Old Books with Grace

Martin Luther in Fiction with Amy Mantravadi Oct 29, 2024

In this episode, Grace welcomes historical fiction writer Amy Mantravadi to discuss the Reformers, just in time for Reformation Day! As a medievalist, Grace always has some complex feelings for Martin Luther and company, but Amy brings knowledge and enthusiasm to this conversation about these fascinating sixteenth-century folk, as well as the role of historical fiction in our learning, in our discussion of her new fiction of the Reformation, Broken Bonds.

Amy Mantravadi lives in Dayton, Ohio with her husband, Jai, and their son, Thomas. She holds a B.A. in biblical literature and political science from Taylor University and received her M.A. in international security from King's College London. In addition to writing essays on theological topics, she also writes historical fiction and has two novels about the Reformation forthcoming, including Broken Bonds.

Learning with the Mystics with Shannon K. Evans Oct 16, 2024

In today’s episode, Grace welcomes her friend, Shannon K. Evans, to chat about that fascinating group of people that the church today often calls the mystics. They consider the spirituality of women like St. Teresa of Avila, Margery Kempe, St. Catherine of Siena, and more and what they offer the present-day lovers of God.

Shannon K. Evans is the author of The Mystics Would Like a Word, Feminist Prayers for My Daughter, and Rewilding Motherhood. She serves as the spirituality and culture editor at the National Catholic Reporter and makes her home in Iowa with her family and beloved chickens.

The Mystics Would Like a Word

Jesus through Medieval Eyes

Discovering John Duns Scotus with Thomas Ward Oct 02, 2024

Today, Grace chats with Dr. Thomas M. Ward about the challenging Scottish philosopher and theologian, Blessed John Duns Scotus. He is also the very unfair origin of the word “dunce”! This is ironic when thinking about one of the most complex, subtle scholastic theologians of the Middle Ages.

Thomas M. Ward is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He specializes in the history of philosophy and theology of the Middle Ages. Ward is the author of After Stoicism: Last Words of the Last Roman Philosopher, and has recently translated, with commentary, John Duns Scotus’s Treatise on the First Principle.

Read Ordered by Love: An Introduction to John Duns Scotus

Read Jesus through Medieval Eyes: Beholding Christ with the Artists, Mystics, and Theologians of the Middle Ages

Thinking through the Apostle Paul with Lynn Cohick Sep 19, 2024

Today, Grace chats with Dr. Lynn Cohick on that enigmatic, fascinating, challenging apostle: St. Paul.

Lynn H. Cohick (Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania) is Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Director of the Houston Theological Seminary at Houston Christian University. She was Professor of New Testament at Wheaton College and taught at Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology in Nairobi, Kenya. She serves as President of the Institute for Biblical Research. Her books include The Letter to the Ephesians in NICNT (2020); Christian Women in the Patristic World: Their Influence, Authority, and Legacy in the Second through the Fifth Centuries (co-authored with Amy Brown Hughes (2017); Philippians in the Story of God Commentary (2013); Women in the World of the Earliest Christians(2009).

Check out Lynn's work with the Center for Women in Leadership, the Visual Museum, and her podcast, the Alabaster Jar (you can find the episode with Grace!).

Women Writers of the Catholic Imagination with Haley Stewart Sep 04, 2024

Old Books with Grace is baaaaack for a fifth season! Grace welcomes Haley Stewart for the first episode of this season, on women novelists of the Catholic imagination--including Rumer Godden, Sigrid Undset, and Toni Morrison. If you're like Grace, get ready to dramatically expand your fiction TBR list.

Haley Stewart is the Editor of Word on Fire Votive and the host of The Votive Podcast. She is the award-winning author of The Grace of Enough, Jane Austen's Genius Guide to Life, and The Sister Seraphina Mysteries. She edited a collection of essays on Catholic women novelists titled Women of the Catholic Imagination. Haley lives in Florida with her four children and never has enough bookshelves.

Don't forget to acquire a copy of Grace's book, freshly out in paperback: Jesus through Medieval Eyes: Beholding Christ through the Artists, Mystics, and Theologians of the Middle Ages (Zondervan Reflective).

Beholding Art & Shaping the Imagination with Lanta Davis May 15, 2024

In this last episode of season four, Grace welcomes Dr. Lanta Davis to talk about spiritual formation in the beholding of the art of the past.

Lanta Davis is Professor of Humanities and Literature for the John Wesley Honors College at Indiana Wesleyan University. She’s written on literature, art, and history for Smithsonian Magazine, Christianity Today, Christian Century, Parabola, andPlough.

Support Old Books with Grace and keep it ad-free at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/gracehamman

The World of Dietrich Bonhoeffer with Laura Fabrycky May 01, 2024

Today Grace welcomes Laura Fabrycky to discuss the fascinating, stirring, challenging life and context of theologian and martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer, as well as Laura's own transformative experience as a guide at Bonhoeffer's Haus in Berlin.

Laura M. Fabrycky is a writer, poet, and mother of three. She wrote Keys to Bonhoeffer’s Haus: Exploring the World and Wisdom of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Laura is also a PhD student in systematic theology at ETF Leuven. Her family’s diplomatic postings include Doha, Qatar; Amman, Jordan; Washington, DC; Berlin Germany, and Brussels, Belgium. They currently live in the Washington, DC, area.

The Power of Metaphors with Joy Clarkson Apr 17, 2024

As a forever English major, Grace loves figurative language. So she was delighted to welcome Dr. Joy Clarkson for this episode on the power of metaphor and her recent book, You are a Tree.

Joy Clarkson is the author of Aggressively Happy and host of popular podcast, Speaking with Joy. She is the books editor for Plough Quarterly and a research associate in theology and literature at King’s College London. Joy completed her PhD in theology at the University of St Andrews, where she researched how art can be a resource of hope and consolation. Joy loves daffodils, birdwatching, and a well brewed cup of Yorkshire Gold tea. Learn more at JoyClarkson.com.

Herbert: Four Early Modern Poets on Repentance, Lent 2024 Mar 29, 2024

This year on Old Books with Grace, I am offering a Lent series on penitential poetry from Early Modern poets. That is, on poems of the past that reflect on one’s sin, on the need for forgiveness, on lament, on making things right, on conversion and satisfaction.

In the spirit of Lent, this series will be stripped down to the essentials, which is something I’m trying to maintain in my own life this season. I will give you some background on the poet and poem, where you can find the poem, and translation information if need be. Then, I will read you the poem. I will offer five minutes of silence on the podcast. If you’d like to take this opportunity to meditate on the poem, here is space for you. Today's poem is The Agony by George Herbert.

Philosophers have measur’d mountains,
Fathom'd the depths of seas, of states, and kings,
Walk’d with a staffe to heav’n, and traced fountains:
But there are two vast, spacious things,
The which to measure it doth more behove:
Yet few there are that sound them; Sinne and Love.
Who would know Sinne, let him repair
Unto Mount Olivet; there shall he see
A man so wrung with pains, that all his hair,
His skinne, his garments bloudie be.
Sinne is that presse and vice, which forceth pain
To hunt his cruell food through ev’ry vein.
Who knows not Love, let him assay
And taste that juice, which on the crosse a pike
Did set again abroach; then let him say
If ever he did taste the like.
Love is that liquour sweet and most divine,
Which my God feels as bloud; but I, as wine.

Donne: Four Early Modern Poets on Repentance, Lent 2024 Mar 13, 2024

This year on Old Books with Grace, I am offering a Lent series on penitential poetry from Early Modern poets. That is, on poems of the past that reflect on one’s sin, on the need for forgiveness, on lament, on making things right, on conversion and satisfaction.

In the spirit of Lent, this series will be stripped down to the essentials, which is something I’m trying to maintain in my own life this season. I will give you some background on the poet and poem, where you can find the poem, and translation information if need be. Then, I will read you the poem. I will offer five minutes of silence on the podcast. If you’d like to take this opportunity to meditate on the poem, here is space for you. Today's poem is A Hymn to God the Father by John Donne.

Wilt thou forgive that sin where I begun,

Which was my sin, though it were done before?

Wilt thou forgive that sin, through which I run,

And do run still, though still I do deplore?

When thou hast done, thou hast not done,

For I have more.

Wilt thou forgive that sin which I have won

Others to sin, and made my sin their door?

Wilt thou forgive that sin which I did shun

A year or two, but wallow'd in, a score?

When thou hast done, thou hast not done,

For I have more.

I have a sin of fear, that when I have spun

My last thread, I shall perish on the shore;

But swear by thyself, that at my death thy Son

Shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore;

And, having done that, thou hast done;

I fear no more.

Sidney: Four Early Modern Poets on Repentance, Lent 2024 Feb 28, 2024

This year on Old Books with Grace, I am offering a Lent series on penitential poetry from Early Modern poets. That is, on poems of the past that reflect on one’s sin, on the need for forgiveness, on lament, on making things right, on conversion and satisfaction.

In the spirit of Lent, this series will be stripped down to the essentials, which is something I’m trying to maintain in my own life this season. I will give you some background on the poet and poem, where you can find the poem, and translation information if need be. Then, I will read you the poem. Then, I will offer something a little different for Old Books with Grace. I will offer five minutes of silence on the podcast. If you’d like to take this opportunity to meditate on the poem, here is space for you. Today's poem is a metrical translation of Psalm 51 by Lady Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke.

O Lord, whose grace no limits comprehend;

Sweet Lord, whose mercies stand from measure free;

To me that grace, to me that mercy send,

And wipe, O Lord, my sins from sinful me.

Oh, cleanse, oh, wash, my foul iniquity;

Cleanse still my spots, still wash away my stainings,

Till stains and spots in me leave no remainings.

For I, alas, acknowledging do know

My filthy fault, my faulty filthiness

To my soul’s eye incessantly doth show,

Which done to thee, to thee I do confess,

Just judge, true witness, that for righteousness

Thy doom may pass against my guilt awarded,

Thy evidence for truth may be regarded.

My mother, lo, when I began to be,

Conceiving me, with me did sin conceive:

And as with living heat she cherished me,

Corruption did like cherishing receive.

But, lo, thy love to purest good doth cleave,

And inward truth: which, hardly else discerned,

My truant soul in thy hid school hath learned.

Then as thyself to lepers hast assigned,

With hyssop, Lord, thy hyssop, purge me so:

And that shall cleanse the lepry of my mind.

Make over me thy mercy’s streams to flow,

So shall my whiteness scorn the whitest snow.

To ear and heart send sounds and thoughts of gladness,

That bruised bones may dance away their sadness.

Thy ill-pleased eye from my misdeeds avert:

Cancel the registers my sins contain:

Create in me a pure, clean, spotless heart;

Inspire a sprite where love of right may reign

Ah, cast me not from thee; take not again

Thy breathing grace; again thy comfort send me,

And let the guard of thy free sprite attend me.

So I to them a guiding hand will be,

Whose faulty feet have wandered from thy way,

And turned from sin will make return to thee,

Whom turned from thee sin erst had led astray.

O God, God of my health, oh, do away

My bloody crime: so shall my tongue be raised

To praise thy truth, enough cannot be praised.

Unlock my lips, shut up with sinful shame:

Then shall my mouth, O Lord, thy honor sing.

For bleeding fuel for thy altar’s flame,

To gain thy grace what boots it me to bring?

Burt-off’rings are to thee no pleasant thing.

The sacrifice that God will hold respected,

Is the heart-broken soul, the sprite dejected.

Lastly, O Lord, how so I stand or fall,

Leave not thy loved Zion to embrace;

But with thy favor build up Salem’s wall,

And still in peace, maintain that peaceful place.

Then shalt thou turn a well-accepting face

To sacred fires with offered gifts perfumed:

Till ev’n whole calves on altars be consumed.

Traherne: Four Early Modern Poets on Repentance, Lent 2024 Feb 14, 2024

Welcome to this year's Old Books with Grace Lent Series.

This year's series is on penitential poetry. That is, on poems of the past that reflect on one’s sin, on need, on lament, on making things right, on conversion and satisfaction. Such poetry is part of an ancient tradition, dating back to the Psalms themselves. Today's poem is "Desire," by Thomas Traherne. You can read along below, or listen as I read:

For giving me Desire,

An Eager Thirst, a burning Ardent fire,

A virgin Infant Flame,

A Love with which into the World I came,

An Inward Hidden Heavenly Love,

Which in my Soul did Work and move,

And ever ever me Enflame,

With restlesse longing Heavenly Avarice,

That could never be satisfied,

That did incessantly a Paradice

Unknown suggest, and som thing undescried

Discern, and bear me to it; be

Thy Name for ever praisd by me.

My Parchd and Witherd Bones

Burnt up did seem: My Soul was full of Groans:

My Thoughts Extensions were:

Like Paces Reaches Steps they did appear:

They somwhat hotly did persue,

Knew that they had not all their due;

Nor ever quiet were:

But made my flesh like Hungry Thirsty Ground,

My Heart a deep profound Abyss,

And evry Joy and Pleasure but a Wound,

So long as I my Blessedness did miss.

O Happiness! A Famine burns,

And all my Life to Anguish turns!

Where are the Silent Streams,

The Living Waters, and the Glorious Beams,

The Sweet Reviving Bowers,

The Sadby Groves, the Sweet and Curious Flowers,

The Springs and Trees, the Heavenly Days,

The Flowry Meads, the Glorious Rayes,

The Gold and Silver Towers?

Alass, all these are poor and Empty Things,

Trees Waters Days and Shining Beams

Fruits, Flowers, Bowers, Shady Groves and Springs,

No Joy will yeeld, no more then Silent Streams.

These are but Dead Material Toys

And cannot make my Heavenly Joys.

O Love! ye Amities,

And Friendships, that appear abov the Skies!

Ye Feasts, and Living Pleasures!

Ye Senses, Honors, and Imperial Treasures!

Ye Bridal Joys! Ye High Delights;

That satisfy all Appetites!

Ye Sweet Affections, and

Ye High Respects! What ever Joys there be

In Triumphs, Whatsoever stand

In Amicable Sweet Societie

Whatever pleasures are at his right Hand

Ye must, before I am Divine,

In full Proprietie be mine.

This Soaring Sacred Thirst,

Ambassador of Bliss, approached first,

Making a Place in me,

That made me apt to Prize, and Taste, and See,

For not the Objects, but the sence

Of Things, doth Bliss to Souls dispence,

And make it Lord like Thee.

Sence, feeling, Taste, Complacency and Sight,

These are the true and real Joys,

The Living Flowing Inward Melting, Bright

And Heavenly Pleasures; all the rest are Toys:

All which are founded in Desire,

As Light in Flame, and Heat in fire.

Rediscovering Flannery O'Connor with Jessica Hooten Wilson Feb 07, 2024

Dr. Jessica Hooten Wilson joins Grace on this episode to discuss her new book, Why Do the Heathen Rage? A Behind-the-Scenes Look at a Work in Progress. How does O'Connor's last novel, left unfinished at her death, fit in with the rest of her work? How does one even begin to reconstruct a fragmented manuscript?

Jessica Hooten Wilson is the Fletcher Jones Endowed Chair of Great Books at Pepperdine University. She is the author of several books, most recently Reading for the Love of God. She is a Senior Fellow at The Trinity Forum.

Cultural Christians in the Early Church with Nadya Williams Jan 24, 2024

Grace welcomes Nadya Williams, professor and author of Cultural Christians in the Early Church. What do the early Christians--and not just the martyrs and great leaders, but the ordinary folk--have to teach us today in their witness, writings, and historical record?

Nadya Williams (PhD, Classics and Program in the Ancient World, Princeton University) is a military historian of the Greco-Roman world and the co-editor of Civilians and Warfare in World History. She is Book Review Editor at Current, where she also edits The Arena blog. She is a regular contributor to the Anxious Bench, and has also written for Plough, Front Porch Republic, Church Life Journal, History Today Magazine, History News Network, and The Conversation.

Jesus, or Love: Advent 2023 Dec 20, 2023

This year’s Advent series is about the poetry of the Holy Family, the center of Advent and Christmas. Today, we arrive to worship at the manger, brother and sister to the ass and the ox looking lovingly and with great confusion into the unusual bundle resting in the hay. Welcome to the final episode of Advent 2023, on Baby Jesus and love, alongside Gerard Manley Hopkins and Richard Crashaw.

Joseph, or Faith: Advent 2023 Dec 13, 2023

Welcome to the second episode in the 2023 Advent series of Old Books with Grace. Each Wednesday, this series will look at a member of the Holy Family--Mary, Joseph, and Jesus--and a theological virtue--hope, faith, and love. In this episode, Grace meditates upon Joseph, doubt, and faith alongside three greats: W.H. Auden, George MacDonald, and Madeleine L’Engle.

Mary, or Hope: Advent 2023 Dec 06, 2023

Welcome to the first episode in the Advent series for 2023. Each Wednesday, this series will look at a member of the Holy Family--Mary, Joseph, and Jesus--and a theological virtue--hope, faith, and love. Today, Grace Hamman meditates upon Mary and the stretching, longing virtue of hope alongside a fourteenth-century Middle English poem full of Marian imagery.

Poems from this episode:

Heyl, leuedy, se-steorre bryht

Marye, mayde mylde and fre

Grace's book: Jesus through Medieval Eyes: Beholding Christ with the Artists, Mystics, and Theologians of the Middle Ages

Discovering Christian Poets in Translation with Burl Horniachek Nov 22, 2023

Today, Burl Horniachek chats with Grace about pre-nineteenth-century Christian poetry from other parts of the world that he collected in a lovely volume from Cascade Books called To Heaven’s Rim. From early Syrian poets like Romanos the Melodist to seventeenth-century Chinese artist Wu Li, the selection of Christian poetry is wide and fascinating!

Burl Horniachek is a Canadian high school teacher, poet, translator and editor. He was born in Saskatoon and grew up near Edmonton. He studied Ancient Near Eastern Studies (Hebrew/Ancient Israel) at the University of Toronto and creative writing at the University of Alberta with Nobel Prize winner Derek Walcott. He currently lives near Winnipeg with his wife and two kids.

The Joy of Louisa May Alcott with LuElla D’Amico Nov 08, 2023

Calling all Louisa May Alcott fans! In this episode, Grace chats with Americanist scholar LuElla D’Amico about children’s literature and the work of Louisa May Alcott in particular... including hard-hitting questions like "Should Laurie have ended up with Jo?!" (there is disagreement on the answer).

Dr. LuElla D'Amico is an Associate Professor of English and Coordinator of the Women’s and Gender Studies program at the University of the Incarnate Word. Her primary research interests lie in girlhood, girl culture, and religion in early and nineteenth-century American literature, and she has published numerous articles in this vein for academic and popular venues. She also has edited a volume about the history of girls’ series books in the U.S. titled Girls’ Series Fiction and American Popular Culture and is co-editor of Reading Transatlantic Girlhood in the Long Nineteenth Century. Her current book project is titled, Wondrous Reading: Encountering the Catholic Faith in Children’s Literature. She lives on the outskirts of San Antonio, Texas with her husband, two children, and rambunctious chihuahua, Leroy.

Beholding Jesus with Medieval Friends with Grace & Scott Hamman Oct 25, 2023

In this special episode about Grace's new book, Jesus through Medieval Eyes: Beholding Christ with the Artists, Mystics, and Theologians of the Middle Ages, Grace gets interviewed on medieval ideas about Jesus in art and literature by none other than the inestimable Scott Hamman, her wonderful non-medievalist structural engineering husband (or in his words, "Mr. Dr. Grace Hamman").

Preorder Jesus through Medieval Eyes on Amazon, B&N, or your local bookstore.

The Formative Power of the Imagination with Karen Swallow Prior Oct 11, 2023

Grace welcomes Karen Swallow Prior to discuss her brand-new book, The Evangelical Imagination: How Stories, Images, and Metaphors Created a Culture in Crisis (Brazos, 2023), and from that book, the power of imagination and our formation through literature and products of culture.

Karen Swallow Prior (Ph.D., State University of New York, Buffalo) is a reader, writer, and professor. She is the author of multiple books including The Evangelical Imagination, On Reading Well, and Fierce Convictions. She and her husband live on a 100-year old homestead in central Virginia with dogs, chickens, and lots of books. She writes on Substack at The Priory.

Appreciating George MacDonald with Marianne Wright Sep 27, 2023

Grace chats with Marianne Wright on the novels and sermons of the great Victorian writer and Presbyterian minister, George MacDonald. Why did this somewhat obscure (for us today, at least) novelist inspired some of the most well-beloved writers of the twentieth century, like C.S. Lewis and G.K. Chesterton?

Marianne Wright, a member of the Bruderhof, lives in southeastern New York with her husband and five children. She has edited two books for Plough, Anni and The Gospel in George MacDonald. She writes at seasonsofcommunityliving.substack.com.

Women without Children in Church History with Elizabeth Felicetti Sep 13, 2023

In this first episode of season four, Grace chats with Reverend Elizabeth Felicetti, author of Unexpected Abundance: The Fruitful Lives of Women Without Children, on the dignity and humanity of women without children and their gift to the church.

The Rev. Elizabeth Felicetti is the rector of St. David's Episcopal Church in Richmond, Virginia and the author of the new book Unexpected Abundance: The Fruitful Lives of Women Without Children. Her writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Christian Century and numerous other places. She holds a Master of Divinity from Virginia Theological Seminary and an MFA in Writing from Spalding University.

To join the launch team for Grace's new book, Jesus through Medieval Eyes, click here: https://mailchi.mp/80cb6173698f/jtmelaunchteam

Augustine and Hope with Michael Lamb May 31, 2023

In the last episode of season three, Grace talks with Dr. Michael Lamb on the great African bishop and theologian, St. Augustine of Hippo, and the virtue of hope.

Michael Lamb is the F. M. Kirby Foundation Chair of Leadership and Character, Executive Director of the Program for Leadership and Character, and Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Humanities at Wake Forest University. He is also a Research Fellow with the Oxford Character Project. He holds a Ph.D. in politics from Princeton University, a B.A. in political science from Rhodes College, and a second B.A. in philosophy and theology from the University of Oxford, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar. An award-winning teacher, his research and teaching focus on leadership, character, and the role of virtues in public life. He is the author of A Commonwealth of Hope: Augustine’s Political Thought (2022), which offers a bold new interpretation of Augustine’s virtue of hope and its relevance for politics. His work has been published in leading academic journals across numerous disciplines.

With the close of this season, if you'd like to support this podcast, please leave a review, share with a friend, or go to https://www.buymeacoffee.com/gracehamman to help keep OBWG ad-free and with a working microphone and website! Thank you for listening this season!

Loving Christ our Mother with Julian of Norwich May 17, 2023

It's a magical confluence of Mother's Day week, Grace's actual birthday, and the 650th anniversary of Julian's experience with God, so Grace had to mark it in a special way herself. Yes, that's right, Grace is her own guest this week, and she even answers her own get-to-know you literary questions. The main star of the show, however, is the wondrous fourteenth-century contemplative writer, Julian of Norwich, and her beautiful vision of Christ as our Mother.

Preorder Jesus Through Medieval Eyes:

Reading Art with Elissa Yukiko Weichbrodt May 03, 2023

Normally, obviously, Grace talks about old books. But every now and then, OBWG presents an episode on old art. Because encountering old art is just as much about reading, interpretation, and attention as reading old books is! Today, Grace is delighted to welcome Dr. Elissa Yukiko Weichbrodt as a guest.

Elissa Yukiko Weichbrodt (Ph.D., Washington University in St. Louis) is an associate professor of art and art history at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia and author of Redeeming Vision: A Christian Guide to Looking at and Learning from Art. As a biracial Japanese-white woman, she has navigated the joys and tensions of a hybrid identity. Dr. Weichbrodt has published on topics ranging from contemporary Black photographers to the patronage of Hawaiian landscape paintings to documentary photographs of Japanese Americans during World War II. She also enjoys writing for general audiences on the intersection of art history, politics, and pop culture.

An artwork we discuss, Margaretha Haverman's A Vase of Flowers: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436634

Learning like Shakespeare with Scott Newstok Apr 19, 2023

In this episode, Grace chats with Dr. Scott Newstok on William Shakespeare (whose birthday is this week!) and the principles of a renaissance education.

Scott Newstok is Professor of English and founding director of the Pearce Shakespeare Endowment at Rhodes College. A parent and an award-winning teacher, he is the author of How to Think Like Shakespeare, as well as Quoting Death in Early Modern England, and the editor of several other books, including a forthcoming edition of Michel de Montaigne’s educational writings.

Claude Atcho on The Picture of Dorian Gray: A Book that Changed Me, Lent 2023 Apr 05, 2023

This year’s Old Books with Grace Lent series, called “A Book that Changed Me,” offers four different conversations with guests on a book of their choice that changed them, made them think deeply about transformation, brought them closer to truth. Books can be mirrors—they can help us to consider ourselves in new light. Books invite us into conversation and reflection we would not have known to participate in without their guidance. Each of the guests in this series has chosen a book that invited them into reflection, remembrance, and self-knowledge. Each conversation is quite different—some more personal, others less—and the books span from the Middle Ages to the 1960s. The last guest of the series is Claude Atcho, who has chosen to talk about the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray by the witty, wonderful Oscar Wilde.

Claude Atcho resides in Charlottesville, VA where he lives with his family, serves as a pastor of Church of the Resurrection, and enjoys coaching his kids in basketball and soccer. In addition to his preaching and pastoral work, Claude speaks and writes about literature, film, music, and culture from a theological perspective. His writing has been featured at The Witness: A Black Christian Collective, Think Christian, and Christ and Pop Culture. His writing often lives at the intersection of theology, culture, and African American experience. He is the author of Reading Black Books: How African American Literature Can Make Our Faith More Whole and Just.

Kaitlyn Schiess on A Wrinkle in Time: A Book that Changed Me, Lent 2023 Mar 22, 2023

Welcome to the third episode of the Lent series on Old Books with Grace, exploring literature, self-knowledge, and transformation. In today’s A Book that Changed Me, Grace chats with Kaitlyn Schiess about Madeleine L’Engle’s marvelous young adult novel, A Wrinkle in Time.

Kaitlyn Schiess is the author of The Ballot and the Bible: How Scripture has been Used and Abused in American Politics and Where We Go from Here (Brazos, 2023) and The Liturgy of Politics: Spiritual Formation for the Sake of Our Neighbor (IVP, 2020). Her writing has appeared at Christianity Today, The New York Times, Christ and Pop Culture, RELEVANT, and Sojourner. She has a ThM in systematic theology from Dallas Theological Seminary and is currently a doctoral student in political theology at Duke Divinity School.

Jason Baxter on Inferno: A Book that Changed Me, Lent 2023 Mar 08, 2023

Welcome to the second offering in this year's Old Books with Grace Lent series. “A Book that Changed Me” offers four different conversations with guests on a book of their choice that changed them, made them think deeply about transformation, brought them closer to truth. Today, Jason Baxter is the special guest, and Dante's Inferno is the special book.

Jason Baxter is a college professor, speaker, and author of five books, including A Beginner's Guide to Dante's Comedy and, most recently, The Medieval Mind of C.S. Lewis. He now lives in South Bend, where he is teaching great books at Notre Dame.

Joy Clarkson on Silas Marner: A Book that Changed Me, Lent 2023 Feb 22, 2023

Welcome to the first offering in this year's Old Books with Grace Lent series. “A Book that Changed Me” offers four different conversations with guests on a book of their choice that changed them, made them think deeply about transformation, brought them closer to truth. Today, Joy Clarkson is the special guest, and George Eliot's Silas Marner is the special book.

Dr. Joy Clarkson is the author of Aggressively Happy: A Realist’s Guide to Believing in the Goodness of Life, and a research associate in theology and literature at King’s College, London. She received her doctorate in theology from St Andrews University, where she researched the ways we can use art to prepare ourselves for a good death. She hosts a podcast, Speaking with Joy, and is the Books & Culture editor at Plough Quarterly.

Enjoying Elizabeth Goudge with Julie Witmer Feb 08, 2023

Have you heard of the midcentury fiction writer, Elizabeth Goudge, author of classics like The Little White Horse or The Scent of Water? Julie Witmer, founder of the Elizabeth Goudge Book Club, comes on Old Books with Grace to talk about Goudge's life and writings, from her talent for writing children, to her love for her characters, to her mischaracterization as a romance writer!

Modernism & T.S. Eliot with Tony Domestico Jan 25, 2023

Grace welcomes Dr. Anthony Domestico, author of Poetry and Theology in the Modernist Period and chair of the literature department at Purchase SUNY, to Old Books with Grace today to chat about modernist poetry including my favorite twentieth-century poet, T.S. Eliot.

Warning: this episode is slightly longer than usual episodes because Grace lost track of time in her excitement about Eliot!

Dayspring: Advent 2022 Dec 21, 2022

Today, Grace concludes the Advent series with some very, very old poetry. Poetry, in fact, that you’re already familiar with. You likely sing a form of it, or listen to it each year. Grace dives into Old English and Middle English translations of the Great O Antiphons, better known to us today as the foundation of the wonderful Advent hymn, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. Let’s look for the Dayspring, the Dawn, the Sun of Justice on this darkest day of the year.

Heaven Cannot Hold Him: Advent 2022 Dec 14, 2022

Welcome back to this year's Advent series on Old Books with Grace. This episode meditates on Christina Rossetti's A Christmas Carol, and William Langland's Piers Plowman. An interesting duo, separated by 500 years--and you'll find out why Grace pairs them in a contemplation on nature imagery and incarnational love.

Harke! Despair Away: Advent 2022 Dec 07, 2022

In this second installment of the Advent series on poetry, Grace meditates on George Herbert's marvelous poem, "The Bag." Listen to Herbert command despair away as Christ becomes incarnate and carries our prayers in his very body.

Were we led all this way for birth or death?: Advent 2022 Nov 30, 2022

In the first episode of the Advent 2022 series exploring Advent & Christmas poetry from the past, Dr. Grace Hamman meditates on T.S. Eliot's The Journey of the Magi and our status as pilgrims in the world.

Read The Journey of the Magi.

Praying with Puritans with Robert Elmer Nov 09, 2022

Grace welcomes Robert Elmer, the editor of Piercing Heaven: Prayers of the Puritans and Fount of Heaven: Prayers of the Early Church, the first two books in the Prayers of the Church series from Lexham Press. Grace, a medievalist slightly suspicious of Puritanism, learns about the beauty of these prayers from the sixteenth & seventeenth centuries and about Robert's own processes of finding and selecting these historical and powerful prayers.

On Beauty and Literature with Sarah Clarkson Oct 26, 2022

Beauty is just as significant to our spiritual and moral lives as truth and goodness. Sarah Clarkson has often found this beauty in literature. Grace welcomes Sarah, author of This Beautiful Truth: How God's Goodness Breaks Into Our Darkness, to discuss the intersections between story, beauty, and suffering. Along the way, some very recognizable names come up as sources of profound beauty in literature: J.R.R. Tolkien, L.M. Montgomery, George Eliot, and more...

The Delights of Dickens with Gina Dalfonzo Oct 12, 2022

Grace welcomes Gina Dalfonzo, editor of The Gospel in Dickens (Plough Publishing House) and founder and editor of Dickensblog, to chat all things Charles Dickens. What is the appeal of this wordy writer (whom, as Gina reminds us, was NOT paid by the word)? Join Gina and Grace for a fun conversation discussing why we love and return to Charles Dickens over and over despite his foibles and flaws.

The Beauty of Old English with Eleanor Parker Sep 28, 2022

Dr. Eleanor Parker joins Grace to discuss the beauty of Old English and her delightful new book on the Anglo-Saxon calendar year, Winters in the World: A Journey Through the Anglo-Saxon Year.

Eleanor Parker is Lecturer in Medieval English Literature at Brasenose College, Oxford. She is the author of Dragon Lords: The History and Legends of Viking England (2018), Conquered: The Last Children of Anglo-Saxon England (2022), and Winters in the World: A Journey Through the Anglo-Saxon Year (2022). She has also written for History Today and is the creator of the Clerk of Oxford blog.

The Love of Learning with Zena Hitz Sep 14, 2022

On the season premiere of Old Books With Grace, Grace welcomes Dr. Zena Hitz, author of Lost in Thought: The Hidden Pleasures of an Intellectual Life, tutor at St. John's College, and founder of the Catherine Project. Why is it important to love learning for its own sake and not instrumentalize it? How can we cultivate an intellectual life? What does Augustine of Hippo mean by curiositas? Hear Grace and Dr. Hitz's thoughts on these questions and more...

God’s Love, Thomas Aquinas, and Tradition with Fritz Bauerschmidt Jun 15, 2022

In this last episode of the season, Grace welcomes Dr. Fritz Bauerschmidt to chat about reading difficult authors of the past, like Thomas Aquinas, the love of God as the central feature of Christianity, and the flexibility and strength of tradition.

Frederick Christian (Fritz) Bauerschmidt is Professor of Theology at Loyola University Maryland, specializing in medieval and modern Catholic theology, and a deacon of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, assigned to the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen. He is the author of several books, most recently The Love That is God: An Invitation to Christian Faith (Eerdmans 2020), The Essential Summa Theologiae: A Reader and Commentary (Baker Academic 2021), and How Beautiful the World Could Be: Christian Reflections on the Everyday (Eerdmans 2022).

C.S. Lewis & Medieval Humanism with Chris Armstrong Jun 01, 2022

Grace welcomes Dr. Chris Armstrong to the podcast to talk about his book, Medieval Wisdom for Modern Christians, and think through medieval Christian humanism's influence on C.S. Lewis, and how some of these medieval ideas might help think more creatively and faithfully about community, faith, and history today.

Dr. Chris R Armstrong is an educator, academic entrepreneur, author, editor, and church historian (Duke Ph.D., Gordon-Conwell M.A.). He currently serves as Program Fellow in Faith, Work, and Economics for the Kern Family Foundation (WI). He taught from 2004 to 2013 at Bethel Seminary (MN). From 2014 to 2018 he served as faculty member and founding director of the Opus faith & vocation initiative at Wheaton College (IL). His Medieval Wisdom for Modern Christians: Finding Authentic Faith in a Forgotten Age with C S Lewis (Brazos, 2016) retrieves the Christian humanism of the Middle Ages. Chris serves as Senior Editor of Christian History magazine (www.christianhistorymagazine.org) and blogs at gratefultothedead.com. He enjoys playing tabletop games with friends, listening to jazz, and improving his jazz piano skills.

Talking Tolkien with Kaitlyn Facista May 18, 2022

This week, Grace welcomes Kaitlyn Facista, creator of the online community Tea with Tolkien. Naturally, they drink tea and talk Tolkien! Topics of discussion include: the upcoming Amazon series (and Kaitlyn's sneak peek of it in London!), how to throw a Hobbit party, why the Silmarillion matters, and the ever controversial Tom Bombadil, among other things.

Kaitlyn Facista is a Catholic convert, wife, mother to four babies at home + two in heaven, and hobbit at heart. She lives with her family in the Midwest. Hobbies include thinking about Tolkien (obviously), making friends on twitter, and spending time with Our Lord in her parish Adoration chapel. She is the author of To Middle-Earth and Back Again and Thirty Days in the Shire and contributor to Catholic Hipster: The Next Level: How Some Awesomely Obscure Stuff Helps Us Live Our Faith with Passion. She has also written for The Grotto Network and The Catholic Woman.

Breaking Medieval Stereotypes with Beth Allison Barr May 04, 2022

Beth Allison Barr, author of Making Biblical Womanhood, is here and we are talking about history and how it shapes us, resisting the urge to impose our norms and ideas back onto the past, about medieval women, gender-bending medieval saints, good places to start reading medieval texts, and more fascinating topics...

Larissa Tracy's Women of the Gilte Legende: A Selection of Middle English Saints Lives

Beth Allison Barr (PhD, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) is James Vardaman Professor of History at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, where she specializes in medieval history, women's history, and church history. She recently served as president of the Conference on Faith and History (2018-2021) and is an active supporter of Christians for Biblical Equality. Barr is a regular contributor to The Anxious Bench, the popular Patheos website on religious history, and has written for Christianity Today, the Washington Post, Religion News Service, The Dallas Morning News, Sojourners, and Baptist News Global. Her work has been featured by NPR and The New Yorker. She is also a Baptist pastor's wife and the mom of two great kids.

Contemplative Reading and Thomas Merton with Sophfronia Scott Feb 16, 2022

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.

Twentieth-Century Literature and Holiness with Jessica Hooten Wilson Feb 02, 2022

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.

Prayer and Liturgy with Kayla Craig Jan 19, 2022

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.

On Virtues and Fiction with Karen Swallow Prior Jan 05, 2022

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?

O Come All Ye Faithful: An Advent Meditation Dec 22, 2021

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.

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing: An Advent Meditation Dec 15, 2021

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?

The Coventry Carol: An Advent Meditation Dec 08, 2021

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.

O Come O Come Emmanuel: An Advent Meditation Dec 01, 2021

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.

Art & the Annunciation with Victoria Emily Jones Nov 17, 2021

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.

Thinking of Jesus as Our Mother With Shannon K. Evans Nov 10, 2021

Shannon Evans, author of Rewilding Motherhood, joins Grace to talk about the powerful and poignant image of Jesus as our Mother. How does this ancient metaphor affect our lives today? Shannon and Grace talk Julian of Norwich, motherhood, and the theology of this idea.

From the Endless Knot to the Green Girdle: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, pt. IV Nov 03, 2021

At last, Gawain comes to the mysterious, terrifying Green Chapel. What happens next? Find out, meditate on the results, and rejoice over the wonderful poetry of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, with Grace.

The Hunter and the Hunted: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, pt. III Oct 26, 2021

There are more traps at Bertilak's castle than you think, Gawain... and loads of stylish hunting poetry! Welcome to part III of the series on the incredible medieval poem, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight!

Games, Gifts, and Icicles on Armor: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, pt.II Oct 20, 2021

Fitt II of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: Wander through the icy woods with Gawain as he searches for the Green Chapel, to meet his fate with the Green Knight. Grace explores the medieval context of this fantastic poem and thinks with the poet on what it means to be human.

A Beheading at a Feast: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, pt. 1 Oct 13, 2021

Ever since the siege ceased at Troy, betrayal and treachery has ruled the forebears of Sir Gawain... so we are plunged into the fantastical fourteenth-century masterpiece, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Let's meet Arthur, Guinevere, a host of secondary characters, our hero Sir Gawain... and a gigantic knight, green from head to toe... Grace considers this strange beginning, the sins of our forebears, the wonderful poetry itself, and the spooky delight of the Green Knight.

A Lovely Short Intro to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Oct 06, 2021

Want to think about a spooky, wonderful medieval poem together for October? This episode kicks off a series on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a poem about magic, humanity, creatureliness, and failure written in the fourteenth century by an anonymous poet. It's one of my favorites. You don't have to read the poem to enjoy this series--let's go meet a green knight!

Talking Austen and L‘Engle With Haley Stewart Sep 29, 2021

Grace Hamman welcomes podcaster, speaker, and fellow mom writer Haley Stewart of Carrots for Michaelmas and Fountains of Carrots. Haley and Grace chat Jane Austen, Madeleine L'Engle, faith, and the challenging vocations of being writers and mothers (and which Jane Austen adaptations they think are the best and the worst).

Austen's Persuasion: Ch. 10-12 Vol. II with Scott Hamman Aug 04, 2021

Dr. Grace Hamman and her special guest this week, her husband Scott, discuss love, communication, resurrection, learning how to learn, and gush over Austen's profundity in depicting relationships in Persuasion. They also freeze in slight horror and pause the recording awkwardly when their four-year old son emerges to pee at 10:30 at night while they record. Welcome to the grand finale of the Summer Old Book Club!

Austen's Persuasion: Ch. 7-9 Vol. II with Goodwyn Bell Jul 28, 2021

Welcome to the penultimate week of the Summer Old Book Club! Grace invites her friend Goodwyn Bell to chat about the continuing drama with Mr. Elliot, if where you grew up affects how you read Jane Austen, Anne's charming, blush-filled interactions with Captain Wentworth, the importance of Bath, the confusing lies of Mrs. Smith, what Jane Austen thinks of friendship, and so much more...

Austen's Persuasion: Ch. 4-6 Vol II with Carol Irwin Jul 21, 2021

Welcome to Week 6 of the Summer Old Book Club and perhaps the first ever podcast episode featuring a grandmother and her granddaughter discussing Persuasion in great detail! Join Dr. Grace Hamman and her 86 year-old Grama, Carol Irwin, as they think through Mr. Elliot, Mrs. Smith, the intricacies of rank and society in Bath, what a "good" pride entails, and so much more...

Austen's Persuasion: Ch. 1-3 Vol. II with Dr. Jessica Hines Jul 14, 2021

Grace welcomes Dr. Jessica Hines to the fifth week of the Summer Old Book Club discussing Jane Austen's Persuasion. Grace and Jessica talk about the mysterious Mr. Elliot, the perplexities of Lady Russell (do we like her or not??), Anne's move to Bath, and bring in some of their great loves: medieval things like Thomas Aquinas and virtue ethics!

Austen's Persuasion: Ch. 10-12, Vol I with Chelsea Swanson Jul 07, 2021

Dr. Grace Hamman and her special guest and best friend since kindergarten, Chelsea Swanson, lose track of time as they endlessly dissect three chapters of Persuasion that perhaps have the most incredible emotional and interpersonal subtext of all chapters but the end. Plus, discussion of the most stupid Jane Austen injury: Louisa Musgrove jumps off the Cobb!

Austen's Persuasion: Ch. 7-9 Vol. I with Marisa Tualla Jun 23, 2021

Welcome to week three of reading Jane Austen's Persuasion with the Summer Old Book Club! Today, Grace chats with her old friend Marisa Tualla, a math curriculum specialist, about ch. 7-9 of vol. I. They talk Jane Austen on gender, loneliness, the fascinating and unusual presence of children in this section, among many other things...

Austen's Persuasion: Ch. 4-6 Vol. 1 with John Irwin Jun 17, 2021

It's week two of the Summer Old Book Club! Read alongside Grace and her brother, John Irwin, as they discuss chapters 4-6 of volume I of Jane Austen's Persuasion. Grace and John talk about meeting Captain Wentworth (in memory) for the first time, Jane Austen's meanest and most phallic joke, Regency-era ideas about class, the wretched Mary Musgrove, and so much more...

Austen's Persuasion: Chapters 1-3 Vol. 1 with Dr. Jessica Ward Jun 09, 2021

Welcome to the Summer Old Book Club with Jane Austen's Persuasion! Grace and Dr. Jessica Ward, an English professor at Mercy College in NYC and one of Grace's grad school buddies, talk about our introduction to the characters, Austen's cutting humor, personality types, and more.

A Brief Introduction to Jane Austen Jun 02, 2021

We all know who Jane Austen is. But a little more context and background can help us to better understand her writing and her world, before we enter into her final novel, Persuasion. Join the Summer Old Book Club!

Meditations on Henry Vaughan's "The Night" May 05, 2021

"There is in God, some say, / A deep but dazzling darkness..." What does Vaughan's famous line mean? Let's think about this beautiful poem and its Welsh 17th-century author together.

Dabbling in Old Words: Whole Apr 21, 2021

Feeling broken, distended, fragmented? Me too. This episode meditates upon spiritual and bodily wholeness, via the ancient origins of the word "whole" and supplemented by Augustine of Hippo.

T.S. Eliot's "The Cultivation of Christmas Trees" Dec 23, 2020

Merry Christmas from Old Books With Grace! In this episode, I think about the great poet and thinker T.S. Eliot's midcentury poem, "The Cultivation of Christmas Trees," and the darkness and light of this season. Check out the text on oldbookswithgrace.com.

Welcome to Old Books With Grace! Dec 14, 2020

I'm Dr. Grace Hamman and I want to explore the intersections of literature and theology with you. Old books speak to us and allow us to break out of our hidden assumptions and biases about the way the world works. Today, I'm introducing us to the work of Julian of Norwich, the brilliant fourteenth-century contemplative writer, and her background. Check out the accompanying blog at oldbookswithgrace.com

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