Dr. Anthony Esolen Joins the Faculty at Magdalen College

Magdalen College is delighted to welcome Dr. Anthony Esolen to serve as a full member of the faculty and Writer-in-Residence. Dr. Esolen is a renowned scholar and translator of literature, and a prolific writer.

The president of the college, Dr. George Harne, observed, “For the last two years, Dr. Esolen has been a friend of the college, joining us for Mass most Sundays during the academic year and for special feasts and events on campus. This next step is the natural fruit of the friendship that has developed over this time.”

Michael Beecher, Director of Admissions, commented, “We feel blessed and are excited to know that our students will have the privilege to learn from Dr. Esolen for years to come.”

The college also recognizes that Dr. Esolen’s voice has become critical to the conversation about the most important questions of our time. For this reason, the college has also given him the title “Writer-in-Residence” and supports fully his prolific work as an author.

Dr. Esolen will be teaching across the disciplines in all four years of the Humanities Sequence, our Honors Colloquia, teaching in other courses, delivering regular Friday night lectures, and enjoying conversations over lunch with the students. Every student of the college will have the benefit of pursuing wisdom through his teaching.

As a full member of the faculty and Writer-in-Residence, Dr. Esolen joins a community of faculty with decades of teaching experience committed to the Catholic intellectual tradition and the renewal of Catholic liberal education in America. This faculty includes Dr. Peter Sampo, the college’s founder, Dr. Mary Mumbach, a specialist in southern and Russian literature, and Dr. Brian FitzGerald, a medievalist. Additional new faculty will also be joining the college this year in philosophy, music, and classical languages.

Upon joining Magdalen College, Dr. Esolen remarked, “It’s fitting that Magdalen College is set upon a mountain, with a broad and far view of the land below.  That’s what I am eager to be a part of — I mean especially the college’s signature four-year course in the humanities, from the ancient world to the present, with every teacher and student working together.  And if the students read and think as well as they sing at Mass, as I expect they do, that is going to be a marvelous thing indeed.”

Dr. Esolen has translated Dante’s Divine Comedy, Lucretius’ On the Nature of Things, and Torquato Tasso’s Jerusalem Delivered. His books, on such topics as culture, beauty and literature, include Out of the Ashes: Rebuilding American Culture, Real Music: A Guide to the Timeless Hymns of the Church and Nostalgia: Going Home in a Homeless World. His articles regularly appear in such journals and online magazines as Magnificat, Crisis Magazine, Touchstone and First Things.

Dr. Esolen received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University. His master’s degree and Ph.D. in Renaissance literature are from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.