Why a Father's Invisible Library Is His Most Important Inheritance w/ Dr. Jason Baxter

Why a Father's Invisible Library Is His Most Important Inheritance w/ Dr. Jason Baxter

The men who shaped you left you something—a set of stories, images, and convictions you draw on long after they're gone. Dr. Jason Baxter, Dante scholar and author of The Medieval Mind of C.S. Lewis and Why Literature Still Matters, joins Jason Craig to make the case that literature is the hidden architecture of masculine formation—and that fathers who neglect it are leaving their sons with less than they think. This is a conversation for every father who wants to give his children more than rules. In This Episode, We Cover: * Why a father alone is never enough—and how the men who surrounded Dr. Baxter as a boy shaped him in ways his own father couldn't * What an all-boys classroom reveals about how young men actually learn, compete, and form brotherhood—and what co-education quietly costs them * How fathers can take an active role in courtship culture, not as enforcers but as patrons who set the stage for their daughters and the men around them * Why the "invisible library" a man builds through literature is the very thing he'll reach for when a friend's marriage is falling apart and platitudes won't do * How the medieval integration of beauty, ethics, science, and poetry offers a richer model of formation than any list of commandments—and what that means for how we raise our sons Chapters: * 00:00: Introduction * 03:49: Introducing Dr. Jason Baxter * 06:55: The Men Who Made Him * 18:52: Boys, Girls, and the Classroom * 27:06: Fathers, Courtship, and the Dating Market * 36:41: Why Literature Still Matters * 48:27: The Medieval Mind: Integration vs. Fragmentation * 01:02:08: Marriage as the School of Manhood * 01:09:46: Forming the Imagination at Home * 01:13:29: The Invisible Library Resources Mentioned: * A Beginner's Guide to Dante's Divine Comedy by Jason M. Baxter [https://bakerpublishinggroup.com/products/9780801098734_a-beginners-guide-to-dantes-divine-comedy] * The Medieval Mind of C.S. Lewis by Jason M. Baxter [https://www.ivpress.com/the-medieval-mind-of-c-s-lewis] * Why Literature Still Matters by Jason M. Baxter [https://cassiodoruspress.com/product/why-literature-still-matters-2nd-edition/] * The Crisis of Narration by Byung-Chul Han [https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=the-crisis-of-narration--9781509560424] * JasonMBaxter.com [https://www.jasonmbaxter.com] JOIN 2500+ MEN READING SERIOUS, YET ACCESSIBLE ESSAYS ON VIRTUE, CULTURE, AND LIVING WELL: https://fraternus.org/sword-and-spade/ [https://fraternus.org/sword-and-spade/] Produced by Saint Kolbe Studios [https://saintkolbestudios.com/]

The Christian Imagination: The Imago Dei in the Age of AI with Stephen Crotts

Jason Craig sits down with Stephen Crotts—illustrator of Malcolm Guite's Galahad and the Grail—to talk about what it means to be a maker in an age of AI slop, why creativity is a duty rooted in the Imago Dei, and how recovering a sense of place is essential to being human.  In This Episode, We Cover: * Why AI can never bear the Imago Dei—and what that means for human art and expression * The difference between dominion and domination, and how a Christian view of creation shapes an artist's work * How building a home culture of making—music, art, and craft—forms children and families * The ancient process of woodcut printmaking and why embodied craft matters in a disembodied age * Why art belongs in its proper context and what we lose when it's pulled from worship into the museum Chapters: * 00:00 Introduction * 02:23 AI and the Image of God * 04:00 Growing up in a creative family * 08:30 Dominion vs. domination: a Christian view of creation * 16:30 Building a culture of music and making at home * 24:15 The woodcut printmaking process * 27:40 "It's not expression if it's not made by humans" * 34:10 Art at its highest is devotional * 38:40 What it means for art to have meaning * 45:08 Finding local stories and images to focus on Resources Mentioned: * Galahad and the Grail by Malcolm Guite, illustrated by Stephen Crotts [https://www.rabbitroom.com/merlinsisle] * Stephen Crotts' website [https://www.scrotts.com] * "A British Eucharistic Odyssey: Galahad and the Grail Reviewed" by Theo Howard [https://onepeterfive.com/a-british-eucharistic-odyssey-galahad-and-the-grail-reviewed/] JOIN 2500+ MEN READING SERIOUS, YET ACCESSIBLE ESSAYS ON VIRTUE, CULTURE, AND LIVING WELL: https://fraternus.org/sword-and-spade/ [https://fraternus.org/sword-and-spade/] Produced by Saint Kolbe Studios [https://saintkolbestudios.com/].

The Way Forward Is the Way Back: Rick Seigmund on Protecting Your Family, Homes, and Craft

Rick Seigmund spent two decades on the front lines of federal law enforcement fighting human trafficking and online predation — and came home with a message most men aren't ready to hear. Now a woodworker, finish carpenter, and founder of the Family Readiness Project, Rick joins Jason to connect what might seem like two very different callings: building something permanent, and protecting something priceless.  In This Episode, We Cover: * How an engaged, present father is the single greatest deterrent to online predators and groomers * The tactics of online predators operating through gaming platforms, and what fathers need to know about the openly Satanic 764 group * Why building trust and honest communication with your sons before the storm is the only real family readiness that matters * The "enshittification" of the American home, what reclaiming craft actually looks like, and why the way forward is the way back * Why historic wood windows outperform every modern replacement — and the class-action lawsuits that prove the industry lied Chapters: * 00:00: Introduction and Rick Seigmund's Background * 05:01: Why Historic Wood Windows Beat Modern Replacements * 11:08: Throwaway Homes and the Loss of Craft * 16:50: The Way Forward Is the Way Back * 24:00: Building Your Forever Home * 36:57: From Craftsman to Defender: The Full Man * 45:00: Law Enforcement, Human Trafficking, and the Birth of FRP * 47:10: The Engaged Father Is a Predator's Worst Nightmare * 01:04:52: Online Dangers: Gaming Platforms, Groomers, and the 764 Group * 01:12:09: Culture Is the Best Defense Resources Mentioned: * Family Readiness Project [https://www.familyreadinessproject.com] * Brent Hull — Historic Preservation [https://brenthull.com] * Enshittification by Cory Doctorow [https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374619329/enshittification/] JOIN 2500+ MEN READING SERIOUS, YET ACCESSIBLE ESSAYS ON VIRTUE, CULTURE, AND LIVING WELL: https://fraternus.org/sword-and-spade/ [https://fraternus.org/sword-and-spade/] Produced by Saint Kolbe Studios [https://saintkolbestudios.com/]

You Believe in Myths: David Russell Mosley on Myth, Fatherhood, and Classical Education

David Russell Mosley—convert, poet, and teacher —joins Jason Craig to discuss the cultural heritage of the Church, the importance of aesthetic choices, and what it means to be present as a father. They explore how classical education should prepare children not to live in the past, but to make new things worthy of the tradition they've inherited. In This Episode, We Cover: * The "tweed-y pipe" aesthetic and why how we dress reflects what we aspire to be * David's conversion journey from evangelical Christianity to Catholicism through beauty and liturgy * Why classical education isn't about romanticizing the medieval past but equipping students to create the future * The critical importance of fatherly presence—being there to discuss, encourage, and walk alongside your children * How the father-son relationship mirrors the Trinitarian life and the doctrine of deification Chapters: * 00:00: Introduction to David Russell Mosley * 01:16: Sword and Spade Magazine Explained * 03:41: The Tweed-y Pipe Aesthetic and Cultivating Taste * 08:59: David's Conversion to Christ and the Church * 29:50: The Doctrine of Deification and Becoming Little Christs * 42:50: Conversion to Catholicism in Nottingham * 49:22: Teaching at a Chesterton Academy in Spokane * 52:50: Understanding Myth as a Way of Engaging Truth * 01:07:35: Myth, Household, and the Domestic Church * 01:13:05: Fatherly Presence and the Filial Image Resources Mentioned: * Mosley's Marginalia [https://davidrussellmosley.substack.com/] — David Russell Mosley's Substack * How Catholic liturgy helped a father through family tragedy [https://uscatholic.org/articles/202012/how-catholic-liturgy-helped-a-father-through-family-tragedy/] JOIN 2500+ MEN READING SERIOUS, YET ACCESSIBLE ESSAYS ON VIRTUE, CULTURE, AND LIVING WELL: https://fraternus.org/sword-and-spade [https://fraternus.org/sword-and-spade] Produced by Saint Kolbe Studios [https://saintkolbestudios.com/]

What Aristotle Got Wrong About Work (and What Christ Set Right) w/ Jacob Imam

Dr. Jacob Imam of The College of St. Joseph the Worker and New Polity joins Jason to talk about a school that refuses to choose between the life of the mind and the life of the hands. The College of St. Joseph the Worker trains men in both the Catholic intellectual tradition and the skilled trades, graduating students with two certifications and no debt. In This Episode, We Cover: * Dr. Imam's origin story: raised by a lapsed Muslim father and an evangelical Protestant mother in Seattle, and the conversion that followed * The founding vision of the College of St. Joseph the Worker * The ancient pagan contempt for manual labor, from Aristotle's Politics to Cicero's On Duties, and how Christ's years at a carpenter's bench eradicated all of it * Why the liberal arts and the manual arts don't compete but strengthen each other * The crisis in American construction, the rootlessness at its root, and the debt every graduate carries back to the community that formed him Chapters: * 00:00: Introduction * 01:29: Jacob Imam's Origin Story * 13:09: What Is the College of St. Joseph the Worker? * 16:41: How Higher Education Has Failed * 19:56: The Ancient Case Against Manual Labor—and Why Christ Changed Everything * 28:45: The Active and Contemplative Life * 32:37: Students Arriving at the College * 35:33: The Trades Crisis: Why Now * 37:28: Why Modern Homes Are Built to Fail * 49:42: Going Away to Come Back Better Resources Mentioned: * College of St. Joseph the Worker [https://www.collegeofstjoseph.com/] * New Polity [https://newpolity.com/] JOIN 2500+ MEN READING SERIOUS, YET ACCESSIBLE ESSAYS ON VIRTUE, CULTURE, AND LIVING WELL: https://fraternus.org/sword-and-spade/ [https://fraternus.org/sword-and-spade/] Produced by Saint Kolbe Studios [https://saintkolbestudios.com/]