STRONGWILLED

Link to her biography and faculty page here.Buy her incredibly detailed, thoughtful, academic book Re-Enchanted: The Rise of Children’s Fantasy Literature in the Twentieth CenturyQuestions to consider when reading books like The Chronicles of Narnia:What are these stories, what are they doing, and how did they become so ingrained in American culture? How do these stories both aliant people and enchant them at the same time? How do we re-evaluate classics? How can we get better at interrogating what are classics?Cecire on experiencing “the moment” when she realized she didn’t see herself represented in fantasy stories: “I looked in the mirror and it hit me like a ton of bricks: I would never be a blonde-haired blue-eyed fairy tale princess and that those stories were just not about me.”Tolkein and Lewis were anti-modernists, and they were able to overhaul the English curriculum at Oxford to focus on the middle ages--choices that had ripple effects for generations. Second wave of the oxford school of children’s literature includes people like Susan Cooper (Dark is Rising) Diana Wynn Jones (Howl’s Moving Castle), Phillip Pullman (His Dark Materials), Kevin Crossly Holland (Arthur Trilogy)--and influenced people like J.K. Rowling. Thanks to Lewis and his curriculum developed at Oxford we have seen a major push in Children’s Fantasy Writing-- all about Arthurian Legends, Medieval texts,and reworking them for the 20th writing. These books are serious about the magic, but incredibly Northern Euro-centric. Peoples of Africa descending from Ham. (28:00) -- this comes directly from Christianity“I am an academic so I think visiting, rereading, and thinking about books in general is a good thing . . . Remember that humans are complicated and our artistic productions are complicated.” (30:38)You can identify pleasures or desires in your life that you would not like to carry forward.Cecire references authors Nnedi Okorafor and the Binti series, N.K. Jemisin and Saladin Ahmend Throne of the crescent moon as different narratives to contrast with Lewis/The Horse and His Boy.D.L. mentions reading Birchbark House series in conjunction with the Little House books to her daughter. Read her essay on it here. Rhodes must fall (39:40)Twitter: https://twitter.com/mscecireWebsite: https://mariacecire.wordpress.com/American Library Association Great Stories Club

Welcome to Season 5 of The Prophetic Imagination Station Podcast: The Lion, The Witch, and The Evangelicals. In this episode Krispin and D.L. discuss what the chronicles of Narnia is, a bit about Lewis’ background when he was writing the books, and their own experiences growing up evangelical and reading them.For a good overview of the seven books in the Chronicles of Narnia, go here. The main biographies D.L. read to prepare for this season were The Narnian by Alan Jacobs (someone who unabashedly loves Lewis and writes his bio accordingly), and The Magician’s Book: A Skeptic’s Adventures in Narnia by Laura Miller (who writes as a non-Christian about her love for the books). Fake CS Lewis quotes are everywhere! If you find any good ones, please send them to us at propheticimaginationstation@gmail.com so we can use them in upcoming “My Dear Wormwood” segments.According to this site, less than 5% of people in England attend church services regularly (and this was before Brexit!). Click here to buy The Myth of the American Dream where D.L. mentions C.S. Lewis four times!!!Come join us on Patreon for as little as $1.50 a month and hear our monthly patreon-only podcasts and join our Facebook group! Stay tuned for next week, when we interview Maria Sachiko Cecire, professor of literature at Bard college and the author of Re-Enchanted (an excellent book!). 

Starting September 14, we will launch into a series on The Chronicles of Narnia, interviewing several experts and also discussing our own experiences with this series. We're asking why American evangelicals resonated so deeply with an author who was neither American, nor evangelical - and what still enchants us about this series today.

We decided to make our Patreon-only episode available for everyone this month to get a sense of what our episodes are like. We dissect one piece of evangelical media each month - prior months have been Focus on the Family's Brio Magazine and WOW 1999, as well as others. This month We discuss a 1970's Christian claymation cartoon - Davy and Goliath, and the topic is racism.Watch Davy & Goliath: Blind Man's BluffWatch Phil Vischer's video on Race in AmericaIn this episode we reference:I Bring the Voices of My People by Dr. Chanequa Walker-Barnes,The Color of Compromise by Jemar TisbyDivided by Faith by Emerson & Smith.

Krispin and Danielle reflect on the past season of Frank Peretti's America.TW: We discuss sexual abuse.Check out Danielle's new book, The Myth of the American Dream! We mention in the episode.And don't miss our discussion of WOW 1999 on our patreon-only podcast.

Krispin talks with Connie Baker about the psychology of why churches end up protecting abusers and discrediting those who speak up about abuse. She is the author of Traumatized by Religious Abuse and facilitates a facebook group with 500+ members about religious abuse.

Leah Payne a professor of Christian studies at George Fox University, author of Gender and Pentecostal Revivalism: Making a Female Ministry in the Early Twentieth Century and co-host for The Weird Religion Podcast. We talked with her about pentacolism in the broader history of the church and how Peretti’s book led the way for traditions that had previously been disregarded to make a big impact on American evangelicalism.

Joshua Pease is a pastor, author, and journalist, and all-around smart guy. In this interview, we focus mainly on his work in regards to conspiracy theories and abuse within evangelical churches.Note for those listening, there is some discussion of sensitive topics, including abuse. RAINN is a great resource for sexual abuse survivors, including live chat and phone options for support.Here is his piece on conspiracy theories and why our brains love them for Popular Mechanics. 5 min: Brief mention of Janette Oke. For those who aren’t familiar, she is the woman who brought us the whole Canadian Christian mountie romance trope. It’s a real thing! 9:20: “Our brains want both suspicion and they want simplicity; and that’s problematic because life gives us a lot of reasons to be afraid and life is also super complex. And so what we do is grab hold of shortcuts that make us feel better.”“We want a simple explanation for life, even if that explanation is kind of horrifying--it makes us feel better, because at least we know where the danger is.”15: “Conspiratorial thinking is 100 percent about trying to find safety, control, and simplicity in a world that is not that way.”33: Joshua’s article on narcissism is called Bill Gothard’s Fundementalist Trap for The New Republic. 

Welcome to a special quarantine edition of the Prophetic Imagination Station season 4: Frank Peretti’s imagination. Today we break up all the This Present Darkness talk to do a little deep dive into Carman--and specifically, the song Revival in the Land. Watch, and then listen to us jabber about it!Intro:Hi, we are going stir-crazy so we did a lip sync to Carman’s song Satan Bite the Dust. And you know what? It’s pretty good! (Here’s a link to the actual Carman approved video for Satan bite the Dust)12: jack chick Halloween tract21: yo kids/RIOT/25: Myth of the American Dream26: Mid faith crisis exile (episode 79)28: James Alison On Being Liked30: T-bone Demon Executor (the electric chair song)30: Krispin’s rap32: Todd Bently 44: sling bang boom (with Hanson!)45: Addicted 2 Jesus (with DC Talk!)

Brad Jersak is the author of several books, including Her Gates Will Never Be Shut and Incarnation & Inclusion, two of Krispin’s favorites. He’s appeared on many podcasts, this one with Jonathan Martin on Hell, Judgment & Atonement.Summing up what prayer is in This Present Darkness: “Our prayers were like the batteries that energized the angels”The title of the book comes from Ephesians 6:12: “For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (NRSV)9 min: Jersak mentions YWAM and Fuller Seminary teaching spiritual warfare/classes on signs and wonders. He also mentions Peter Wagner, John Wimber, and Chuck Kraft. Please click on the links for more information. On why horror movies and conspiracy theory books are popular: “We like to face our fears in the context of something we have control over.”16: D.L. mentions Todd Bentley, a charismatic preacher recently in the news again. Do you really want to go down this rabbit hole? OK, here you go. 35: Jersak mentions moralism in his book, A More Christlike Way.40: “The weapons of the world are force, and that’s not how Jesus came and overcame everything. He came to surrender to the will of his father.”50: Book recommendations on connecting to Jesus: Can You Hear me? Tuning in to the God who Speaks