Imagination Redeemed

Your life probably doesn't feel like a great story. It feels like a series of days — some meaningful, most just busy — without a clear arc or destination. That's what happens when the frame is too small.

The Venerable Bede spent his entire life in a single monastery in Northumbria. He almost never left. And from that cell, he told a story so large it made a nation. This episode asks what Bede knew that we've forgotten: the imagination isn't decoration. It's formation. The story you're living inside shapes everything you see, everything you endure, and everything you make. And it can be widened.

This is the season finale of our Spring 2026 series on eucatastrophe. It's also a beginning.

Have you ever looked around and felt like the last person on earth who still believes this stuff?

Athanasius did. The young deacon at Nicaea spent the next forty-five years in exile, fighting a battle he couldn't win against a church that had largely caved. He wrote from the desert. He outlived four emperors. He didn't see the tide turn.

He kept fighting anyway.

In this episode, Brian, Amy, and Christina explore what faithful endurance looks like when you've lost the room—and why the Long Defeat is not the same thing as failure.

How do we love earthly things in a way that honors God? Where do our longings fit in that equation? And...should we hug a tree after all?

Andrew Roycroft and Lancia Smith rejoin the podcast for a discussion of themes from George MacDonald's "The Light Princess."

What if the resurrection isn’t about escaping the physical world, but redeeming it? Join Brian, Sarah, and special Guests Andrew Roycroft and Lancia Smith as they consider the resurrected Christ as fully embodied -- and what that means for us, and all of creation!

Join Matthew, Brian, Sarah, and Jeremiah as we explore the dark and often unsettling fairy tales that have shaped human storytelling for centuries. We discuss their purpose, impact on children, and how they prepare us for the realities of life, and that courage, faithfulness, and hope matter precisely because darkness is real.

Sarah and Caroline share what’s ahead for the podcast over the next three months, reflect on the meaning of eucatastrophe, and explore how fairy tales help us see this pattern of reality more clearly, and what the material world has to do with it all!

Access the show notes through our Substack (head over to anselmsociety.substack)!

In this conversation, Brian Brown, Sarah Howell, Jeremiah England, and Christina Brown delve into the themes presented in 'A Gentleman in Moscow' by Amor Towles, focusing on the character Count Rostov and his experiences within the confines of a hotel.

Such a story helps us engage our confines -- After all, in winter, we’re stuck inside a lot, which reminds us of the limits that come with constricted space. Monotony, potentially bad habits and patterns, irritation from friction with or noise from people around us, etc. We’re kinda conditioned to view limits as confining; to want freedom and choice and autonomy. Even if we pay lip service to the value of limits, as soon as we experience a new one, we typically respond with frustration, rebellion, grief, and so on. 

But Christian writers, from ancient mystics to contemporary novelists, have seen limits–whether on our desires or even our physical space–as something very different.

Maybe there’s a way to learn to be the kind of person who is sharpened, grown, and even set free by limits. To not just live well within them, but be unleashed by them to build new strength, transform our desires, love more deeply, create more beautifully, and stretch into the person God is making us to be.

What if the reason you feel too small, too broke, or too ordinary to be generous is actually a spiritual problem masquerading as humility? In this episode, we explore an ancient vice called pusillanimity—"smallness of soul"—that convinces us our limitations define us. Through Leo Tolstoy's story of Martin the cobbler and John Witherspoon's forgotten sermon on Christian magnanimity, we discover that true generosity isn't about having enough resources, but about remembering whose children we are.

A pre-New Year's bit of gorgeousness for you--Brian and Sarah read and discuss W.H. Auden's poem "For The Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio," and share a couple things to look forward to next year!

A little end-of-Advent treat for you!

"Joy and suffering are interconnected."

What if joviality isn't just a personality trait—but a virtue we're called to cultivate?

In our newest Imagination Redeemed episode, Joffre Swait takes us on a journey through the story of St. Nicholas to explore how generosity, celebration, and community can restore our capacity for joy—even in a culture that's forgotten how to be grateful.

We talk about:

✨ Why joy and suffering are inseparable

👑 How joviality reflects a kingly nature

🎉 The role of celebration in cultivating gratitude

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 How to parent with joviality (without pretending suffering doesn't exist)

This conversation is an invitation to rediscover the deep comedy at the heart of existence—and to claim your place in it.

Brian and Sarah break down our plans for the next three months of the podcast, reflect on divine abundance and the scandal of the incarnation, and more.

Life often feels like discord—a song gone wrong. Whether you're walking through grief, loss, or the quiet melancholy of longing for something more, it's easy to get stuck in wistfulness or despair.

Through Tolkien's Ainulindalë, this episode explores how to hold both sorrow and hope together. You'll discover how to remember that life is gift—God's original theme of abundance and goodness—while also honestly stepping into what Tolkien called the music of "immeasurable sorrow."

This isn't about toxic positivity or ignoring your pain; it's about learning to sing a third theme that weaves your grief into a larger, more beautiful story. As Thanksgiving approaches, this conversation offers a way to feast differently, carrying your homeward ache with both tears and joy.

Should we be afraid of Halloween? What about death? What about just…the past? Whether it's our own trauma, fears of the occult, family history, or that big scary word tradition, many of us feel caught between two extremes: either cutting ourselves off from it all, or feeling so surrounded by it that we feel trapped.

In this episode, we journey back to medieval England to discover what Hallowtide—the three-day feast that became Halloween—actually looked like, and why it might hold keys to a healthier relationship with all of it–death, tradition, and the past.

Along the way, we'll mythbust everything you think you know about Halloween, explore the meaning of “honor your father and mother,” and discover practical ways to connect our own stories to the Great Story.

Brian Brown, Matthew Clark, and Terri Moon continue their conversation, exploring the concept of 'we songs' in worship, songs that connect congregants to God and each other. In this episode, we discuss the importance of melody, accessibility, and the role of instruments in creating a hospitable worship environment, one that instills confidence in the normal congregant and that inherently prioritizes the voice of the congregation. Within that framework, we delve into how singing serves as a spiritual discipline, the significance of familiar songs, and the need for crafting music that encourages congregational participation.

Chapters

00:24 Introduction to We Songs

01:32 The Purpose of We Songs

02:01 The Composition of We Songs

02:51 Melody and Accessibility

03:39 The Role of Instruments in Worship

04:48 Hospitality in Worship

06:13 The Voice of the People

07:03 Worship Wars and Music Choices

07:30 Cultural Context in Worship Music

08:57 Fostering Congregational Singing

09:31 The Role of the Worship Leader

10:18 Musical Hosting and Participation

11:19 Different Musical Traditions

12:45 Call and Response in Worship

13:38 Learning and Growth in Worship

14:54 Navigating Musical Preferences

16:32 Voice First Composition

17:08 The Importance of Simplicity

18:40 The Role of the Organ

20:00 Historical Context of Worship Music

22:19 Fostering Confidence in Singing

23:29 The Challenge of New Songs

25:20 The Structure of Worship Songs

26:38 Familiarity and Participation

28:51 Songwriting for Accessibility

29:05 The Songwriting Process and Accountability

31:09 The Role of Corporate Singing in the Church

35:34 Singing as a Spiritual Discipline

39:35 The Importance of Familiar Songs

43:12 Crafting Songs for Congregational Participation

47:03 The Relationship Between Melody and Lyrics

50:12 Understanding Sacred and Common Art

53:55 The Vision of the Church and the Role of Music

In 386 AD, an Italian bishop taught his congregation to sing—and their voices held off an imperial army.

Why do some songs have the power to unite us, remind us who we are, and give us courage in dark times? And how can we get more of them?

Join Brian Brown, Matthew Clark, and Terri Moon as they explore the lost art of "we" songs—hymns and ballads that connect us to God, to each other, and to the great story we're all part of.

A huge treat: Malcolm Guite joins the podcast!

In our fast-paced, ever-connected world, we've largely forgotten the art of being still. But what if stillness isn't simply the absence of activity—what if it's actually a practice that requires intention, ritual, and presence?

Join Brian Brown and Matthew Clark as they sit down with renowned poet and theologian Malcolm Guite for a contemplative conversation about pipe smoking as a case study in the spiritual discipline of stillness. Opening with Malcolm's own poem "Smoke Rings from My Pipe," this episode explores how a simple ritual can become a pathway to what T.S. Eliot called "the still point of the turning world."

In this episode, we discuss:

• Why stillness is both desperately needed and increasingly difficult in our age

• How memory and presence intersect in moments of contemplation

• How physical objects and rituals can anchor us in the present moment

Far from escapism, this conversation reveals how true stillness prepares us for better action in the world—and how sometimes the most profound spiritual practice is simply learning to "enter the standing Sabbath of the trees."

Whether you're a pipe smoker or simply someone longing for deeper rest in our restless age, this episode offers both theological insight and practical wisdom for cultivating the lost art of being fully present.

"Make a place to sit down. Sit down. Be quiet." —Wendell Berry

An exploration of human vocation through the lens of one of Tolkien's most strange and mysterious characters. Featuring special guest C.R. Wiley, author of "In the House of Tom Bombadil."

Do you ever feel like you're stuck in the mundane while waiting for your "real" purpose to begin?

In Disney's Encanto, Mirabel spends years wondering when she'll get her magical gift and finally enter the family story—only to discover she was already part of it all along. Like Mirabel, many of us view ordinary moments as distractions from the "real" important work of our lives, constantly waiting for that someday calling or dramatic purpose.

But what if Christianity isn't about escaping the ordinary—what if it's about discovering the Great Story right in your kitchen sink?

Join us as we explore how our daily faithfulness in seemingly mundane tasks isn't preparation for the Great Story—it's precisely how we enter the Great Story. Discover why there are no ordinary things, and how Christians can learn to mobilize the world immediately around them for the glory of God.

What does it mean to “practice resurrection,” as Wendell Berry put it?

It’s easy to look at the chaos and barrenness of the world and think we can’t make much of a difference. At least not without being some kind of superhero. What good is planting a tree in a wasteland? 

In this episode, the gang explores a different vision, provided by the story, “The Man Who Planted Trees,” by Jean Giono. Because maybe, just maybe, there’s a way forward.

Where do books, movies, songs, etc. fit into how we face the hard realities of life? Should they be "positive and encouraging?" Should they relentlessly portray darkness just as it is?

In this episode, we invite you into a recent Anselm Society lecture by Dr. Wesley Vander Lugt from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

Meet Julian of Norwich! This medieval woman suffered more than most of us will in three lifetimes—and prayed for more. And the first part of her book, Revelations of Divine Love, unveils a deeply encouraging vision of God that’s worth meditating on.

What makes Julian's hope so powerful is precisely that it doesn't deny or minimize suffering. Rather, her hope encompasses both the reality of present pain and the promise of ultimate restoration. In that space—between the 'already' of God's love and the 'not yet' of complete healing—we learn to hold both our joy and our weeping together.

In this episode, the Imagination Redeemed podcast tackles the subject of this tricky mystic and goes on a search for hope.

Despair tempts most of us at times–and it’s easy to listen to. You don’t have a problem, you are the problem; everything bad that’s happened is the trajectory for the future. In the face of this voice in our heads, how can we remember the hope of our place in God’s story?

In this episode of the Imagination Redeemed podcast, the hosts (and guest Elizabeth Bam) discuss stories from the Faerie Queen and the Shawshank Redemption in an exploration of how to battle despair.

Seasons of winter tend to paralyze us. We think we can’t move on until something changes. How can we learn to live well in those seasons, and participate in God’s work? Drawing from O. Henry’s short story “The Last Leaf,” Brian, Sarah, Amy, and Christina tackle this question in the newest episode of the Imagination Redeemed podcast.

In this episode, Brian, Sarah, and Christina explore the profound impact of stories on our lives and faith. They discuss how narratives—through books, movies, music, and art—profoundly influence our worldviews, emotional health, and even brain development. Dive with us into the magic of storytelling, the healing power of positive narratives, and the importance of integrating personal stories into a larger divine narrative.

Listen to Brian Brown's talk from the 2024 Square Halo "Return to Narnia" conference.

Maybe you've absorbed the fake C.S. Lewis quote that you ARE a soul and you HAVE a body. Or maybe you grew up in an environment that only valued time if it was spent getting people into the elevator going up.

If so, you probably struggle to live in the world as you ought, because you have no theological or mental category for most things between idolatry and indifference. So you can’t find a place for many of the things you love most in the kingdom of God.

We have to fix our relationship with material reality. In the Chronicles, Lewis gives us a fictional world that very clearly has meaning and magic woven into every layer of it. The reason that appeals to us is that it is a reflection of our world as we’re supposed to see it, even if we’ve forgotten.

In this talk, Brian offers a threefold way of relating to material reality--and our vocations in it--that explains why you love the things you do, and what to do with them.

Why did God tell Adam to name the animals? When you think about it, it’s an odd time to quit creating. He left it to humankind to look for the significance of the things He made, to derive meaning from it, and to join with Him to put the finishing touches on things for which He obviously had a clear vision. Understanding the dignity and responsibility inherent in the role of naming not only allows us to better understand our relationship with the created order, but also our relationship with God, the first Creator and Namer.

The Bible is filled with time because God’s revelation is always historical—a story of moments both old and new. God reveals who He is and what He’s doing within our ongoing story, our ongoing time. In this episode, Glenn Paauw shows us how the movement of the biblical narrative is always toward God entering into our time more and more deeply. It is a story of restoration, in which only through time is time conquered.

These days we tend to take a dim view of the past. We struggle to overcome things (personal or corporate) we wish we could go back and undo. But Christianity teaches a different way of viewing the past: one in which “remember” is one of the most frequent commands in Scripture, in which gratitude is a discipline rather than a feeling, and in which nothing is outside the reach of Christ to redeem. In this episode, Heidi White will explore the posture that can enable Christians to be conservers of the goodness and beauty they’ve inherited, and restorers of things that have been broken.

Tolkien talked about “subcreation” - this thing we do when we take something God has made and create with it. When we try to make creation about ourselves—our pride, our desire for affirmation, and so on—we only make things harder. But when we understand it properly, our subcreation is a middle act between God’s first creation and His second—and the culture we build together becomes, as Andy Crouch put it, part of “the furniture of eternity.” In this episode, Matthew Clark explores this second of three aspects of our creative task as humans (cultivation, subcreation, and naming).

At last year's Imagination Redeemed conference, Christina Brown and Amy Lee shared about the art of gardening and God's story. They covered their own journeys into gardening, how their experiences cultivating God's creation changed their relationships with Him and their families, and much more. In this episode, we revisit their talk on gardening and creative cultivation as part of our "Why We Create" series and in preparation for our upcoming Imagination Redeemed conference.

Cultivation is a lost art for most of us. It requires paying attention—understanding each person and thing in its proper way. It requires love—viewing everything as the Creator does; not just as it is but as it can grow to be. And it requires agency—viewing ourselves not as a scourge upon nature but as people designed to be a blessing to it. In this episode, Brooke McIntire reads Gracy Olmstead's essay exploring how a posture of cultivation equips us to create as God made us to create.

In preparation for Heidi White's keynote session on the Art of Christian Memory (which she'll give at our upcoming Imagination Redeemed conference), this episode revisits a talk she gave at our 2020 artists' retreat. In this lecture, Heidi explores the two different attitudes we can have toward the past, and how each needs the other in order to healthily live in the present. This balanced perspective encourages courage and fortitude in artistry, but also serves as a primer on political theology as well.

How are we supposed to grapple with the past—the good, the bad, and the ugly? Why does the Bible talk about remembering so much? And can storytelling be a way to use the past to remind ourselves who we are? In this episode, Brooke McIntire shares this month's essay by Heidi White on mythmaking, and the questions surrounding creation as an act of shared memory.

Christ's incarnation is the spark of Christian creativity. Poet, rock musician, and priest Malcolm Guite joins the show to make the case for this, journeying through Shakespeare and the Gospel of John. He also tells us why he loves the Anselm Society's name.