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The Pillars: Jerusalem, Athens, and the Western Mind

The Pillars: Jerusalem, Athens, and the Western Mind

By: Lobel Center for Jewish Classical Education
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About this listen

 Welcome to The Pillars: Jerusalem, Athens, and the Western Mind, a podcast that tells the story of the prophets, philosophers, and poets who created the West. In this podcast, Rabbi Dr. Mitchell Rocklin guides listeners through more than 3,000 years of Western history, offering a coherent, civilizational story of how the West came to be—along with a deepened understanding of the challenges it now faces. While many of the texts discussed will be familiar to students of the humanities, Rabbi Rocklin offers a new framework for understanding them—a framework in which the teachings of the Jewish religious tradition play a central role. For, as Rabbi Rocklin explains, Western civilization can only be understood as the product of a transformative and ongoing collision between the great traditions of Jerusalem and Athens—between the religious spirit of the Jews and the philosophical spirit of the Greeks.2024 Judaism Spirituality World
Episodes
  • Medieval Literature VIII: Dante and Boccaccio

    Medieval Literature VIII: Dante and Boccaccio
    Jul 9 2025

    Dante and Bocaccio did more to develop vernacular writing than perhaps any other writers of their era. On today’s episode, we’ll explore the following questions:

    1. To what extent should Dante be considered an innovator with what he accomplished in the Divine Comedy?
    2. Why has Dante endured through the centuries? What makes him still relevant today?
    3. How can Boccaccio’s writings be considered spiritual?
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    49 mins
  • Medieval Literature VII: Medieval Chivalry III

    Medieval Literature VII: Medieval Chivalry III
    Jul 2 2025

    Tales of knights, lords, and ladies have held a prominent position in the western imagination since they were first told. As we survey some of those tales, we’ll address the following questions:

    1. How does Sir Gawain and the Green Knight highlight the importance of personal promises?
    2. Why is the will of God notably prominent in Medieval epic tales?
    3. What role does honor play in the still-popular tale Robin Hood?

    Recommended Reading: Green, Roger Lancelyn. The Adventures of Robin Hood. Puffin Books, 2010.
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    33 mins
  • Medieval Literature VI: Medieval Chivalry II

    Medieval Literature VI: Medieval Chivalry II
    Jun 25 2025

    Passion, love, and romance take center stage in Medieval chivalric literature. As we survey some of the greatest works of that genre, we’ll find answers to the following questions:

    1. How does Tristan and Iseult highlight the tension between marriage and love that was commonplace in the past?
    2. What light does Tristan and Iseult shed on the nature of love versus loyalty?
    3. Why is the chivalric idealization of woman such an important development in the context of Christendom and Western culture?

    Recommended Reading: The Romance of Tristan & Iseult. Retold by J. Bédier. Translated by H. Belloc, George Allen & Company, Ltd., 1913.
    de Troyes, Chrétien. Arthurian Romances. Translated William W. Kibler and Carleton W. Carroll, Penguin Classics, 2004.
    Early Fiction in England: From Geoffrey of Monmouth to Chaucer. New York: Penguin Classics, 2015.
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    48 mins
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