Grace welcomes Sophfronia Scott, author of The Seeker and the Monk, and director of the MFA creative writing program at Alma College. Sophfronia and Grace discuss learning to have meaningful dialogue with books as you read, even when they were written by long-dead writers, and Sophfronia shares her wisdom on reading Thomas Merton and on the practice of reading contemplatively.

This week, Grace welcomes Jessica Hooten Wilson to Old Books With Grace, to chat about her new book, The Scandal of Holiness: Renewing Your Imagination in the Company of Literary Saints, and the power of literature to reveal the subtleties of the good life. Sometimes holiness can be alarming, bizarre, and fascinating... and novels and their novelists, like Flannery O'Connor, C.S. Lewis, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky, can help us to conceptualize the holy life in all its difficulty and otherworldliness.

Grace welcomes Kayla Craig, author of To Light Their Way, a collection of prayers and liturgies for parents, and the creator of the wonderfully helpful @liturgiesforparents instagram account. We talk prayer books, the definition of liturgy, how written prayers help us find words, and the wonderful, ecumenical prayer sources and books that Kayla has enjoyed and recommends. 

Grace welcomes Dr. Karen Swallow Prior, professor and author of On Reading Well: Finding the Good Life through Great Books. We talk about some of my favorite questions: How can virtue be learned and practiced through stories? How do narratives of the past change us? Why is fiction important in learning to live and love well? 

A bit on the history and meanings behind the Christmas song, "O Come All Ye Faithful." How might we follow the invitation in the chorus, "O come let us adore him"? Dr. Grace Hamman thinks through that with the aid of medieval monk and theologian Bernard of Clairvaux.

Grace meditates on the robustly theological hymn by Charles Wesley, music by Felix Mendelssohn, "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing." What do we make of the gift of weakness in God laying his glory by? What do we make of the gift of our own weakness?

In this episode, we encounter the Coventry Carol, which is the opposite of a holly, jolly Christmas song. It comes from medieval mystery plays, and is a lullaby sung by the mothers of the baby boys about to be killed by King Herod as the Holy Family flees to Egypt. Historically, Advent was not just a time of waiting and reflection—it was also a fasting time for repentance and mourning before the merrymaking feast of Christmas. Listen to learn more and meditate on the Coventry Carol.

Learn about the ancient history of the song, "O Come O Come Emmanuel" and meditate on its beauty and meaning just in time for Advent with Dr. Grace Hamman.

Victoria Emily Jones of Art & Theology discusses some wonderful art depicting the Annunciation, from poetry to visual art, from medieval to modern day, with Grace. Victoria and Grace unpack the multilayered meaning of these beautiful works in their exploration of Mary's encounter with the Angel Gabriel, as we prepare our hearts for Advent and receiving God alongside Mary. You can see all the art from this episode on social media or on oldbookswithgrace.com, or on YouTube.