The Habit

Mitali Perkins has been a nominee for the National Book Award. She was born in India, but has lived all over the world. So it comes as no surprise that her books for young readers all explore the crossing of borders of one kind or another. Her newest book, Bare Tree and Little Wind , is a picture book that tells the story of Holy Week. In 2021, she published her first nonfiction book for adults, S...

Tom Douglas is a country songwriting legend and a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. He recently released a movie—a one-man show called Love, Tom: A Letter of Hope to a Desperate World , streaming on Paramount Plus. It's a beautiful, wise, and honest meditation on the creative process. In this episode, Tom Douglas and Jonathan Rogers talk about harnessing hurt and rejecting id...

Jessica Hooten Wilson is the Louise Cowan Scholar in Residence at the University of Dallas. She has written books about Flannery O’Connor, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Walker Percy, and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Her most recent book is The Scandal of Holiness: Renewing Your Imagination in the Company of Literary Saints . In this episode, Dr. Wilson and Jonathan Rogers talk about the ways that reading g...

This week on The Habit Podcast, Jonathan Rogers talks with author and pastor Russ Ramsey. Russ is a pastor in the Nashville area, a masterful storyteller, and Jonathan’s go-to resource for all art-related questions. His love of art and story come together in his new book, Rembrandt Is In the Wind: Learning to Love Art Through the Eyes of Faith . It’s an art history book, but more impor...

Caroline Cobb is a singer-songwriter from Texas. In 2011, she decided to write a song for every book of the Bible in one year. That ambitious goal set her on a path that she’s still on, more than ten years later. She has said, “That year, I discovered that I love writing songs from the Bible: delving into a passage, putting myself in each character’s shoes, trying to understand h...

This week on The Habit Podcast, we invite you to listen in on a conversation between poet Dana Gioia, former Poet Laureate of California and former head of the National Endowment for the Arts, and Cherie Harder, President of The Trinity Forum. They discuss the ways that poetry works as a kind of enchantment, creating a state of heightened consciousness and heightened receptivity, and Dana Gioia ma...

Curt Thompson is a psychiatrist and founder of Being Known, an organization that develops resources for hope and healing at the intersection of neuroscience and Christian spiritual formation. His books include The Soul of Shame and The Soul of Desire . In this episode, Curt and Jonathan Rogers discuss the left brain and the right brain, the power of beauty to awaken us to goodness and truth, and A...

Christie Purifoy is a writer and gardener committed to growing flowers and growing community and cultivating beauty. Her newest book is Garden Maker: Growing a Life of Beauty and Wonder with Flowers . She’s also the host of the Black Barn Garden Club , an online community for aspiring gardeners. Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/member See omnystudio.com/listener for pri...

Dorena Williamson is an author, a bridge-builder, a speaker, and a co-planter of a multi-racial church that has been doing beautiful work in Nashville for 25 years. Her most recent picture book, Crowned with Glory , is an ode to Black hair and Black girl joy. In this episode, Dorena and Jonathan Rogers talk about representation, writing the books you want to read, and the perils of "color-blindnes...

Activist and author Lisa Sharon Harper spent three decades researching ten generations of her family’s story through DNA research, oral histories, interviews and genealogical records. That research is the basis of her new book, Fortune: How Race Broke My Family and the World—and How to Repair It . In this episode, Lisa Sharon Harper and Jonathan  Rogers discuss truth-seeking, trut...

Philip Yancey has written more than 25 books, including What’s so Amazing about Grace, Disappointment with God, Where is God When It Hurts, and The Jesus I Never Knew . His most recent book, from 2021, is his memoir Where the Light Fell . In this episode, Philip Yancey and Jonathan Rogers discuss the complex interactions between identity, memory, and memoir, and the journey from fear to...

David French is a political and cultural commentator and senior editor at The Dispatch . He’s a contributing writer at The Atlantic Monthly and the author of several books, including Divided We Fall: America’s Secession Threat and How to Restore Our Nation  as well as the French Press  newsletter. He’s the co-host—with Curtis Chang—of the new podcast, Good F...

Kelly Kapic is a professor of theology at Covenant College. His most recent book is You're Only Human: How Your Limits Reflect God's Design and Why That's Good News . In this episode, Dr. Kapic and Jonathan Rogers discuss productivity shame, gratitude, and the truth that finitude is not a sin. Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/member See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy inf...

Amy Baik Lee writes essays and short memoirs for The Cultivating Project and on her own blog, A Homeward Life . She is also the co-director of the Arts Guild of The Anselm Society . In this episode, Amy and Jonathan Rogers talk about the discipline of noticing small splendors, the ways that art reminds recipients that they mean something to someone, and the ways that time and distance unpack our m...

It's a new year, and a new season of The Habit Podcast. if you are looking to form better habits, heed Justin Whitmel Earley, author of The Common Rule: Habits of Purpose in an Age of Distraction . His most recent book is Habits of the Household: Practicing the Story of God in Everyday Family Rhythms . The new theme music for Season 4 of The Habit Podcast is Drew Miller's song "Grace." Support the...

John Cal is a celebrity chef—at least among those who have participated in the Rabbit Room's Hutchmoot gathering in the past few years. His food-related essay/orations are a Hutchmoot highlight. In this final Habit Podcast episode of 2021, John Cal and Jonathan Rogers talk about feasting, fellowship, and other pleasures relevant to the Christmas season. Support the show: https://therabbitroo...

Shawn Smucker has published five novels in the last five years—most recently, The Weight of Memory . He has also co-written some thirty books. Shawn and his wife Maile Silva coach, teach, and encourage other writers in a creative community they call The Stories Between Us . They host a podcast of the same name. In this episode, Shawn Smucker and Jonathan Rogers discuss revision, point of vie...

Daniel Grothe is a pastor, a rancher, and the author of The Power of Place: Choosing Stability in a Rootless Age . In this episode, Daniel Grothe and Jonathan Rogers talk about embracing obligation, the value of thinking small, and the possibility that God is a materialist. Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/member See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jill Phillips is a singer-songwriter and the star of the Gullahorn Happy Hour along with her husband, Andy Gullahorn. She’s also a Marriage and Family Therapist . Jill will soon be releasing a new album called Deeper Into Love , a collection of songs that take a journey through grief, healing, and redemption. In this episode, Jill and Jonathan talk about the gap between the truth and how it...

Carolyn Leiloglou writes books for children. Her picture book Library's Most Wanted was a 2021 WILLA Award Finalist. She was also a 2018 finalist for the Katherine Paterson Prize. Her poems and stories have appeared in children's magazines around the world, including Highlights, Ladybug, Cricket, and Clubhouse Jr . In this episode, Carolyn and Jonathan discuss rule-following, characters who take t...

Memoirist Carolyn Weber is the author of Surprised by Oxford and Sex and the City of God . This conversation between Dr. Weber and Jonathan Rogers was recorded in front of a live audience at New College Franklin, where Dr. Weber is a professor. They discuss St. Augustine, spiritual memoir, and the idea that "selection is the hardest part of creation." Support the show: https://therabbitroom.giving...

Elizabeth Harwell's new book is The Good King's Feast—An Invitation to the Lord's Table . It's a picture book that helps children understand Communion. In this episode, Elizabeth and Jonathan Rogers discuss writing for children and what it means to invite them into a story that they are already a part of. Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/member See omnystudio.com/listen...

Luci Shaw is one of the great living Christian poets. She has been a pioneer and a role model for generations of other writers. Her poem, "The 'O' in Hope" has become a picture book illustrated by Ned Bustard. In this episode, Luci and Ned speak with Jonathan Rogers about generativity, metaphor, the changes in Christians' attitudes toward art and creativity in recent decades, and other matters. Su...

Hannah Hubin is a writer, poet, lyricist, and the originator of All the Wrecked Light , a stage show that explores Psalm 90 through song and spoken poetry. In this episode, Hannah and Jonathan discuss collaboration as a way of reaching beyond one's own limits and what it means to pray, "Establish the work of our hands." Hannah is in the middle of a Kickstarter campaign to produce a studio album of...

Dave Barnes is a singer-songwriter, a standup comedian, and a cohost of the Dadville podcast . This episode, the 2021 finale of the Sad Stories Told for Laughs series, was originally released in video form as part of the Rabbit Room's onllne conference, Hutchmoot: Homebound. In this episode, Dave talks about awkward radio promotions, disastrous shows, and doing standup comedy for patrons who thoug...