North Wind Manor: Update

The renovation of North Wind Manor is nearly complete! The fireplace from Tolkien’s Oxford house is up and ready, just waiting for a fire to bring it to life and books to surround it with good company.

Rabbit Trails #24

Jonny Jimison is back with Rabbit Trails #24, wherein Sauron himself is brought low by an unstable internet connection.

The Habit Podcast: Cindy Bunch

The Habit Podcast is a series of conversations with writers about writing, hosted by Jonathan Rogers. This week, Jonathan Rogers talks with Cindy Bunch, author of Be Kind to Yourself and associate publisher and director of editorial at InterVarsity Press.

Taper of Grief

Outside, coursing in from the west, the amber and violet gloaming has begun.

Dinner is over, and I sit at the piano. Behind me a stream of girlish laughter twirls and dashes through the living room in response to the film music I’m playing, but my own shoulders are weighted, as if a hollow has been carved between them, and lead poured in.

New Speakers & Performers Announced for Hutchmoot: Homebound

One of our favorite parts of Hutchmoot each year is gathering together a plethora of voices to contribute to the ongoing conversation around music, story, and art. This year we’re excited both to welcome back familiar voices and welcome in some new ones. Here’s an updated list of speakers and performers who will be leading us in our time together.

New Reading Group: Let Justice Roll Down by John Perkins

Now open for enrollment, Belmont University Professor Steve Guthrie leads a reading group for John M. Perkins’ powerful book Let Justice Roll Down. Students will join one another in reading and discussion.

Signs and Songs: A Review of The Corner Room’s Remember and Proclaim

Early in C. S. Lewis’s The Silver Chair, when Aslan gives Jill Pole the quest of rescuing Prince Rilian of Narnia, he also gives Jill four signs by which she might fulfill the quest. Before sending her to Narnia, though, Aslan warns Jill.

To Sit with an Onion

Yesterday, the heaviness of a world under a global pandemic became an almost unbearable weight on my soul. Social media led me down hallways of suffering, of fear, of self-righteousness. Someone tried to pull me down a YouTube rabbit hole and another pulled me toward a debate in a comment section. I’m embarrassed by the amount of time I spent yesterday being yanked around from one talking head to the next; and also by the amount of time I spent forming rebuttals in my head and arguments I would counter with, should I ever have the courage to voice what I think Christians ought to be saying right now—or, maybe more importantly, not saying.

Spirit & Sound, Part 6: The Man Who Read with His Mouth Closed (And the Spirit Who Didn’t)

[Editor’s note: click here to read Part 5: The Preposition of Love.]

“We believe in the Holy Spirit. . . Who has spoken through the prophets.”

—The Nicene Creed

I am sitting in the upstairs office space of the Barn, by North Wind Manor. (The reconstruction of North Wind Manor that has been going on over the past several months is almost finished, and the place looks amazing!) Three staff members are in the room with me: Shigé, Pete, and Chris; each seated at a desk, each reading. What are they reading? I don’t know. I could find out, but I would have to ask. And this is one way in which reading in the contemporary world is different than it was (at least most of the time) in the ancient world. A famous story from St. Augustine’s (354-430) Confessions illustrates this point.

Registration Now Open for Hutchmoot: Homebound

Registration for Hutchmoot: Homebound is officially open—and we’re so glad to tell you that there’s a seat for everyone at the (virtual) table this year. Now that tickets are available, here are some more specifics regarding what this unique Hutchmoot will consist of, what you can expect, and some frequently asked questions.

Love and Assent

While reading Wendell Berry’s story collection, That Distant Land, I was struck by this description of a character named Martha Elizabeth Coulter:

She was a woman always near to smiling, sometimes to laughter. Her face, it seems, had been made to smile. It was a face that assented wholly to the being of whatever or whomever she looked at.

—Wendell Berry, That Distant Land

I don’t know whether Wendell Berry is a student of Thomas Aquinas, but that description of Martha Elizabeth as a person who “assented wholly to the being” of the people and things around her sounds like the kind of thing Aquinas would say.

The Habit Podcast: Andrew Osenga

The Habit Podcast is a series of conversations with writers about writing, hosted by Jonathan Rogers. This week, Jonathan Rogers talks with music industry veteran and host of The Pivot podcast Andrew Osenga.