In Episode 5, Claude and Austin continue the discussion of “Gabriel’s Prayer” in James Baldwin’s Go Tell It on the Mountain. In this discussion they explore the concept and practice of forgiveness and how Gabriel's domineering and toxic character is influenced by forgiveness.

Whether you are reading along with us or simply want to know more about this important novel, join us as we journey through this novel. Be sure to check out our Lit Pulpit Facebook group where you can ask questions and share thoughts on the novel.

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In Episode 4, Claude and Austin discuss religious power, toxic faith, and the complications of conversion by looking at “Gabriel’s Prayer” in James Baldwin’s Go Tell in on the Mountain. 

Whether you are reading along with us or simply want to know more about this important novel, join us as we journey through this novel. Be sure to check out our Lit Pulpit Facebook group where you can ask questions and share thoughts on the novel:

The Lit Pulpit Facebook Group

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Cornelius "Neal" Plantinga Jr. joins Austin to discuss one of the most celebrated novels in American history, The Grapes of Wrath. The pair discuss the ability of John Steinbeck's novel to comment on systemic corruption and evil in the American dream during the Great Depression of the 1930's.

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

The Scandal of Reading is sponsored by Brazos Press.

Information on the Host: 

Jessica Hooten Wilson is a Senior Fellow at Trinity Forum, the inaugural Visiting Scholar of Liberal Arts at Pepperdine University, and the author of several books, including The Scandal of Holiness: Renewing Your Imagination in the Company of Literary Saints, Learning the Good Life: From the Great Hearts and Minds that Came Before, and Giving the Devil his Due: Flannery O’Connor and The Brothers Karamazov. 

Learn more about Dr. Jessica Hooten Wilson.

Information on Neal Plantinga:

Cornelius "Neal" Plantinga, Jr. is Senior Research Fellow at the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship and president emeritus of Calvin Theological Seminary. Neal was Dean of the Chapel from 1996 to 2001 at Calvin University and served as professor (1979-1996) and president (2001-2011) at Calvin Theological Seminary. He writes for the Worship Institute and participates in its major events as a speaker or as a host for other speakers.

Learn more about Neal Plantiga

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Alan Noble joins Jessica to discuss the 20th century Elliot's process of looking back into his tradition as the means of of writing poetry. The pair focus on The Four Quartets with an emphasis on the final of the four poems, Little Gidding while setting the stage of T.S. Elliot's life and situation during the writing of what is considered by many, including Elliot, to be his finest work.

"For us, there is only the trying. The rest is not our business." - T.S. Elliot

Collected Poems of T.S. Elliot, T.S. Elliot

You Are Not Your Own, Alan Noble

The Scandal of Reading is sponsored by Brazos Press.

Information on the Host: 

Jessica Hooten Wilson is a Senior Fellow at Trinity Forum, the inaugural Visiting Scholar of Liberal Arts at Pepperdine University, and the author of several books, including The Scandal of Holiness: Renewing Your Imagination in the Company of Literary Saints, Learning the Good Life: From the Great Hearts and Minds that Came Before, and Giving the Devil his Due: Flannery O’Connor and The Brothers Karamazov. 

Learn more about Dr. Jessica Hooten Wilson.

Information on Alan Noble:

O. Alan Noble, Ph.D., is editor in chief of Christ and Pop Culture and an assistant professor of English at Oklahoma Baptist University. He received his Ph.D. from Baylor in 2013. He and his family attend City Presbyterian in OKC. You may not follow him on Twitter.

Learn more about Alan Noble

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Associate Professor of Sociology Angel Adams Parham joins Claude to provide historical context to the life of poet Phillis Wheatley. The pair take a fresh look at Wheatley's most influential work, On Being Brought from Africa to America and discuss why a widely held perception of the poem's meaning may not be as accurate when put into the context of Wheatley's life and other works.

On Being Brought from Africa to America

A Hymn to the Evening

To the Earl of Dartmouth

---

The Collected Words of Phillis Wheatley

The Age of Phillis by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

Phillis Wheatley Peters: Biography of a Genius in Bondage by Vincent Carretta

The Scandal of Reading is sponsored by Brazos Press.

Information on the Host: 

Jessica Hooten Wilson is a Senior Fellow at Trinity Forum, the inaugural Visiting Scholar of Liberal Arts at Pepperdine University, and the author of several books, including The Scandal of Holiness: Renewing Your Imagination in the Company of Literary Saints, Learning the Good Life: From the Great Hearts and Minds that Came Before, and Giving the Devil his Due: Flannery O’Connor and The Brothers Karamazov. 

Learn more about Dr. Jessica Hooten Wilson.

Information on Angel Adams Parham:

Angel Adams Parham is Associate Professor of Sociology and senior fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture (IASC) at the University of Virginia. She works in the area of historical sociology, engaging in research and writing that examine the past in order to better understand how to live well in the present and envision wisely for the future.

Learn more about Angel Adams Parham

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In Episode 3, Claude and Austin discuss Part 2 “Florence’s Prayer” and the way that time functions in Baldwin’s novel, drawing out the intergenerational dynamics that move people towards or away from God’s grace.  

Whether you are reading along with us or simply want to know more about this important novel, join us as journey through this novel. Be sure to check out our Lit Pulpit Facebook group where you can ask questions and share thoughts on the novel:

The Lit Pulpit Facebook Group

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Mary W. McCampbell joins the show to talk about Graham Greene's novel, The Power and the Glory. Themes discussed by Jessica and Mary in the show revolve around the "Whiskey" priest's overt sinfulness as well as the gifting to be able to see the wretchedness of other human beings with the ability to love them.

Books Referenced:

The Power and the Glory , by Graham Greene

The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The Scandal of Reading is sponsored by Brazos Press.

Information on the Host: 

Jessica Hooten Wilson is a Senior Fellow at Trinity Forum, the inaugural Visiting Scholar of Liberal Arts at Pepperdine University, and the author of several books, including The Scandal of Holiness: Renewing Your Imagination in the Company of Literary Saints, Learning the Good Life: From the Great Hearts and Minds that Came Before, and Giving the Devil his Due: Flannery O’Connor and The Brothers Karamazov. 

Learn more about Dr. Jessica Hooten Wilson.

Information on Mary McCampbell:

Mary McCampbell is associate professor of humanities at Lee University and author of the forthcoming book Imagining Our Neighbors as Ourselves: How Art Shapes Empathy. Her writing has been featured in Image Journal, Christ and Pop Culture, The Curator, The Other Journal, Relevant, and Christianity Today. She was the summer 2014 writer-in-residence at the English branch of L’Abri Fellowship and a spring 2018 scholar-in-residence at Regent College, Vancouver.

Learn more about Mary McCampbell

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Writer, Author, and ThD student Kaitlyn Schiess joins Jessica to talk about their love for Dorothy L. Sayers' Zeal of Thy House and her works on human flourishing. Topics the duo discuss within Sayers works include how we relate to our vocations with the labels of "Christian" applied to a brand, the dignity of vocation that is not expressly "ministry", and the value of those who do work in the world that, through their conduct, gives glory to God.

Books Referenced:

Letters to a Diminished Church , by Dorthy Sayers

The Women Are Up To Something, by J.B. Lipscomb

Why Work?, by Dorothy Sayers

The Zeal of thy House, by Dorothy Sayers

The Scandal of Reading is sponsored by Brazos Press.

Information on the Host: 

Jessica Hooten Wilson is a Senior Fellow at Trinity Forum, the inaugural Visiting Scholar of Liberal Arts at Pepperdine University, and the author of several books, including The Scandal of Holiness: Renewing Your Imagination in the Company of Literary Saints, Learning the Good Life: From the Great Hearts and Minds that Came Before, and Giving the Devil his Due: Flannery O’Connor and The Brothers Karamazov. 

Learn more about Dr. Jessica Hooten Wilson.

Information on Kaitlyn Schiess:

Kaitlyn is a writer, author, and a ThD student at Duke Divinity School studying political theology, ethics, and biblical interpretation. She graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary in 2021 with a ThM in systematic theology. She the author of The Liturgy of Politics: Spiritual Formation for the Sake of Our Neighbor, released with InterVarsity Press in September 2020. Her forthcoming book, The Ballot and the Bible: How Scripture Has Been Used and Abused in American Politics and Where We Go from Here, will be released with Brazos Press in August 2023. You can also listen to Kaitlyn as a regular guest on The Holy Post podcast.

Learn more about Kaitlyn Schiess

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Claude and Austin discuss their impressions of the Baldwin’s cast of characters and the critical importance of setting–the world, the church, and streets–in the opening sections of the novel. Is Baldwin’s depiction of a toxic Christianity a fatal critique of the faith or a critical gesture toward true religion? How does place and setting factor into the novel’s message?

Whether you are reading along with us or simply want to know more about this important novel, join us as journey through this novel. Be sure to check out our Lit Pulpit Facebook group where you can ask questions and share thoughts on the novel:

Lit Pulpit Facebook Group

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On this special episode, co-host Claude Atcho turns the tables and interviews Jessica Hooten Wilson regarding her forthcoming book, Reading for the Love of God. Jessica recounts her love and unique way of consuming literature in her formative years while she was attending college for theology and literature and how the two disciplines influenced how she consumed both. In this book Jessica relates her experience and she argues that the simple act of reading can help us learn to pray well, love our neighbor, be contemplative, practice humility, and disentangle ourselves from contemporary idols.

Pre-Order Your Copy of Reading for the Love of God

The Scandal of Reading is sponsored by Brazos Press.

Information on the Host: Jessica Hooten Wilson is a Senior Fellow at Trinity Forum, the inaugural Visiting Scholar of Liberal Arts at Pepperdine University, and the author of several books, including The Scandal of Holiness: Renewing Your Imagination in the Company of Literary Saints, Learning the Good Life: From the Great Hearts and Minds that Came Before, and Giving the Devil his Due: Flannery O’Connor and The Brothers Karamazov. 

Learn more about Dr. Jessica Hooten Wilson.

Information on Claude Atcho: Claude serves as the pastor of Church of the Resurrection in Charlottesville, Virginia. He has previously served as a church planter and an adjunct English professor in Boston, Massachusetts, and as a pastor in Memphis, Tennessee. He is the author of Reading Black Books: How African American Literature Can Make Our Faith More Whole and Just.

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