Believe to See

Photographer Elizabeth Bristol Clayton joins the table to talk all things photographry. She explains how to approach the world like a photographer, and how to plan a fine art piece. She even gives Matt and Mandy advice for taking iPhone pictures that actually look good.

Are short stories just tiny novels, or are they a whole different medium? Elizabeth Childs is the perfect author to ask. She's regularly publishing short stories while working on her novel. She joins the table to discuss the many ways that short stories differ from novels, and the qualities to look for in effective short stories.

Matt waxes poetic about two of his favorite things: detective fiction, and rules. Mandy and Elizabeth Childs join him in discussing how rules make detective fiction worth reading. They also explore the ways that rules can make any work of literature more effective.

Artists have to face rejection and failure all the time. Seriously: ALL. THE. TIME. Luckily, the hosts are all experts in getting their art rejected. They discuss the healthy ways to deal with failure, and the keys to distinguishing between helpful and unhelpful feedback. As an added bonus, they also put together a points system to calculate which Anselm member has scored the most "failure points."

What should we make of RPG's like Dungeons and Dragons? Are they an important storytelling vehicle, or a confusing waste of time? Dr. John Case Tompkins joins the table to dicuss. He's a PhD in English Literature, and an RPG super fan. He's also Evangeline's brother. Can he finally win his sister into the RPG community? Listen to find out!

Believe to See is back from its semi-intentional hiatus, and ready for more raucous conversations on the arts and faith. The hosts explain the podcast's new story-based emphasis, and analyze the stories that shaped them in the past year.

After making excuses for the semi-intentional hiatus, Matt explains the show's big plans for 2022.

Daniel Silliman is Chistianity Today's news editor. He joins the table to discuss his new book, Reading Evangelicals. This book explores evangelical identity by looking closely at five bestsellers--Love Comes Softly, This Present Darkness, Left Behind, The Shunning, and The Shack. Silliman discusses why these books resonated with so many evangelicals, and how they shaped American evangelicalism.

Steven Elmore is the President of the C.S. Lewis Foundation. He joins the table to talk all things Space Trilogy. He describes how Lewis drew influence from the science fiction of his time, and how he diverged from it. He also explains Lewis' unique conception of alien creatures, and how Merlin ends up in That Hideous Strength.

Mandi Hart is the President of Cave Pictures Publishing. She joins the table to talk about Cave Pictures' latest project: a graphic novel adaptation of George MacDonald's Phantastes. She discusses the enduring appeal of the fantasy classic, and the process of adapting it a century and a half later.