Old School with Shilo Brooks – Episode Summary

Episode Title: Why ‘Middlemarch’ Changed This Catholic Priest’s Life
Podcast: Old School with Shilo Brooks (The Free Press)
Guest: Father Jonah Teller, Dominican friar & parochial vicar at St. Joseph’s Church, NYC
Date: January 8, 2026
Primary Theme:
A conversation about George Eliot’s Middlemarch—why this epic Victorian novel transformed Father Jonah’s life, its enduring wisdom about character, community, and the hidden ripples of ordinary choices, and why classic novels still matter for modern living.

Overview

In this episode, Shilo Brooks sits down with Father Jonah Teller to explore why George Eliot’s 900-page masterpiece Middlemarch had such a profound effect on him as a Catholic priest. They discuss the complexity of the novel’s characters and themes, the spiritual and existential lessons it offers, and why reading substantial literature, especially as a man, shapes character and informs moral life. The conversation weaves literary analysis with personal reflection and practical takeaways for listeners, touching on religion, marriage, virtue, and the everyday heroism of "hidden lives."

Key Discussion Points & Insights

First Encounters with “Middlemarch”

• Father Jonah’s Introduction (02:16)
  • Middlemarch was always on his family's bookshelf; attempted to read in high school ("...like, boring. Yeah, like, so I got like all of 10 pages into Middlemarch in high school, closed it, didn’t open it for over 10 years." – Father Jonah, 02:22)
  • Returned to it as a priest years later and was instantly captivated—felt compelled to start again as soon as he finished.

What “Middlemarch” is About

• Brooks’ Challenge: Plot and Structure (02:57)

  • Multiple interwoven plots, published in serial (like Victorian TV).
  • Not about plot "twists," but how ordinary lives and decisions ripple through a community.

• Father Jonah’s 'Candy Version' Summary (03:52)

  • "Middlemarch is about how your tiny little life affects lots of other lives, no matter how you live it." (Father Jonah, 03:52)
  • Follows Dorothea, an idealistic 19-year-old, navigating mismatched marriages and complex choices, and the doctor Lydgate, whose own marriage is troubled.
  • The heart is not the events, but the interiority and ramifications of character choices.

• Brooks’ Insight on the Setting (05:59)

  • The town of Middlemarch is a microcosm for the world and, symbolically, a map of the human soul.

• Character-Driven Plot (06:31)

  • "In Middlemarch, the character is an occasion to make a plot... Elliot's story emerges from character. It's character first, plot second." (Brooks, 06:31)

Key Themes Explored

The Ripple Effect of Ordinary Goodness

• Eliot’s Core Message (07:31)

  • Ordinary, unhistoric acts are as world-changing as the lives of saints.
  • “...the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts. And that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life and rest in unvisited tombs.” (Eliot, read by Father Jonah, 08:55)

• Personal Impact (15:00)

  • "This book is a cure for people who think...they have nothing to contribute. It shows that...the private decisions you make...will affect people in ways you have no idea of." (Father Jonah, 15:00)
  • Anecdote about coaches teaching him discipline and how early influences ripple out much later.

Psychological Depth & Humor

• Eliot’s “Interior Landscape” (12:42)
  • "She can just give you somebody's interior landscape, how they think, how they feel in a way that really rings true." (Father Jonah, 12:42)
  • Eliot’s wit and direct narrator as "director’s cut"—a playful, insightful commentary missing in, say, Austen.

Religion in “Middlemarch”

• Religion without Supernaturalism (20:48)
  • Eliot’s background: once a Christian, later agnostic/atheist; her fiction is, per Nietzsche, "Christian morality without the Christian God."
  • "It's much more of a natural virtue message than a supernatural virtue message...interested in the dignity of the human spirit." (Father Jonah, 20:48)
  • Good and bad religious characters, notably Bulstrode, a self-denying but deeply hypocritical man.

Political & Social Context

• Brooks’ Historical Framing (25:42)

  • Novel set amid early 19th-century English reform, rise of the middle class, shifts towards liberty/equality, and the advent of science.

• Science & Progress through Lydgate (27:37)

  • Lydgate, a progressive doctor, fails not because of bad ideas, but a lack of social prudence and humility.
  • "You can have the best idea in the world. But if you don't have the social prudence, if you don't have...the kindness and respect for other people...you could have the best idea in the world and it will go nowhere because they don't trust you." (Father Jonah, 27:37)

Marriage & Character

• Multiple Takes on Marriage (29:42; 33:23)

  • Unlike Austen, Eliot comments directly in her own conflicted, insightful voice.
  • Fred Vincy & Mary Garth: Lesson in not compromising honor for emotion—Mary withholds marriage until Fred demonstrates worth.
  • "...right now you are deciding to be the person you will be for the rest of your life...if you want to get married, act like a good man now." (Father Jonah, 31:14)
  • Not one “type” of marriage; novel explores many.

• Character Defined (33:23)

  • Dual meaning: “inventor of characters” and “developing character”—the set of unchanging moral principles that “are stamped on your soul” (Brooks, 33:23).

Suffering, Mercy, and Redemption

• Harriet and Nicholas Bulstrode's Marriage (38:44)
  • Passage illustrating mercy in the face of betrayal:
    • “He burst out crying, and they cried together, she sitting at his side.” (Narrated by Father Jonah, 41:14)
  • “...even in the face of real suffering...you can choose to be merciful, you can choose to be faithful, and you can maintain a good relationship...” (Father Jonah, 37:11)
  • The resilience and possibility of renewal after catastrophe.

The Moral Value of Reading Novels

• On the Risk/Benefit for the Soul (44:54)
  • Yes, bad books can corrupt, but “if you read things that are great...trust that there are great people in literature who can influence you—there are voices and characters and virtues that I've experienced in novels that move me to this day and I think have helped me be a better man.” (Father Jonah, 46:06)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Unseen Impact of Ordinary People:
  “The growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts. And that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life and rest in unvisited tombs.” (08:55, Eliot via Father Jonah)

• On the Purpose of Character:
  "Can you, you know, give the world one well ordered soul? That's a great gift. But that it will inevitably affect other people no matter what. You could flip burgers at McDonald's. And there's, there's honor in that." (19:20, Father Jonah)

• On the Scholar’s Disease:
  "I want to go lose myself in footnotes that no one cares about. And I want to accumulate all this knowledge and what I'm working on is the single most important thing...That's like an academic disease that everyone thinks that the small niche...is the last piece of the puzzle." (11:02, Shilo Brooks)

• On the Effects of Literature:
  "Great literature, great poetry is like giving you a thought, giving you words to feelings you have always had but not had words for before." (12:42, Father Jonah)

• On Marriage and Mercy:
  "But even in the face of that, you can choose to be merciful, you can choose to be faithful, and you can maintain a good relationship even in the face of real suffering." (37:11, Father Jonah)

Important Segments & Timestamps

• 02:16 — Father Jonah’s failed first attempt and later rediscovery of Middlemarch.
• 03:52 — Summing up Middlemarch's message: ripple effects of individual life.
• 08:55 — Reading of Eliot’s closing reflection on hidden lives.
• 12:42 — Discussion of Eliot’s psychological depth.
• 15:00 — How Middlemarch cured a sense of insignificance.
• 20:48 — Discussion of Middlemarch’s naturalist, non-supernatural religious ethos.
• 27:37 — Lydgate as a parable of scientific progress and the need for social grace.
• 31:14 — Lesson from Mary Garth and Fred Vincy: character and restraint in love.
• 33:23 — Explaining two senses of “character.”
• 38:44 — Reading of Harriet Bulstrode’s act of mercy toward her disgraced husband.
• 44:54 — Debating whether novels corrupt or ennoble the soul.
• 47:42 — Lightning round: favorite theologians, novels, and bluegrass tunes.
• 50:01 — On introducing more people to Saint Maria Goretti’s legacy.

Lightning Round Highlights (47:42–50:47)

• Least favorite theologian: Carl Rahner
• Best religious novel: In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden
• Non-Christian book recommendation: The Chosen by Chaim Potok
• Favorite bluegrass musicians: Tony Rice, Ricky Skaggs ("the high priestly man")
• Desert Island Sacrament: Eucharist
• Saint to read more about: Maria Goretti—her story of martyrdom, forgiveness, and conversion.

Conclusion

The conversation wraps by affirming that great literature like Middlemarch strengthens men (and women) by modeling lives of character, offering blueprints for enduring adversity with integrity, and showing the wide-reaching effects of our smallest moral choices.

Whether you’re a man hungry for wisdom (or just good stories), or someone wondering how reading a dense Victorian novel could change a person, this episode makes the case for why time spent with classics shapes not just your mind, but your soul.