Father Nathan Carr, Headmaster of The Academy and often dubbed “the Jack Sparrow of classical education,” joins Christopher Perrin to recount his unexpected path into classical Christian school leadership—and the hard-won lessons of building a flourishing school culture over two decades. Their conversation draws on James K. A. Smith’s Desiring the Kingdom to argue that “liturgies” (in church and in culture) quietly train our loves and longings. Carr connects that insight to his own work, The Festive School, where he explores how a school’s calendar, habits, and celebrations can become formative—not merely decorative. He also points listeners to his Student Prayer Book as a practical companion for cultivating daily, embodied prayer in the life of a classroom. From The Book of Common Prayer and the daily offices to monastic rhythms like Matins and Compline, he frames education as formation through repeated, prayerful practice. Along the way, they address objections to “rote” ritual, suggesting that repetition can become spiritually alive and deeply consoling over time. The episode closes with concrete snapshots of festivity at The Academy: Lessons & Carols, Stations of the Cross, and campus-wide celebrations of Incarnation and Resurrection. Father Nathan Carr also has a forthcoming course on ClassicalU.com that will release in the early Spring of 2026.

In this reflective episode, Christopher Perrin interviewed Andrew Kern, his long-time colleague and friend, President and CEO of The CiRCE Institute, in a wide-ranging conversation about the philosophy and practice of teaching. They delve into the meaning of truth—what it is, how it’s often misunderstood, and why it remains central to classical Christian education. Drawing from ancient sources and modern confusions, Perrin and Kern challenge the reduction of truth to mere facts, propositions, or private opinion. Instead, they present a more robust vision: truth as reality itself, made known through the Logos, and discoverable in every discipline, from science to poetry.

Perrin and Kern explore how this deeper understanding of truth can liberate students, form character, and unify fragmented thinking in a disoriented age. They critique the cultural tendencies toward relativism, scientism, and technocracy, offering classical education as a hopeful and coherent response. Along the way, Perrin and Kern draw on Plato, Augustine, Pascal, and Sayers to recover a compelling view of truth that is beautiful, knowable, and formative. Listeners will be invited to rethink how we teach, how we learn, and how we live in pursuit of what is true.

Listeners may also be interested in the book Unless the Lord Builds the House, as well as the Apprenticeship Program and courses taught by Andrew Kern available on ClassicalU. They can also learn more about the newly released book The Good Teacher and the accompanying courses.

In this memorable episode of The Christopher Perrin Show, Christopher welcomes Dr. Grant Horner and Karen Moore—two veteran classical educators and authors—for a spirited conversation about the power of language, memory, and the poetic imagination in Christian classical education. Together, they explore how reading, writing, and reciting great texts form not only the intellect but the soul, training students to love truth, beauty, and goodness through embodied habits of attention and delight. As a key method of embodied learning, they consider the importance of doing some teaching in situ and walking the ground where these events and stories originated.

Drawing on decades of classroom experience and curriculum development, Dr. Horner and Moore discuss the importance of early exposure to Latin, the recovery of ancient rhetorical arts, and the integration of poetry into daily learning. Their reflections touch on everything from biblical literacy and etymology to Shakespeare, Cicero, and the Book of Common Prayer—showing how the classical tradition equips students not only to analyze language but to inhabit it with grace and conviction.

Listeners will come away invigorated to cultivate memory, nourish imagination, and recover the lost arts of eloquence—beginning in their homes, schools, and homerooms.