Things Not Seen Podcast

Our guest, Michael Wear, has lived at the intersection of faith and politics at the highest corridors of power. In his recent book, The Spirit of Our Politics, Wear offers a distinctly Christian approach to politics that results in healing rather than division, kindness rather than hatred, and hope rather than despair. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guest Mark Elsdon talks about the coming wave of church property transitions, and what it will mean for communities and faith at large in the United States. We talk about his recent edited volume, Gone for Good? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In his recent book, Reorganized Religion, our guest, veteran religion reporter Bob Smietana, offers an in-depth and critical look at why people are leaving American churches and what we lose as a society as it continues. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When celebrated American novelist and short story writer Flannery O'Connor died at the age of thirty-nine in 1964, she left behind an unfinished third novel titled Why Do the Heathen Rage? For the past ten-plus years, award-winning author Jessica Hooten Wilson has explored the 378 pages of typed and handwritten material of the novel, compiling everything to provide a glimpse into what O'Connor might have planned to publish. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In her recent book Race & Rhyme, our guest Love Lazarus Sechrest invites listeners to explore biblical narratives in ways that enliven and ethically inform our present conditions. She discusses her method of associative hermeneutics in this far-ranging conversation about race, theology, and repairing the broken world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guest Jessica Coblentz calls readers and scholars alike to re-imagine our theological accounts of depression and recovery in her recent book, Dust in the Blood: A Theology of Life with Depression Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bestselling author and beloved retreat leader Joyce Rupp speaks to us about her recent book, Jesus, Friend of My Soul: Reflections for the Lenten Journey Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guest Dawn Eden Goldstein discusses her recent book, Father Ed: The Story of Bill W.'s Spiritual Sponsor, which tells the story of Father Ed Dowling, SJ, the Jesuit priest who helped to spread the word about Alcoholics Anonymous. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guest, Rachel Mann, calls Jane Austen "the supreme novelist of attention." In her recent book, A Truth Universally Acknowledged, Mann invites us to journey through the 40 days of Lent with the works of Austen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guest, Corey Nathan, talks about his upbringing and religious journey from Judaism to Christianity. Along the way, he talks about his vision for ways for citizens to be able to talk across their differences and divisions, which he practices in his podcast, Talkin' Religion and Politics without Killin' Each Other Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In his 2022 book, The Magi, our guest Eric Vanden Eykel examines the birth of the Magi story; its enrichments, embellishments, and expansions in apocryphal writing and early Christian preaching; its artistic expressions in catacombs, icons, and paintings and its modern legacy in novels, poetry, and music. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guest Barbara Mahany returns to the show to talk about her wonderful recent book, The Book of Nature Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guest, Rev. Ronald J. Greer, invites us into the realms of grief and mourning as he discusses his powerful recent book, The Quiet House: Reflections on the Loss of a Spouse Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In her recent book, The Love of Thousands, our guest Christine Valters Paintner invites us to consider that angels, saints, and even our departed ancestors support and inspire us throughout our lives, and invite us toward holiness Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Professor Timothy Beal returns to Things Not Seen to talk about his recent book, When Time Is Short, which deals with human-made climate catastrophe and the idea of 'palliative hope' Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rev. Maryann McKibben Dana returns to our show to talk about her recent book, Hope: A User's Manual. She reflects on the surprising place where hope is often found--in the messiness of our imperfect, flawed, beautiful human bodies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guest, Celeste Kennel-Shank, tells the intriguing story of the Community of Christ, a church community based in Washington, DC, and its five decades of ministry. We talk about her recent book, What You Sow is a Bare Seed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We speak with Eric Bowman, educator and founder of the Revolution Ethics Project, about his 2022 podcast series, The Virtue Field, which explores the life of anti-slavery activist Harriet Tubman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In his recent book, Cathonomics, our guest Anthony M. Annett draws on economics, Catholic social thought, philosophy, climate science, and psychology to show how readers of all faiths and backgrounds can work together to create a more just economy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We welcome back our guest, philosopher and educator David Dark, to talk about his recent book, We Become What We Normalize: What We Owe Each Other in Worlds that Demand Our Silence Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices