HeyJaredExpanding Eyes: A Visionary Education
This podcast is aimed at a non-specialist audience interested in acquiring what Northrop Frye called, in the title of one of his books, an educated imagination.
- Indexed episodes, last 90 days
- 11
- Latest publication
- Sep 13, 2026
- Audience
- Checking…
- Earliest in this view
- Jul 9, 2026
Latest episodes
Episode 285: The Subversion of Primogeniture in the Bible, the Trickster God Passing Over the Normal Successor. The Imagery of Sheep and Shepherds, and the Imagery of Sacrifice. (opens the original)
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A remarkable pattern runs throughout the Bible of the subverting of the normal line of succession, and its significance. The pastoral imagery of sheep and shepherds in the earlier books of the Bible, and the imagery of animal sacrifice, which we struggle to understand.
Episode 284: The Bible’s Alternative to the Heroic: Trickster Figures and a Trickster God, the God of the Underdog. (opens the original)
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The heroic tradition tends to be tragic, its heroes ending in a downfall that is part of the greatness. The Bible is a divine comedy, and its figures are unheroic, often underdog figures. Their God is an invisible Trickster God who subverts the rules and champions those who lack power. Like all Tricksters, he can be troubling in his defiance of conventional morality.
Episode 283: The Exploits of Theseus, Continued. The Biblical Contrast: The Bible’s Subversion of the Heroic. (opens the original)
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The later exploits of Theseus after the Minotaur, featuring trouble with a succession of women. The Bible distrusts the heroic, which is human pride. Instead of the heroic individualist, the Bible values faith and loyalty to the real hero who achieves the happy ending: God himself.
Episode 282: The Classical Heroes of the Earlier Generation. The Death of Herakles/Hercules. The Exploits of Theseus: the Labyrinth and the Minotaur. Daedalus and Icarus. (opens the original)
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The tales of the earlier generation of heroes are less realistic and closer to myth and folktale than those of the Trojan generation of heroes. The tragic life and death of Herakles, yet his double fate, taken up to Mt. Olympus. Theseus and the Minotaur in the labyrinth. Daedalus and Icarus. If you're interested in this podcast, you may also want to have a look at the Expanding Eyes newsletter on Substack. The essays there do not repeat the content here, although the themes are similar.
Episode 281: The Myth of the Hero in Greek Mythology. The Earlier Heroes: Perseus and Herakles or Hercules. (opens the original)
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The two generations of Greek heroes. The Trojan War heroes look back, in Homer and elsewhere, to an earlier, greater generation of heroes. The comic or happy-ending myth of Perseus, a Trickster hero. The tragic story of Herakles or Hercules.
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