S14 E15: Contours of Enchantment with Cheryl Bridges Johns

For many people, and perhaps even for some of our listeners, the Bible elicits a very different response from one person to another. For some, it is a source of comfort and spiritual nourishment, even a great source of creative inspiration, while for others, it brings up difficult questions or even negative emotions and uncomfortable associations.

But as we’ve talked this season about disenchantment and reclaiming wonder, I’m curious if taking a second look at this collection of stories, songs, and spiritual directives may be yet another unexpected doorway into wonder.

My guest today is author and scholar Cheryl Bridges Johns. Cheryl is the author of four books including Re-enchanting The Text: Rediscovering the Bible As Sacred, Dangerous and Mysterious.

In our conversation, we discuss the impact of looking at scripture solely from a didactic viewpoint and what may occur in the reader who instead approaches the Bible as a mystical text with the uncanny ability to change and transform, even re-enchant its reader with a renewed spiritual vitality and understanding of God and the human condition. Cheryl and I also discuss the importance of nature as God’s second book and the role of imagination in creating the world around us.

Patrons of the podcast can enjoy an additional interview segment with Cheryl offering several practices to unlock a renewed vision on your creative and spiritual life.

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S12 E12: Remixing The Grand Narrative with Tara Isabella Burton

At one time, religious identity and the Christian narrative formed the social imaginary of our western world. To be a part of a local church or to identify with some aspect of the values of traditional faith was an assumed part of American life. But today, autonomy, self-fulfillment and individual expression seem to have taken the forefront of how a generation defines themselves and lives out the search for meaning and deeper purpose.

My guest today is novelist and prolific writer, Tara Isabella Burton. Tara Isabella Burton is the author of the novels Social Creature, The World Cannot Give, and the forthcoming Here in Avalon (S&S, January 2024), and the nonfiction Strange Rites: New Religions for a Godless World and Self-Made: Creating Our Identities from Da Vinci to the Kardashians.

She has written on religion and culture for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and more. She received her doctorate in Theology from Oxford in 2017, and is currently a Visiting Fellow at George Mason University's Mercatus Center.

In our conversation, Tara shares about how modern society has not so much abandoned it’s yearning for transcendence in favor of a secular world view but has rather simply re-mixed the grand narrative to fit the values of expressive individualism. Tara also shares about fiction as a catalyst of embodying truth and how fandom, religious affiliation and art play into the shaping of identity.

You can pre-order Tara’s upcoming novel here.

You can join the Makers & Mystics creative collective here

You can get tickets to The Breath & the Clay creative arts gathering here! March 22-24, 2024 in Winston Salem, NC.

S12 E07: Landscape of The Body with David Taylor

Today on the podcast, we are continuing our discussion of art and identity by taking a look at the vital role of our relationship to our bodies.

Why is it important that we honor and understand our bodies? Why is having a right relationship to our bodies imperative to the quest of art and knowing our true selves?

Joining us for this discussion is Professor of Theology and Culture at Fuller Theological Seminary, David O. Taylor.

David Taylor has long been a voice and an advocate for the arts within academia and faith contexts.

In 2016, he produced a short film on the Psalms with Bono and Eugene Peterson. His previous books include: Open and Unafraid: The Psalms As A Guide to Life, and Glimpses of The New Creation: Worship and The Formative Power of The Arts.

In this episode David discusses his latest book, A Body of Praise: The Role of Our Physical Bodies in Worship.

Art & Identity, authors, Author, choreography, dance, theologian, theologyStephen RoachSeptember 13, 2023David Taylor, Theology, The Body

S12 E05: Finding Your Place with Esau McCaulley

When we think of identity, we often point to our distinguishing characteristics and individual preferences. But what about our sense of place? How does place impact the people we become and the art we make?

In today’s episode, award-winning author and professor Esau McCaulley talks with me about the impact of place on his life and how growing up in a poverty-stricken Alabama town informs the writing of his upcoming memoir, How Far To The Promised Land.

Patrons of the podcast can enjoy an additional interview segment with Professor McCaulley on finding your voice as an artist.

REPLAY: Jeremy Begbie on Transcendence In The Arts

Jeremy Begbie is a Scottish theologian, author and musician. We interviewed Jeremy in Season 5 of the podcast on his book Redeeming Transcendence In The Arts.. In this bonus REPLAY episode, we are revisiting a segment from this conversation which ties in perfectly to the theme of Season 11.

More About Jeremy:

Jeremy Begbie teaches systematic theology and specializes in the interface between theology and the arts. His particular research interests are in the interplay between music and theology.

Previously associate principal of Ridley Hall, Cambridge, he has also been honorary professor at the University of St Andrews, where he directed the research project, Theology Through the Arts at the Institute for Theology, Imagination and the Arts. He is a senior member of Wolfson College and an affiliated lecturer in the faculty of music at the University of Cambridge.

He studied philosophy and music at Edinburgh University, and theology at Aberdeen and Cambridge. A professionally trained musician, he has performed extensively as a pianist, oboist and conductor. He is an ordained minister of the Church of England, having served for a number of years as assistant pastor of a church in West London.

He is author of a number of books, including A Peculiar Orthodoxy: Reflections on Theology and the Arts (Baker); Redeeming Transcendence: Bearing Witness to the Triune God (Eerdmans), and Theology, Music and Time (CUP). Resounding Truth: Christian Wisdom in the World of Music (Baker/SPCK) won the Christianity Today 2008 Book Award in the Theology/Ethics Category. Most recently, he has published Theology, Music, and Modernity (OUP). He has taught widely in the UK and North America, and delivered multimedia performance-lectures across the world, from Israel to Australia and Hong Kong.

For more information or to contact Jeremy Begbie, visit jeremybegbie.com.