The Plunge with Derek Holser

"He moves in the dry chaff among the dust and slats of sunlight with a constrained truculence. Saxon and Celtic bloods. A child of God much like yourself perhaps."       Today's episode is a singular one, for a singular writer. This is a conversation about Cormac McCarthy, and his novel Child of God. This novel explores the uttermost depravity of humanity, and wrestles with the idea that "perhaps"...

Today's episode flips the script. Turns the tables. I recently sat down with David Bates, host of Pints with Jack, a popular YouTube channel featuring C.S. Lewis and all things Inklings.        We chatted about why I started the Plunge and how I came to explore Owen Barfield.        I hope you'll enjoy this guest episode, and subscribe to https://www.youtube.com/@PintsWithJack       ⸻ 📲 Connect w...

Welcome to Episode Seven in The Human Series: Season One. Today's guest is Bethany Dearborn Hiser.       Bethany currently works as the Director of Soul Care for Northwest Family Life, a network of therapists trained to work with survivors of domestic violence and sexual trauma. As a bilingual social worker, chaplain, and pastoral advocate, Bethany has worked in a variety of ministry and social se...

Welcome to Episode Six of The Human Series. Today's conversation features Justin Bryeans, a dear friend and a kindred spirit.     Justin Bryeans is a southern boy at home in the great Pacific Northwest. He spends his days as a pastor and spiritual director, and is graced by the long haul companionship of his wife Hannah (married 29 years) and the joy of bearing witness to his four children as they...

Welcome to Episode Five of The Human Series. I continue my conversation with Dr. Donald A. Lichi entitled: "The Soul of Psychology, 2."     Dr. Don is a licensed psychologist in Ohio and is Vice President Emeritus of Emerge Counseling Ministries where he served for over 30 years. Dr. Don is a frequent speaker at both sacred and secular conferences and seminars across the country.      He is a seas...

Welcome to Episode Four of The Human Series. I'm joined by Dr. Donald A. Lichi for "The Soul of Psychology, 1."     Dr. Don is a licensed psychologist in Ohio and is Vice President Emeritus of Emerge Counseling Ministries where he served for over 30 years. Dr. Don is a frequent speaker at both sacred and secular conferences and seminars across the country.      He is a seasoned clinician with year...

Welcome to Episode Three of The Human Series: Radical Acceptance.     Today's guest is Dr. Heather Huckett, a psychotherapist with a PhD in Clinical Sexology, a Licensed Couple and Family Therapist, and an AASECT-certified Sex Therapist.      Dr. Huckett specializes in addressing sexual health within the context of identity, relationships, and individual well-being. As co-owner of Kaiun Wellness o...

Welcome to Episode Two of The Human Series: Lifespan Integration and Restoration.       Today's guest is Sarah Kardelen (she/her), a licensed mental health counselor and founder of Tapestry Therapy. She is passionate about individual and collective liberation, and desires that people experience safety and healing so that they can come to their authentic selves and experience life-giving relationsh...

Welcome to Episode One of The Human Series: Formation, Identity, Intimacy, and Sexuality.        Today's guest is Margaret Fay, a Licensed Professional Counselor and National Certified Counselor based in St. Louis, Missouri, with a practice rooted in the integration of mind, body, and spirit. Since 2014, she has guided adolescents and adults through anxiety, trauma, and life transitions using appr...

Welcome to the final episode in our series George MacDonald for Every Generation.     Joining me today is Stephanie Staples, a Nashville based singer-songwriter. Stephanie has spent over half of her life writing, recording and sharing her songs all over the world.      She has recorded ten full-length records and multiple EP's. Stephanie's studio albums tell part of her story but it is in her live...

Welcome to Episode Seven in our series George MacDonald for Every Generation. Joining me is a father-daughter duo: Erik Ritschard and Jenni Cannariato. We discuss growing up in a MacDonald-enriched household, and the power of the legacy of a healthy an loving image of our heavenly father.      Erik is a lifetime educator who's taught "just about every subject offered." Now Head of Schools at Grace...

Welcome to Episode 6 in our series George MacDonald for Every Generation, Aging & Death with Kerry Dearborn. This episode is dedicated to my father, Neil Holser, who passed away on June 18, 2025. Kerry Dearborn is the very grateful wife of Tim Dearborn, mother of three amazing daughters, Alison, Andrea, and Bethany, mother-in-law of their wonderful husbands, and grandmother of their 8 delightf...

Welcome to Episode Five in our series George MacDonald for Every Generation.      Today's episode features Dr. Kirstin Jeffrey Johnson, renowned George MacDonald scholar, and in my estimation, the living embodiment of Hospitality, Community, & Ecology.      Kirstin is a Georeg MacDonald scholar who lives on a farm in the Ottawa Valley, Canada. She writes and lectures internationally on MacDona...

Welcome to Episode Four of our series, George MacDonald for Every Generation.     Today's episode is entitled "George MacDonald, Matchmaker". That's right, my guests today, Jenni and Thomas Cannariato, began dating and were later married as a direct result of George MacDonald!     Jenni and Thomas share this story and many more, as we discuss courtship, marriage, and raising young children in ligh...

Welcome to Episode 3 in our series George MacDonald for Every Generation.     This episode features a new friend to the Plunge, Amanda B. Vernon. Amanda is winsom, jolly, hopeful, and quite learned. We discuss the transition of young adults to discovering their vocation, purpose and meaning in life. In particular, how young people today are moving toward what she calls the beginning of the end of...

Welcome to Episode Two in our series George MacDonald for Every Generation. This episode focuses on the journey every one takes from childhood to early adulthood.      Joining me today is Bret van den Brink. Bret is an MA (and future PhD) student in English at the University of Toronto. He completed his BA at Trinity Western University, where he twice received its C.S. Lewis and Friends Scholarshi...

Welcome to Episode One in our series George MacDonald for Every Generation. This episode features Julie Canlis and Leah Holser.     Today's conversation reviews George MacDonald's background and his own experience within a community that embraced Federal Calvinism, a very strong and austere derivative of Calvinism. We explore how MacDonald gently resisted some of these ideas, and how his imaginati...

Welcome to episode two of two featuring Jordan Daniel Wood, Assistant Professor of Theology at Belmont University.     In this conversation, Jordan and I conclude our discussion of Time and Trauma and the work of the Incarnation in his to-be-published essay: The End of Trauma: The Patristic Doctrine of Deification and Trauma Theory.   Jordan holds an M.A. from St. Louis University and a Ph. D. fro...

Welcome to episode one of two, featuring Jordan Daniel Wood, Assistant Professor of Theology at Belmont University.     In this conversation, Jordan and I discuss Time and Trauma in light of his to-be-published essay, The End of Trauma: The Patristic Doctrine of Deification and Trauma Theory.     Jordan holds an M.A. from St. Louis University and a Ph. D. from Boston College, both in Historical Th...

Welcome to the final episode in our 12-part series on Owen Barfield: The First and Last Inkling.     Today's episode is short and sweet. It's just a few of my reflections on what I learned in conversations about the magnificent Owen Barfield. As well as an admonition to take risks, swing big, and be relentlessly curious!     Connect with Derek: X: https://X.com/derekholser TikTok: https://www.tikt...

Welcome to episode eleven in our twelve part series on Owen Barfield: The First & Last Inkling.      Today's episode features a conversation with Landon Loftin, PhD, professor at Gravitas: A Global Extension of The Stony Brook School.     Landon and I discuss Barfield and C.S. Lewis's infamous "The Great War" and Barfield's instrumental role in helping create the Society for the Protection of...

Welcome to the tenth episode in our twelve part series on Owen Barfield: The First and Last Inkling.     Today's conversation features Jeffrey Hipolito.  Jeffrey is an independent scholars from Seattle.     Jeffrey and I discuss Barfield's Anthroposophical vision, his relationship with the ideas of many thinkers, his dedication to the heritage of Romanticism, and life and meaning in a world with "...

Welcome to episode nine in our twelve epiose series on Owen Barfield: The First & Last Inkling.     Today's conversation features Stephen Dunning, PhD. We discuss Charles Williams, perception, consciousness, love, romance, and a host of philosophical insights and literary figures.     Stephen is a writer of fiction. His new series, The Perilous Times Saga, was recently published, with book one...

Welcome to episode eight in our twelve episode series on Owen Barfield: The First & Last Inkling.     Today's episode features Laura Van Dyke, PhD. Laura teaches in the Department of English and Creative Writing at Trinity Western University in Langley, B.C. Her interests are in the environmental humanities, 20th-century British and Canadian literature, and the writings of the Inklings. She he...

Welcome to episode seven in our twelve episode series on Owen Barfield: The First & Last Inkling.     Today's episode features Nate Hile, creator and curator of Grail Country, a popular YouTube and Substack channel.  https://www.youtube.com/@grailcountry https://grailcountry.substack.com/     Our conversation dives into such luminaries as Kurt Cobain, Valentin Tomberg, Emil Bock, Bernardo Kast...