Where do books, movies, songs, etc. fit into how we face the hard realities of life? Should they be "positive and encouraging?" Should they relentlessly portray darkness just as it is?

In this episode, we invite you into a recent Anselm Society lecture by Dr. Wesley Vander Lugt from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

Meet Julian of Norwich! This medieval woman suffered more than most of us will in three lifetimes—and prayed for more. And the first part of her book, Revelations of Divine Love, unveils a deeply encouraging vision of God that’s worth meditating on.

What makes Julian's hope so powerful is precisely that it doesn't deny or minimize suffering. Rather, her hope encompasses both the reality of present pain and the promise of ultimate restoration. In that space—between the 'already' of God's love and the 'not yet' of complete healing—we learn to hold both our joy and our weeping together.

In this episode, the Imagination Redeemed podcast tackles the subject of this tricky mystic and goes on a search for hope.

Despair tempts most of us at times–and it’s easy to listen to. You don’t have a problem, you are the problem; everything bad that’s happened is the trajectory for the future. In the face of this voice in our heads, how can we remember the hope of our place in God’s story?

In this episode of the Imagination Redeemed podcast, the hosts (and guest Elizabeth Bam) discuss stories from the Faerie Queen and the Shawshank Redemption in an exploration of how to battle despair.

Seasons of winter tend to paralyze us. We think we can’t move on until something changes. How can we learn to live well in those seasons, and participate in God’s work? Drawing from O. Henry’s short story “The Last Leaf,” Brian, Sarah, Amy, and Christina tackle this question in the newest episode of the Imagination Redeemed podcast.

In this episode, Brian, Sarah, and Christina explore the profound impact of stories on our lives and faith. They discuss how narratives—through books, movies, music, and art—profoundly influence our worldviews, emotional health, and even brain development. Dive with us into the magic of storytelling, the healing power of positive narratives, and the importance of integrating personal stories into a larger divine narrative.

Support the show: https://www.anselmsociety.org/podcast25.

In our last episode, Chase Whitney talked about the role of tears in relation to joy, and how that is laid out in Scripture. But the night before Chase gave that talk, he was in the audience at an Anselm Society pub night listening to Michael Ward give the following one—and he joked with me afterward that Michael must have been reading his notes. A day later, after I'd heard the sermon, I understood why.

Michael's talk, in this episode, deals with much the same topic—but this time, using various writings of C.S. Lewis as literary illumination to help us understand joy and tears even more deeply.

In case you're unfamiliar with Michael, I'll tell you he is a literary scholar and theologian, renowned for his work on C.S. Lewis. Ward is best known for his book Planet Narnia, where he argues that C.S. Lewis structured The Chronicles of Narnia to reflect the imagery of the seven heavens. I highly commend that book to your attention if you think Narnia is only for children.

Support the podcast! https://anselmsociety.org/podcast25

We're still on hiatus as we work to plan a re-launch in a few months, and we look forward to telling you more about that soon. But in the meantime, we have two bonus episodes to share with you. These are two talks that happened within 24 hours of each other at Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Colorado Springs—and in fact, the teacher for this one was sitting in the audience for the other one, which we'll share next week.

Both talks deal with the relationship of tears and grief to joy and our relationship with God. In this first talk, a Sunday sermon on September 15 2024, church planter Chase Whitney emphasizes the significance of tears as a uniquely human experience, and discusses how joy and tears can make room for each other as we seek God in our lives. It's a beautiful exploration of how grief can bring us closer to Him.

Support the podcast: https://www.anselmsociety.org/podcast25

Months of planning and prep are almost finished, and in January, with your help, the first episodes of the NEW Imagination Redeemed podcast will drop. 

It will be a feast: retellings of the great stories, and warm conversations on how to enter into the life of the Christian imagination.

But to do it right, we need two things from you!

Listen for more details on the new (and old) hosts, the updates to the format, and how you can help.

Brian joins Michael Minkoff of Renew the Arts for a conversation about how imagination and art empower us to live like people of heaven. They also talk about Taylor Swift. Yes, you read that correctly.

Learn more about Renew the Arts at https://renewthearts.org/.

Listen to Brian Brown's talk from the 2024 Square Halo "Return to Narnia" conference.

Maybe you've absorbed the fake C.S. Lewis quote that you ARE a soul and you HAVE a body. Or maybe you grew up in an environment that only valued time if it was spent getting people into the elevator going up.

If so, you probably struggle to live in the world as you ought, because you have no theological or mental category for most things between idolatry and indifference. So you can’t find a place for many of the things you love most in the kingdom of God.

We have to fix our relationship with material reality. In the Chronicles, Lewis gives us a fictional world that very clearly has meaning and magic woven into every layer of it. The reason that appeals to us is that it is a reflection of our world as we’re supposed to see it, even if we’ve forgotten.

In this talk, Brian offers a threefold way of relating to material reality--and our vocations in it--that explains why you love the things you do, and what to do with them.