“Outtalk the Nonsense” ft. Pepperdine University’s Jessica Hooten Wilson I Saturdays at Seven Ep. 26

In the twenty-sixth episode of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Jessica Hooten Wilson, the Fletcher Jones Professor of Great Books at Pepperdine University. Wilson begins by detailing what qualities define a great book and what a great book asks of the readers who encounter it.  While some books may yield useful information, Wilson contends a great book demands that readers find themselves within an unfolding story and, in turn, ask how they understand themselves and the world differently because of such an experience. Ream and Wilson then discuss the state of English departments, how such departments define themselves, and how those definitions translate into offerings that fail to form students well beyond the narrow strictures of a discipline. With an enhanced understanding of the value of language and literature in place, Wilson reflects upon the lessons she has learned as a public intellectual, especially lessons related to the usage of various social media platforms. Ream and Wilson then close their conversation by discussing how the engagement with the great books serves as a bridge between the Church and the Church-related university.