Long before speeches, presentations, or debates, rhetoric begins with something far more human: the search for the right words at the right moment. This elegant reflection explores why rhetoric is not merely an academic discipline, but a formative art that cultivates wisdom, judgment, and the ability to speak truthfully and beautifully for the good of others.
February 25, 2026
Set Free to Speak
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Read on SubstackLong before speeches, presentations, or debates, rhetoric begins with something far more human: the search for the right words at the right moment. This elegant reflection explores why rhetoric is not merely an academic discipline, but a formative art that cultivates wisdom, judgment, and the ability to speak truthfully and beautifully for the good of others.
Contributing Writer
Kevin is the founder of Ecclesial Schools Initiative and the co-author of The Liberal Arts Tradition.
What does it mean to grow up classical, and how can the great books help form a young person’s moral imagination? In this episode of Composed, Christine Perrin speaks with Olivia Reardon, a graduating senior at Messiah University, about literature, ethical formation, and the classical Christian classroom. Drawing from Olivia’s senior honors thesis and her upcoming ClassicalU course, Journeying with the Great Books: Ethical Formation in the Classical Christian Classroom, the conversation explores how stories give students language for their deepest questions, offer “handholds” for living in a broken world, and invite readers to return again and again as they grow in wisdom. Together, Christine and Olivia reflect on reading as a relational and formative act, one that happens best in a community of trust, conversation, and shared attention. Olivia offers the images of mirrors, windows, and doors as a way of understanding how books help students see themselves, encounter others, and enter experiences beyond their own. The conversation also considers the breadth of the Great Conversation, not as a narrow inheritance for a few, but as a living tradition shaped by many voices and offered for the formation of all.
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What would it mean to practice festival at home, in school, and in church? In this episode of Forged, Brian Williams speaks with Father Nathan Carr about the posture and practice of festival as a way of living with joy, gratitude, and holy attention in the midst of ordinary time. Drawing from his work as priest, headmaster, husband, father, and author of Festive School, Carr reflects on Christian calendars, prayer books, school feasts, household rituals, and the slow formation of children who learn not merely to observe the good, but to receive and name it. This conversation is an invitation to recover joy as discipline, delight as formation, and celebration as a serious part of Christian life. Together, Brian and Father Carr consider how homes, schools, and churches can resist anxiety, urgency, cynicism, and suspicion by learning to inhabit time differently. From Benedictine hours and red-letter feast days to hidden Wise Men during Advent and children serving in the liturgy, this episode explores the small, concrete practices that teach us to see the world as gift.
Educators and psychologists have long recognized the benefits of art creation as part of a child’s education. But simply spending time among great works of art can be even more rewarding. That’s why I invite you to skip the pool or park one Saturday afternoon and take your kids to an art museum instead.