WE ARE STARTING THE ODYSSEY! Dcn. Harrison Garlick is joined by Dr. Frank Grabowski and Mr. Thomas Lackey to discuss Book One of the Odyssey.

Check out our website - thegreatbookspodcast.com - for a written guide to the Odyssey and other resources.

Questions discussed:

• What happens in book one?
• What should be observed about the invocation to the Muses?
• What should be made of Zeus’ comment on fate?
• What happened to Agamemnon?
• What should be made of Telemachus?
• What major themes and narratives help unfold the story of the Odyssey?

Join us as we continue in our YEAR OF HOMER.

Dcn. Harrison Garlick welcomes Dr. Patrick Deneen, Dr. Chad Pecknold, and Dr. Richard Meloche to introduce Homer's Odyssey.

Dr. Patrick Deneen is a Professor of Political Science at Notre Dame. He is the author of many books and articles including Why Liberalism Failed (2018). His teaching and writing interests focus on the history of political thought, American political thought, liberalism, conservatism, and constitutionalism.

Dr. Chad Pecknold, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at the Catholic University of America. “In political theology, Pecknold is principally concerned with close readings of Augustine’s masterwork, The City of God, as a fundamental and transcendent vision that inspires, and has the power to critique and correct, the dynamics of Western civilization.”

Dr. Richard Meloche, President of the Alcuin Institute for Catholic Culture, a ministry of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tulsa and a colleague of Dcn. Garlick's at the Chancery.

INTRODUCTION TO THE ODYSSEY

The group discusses the canon of the great books, why we should read Homer and his Odyssey, the role of the great books in theological formation, and key introductory themes in Homer's Odyssey.

Against Great Books by Deneen: https://www.firstthings.com/article/2013/01/against-great-books

The Odyssey of Political Theory by Deneen: https://www.amazon.com/Odyssey-Political-Theory-Politics-Departure/dp/0847696235?ccs_id=073621fb-e234-4289-9205-bc6fab3f444a

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Dcn. Harrison Garlick and Adam Minihan discuss the events BETWEEN the Iliad and the Odyssey.

There is a notable gap between the Iliad and the Odyssey. As the Odyssey picks up after the fall of Troy, tradition turns to authors such as the Greek poet Sophocles, the Greek poet Euripides, and the Roman poet Virgil to tell the story of how Troy fell. The following questions, while tracking the fates of specific individuals, tell the narrative that occurs between the Iliad and the Odyssey. One may make a distinction between the Homeric tradition and the Greek tradition at large.

What does this episode cover?

What happens to Achilles?

What happens to Giant Ajax?

What happens to Paris?

What is the story of the Trojan Horse?

How does Troy fall?

What happens to Astyanax, Hector's son?

We start reading the Odyssey next! Join us!