Things Not Seen Podcast

In his recent book, Reorganized Religion, our guest, veteran religion reporter Bob Smietana, offers an in-depth and critical look at why people are leaving American churches and what we lose as a society as it continues. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author and educator David Dark returns to Things Not Seen to discuss the reframed and expanded edition of his book, Life's Too Short to Pretend You're Not Religious. As he reminds us, 'religion' touches on all our commitments, large and small, as we navigate our daily lives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guest, jazz musician Deanna Witkoski, has written a spiritual biography of Mary Lou Williams, whose life and music helped to shape American Jazz and influence Catholic liturgy in the 20th Century. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In his recent book, The Magi, our guest Eric Vanden Eykel examines the birth of the Magi story; its enrichments, embellishments, and expansions in apocryphal writing and early Christian preaching; its artistic expressions in catacombs, icons, and paintings and its modern legacy in novels, poetry, and music. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guest, Dr. Brian Schmisek, explores the many ways that we look to the world to find prophecies and signals for how we are meant to live. He talks with us about his recent book, Signs, Superstitions, and God's Plan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Martin Luther King Jr. said and wrote as much or more about the meaning, nature, and power of truth as any other prominent figure in the 1950s and '60s. Our guest, Lewis V. Baldwin, draws on King's published and unpublished sermons, speeches, and writings, in his recent book, The Arc of Truth, to explore King's lifelong pilgrimage in pursuit of truth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guest Jon M. Sweeney returns to our show to talk about his recent book, Teresa of Calcutta: Dark Night, Active Love. This biography shows Mother Teresa as the first great saint of television. Presented in three parts, this biography looks at the preparation, the call, and the legacy of the extraordinary woman whom Pope Francis named Saint Teresa of Calcutta in 2016. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Popular speaker and award-winning author James K. A. Smith returns to our show to explain that we must reckon with the past in order to discern the present and have hope for the future. In his recent book, How to Inhabit Time, Smith brings together popular culture, biblical exposition, and meditation, he helps us develop a sense of "temporal awareness" that is attuned to the texture of history, the vicissitudes of life, and the tempo of the Spirit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rev. Maryann McKibben Dana returns to our show to talk about her recent book, Hope: A User's Manual. She reflects on the surprising place where hope is often found--in the messiness of our imperfect, flawed, beautiful human bodies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guest, Princeton Seminary professor Keri Day, talks about her recent book, Notes of a Native Daughter. In it, she challenges the norms and assumptions of theological education and invites readers to a revolutionary hope. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices