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Want to get more out of reading books? Join Fr. Fessio, Joseph Pearce, and Vivian Dudro every Wednesday as they take an important book off the shelf and steadily unpack the most important passages over the coming weeks. Not only can you enjoy their delightful and engaging banter, but their discussion will help you get more out of the text as you follow along.
Episodes
4 hours ago
4 hours ago
With the start of the fifth chapter of part two, Fr. Fessio, Joseph Pearce, and Vivian Dudro discuss Chesterton’s claim that Europe would be just like Asia if it were not for Christianity. They also reflect on Chesterton’s claim that Christianity is the answer to the problem of evil and superior to philosophy. Then they cover chapter 6, where Chesterton describes the five deaths of the faith where people expected that the Church would die with the culture, but instead it persevered.
SUBSCRIBE to our channel and never miss an episode of the Ignatius Press: Off the Shelf. You can also listen to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, and other podcast platforms. Stay up-to-date with past, current, and future books we will discuss on our website: https://offtheshelf.ignatius.com/
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Wednesday Jul 02, 2025
Wednesday Jul 02, 2025
In chapter 4 of the second part, Chesterton moves to a discussion of the Church and argues that those who claim that the Church is a mere human institution fall into absurd conclusions. Furthermore, Fr. Fessio, Joseph Pearce, and Vivian Dudro reflect on how the Church’s understanding of faith often comes as the result of errors and heresies.
SUBSCRIBE to our channel and never miss an episode of the Ignatius Press: Off the Shelf. You can also listen to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, and other podcast platforms. Stay up-to-date with past, current, and future books we will discuss on our website: https://offtheshelf.ignatius.com/
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Wednesday Jun 25, 2025
Wednesday Jun 25, 2025
C.S. Lewis famously claimed that Jesus was either a liar, lunatic, or God, and in chapter two of section two of The Everlasting Man, Chesterton makes a similar argument. Father Fessio, Vivian Dudro, and Joseph Pearce reflect on Chesterton’s reducing to the absurd all opinions that claim that Jesus is other than what he says he is–God Himself.
SUBSCRIBE to our channel and never miss an episode of the Ignatius Press: Off the Shelf. You can also listen to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, and other podcast platforms. Stay up-to-date with past, current, and future books we will discuss on our website: https://offtheshelf.ignatius.com/
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Wednesday Jun 18, 2025
Wednesday Jun 18, 2025
Fr. Fessio, Joseph Pearce, and Vivian Dudro begin the second section of Chesterton’s Everlasting Man and reflect on his words about the mystery of the Incarnation. They reflect on how we can become too familiar with the infancy narrative in which the God of cosmic creation now comes to us as a little, local infant. With Chesterton, they remark on the significance of Christ being born into a cave and the importance of myth.
SUBSCRIBE to our channel and never miss an episode of the Ignatius Press: Off the Shelf. You can also listen to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, and other podcast platforms. Stay up-to-date with past, current, and future books we will discuss on our website: https://offtheshelf.ignatius.com/
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Tuesday Jun 17, 2025
Tuesday Jun 17, 2025
After quickly wrapping up chapter seven, Fr. Fessio, Joseph Pearce, and Vivian Dudro jump into the climax of the book–chapter eight–where Chesterton talks about the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. They discuss that even the greatest of human societies are bound to fall and that the more decadent one’s life becomes the more one desires to return to natural and simpler life.
SUBSCRIBE to our channel and never miss an episode of the Ignatius Press: Off the Shelf. You can also listen to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, and other podcast platforms. Stay up-to-date with past, current, and future books we will discuss on our website: https://offtheshelf.ignatius.com/
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Wednesday Jun 04, 2025
Wednesday Jun 04, 2025
Having covered monotheism and polytheism, Chesterton begins to cover religions that he calls “the demons” and “the philosophers” in chapter 6. Fr. Fessio, Vivian, and Joseph discuss how demonic acts are done because they know that they are known to be evil. They also reflect on how the pagan philosophers saw faith and reason as opposed whereas faith and reason are successfully unified in Christianity and the person of Christ. Lastly, they begin chapter 7 where Chesterton presents the conflicting mythologies of Rome and Carthage.
SUBSCRIBE to our channel and never miss an episode of the Ignatius Press: Off the Shelf. You can also listen to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, and other podcast platforms. Stay up-to-date with past, current, and future books we will discuss on our website: https://offtheshelf.ignatius.com/
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Wednesday May 28, 2025
Wednesday May 28, 2025
In chapter five of Everlasting Man, Father Fessio, Joseph Pearce, and Vivian Dudro discuss one of Chesterton’s most poetic chapters where he explains how myth is the work of the imagination and philosophy is a work of the intellect, but both did not fully come together until the myth became fact in the person of Jesus Christ.
SUBSCRIBE to our channel and never miss an episode of the Ignatius Press: Off the Shelf. You can also listen to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, and other podcast platforms. Stay up-to-date with past, current, and future books we will discuss on our website: https://offtheshelf.ignatius.com/
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Wednesday May 21, 2025
Wednesday May 21, 2025
Moving to chapters three and four of The Everlasting Man, Father Fessio, Joseph Pearce, and Vivian Dudro discuss Chesterton’s response to evolution, progressivism, and comparative religion. Chesterton argues that the most radical change in human history is the coming of Christ who is unique among religious leaders and chose to enter the world at a specific time and within a certain culture.
SUBSCRIBE to our channel and never miss an episode of the Ignatius Press: Off the Shelf. You can also listen to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, and other podcast platforms. Stay up-to-date with past, current, and future books we will discuss on our website: https://offtheshelf.ignatius.com/
Follow us on social media:
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