Risking Enchantment

“The glory of colour, which was his chief gift, is a strange blend of dark beauty and almost spectral luminosity.” - A.Kelly

 

In this episode Rachel and Phoebe put a spotlight on one of Ireland’s great artists: Harry Clarke. Famed for his stained glass art, Clarke’s work can be found in churches throughout Ireland, exhibiting his astounding use of colour and his distinctive figurative style. We discuss his place in Irish art history and his work establishing a distinctively Irish style in the 20th century. We contrast his religious work with his secular, often literary based pieces, and his use of gothic and grotesque elements in both. And we discuss how Clarke’s distinctive style draws the humanity out in his depictions of saints and his biblical scenes.

 

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

 

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Phoebe Watson

 

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

 

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

 

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 Works Mentioned:

 

To see the stained glass pieces discussed in this episode, visit the Risking Enchantment Substack.

Dark Beauty: Hidden Detail in Harry Clarke’s Stained Glass by Lucy Costigan and Michael Cullen

 

Poems / by Theodore Maynard ; with an introduction by G.K. Chesterton

 

Alarms and Discursions by G.K.Chesterton

 

Orthodoxy by G.K Chesterton

 

What We’re Enjoying at the Moment

 

Phoebe: Murder on the Orient Express (on stage)

 

Rachel: A Spring Harvest by Geoffrey Bache Smith

"I tried to save the Shire, and it has been saved, but not for me. It must often be so, Sam, when things are in danger: some one has to give them up, lose them, so that others may keep them."

- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King

In this episode, Jacob Moran returns to join me on a dive back into Middle-Earth, this time to explore the character of Frodo Baggins. Even among fans of The Lord of the Rings, Frodo comes in for a deal of criticism and even maligning, usually centred around his likeability and his failure at the end of the quest. Yet to misunderstand Frodo is to misunderstand a crucial part of what Tolkien is saying about heroism and virtue. In this episode Rachel and Jacob discuss Frodo's qualities, his example of self-sacrifice and his willingness to lay down even his likeability in order to save his friends and his home.

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock and Jacob Moran

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Works Mentioned:

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, ed Humphrey Carpenter

The Once and Future King by T.H. White

The Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

Murder in the Cathedral by T.S. Eliot

 

What We're Enjoying at the Moment:

Rachel: Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens

Jacob: DnD campaign planning

"I was feeling like I never was young

Followed a dream and a strange desire

You picked me up in the dead of the night

And gave me a chance to move on inside of your mystery"

- You're Still a Mystery, Bleachers

 

In this February episode of Risking Enchantment, Matthias Conroy joins after a five year absence to talk about one of our favourite bands and albums, Strange Desire by Bleachers.

Bleachers is founded and fronted by pop producer extraordinaire Jack Antonoff. While he is most famous for his work co-writing and producing the music of Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey and The 1975, Jack’s band Bleachers gives him the space to explore emotions and experiences close to his heart, namely love, grief, sorrow and hope. While in no way a Christian album, Strange Desire gives a depth of wisdom to the experience of love that gives us glimpses of divine love. Even the album’s title ‘Strange Desire’ has an almost Augustinian quality, hinting at our restless hearts yearning for the world beyond our senses. In the episode we discuss and explore the themes of the album and show how we can encounter God in unlikely places in our life and in our culture.

 

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Phoebe Watson

The Risking Enchantment Substack account: https://riskingenchantment.substack.com/

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

For links to the works mentioned in this podcast, visit our substack post below:

https://riskingenchantment.substack.com/p/strange-desire-and-the-mystery-of

What We’re Enjoying at the Moment:

Matthias:

David Bennet Piano - YouTube Channel

Rachel:

A Father Who Keeps His Promises by Scott Hahn

"[T]he life and work of the Forerunner, especially as presented in the gospel of John, greatly illuminates the poetic character of Christian life—indeed of all life"

- Dwight Lindley, "The Poetics of John the Baptist"

 

Risking Enchantment is back for 2025 and for our first episode of the year we’re taking a look at St. John the Baptist. We discuss a fictionalised depiction of his imprisonment by Henriette Brey, a 20th-century Catholic writer, as well at looking at how this foremost of saints is represented in art and how his very life and divine mission gives us a lens to understand art from a Christian perspective.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Phoebe Watson

Important Links:

The new Risking Enchantment Substack account: https://riskingenchantment.substack.com/

Sign up as a paid subscriber in order to receive our monthly newsletter of recommendations.

 

The video of the conference panel featuring my talk: “The Ends of the Affairs: Medieval Ideals, Modern Trysts, and the Offering of Redemption in the Works of Graham Greene and T. H. White”

FC24: A Hint of an Explanation – Graham Greene

The chapter discussed in this episode: “Out of the Depths” When The Soul Is In Darkness: A Book For Those That Labor And Are Burdened by Henriette Brey

 

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

 

Works Mentioned

 

“Out of the Depths” When The Soul Is In Darkness: A Book For Those That Labor And Are Burdened by Henriette Brey

 

“The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot

 

“The Poetics of John the Baptist”, by Dwight Lindley - Dappled Things

 

L’Apparition by Gustave Moreau

 

Isenheim Altarpiece by Matthias Grunewald

 

John the Baptist by Donatello (V&A Hall of Casts)

 

Saint John the Baptist by Leonardo da Vinci

 

Bacchus by Leonardo da Vinci

 

What We’re Enjoying at the Moment

 

Phoebe: Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

  12 Angry Men

 

Rachel: When Harry Met Sally

  Word on Fire Bible Series

"I can imagine that if there existed a God who loved, the devil would be driven to destroy even the weakest, most faulty imitation of that love. Wouldn’t he be afraid that the habit of love might grow, and wouldn’t he try to trap us all into being traitors, into helping him extinguish love."

- Graham Greene

 

This episode of Risking Enchantment features a recording of paper given by Rachel Sherlock at this year's Fall Conference held by the de Nicola Institute for Ethics in Culture in Notre Dame University, held in conjuction with the Biennial Catholic Imagination Conference. the theme was Ever Ancient, Ever New: On Catholic Imagination. The focus of the conference was on the literary arts and so this paper was part of a panel on the author Graham Greene.

 

Host: Rachel Sherlock

Follow Rachel on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Find out more about the conference: https://ethicscenter.nd.edu/programs/fall-conference/2024-ever-ancient-ever-new/

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod