Shannon Gayk is Associate Professor of English and Director of the Medieval Studies Institute at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. She joins Elise to talk about how literary forms reflect larger lived experiences. They discuss the importance of witness, the connection between experiencing art and being moved to action, and the relationship between ethics and aesthetics. They wrap up their conversation by exploring structures that can create collective flourishing.

How do we get from texts to a transformed life?

The relationship between ethics and aesthetics

Incarnational literature

Imaginative devotional practice

Margery Kempe

Lollards

Sacred performance

Apocalypse literature

Climate change and medieval environmental writing

Collective flourishing

Links:

Image Text and Religious Reform in 15th century England by Shannon Gayk

The Highest Poverty Giorgio Agamben