Hot Takes on the Classics

Hosted ByEmily Maeda & Tim McIntosh

Hot Takes on the Classics is no dusty, academic approach to great books. It’s a gossipy, exciting discussion about the best literature ever written. Hosted by Tim and Emily, who are veteran teachers and long-time friends, Hot Takes is packed with playful debate, meaningful speculation, and hearty laughs.

Hot Takes on the Classics is no dusty, academic approach to great books. It’s a gossipy, exciting discussion about the best literature ever written. Hosted by Tim and Emily, who are veteran teachers and long-time friends, Hot Takes is packed with playful debate, meaningful speculation, and hearty laughs.

(You may also enjoy Tim’s “The Play’s the Thing” show with CiRCE.)


All Episodes

Episode 18: A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections – Jonathan Edwards: Testing of Our Loves

Description In this episode of Hot Takes on the Classics, Emily Maeda and Tim McIntosh take a deep dive into Jonathan Edwards’s A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections, one of the most...

Episode 17: The Confessions of St. Augustine: The Journey of Transformed Love

Description In this episode of Hot Takes on the Classics, Emily Maeda and Tim McIntosh explore one of the most influential works in Western thought—St. Augustine’s Confessions. Through Augustine’s prayerful reflections,...

Episode 16: The Gospel of St. John – Cosmic Love

Description In this episode of Hot Takes on the Classics, Emily Maeda and Tim McIntosh turn to the fourth and final love in C.S. Lewis’s taxonomy—agape, or divine charity—through the...

Episode 15: Anna Karenina: The Marriage Plot

Description In this episode of Hot Takes on the Classics, Emily Maeda and Tim McIntosh close out their episodes on Eros with Leo Tolstoy’s monumental novel Anna Karenina. They explore how Tolstoy intertwines...

Episode 14: The Making of a Great Marriage: Pride and Prejudice

Description In this episode of Hot Takes on the Classics, Emily Maeda and Tim McIntosh unpack Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, exploring how this beloved novel redefines what makes a good...

Episode 13: Romeo and Juliet: The Wisdom of Young Love

Description In this episode of Hot Takes on the Classics, Emily Maeda and Tim McIntosh revisit Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, asking what makes this story so enduring and how it reshapes...

Episode 12: The Divine Comedy: Disordered Eros

Description In this episode of Hot Takes on the Classics, Emily Maeda and Tim McIntosh dive into Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy, one of the most ambitious works in world literature....

Episode 11: The Phaedras: Love is a Madness

Description In this episode of Hot Takes on the Classics, Emily Maeda and Tim McIntosh explore Plato’s Phaedrus, a dialogue that weaves together questions of love, rhetoric, and the soul. They...

Episode 10: The Wind in the Willows: A Classic Tale of Friendship

Description In this episode of Hot Takes on the Classics, Emily Maeda and Tim McIntosh explore Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows, a beloved children’s classic that also raises profound...