Old Books with Grace

Latest Episodes:

Mary, or Hope: Advent 2023 Dec 06, 2023

Show notes

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

Show notes

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

Show notes

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

Show notes

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

Show notes

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

Show notes

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

Show notes

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

Show notes

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

Show notes

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

Show notes

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

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