Episodes

Sunday May 28, 2023
HoP 422 - The World’s Law - Richard Hooker
Sunday May 28, 2023
Sunday May 28, 2023
Richard Hooker defends the religious and political settlement of Elizabethan England using rational arguments and appeals to the natural law.

Sunday May 07, 2023
HoP 420 - No Place Will Please Me So - Thomas More
Sunday May 07, 2023
Sunday May 07, 2023
What is the message of the famous, but elusive, work "Utopia", and how can it be squared with the life of its author?

Sunday Apr 09, 2023
HoP 418 - Diarmaid MacCulloch on the British Reformations
Sunday Apr 09, 2023
Sunday Apr 09, 2023
A leading expert on the history of the Reformation joins us to explain the very different stories of England and Scotland in the 16th century.

Sunday Mar 26, 2023
HoP 417 - To Kill a King - The Scottish Reformation
Sunday Mar 26, 2023
Sunday Mar 26, 2023
John Knox polemicizes against idolaters and female rulers, while the humanist George Buchanan argues more calmly for equally radical political conclusions.

Sunday Mar 12, 2023
HoP 416 - God’s is the Quarrel - The English Reformation
Sunday Mar 12, 2023
Sunday Mar 12, 2023
The historical context of English philosophy in the sixteenth century, with particular focus on Thomas Cranmer, and the role of religion in personal conscience and social cohesion.

Sunday Jan 29, 2023
HoP 413 - Don’t Be So Sure - French Skepticism
Sunday Jan 29, 2023
Sunday Jan 29, 2023
The sources and scope of the skepticism of Montaigne, Charron, and Sanches.

Sunday Nov 06, 2022
HoP 407 - Maria Rosa Antognazza on Early Modern Toleration
Sunday Nov 06, 2022
Sunday Nov 06, 2022
An interview on the nature of religious tolerance, and the forms it took during the Reformation and in the thought of early modern thinkers like Locke and Leibniz.

Sunday Oct 23, 2022
HoP 406 - Believe at Your Own Risk - Toleration in France
Sunday Oct 23, 2022
Sunday Oct 23, 2022
Even as wars of religion in France prompt calls for toleration, hardly anyone makes a principled case for freedom of conscience… apart from Sebastian Castellio.

Sunday Oct 09, 2022
HoP 405 - Divide and Conquer - the Spread of Ramism
Sunday Oct 09, 2022
Sunday Oct 09, 2022
The methods of Peter Ramus sweep across Europe, winning adherents and facing stiff opposition in equal measure.

Sunday Aug 14, 2022
Bonus Episode: Don’t Think for Yourself, Chapter 1
Sunday Aug 14, 2022
Sunday Aug 14, 2022
Peter reads the first chapter of his new book Don’t Think for Yourself: Authority and Belief in Medieval Philosophy, available from University of Notre Dame Press. Pre-order with the code 14FF20 from undpress.nd.edu, to get a 20% discount!

Sunday Jun 19, 2022
HoP 399 - Seriously Funny - Rabelais
Sunday Jun 19, 2022
Sunday Jun 19, 2022
In his outrageous novel about Pantagruel and Gargantua, Rabelais engages with scholasticism, humanism, medicine, the reformation, and the querelle des femmes.

Sunday Jun 05, 2022
HoP 398 - Pearls of Wisdom - Marguerite of Navarre
Sunday Jun 05, 2022
Sunday Jun 05, 2022
A Renaissance queen supports philosophical humanism and produces literary works on spirituality, love, and the soul.

Sunday Feb 13, 2022
HoP 390 - Born to Be Contrary - Toleration in the Netherlands
Sunday Feb 13, 2022
Sunday Feb 13, 2022
Amidst religious conflict in the Netherlands, Dirck Coornhert pleads for religious toleration and freedom of expression.

Sunday Jan 02, 2022
HoP 387 - Helen Hattab on Protestant Philosophy
Sunday Jan 02, 2022
Sunday Jan 02, 2022
An interview with Helen Hattab on the scope and impact of scholastic philosophy among Protestants.

Sunday Dec 05, 2021
HoP 385 - I Too Can Ask Questions - Protestant Scholasticism
Sunday Dec 05, 2021
Sunday Dec 05, 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.

Sunday Nov 21, 2021
HoP 384 - We Are Not Our Own - John Calvin
Sunday Nov 21, 2021
Sunday Nov 21, 2021
John Calvin's views on predestination and the limits of human reason.

Sunday Nov 07, 2021
HoP 383 - Slowly But Surely - Huldrych Zwingli
Sunday Nov 07, 2021
Sunday Nov 07, 2021
The Swiss theologian Zwingli launches the Reformation in Switzerland, but clashes with Luther and more radical Protestants.

Sunday Oct 10, 2021
HoP 381 - More Lutheran than Luther - Philip Melanchthon
Sunday Oct 10, 2021
Sunday Oct 10, 2021
Luther’s close ally Melanchthon uses his knowledge of ancient philosophy and rhetoric in the service of the Reformation.

Sunday Sep 26, 2021
HoP 380 - Take Your Choice - Erasmus vs Luther on Free Will
Sunday Sep 26, 2021
Sunday Sep 26, 2021
Erasmus clashes with Martin Luther over the question whether our wills are free or enslaved to sin.

Sunday Sep 12, 2021
HoP 379 - Lyndal Roper on Luther
Sunday Sep 12, 2021
Sunday Sep 12, 2021
How radical was Luther? We find out from Lyndal Roper, who also discusses Luther and the Peasants' War, sexuality, anti-semitism, and the visual arts.