An exclusive Substack podcast presented by Thomas Small. In each episode, he walks you through an ancient spiritual text, revealing the history behind the text and, even more importantly, translating the text into modern terms. You'll be amazed by how relevant ancient Christian wisdom remains to your life today.
wisdomreadings.substack.com (https://wisdomreadings.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)
Welcome to Life Sentences, an exploration into the wisdom of the ancient Church Fathers presented by me, Thomas Small.
In this episode, Evagrius continues to teach us how to combat the demons who attack our tripartite soul, focusing on sloth, vainglory, and pride, but most of all: wrath.
Get full access to Life Sentences at wisdomreadings.substack.com/subscribe (https://wisdomreadings.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)
10 Mar 2025
Episode 10: Restrain your sensual desires
Welcome to Life Sentences, an exploration into the wisdom of the ancient Church Fathers, presented by me, Thomas Small.
In this episode, Evagrius acquaints us further with the demons who attack our tripartite soul, and teaches us how best to combat those demons who target our sensual desire: gluttony, fornication, avarice, and sorrow.
Get full access to Life Sentences at wisdomreadings.substack.com/subscribe (https://wisdomreadings.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)
15 Jan 2025
Episode 9: Get to know your demons
Welcome to Life Sentences, an exploration into the wisdom of the ancient Church Fathers, presented by me, Thomas Small.
In this episode, Evagrius Ponticus guides us further into the inner workings of the rational soul, revealing the eight basic demonic temptations which subvert our minds and plunge us into irrational and spiritually lethal passion.
Get full access to Life Sentences at wisdomreadings.substack.com/subscribe (https://wisdomreadings.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)
18 Dec 2024
Episode 8: Love, desire, pleasure, passion
Welcome to Life Sentences, an exploration into the wisdom of the ancient Church Fathers, presented by me, Thomas Small.
In this episode, we meet John Cassian’s teacher, Evagrius Ponticus, whose penetrating intellectual vision illuminates the narrow path to purity of heart, and who provides us a detailed analysis of the three stages of the spiritual life.
Get full access to Life Sentences at wisdomreadings.substack.com/subscribe (https://wisdomreadings.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)
3 Nov 2024
Episode 7: Know God in wonder
Welcome to Life Sentences, an exploration into the wisdom of the ancient Church Fathers presented by me, Thomas Small.
In this episode, Abba Moses tells us more about what contemplation actually is, explaining its different modes, and also teaching us where our thoughts come from and what we’re supposed to do with them.
Get full access to Life Sentences at wisdomreadings.substack.com/subscribe (https://wisdomreadings.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)
22 Sept 2024
Episode 6: Take your soul seriously
Welcome to Life Sentences, an exploration into the wisdom of the ancient Church Fathers presented by me, Thomas Small.
In this episode, we continue our way through St John Cassian’s interview with the great Egyptian ascetic Abba Moses the Black, who shifts his focus from the goal of purity of heart to the ultimate end: the kingdom of God.
Get full access to Life Sentences at wisdomreadings.substack.com/subscribe (https://wisdomreadings.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)
8 Sept 2024
Episode 5: Aim for purity of heart
Welcome to Life Sentences, an exploration into the wisdom of the ancient Church Fathers presented by me, Thomas Small.
In this episode, St John Cassian, a great master of the contemplative life, introduces us to the man he considered to be the greatest of all the desert fathers, Abba Moses the Black—who reveals the true goal and the final end of all our spiritual striving.
If you’re following the podcast on a podcast app like Spotify or Apple Podcasts or Pocket Casts but have not subscribed to the actual Substack, then I really encourage you to do so. Go to wisdomreadings.substack.com and subscribe.
Get full access to Life Sentences at wisdomreadings.substack.com/subscribe (https://wisdomreadings.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)
25 Aug 2024
Episode 4: To know God, know yourself
Welcome to Life Sentences, an exploration into the wisdom of the ancient Church Fathers, presented by me, Thomas Small.
In this episode, St Basil the Great continues urging us to be attentive to ourselves, and explains how, because he is made in the divine image, by knowing himself, man can know God.
Get full access to Life Sentences at wisdomreadings.substack.com/subscribe (https://wisdomreadings.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)
11 Aug 2024
Episode 3: Be attentive to yourself
Welcome to Life Sentences, an exploration into the wisdom of the ancient Church Fathers presented by me, Thomas Small.
In this episode we meet St Basil the Great, a 4th-century Father of the Church who, taking us into the mind, teaches us where our focus of attention should be and that we must strive for purity of heart.
Get full access to Life Sentences at wisdomreadings.substack.com/subscribe (https://wisdomreadings.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)
28 Jul 2024
Episode 2: You are a mind
In this episode, St Leo the Great, Pope of Rome, takes us even deeper into the spirituality of asceticism, and we learn how behind the practice of fasting lies a sophisticated doctrine about the nature of the human mind.
Get full access to Life Sentences at wisdomreadings.substack.com/subscribe (https://wisdomreadings.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)
14 Jul 2024
Episode 1: Starting with the basics
Welcome to Life Sentences, a new Substack podcast presented by me, Thomas Small.
In Life Sentences, I’m going to be reading through ancient spiritual texts by the greatest minds of Christian history, the Church Fathers. I'll add commentary as I go which will, I hope, convince you that ancient Christian wisdom speaks to our human condition just as well now as it did back in the first millennium.
In this inaugural episode, we launch with our very first Church Father, St Leo the Great, Pope of Rome.
Get full access to Life Sentences at wisdomreadings.substack.com/subscribe (https://wisdomreadings.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)
11 Jul 2024
Three days to launch...
A brief audio message, letting you know what you can expect from Life Sentences, a new Substack podcast presented by Thomas Small.
Get full access to Life Sentences at wisdomreadings.substack.com/subscribe (https://wisdomreadings.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
4.9 / 5
11 ratings
Contact Life Sentences
Guest appearances
Does not typically book guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Host of Life Sentences?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
