an image of a mountain range with a pink sky and a pink sky with the words faith and imagination

Ep. 116: “Sacred Art and Spiritual Healing,” with Katie Kresser, Seattle Pacific University

Faith & Imagination podcast cover art
Faith and Imagination: A BYU Humanities Center Podcast
Ep. 116: “Sacred Art and Spiritual Healing,” with Katie Kresser, Seattle Pacific University
Loading
/

Katie Kresser is Seattle Pacific University’s resident Art Historian. She’s the author of books on John La Farge and on how the death of Christ ushers in the birth of art as a window onto the divine. A former guest on this podcast, she’s our guest again to discuss her new book on Christianity and …

an image of a mountain range with a pink sky and a pink sky with the words faith and imagination

Ep. 115: Highlighted Episode: Holy Saturday, Faith Crisis, and the Poetry of R. S. Thomas

Faith & Imagination podcast cover art
Faith and Imagination: A BYU Humanities Center Podcast
Ep. 115: Highlighted Episode: Holy Saturday, Faith Crisis, and the Poetry of R. S. Thomas
Loading
/

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 thought we’d run again this episode on the subject of Holy Saturday, the day between Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection that represents a period of suffering and silence. The poetry of R. …

an image of a mountain range with a pink sky and a pink sky with the words faith and imagination

Ep. 114: “Saints, Prophets, Martyrs, and the Making of Modern Comedy,” with Jason Crawford, Union University

Faith & Imagination podcast cover art
Faith and Imagination: A BYU Humanities Center Podcast
Ep. 114: "Saints, Prophets, Martyrs, and the Making of Modern Comedy,” with Jason Crawford, Union University
Loading
/

Jason Crawford is Professor of English at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee, where he teaches and writes about early modern literature and culture, with secondary interests in ancient drama and epic. He’s the author of several academic books and articles, and his work has also appeared in such venues as the Los Angeles Review of Books. …

an image of a mountain range with a pink sky and a pink sky with the words faith and imagination

Some Favorite Books of 2025

Faith & Imagination podcast cover art
Faith and Imagination: A BYU Humanities Center Podcast
Some Favorite Books of 2025
Loading
/

We resume a tradition from the past years, discussing some favorite books we read in 2025. As always, our themes involve religion, spirituality, and the intersection of faith and intellect. This time we welcome Makayla Steiner, assistant professor of English at BYU. Matt’s list of honorable mentions: Douglas Coupland, Life After God; Paul J. Pastor, The Locust …

an image of a mountain range with a pink sky and a pink sky with the words faith and imagination

Ep. 112: Highlighted episode: Reimagining Job with Diane Glancy, distinguished American poet and author

Faith & Imagination podcast cover art
Faith and Imagination: A BYU Humanities Center Podcast
Ep. 112: Highlighted episode: Reimagining Job with Diane Glancy, distinguished American poet and author
Loading
/

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’ …

an image of a mountain range with a pink sky and a pink sky with the words faith and imagination

Ep. 111: Finding our Callings in Every Season of Life, with Karen Swallow Prior, writer and public intellectual

Faith & Imagination podcast cover art
Faith and Imagination: A BYU Humanities Center Podcast
Ep. 111: Finding our Callings in Every Season of Life, with Karen Swallow Prior, writer and public intellectual
Loading
/

Karen Swallow Prior is the author of several books, among them The Evangelical Imagination, On Reading Well: Finding the Good Life through Great Books, and Fierce Convictions: The Extraordinary Life of Hannah More. A prominent voice in the Christian public sphere, she is a frequent speaker, a senior fellow at the Trinity Forum, a contributing writer at Dispatch, and …

an image of a mountain range with a pink sky and a pink sky with the words faith and imagination

Ep. 110: The “Mystical Realism” of Catholic Women Writers of the Early 20th Century, with Emma Mason, University of Warwick

Faith & Imagination podcast cover art
Faith and Imagination: A BYU Humanities Center Podcast
Ep. 110: The “Mystical Realism” of Catholic Women Writers of the Early 20th Century, with Emma Mason, University of Warwick
Loading
/

Emma Mason is Professor of English and Comparative Literary Studies at Warwick University in England. She’s the author and editor of several books, primarily on nineteenth-century English literature, most recently a study titled Christina Rosetti: Poetry, Ecology, Faith, and she edits, with Mark Knight, the book series New Directions in Religion and Literature for Bloomsbury …

an image of a mountain range with a pink sky and a pink sky with the words faith and imagination

Ep. 109: Imagination’s Visionary Role in Religious and Spiritual Life, with Callid Keefe-Perry, Boston College

Faith & Imagination podcast cover art
Faith and Imagination: A BYU Humanities Center Podcast
Ep. 109: Imagination’s Visionary Role in Religious and Spiritual Life, with Callid Keefe-Perry, Boston College
Loading
/

Callid Keefe-Perry is assistant professor of contextual education and public theology at Boston College’s School of Theology and Ministry. A traveling minister within the Religious Society of Friends – the Quakers – he is also the author of two books we discuss today: 2014’s Way to Water: A Theopoetics Primer and 2023’s Sense of the Possible: An Introduction …

an image of a mountain range with a pink sky and a pink sky with the words faith and imagination

Ep. 108: The Writer, the Cross, and the Believing Skeptic, with Darren J. N. Middleton, Baylor University

Faith & Imagination podcast cover art
Faith and Imagination: A BYU Humanities Center Podcast
Ep. 108: The Writer, the Cross, and the Believing Skeptic, with Darren J. N. Middleton, Baylor University
Loading
/

Darren Middleton is Professor of Literature and Theology at Baylor University, where he is also director of Baylor’s Interdisciplinary Core. This year, he also assumed the editorship of the academic journal Christianity and Literature, a leading journal in the field of literature and religion. A prolific scholar with books on subjects ranging from the novelists Shusaku …

an image of a mountain range with a pink sky and a pink sky with the words faith and imagination

Ep. 107 Season 5 wrap-up: conversation with Faith and Imagination podcast producer Starly Pratt

Faith & Imagination podcast cover art
Faith and Imagination: A BYU Humanities Center Podcast
Ep. 107 Season 5 wrap-up: conversation with Faith and Imagination podcast producer Starly Pratt
Loading
/

As is our custom, the podcast’s producer and I spend a few minutes reflecting on this season’s great guests and discussing a few moments from this season’s conversations that stood out to us.