Old Books with Grace

Today, the poet and professor Mischa Willett joins Grace to discuss the Romantic era of literature and one of its greatest writers in particular: Samuel Taylor Coleridge. For Philip James Bailey's Festus: https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-philip-james-bailey-festus.html Mischa Willett is the author of several poetry books, including the forthcoming This Gift Card Has Already Been Redeemed....

Today is the last installment of this year's Lent series. Grace welcomes Dr. Abram Van Engen to discuss all things George Herbert, much to her delight (a bit of fangirling over Herbert is always in order). They focus on the beautiful, dense, multilayered poem "The Altar." Abram Van Engen is Stanley Elkin Professor in the Humanities, Chair of the English Department, and Professor of Religion and Po...

In the latest installment of the Lent series, Grace welcomes Amy Baik Lee to discuss the poignant Sonnet 19 by the great John Milton. When I consider how my light is spent,    Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,    And that one Talent which is death to hide    Lodged with me useless, though my Soul more bent To serve therewith my Maker, and present    My true account, lest he returning...

Today, Grace welcomes professor and author David Taylor in this installment of the Lenten poetry series. They talk about the great nineteenth-century poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and in particular, his masterpiece “The Wreck of the Deutschland.”  W. David O. Taylor is Associate Professor of Theology & Culture at Fuller Theological Seminary and the author of ten books, including Open and Unafra...

Grace is delighted to kick off this year’s Lent series. Every other week during Lent Grace will have a guest who has chosen a Lenten-themed poem to share. Today, though, is just a little meditative beginning with three Middle English poems, text below, translations by Grace Hamman.  Westminster Abbey MS 27 (175 in Carleton Brown's XVth Century Lyrics) Wise men bene but scorned, & wedows eke fo...

Today, Grace chats with the poet Paul Pastor on another poet, the revolutionary thinker and artist William Blake.  Paul J. Pastor is Executive Editor of Nelson Books at HarperCollins, an essayist, critic, and poet, writer of The Rose Fire on Substack, and author of several books, most recently The Locust Years: Poems, from Wiseblood Books. He lives in Oregon.  Grace is going to take a sabbatical f...

Today Grace welcomes Elizabeth Oldfield to recast these ancient ideas of vices and virtues into contemporary language. Why should we care about these ancient and sometimes worn-thin concepts? How can they speak to our world today--even if that world does not believe the same things as the church believes? Elizabeth Oldfield is the author of Fully Alive: Tending to the Soul in Turbulent Times. She...

Today, Grace welcomes author Lisa Colón DeLay to discuss the fascinating ancient Christians that we now call the Desert Fathers and Mothers. People like Evagrius, Amma Theodora, St. Moses the Black, St. Anthony the Great, and many others offer deep wisdom in their own time and to us today. Lisa Colón DeLay is the author of The Wild Land Within and has an MA in spiritual formation. She writes, teac...

This week, Grace welcomes her dear friend from graduate school, fellow medievalist Dr. Jessica D. Ward, to discuss one of their favorites: Geoffrey Chaucer, author of the great Canterbury Tales! Come for Middle English, discussions of why Chaucer deserves his reputation, and continuing discussion of the backgrounds in Grace's new book, Ask of Old Paths, as Grace and Jessica discuss their mutual in...

Grace invites on one of her heroes (!), Professor Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung, professor of medieval philosophy and author of Glittering Vices. They talk Aquinas, vices, Jane Austen, and more in this delightful conversation.  Rebecca DeYoung (Ph. D. University of Notre Dame) has enjoyed teaching ethics and the history of ancient and medieval philosophy at Calvin College for over 20 years.  Her resear...

Welcome to season six of Old Books with Grace! Today, the tables are turned. Grace welcomes her very own husband, the wonderfully handsome, talented, and clever structural engineer, Scott Hamman, to interview her on her new book, Ask of Old Paths: Medieval Virtues & Vices for a Whole & Holy Life. This episode kicks off a lovely series on virtues and vices this fall featuring many wonderful...

In today's episode, Grace welcomes Dr. Daniel McInerney to think about some big questions: what is the relationship between beauty and art? Art and imitation? This conversation ranges from Aristotle to Austen in its exploration of literary, visual, and dramatic art. Daniel McInerny is associate professor and chair of the philosophy department at Christendom College in Front Royal, Virginia. Daniel...

Welcome to Old Books with Grace! Today marks the final episode in the Old Books with Grace Lent Series, on T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets. Today we read Little Gidding as poet and editor Lisa Ampleman joins Grace for a thoughtful conversation. Lisa Ampleman is the author of a chapbook and three full-length books of poetry, most recently Mom in Space (2024) and Romances (2020), both with LSU Press. Her...

Welcome to Old Books with Grace! Today marks the third episode in the Old Books with Grace Lent Series, on T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets. Today we read The Dry Salvages as poet and editor Andy Patton joins Grace for a lively discussion. Andy Patton is the creator of the  Darkling Psalter , a collection of creative renditions of the Psalms. He holds an M.A. in theology from Trinity Evangelical Divinit...

Lent is a time of repentance, reflection, and reconciliation. These are actions that happen in time, facilitated by memory and love. So even though we, as followers of Christ, repent, reflect, and reconcile year-round, one hopes, we set aside a time to especially do so, to be as intentional as we can, to pay special attention to our blessed limitations as creatures of God. It is easy to let these...

Welcome to Old Books with Grace! Today is Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent 2025. And today begins the Old Books with Grace Lent Series, on T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets. Lent is a time of repentance, reflection, and reconciliation. These are actions that happen in time, facilitated by memory and love. So even though we, as followers of Christ, repent, reflect, and reconcile year-round, one hopes, we...

Zwingli is one of those names that floats around the ether--but in comparison to his more famous reforming counterparts, like Luther or Calvin, he doesn't get brought up much. Grace welcomes author and professor Stephen Eccher to discuss this radical reformer and his sixteenth-century impact.  Stephen Brett Eccher  is Associate Professor of Church History and Reformation Studies at Southeastern Ba...

In this episode Grace welcomes editor, writer, and reader Susannah Black Roberts to discuss one of their mutual favorites: the Victorian novelist Anthony Trollope. George Eliot loved him. Henry James hated him. What are we to think of this wordy man?  Susannah Black Roberts is senior editor at Plough. She is a native Manhattanite. She and her husband, the theologian Alastair Roberts, split their t...

Welcome to this week's episode in the Advent 2024 series, each featuring a sermon from the past. Last week we longed for the Second Coming of Jesus with Sojourner Truth, this week we long for Jesus's mercy in our hearts right now, with the seventeenth-century Anglican cleric and metaphysical poet, John Donne, in portions of a sermon preached on Christmas Day, 1624. Support Old Books with Grace by...

Welcome to this week’s episode in the Advent 2024 series, each featuring a sermon from the past. Last week we longed for the historical arrival of the Christ Child with Bernard of Clairvaux. Today, we long for Jesus’s Second Coming with the nineteenth-century preacher, activist, and prophet, Sojourner Truth.    Read Sojourner Truth’s narrative of her life.   Support Old Books with Grace.  

Welcome to the first Advent episode of 2024 in Old Books with Grace! In this series, Grace introduces a thinker and a sermon of the past. Each week will focus on one of the advents, comings, arrivals of Jesus Christ: the first, historical coming in Bethlehem; the second coming in the Last Judgment; the present advent of His presence in our hearts. This week is St. Bernard of Clairvaux, on flowers...

Today Grace welcomes Dr. Erin Risch Zoutendam to talk about how medieval and early modern people were reading and encountering scripture. Highlights include Augustine, Bernard of Clairvaux, and Julian of Norwich! Erin Risch Zoutendam received her PhD from Duke University. Her research examines how late medieval and early modern biblical hermeneutics shaped Christian conceptions of mystical contemp...

In this episode, Grace welcomes historical fiction writer Amy Mantravadi to discuss the Reformers, just in time for Reformation Day! As a medievalist, Grace always has some complex feelings for Martin Luther and company, but Amy brings knowledge and enthusiasm to this conversation about these fascinating sixteenth-century folk, as well as the role of historical fiction in our learning, in our disc...

In today’s episode, Grace welcomes her friend, Shannon K. Evans, to chat about that fascinating group of people that the church today often calls the mystics. They consider the spirituality of women like St. Teresa of Avila, Margery Kempe, St. Catherine of Siena, and more and what they offer the present-day lovers of God. Shannon K. Evans is the author of The Mystics Would Like a Word, Feminist Pr...

Today, Grace chats with Dr. Thomas M. Ward about the challenging Scottish philosopher and theologian, Blessed John Duns Scotus. He is also the very unfair origin of the word “dunce”! This is ironic when thinking about one of the most complex, subtle scholastic theologians of the Middle Ages.  Thomas M. Ward is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He specializes in...