Welcome to episode ninety-six of New Creation Conversations. I’m joined this week by writer, professor, and expert on theology and literature, Dr. Karen Swallow Prior. Karen did her PhD at the State University of New York at Buffalo with a specialization in eighteenth century British literature. Karen taught in seminaries for a number of years, and she is a contributing editor for Comment, a founding member of The Pelican Project, a Senior Fellow at Trinity Forum, a Senior Fellow at the International Alliance for Christian Education, a Senior Fellow at the L. Russ Bush Center for Faith and Culture and is a former member of the Faith Advisory Council of the Humane Society of the United States. She and her husband live on a 100-year-old homestead in central Virginia with dogs, chickens, and lots of books.

Karen has written and contributed to several books. We discuss her most recent work, The Evangelical Imagination: How Stories, Images, and Metaphors Created a Culture in Crisis (Brazos Press). In the book she examines evangelical history – both good and bad. By analyzing the literature, art, and popular cultural that has surrounded evangelicalism, she unpacks some of the movement’s most deeply held concepts, ideas, values, and practices to consider what is Christian rather than merely cultural. The result is a clearer path forward for evangelicals amid their current identity crisis – and insight for others who want a deeper understanding of what was best about the evangelical movement, and what possibilities might still be in its future. As many of you know, I am a fan of theology and literature, and I love the way Karen blends those too with important cultural and philosophical analysis. It is a very thoughtful and helpful book. And a very fun conversation.