Young Heretics

Welcome back!! Happy 2026!! After a holiday hiatus, we're starting the year off strong with the Second Annual Inkling Awards for Literary Excellence. As an exciting new term of teaching kicks off for me at the University of Austin, TX, It's a good time to be thinking about some of the best questions: why should we read? How should we read? And how much? Without further ado, here are Dr. Klavan's rules of thumb for reading, the best books I read last year, and the books I'm looking forward to in 2026. Plus: C.S. Lewis on why you should read old books.
Check out my cover essay in First Things on Virgil's Aeneid: https://firstthings.com/in-the-footsteps-of-aeneas/
Order Light of the Mind, Light of the World (and rate it five stars): https://a.co/d/2QccOfM
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It's the most wonderful time of the year: that's right, the Lent of St. Martin! Okay okay, Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year, but the lead-up--known as the season of Advent--is an unbelievably rich tradition filled with deep meaning. On this Young Heretics special, I explain the big ideas of Advent through the surprising history of everyone's favorite song of the season, "O Come, O Come Emmanuel." And God bless us, every one! 
Read my co-authored essay with Andrew Klavan (no relation) on AI: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/12/07/ai-idols-consciousness-religion-llms/
Order Light of the Mind, Light of the World (and rate it five stars): https://a.co/d/2QccOfM
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It's time to talk about the shocking, the dramatic, the THRILLING and also, the kind of confusing end of Virgil's Aeneid. What a journey it's been! The story is never truly over, but as we leave Aeneas behind we have to ask--did Virgil mean for it to end this way? With Turnus' blood spilled ruthlessly on the ground and after that, the dark? Some say no--this is an incomplete ending that would have horrified the Emperor Augustus. I say yes--and Augustus would have been delighted. What do you say? 
Check out our new Sponsor, Alithea Travel: https://www.alitheatravel.com/tours/strength-and-virtue
Read my latest essay on AI cand ancient Jewish wisdom: https://www.civitasinstitute.org/research/ai-and-the-divine-test 
Order Light of the Mind, Light of the World (and rate it five stars): https://a.co/d/2QccOfM
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The planets are aligning, the moment is almost here, the fates are sealed...or are they?? Today, in our penultimate episode, right as Aeneas looks poised to take up the mantle of his destiny and live out the greatness that Augustus will one day inherit, everything seems to fall apart. The Gods throw up their hands, and the Rutulians go ferociously to war against the Trojans. Can it be that Virgil actually doesn't want us to know what happens next? Can it be the future of Rome is not as guaranteed as it seemed to be? Find out on this episode--plus, advice for writers to hone their skills.
Check out our new Sponsor, Alithea Travel: https://www.alitheatravel.com/tours/strength-and-virtue
Read my latest essay on why AI can't do your writing for you: https://rejoiceevermore.substack.com/p/writing-is-thinking
Order Light of the Mind, Light of the World (and rate it five stars): https://a.co/d/2QccOfM
Subscribe to be in the mailbag: https://rejoiceevermore.substack.com

Today on Young Heretics: a violent and unjust seizure of indigenous land!!! At least, according to Juno and the Furies, goddesses of retribution and blood guilt. Actually, the situation in Rome and in the Aeneid is a lot more complicated than that, which is one reason why the conclusion of the poem is a refreshingly sophisticated antidote to our often-oversimplified conversations about history, territory, colonialism, and the sins of the past. Plus: a mailbag question about Charlie Kirk and Julius Caesar.
Check out our new Sponsor, Alithea Travel: https://www.alitheatravel.com/tours/strength-and-virtue
Order Light of the Mind, Light of the World (and rate it five stars): https://a.co/d/2QccOfM
Subscribe to be in the mailbag: https://rejoiceevermore.substack.com