We resume a tradition from the past two seasons, discussing some favorite books we read in 2023. As always, our themes involve religion, spirituality, and the intersection of faith and intellect. And we are privileged, again, to welcome our guest, George Handley, Professor of Interdisciplinary Humanities at BYU. Dr. Wickman’s Honorable Mentions: Jeffrey A. Vogel, All …
Making Spirit Tangible: On Poetry and Divine Presence, Jill Peláez Baumgaertner, Wheaton College
Jill Peláez Baumgaertner is Professor Emerita and former Dean of Humanities and Theological Studies at Wheaton College. The author of several collections of poetry as well as scholarly books on such writers as Flannery O’Connor, she currently serves as poetry editor at The Christian Century. We talk today about a beautiful volume of poems she …
“Why I Am a Churchgoer,” with Mischa Willett, Seattle Pacific University
This is the first episode we have released in three months. We were having technological difficulties with the system that distributes the podcasts, and it now seems mostly to be fixed. Thank you for your patience—and for listening to these episodes with our wonderful guests. Mischa Willett is a poet, scholar of nineteenth-century British literature, and assistant …
Reimagining Job, with Diane Glancy, American poet and author
Diane Glancy is a prolific and acclaimed poet, novelist, essayist, playwright, and professor emeritus at Macalester College. Her awards include the Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry, the Arrell Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award from the Oklahoma Center for the Book, the American Book Award, the Pushcart Prize, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers’ …
Season 3 wrap-up: conversation with Faith and Imagination podcast producer Sophia Snyder
We’ve come to the end of Season 3 of the podcast. I talk with Sophia Snyder, the podcast’s producer, and we share a few thoughts about the podcast generally and especially about this season’s guests. We also discuss brief clips from a few of this season’s episodes and talk about them – a small sampling …
Mysticism: An Awareness of the Presence of God, with Chad Thralls, Seton Hall University
Chad Thralls is a scholar of Christian spirituality and mysticism who teaches at Seton Hall University. His primary area of focus is the contemplative spiritual life, and today we discuss his book Deep Calls to Deep: Mysticism, Scripture, and Contemplation.
Journeys of the Spirit: On Pilgrimage, with Zachary Davis, Faith Matters Foundation and Wayfare Magazine
Zachary Davis is the Executive Director of the Faith Matters Foundation, the host of the Ministry of Ideas, Writ Large, and Making Meaning podcasts, and the editor of Wayfare Magazine. We discuss the article he published in the inaugural issue of Wayfare, a beautiful piece on the history of pilgrimage that doubles as a story about his personal faith journey.
Contemplative – Transformative – Reading, with Stephanie Paulsell, Harvard Divinity School
Stephanie Paulsell is Susan Shallcross Swarz Professor of the Practice of Christian Studies at Harvard Divinity School and Faculty Dean of Eliot House at Harvard College. The author of a book on Virginia Woolf, the editor of a book on Toni Morrison, and writer of articles on many other literary figures as well as on …
Highlighted Episode: Holy Saturday, Faith Crisis, and the Poetry of R.S. Thomas, with guest Richard McLauchlan
Richard McLauchlan is an independent scholar, a professional biographer, and the author of Saturday’s Silence: R.S. Thomas and Paschal Reading. With Easter approaching, we wanted to re-release this 2021 conversation with McLauchlan about how Thomas’s poetry captures the meaning of the day between Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection, a day of suffering and silence that speaks to …
Theology, the Arts, and New Creation with Daniel Train, Duke Divinity School
Daniel Train is the associate director of Duke Initiatives in Theology and the Arts at Duke Divinity School, where he directs the Certificate in Theology and the Arts program. He is the coeditor of The Saint John’s Bible and Its Tradition: Illuminating Beauty in the Twenty-First Century (2018) and also of a 2022 collection we …