Things Not Seen Podcast

Jon M. Sweeney introduces us to 36 ways to understand God through the wisdom of Saint Francis. Francis of Assisi was spiritual before anyone used that word, and he was religious in the best ways. We love him because he cut through the paraphernalia to get back to religion where it belongs: working in the human heart, making a difference in everyday life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit meg...

Our guest Kate Ott discusses her recent book, Sex, Tech, & Faith, inviting readers into a realistic conversation about ethics in the 21st century Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guest, Timothy Morton, argues that there is an unexpected yet profound relationship between religion and ecology that can guide a planet-scale response to the climate crisis. Spiritual and mystical feelings have a deep resonance with ecological thinking, and together they provide the resources environmentalism desperately needs in this time of climate emergency. We discuss his recent book, Hel...

Our guest, David W. Congdon tells the story of how 20th-century American Christians have repeatedly sought and failed to define and defend a "pure" form of Christianity. We discuss his recent book, Who Is a True Christian?: Contesting Religious Identity in American Culture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We welcome back to the show philosophers Jacob Goodson and Brad Elliott Stone to talk about their recent book, co-authored with Pastor Philip Rudolph Kuehnert, Building Beloved Community in a Wounded World Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guest, Daniel P. Horan, returns to Things Not Seen to talk about his recent book, Engaging Thomas Merton: Spirituality, Justice, and Racism. This important book is based on contemporary engagements with the work and legacy of Thomas Merton that highlight the enduring relevance of his thought in addressing the pressing concerns of our time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/a...

Looking through the lens of the biblical narrative of Esther, our guest Brenda Salter McNeil challenges Christians to recognize the pain in our world so they can work together to repair what is broken. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Popular speaker and award-winning author James K. A. Smith returns to our show to explain that we must reckon with the past in order to discern the present and have hope for the future. In his recent book, How to Inhabit Time, Smith brings together popular culture, biblical exposition, and meditation, he helps us develop a sense of "temporal awareness" that is attuned to the texture of history, th...

In his recent book,Thriving on a Riff, Presbyterian minister and jazz pianist Bill Carter introduces us to the spiritual worlds opened up by jazz music. From King David to Dave Brubeck, from the Psalms of Israel to John Coltrane's A Love Supreme, musicians help us glimpse the experience of music as communion with the Divine. Weaving together stories from the history of American music with his pers...

Award-winning journalist John Blake tells the story of his quest to reconcile with his white mother and the family he’d never met—and how faith brought them all together. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sr. Julia Walsh talks about her gripping spiritual memoir, For Love of the Broken Body, chronicling her journey through religious life and traumatic injury Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Veteran editor and author Jon Sweeney returns to Things Not Seen to talk about his most recent work, My Life in Seventeen Books: A Literary Memoir Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We are joined by Dr. Chanequa Walker-Barnes to discuss their recent book, Sacred Self-Care: Daily Practices for Nurturing Our Whole Selves. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guest, Anna Broadway, discusses her recent book, Solo Planet: How Singles Help the Church Recover Our Calling. Through its deeply researched account, Solo Planet shows how a more biblical approach to singleness can strengthen churches and empower singles to thrive. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guest, Julia Feder, discusses her recent book, Incarnating Grace: A Theology of Healing from Sexual Trauma. The book attempts to save our broken ways of talking about God's grace by unearthing liberating resources buried in the Christian tradition. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guest, Donna Freitas, talks about her recent book, Wishful Thinking: How I Lost My Faith, and Why I Want to Find It Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guest, Rabbi Shai Held, talks about his recent book: Judaism Is About Love: Recovering the Heart of Jewish Life. Held reminds us that love is foundational and constitutive of Jewish faith, animating the singular Jewish perspective on injustice and protest, grace, family life, responsibilities to our neighbors and even our enemies, and chosenness. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megapho...

Professor Miguel De La Torre returns to Things Not Seen to discuss his recent book, Resisting Apartheid America Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bill Cain is a Jesuit who has spent his life writing screenplays for movies and television. In his 2022 book, The Diary of Jesus Christ, he reimagines the stories of the Gospels from the point of view of Jesus himself, with breathtaking results Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guest Leah Payne traces forty years in the formation of American Evangelical identity through a mixture of Christian bookstores, Contemporary Christian Music, charismatic recording artists, and self-reinforcing product placements. We discuss her recent book, God Gave Rock and Roll to You: A History of Contemporary Christian Music Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guest Lisa Sharon Harper takes us on a four-century journey through the history of her family, showing us how it entwines with the broken history of race in America. She discusses her recent book, Fortune. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guest, Michael Wear, has lived at the intersection of faith and politics at the highest corridors of power. In his recent book, The Spirit of Our Politics, Wear offers a distinctly Christian approach to politics that results in healing rather than division, kindness rather than hatred, and hope rather than despair. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guest Mark Elsdon talks about the coming wave of church property transitions, and what it will mean for communities and faith at large in the United States. We talk about his recent edited volume, Gone for Good? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In his recent book, Reorganized Religion, our guest, veteran religion reporter Bob Smietana, offers an in-depth and critical look at why people are leaving American churches and what we lose as a society as it continues. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When celebrated American novelist and short story writer Flannery O'Connor died at the age of thirty-nine in 1964, she left behind an unfinished third novel titled Why Do the Heathen Rage? For the past ten-plus years, award-winning author Jessica Hooten Wilson has explored the 378 pages of typed and handwritten material of the novel, compiling everything to provide a glimpse into what O'Connor mig...