Forged: Timeless Ways of Living
Humanitas Institute
5.0from 20 ratings
- 20
- Episodes
- 20
- Ratings
- Bi-weekly
- Cadence
- 2026
- First episode
About Forged: Timeless Ways of Living
Forged: A timeless way of living. A podcast about forging lives of discipline, delight, craft, and calling that carry enduring wisdom into modern life.
- Publisher
- Humanitas Institute
- Category
- arts · education
- Language
- en
- Explicit
- No
- First episode
- 4 Feb 2026
- Latest episode
- 5 Oct 2026
Latest episodes
20 episodes in the feed.
5 Oct 2026
What Do We Lose When Work Becomes Only a Paycheck? with Jeffrey Dill
What happens when work becomes little more than a paycheck, food becomes something we expect to appear in a grocery store, and home becomes mostly a place of consumption? In this episode, Brian Williams speaks with sociologist, professor, and farmer Jeffrey Dill about the dignity of work, the discipline of living within limits, and what farming can teach us about family, freedom, and responsibility. Drawing on his experience with a regenerative beef and pork farm in Pennsylvania, Jeff considers what industrial efficiency gives us and what it can quietly take away: connection to land, craft, neighbor, and the formative power of labor itself. Their conversation ranges from Adam Smith and Wendell Berry to care work, fatherhood, household life, and raising young men who understand that a good life is larger than a career. Listen for a thoughtful invitation to recover work as something that forms us, not merely something that pays us. Jeff also reflects on folding laundry as a discipline, time outdoors with family as a delight, woodworking as a craft, and the love of God and neighbor as the calling that gathers the rest of life together. The conversation closes with W. H. Auden and a reminder that meaningful lives are built through ordinary acts of work, love, service, and fidelity. About the Guest Jeffrey Dill is an Affiliate Professor of Sociology and Liberal Studies in the Templeton Honors College at Eastern University. He received his B.A. in English from Wheaton College and his Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of Virginia, where he was a Bradley Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture. His research focuses on questions of pluralism and difference in educational systems, moral and citizenship education, and socialization processes in schools. He is author of The Longing and Limits of Global Citizenship Education: the moral pedagogy of schooling in a cosmopolitan age. His work has been published in Social Forces, the Journal of Moral Education, Society, and The Huffington Post. When not teaching, he is busy helping to run Wyebrook Farm, a sustainable beef and pork farm in Honey Brook, PA. Guest Links Dr. Jeffrey Dill | Templeton Honors College at Eastern University (https://templeton.eastern.edu/jeffrey-dill) | https://templeton.eastern.edu/jeffrey-dill (https://templeton.eastern.edu/jeffrey-dill) Wyebrook Farm (https://www.wyebrookfarm.com/) | https://www.wyebrookfarm.com/ (https://www.wyebrookfarm.com/) Episode References & Resources Books An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations — Adam Smith Especially Book I and Smith’s discussion of the division of labor through the example of pin-making. Standing by Words — Wendell Berry Includes the essay “Poetry and Marriage: The Use of Old Forms,” discussed in the episode in connection with limits, commitment, freedom, and form. Ox-Cart Man — Donald Hall, illustrated by Barbara Cooney A portrait of the seasons and rhythms of agricultural and household life in New England. Essays, Encyclicals & Poems Laborem Exercens (On Human Work) — Pope John Paul II Discussed in connection with the dignity of work, the distinction between the subjective and objective dimensions of work, and the priority of human persons over capital. “Poetry and Marriage: The Use of Old Forms” — Wendell Berry A reflection on how limits and forms, rather than simply restricting human freedom, can make certain goods possible. “As I Walked Out One Evening” — W. H. Auden The poem Jeff reads and reflects upon at the conclusion of the conversation. Connect with the Humanitas Institute Humanitas Institute | https://humanitasinstitute.org (https://humanitasinstitute.org/)X | https://x.com/HIClassicalEd (https://x.com/HIClassicalEd)Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/humanitas_institute/ (https://www.instagram.com/humanitas_institute/)TikTok | https://www.tiktok.com/@humanitas_institute (https://www.tiktok.com/@humanitas_institute)Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61588606585070 (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61588606585070)YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/@TheHumanitasInstitute (https://www.youtube.com/@TheHumanitasInstitute)
21 Sept 2026
The Cost of Ambition and a Life Worth Living with Miroslav Volf
What happens when your sense of worth depends on being better than the people around you? And what changes when you stop asking how you rank and start asking what kind of life is actually worth living? Brian Williams talks with theologian Miroslav Volf about the difference between excellence and superiority, the fragility of a self built on achievement, and the possibility of receiving our lives as gifts rather than projects of endless comparison. Drawing on Life Worth Living and The Cost of Ambition, they consider education, vocation, place, gratitude, contentment, and the communities that help us discern what we are for. Listen for a hopeful account of how we can pursue meaningful work and genuine excellence without making success the measure of our worth. Along the way, Volf reflects on growing up in Yugoslavia as the son of a Pentecostal minister, discerning his calling as a theologian, the disciplines and delights that sustain his ordinary life, and the writers who have helped him think about contentment, vocation, and hope. About the Guest Miroslav Volf is the Henry B. Wright Professor of Theology at Yale Divinity School (https://divinity.yale.edu/) and the Founder and Director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture. (http://faith.yale.edu/) His many books include Life Worth Living: A Guide to What Matters Most, The Cost of Ambition: How Striving to Be Better than Others Makes Us Worse, and Glimmerings: Letters on Faith between a Poet and a Theologian. Guest Links Yale Center for Faith & Culture (https://faith.yale.edu/) | https://faith.yale.edu/ (https://faith.yale.edu/) Life Worth Living (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/691260/life-worth-living-by-miroslav-volf-matthew-croasmun-and-ryan-mcannally-linz/) | https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/691260/life-worth-living-by-miroslav-volf-matthew-croasmun-and-ryan-mcannally-linz/ (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/691260/life-worth-living-by-miroslav-volf-matthew-croasmun-and-ryan-mcannally-linz/) The Cost of Ambition (https://bakerbookhouse.com/products/9781587437311_the-cost-of-ambition?srsltid=AfmBOopzP8KPhrxDR6EZM-VjIwfoeo4nhB36_Y-br3sffcYsk2BOWmQX) | https://bakerbookhouse.com/products/9781587437311_the-cost-of-ambition?srsltid=AfmBOopzP8KPhrxDR6EZM-VjIwfoeo4nhB36_Y-br3sffcYsk2BOWmQX (https://bakerbookhouse.com/products/9781587437311_the-cost-of-ambition?srsltid=AfmBOopzP8KPhrxDR6EZM-VjIwfoeo4nhB36_Y-br3sffcYsk2BOWmQX) Episode References / Resources Life Worth Living: A Guide to What Matters Most by Miroslav Volf, Matthew Croasmun, and Ryan McAnnally-Linz The Cost of Ambition: How Striving to Be Better Than Others Makes Us Worse by Miroslav Volf Education’s End by Anthony T. Kronman The Sickness Unto Death by Søren Kierkegaard Works of Love by Søren Kierkegaard Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry Exclusion and Embrace by Miroslav Volf Dante Alighieri, Paradiso, Connect with the Humanitas Institute Humanitas Institute | https://humanitasinstitute.org (https://humanitasinstitute.org/)X | https://x.com/HIClassicalEd (https://x.com/HIClassicalEd)Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/humanitas_institute/ (https://www.instagram.com/humanitas_institute/)TikTok | https://www.tiktok.com/@humanitas_institute (https://www.tiktok.com/@humanitas_institute)Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61588606585070 (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61588606585070)YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/@TheHumanitasInstitute (https://www.youtube.com/@TheHumanitasInstitute)
7 Sept 2026
Encountering the Real: Mathematics, Education, and AI with Jake Tawney
What if mathematics is not merely a tool for solving problems, but a way of encountering reality? In this episode of Forged, Brian Williams talks with mathematician and educator Jake Tawney about the beauty of number and shape, why wonder belongs at the heart of education, and what we risk losing when technology begins doing our thinking for us. From Euclid and fractals to calculators and artificial intelligence, Jake makes the case that education should begin with real things worth knowing and loving. Their conversation ultimately turns toward a larger question: What habits, practices, and encounters help us become more fully human? Jake and Brian explore why mathematics has so often been reduced to computation, how teachers can invite students into genuine wonder, and why AI raises deeper questions than efficiency alone. Jake also reflects on the practices that have shaped his own life as a husband and father, including prayer, cooking, wine, reading aloud, and the conviction that our first calling is to give ourselves for the good of others. Books & Resources Mentioned Another Sort of Mathematics: Selected Proofs Necessary to Acquire a True Education in Mathematics by Jake Tawney Euclid’s Elements A Mathematician’s Lament by Paul Lockhart The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis Gaudium et Spes (Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World), especially paragraphs 22 and 24 About the Guest Jacob Tawney (Jake) has been enamored by mathematics for as long as he can remember, from kindergarten to calculus. But he truly fell in love with it during his sophomore year at Denison University during a course on mathematical proofs. After completing an undergraduate degree in mathematics and computer science from Denison, he continued his studies at The Ohio State University. There he earned a master’s degree in mathematics, submitting a thesis on the mathematics of juggling. During his time in Ohio, Tawney taught at Upper Arlington High School and the Pontifical College Josephinum, including courses in Euclid and the philosophy of mathematics. In 2014 he relocated his family to Phoenix, Arizona, to join Great Hearts Academies, where he most recently served as the chief academic officer. In 2026, Jake joined the Institute for Catholic Liberal Education where he currently serves as the Director of Curriculum and Academic Resources. Jake is the author of Another Sort of Mathematics, available through Encounter Books, as well as a primer on teaching Euclid available through Cana Academy. Jake is the proud husband of Christina and the proud father of eight children, all of whom have something unique in their souls that can only be satisfied by wondering about mathematics. Another Sort of Mathematics - Encounter Books (https://www.encounterbooks.com/books/another-sort-mathematics/) | https://www.encounterbooks.com/books/another-sort-mathematics/ (https://www.encounterbooks.com/books/another-sort-mathematics/) Connect with the Humanitas Institute Humanitas Institute | https://humanitasinstitute.org (https://humanitasinstitute.org/)X | https://x.com/HIClassicalEd (https://x.com/HIClassicalEd)Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/humanitas_institute/ (https://www.instagram.com/humanitas_institute/)TikTok | https://www.tiktok.com/@humanitas_institute (https://www.tiktok.com/@humanitas_institute)Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61588606585070 (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61588606585070)YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/@TheHumanitasInstitute (https://www.youtube.com/@TheHumanitasInstitute)
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- 10 ratings
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- 10 ratings
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