Lanier Ivester sees hospitality as a primary way she expresses her creativity. All of her creative endeavors are shaped by the belief that the most quotidian things are charged with eternal meaning, if only we have eyes to see. Her new book, illustrated by Jennifer Trafton, is Glad and Golden Hours: A Companion for Advent and Christmastide . In this episode, Lanier and Jonathan Rogers talk about the difference between hospitality and entertaining; we discuss ways to make the holidays a season of...
Nov 11, 2024•41 min
This week's guest is Kathleen Norris. Her best known books include Acedia and Me, The Cloister Walk, Dakota: A Spiritual Geography, and Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith . A Benedictine oblate, she practices the Benedictines’ commitment to good order and deep hospitality her writing. Kathleen Norris’s new book she co-authored with Gareth Higgins. It’s called A Whole Life in Twelve Movies: a Cinematic Journey to a Deeper Spirituality . Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/mem...
Nov 04, 2024•40 min•Season 6Ep. 46
You may know Randall Goodgame as a purveyor of children’s music . His new project is for people of all ages. In the Scripture Hymnal , Randall has written and arranged music for 106 word-for-word Bible passages, for congregational singing. In addition to the hymnal, Randall and friends have recorded all 106 hymns with full instrumentation and rich production, to be released as ten albums over the next year. The first of those albums is available now on all your favorite platforms. In this episod...
Oct 28, 2024•37 min•Season 6Ep. 45
Russ Ramsey is a gifted storyteller and a trusted guide in the world of art. His new book is Van Gogh Has a Broken Heart: What Art Teaches Us About The Wonder and Struggle of Being Alive . In this episode, Russ and Jonathan Rogers talk about sunflowers, the sublime, and the connection between suffering and wonder. Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/member See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Oct 21, 2024•49 min•Season 6Ep. 44
Stephanie Duncan Smith is a senior editor for HarperOne. She has spent her career developing award-winning and bestselling authors. She is the creator of Slant Letter , a Substack email newsletter for writers who want to deepen their craft and do it in style. She is also the author of Even After Everything: The Spiritual Practice of Knowing the Risks and Loving Anyway . In this episode, Stephanie Duncan Smith and Jonathan Rogers talk about creative risk as a way of "going first" for the reader—a...
Oct 14, 2024•43 min•Season 6Ep. 43
Steven James has written and published about twenty books in the last couple of decades. Most of his novels and been thrillers. But with his new novel, Rift , he’s doing something completely new: young adult Appalachian folktale horror. Steven has lived in the southern Appalachians since the 1990s. The part of East Tennessee where Rift is set was hit really hard by Hurricane Helene a couple of weeks ago. Steven’s publisher, Rebecca Reynolds of Sky Turtle Books, also lives in the region. She is p...
Oct 07, 2024•37 min•Season 4Ep. 42
Carolyn Leiloglou is the author of the middle grade fantasy series The Restorationists. Book Two of that series, Between Flowers and Bones , has been recently released. In this episode, Carolyn and I talk about writing about family, balancing motherhood with creative pursuits, and the ways that interacting with visual art enriches writing. Here's a video of Carolyn in San Antonio's McNay Art Museum , referenced in the episode. Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/member See omn...
Sep 30, 2024•36 min•Season 6Ep. 41
John Hendrix is a New York Times bestselling author and illustrator of many books. His award-winning illustrations have also appeared on book jackets, newspapers, and magazines all over the world. The Society of Illustrators named John the Distinguished Educator in the Arts for 2024. He is the Kenneth E. Hudson Professor of Art and the founding Chair of the MFA in Illustration and Visual Culture program at Washington University in St. Louis. John’s new graphic novel is T he Mythmakers: The Remar...
Sep 23, 2024•39 min•Season 6Ep. 40
Daniel Silliman is senior news editor for Christianity Today. He earned a doctorate in American studies from Heidelberg University in Germany and has taught US history and humanities at Heidelberg, the University of Notre Dame, Valparaiso University, and Milligan University. His new book is One Lost Soul: Richard Nixon’s Search for Salvation . From the jacket copy: "Impious and amoral, petty and vindictive, Richard Nixon is not the typical protagonist of a religious biography. But spiritual dram...
Sep 16, 2024•47 min•Season 6Ep. 39
In this back-to-school episode Jonathan Rogers speaks with Rachel Griffis and Rachel De Smith Roberts about their book, Deep Reading: Practices to Subvert the Vices of Our Distracted, Hostile, and Consumeristic Age . Dr. Griffis is a professor of English at Spring Arbor University in Michigan, and Dr. Roberts is an associate professor of English at North Greenville University in South Carolina. In this episode, they talk about “Deep Reading” as a corrective to the vices of Distraction, Hostility...
Sep 09, 2024•45 min•Season 6Ep. 36
Jared C. Wilson is an author of over twenty books and a popular speaker at churches and conferences around the world. He serves as Pastor for Preaching and the Director of the Pastoral Training Center at Liberty Baptist Church in Liberty, Missouri. He is also an Assistant Professor of Pastoral Ministry and Author in Residence at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri. His new book is The Storied Life: Christian Writing as Art and Worship . In this episode, Jared and Jon...
Sep 02, 2024•45 min•Season 6Ep. 37
As of last week, all three books of Jonathan Rogers's Wilderking Trilogy, 20th Anniversary Deluxe Hardback edition, have been released into the wild. The Bark of the Bog Owl released in June. And now The Secret of the Swamp King and The Way of the Wilderking are available wherever you buy books. These new editions have gorgeous new covers by Stephen Crotts and exceedingly swampy new interior illustrations by Joe Hox. Joe Hox is Jonathan's guest on this episode of The Habit Podcast. Get the books...
Aug 26, 2024•49 min•Season 6Ep. 36
Besides being an award-winning teacher and professor of theology & ethics at Lipscomb University, Lee Camp hosts No Small Endeavor, a podcast that asks What does it mean to live a good life? What is true happiness? What are the habits, practices, and dispositions that facilitate human flourishing? Lee Camp explores these and similar questions with some of the most influential authors, scientists, artists, psychologists, philosophers, and theologians. In this episode, Dr. Camp and Jonathan Ro...
Aug 19, 2024•45 min•Season 6Ep. 35
Lanta Davis is a professor of humanities and literature in the John Wesley Honors College at Indiana Wesleyan University. Her new book is Becoming by Beholding: The Power of the Imagination in Spiritual Formation . In this episode, Dr. Davis and Jonathan Rogers talk about the perhaps counterintuitive truth that neglecting to engage our imagination makes us more susceptible to imaginative influences that we don’t choose. They also talk about the difference between an idol and an icon, and they ta...
Aug 12, 2024•46 min•Season 6Ep. 34
Joel Miller has been an editor, a publisher, and an author. He is currently working on a book on the history of the book. He also writes an excellent twice-a-week Substack newsletter called Miller’s Book Review . In this episode, Joel and Jonathan Rogers discuss Joel's journey toward publication—and how Joel gets so much reading and writing done while holding down a full-time job an raising a family. Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/member See omnystudio.com/listener for pr...
Aug 05, 2024•46 min•Season 6Ep. 33
Dr. Shirley Mullen is President Emerita of Houghton College in New York State and the author of Claiming the Courageous Middle: Daring to Live and Work Together for a More Hopeful Future . In this episode, Dr. Mullen and Jonathan Rogers discuss the idea that, in an era of such dangerous polarization, the “courageous middle” is not a place of bland averaging, moral cowardice, indecisiveness, or indifference, but a place where thoughtful people work with urgency to foster attentive listening–liste...
Jul 29, 2024•49 min•Season 1Ep. 32
Dr. Junius Johnson is an independent scholar and teacher and a public intellectual who devotes his time to thinking and writing about whatever is noble and excellent, and how to bring those things to bear to nurture meaningful lives. You can find out more about his classes at JuniusJohnson.com . In this episode, Junius and Jonathan Rogers talk about receiving wonder and adding to the stock of the world’s wonders. And Junius asks, Who invented dragons? Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givi...
Jul 22, 2024•43 min•Season 6Ep. 31
Karen Stiller writes about the intersections between faith and the world, social issues, matters of justice and doing better. Her most recent book is Holiness Here: Searching for God in the Ordinary Events of Everyday Life . In this episode, Karen and Jonathan Rogers talk about holiness as a matter of loving people well as opposed to telling them how they have fallen short–and what that holiness has to do with the writing life. They also talk about writing in the midst of grief. Read Karen's ess...
Jul 15, 2024•43 min•Season 6Ep. 30
In this interview, recorded in front of a live audience at The Habit Summer Writers Weekend in June 2024, Doug McKelvey discusses the ups and downs of a muti-faceted writing career. Doug is the author of the Every Moment Holy books . Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/member See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Jul 08, 2024•56 min•Season 6Ep. 29
Elizabeth Oldfield hosts The Sacred , a podcast about our deepest values, the stories that shape us, and how we can build empathy and understanding between people who are very different. She has a regular column for UnHerd and has appeared on BBC One, Radio 5Live, Radio 4, and The World Service. Her work has appeared in The Financial Times, Prospect, The Times , CNN, The Guardian , and beyond. She is also a contributing editor at Comment magazine, a guest lecturer at the University of Birmingham...
Jul 01, 2024•42 min•Season 6Ep. 28
The 20th-Anniversary Deluxe Hardback Edition of The Bark of the Bog Owl is now available. It has a new cover by Stephen Crotts, new interior illustrations by Joe Hox, and bonus material (poems, songs, riddles) by Jonathan Rogers. To celebrate the Bog Owl's twentieth birthday, Jonathan reads an excerpt in this bonus episode. You can get your own copy of The Bark of the Bog Owl at the Rabbit Room store or wherever you buy books. The audiobook, narrated by the author, is available at Audible.com . ...
Jun 25, 2024•40 min•Season 6Ep. 27
In this episode of The Habit Podcast, Read Aloud Revival's Sarah MacKenzie sits in the host's chair to interview Jonathan Rogers about The Bark of the Bog Owl , 20th Anniversary Edition, which releases this week. Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/member See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Jun 24, 2024•40 min•Season 6Ep. 26
Wesley Vander Lugt is a pastor, theologian, writer, teacher, nonprofit leader, and arts advocate with a passion for beauty, slowness, cultivation, and kinship. He currently works as the Acting Director of the Leighton Ford Center for Theology, the Arts, and Gospel Witness and is Adjunct Professor of Theology at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Charlotte. He is also the Co-Founder of Kinship Plot, a community of learning and practice imagining and embodying resonant relationships of every k...
Jun 17, 2024•38 min•Season 6Ep. 25
Julie Lane-Gay is a horticulturalist and a writer. Her work has appeared in a range of publications including Reader's Digest, Fine Gardening, Faith Today, Anglican Planet, and The Englewood Review of Books . She sometimes teaches courses at Regent College in Vancouver and edits the college's journal, CRUX . She also writes obituaries. Her new book is The Riches of Your Grace: Living in the Book of Common Prayer . In this episode, Julie and Jonathan Rogers talk about finding our identity in stor...
Jun 10, 2024•40 min•Season 6Ep. 26
Weakness doesn’t feel like a gift. But author, podcaster, and songwriter Eric Schumacher believes that it is. His new book is The Good Gift of Weakness: God’s Strength Made Perfect in the Story of Redemption . In this episode, Eric and Jonathan Rogers talk about the gifts that follow when we come to terms with our weakness, what it means to be in a posture to receive rather than to strive, and the relief that comes from letting go of the need to control. Support the show: https://therabbitroom.g...
Jun 03, 2024•37 min•Season 6Ep. 23
Poet Rebecca Gomez is the author and also the illustrator of Mari in the Margins , a middle-grade novel in verse. Her editor, also a poet, is Rachel Donahue of Bandersnatch Books. For the first time on The Habit Podcast, in this episode Jonathan Rogers is in conversation with both the author and her editor. Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/member See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
May 27, 2024•46 min•Season 6Ep. 22
Lore Ferguson Wilbert writes about spiritual formation, faith, culture, and theology in life. She is the proprietor of an excellent Substack called Sayable . She has also been known to teach writing and do editorial work. Her new book is The Understory: An Invitation to Rootedness and Resilience from the Forest Floor . In this episode, Lore and Jonathan Rogers talk about what it means to really believe that death can’t help but give rise to life. We also talk about mycorrhizal fungi. Support the...
May 20, 2024•45 min•Season 6Ep. 21
As host of the Read-Aloud Revival Podcast and the Read-Aloud Revival Online Community, Sarah MacKenzie has brought untold joy to bookish families. Besides connecting families with other people’s books, Sarah has started writing and publishing her own picture books. Her latest is Because Barbara: Barbara Cooney Paints Her World . Illustrated by Eileen Ryan Ewen, this picture-book biography tells the story of one of America’s best-loved and most celebrated children’s book illustrators. Because Bar...
May 13, 2024•35 min•Season 6Ep. 20
Malcolm Guite is a poet-priest. Jeremy Begbie has called him "one of the most important Christian poets of our time." In this episode, Malcolm and Jonathan Rogers discuss imagination as a way of knowing. This episode is brought to you by The Habit Membership, a community of writers who learn together and give each other a little more courage. Find out more at TheHabit.co . Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/member See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
May 06, 2024•43 min•Season 6Ep. 19
Besides being a bird enthusiast, Courtney Ellis is a pastor in Southern California, the author of several books, and the host of a podcast called The Thing with Feathers . Her new book is Looking Up: A Birder’s Guide to Hope through Grief . In this episode, Courtney and Jonathan Rogers talk about delight, presence, and cultivating attention. Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/member See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Apr 29, 2024•32 min•Season 6Ep. 18
