The Habit

Drew Bratcher is a journalist and essayist whose work has appeared in Oxford American, Los Angeles Review of Books, Paris Review, Nowhere Magazine, Garden & Gun, and Image Journal. His debut book is Bub: Essays from North of Nashville. It combines memoir and arts criticism—particularly country music criticism. In this episode, Drew Bratcher and Jonathan Rogers talk about oral storytelling, jam sessions, and MFA programs, among other topics.Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/memberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rachel Marie Kang is the author of Let There Be Art: The Pleasure and Purpose of Unleashing the Creativity Within You. In this episode, Rachel and Jonathan Rogers discuss creative collisions, finding balance between art-making and other life-responsibilities, and creating right where you are.Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/memberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sean Dietrich is a blogger, a storyteller, a musician, a novelist, a memoirist, and a columnist. On his blog, Sean of the South, he posts a new story every day about the people and places of the American South. His new book is You Are My Sunshine: A Story of Love, Promises, and a Really Long Bike Ride. In this episode, Sean and Jonathan Rogers talk about paying attention, talking to strangers, and the unconventional path that took Sean to his work as a writer.Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/memberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Andrew Roycroft is a poet and pastor in Northern Ireland. His new collection, 33, consists of 33 poems, each 33 words long, meditating on the life and words of Jesus from the Gospel of John—plus 33 essays about the 33 poems. In this episode, Andrew and Jonathan Rogers talk about poetry's power to distill meaning, the poetic implications of John's idea of Logos made flesh, and Seamus Heaney.Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/memberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Audrey Elledge and Elizabeth Moore started writing liturgies and prayers for their local church in New York City as a way of helping their friends and co-congregants deal with the fear and isolation of the COVID-19 lockdowns in their city. Those liturgies grew to become their new book, Liturgies for Hope: Sixty Prayers for the Highs, the Lows, and Everything in Between. In this episode, Audrey and Elizabeth talk with Jonathan Rogers about the connections between poetry, prayer, and liturgy, and the connections between creative work, friendship, and community.Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/memberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

MaryAnn McKibben Dana is a writer, a free-range pastor, a speaker, and a leadership coach. Her most recent book is Hope: A User's Manual. MaryAnn embarked on this book as a way of writing herself back to hope after a grueling few years of life and world events. In this episode, MaryAnn and Jonathan talk about hope that is not predictive, the difference between hope and optimism, and the ways that hope orients us toward the good, not necessarily toward success.Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/memberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

James K.A. Smith is a philosopher and a professor at Calvin University. He is also the editor in chief of Image, a quarterly journal at the intersection of art, faith, and mystery.His work has been especially formative for me. His new book is How to Inhabit Time: Understanding the Past, Facing the Future, Living Faithfully Now. In this episode, Jamie Smith and I talk about Ecclesiastes, no-when-ness, and celebrating the truth that we are “thrown” into the world.Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/memberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Journalist Bonnie Kristian writes opinion pieces on foreign policy, religion, electoral politics, and more. Her column, "The Lesser Kingdom," appears in print and online at Christianity Today. She is a fellow at Defense Priorities, a foreign policy think tank, and her work has been published at outlets including The New York Times, The Week, USA Today, CNN, Politico, Reason, and The Daily Beast.  Her new book is Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community. She joined me to talk about epistemology, virtue, intellectual honesty, and the ways the internet has broken our brains.Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/memberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ron Block is the banjo player for Alison Krauss & Union Station and the author of Abiding Dependence: Moment by Moment in the Love of God. In this episode, Ron and Jonathan Rogers discuss finding one's true identity, repentance without negative self-talk, and getting free of the anxiety and fear that eat up processing power for a writer or artist.Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/memberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Katelyn Beaty is the author of Celebrities for Jesus: How Personas, Platforms, and Profits are Hurting the Church. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly called the book "a must-read for anyone invested in the fate of evangelicalism." In this episode, Katelyn and Jonathan Rogers talk about the difference between fame and celebrity, the need to challenge (and not mimic) celebrity culture, and the importance of embodied community in an ever more digitized world. Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/memberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.