disquiet with the pagan philosophical tradition.

HoP 308 - Dominic O’Meara on Michael Psellos

September 23rd, 2018

Dominic O'Meara speaks to Peter about Michael Psellos, focusing especially on his political philosophy.

HoP 307 - Consul of the Philosophers - Michael Psellos

September 9th, 2018

Michael Psellos and his attitude towards pagan philosophy and the political life.

HoP 305 - Andrew Louth on John of Damascus

July 15th, 2018

Peter is joined by Andrew Louth for a discussion of John of Damascus and his theological use of philosophy.

HoP 304 - Behind Enemy Lines - John of Damascus

July 1st, 2018

John of Damascus helps to shape the Byzantine understanding of humankind and the veneration of images, despite living in Islamic territory.

HoP 302 - On the Eastern Front - Philosophy in Syriac and Armenian

June 3rd, 2018

Eastern Christian philosophy outside of Constantinople, focusing on translation and exegesis in the languages of Syriac and Armenian.

HoP 301 - The Empire Strikes Back - Introduction to Byzantine Philosophy

May 20th, 2018

We begin to look at the third tradition of medieval philosophy, in which the heritage of classical antiquity is preserved and debated by the Byzantines.

HoP 300b - The Relevance of Medieval Philosophy Today

May 6th, 2018

Peter King, Catarina Dutilh Novaes, and Russ Friedman discuss their approaches to medieval philosophy, and its contemporary relevance.

HoP 296 - Morning Star of the Reformation - John Wyclif

February 25th, 2018

John Wyclif refutes nominalism and inspires the Lollard movement, which anticipated Reformation thought with its critique of the church.

HoP 295 - The Most Christian Doctor - Jean Gerson

February 11th, 2018

Jean Gerson’s role in the political disputes of his day, the spread of lay devotion and affective mysticism, and the debate over the Romance of the Rose initiated by Christine de Pizan.

HoP 293 - The Good Wife - Gender and Sexuality in the Middle Ages

January 14th, 2018

Medieval attitudes towards homosexuality, sex and chastity, and the status of women. Authors discussed include Aquinas, Catherine of Siena, and Chaucer.