Podcasts about on reading well

About the GuestKaren Swallow Prior, Ph. D., is a reader, writer, and professor. She is the author of The Evangelical Imagination: How Stories, Images, and Metaphors Created a Culture in Crisis (Brazos, 2023); On Reading Well: Finding the Good Life through Great Books (Brazos 2018); Fierce Convictions: The Extraordinary Life of Hannah More—Poet, Reformer, Abolitionist (Thomas Nelson, 2014); and Booked: Literature in the Soul of Me (T. S. Poetry Press, 2012). She is co-editor of Cultural Engagement: A Crash Course in Contemporary Issues (Zondervan 2019) and has contributed to numerous other books. She has a monthly column for Religion News Service. Her writing has appeared at Christianity Today, New York Times, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, First Things, Vox, Think Christian, The Gospel Coalition, and various other places. She hosted the podcast Jane and Jesus. She is a Contributing Editor for Comment, a founding member of The Pelican Project, a Senior Fellow at the Trinity Forum, and a Senior Fellow at the L. Russ Bush Center for Faith and Culture. She and her husband live on a 100-year-old homestead in central Virginia with dogs, chickens, and lots of books.Show NotesAdrienne Freas and Karen Swallow Prior enjoy discussing the idea of culture creation through great literature. Why not think of reading for enjoyment instead of just reading for an assignment? Enjoy more balance while gaining an enriching approach to literature. Some Questions Include: How is the book, On Reading Well helpful for parents and teachers? What do you believe is helpful in your books and what do you hope teachers and parents will take away ?  What is your view concerning critical theory in contrast with the idea of reading well?  What are the implications for how we teach students? Resources and books mentioned:On Reading Well: Finding the Good Life through Great BooksThe Evangelical Imagination: How Stories, Images, and Metaphors Created a Culture in CrisisMoby DickThe BibleTo Kill A MockingbirdUncle Tom's CabinJane EyreGerard Manly Hopkins poetryEast of Eden________________________________________________________Let us help you discover what a beautiful education should look like.  Subscribe to this Podcast on your favorite podcast app! Meet our Team, Explore our Resources and Take advantage of our Services! This podcast is produced by Beautiful Teaching, LLC.Support this podcast: ★ Support this podcast ★ _________________________________________________________Credits:Sound Engineer: Andrew HelselLogo Art: Anastasiya CFMusic: Vivaldi's Concerto for 2 Violins in B flat major, RV529 : Lana Trotovsek, violin Sreten Krstic, violin with Chamber Orchestra of Slovenian Philharmonic © 2023 Beautiful Teaching LLC. All Rights Reserved

Grace welcomes Karen Swallow Prior to discuss her brand-new book, The Evangelical Imagination: How Stories, Images, and Metaphors Created a Culture in Crisis (Brazos, 2023), and from that book, the power of imagination and our formation through literature and products of culture. Karen Swallow Prior (Ph.D., State University of New York, Buffalo) is a reader, writer, and professor. She is the author of multiple books including The Evangelical Imagination, On Reading Well, and Fierce Convictions. She and her husband live on a 100-year old homestead in central Virginia with dogs, chickens, and lots of books. She writes on Substack at The Priory.

Guest Bios Show Transcript How is it that evangelicals, who have long extolled the virtues of the First and Second Great Awakenings, now think being “awakened” or “woke” is a bad thing? And how did we evolve from valuing sanctification—to reducing faith into a self-help project? In this podcast, author and longtime professor Karen Swallow Prior joins Julie to discuss the current crisis in the church, which isn't just about Trump or celebrity pastor scandals. As Karen explains, evangelicalism suffers from a crisis of imagination.  Somehow, over the past few decades, the pool of images, stories, and metaphors that form our imagination has become distorted and diseased. And the result has been catastrophic. We no longer think or imagine in biblical ways. For example, instead of thinking of the kingdom of heaven as something that advances as we love, serve, and sacrifice for our fellow man, we've adopted an empire mentality. In this system, one wins by dominating his fellow man and putting the right people in office. It's a far cry from the words of Jesus: The last will be first. To get out of this crisis, we need to reform our imagination—radically. But to do that, we first need to understand how we got here, Karen explains. And only then, can we chart a way forward. Guests Karen Swallow Prior Karen Swallow Prior (PhD, SUNY Buffalo) is a reader, writer, and longtime professor. She is the author of several best-selling books including On Reading Well, Booked: Literature in the Soul of Me and Fierce Convictions: The Extraordinary Life of Hannah More—Poet, Reformer, Abolitionist. Prior has written for Christianity Today, the Atlantic, the Washington Post, First Things, Vox, and Religion News Service. Show Transcript SPEAKERS KAREN SWALLOW PRIOR, JULIE ROYS JULIE ROYS  00:04 How is it that evangelicals who have long extolled the virtues of the first and second great awakenings now think being awakened or woke is a bad thing? And why have testimonies degenerated into a contest over who has the most dramatic story? And how do we evolve from valuing sanctification to reducing faith into a self-help project? Welcome to The Roys Report, a podcast dedicated to reporting the truth and restoring the church. I'm Julie Roys, and today I'm going to be talking about the evangelical imagination with Karen Swallow Prior. Karen has just written a book by that name. And as she explains in her book, our current crisis isn't just about Trump or celebrity pastor scandals. Evangelicalism is suffering from a crisis of the imagination. Somehow over the past few decades, the pool of images, stories and metaphors, the form our imagination has become distorted and diseased. And the result has been catastrophic. We no longer think or imagine in biblical ways. For example, instead of thinking about the kingdom of heaven as something that advances as we love and serve and sacrifice for our fellow man, we've adopted an empire mentality where we win by dominating our fellow man, by putting the right people in office, by winning an actual culture war, by being first not last. And so, if we want to navigate out of this crisis, we need to reform our imagination. But to do that, we need to understand our history and how we got here. And Karen has done a masterful job of researching and explaining that development. So, I'm very much looking forward to our discussion today. But before we dive in, I'd like to thank the sponsors of this podcast, Judson University, and Marquardt of Barrington. If you're looking for a top ranked Christian University, providing a caring community and an excellent college experience, Judson University is for you. Judson is located on 90 acres just 40 miles west of Chicago in Elgin, Illinois. The school offers more than 60 majors, great leadership opportunities, and strong financial aid. Plus, you can take classes online as well as in person. Judson University is shaping lives that shaped the world. For more information, just go to JUDSONU.EDU. Also, if you're looking for a quality new or used car, I highly recommend my friends at Marquardt of Barrington. Marquardt is a Buick GMC dealership where you can expect honesty, integrity, and transparency. That's because the owners there Dan and Kurt Marquardt, are men of integrity. To check them out, just go to BUYACAR123.COM. Well, joining me now is Karen Swallow Prior, a former longtime English professor at Liberty University, and until quite recently, she was a research professor of English Christianity and culture at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Now she's a full-time writer and the author of several fantastic books including her latest, The Evangelical Imagination: How Stories and Metaphors Created a Culture in Crisis. Karen also writes a monthly column for Religion News Service, is a contributing editor for Comment, a founding member of the Pelican Project and a senior fellow at the L. Russ Bush Center for Faith and Culture. And last but not least, she and her husband Roy live on a 100-year-old homestead in central Virginia, with two dogs, Eva the Diva, and Ruby. If you follow her , and I'm just thrilled to have you. KAREN SWALLOW PRIOR  03:45 And so great to be talking with you, Julie, thank you. JULIE ROYS  03:48 I am going to start this podcast with a little bit of a confession. Normally just because of my schedule, when I come to do a podcast and I come to read the book, it's often the day or two before the actual podcast and I'm rushing through this book to get through it. And true to form, I did that with your book. Now that I've read it, I am really dying to go back and to read it again. And to sit down I'm even thinking, I got some friends like we should do a book club and do this book because every chapter is so so rich. And so, I'm just thanking you for writing this book and for the richness in it. And you bring so much of yourself into it. It's just quintessential Karen Swallow Prior because of all of the literary illusions that you have and just fantastically done. So, thank you. KAREN SWALLOW PRIOR  04:42 Thank you. I have had a few interviewers either confess or read schedule. I think a lot of Christian books are fast reads. And so, I think a lot of people picked it up and just thought they could breeze through it, and I don't maybe if I were a better writer, I would write in a breezier style,, but you're not the only one to say it's you know, it's rich and taken time and a lot of thought. JULIE ROYS  05:05 absolutely true. And with most books, when I go through them in two or three hours, I feel like I'm done. Your book I didn't get through in two or three hours, it took me much more than that. But at the same time, I was just like, Man, this is important stuff that we need to really meditate on. And we really need to think about. And this idea of writing about the imagination. I love that because I think the imagination is something that so often, especially in evangelicalism, right, because we're so reason focus, we think of the imagination as something that's fiction, something that's not real. And we don't realize the extent to which the imagination and the stories, this pool of ideas and thought, how that really impacts the way we act, the way that we think, the way we perceive the future, all of that. And you so beautifully wove that into this book. I remember from when I was homeschooling my kids, we used to talk about the imagination as a garden, and how the weeds can take over. And I think in essence, that's a lot of what you're saying in this book, there's a lot of weeds that have gotten into our imagination, and yet, we're not even cognizant of them. So first, let me just ask you, why did you decide to write this book at this time? KAREN SWALLOW PRIOR  06:26 For me, it takes a long time to write a book. And maybe that's why it takes so long to read. So, I started imagining this book, probably 2018 or 2019. But it really arose or teaching Victorian literature, and my college students are primarily evangelical, grew up in evangelical subculture, and a lot of what we would  read in the Victorian age. Now, the Victorian age is the century after the rise of evangelicalism, but it sort of embodies the great influence of evangelicalism. And so, we would read this literature that talked about purity culture, and the sexual double standard that you know, the one standard for women, and another one much lower for men, family values, the separate spheres for men and women, all of those things in this wonderful literature that I love. And my students would often say, wait a minute, this sounds like the idea I was raised with, or this sounds like what I was taught, you know, in the 20th century. So, we would have these discussions, these conversations. Well, what is a truly biblical view of purity of family of men and women, and what's really just Victorian? We started separating those two threads in the classroom with my students who had largely been brought up in evangelical subculture was the beginning of the book. And, you know, so it's been a few years where I've been able to think about this, find other examples. And of course, a lot has been going on in the culture outside the classroom that helped me to see this as not just an intellectual exercise in the classroom, but really part of the crisis that our movement is facing right now. JULIE ROYS  08:05 Isn't that interesting that the Victorian era would be like our current era? I don't think most people would even fathom that, that's true. And even so many of the hip and, you know, cutting edge ministries we have today, would not recognize how their roots are actually in some of these centuries, way before them, and we're going to delve into that. But before we do, since we're talking about the evangelical imagination, let's start with a definition of evangelicalism because this is something that has morphed with time and means different things to different people. KAREN SWALLOW PRIOR  08:43 Absolutely. And of course, even the term has many different meanings and understandings, as it might have had over the years, it's really been kind of hijacked and catapulted into headlines and political polls and surveys. And so, it's just become even more confused and contested. And so, I realized that I am evangelical, so I know this, the problem surrounding the term and in many people's desire to reject it or replace it or denounce it. So I drew on a number of definitions that are given by scholars and the primary one that I think everyone either agrees with or differs with a little bit is that of the church historian David Bebbington as the Bebbington quadrilateral, and Bebbington basically looks at the evangelical movement from the 18th century on and says that, regardless of the denomination or the country, or the century, evangelicals are defined by their emphasis on the conversion experience, the centrality of the Bible or their lives as God's authoritative word, the centrality of Christ's crucifixion, and His sacrifice for our sins. And also, a lot of people don't maybe realize this but an activist spirit like evangelicals have always been activists of some kind; missions in the 19th century, social justice in the 21st, you know. I mean, across the board left or right evangelicals are defined by all four of these things, but including they all come together, activists spirit. JULIE ROYS  10:16 And that activism has its outworking very different in each age, which you highlight in a number of your chapters. But each one of your chapters sort of focuses on a word or a concept that captures an aspect of the evangelical imagination. And then you talk about this development of the concept about what's good and true about the concept within evangelicalism, but also what may be a perversion and that's what I think is so eye opening. Let's start with just this concept of awakening, your second chapter, because your first chapter sort of outlines what the imagination is, which I think was awesome. But explain how awakening and this idea of being awakened, is central to evangelicalism throughout the history and development of the movement. KAREN SWALLOW PRIOR  11:10 My expertise is in British Literature, the 18th and 19th century. So, I'll say that's the beginning, but most people are more familiar with American history and religious history, even if we're not experts. And we all know about the Great Awakenings, right? I mean, the Evangelical revival in America in the 18th century, it was called the Great Awakening, and then there are ones after that. So right away, we know that this whole idea of awakening is central to the evangelical movement. It also happens to be a very powerful and prevalent symbol in literature, throughout all time, but also during this period. So that is an area where I was able to make a connection, like why awakening and how many ways is that concept, that idea that symbols show up, and we have the Great Awakening in America. But the other thing that really defines America is the American Dream, which of course, you know, sleeping, dreaming, waking, these are all connected. And so that's one of the points that I make in this chapter and a couple places in the book is how the American Dream, which was so much part of America's founding has been part not just of American history, but also of evangelical history, just because of the way our nation was founded. And so, people talk about whether or not you know, there's Christian nation and what that means or doesn't mean. Even the whole concept of the American dream, and that sort of consumerist materialists prosperity idea is interwoven not only with American history, but evangelical history. JULIE ROYS  12:49 And of course, the American Dream is in the New Testament. Not. Not close. KAREN SWALLOW PRIOR  12:57 But Make America Great is there. JULIE ROYS  12:59 Oh, yeah, exactly. And this is the issue that you're getting at this sort of sifting between, you know, what is real and true to Christianity. Obviously, the idea of being awakened spiritually, I mean, evangelicalism grew out of what had become a very dry and dead and wrote Christian church culture, and yet people awakening some of them pastors awakening, which is beautiful, to the truth of a relationship with Jesus who is the truth. Ironically, I thought that the word woke, right. Something that's based on being awakened, has now become within a lot of evangelical circles, a pejorative term, and yet, again, it's our roots. KAREN SWALLOW PRIOR  13:47 It's our it's our roots. Right? And, and it is, you know, I talked about this in the book, and there's so many more things I could have said, but I wanted to trace that history. That's, you know, the way that the African American community use the word woke early in the 20th century, is really similar to the way that we were using it back in the 18th century. Now woke is centered in Yes, social justice and being awakened to oppression. But that's what the Great Awakening is too, is being awakened to the spiritual oppression that we undergo when we do not have that relationship in Jesus Christ, or we are denying the work of the Holy Spirit. And so, there's a direct connection there. And, again, going back to what I said about how evangelicalism has always been defined by an activist spirit. So this whole idea of being woke and having your conscience gripped by things that are wrong in our culture, whether systemically or individually, or there is sin matters or social matters. Like that is part of our heritage and to use that variation of the word woke as an insult or a pejorative or just an outright dismissal for everything that you disagree with, does violence not only to the language but does violence to our heritage as evangelicals and just violence to the people who are using that term to express this urgent and important felt need. JULIE ROYS  15:12 So, to the person who's trying to keep what is good, throw out what is bad when it comes to this most central concept of being awakened spiritually, what would you say? KAREN SWALLOW PRIOR  15:23 I would say that, you know, this is one reason why I'm still an evangelical is because evangelicalism arose in the modern age. And an important feature of the modern age is the individual [ ] the individual soul that need for individual salvation and conversion. And it's all centered on the conscience. Now, I also happen to be not just evangelical Baptist. And for us, soul autonomy is really important, like the idea that we are each responsible and accountable as individuals, our own individual souls before God. And so that idea of the individual conscience is central to the evangelical movement. And so being awakened, not only spiritually, but also awakened just to our relationship in this world with one another and how we treat one another. It's just to me, it's central to what it means to be an evangelical. JULIE ROYS  16:26 So, A related term, which you already mentioned, is conversion. I think if you've grown up in evangelicalism, you've heard of this idea of easy believe ism. I remember that my mother moved from the north to the south, and she did go to a Baptist church in the south. They had a horrible tragedy where a teenage boy shot his family, killed all of them. And then he turned the gun on himself. And I remember my mother was so shocked that the pastor got up and said, Well, we know that the shooter was a Christian, because he came forward and gave his life to Christ. You know, when he was I forget what age and she was just appalled by this, that that was given as something to sooth the community, supposedly. I mean, she felt like how can we know this man that just went on a murderous rampage? Of course, we don't know, if he had mental illness, whatever, but  that kind of statement, which, again, it takes that conversion experience into almost 100% iron clad, you're going to heaven, I think there's been some perversion of what a conversion really means. And you talk about the history and development of this term, if you would, give us a little bit of the background and how this has evolved over time. KAREN SWALLOW PRIOR  17:45 You know, the Evangelical revival in England arose at a time when, you know, a couple of centuries after the Reformation took place, and there was an established church in England, a state church, a government Church, which meant that if you were born as a citizen in England, that meant that you were a Christian, officially. So, it just bred of nominal Christianity, but this is what the Evangelical revival is like the Wesley's when they were young men, John and Charles Wesley who helped begin this who were Anglicans, studying for the ministry. They felt something was lacking, and then had that famous warming of the heart experience, and which we would call it being born again, or individual conversion. And so, this revival in England and this awakening in America centered on this idea that you're not a Christian just because you are born into a Christian family or confirmed or baptized as an infant in a Christian church, but you must be born again, you must have an individual salvation experience. And, again, I'm evangelical, I believe that. But as you pointed out, just because someone goes forward, or just because someone fills out a card or raises their hand, that in itself does not mean that they were converted. And that is why the Bible does say, not all who say Lord, Lord will be saved. And that is also why the Bible gives us evidence, such as fruit of the Spirit, to show that someone that exhibits godliness and Christ likeness and doesn't mean that the converted don't sin. Would that it were so but it's not. But again, this good, important biblical idea becomes distorted when all of the emphasis is on going forward, getting the hands raised, filling out the cards, counting the number of people who've made decisions for Christ, and then letting them off and go without any follow up or discipleship, or kinds of things that can't be measured as easily, which are actually so much more important. JULIE ROYS  19:47 But it sure makes a good newsletter. KAREN SWALLOW PRIOR  19:49 Exactly. Exactly. Yeah, it does. And that's the sad part about it. It often becomes a fundraising gimmick. How many people have come forward or whatever. And sometimes with good intentions, but I think it has been perverted. You talk about an 18th century novel in this chapter, which I had never heard about called Pamela. Talk about that book and how it sort of typifies the issue. Yeah. Non one ever reads or talks about Pamela unless they take an odd course, from me or some other 18th century novel professor. It's considered widely is like the first English novel. It's so rooted in all of evangelical history during this time, because it's a story of, you know, a young servant girl whose harasser is attempting to seduce her and harass her and she's holding on to her virtue. He actually tries to sexually assault her twice. If anyone wants to read it, spoiler alert. And the novel shows that through her good behavior, she tames him and he's inverted. You know, that's obviously not a good idea to follow that model. And she marries him. Yes, I think we still have those dynamics. But the reason I include that novel is because the story doesn't end when they get married. The story ends much later, when this horrible husband, this former Reagan player has had some kind of conversion experience and grows and matures. But the novel was widely criticized and mocked and satirize, because it was showing this like cheap grace kind of dynamic that we just talked about, and that this guy can just be converted, and everything  is instantly better. And so, it's an interesting novel from a literary perspective. But it's also interesting because it parallels a lot of what evangelicals were thinking and teaching and modeling, but it shows it in such an access that we should stop and question and say many this is not how to evangelize and convert people. JULIE ROYS  21:53 A related concept is the idea of testimony and giving your testimony. And again, I'm thinking about my childhood. So, I'm one of those that went forward when I was six years old, at a camp meeting. don't really remember what was preached. But I remember like when he said, Do you want to come forward and accept Jesus? I was like, Oh, I've heard about Jesus my whole life. Of course, I do. You know. And so, I did go forward. I actually remember it very vividly. Because for the next two weeks, everybody I met, my parents would be like, oh tell them your testimony. But it was good for me because it solidified in me that experience and the importance of it. A lot of people don't have necessarily that one time testimony. I know my sister, one of the most beautiful Christians I know on the planet, she can't point to a time, and I think in your book you talk about you can kind of point to a time period, right? But not really a time. So, this can be a good thing, the testimony. You talked about testimony envy, which I thought was a great phrase. How can this be twisted, and how has it been twisted within evangelicalism? KAREN SWALLOW PRIOR  23:03 So, testimony and story  are just a central aspect of what it means to be human and also to what it means to be a Christian. We are to be prepared to give a defense to give our testimonies to tell our story. And yet, we also have to examine sort of the flip side, and as you said,  if we don't remember that particular time and place and we can't tell that story because we, like in my case, and probably your sisters, were so young. But even John Bunyan, as I show in the book, has a really long Spiritual Autobiography. And you keep wondering, okay is this the moment is this the moment he keeps having these spiritual epiphanies or awakenings. And Jonathan Edwards himself says, sometimes people don't know and that's okay. I'm paraphrasing him, obviously. So, it's wonderful to have a testimony. But that testimony envy that I talked about, and you mentioned, can lead people to feeling as though if they don't have a testimony, something is wrong. Or we'd come to learn that someone who shared a testimony, embellished it. And so again, as I show throughout this whole book with all of these beautiful, wonderful concepts and ideas that are rooted in the Bible, but also become part of our imagination, our social imaginary, if they get distorted or twisted, then we take something that is good and true, and turn it into something that is not that; our salvation testimony is the most important one, but also our sanctification, our growth, the way God works, and as well as all of those are testimonies. JULIE ROYS  24:36 I couldn't help but think of Michael Warnke when I was reading that chapter. If you remember, he was in the 80s had this very dramatic testimony of being converted from being a Satanist to Christ, and he would tell the stories became an evangelist. Well, it turned out it was all bunk. He had concocted the whole thing; he had made it up. And the horrible thing is It just takes one fraud, for about 100 real testimonies and the truth for a lot of people, the Christian life is day by day living in the ordinary. And these days, I'm much more impressed by the person who's not so on fire outwardly, but just is living that quiet life of obedience to Christ, not bringing attention to himself or herself, and just following the Lord. And I think we forget how ordinary even Jesus was right? You know, some of them have dramatics; Saul has a dramatic testimony. But a lot of them it was just, follow me., and they did. The evangelical, or the Protestant work ethic, which is another concept that you talked about. And that's something that was drilled into me, in fact, there wouldn't be a Roy Report if I didn't have a Protestant work ethic. Yep. Before reading your book, I don't think I'd ever really thought about how this work ethic developed out of sort of an age of improvement, and how it even might be contributing to our self-help movement today. Would you explain how these things are related? KAREN SWALLOW PRIOR  26:09 Yeah, that was a fun chapter, because I too, am a product of the Protestant work ethic, and it's made me who I am today. And so that is good. But there's this sort of, off branch of that work ethic, which is improvement, even the idea of a self-improvement or an improvement to your life was something that people for thousands of years, didn't imagine. Because for thousands of years, people's lives, generation after generation after generation, looks the same. You were trying to survive trying to herd your sheep and raise your children, and nothing much changed. So, improvement itself is a very modern idea. I'm for improvement too, but it goes too far when we improve just for improvement sake, or when it breeds lack of contentment, or we often don't look at what we lose or sacrifice by trying to make an improvement. If we go to the supermarket, we see these packages of food and products that say new and improved. And when you read the fine print, it's really just the labels changed or something. It's not even necessarily anything substantial that is improved. But we love improvements so much that the marketing and the research that goes into it shows us that it works to have that little label on it, even if we don't know what the improvement was. And of course, that carries over into modern evangelicalism when we are formed and shaped and motivated by self-improvement and influencers. And these aren't all bad. But we're the Christian, we are supposed to undergo growth and sanctification, which is really not quite the same thing as improvement. JULIE ROYS  27:50 The focus of it is so different. I mean, it almost becomes like a Babel thing, like I've built this, I've done this, instead of, you know, sanctification, the point of it is to become like Christ. Why? So that we can glorify Him. Because the chief end of man is to glorify God, and we miss that. We think the chief end of man, actually, we think the chief end of religion is to make our life better, so we can live our best life now. I mean, we've just so fundamentally perverted it. And this is why I think, when I hear so many people deconstructing, and I think we all should, I don't know if I like that word. You want to call it sifting, whatever. But we should be looking at what is it that we have imbibed? And what is it that we're really rejecting? I'm very grateful that for me, the stories, and the ideas that I feel like inform me, a lot of them are centuries old, because they've grown up in our family and in our church. But if you came to the Lord in this generation, and this is all you know, is this iteration of evangelicalism, I can see why people hate it. I hate a lot of it too, because it has nothing to do with the gospel, just nothing. KAREN SWALLOW PRIOR  29:01 There are so many layers that need to be peeled back. And so many things that need to be examined under the surface, but we have to look at them, so we know what to throw out and what to keep. And that's what I'm trying to demonstrate with this book. JULIE ROYS  29:15 So, you devote an entire chapter to sentimentalism which I think highlight a major, major tension in evangelicalism. I mean, on one hand, we are products of the Enlightenment, and I think you really explain that in a really good way. We love reason. I think when you look at the Sunday service in most churches, you can see that –  what's the highlight? It's the sermon, right? It's the word. That can be a good thing. I will say it's one of the things I liked about the years that we spent at an  Anglican Church is that the highlight was actually the table. It was the Eucharist which is a much more experiential though not experiential in the sense of rooted in your subjective experience, but in coming to the table that Christ has called us to do every week. And so, I love that, but again, you've got this reason on one hand, and yet on the other hand, as you describe, we've been influenced by something called the cult of sensibility, which emphasizes more feeling and emotion. And you use the book Sense and Sensibility, which doesn't necessarily mean what we would think it means today so that that has changed over time. But this is kind of a new idea to me. And then how this sensibility has sort of morphed into the sentimentalism that we find so commonly in churches today. KAREN SWALLOW PRIOR  30:30 Yeah, so Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility is a good touchstone for thinking about this idea, because most people are at least familiar with the title, if not the book. And if you're at all familiar with the book, or even the movie, you know, that like sense represents Eleanor and her rational, reasonable, non-emotional approach to life and Mary Anne represents sensibility, which is that romantic emotional approach. And Austen was actually satirizing just before Austin's lifetime was called the cult of sensibility, which tried to show that moral virtue is demonstrated by how sensitive you are to art and literature and opera and theatre, and not necessarily the real people suffering around you, perhaps, but at least you may respond emotionally with your heart to something that you see. And that is the mark of virtue. And Austin was making fun of them. But there was a short-lived movement. But it did slowly morph into sentimentalism, which is basically emphasizing emotion for the sake of emotion. As you said, we're both Protestants; we've made that clear. We're both maybe privilege word and reason and rationality a little bit more. So, it's not to say that we should ignore or downplay the emotional aspect of our humanity. It's not to say that empathy is a sin or anything like that. Because we are both emotional and rational creatures, and that those things should be in balance. But what sentimentalism does is it just emphasizes the emotional, and more specifically, when I talk about like Christian and evangelical art, it's emphasizing the sort of cheap, easy emotion like the easy way of feeling sad or happy, if you watch like a, you know, Hallmark or Lifetime movie. It just plays on our emotions, or a Budweiser beer commercial with puppies and horses, plays on our emotions, right? Those are cheap, easy ways to draw out our emotions that ignore sort of the hard realities or the sacrifice that good art, or spiritual redemption requires. So we live in a culture that has emphasized sort of the cheap and easy emotional shortcut. Real truth and sacrifice and redemption as well as good art requires sacrifice, and bringing into balance, truth, goodness, and beauty, which is just not the same thing as sentimentality. JULIE ROYS  32:59 I kept thinking of the verses where the Lord says, These people worship Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. I see it in the church today. I mean, people that I report on, and I know so much about the sin that they're involved in, and yet I'll see them in their services, you know, projected on YouTube, acting so spiritual and crying and during the worship, and it's repulsive, I think it has become manipulative, it has become where we leave no room for the moving of the Holy Spirit in our highly programmed services. And where it's excesses of emotion that's in the church. And again, over the centuries, the church has been very concerned about this, and has thought deeply about the place of worship and emotion. And sometimes airing way too far to cutting off emotion side, but at the same time, wanting it to be real. KAREN SWALLOW PRIOR  33:59 Yeah, I mean, emotions are an essential part of what it means to be human. But if we confuse emotion with worship, I mean, we can worship God, and we want to feel what we are saying and expressing with our worship. But some of us are just more rational, some are more emotional. And the goal as individuals, and as a church is to have them in balance, not go from one extreme to the other. JULIE ROYS  34:21 For time sake, we're gonna have to skip over several chapters of your book, although I will just say, I would really encourage people to get the book. And by the way, if you get the book right now, it's something that we're offering as a premium to all the donors to The Roys Report. So you can get Karen's book, which thanks to some intervention that you did on your part, because this is a hardcover book. It's an expensive book, but you helped us get it at a really reasonable price, so we can offer it to anybody who gives a donation to The Roys Report in this month, we will send you a copy of Karen's book, which again, fantastic book. You just go to JULIEROYS.COM/DONATE. KAREN SWALLOW PRIOR  35:03 And if I can just throw in one word. It's not only a hardcover book, but this is also something I'm so proud of, because I negotiated it. It includes a number of beautiful color plates of paintings and artwork that I either talk about in the book or that illustrate the things I'm talking about. And so, I think books should be beautiful. And I think this one is. JULIE ROYS  35:24 Oh, it's gorgeous. So, thank you for helping us get that cheaper than we deserve. KAREN SWALLOW PRIOR  35:31 I'm so glad I was able to do that. JULIE ROYS  35:33 So, the last three chapters, which I think are absolutely crucial, chapter nine, you explore the concept of empire, and how evangelicalism, maybe without meaning to but it is just integral to this idea of British imperialism, which again, the sun never set on the British Empire, right? I mean, talk about the pride involved in that. But would you describe how evangelicalism, even the modern mission movement has become so married to Empire and how we can extricate ourselves from that. KAREN SWALLOW PRIOR  36:08 If anyone knows anything about me and my work, you know that I love cultural engagement, right? I love to engage all of the culture, art,  literature, think about it as a Christian, applied biblical worldview. And the fact is, even with the negative things that I have to say, especially in this chapter, this is sort of the darkest, heaviest chapter. I think. My whole point is that we are creatures of culture, no matter what Christians we're talking about the ones that the first century, the ones of the 30th century should the Lord tarry. All Christians will be in a culture, they will be influenced by their culture, hopefully they will influence their culture. So, what I'm talking about in this book of, you know, a 300-year slice of very like Western British American evangelicalism and the problems that we have to face, all Christians are going to have to face that entanglement with culture. So that's just how it is. And so, I'm not saying anything in particular, that is different. Where us as modern evangelicals as for Christians than any other place. But Empire happens to be an area in which it is the time and the place and the context in which evangelicalism was great before. The evangelical movement arose as the British Empire was arising. Evangelical influence and power reached its peak when the British Empire was peaking. So, the great work the evangelicals wanted to do as missionaries was inextricably tied to the work that British Empire wanted to do in colonizing and conquering around the globe. And so even if it's just barely coincidence, which it's more than that, there was effort and human intention and agency and mixed motives and all that involved, but even just the mere coincidence of the movement, and the Empire, arising at the same time means that evangelicalism was born by notions of Empire. And so, we might not go out as evangelicals and take lands and oppress people. We might we might not, but we don't have to do that to see the influence of empire in our evangelical culture today whether it's what our friend, Skye Jehani, has coined the evangelical industrial complex, or mega churches or big conferences, or coalition. All those things that I'm part of, too. So, I'm not standing at the outside and pointing. What I'm asking and examining saying, has this imperialist mindset affected us? Well, it has, it's in our DNA. And so that empire exists when we try to dominate our neighbors rather than loving them. JULIE ROYS  38:52 I will say, just to balance a little bit with that there was an article in Christianity Today several years ago that talked about colonialism and the missionaries and found that a lot of missionaries, actually the majority of them, were much more on the side of the Indigenous people and fighting for their rights than they were the colonial powers. So, I think there is some balance to that. But when I read this, the thing that I thought of so much, and this is where I've probably experienced so much change myself, is just the triumphalism within evangelicalism, and sometimes it's just really trite that we just always have the Cinderella story. It's in our brain and in essence, Christianity is a Cinderella story. I mean, Jesus did rise from the dead, we are eventually going to see heaven, but the in between, we forget the cross and the suffering and all of that, and that's a part of what it means to be Christian. And now I think, too, I've become much more aware of how I'm a part of the white dominant culture. And it's just like we're talking about the imagination that the soup that you swim, and you don't even realize it. But now that I'm beginning to realize it, I can see it more and more and more and in the ways that Christianity around the globe, I mean, quite frankly, Western Christianity is shrinking. The global south is growing and growing by leaps and bounds, and we're going to be, we are learning from them. And we need to learn much more and stop thinking that we have the corner on the way to do things when we need to admit that they do. This is not a white man's religion. This is, you know, something that was started by a Jewish dark-skinned man. And so, we need to be aware of that.  Then your next chapter on reformation reminded me of the motto of The Roys Report, which is reporting the truth, restoring the church. It's central to our again imagination as evangelicals to reform to be restored. I mean, that's huge. And yet we have seen so much perversion of the real. And I know there's people listening right now who are so disillusioned because of what they've seen in the church. How do we reform something that has been so fundamentally distorted? KAREN SWALLOW PRIOR  41:21 That's a big question. But I think some of the answer is, it's so simple, it's listening to one another, as you said, like listening to the people outside of our circles, who have different stories, different experiences. It's not turning away, You  model that. It's not turning away from the sin that's in front of us, or the sin that's beneath the surface that we sort of sense we would rather not know about. It's paying attention to the red flags, it's being open, honest, supporting those who are courageous enough to come forward, and just opening our eyes. And I feel like for me, that's where I am in my life. And so, this book, in some ways, is sort of my confession, because it's just me demonstrating what I'm going through, because I had a very good for the most part experience within the evangelical world, most of my life, but others . . . . And so, I don't feel like I'm saying anything in here that is new. It's new to me, perhaps, but I can hear other people saying, Yeah, well, I told you so a long time ago, or we've been saying this a long time. And so, I humbly respect that and admit that, and yet, we had this Protestant Reformation 500 years ago, which we've already identified with. And yet part of what that movement said is like, always reform is not just one reformation. And the way that I frame it in the book is that maybe that first big reformation was over doctrine and cleaning up the doctrine and clarifying that in the church, and maybe in the next 500 years is about practice. JULIE ROYS  43:01 For too long, we have focused almost exclusively on orthodoxy, you know, right belief. And there's been so little emphasis on orthopraxy, which is right behavior. And we have people who are preaching on huge platforms with the most pristine doctrine you can imagine and, you know, passing judgment on those who don't have as good a doctrine, and yet their lives. And I'm so glad you said fruit of the Spirit when you were talking about fruit because that's what reflects whether we're filled by the Holy Spirit, not by how many people are listening to our sermons or our podcasts or sitting in the pews. It is about Christ likeness. Well, lastly, let's talk about the Rapture. This has been the topic of so many evangelical books and movies from the Late Great Planet Earth to the Left Behind series. And the rapture, again, is something that's just seared into the evangelical imagination, and yet a literal rapture, which, at least in the tradition I grew up in, was very much assumed. Now, a lot of evangelicals are saying, well, maybe it's not exactly how we had envisioned it. Regardless, our obsession with the rapture, I think sometimes we miss the point. And you talk about that. What do you think about the Rapture now, as you reflect on it? What's it about, and what is God really asking us to think about His Second Coming? KAREN SWALLOW PRIOR  44:33 Yeah, I mean, for me, I have some lighthearted fun with this, because what's not fun talking about the Rapture and chick tracks and left behind and although you know, the trauma of that. This topic does illustrate what I'm trying to do throughout the whole book, because I grew up thinking that this interpretation of a physical literal rapture. I didn't know that was an interpretation, right? And I also didn't know it was an interpretation that arose in the 19th century. I just thought it was what all Christians believed. And so, it was a shocking revelation when I learned that not all Christians have this interpretation. And so that's not the only thing that we could say about having interpretations. And so, we need to examine not only our assumption, but examine our interpretive communities, because we interpret in community. And so, we are shaped by the way that our communities read Scripture emphasize scripture, which parts they tend to quote in the sermons and which ones never get preached about. And so, rapture is just, you know, one sort of dramatic example of that. And I say in the book, I haven't studied this on my own, I'm not a theologian in this area, I don't even really care what it means because I was just so tired of it. But I do know that whether the rapture is physical and literal or not, what the word means refers to us being caught up in Christ, right. And so all of the interpretations of that phrase are important, especially the one in which we are caught up with him now. Because we see him and are so filled with the spirit that we reflect Him and nothing else is as important. As Paul said, all this world is dung. We only want Christ. And that's what it means to be caught up in him. And so that's the most important interpretation. And that's kind of the note that I closed the book on is just to say, let's just imagine that. JULIE ROYS  46:32 Let me read that because I think you put it so well, and it really moved me. So, I just want to read this part of your book. The rapture is assuredly this. We who are in Christ will be caught up with him, caught up in him. To be caught up with Christ in Christ is to be filled with a love not only powerful enough to move the sun and the stars, but powerful enough to love that person we would otherwise despise. It is to love the kingdom of God more than the kingdoms of this world. It is to count all human empires as dirt, all our petty platforms and performances, as dung. To be caught up in Christ is to be enraptured by him, to be beholden to him, to be taken by him to be, as 17th century poet John Donne puts it, ravished by him. Not just in the sky, and on some future day, but here, and now. Just imagine it. I love that. KAREN SWALLOW PRIOR  47:29 Thank you. I worked hard on that ending. JULIE ROYS  47:32 I'm sure you did. And if that captured our imagination, as Christians as evangelicals, if we were more caught up in Jesus, and in this picture of oneness with him, instead of in the political empires that we think we have to gain or in the huge mega churches we think we have to build. If it really was about Jesus, again, what a huge difference that would make. And if anything, I hope people take away from your book, it is that; that this needs to be about Jesus and not about us and our imaginations need to be filled with what's good and true and beautiful. And that will change the world. So, thank you. KAREN SWALLOW PRIOR  48:17 Thanks, Julie. JULIE ROYS  48:19 Well, again, thanks so much for listening to The Roys Report, a podcast dedicated to recording the truth and restoring the church. I'm Julie Roys. And as I mentioned earlier, if you'd like a copy of Karen's book, The Evangelical Imagination, we're giving them as a thank you to anyone who gives a gift of $30 or more to The Roys Report this month. So, if you appreciate these podcasts, would you please consider giving to support our work? As I've said before, we don't have any big donors or advertising, we simply have you, the people who care about the integrity of the church and the protection of the most vulnerable. To donate and get a copy of The Evangelical Imagination, just go to JULIEROYS.COM/DONATED. Also, just a quick reminder to subscribe to The Roys Report on Apple podcast, Google podcasts or Spotify. That way you'll never miss an episode. And while you're at it, I'd really appreciate it if you'd help us spread the word about the podcast by leaving a review. And then please share the podcast on social media so more people can hear about this great content. Again, thanks so much for joining me today. Hope you were blessed and encouraged. Read more

Kyle Worley and Rebecca McLaughlin are joined by Dr. Karen Swallow Prior to have a conversation about abortion and how we as Christians can engage with the sanctity of human life issues most helpfully.Questions Covered in This Episode:Would you be willing to share a bit of your story: How did you come to follow Jesus? What led you into your field of study? What led you to become involved in right to life and sanctity of human life issues?How has your involvement in this changed over the years?How do Christians engage most helpfully?What was your response when you heard about the prospect of Roe's overturn? How should we respond?How do we live in the tension of being pro-life and glad for progress on this and at the same time relate to friends to who this feels like an injustice?How do we be sober-minded enough to view how tragic the full sweep of abortion is?How do we move forward? What's next?What do we do now practically?Guest Bio:Dr. Karen Swallow Prior is Research Professor of English and Christianity and Culture at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. In addition, she is the author of numerous books, including: Booked, Fierce Convictions, On Reading Well, and the co-editor of Cultural Engagement: A Crash Course in Contemporary Issues. She has a column for Religion News Service and her writing has appeared at Christianity Today, The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The Gospel Coalition…and just about everywhere else.Resources Mentioned in This Episode:Operation RescueCASA Amazon affiliate links are used where appropriate. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases, thank you for supporting Training the Church.Follow Us:Instagram | TwitterOur Sister Shows:Knowing Faith | The Family Discipleship PodcastConfronting Christianity is a podcast of Training the Church. For ad-free episodes and more content check out our Patreon

As a professor of English, Karen Swallow Prior argues that reading both shapes character and requires character, including patience, prudence, and love. Dr. Prior offers Christian perspectives on events for the New York Times and the Atlantic, taking up the role of public theologian. Although she never sought one, she has a "platform" – and explains why it is ill-advised to seek a platform. If you would like to enrich your reading life, enter here for the opportunity to win a copy of Karen's book On Reading Well, provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group. Connect with us! Our website: https://www.faithandworkstl.org/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/faithandworkstl Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/faithandworkstl/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuD3xLksTdBhMX0R3lTY4gQ Purchase Dan's latest book: https://www.prpbooks.com/book/work-that-makes-a-difference

As a professor of English, Karen Swallow Prior argues that reading both shapes character and requires character, including patience, prudence, and love. Dr. Prior offers Christian perspectives on events for the New York Times and the Atlantic, taking up the role of public theologian. Although she never sought one, she has a "platform" – and explains why it is ill-advised to seek a platform. If you would like to enrich your reading life, enter here for the opportunity to win a copy of Karen's book On Reading Well, provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group. Connect with us! Our website: https://www.faithandworkstl.org/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/faithandworkstl Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/faithandworkstl/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuD3xLksTdBhMX0R3lTY4gQ Purchase Dan's latest book: https://www.prpbooks.com/book/work-that-makes-a-difference

In this episode, We take a break from our On Reading Well discussions and walk through the film Carnage. Our Liminal in-person event coming up will be talking about Carnage and this pod is some help for those who watched and... had some questions!Bida, Jill and Dave discuss this fascinating movie about 2 sets of parents whose pretensions are unmasked over the course of one afternoon and the darkly revealing comedy that happens as a result.P.S. Spoilers are contained in this podcast!

In this episode I talk about Matthew chapter 6 and where we are storing our treasure.  Also, I talk about the book On Reading Well by Karen Swallow Prior.  I recommend the TV show The Wonder Years as a way to celebrate and educate during Black History Month.  I also honor a fellow Sistern in Christ this week for Black History Month, Elsa Gardner and describe how she gave me a glimpse of Heaven.  All of that and a new series is coming your way on the podcast: The Divinity of Disney.  

In this episode:Jill, Jeremy, and Michael discuss the Prudence chapter from Karen Prior's book On Reading Well. 

In this episode Richard shares from his library the books he has enjoyed in the last year and some that he is looking forward to reading in the new year. DONATE: Now, through the end of the year your donation can be doubled thanks to a generous donor. If you have enjoyed this podcast and want to support what we do, click here. EVENTS: Find out more and sign up for either our in-person (May 2-4) or online (Feb. 28- Mar 2) Spiritual Leadership Coaching workshop. Click here. Richard will be at the Billy Graham Training Center at The Cove on March 28-30 for an event entitled, "SeniorCelebration: Living Victoriously in a Troubling, Confusing, and Dangerous World" Register here. RESOURCES: Beyond Order by Jordan B. Peterson. Find it here. The Gift of Being Yourself by David G. Benner. Find it here. The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self by Carl R. Trueman. Find it here. The Problem of the Old Testament by Duane A. Garrett. Find it here. Life of Martyn Lloyd-Jones, 1899-1981 by Iain H. Murray. Find it here. John G. Patton by John G. Patton. Find it here. With Christ in the School of Prayer by Andrew Murray. Find it here. Gently and Lowly by Dane C. Ortland. Find it here. On Reading Well by Karen Swallow Prior. Find it here. Gunlap by Robert Wolgemuth. Find it here. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. Find it here. Dangerous Calling by Paul David Tripp. Find it here. Quiet by Susan Cain. Find it here. The Rise of Christianity by Rodney Stark. Find it here. The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Find it here.  Paul: A biography by N.T. Wright. Find it here. Smart Leadership by Mark Miller. Find it here. The Emperor Domitian by Brian Jones. Find it here. Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. Find it here. The Organized Mind by Daniel Levitin. Find it here. Bismarck: A Life by Jonathan Steinberg. Find it here. Peter the Great: His Life and World by Robert K. Massie. Find it here. Louis XIV by Anthony Levi. Find it here. The Holiness of God by R.C. Sproul. Find it here. CONNECT: Follow Richard on Twitter. Follow Richard on Facebook. Read Richard's latest blog posts at www.richardblackaby.com.

In this episode, Erik Rostad discusses book 1 from his 2022 Reading List – On Reading Well by Karen Swallow Prior. Show Notes Author: Karen Swallow Prior Purchase the book from Landmark Booksellers (use coupon “booksoftitans” for 10% off) Reading Resources Books of Titans Website The post On Reading Well by Karen Swallow Prior appeared first on Books of Titans.

“To read well is not to scour books for lessons on what to think. Rather, to read well is to be formed in how to think.” Karen Swallows Prior - Dr. Prior joins LAB: The Podcast for a conversation on literature, formation, and her book On Reading Well. Don't miss the conversation and make sure to order your copy….http://www.karenswallowprior.com. 

Why is it important for leaders to read, and what can great literature teach us about developing virtue? In this episode, Richard and Sam discuss the book “On Reading Well” by Karen Swallow Prior. DONATE: Now, through the end of the year your donation can be doubled thanks to a generous donor. If you have enjoyed this podcast and want to support what we do, click here. RESOURSES  “On Reading Well: Finding the Good Life through Great Books” by Karen Swallow Prior. Buy it here. Visit the Blackaby Ministries International website here. CONNECT: Follow Richard on Twitter. Follow Richard on Facebook. Read Richard's latest blog posts at www.richardblackaby.com.

Today, we talk with Dr. Karen Swallow Prior about creating intentionally. She has some encouragement for young (all) writers. And, the answer everyone wants to know: Why is she on Twitter? Dr. Prior is the author of the book, On Reading Well, and has also written updated reading guides for classics like Frankenstein and Jane Eyre. 

In this episode we talk to two of our own pastors. We ask them about  what we should think of the ministry, books and teaching of those - such as Ravi Zacharias -  who have had a very public and shameful fall from grace. Should we burn all their books and try out hardest to forget any of the teachings that have been impactful, or should we give them the benefit of the doubt?We consider if ever we should offer opinions on public allegations of abuse, whether we really should support parachurch organisations (we also accurately define what these are), and the Cats nail the art of asking 16 small questions and try to pass them off as 1. We take the opportunity to try and get to know our pastors a bit better and hit them with a classic Plumbline quickfire.We mention recent events at a local church to us, Crowded House and you can read the full Thirtyone:eight report here.Plumb crumbles were:A book: On Reading Well by Karen Swallow PriorA TV series: The ChosenAnother book: Notes on a Nervous Planet by Matt HaigA steamed yeasted pudding: Germknodel Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/theplumblinepodcast?fan_landing=true)

Frederick Douglas once said, “Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.” And that famous philosopher, Dr. Suess once gave this directive for a flourishing life: “Fill your house with stacks of books, in all the crannies and all the nooks.” One of the greatest gifts God has given to us is the ability to read. But in today’s world, constraints on our time and our increased focus on screens has crowded out reading for most of us and for most of our kids. We need to recover a love for reading, as good reading will shape and form us in good ways. It’s because we believe this to be true that we’re chatting with author Karen Swallow Prior about the power of good books to shape our lives, our kids, our families, and our youth ministries, on this episode of Youth Culture Matters.

Join Ben and Elizabeth as they kick off their “Otherworldly” series on love. Some particulars talked about are the differences between mere empathy and real compassion and the supernatural nature of agape love. Ben gives an example of how this can play out even in the day to day things with family life happening. Love through the Spirit is a wonderfully “otherworldly” reality that we should all pay close attention to. Enjoy! On Reading Well by Karen Swallow PriorGod So Loved, He Gave by Kelly KapicMeaning of Marriage by Tim Keller

Today on the podcast, author Karen Swallow Prior joins us to explore the power of great stories, knowing our limits, and acting our convictions. We also discuss Karen's book "Fierce Convictions," which tells the extraordinary story of abolitionist Hannah More. Check out "Fierce Convictions" here: https://www.amazon.com/Fierce-Convictions-Extraordinary-Reformer-Abolitionist/dp/1400206251  Find Karen's books "On Reading Well" and "Booked" here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07D6XGB1P/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009XTYJLK/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i2  Check out these beautiful copies of classic books with introductions by Karen Swallow Prior: https://www.amazon.com/Sense-Sensibility-Jane-Austen/dp/1462796648/ref=sr_1_1?crid=JABX7GY75PTT&dchild=1&keywords=karen+swallow+prior+sense+and+sensibility&qid=1602225016&sprefix=karen+swallow%2Caps%2C219&sr=8-1 https://www.amazon.com/Heart-Darkness-Joseph-Conrad/dp/1462796656/ref=pd_bxgy_2/134-0770917-3294111?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1462796656&pd_rd_r=72e02def-6174-4506-8aea-2a0340e58e1d&pd_rd_w=PCxzB&pd_rd_wg=8gEnR&pf_rd_p=ce6c479b-ef53-49a6-845b-bbbf35c28dd3&pf_rd_r=Y4TZYVSV1A29H8BQ2990&psc=1&refRID=Y4TZYVSV1A29H8BQ2990 https://www.amazon.com/Jane-Eyre-Guide-Reading-Reflecting/dp/1462796672/ref=sr_1_2?crid=JABX7GY75PTT&dchild=1&keywords=karen+swallow+prior+sense+and+sensibility&qid=1602225167&sprefix=karen+swallow%2Caps%2C219&sr=8-2 Erin and her husband, Brett, run Maven which “exists to help the next generation know truth, pursue goodness, and create beauty, all for the cause of Christ.” Check out more about Maven here: https://maventruth.com/ Visit our website and sign up for our email list so that you can stay up to date on what we are doing: https://www.colsoncenter.org/strong-women/ Learn more about the Colson Center: https://www.colsoncenter.org/  

Today on the podcast, author Karen Swallow Prior joins us to explore the power of great stories, knowing our limits, and acting our convictions. We also discuss Karen's book "Fierce Convictions," which tells the extraordinary story of abolitionist Hannah More. Check out "Fierce Convictions" here: https://www.amazon.com/Fierce-Convictions-Extraordinary-Reformer-Abolitionist/dp/1400206251  Find Karen's books "On Reading Well" and "Booked" here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07D6XGB1P/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009XTYJLK/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i2  Check out these beautiful copies of classic books with introductions by Karen Swallow Prior: https://www.amazon.com/Sense-Sensibility-Jane-Austen/dp/1462796648/ref=sr_1_1?crid=JABX7GY75PTT&dchild=1&keywords=karen+swallow+prior+sense+and+sensibility&qid=1602225016&sprefix=karen+swallow%2Caps%2C219&sr=8-1 https://www.amazon.com/Heart-Darkness-Joseph-Conrad/dp/1462796656/ref=pd_bxgy_2/134-0770917-3294111?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1462796656&pd_rd_r=72e02def-6174-4506-8aea-2a0340e58e1d&pd_rd_w=PCxzB&pd_rd_wg=8gEnR&pf_rd_p=ce6c479b-ef53-49a6-845b-bbbf35c28dd3&pf_rd_r=Y4TZYVSV1A29H8BQ2990&psc=1&refRID=Y4TZYVSV1A29H8BQ2990 https://www.amazon.com/Jane-Eyre-Guide-Reading-Reflecting/dp/1462796672/ref=sr_1_2?crid=JABX7GY75PTT&dchild=1&keywords=karen+swallow+prior+sense+and+sensibility&qid=1602225167&sprefix=karen+swallow%2Caps%2C219&sr=8-2 Erin and her husband, Brett, run Maven which “exists to help the next generation know truth, pursue goodness, and create beauty, all for the cause of Christ.” Check out more about Maven here: https://maventruth.com/ Visit our website and sign up for our email list so that you can stay up to date on what we are doing: https://www.colsoncenter.org/strong-women/ Learn more about the Colson Center: https://www.colsoncenter.org/  

www.graceenoughpodcast.com Karen Swallow Prior joins me on Grace Enough Podcast to discuss the impact reading good books can have on our journey with Jesus, particularly as it relates to cultivating virtue and helping us read and understand Scripture. Questions Karen Swallow Prior and I Discussed: (4:30) In your newest book On Reading Well you write, "Just as water, over a long period of time, reshapes the land through which it runs, so too we are formed by the habit of reading good books well."  In light of that quote share a little of your backstory with us.  How did you come to know Jesus and what are a few memories you have of books shaping your faith? (6:55) The subtitle of Reading Well is "Finding the Good Life Through Great Books." What is the good life and how does reading great books help us to discover it? (9:15) For many, the word virtue may not resonate, but when we define it as behavior showing high moral character my hope is ears perk up.  Talk to us a little about cultivating virtue in our current culture and some practical steps we can take to be purposeful in this area. (13:07) What do you think it is about reading a book with a character who is virtuous? How do you think that inspires us to really live differently? (15:19) As followers of Jesus we hold Scripture in highest regard. How does reading other great books help us read and understand Scripture better? ....... Quotes to Remember: "For me, love of books and love of Jesus are so intertwined, I can hardly disconnect them." "As I grew older, and became more interested in the mind, and the intellect that books cultivates, I didn't see a lot of space for that in the church. And for a long time, I didn't see how the two went together. It really wasn't until I was completing my PhD that I, through a number of circumstances, figured out, wow, the love that I have for words comes from the Creator of the Word." SHOW NOTES CONTINUED Related Episodes: 35: Sharon Hodde Miller: NICE: WHY WE LOVE TO BE LIKED AND HOW GOD CALLS US TO MORE 79: Amy Carroll | Sharing Your God Story Follow Karen Swallow Prior on Twitter or karenswallowprior.com ----------------------------------------------- Follow Grace Enough Podcast on IG and FB ------------------------------------------------

Many books and works of literature have themes and storylines that address culturally-relevant issues surrounding relationships, shame, and fear, and Dr. Prior makes many of those connections for us in today's discussion. In today's episode, Dr. Prior and I discuss:how literature has elements of shame components, class discussion on cultural issues, the "Billy Graham Rule" and opposite sex relationships, and her book "On Reading Well"If you enjoy reading literature and see the many connections it makes to culture, then this is a fun episode for you to tune in to. Remember to subscribe and/or follow on Itunes, Spotify, Stitcher, GooglePlay, and all other podcast platforms. **Dr. Prior has her book, "On Reading Well", available on Amazon which you can access by copying and pasting the following link: https://amzn.to/3gla6Hy Support the show (http://paypal.me/slandajr)

And we are on to a new book! Join David, Heidi, and very special guests Karen Swallow Prior, author of On Reading Well, and Joshua Gibbs, host of Proverbial, for a discussion about Mary Shelley's legendary novel, Frankenstein. In this episode they chat about the story behind the book, Shelley's wild and sad life, the differences in the editions, some preliminary themes, and more. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Chandler Vannoy are joined by Karen Swallow Prior, professor of English and author of On Reading Well. They discuss how and why we should work on developing our reading skills and being comfortable with other viewpoints to better support our own viewpoints. BEST QUOTES "I think you should take notes, mark in the book, or do something to engage with it and read reflectively. Good writing is not the kind of writing you can skim." "Reading one book well is far better than reading ten to check off your list.""We all have skill levels, whether its reading or listening, and we should be trying to develop those and not get frustrated with ourselves because we aren't where we think we should be.""I really want to understand their point of view so that I can understand and support my own point of view.""We are always thinking in community and hopefully we are part of different thinking communities.""When I see leadership potential or any other type of gifting in my students or colleagues, I want to name that in them and encourage them to pursue it.""All this is about nuancing our ability to see and apply the truth and also to pursue it apart from our comfort zone." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES LifeWay Leadership Podcast Network LifeWay.com/CoronaVirus 5LQ Episode 351: On Reading Well With Karen Swallow Prior On Reading Well by Karen Swallow Prior How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler Sense and Sensibility: A Guide to Reading and Reflecting by Karen Swallow Prior Heart of Darkness: A Guide to Reading and Reflecting by Karen Swallow Prior This episode's sponsor: For more than 25 years, Portable Church® has helped thousands of churches launch strong and thrive in a mobile setting. They design custom solutions that fit each budget, vision, and venue. Everything you need to launch a mobile church — an inviting worship space, kids ministry areas, welcome spaces, storage cases, etc — all in a system refined to make it fast, easy & fun for the weekly volunteer teams.

As we continue to trudge through this season of social distancing and everyone sheltering at home, we're all finding it to be a struggle to do some of our favorite things. Y'know, like reading. So today, Karen Swallow Prior—one of our favorite guests from 2019—makes a return visit to the show to talk about reading habits, binge-watching, and generally class up the program. Listen in as we discuss: Which female literary characters men should make a point of studying Why it's hard to read in high-stress situations How we can overcome losing the art of deep, uninterrupted reading Why "TL;DR" is the worst Why Karen started her new B&H classic literature series with Sense and Sensibility and Heart of Darkness Where are our favorite reading spots Why it's a great idea to cite the people on your thesis panel All this, plus a few listener questions! (Thanks Joe Waller and Richard Harbison!) Karen Swallow Prior is the author of On Reading Well and has been a Professor of Literature at Liberty University and will be transitioning to Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fall 2020. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram. A few of the books we mentioned this week On Reading Well by Karen Swallow Prior Sense & Sensibility by Jane Austen (get it for 44% off from LifeWay) Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (get it for 44% off from LifeWay) Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry Madam Bovary by Gustave Flaubert Anyone by Charles Soule The Overstory by Richard Powers Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson Misreading Scripture with Modern Eyes by E. Randolph Richards and Brandon O'Brien Sharing and supporting the show Leave a five-star rating and review of the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to the show. Give us a follow on Twitter and Instagram at @MalContentsPod Be sure to use the Amazon affiliate links above to help us pay for the costs of producing and hosting the show. Interested in sponsoring Table of (mal)Contents? Let's talk via email or DM us on Twitter or Instagram.

Ben and Elizabeth talk through the precious gift of time and how we were created to use it for God’s glory. They speak on how time matters for the heart, soul, mind and body. Time matters, and what we do with it impacts these areas dramatically. The heart: The heart is the center of a person. Talked about in this episode is the importance of feeding the heart good nutritious food each morning in starting our day.The mind: God created the mind in order it be stimulated. Talked through are ways in which we can use our time for the benefit of a clear and healthy mind.The body: The body is to be cared for, but this takes time. Talked about are ways in which the body can be used for God’s glory. The body matters and how we use our time effects it directly. Enjoy this episode! On Reading Well, Finding the Good Life through Great Books, by Karen Swallow Prior

Dr. Karen Swallow Prior joins the podcast to discuss literature, the 2020 election, the pro-life movement, and of course, dogs. Follow the patreon link below to watch the bonus segment. Links Support Help Me Believe https://www.patreon.com/helpmebelieve Karen's website: https://karenswallowprior.com/about/ "On Reading Well": https://amzn.to/3dbmuZO Haden's Books: https://amzn.to/2sO5PFO Podcast: https://apple.co/2MG2SP2 Blog: https://helpmebelieveblog.com/ Social Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/helpmebelieveblog/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/helpme_believe Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/helpmebelieveblog/ 

When we train in Grace God will strengthen us to finish the race

How can Christians and pastors benefit from literary reading? Karen Swallow Prior, author of On Reading Well and Professor of English at Liberty University,  joins the podcast. In these episodes she discusses her childhood fascination with reading. She also talks about her career as a professor and the distinction between fiction, non-fiction, literary and non-literary writings. She also discusses her recent book on virtue, literature, and the good life––as well as ways that pastors and churches can benefit from exploring literary reading and writing.

How can Christians and pastors benefit from literary reading? Karen Swallow Prior, author of On Reading Well and Professor of English at Liberty University,  joins the podcast. In these episodes she discusses her childhood fascination with reading. She also talks about her career as a professor and the distinction between fiction, non-fiction, literary and non-literary writings. She also discusses her recent book on virtue, literature, and the good life––as well as ways that pastors and churches can benefit from exploring literary reading and writing.

What if I told you that reading well could actually help make you a better steward of language on Twitter? Welcome to Curious, a five-part series of conversations inviting all tired Christians to rediscover and reclaim their God-given gift of curiosity. In this continuation of Episode 1, I’m joined by Dr. Karen Swallow Prior, author of On Reading Well, to talk about how being curious in reading literature is necessary preparation for navigating our culture of polarized thinking. Dr. Prior reminds us that Christians are “people of the Word” and that as Outsiders, we have the responsibility to own and steward the language we speak, type, and interpret every day. Episode Highlights 0:00 Reading as a virtue? I set us up for Part 2 of my conversation with Dr. Karen Prior 0:25 My reactions to what The Great Gatsby teaches on the virtue of temperance, as discussed in On Reading Well 1:57 “On Twitter, you have become a target for extremists on both sides.” Dr. Prior explains why studying virtue through literature equips her for navigating our polarized culture 3:31 “When we try to avoid one error that we should avoid, we swing to the opposite side and commit another error.” Dr. Prior on what she’s observed from extreme stance-taking in both the classroom and the church 5:54 What allegory and Pilgrim’s Progress has to teach us about the language we use (and interpret) on social media 9:36 Why I believe Dr. Prior’s theory on virtue in literature is a framework for faith leaders everywhere 10:40 You could call us modern-day monks. Why Dr. Prior says it’s the responsibility of Christians, the people of the Word, to preserve literacy in our decaying world 13:15 Where you can find Dr. Prior and how you can contribute to the Reading Well movement 14:30 Now it’s Dr. Prior’s turn: her question for me about reading and writing Episode Resources Part One of this episode On Reading Well Dr. Prior’s Twitter Dr. Prior’s Speaking Engagement Schedule The Great Gatsby A Tale of Two Cities Pilgrim’s Progress The Outsiders

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Daniel Im are joined by Karen Swallow Prior, professor of English at Liberty University and author of On Reading Well. During their conversation, they discuss the following questions: Why did you write a book on reading and what have you learned from reading widely?What does it mean to read well?What benefit does reading literature have to leading?You encourage individuals to read slowly, why and how do we do that?Explain the virtues you discuss in the book. BEST QUOTES “The art and the skill of reading literature suffers with the digitization of the material we take in.""Literature is an art. It's indirect and doesn't tell you what the moral is.""Reading well in the literal way is reading to comprehend the text, but beyond that is interpreting and applying that meaning to our lives.""When we read well we are practicing being human.""By it's very nature, written words require us to think abstractly and in a more linear fashion than images supported by dramatic music in the background.""There is so much research to show how reading literary fiction actually cultivates empathy.""You aren't reading just to get the information, you are reading to engage in the art of language and human experience.""According to Aristotle, every virtue is a mean or moderation between two vices - an excess and a deficiency.""Oftentimes prudence is recognizing all the variables in a situation and doing what is wise in that situation." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES LifeWay Leadership Podcast Network On Reading Well by Karen Swallow Prior Booked: Literature in the Soul of Me by Karen Swallow Prior Fierce Convictions by Karen Swallow Prior Group Answers Podcast This Episode's Sponsor: Feeling unequipped for marriage ministry? Woo Marriage is here to help. Backed by research and designed with your church in mind, Woo Marriage provides Christ-centered marriage coaching for your entire church. Get your first month free with offer code LEADERSHIP at WooMarriage.com/FreeTrial.

What if I told you that you could live counter-culturally today just by reading extra slowly? We’ve all heard that leaders are readers, but nobody actually enjoys plunging through a long checklist of titles as fast as they can. Outsiders, we need a new approach. It’s time to slow down and be curious again. Welcome to Curiosity, a series of five conversations that explore the recovery and rediscovery of our curiosity, the God-given fuel behind Go Outside. In Part 1 of this first episode, Dr. Karen Swallow Prior, the author of one of my favorite books, On Reading Well, is here to help us rethink how and why we read. Together, Karen and I explain how reading well is a straight-out rebellion against our fast-paced culture but also a deeply rewarding virtue that slows us down, opens us up to notice, and makes us powerful stewards of language. Episode Highlights 0:00 Would you call yourself curious? Why curiosity is foundational for Go Outside 0:40 Any bookworms tuning in? I share my latest curiosity: literature (and introduce a guest who’s got quite the appetite for reading herself!) 1:10 “I don’t think most people dare to go that far.” Dr. Prior’s response after I asks about the most important thing we have in common 3:25 A week-in-the-life: Dr. Prior talks her chaotic schedule of traveling, teaching, and living in rural Virginia 5:50 The story behind how Dr. Prior’s book ended up in my hands 9:21 Do you also struggle to enjoy reading in our fast-paced world? Dr. Prior talks about the time, patience, and attention it takes to read well 11:10 “Reading good literature is a radical, rebellious act against our culture.” What Dr. Prior says a counter-cultural mindset towards reading should look like and feel like 13:31 Reading is a virtue? Dr. Prior gives us a refresher on what it means to live in tension between having too much and not enough 17:00 Karen Prior shares her 4 favorite virtues (as of today, at least) 18:55 The young adult novel that inspired both me and Dr. Prior 20:45 Christians should read more than self-help books? Dr. Prior explains why she chose the books she did for her top 100 reading list Resources - On Reading Well by Karen Swallow Prior - Karen Swallow Prior on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ksprior - Her website: www.karenswallowprior.com - The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton - The History of Tom Jones by Henry Fielding - The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Further up and further (as they say)! Join David, Heidi, and special guest Karen Swallow Prior (author of the much-loved book, On Reading Well) as they continue their discussion of Jane Austen's classic novel. Topics of conversation include: How the irony and satire in the book ought to be read for each character, how Jane Austen portrays her male characters, the question of making judgments as readers, and much, much more. Remember: subscribe, rate, review! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Join David, Heidi, and special guest, Karen Swallow Prior (author of the much-loved book, On Reading Well) for this new series of shows about Jane Austen's classic novel. In this episode they discuss Austen's use of irony and satire, her genius point-of-view techniques, the purpose of a comedy of manners, and much, much more. Remember: If you like this show please subscribe, rate, and review! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A couple weeks' back, we travelled to exotic downtown Indianapolis for TGC19. With so many book loving people in one place at the same time, we took the show on the road to chat with a few friends. On this episode, we're joined by Karen Swallow Prior to talk books and British literature, theology, pets, and few other things too. Listen in as we discuss: Will Dave's cats join him in the new creation? How does reading help us become virtuous? What challenges do the current (and forthcoming) generations face when it comes to reading? Why is reading classic works so difficult? Does anyone actually read Moby Dick? Which is more virtuous: using the cliff notes or watching the movie adaptation of a book? What do we really wish people understood about Jane Austen's books? A few of the books we mentioned in this episode: On Reading Well by Karen Swallow Prior Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen Tom Jones by Henry Fielding The Road by Cormac McCarthy Tess of the D'ubervilles by Thomas Hardy

In this conversation of KC Podcast, Pastor Uri Brito speaks with Dr. Karen Prior. Dr. Prior is a Professor of English at Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA. She received her Ph.D at the State University of New York Buffalo. She is a recipient of various awards, author of four books, published articles for various Christian and non-Christians organizations. Her most recent book “On reading well: finding the good life through great books” has received much praise and has ignited a renewed vigor for reading great books. In this conversation, Dr. Prior speaks of the necessity of intentional reading in an age of distraction. She notes that not all reading is created equal. Reading modern self-help books or articles on the smartphone is a different kind of reading than reading great books. We further discuss the purpose of reading and the kinds of questions we ought to ask before our reading. Hope you enjoy our conversation and don't forget to leave a review of our show. Resources: Concerning distractions in an age of distraction, Dr. Prior recommends Maryann Wolf's Reader, Come Home! You can purchase Dr. Prior's book: On Reading Well: finding the good life through great books.

On this week's episode we are honored to have Karen Swallow Prior join us. She is a certified smart person and wrote the book that Elyse considers the best book of 2018. Listen in to our interview where we talk about "On Reading Well" and virtue.  

Jay Eldred interviews Karen Swallow Prior about her recent book "On Reading Well."

Jay Eldred interviews Karen Swallow Prior about her recent book "On Reading Well."

Jay Eldred interviews Karen Swallow Prior about her recent book "On Reading Well."

Ryan and Phillip spend the entire hour with Karen Swallow Prior to discuss her new book "On Reading Well"

Christian Outlook – September 8, 2018 Chaos and political posturing dominated the Senate hearings for Supreme Court nominee Judge Kavanaugh. Kevin McCullough turns to Gayle Trotter of the Judicial Crisis Network for comment, and Albert Mohler opines. California AB2943 has been pulled by the bill’s sponsor, Assemblymember Evan Low, even after passing both houses of the California legislature. Frank Sontag asks Pastor Jim Domen to explain what happened. Eric Metaxas asks author Karen Swallow Prior if reading a “physical book” is lost art. Prior's book, On Reading Well: Finding the Good Life Through Great Books, has more on this and the importance of virtues, which can be rediscovered by reading great books like Huckleberry Finn and those of southern author Flannery O’Connor. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Karen Swallow Prior, Ph. D., is Professor of English at Liberty University, where she has won multiple teaching awards. She writes frequently on literature, culture, ethics, and ideas. Her writing appears at Christianity Today, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, First Things, Vox, Think Christian, The Gospel Coalition, Books and Culture and other places. She is the author of Booked: Literature in the Soul of Me (T. S. Poetry Press, 2012), Fierce Convictions: The Extraordinary Life of Hannah More—Poet, Reformer, Abolitionist (Thomas Nelson, 2014), and On Reading Well: Finding the Good Life through Great Literature (Brazos, 2018). In this episode Hilary sits down with author and professor Karen Swallow Prior to talk about her new book, On Reading Well, how she launched a career as an author, and what she has learned since she was in a bus accident in May 2018 leaving her in a wheelchair for three months. Episode Highlights "Reading well leads to living well." "I want to encourage people to read books that make demands on you and be OK with books that are challenging." "When we learn about characters, we shape our own character." Recommended Reading from Karen:Madam Bovary Connect with Karen on Twitter and Instagram. Get your copy of On Reading Well here. Connect with Hilary on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. You can also catch the episode of Melissa's "Figuring It Out" podcast in which Hilary is guest discussing how to work from home productively. This episode is sponsored by the Side Hustle Starter Kit.

Author and academic Karen Swallow Prior shares her life and work, specifically her latest book-about-books, “On Reading Well.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On episode #690 of Theology in the Raw Preston talks with Karen Swallow Prior. Karen is a Professor of English at Liberty University. She writes frequently on literature, culture, ethics, and ideas. You can follow Karen on Twitter and order her new book On Reading Well on her website.Support PrestonSupport Preston by going to patreon.comConnect with PrestonTwitter | @PrestonSprinkleInstagram | @preston.sprinkleCheck out his website prestonsprinkle.comIf you enjoy the podcast, be sure to leave a review.

We are so excited to have Karen Prior, professor of English at Liberty University, on The Autumn Miles Show! Listen in as Autumn and Karen discuss Karen's new book, "On Reading Well," that comes out September 2018!