Meaning Making Machines

Meaning Making Machines
Podcast Description
Meaning Making Machines connects the deep past with the imminent future through the search for the eternal, enduring, and essential. Join host Simone Leon as she discusses how we find and define meaning through art, religion, and technology.
She'll be speaking to artists, technologists, technophobes, religious thinkers, and philosophers. Exploring the deep questions with a curious mind, and questioning everything.
simoneleon.substack.com
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast explores topics related to the intersection of art, religion, and technology, with episodes discussing concepts such as matrilineal versus patrilineal cultures, the influences of mythology on contemporary life, and the spiritual connections found in nature and storytelling.

Meaning Making Machines connects the deep past with the imminent future through the search for the eternal, enduring, and essential. Join host Simone Leon as she discusses how we find and define meaning through art, religion, and technology.
She’ll be speaking to artists, technologists, technophobes, religious thinkers, and philosophers. Exploring the deep questions with a curious mind, and questioning everything.
Welcome to my episode with medieval scholar, writer, and speaker Dr. Grace Hamman. She is the author of the book Jesus through Medieval Eyes, a fascinating and accessible introduction to the bizarre, profound, and contradictory spirituality and culture of medieval people.
In this episode we speak about Christianity during medieval times, their complex views of women, sex, birth, and death, the spiritual relationship to fear and suffering, and the corruption of the church during its most powerful era. We compare modern cultural hypocrisies to those of the medieval age and speak about what wisdom we can gain from studying medieval culture. We talk about female hermits, and compare the complex views of womanhood in that time to ours. We also speak about the medieval relationship to art, the anonymity of artists, and the medieval veneration of beauty in comparison to modern utilitarianism. I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did.
Show Links: Substack: http://simoneleon.substack.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simone.leon/
Grace’s Links:
Website: gracehamman.com
Substack: gracehamman.substack.com
Podcast: oldbookswithgrace.wordpress.com/podcast
Instagram: instagram.com/oldbookswithgrace
Jesus Through Medieval Eyes (book): https://bookshop.org/a/15851/9780310169123
Ask of Old Paths (book available for preorder): https://bookshop.org/a/15851/9780310167204
Mentioned in this episode:
New York Times Trends for 2025 (gift link): https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/29/style/trends-predictions-2025.html?unlocked_article_code=1.QU8._hpi.lUgnVZ_0f3Gp&smid=url-share
Music and editing by Simon Linsteadt: www.simonvictorlinsteadt.com
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit simoneleon.substack.com

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