Annie Dillard’s unrestrained hallelujah
The visionary writer showed us that paying attention could make us certain that the world is holy.
A. Muia writes like she’s inventing a new language
Her spellbinding novel in stories transforms Baja California into a dreamscape of violence, longing, and hard-won grace.
A theology of impossible cheeseburger pie
A seminary cookbook from 1984 led me to revisit the potlucks—and the beliefs—of my midwestern childhood.
The missing head of Pancho Villa
What does the stolen skull of a Mexican revolutionary have to do with my friend and me, living in Colorado a century after his death?
America’s real sister act
“When we narrate the history of the church from the perspective of Black nuns,” says historian Shannen Dee Williams, “myths about the Catholic past fall quickly and they fall hard.”
The magic of Amy Leach’s world
The essayist playfully contrasts the apocalyptic, fundamentalist worldviews of her childhood with the teeming abundance of life that she found later.
Reading into the gaps
“Because certain scribal puns appear only in Galatians,” says Candida Moss, “we have to consider that they come from the secretary rather than Paul.”
Can scientists make a universe from nothing?
“Empty space is never really, truly empty,” says science writer Zeeya Merali.
Cultivating literary Dallas
“It was not enough to publish books,” says Deep Vellum founder Will Evans. “We needed a place to invite people in, to put literature at the core of the cultural community.”
A novel about (not) writing an essay
Rosalind Brown’s debut novel could be understood as a midrash on Montaigne’s metaphor of the mind as runaway horse.
The wisdom of dreamwork
“I don’t interpret dreams,” says poet and spiritual director Rodger Kamenetz. “I bring them to life.”
Coffee justice in Mexico
Café Justo’s alternative to the fair trade model keeps the means of production—and most of the profit—in the local community.
A world with no boundaries
Russian writer Ludmila Ulitskaya’s stories of love and defiance escape the plane of realism.
A Refugee’s Feast: the story of Maria Skobtsova with Amy Frykholm (S3:E8)
“Love is a very dangerous thing.”
Love and desolation: The story of Matushka Olga Michael with Meagan Saliashvili (S3:E7)
“Blessed Olga said, ‘God can create great beauty out of complete desolation.’”