Believe To See

A thin place is a location where the veil between this world and the spiritual world is thin. In these places, kairos time — the experience of eternity breaking into time, a sort of time that feels timeless — comes into contact with a particular place that creates a unique experience for a person. Evangeline, Mandy, and Christina sit down at the digital pub table to talk about thin places: what are they, how do we experience them, and should seek out the experiences of thin places?

Matt Mellema welcomes a quartet of new and old guests  — Brian Brown, Matthew Clark, Amber Salladin, and Ashlee Cowles — to the pub table for the annual Believe to See fantasy pub table draft. From a line-up of 20 literary characters curated by Matt Mellema (think Dolores Umbridge, Merlin, and Winnie the Pooh) the four guests compete before a live audience to draft the perfect pub table for a night of stimulating and imaginative conversation. The competition is fierce as the contestants vie for their favorite literary characters while trying to avoid their least favorite.

We often assume that stories are told for good - and when told for the right reasons, they are. But the power of stories has another side, and that's its potential for misuse and potential for danger. This is especially the case when a story is being presented as "the untold true story." Matt, Mandy, and their guest Sarah examine the ways stories can be used for good, and the ways stories can be twisted for bad, through the lens of the popular true crime podcast Serial. 

Christina, Matt, and Evangeline discuss what makes a good female protagonist. They dissect some examples from popular stories in an attempt to determine which characteristics we should look for in stories that prominently feature a female lead. They also discuss what is necessary for creating a good female protagonists in our own stories.

Sometimes you try to convince people to love what you love. And sometimes, other people try to convince you to love what they love. What keeps us from liking some art forms? How can we learn to cultivate an appreciation for the art forms that are not our first loves? Mandy, Matt, and Evangeline talk about their appreciation (or lack of appreciation) for Anime, rpgs, rom-coms, science fiction, monster movies, gothic literature, and abstract art. 

Christina Brown takes a seat at the head of the Anselm society digital pub table to take Matt and Mandy on a journey into the backyard. The cohosts explore how the act of gardening can bring us further up and further in to the great reality that is the Christian narrative. They discuss how the many garden-related and cultivating-related themes and metaphors in the Bible may begin to make more sense through the practical experience of getting our hands dirty and paying attention to the things that grow in the ground.

Matt sits down with Peter Atkinson and Kiley Hatch of the Merry Beggars to talk about the making of their 21-part radio drama On the Night Train. Writer Kiley talks about the intricacies of structuring a large and complex story. Producer Peter shares some of the behind-the-scenes work that goes into planning and creating a radio drama and the ways writing a good story is the same no matter the medium. Learn more about On the Night Train at https://www.onthenighttrain.com/ Learn more about The Merry Beggars at https://themerrybeggars.com/ 

Cohost of Believe to See Christina Brown sits down with fellow Anselm Arts Guild member Elyce Westby to talk about the importance of cultivating a narrative of beauty in your home. They discuss the "hidden art of the everyday," how beauty can direct our souls towards God, and how our homes can be outposts of grace and beauty.

What’s in a face? What’s in a painting of a face that isn’t in a photograph? Nicole Beck, a portraiture artist based in Colorado Springs, sits down with Matt and Christina to talk about why she is drawn to painting faces, how she learned to paint, and the special significance that can be found in an image of a person’s face.  You can find more of Nicole’s work at nicolebeckstudio.com. Nicole Beck is the featured visual artist for the Anselm Society’s 2022 Imagination Redeemed Conference at Glen Eyrie in Colorado Springs, September 29th-October 1st. You can learn more about the imagination Redeemed Conference at imaginationredeemed.com, and you can purchase tickets for the conference here through September 21st.

At the Anselm Society's July Pub Night, Christina presents her retelling of George MacDonald's story The Golden Key. Afterwards, Christina and Matt discuss the story before a live audience.

Matt and Believe to See's producer, Jesse Childress, sit down with Sam Jolman to talk about how our relationships, life experiences, and trauma can shape our imaginations. Sam shares why he is a narrative trauma therapist and why he believes stories are containers of meaning.   Find Sam's ebook here: http://www.samjolman.com/blog/

Matt sits down at the digital pub table with guest Aaron Damiani, an Anglican pastor in Chicago, to talk about how things like deconstruction and liturgies fit into God's story and how they might even be able to help us understand God's story and our own stories a little better. Aaron shares some of his own story, which he shares in his most recent book, Earth Filled With Heaven.     Earth Filled with Heaven, by Aaron Damiani: https://www.moodypublishers.com/earth-filled-with-heaven/

Is anyone too old to create art? What about too young? Or maybe just too untalented? Matt, Mandy, and Evangeline sit down to discuss who, if anyone, shouldn't be creating art. They also recall their own artistic endeavors as youngsters and bring up artistic mediums they want to try.

Mandy and Evangeline sit down at Anselm's digital pub table to talk with Mandy's long-time friend Nancy about her experience as a drama teacher. Nancy waxes eloquent about the value of performing Shakespeare, her aversion to changing dialogue without the playwright's permission, and shares her experience teaching Shakespeare to inmates in a state prison.

For longer than he'd care to admit, Matt has been designing an official coat of arms for the Anselm Society Arts Guild. After explaining the heraldic creatures he chose, he discusses the history and purpose of heraldry with Mandy and Christina. The three of them explore the ways that heraldry can describe what the Arts Guild is, where it came from, and what it aspires to be.

For centuries, Shakespeare has been widely accepted as the greatest writer in our language's history. For much of that time, maverick thinkers have argued that William Shakespeare didn't actually write his plays. One of those maverick thinkers is Mandy’s daughter, Bethany. She joins the table for a no-holds-barred debate with Matt about the authorship of Shakespeare. After the dust settles, the hosts explore the reasons why so many people feel compelled to doubt Shakespeare.

What is time, and how does time work in the context of story? As part of Anselm’s “Why We Create” series, our own Jane Scharl wrote an amazing essay on the nature of time. At the pub table, Matthew and Mandy use that article as a launchpad for discussing the use of time in fiction.

Sometimes, a beloved book or movie from childhood means just as much to you as an adult. Other times, going back to childhood stories makes you cringe. Why are some children's stories timeless, while others are time-bound? And can knowing the difference inform the stories we share with the kids in our lives? To answer these questions, Matthew goes to a trusted authority on children's stories: his wife, Danielle.

At the Anselm Society's May Pub Night, author Leslie Bustard presents her retelling of JRR Tolkien's story Smith of Wooton Major. Later, Leslie and Matt discuss the story's theme of enchantment.

Matthew Clark is both a singer/songwriter, and an Anselm Society Advisor. He joins the table to talk about his brand-new project: Only the Lover Sings. It's both an album and a book of essays, all centered around the woman at the well. Matthew shares how this story inspired the project, and why it has captured his imagination.