The Sower is a Podcast of the Ciceronian Society.
The Ciceronian Society exists to equip and encourage Christian scholars to serve the church as a center of cultural and civic renewal.
Through our events, publications, and podcasts we provide the space and opportunities that Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox scholars need for professional growth and intellectual discipleship.
Since 2012, we have been building a network of friends with a love for our core themes - tradition, place, and ‘things divine’ - and with a genuine commitment to the church and the life of the mind.
To learn more about our society, our conferences, and the peer-reviewed journal, Pietas, visit https://ciceroniansociety.org/
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The Sower is a Podcast of the Ciceronian Society.
The Ciceronian Society exists to equip and encourage Christian scholars to serve the church as a center of cultural and civic renewal.
Through our events, publications, and podcasts we provide the space and opportunities that Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox scholars need for professional growth and intellectual discipleship.
Since 2012, we have been building a network of friends with a love for our core themes - tradition, place, and ‘things divine’ - and with a genuine commitment to the church and the life of the mind.
To learn more about our society, our conferences, and the peer-reviewed journal, Pietas, visit https://ciceroniansociety.org/
EPISODE 43 - Carl Richard on the American Founders’ Classical and Christian Inheritance
The Sower
1 hour 5 minutes 27 seconds
4 months ago
EPISODE 43 - Carl Richard on the American Founders’ Classical and Christian Inheritance
Josh Bowman talks with Dr. Carl Richard, Professor of History at the University of Louisiana Lafayette. Dr. Richard has spent decades recovering the impact of the ancient Greeks and Romans on the American Founders and on American history generally. He has also turned to the influence of the Bible and Christianity on America’s founding, and now to the history of the Presidency.
We begin by talking about the classics, including Cicero, before turning to his more recent books on the Bible’s impact, including his newest volume, So Help Us God: American Presidents and the Bible (Rowman & Littlefield, 2025). https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/so-help-us-god-9798881806330/
Carl’s Books:
The Founders and the Classics: Greece, Rome, and the American Enlightenment (Harvard, 1994)Twelve Greeks and Romans Who Changed the World (Rowman & Littlefield, 2003)The Battle for the American Mind: A Brief History of a Nation's Thought (Rowman & Littlefield, 2004)Greeks and Romans Bearing Gifts: How the Ancients Inspired the Founding Fathers (Rowman & Littlefield, 2008)The Golden Age of the Classics in America: Greece, Rome, and the Antebellum United States (Harvard, 2009)Why We're All Romans: The Roman Contribution to the Western World (Rowman & Littlefield, 2010)When the United States Invaded Russia: Woodrow Wilson's Siberian Disaster (Rowman & Littlefield, 2013)The Founders and the Bible (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016)
He has also contributed a host of essays to edited volumes, including two books published by Oxford University Press.
The 2026 Ciceronian Society Conference will be held March 12-14 at Creighton University in Omaha, NE. Panel and paper proposals are due September 1, 2025.
To learn more about us, our events, this Podcast, our journal, Pietas, to sign up for our newsletter, and to make your tax deductible gift, please go to https://ciceroniansociety.org/
0:00 Introduction2:30 Inspiration4:13 Golden Age7:47 Arguments For and Against the Classics20:04 Familiarity and Peculiarity25:53 Cicero32:06 The Founders and the Bible44:11 Prayer49:59 The Future56:26 Opportunities
The Sower
The Sower is a Podcast of the Ciceronian Society.
The Ciceronian Society exists to equip and encourage Christian scholars to serve the church as a center of cultural and civic renewal.
Through our events, publications, and podcasts we provide the space and opportunities that Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox scholars need for professional growth and intellectual discipleship.
Since 2012, we have been building a network of friends with a love for our core themes - tradition, place, and ‘things divine’ - and with a genuine commitment to the church and the life of the mind.
To learn more about our society, our conferences, and the peer-reviewed journal, Pietas, visit https://ciceroniansociety.org/
