Believe To See

Matt and Mandy talk with Anselm Society Arts Guild member Jane Scharl, a poet and playwright. They discuss Jane's recently published and produced play, an imaginative encounter between St. Ignatius of Loyola, John Calvin, and François Rabelais.

Evangeline and her brother, Dr. John Case Tompkins, voyage from the Emerald Isle to Middle Earth via J.R.R. Tolkien’s obscure poem “The Death of Saint Brendan.”      

Evangeline and Mandy sit down at the digital pub table to interview KJ Ramsey—author, artist, and trauma-informed therapist. KJ discusses how her art and recent book of prayers and poems has been influenced by her own story and practice as a trauma-informed therapist. Kj and the cohosts also discuss how grief can be a gateway that helps us connect our own stories to the Great Story. Find KJ at www.kjramsey.com and The Book of Common Courage at BookOfCommonCourage.com 

Mandy and Evangeline talk with author and pastor Eric Schumacher about his various projects (fiction, nonfiction, devotional, musical, and more). The stories behind his work share a common theme: the artist’s search for truth, clarity, and healing. 

You cannot have a story without a setting. Whether it's New England or some planet on the other side of the galaxy, a story needs to happen somewhere. Some stories take place within a single apartment, or on a single park bench. But some stories add details to the setting – sometimes a lot of details. This whole process is called worldbuilding, an essential part of much of storytelling. What can worldbuilding add to a story? What happens when it is done well? What about when it is not done well? The Believe to See cohosts invite Elisa Lambert, the Anselm Arts Guild's resident worldbuilding expert, to discuss worldbuilding.

We all know the powers of words, written and spoken. We know that they contain a power so immense that God himself refers to himself as the Word in scripture. But, images speak too - very, very powerfully. This is why small children’s literature most often includes illustrations alongside text. Together, these two powerful methods of learning ignite the imagination of children in extraordinary ways. So, what should we do with the now-very-popular wordless picture books? Why should we invest in wordless picture books? Is it a waste of time, talents, and resources? Christina, Matt, and Mandy sit down to discuss.

Matt, Mandy, and Christina sit down at the digital pub table to discuss Susanna Clarke's 2020 novel, Piranesi.

Matt and Christina sit down with SD Smith, author of the popular Green Ember series, and JC Smith to talk about what it's like to write your first successful story. They discuss SD and JC's new book, Jack Zulu and the Waylander's Key.

Musician Brian Wight joins the table to discuss his journey through Nashville’s music scene. He tells the story of how he went from a teenage musician living out of his car to a successful musician and producer. He also shares his compulsion to compose music, and discusses why he’d still create if he was alone in the wilderness.

Matt describes January as "that special type of year where a stressed out person's fancy turn to thoughts of resolutions," and Matt, Mandy, and Christina launch into a discussion about how it seems that in all good stories, at some point, a character makes a resolution and we need to make resolutions in our own stories. The cohosts discuss how resolutions are used in some of our favorite stories and why they're so important in the stories of our own lives.

Justin Gerhardt’s storytelling project Holy Ghost Stories embodies the conviction that “Christians have the best stories. We should make the best art.” Justin made the journey from pastor to podcaster compelled by the conviction that there are some stories in the Bible that don’t need to be preached, they just need to be told. Justin runs against the grain of how Christian culture often handles the Bible by bringing biblical stories to life through powerful, imaginative storytelling, hoping to bring his listeners into an encounter with God that turns stories into worship. Justin sat down at the virtual pub table with Matt and Evangeline to discuss his journey of bringing great storytelling together with the Great Story. Holy Ghost Stories Season 4 releases on January 9th! Listen to the new season at https://www.holyghoststories.org/listen Learn more about Justin and his work at https://www.hazefirestudios.com/  

In this episode, Matt, Mandy, and Evangeline talk about the concept of “the artist’s platform.” Many artists hate the term platform. But if you are a storyteller who wants to share your story, building a platform is almost as important as creating the story itself. The cohosts sit down at the digital pub table to discuss the assumptions behind the concept of the platform. Matt also makes an exciting announcement.

Most Christmas movies are obviously Christmas movies, but other movies are more difficult to categorize. Sure, people watch them around Christmas, but are they really Christmas movies? Matt, Mandy, and Evangeline discuss the criteria for whether a movie should be considered a Christmas movie and then discuss a number of “close calls” to determine which are properly Christmas movies and which are imposters.

Matt and Mandy sit down with fellow novelist Tracy Higley to discuss writing and the concept of an inner world of Joy. A prolific novelist, Tracy sees art as stemming from an urge to communicate, often an urge that comes from an inner world of joy. Tracy, Many and Matt discuss joy as a longing sparked by beauty that awakens us to more than the everyday, how this situates us in the Great story, and the internal obstacles to creating art.   Find Tracy’s recent novel Nightfall in the Garden of Deep Time here: https://tracyhigleybooks.com/products/nightfall-in-the-garden-of-deep-time

A thin place is a location where the veil between this world and the spiritual world is thin. In these places, kairos time — the experience of eternity breaking into time, a sort of time that feels timeless — comes into contact with a particular place that creates a unique experience for a person. Evangeline, Mandy, and Christina sit down at the digital pub table to talk about thin places: what are they, how do we experience them, and should seek out the experiences of thin places?

Matt Mellema welcomes a quartet of new and old guests  — Brian Brown, Matthew Clark, Amber Salladin, and Ashlee Cowles — to the pub table for the annual Believe to See fantasy pub table draft. From a line-up of 20 literary characters curated by Matt Mellema (think Dolores Umbridge, Merlin, and Winnie the Pooh) the four guests compete before a live audience to draft the perfect pub table for a night of stimulating and imaginative conversation. The competition is fierce as the contestants vie for their favorite literary characters while trying to avoid their least favorite.

We often assume that stories are told for good - and when told for the right reasons, they are. But the power of stories has another side, and that's its potential for misuse and potential for danger. This is especially the case when a story is being presented as "the untold true story." Matt, Mandy, and their guest Sarah examine the ways stories can be used for good, and the ways stories can be twisted for bad, through the lens of the popular true crime podcast Serial. 

Christina, Matt, and Evangeline discuss what makes a good female protagonist. They dissect some examples from popular stories in an attempt to determine which characteristics we should look for in stories that prominently feature a female lead. They also discuss what is necessary for creating a good female protagonists in our own stories.

Sometimes you try to convince people to love what you love. And sometimes, other people try to convince you to love what they love. What keeps us from liking some art forms? How can we learn to cultivate an appreciation for the art forms that are not our first loves? Mandy, Matt, and Evangeline talk about their appreciation (or lack of appreciation) for Anime, rpgs, rom-coms, science fiction, monster movies, gothic literature, and abstract art. 

Christina Brown takes a seat at the head of the Anselm society digital pub table to take Matt and Mandy on a journey into the backyard. The cohosts explore how the act of gardening can bring us further up and further in to the great reality that is the Christian narrative. They discuss how the many garden-related and cultivating-related themes and metaphors in the Bible may begin to make more sense through the practical experience of getting our hands dirty and paying attention to the things that grow in the ground.