The Classical Mind

Father Wesley Walker and Dr. Junius Johnson dive into Hesiod’s Theogony and Works and Days, two deeply foundational texts of ancient Greek literature. While Homer offers sweeping literary narratives of heroes, Hesiod gives us something that feels distinctly older and simpler: a mythic origin story crossed with a didactic farming manual. The hosts discuss how Hesiod’s works functioned as literal theology for archaic Greece, helping to disseminate the Olympian cult and establishing the gods through profound allegories.
The conversation wades into the ultimate theological debate of the ancient world: are the gods bound by an older, preordained fate, as Homer suggests, or does Zeus dictate fate himself, as Hesiod argues? The discussion also unpacks Hesiod’s famous succession of the Ages of Man—from the Golden Age under Kronos down to the unrelenting sorrow of our current Iron Age. Yet, despite this grim outlook, Hesiod’s Works and Days reveals a surprising cure for sacralized nostalgia: finding nobility in everyday work, farming the land well, and honoring the divine.
Do you think Hesiod successfully balances a nostalgia for the past with the realities of the present?
Endnotes
Wesley: Heroes of the City of Man by Peter Leithart
Junius: The Argonautica by Apollonius of Rhodes
Next Episode: The Book of Job



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In this season finale of The Classical Mind, Father Wesley Walker and Dr. Junius Johnson bring their epic journey through J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy to a close with The Return of the King. Picking up from the alternating structural threads of the narrative, Junius and Wesley delve into why Book Five stands out as a high-water mark for epic storytelling. They unpack Tolkien’s mastery of war narrative—drawing comparisons to Homer’s Iliad—showing how Middle-earth’s sweeping macro-level conflicts are fundamentally decided by micro-level acts of individual courage and moral choice.
Endnotes:
* Junius: Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay
* Wesley: The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King video game



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Dr. Junius Johnson and Fr. Wesley Walker are joined by poet-priest-scholar Malcolm Guite for a deep dive into J.R.R. Tolkien’s unfinished alliterative poem, The Fall of Arthur — and make the case that it deserves to be read as seriously as anything else in Tolkien’s body of work.
Recommended Reading
* Malcolm: The Inklings and King Arthur, ed. Sørina Higgins
* Junius: Marie Borroff’s translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
* Wesley: Malcolm Guite’s Galahad and the Grail (with The Coming of Arthur forthcoming in November)


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The middle book of a trilogy is always the dark one, and The Two Towers is no exception. Fr. Wesley Walker and Dr. Junius Johnson return to Middle-earth for the second leg of The Lord of the Rings, and this time things really are on the edge of the knife.
Gollum, Hugh of Saint Victor, Ents and the Entmoot, Gimli, Sarumon and Gandalf, and Boromir and Faramir. It’s all there!
Endnotes
* Junius: Tolkien’s The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún
* Wesley’s endnote: Realms of Tolkien: Images of Middle-earth


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Warning: this episode discusses the film in full, spoilers included. If you haven’t seen it yet, go watch it first and come back.
Fr. Wesley Walker and Dr. Junius Johnson head to the theater for another Classical Mind Goes to the Movies episode, this time tackling Christopher Nolan’s big-screen adaptation of The Odyssey.
Have you seen Nolan's The Odyssey? Let us know what you thought in the comments or in our community chat on Substack.


This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theclassicalmind.com/subscribe