Today on Ascend: The Great Books Podcast, Deacon Garlick invites you into a rich, methodical exploration of eros: the primal desire to satiate in beauty and be happy.

What if the restlessness in your soul—the endless craving for more beauty, more fulfillment, more rest—is not a curse but a divine gift?

Reclaiming Holy Eros https://www.theascent.io/p/reclaiming-holy-eros

Women as Icons of God, Beauty-itself https://www.theascent.io/p/the-beauty-of-woman-as-an-icon-of

Porn as a Poor Expression of Eros https://www.theascent.io/p/the-poor-erotics-of-porn

Far from the pornographic or puritan distortions that dominate modern thinking, this ancient concept runs like a golden thread through Homer, Hesiod, Plato’s Symposium, the Old and New Testaments, the Church Fathers, Dante, and even Pope Benedict XVI’s Deus Caritas Est. Deacon shows how eros is the very question of the human condition—an upward call that moves the soul from lesser beauties to greater ones until it finds rest in Beauty itself.

Drawing on his own spiritual labors, the host walks listeners through Plato’s ladder of love, the marital imagery of God’s covenant with Israel, the Song of Songs, Christ’s union with the Church, and the harmony between erotic ascent and the self-giving love of agape. Along the way he recovers a lost grammar of desire that is both natural and supernaturally elevated by grace—one that produces virtue, fecundity, and genuine theosis. The result is not abstract theory but a living path: a latticework upon which your own understanding of restlessness, happiness, and the call to become more Christlike can grow.

Whether you have wrestled with the restlessness of the heart, wondered how pagan wisdom and Christian revelation speak to one another, or simply want a deeper vision of love that orders the soul toward God, this conversation offers something rare: a beautiful, coherent tradition that answers the deepest questions of what it means to be human. Listen, and begin the ascent.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Eros and its significance in Christian spirituality

01:54 Eros in Homer, Hesiod, and the primordial cosmos

07:12 Plato's Symposium and the ladder of love

15:07 Eros in the Old Testament: Marriage and divine love

20:00 Eros in the New Testament: Christ and the Church

30:06 Eros and the ascent to divine beauty

40:11 Eros, virtue, and happiness in Christian thought

50:02 Eros and grace: the divine ascent and participation in God

01:00:10 The harmony of eros and agape in Christian life

01:10:08 Practical implications: loving God and neighbor through eros

01:20:01 Conclusion: recovering holy eros as the heart of human and divine love

Keywords

Holy Eros, Christian eros, Plato Symposium ladder of love, divine beauty, eros and agape, Deus Caritas Est Pope Benedict XVI, Song of Songs, marital imagery God and Israel, Christ bridegroom Church bride, Ephesians 5, St Augustine restless heart, Gregory of Nyssa, bridal mysticism, Bernard of Clairvaux, John of the Cross, Diotima, ascent to God, theosis, pagan and Christian erotics, Homer Hesiod Aristotle eros, natural and supernatural love, virtue and beauty, Ascend Great Books Podcast, Deacon Harrison Garlick, reclaiming holy eros, spiritual ascent, rest in God.

Today on Ascend: The Great Books Podcast, Deacon Harrison Garlick delivers an unapologetically curmudgeonly critique of Christopher Nolan’s new film The Odyssey.

Check out our LIBRARY on the great books. https://www.patreon.com/cw/greatbooks/collections

23 Raw Thoughts on the New Odyssey Movie https://www.patreon.com/greatbooks/posts/23-quick-on-164190324

SEE OUR SCHEDULE BELOW!

Fresh off a twelve-week deep dive into Homer’s epic with thousands of listeners, Deacon argues that the movie is no mere adaptation but a modern ideological rewriting that flattens Homer’s rich characters, mutes the divine, and replaces sacred myth with progressive lessons about shame, war, race, and power.

From Odysseus reduced to a guilt-racked figure who “defies the gods,” to the deliberate recasting and reframing of Helen, Menelaus, Circe, Athena, and even guest-friendship itself, Deacon contends that Nolan’s version marries cultural illiteracy with calculated compromise—and that both the film and the culture’s eager defense of it reveal far more about us than about Homer.

Yet this is more than a film review. Deacon uses the movie as a lens to examine how stories shape a civilization’s soul, why myths matter more than mere fiction, and why Christians and lovers of the Western tradition must resist the slow leftward drift of endless compromise.

SCHEDULE

July 28, 2026 - Holy Eros: An exploration of eros in Plato, the Bible, and Christian thought

August 4, 2026 - Plato's Hipparchus

August 11, 2026 - Plato's Lovers

August 18, 2026 - Plato's Hippias Minor

August 25, 2026 - Plato's Ion

September 1, 2026 - Enduring Chill by Flannery O’Connor

September 8, 2026 - Red Shadows by Robert E. Howard

September 15, 2026 - Chivalry by Neil Gaiman

CHAPTERS (Updated)

00:00 — Intro: why this review matters

01:00 — Piety toward Homer and the problem with the film

03:05 — Why the movie is not a “conservative Trojan horse”

05:05 — The danger of relativism and compromise

07:10 — Myth vs. fiction: why adaptation matters

10:10 — Odysseus as a shame-filled hero

12:50 — Menelaus, Helen, and the film’s cultural messaging

15:30 — How Nolan flattens characters and tension

18:05 — Penelope and the loss of the rooted-bed scene

21:10 — Casting, modern language, and suspension of disbelief

23:55 — Calypso and the removal of Odysseus’s moral triumph

26:25 — Athena as shame and post-traumatic projection

29:55 — Nolan’s treatment of the Trojan War

32:55 — The Lystragonians and armor/costume criticism

35:05 — The cult of Nolan vs. the cult of Homer

37:00 — Gods, superstition, and the muted divine

39:15 — The slaughter of the suitors

41:10 — Guest-friendship, Xenia, and Christian themes

43:00 — Circe, the deer, and the soul of the crew

44:55 — Pacing, emotional investment, and the bard

KEYWORDS

Christopher Nolan Odyssey movie review, Homer Odyssey film adaptation critique, Ascend the Great Books Podcast, Deacon Harrison Garlick, cultural illiteracy in modern cinema, myth versus fiction in storytelling, Odysseus shame and guilt, Nolan casting controversies Helen Menelaus, Circe Athena Penelope Telemachus character changes, xenia guest friendship Golden Rule, Trojan War regret in film, Defy the Gods tagline analysis, classical education and Great Books, piety toward Homer, liberalism compromise in culture, upcoming Plato Republic study, Holy Eros episode, short Platonic dialogues Hipparchus Lovers Hippias Minor Ion, Short Story September Flannery O’Connor Robert E. Howard Neil Gaiman Melville, and Western civilization sacred myths.

Today on Ascend: The Great Books Podcast, Dcn. Garlick hosts Dr. Patrick Deneen to discuss his NEW BOOK: The American Odyssey: What an Ancient Story Reveals About Our Divided Souls.

Pick up the AMERICAN ODYSSEY out today!

https://a.co/d/01rpYuwt

23 Observations on the new Christopher Nolan Odyssey Movie

https://www.patreon.com/greatbooks/posts/23-quick-on-164190324

In this special episode of Ascend: The Great Books Podcast, Dcn. Garlick welcomes back renowned Notre Dame political thinker Dr. Patrick Deneen—author of Why Liberalism Failed and Regime Change—to celebrate the release of his brand-new book, The American Odyssey: What an Ancient Story Reveals About Our Divided Souls.

Fresh off a 12-week deep dive into Homer’s epic, the conversation reveals why Odysseus is the ultimate “proto-American” hero: a restless seeker torn between the hunger for home and the irresistible call of the frontier. Deneen traces this tension from the ancient text through Dante’s damning portrayal of Odysseus as a villain of forbidden knowledge, to the Renaissance reinvention of him as the triumphant explorer who metaphorically discovers America itself.

What makes this episode unmissable is how Deneen unlocks Aristotle’s radical claim that humans are political animals precisely because we are neither beasts nor gods, the “citylessness” that turns Ithaca into a Cyclopean free-for-all, and the startling parallels between Odysseus’ refusal of immortality and Huck Finn’s decision to “go to hell.”

Pairing iconic American stories like The Wizard of Oz, Field of Dreams, and Huckleberry Finn with Homer’s timeless episodes, Deneen shows that the Western tradition isn’t locked in dusty classics—it’s alive in our movies, novels, and national character, especially as America marks its 250th anniversary. Dive in and discover how an ancient tale of departure and return still maps the divided soul of a nation that can’t stop exploring… or longing for home.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to Dr. Patrick Deneen and the Book

01:54 Deneen's Return to Homer and the Odyssey

03:59 Odysseus as a Proto-American Figure

06:59 The Tension Between Flourishing and Discontent

12:07 Odysseus and the Pioneering Spirit of America

19:02 The Shift in Odysseus' Image from Medieval to Renaissance

27:01 Odysseus as a Figure of Forbidden Knowledge

34:08 The Connection Between Odysseus and Columbus

40:02 The Polis and Citylessness in Homer and Aristotle

48:07 The Return of the Polis and the Homecoming

56:06 Huckleberry Finn as an Odyssean American Hero

59:45 The Western Tradition in Popular Culture

Key words: Ascend Great Books Podcast, Deacon Harrison Garlick, Dr Patrick Deneen, The American Odyssey book, Homer Odyssey, Odysseus proto-American hero, Why Liberalism Failed, Regime Change, Western tradition, Aristotle Politics, man political animal, apolis citylessness, Dante Inferno Odysseus villain, Renaissance explorers, Columbus Amerigo Vespucci, American character, pioneering spirit, frontier homecoming, Calypso immortality, Huckleberry Finn, Field of Dreams, Wizard of Oz, 250th anniversary Declaration of Independence, Notre Dame political science, Homeric studies, great books podcast, Platonic dialogues, American soul, divided souls, political theory, classical literature, Americana, Odyssey episodes.