This episode kicks off the "Hometown Stories" summer series. As the name suggests, this  series features stories from writers' hometowns. In this episode: Jonathan Rogers on Warner Robins, Georgia Anna Eastland on New Denver, British Columbia Jana Shirk on the Finger Lakes region of New York Elizabeth Harwell on Murray, Kentucky This episode features writers from The Habit Membership.Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/memberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For nearly twenty years, Ben Shive has been producing and collaborating with musicians including (but not limited to) JJ Heller, Colony House, Ellie Holcombe, Dave Barnes, The Gray Havens, Andrew Peterson, Melanie Penn, Randall Goodgame, Sandra McCracken, Jill Phillips, and Keith and Kristyn Getty. He recently signed on as a writer for Getty Music. Ben sat down to talk with Jonathan Rogers about hymn-writing and the  benefits and frustrations of limits.Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/memberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

K. B. Hoyle is a writer of many genres and talents. She’s the author of the teen fantasy series, The Gateway Chronicles, and the adult dystopian series, The Breeder Cycle. She has also done fairytale retelling and science-fiction fantasy. She’s a columnist and staff writer at Christ and Pop Culture, and she is the cofounder, CEO, and acquisitions editor of Owl's Nest Publishers, an independent press specializing in books for adolescents. In this episode, KB (Karin) Hoyle and Jonathan Rogers talk about the ways our cultural narratives act on us individually and in society as a whole. And we talk about stories that woo rather than argue.Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/memberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Arthur Boers’s new memoir is Shattered: A Son Picks up the Pieces of His Father’s Rage. In it he reflects on coming of age in an immigrant family scarred by violence. In this episode, Arthur Boers and Jonathan Rogers talk about breaking family codes of silence, living with ambiguity while still taking a clear moral position, and beach glass.Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/memberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Claude Atcho is a pastor in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the author of Reading Black Books: How African American Literature Can Make Our Faith More Whole and Just. As Josh Larsen has said, this work of Christian literary criticism is written "with the passion of a book lover and the urgency of a preacher." In this episode, Claude Atcho and Jonathan Rogers visit some of the great works of twentieth century Black literature. They talk about a kind of theological reading that goes well beyond empathy. They also discuss what it means to acknowledge the image of God in another person—among other things.Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/memberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr. Elissa Yukiko Weichbrodt is associate professor of art and art history at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia. Her new book is Redeeming Vision: A Christian Guide to Looking at and Learning From Art. In this episode, Dr. Weichbrodt and Jonathan Rogers talk about embodied vision, loving vision, and transforming vision, as well as the importance of paying attention to what you see before making claims about what you think.Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/memberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Alan Noble is associate professor of English at Oklahoma Baptist University. He’s co-founder and editor in chief of Christ and Pop Culture, and an advisor for the AND campaign. He has written for The Atlantic, Vox, BuzzFeed, The Gospel Coalition, Christianity Today, and First Things. His new book is On Getting Out of Bed: The Burden and Gift of Living. It’s a book about mental suffering, whether diagnosed, undiagnosed, or undiagnosable.  This episode is brought to you by Writing with Flannery O'Connor, a six-week online creative writing course by Jonathan Rogers. The class starts April 25. Find out more at TheHabit.co/Flannery.Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/memberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ashlee Gadd is the founder of Coffee + Crumbs, a website, podcast, and newsletter devoted to encouraging mothers through storytelling. Her new book is Create Anyway: The Joy of Pursuing Creativity in the Margins of Motherhood. In this episode, Ashlee and Jonathan Rogers talk about the ways that creativity and motherhood, instead of being opposing forces, can actually complement one another. They talk about the need for mothers to know that they have permission to do creative work. And they talk about the creativity of children.Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/memberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

W. David O. Taylor is Associate Professor of Theology and Culture at Fuller Theological Seminary and the author of several books. His most recent book is A Body of Praise: Understanding the Role of Our Physical Bodies in Worship.  In addition to a range of scholarly essays, he has written for The Washington Post, Image Journal, Religion News Service, Theology Today, and Books & Culture, among other publications. An Anglican priest, he has lectured widely on the arts, all over the world. In 2016 he produced a short film on the psalms with Bono and Eugene Peterson. In this episode, David and Jonathan Rogers talk about the ways that the arts invite us to inhabit our bodies and, through them, to get a grasp of the world. We talk about what happens when we start to take scriptural and theological  language of the five senses  literally as well as metaphorically. And David tells us what the words entrainment and interactional synchrony mean.Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/memberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jessica Hooten Wilson is the Seaver College Scholar of Liberal Arts at Pepperdine University. She is the author of many books, the most recent of which is Reading for the Love of God: How to Read as a Spiritual Practice. In this episode, Dr. Hooten Wilson and Jonathan Rogers talk about the difference between using a book and enjoying a book; they discuss a trinitarian vision of reading; they discuss literal, figurative, moral, and anagogical meanings of a text. Also, they talk about Julian of Norwich.  The Habit Podcast is brought to you by The Habit Membership. Find out more at TheHabit.co.Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/memberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.