Miroslav Volf is a theologian and professor at Yale Divinity School, where he is the founding director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture. He is widely known for his work on reconciliation, forgiveness, and the intersection of faith and public life. He’s the author of at least twelve books, including the highly influential Exclusion and Embrace, as well as many articles and quite a few co-authored books. His most recent book is The Cost of Ambition: How Striving to Be Better than Others Makes Us Worse. In this episode, Dr. Volf and Jonathan Rogers talk about the difference between striving for excellence and striving for superiority. They talk about the freedom to be found when we stop defining ourselves in terms of our status relative to others. Also, they talk a good bit about Satan. This episode is sponsored by The Habit's Short Story Summer Camp, a six-week online writing class devoted to the short story. Find out more at TheHabit.co/ShortStory.

Judith McQuoid lives in Belfast, Northern Ireland, the hometown of CS Lewis—or Jacks, as he was known when he lived there. Inspired by Belfast, her love of Lewis, and her own family history, Judith wrote a middle-grade novel about young Jacks Lewis and an imagined friendship with a boy from a very different background. It’s a book about creativity, friendship, and the ways we can give one another a little more courage and a little more hope. It was my pleasure to talk to Judith McQuoid about her new novel, Giant.

Dr. Warren Kinghorn is a psychiatrist and theologian at Duke University, where he holds joint appointments at Duke Divinity School and the Duke University Medical Center. Warren’s work focuses on the intersection of theology, mental health, and human flourishing—and he brings an integrated, humane perspective to questions that too often get reduced to biology or technique. His new book is Wayfaring: A Christian Approach to Mental Health Care. In this episode, Warren Kinghorn and Jonathan Rogers discuss how the metaphor of the human being as a machine has shaped mental health care—and what is gained by reclaiming the older metaphor of the human as wayfarer; they talk about the ways that Thomas Aquinas’s teleological vision of human behavior opens up a richer account of freedom, agency, and virtue; and they talk about the possibility that the meaning of life is an active participation in blessing.

When Andrew Peterson started the Rabbit Room—this was 2006 or 2007—he didn’t know what to expect. He had no way of knowing that this little group blog written by friends and friends of friends would give rise to annual conferences—Hutchmoot and Hutchmoot UK—to a publishing house, to an event space—North Wind Manor—to The Local Show, to Rabbit Room Theater, to the podcast network of which The Habit Podcast is a part. More to the point, Andrew had no way of knowing what a difference the Rabbit Room would make in the lives of so many people. In this episode, Rabbit Room founder Andrew Peterson and Rabbit Room Executive Director David Bruno tell the story of the Rabbit Room.

Will Parker Anderson is a senior editor at Waterbrook-Multnomah, a division of Random House Publishing. He’s also the proprietor of a Substack called Writer’s Circle, in which he provides tips on the writing craft and seeks to demystify the publishing industry. In this episode, Will and Jonathan Rogers talk the “three legs” of publishing: platform, content, and concept.

Amy Baik Lee has written that in every place her life has taken her, "there have been hints of beauty and great knocks of mercy that have called to me from beyond my surroundings, always speaking of a King and Friend and Father whose presence is truly Home.” That sense of longing, those clues that perhaps we were made for a different world, make their way out in every thing Amy writes, and especially in her book, This Homeward Ache: How Our Yearning for the Life to Come Spurs on Our Life Today. In this episode, a replay from 2023, Amy and Jonathan Rogers talk about homeward longing, the idea of Sehnsucht, and the importance of writing in community.

Besides creating the One Year Adventure Novel and Cover Story writing curricula for students, Daniel Schwabauer has also written fiction and nonfiction for writers of all ages. He also teaches English at MidAmerica Nazarene University near Kansas City. His new book is The God of Story: Discovering the Narrative of Scripture Through the Language of Storytelling. In this episode, Daniel and Jonathan Rogers discuss ideals of power vs. ideals of principle, story as a means of defamiliarization, and story as a truly terrible flight simulator.

Mark Meynell is a freelance writer and speaker based in the UK. He’s the author of Life After Lifeand A Wilderness of Mirrors. He’s a co-host of the Tryptich podcast, and he’s an aficionado of Cold-War spy stories. In short, he’s a polymath and an excellent conversationalist. In this episode, Mark and Jonathan Rogers talk about the "immanent frame," instrumentalized art, and the power of beauty to challenge 'buffered selves' with the possibility of transcendence.

Matthew Clark is a singer/-songwriter, a storyteller, and a free spirit. He drives around America in a van he calls Vandalf, taking his music and stories and wisdom to audiences across the country. For the last six years he’s been working on a project he calls The Well Trilogy. Three albums of eleven songs, each accompanied by a collection of eleven essays inspired by the songs, written by friends of Matthew. The latest installment, Where the River Goes, comes out this week. In this episode, Matthew and Jonathan Rogers talk about aligning with reality, overcoming despair, and the love that outlives every kind of death. This episode is sponsored by The Habit Writer Development Cohorts, a six-week online small-group writing intensive designed to help writers develop their unique voice, refine their ideas, strengthen their craft, and build sustainable work habits. TheHabit.co/Cohorts

In this episode, Allen Levi and Jonathan Rogers discuss this connections between writerly voice and the voice with which the writer speaks every day. Allen Levi is a singer-songwriter and the author of The Last Sweet Mile and Theo of Golden. This episode is sponsored by The Habit Writer Development Cohorts, a six-week online small-group writing intensive designed to help writers develop their unique voice, refine their ideas, strengthen their craft, and build sustainable work habits. TheHabit.co/Cohorts

This archive episode of The Habit Podcast, from the first season, features a three-way conversation between Tish Harrison Warren, Doug McKelvey, and Jonathan Rogers. Tish is an Anglican priest, a former columnist for the New York Times and Christianity Today, a senior fellow at The Trinity Forum and the author of Prayer in the Nightand The Liturgy of the Ordinary. Doug is best known as the author of the Every Moment Holy books. In this episode, Tish, Doug, and Jonathan talk about the liturgies of the writing life, finding meaning where it is to be found, and liturgy as a way of making room for mystery to assert itself.

Flannery O'Connor's 100th birthday would have March 25, 2025. In this episode, Jonathan Rogers celebrates the life and work of this remarkable writer in an essay adapted from the introduction to his book, The Terrible Speed of Mercy: A Spiritual Biography of Flannery O'Connor.

Ben Palpant loves, for reasons that become apparent in this episode. On assignment from the Rabbit Room, Ben sat down to interview a few poets. He enjoyed it so much, he interviewed a few more, then a few more. When he had interviewed seventeen poets, he collected those interviews into a book called An Axe for the Frozen Sea. It’s a fascinating look into the minds and hearts of poets who work out of gratitude, out of abundance—sometimes out of grief, never out of grievance.

This week's episode is an essay, written and read by Jonathan Rogers. "Love, Happiness, and Creativity" begins (and ends) with an idea from Taylor Leonhardt's song "Diamonds"—the theme song for The Habit Podcast: "You are not an afterthought: Love himself dreamed you up."

Kelly Kapic is a professor of theology at Covenant College near Chattanooga. His most recent book is You're Only Human: How Your Limits Reflect God's design, and Why That Is Good News. In this episode, Dr Kapik and Jonathan Rogers talk about productivity, shame, gratitude and the truth that finiteness is actually a blessing. Also, they talk about magnanimity and pusillanimity. This week’s episode comes from the archives. This conversation with Kelly Kapic first aired in January of 2022; it’s one of the Habit Podcast episodes I think about the most often.

Charlie Peacock is a legendary musician, producer, and songwriter. His impact on the music industry spans decades. A Grammy-winning producer and a visionary artist, he's worked with some of the most influential names in music. But even more importantly, Charlie is known for his generosity and hospitality, pouring into the lives and work of artists through the Art House and other creative endeavors. His passion for nurturing talent and fostering deep artistic and spiritual conversations has shaped countless musicians and writers. In his new memoir, Roots and Rhythm, he shares his own journey, offering a rich reflection on music, faith, and the creative life. In this episode, Charlie and Jonathan Rogers talk about success, identity, embracing failure and suffering, and navigating more than one economy at a time.

Andrew Osenga is a singer-songwriter, a guitarist, a record producer, a podcaster, a writer, and a friend and mentor to countless artists. For twenty years and more, he has been right in the middle of things in Nashville’s creative community. In this episode, recorded live at The Habit 2025 Winter Writers’ Weekend, Andy speaks with Jonathan Rogers about being a jack of all trades, the importance of community, and Andy's journey from bitterness to joy and purpose in his work.

Nikki Grimes is an award-winning poet, author, and artist celebrated for her works that highlight African American experiences and address themes of identity, resilience, and hope. She is the author of numerous books for children, teens, and adults, including poetry collections, picture books, and novels in verse. Her new collection of poetry is Glory, Too. Ms. Grimes's accolades include the Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement and the NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. Besides writing, she is also a visual artist, and her creative talents continue to inspire readers of all ages worldwide In this episode, Nikki Grimes and Jonathan Rogers talk about the Harlem Renaissance, poetry in Scripture, and the limits of imagination.

Kori Morgan’s writing has been featured in such publications as Shenandoah, SN Review, Blanket Sea, Agape Review, Switchback, Rubbertop Review, Cantos, and Clayjar Review. She is the founder and Chief Literary Strategist of Inkling Creative Strategies, an author services company that helps writers reach their full creative potential so they can impact and inspire readers. She is also a stalwart of the Habit Membership. Her new book is Why I Dyed My Hair Purple & Other Unorthodox Stories. In it she explores the integral role of the arts in her Christian testimony. In this episode, Kori and Jonathan Rogers discuss Flannery O’Connor, flash nonfiction, Kori’s creative upbringing, the value of MFA programs and the very different values of The Habit Membership. Kori also addresses the question of why she dyed her hair purple.

Maria Bowler is a writer, coach, and retreat leader. She describes her work as “nourishing imaginative souls so they can make new worlds.” Her new book isMaking Time: A New Vision for Crafting a Life Beyond Productivity. In this episode, Maria and Jonathan discuss making the shift from a producer mindset to a creator mindset, and from hustle to deep effort. They also talk about  collaborating with reality. This episode is sponsored by The Focus Retreat, a four-day writing getaway, March 16-20 in Nashville. Find out more at TheHabit.co/retreats.

Quina Aragon is an author, editor, and spoken word poet based in Florida. Her work has been featured by organizations such as Christianity Today, The Gospel Coalition, and Risen Motherhood. Her latest book is Love Has a Story: 100 Meditations on the Enduring Love of God. In this episode, Quina and Jonathan Rogers talk about why it took her four years to write a book she thought would take ten months. They also talk about connections between counseling and writing, the ways that performing spoken word poetry has impacted Quina’s written word, and what it means to feel both unqualified to write and compelled to write. This episode is sponsored by The Focus Retreat, a four-day writing getaway, March 16-20 in Nashville. Find out more at TheHabit.co/retreats.

Sarah Clarkson is a writer whose work centers on beauty and grief, story and quiet. She has written of herself, “I’m trying to write well about my own sorrow, and my own encounters with the beauty that defied my darkness and drew me into a life of creativity, quiet, and wonder.” She studied theology at Oxford University. She is the author or co-author of six books, most recently Reclaiming Quiet: Cultivating a Life of Holy Attention, which she wrote to answer her own questions about what it means to have a quiet mind in a fallen, screen-driven world. In this episode, Sarah and Jonathan Rogers discuss a better definition of quiet, the importance of physical presence, the dangers of screens, and the value of boredom. This episode is sponsored by The Focus Retreat, a four-day writing getaway, March 16-20 in Nashville. Find out more at TheHabit.co/retreats.  

You know Sam (SD) Smith as the author of the Green Ember series–#RabbitsWithSwords. Sam and his son Josiah (JC) Smith have joined forces as the co-authors of the Jack Zulu series–Jack Zulu and the Waylander’s Key and Jack Zulu and the Girl with the Golden Wings (so far). In this episode, Jonathan Rogers speaks with the the Smiths about what it’s like to co-write a book and, more to the point, what it’s like to co-write a book with your offspring…or with your parent, as the case may be.

Besides being a novelist, Pete Peterson is a playwright and the head of Rabbit Room Theater. He is also the publisher at Rabbit Room Press. Matt Logan is the director, set designer, and costume designer who has brought all of Pete’s plays to vivid life. Matt and Pete are putting the finishing touches on a new stage adaptation of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. Its inaugural run will be December 7-December 22 in Franklin, Tennessee. You can get your tickets at RabbitRoom.com

Leslie Eiler Thompson is a podcast producer and writer. Her work has been featured on Apple Podcasts, The Guardian, Nashville Public Radio, Christianity Today, Rabbit Room, and beyond. Her newest audio project, Niche to Meet You, is an investigative storytelling podcast about little-known niche interests and hobbies where we make and find meaning. One of the niche interests she has investigated is wild turkey conservation. Since it’s Thanksgiving Week in the United States, Jonathan Rogers is talking to Leslie about turkeys, podcasting, and her creative process.

Willie Pearl is an Americana/Southern rock band from Nashville, Tennessee. Their new album is called Willie Pearl. In this special bonus episode, singer-songwriter Henry Rogers of Willie Pearl speaks with Jonathan Rogers about songwriting, perfectionism, and letting go.

Caroline Cobb is a singer-songwriter known for her deep engagement with Scripture. Her first foray into book-writing is Advent for Exiles: 25 Devotions to Awaken Gospel Hope in Every Longing Heart. In this episode, Caroline and Jonathan Rogers discuss the idea of exile, a pervasive theme in the Bible, as well as the artist’s role of planting seeds for the new Eden. The Habit Podcast is sponsored by The Habit Membership, a library of resources by me, Jonathan Rogers. More importantly, The Habit Membership is a hub of community, where like-minded writers gather to share their work and give one another a little more courage. Find out more at TheHabit.co.

Lanier Ivester sees hospitality as a primary way she expresses her creativity. All of her creative endeavors are shaped by the belief that the most quotidian things are charged with eternal meaning, if only we have eyes to see. Her new book, illustrated by Jennifer Trafton, is Glad and Golden Hours: A Companion for Advent and Christmastide. In this episode, Lanier and Jonathan Rogers talk about the difference between hospitality and entertaining; we discuss ways to make the holidays a season of rest. And Lanier makes the case that “matter matters.”

This week's guest is Kathleen Norris. Her best known books include Acedia and Me, The Cloister Walk, Dakota: A Spiritual Geography, and Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith. A Benedictine oblate, she practices the Benedictines’ commitment to good order and deep hospitality her writing. Kathleen Norris’s new book she co-authored with Gareth Higgins. It’s called A Whole Life in Twelve Movies: a Cinematic Journey to a Deeper Spirituality.

You may know Randall Goodgame as a purveyor of children’s music. His new project is for people of all ages. In the Scripture Hymnal, Randall has written and arranged music for 106 word-for-word Bible passages, for congregational singing. In addition to the hymnal, Randall and friends have recorded all 106 hymns with full instrumentation and rich production, to be released as ten albums over the next year. The first of those albums is available now on all your favorite platforms. In this episode Jonathan Rogers speaks with Randall Goodgame and record producer Kyle Schonewill about congregational singing, and how the Scripture Hymnal and the Scripture Hymnal albums came to life.

Russ Ramsey is a gifted storyteller and a trusted guide in the world of art. His new book is Van Gogh Has a Broken Heart: What Art Teaches Us About The Wonder and Struggle of Being Alive. In this episode, Russ and Jonathan Rogers talk about sunflowers, the sublime, and the connection between suffering and wonder.

Stephanie Duncan Smith is a senior editor for HarperOne. She has spent her career developing award-winning and bestselling authors. She is the creator of Slant Letter, a Substack email newsletter for writers who want to deepen their craft and do it in style. She is also the author of Even After Everything: The Spiritual Practice of Knowing the Risks and Loving Anyway. In this episode, Stephanie Duncan Smith and Jonathan Rogers talk about creative risk as a way of "going first" for the reader—and giving the reader a little more courage.

Steven James has written and published about twenty books in the last couple of decades. Most of his novels and been thrillers. But with his new novel, Rift, he’s doing something completely new: young adult Appalachian folktale horror. Steven has lived in the southern Appalachians since the 1990s. The part of East Tennessee where Rift is set was hit really hard by Hurricane Helene a couple of weeks ago. Steven’s publisher, Rebecca Reynolds of Sky Turtle Books, also lives in the region. She is putting together a project to collect old stories from Appalachia, creating an anthology that can be used to raise funds for the area.  She needs help finding the storytellers and their stories. Part 2 of this episode is a short conversation with Rebecca Reynholds about the Old Stories project. Here's a video about The Old Stories: An Appalachian Anthology.

Carolyn Leiloglou is the author of the middle grade fantasy series The Restorationists. Book Two of that series, Between Flowers and Bones, has been recently released. In this episode, Carolyn and I talk about writing about family, balancing motherhood with creative pursuits, and the ways that interacting with visual art enriches writing. Here's a video of Carolyn in San Antonio's McNay Art Museum, referenced in the episode.

John Hendrix is a New York Times bestselling author and illustrator of many books. His award-winning illustrations have also appeared on book jackets, newspapers, and magazines all over the world. The Society of Illustrators named John the Distinguished Educator in the Arts for 2024. He is the Kenneth E. Hudson Professor of Art and the founding Chair of the MFA in Illustration and Visual Culture program at Washington University in St. Louis. John’s new graphic novel is The Mythmakers: The Remarkable Fellowship of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien.  In this episode, John and Jonathan Rogers talk about the nature of myth, the creative power of friendship, the beginning of the Inklings, and the sad end of the Inklings.

Daniel Silliman is senior news editor for Christianity Today. He earned a doctorate in American studies from Heidelberg University in Germany and has taught US history and humanities at Heidelberg, the University of Notre Dame, Valparaiso University, and Milligan University. His new book is One Lost Soul: Richard Nixon’s Search for Salvation. From the jacket copy: "Impious and amoral, petty and vindictive, Richard Nixon is not the typical protagonist of a religious biography. But spiritual drama is at the heart of this former president’s tragic story."

In this back-to-school episode Jonathan Rogers speaks with Rachel Griffis and Rachel De Smith Roberts about their book, Deep Reading: Practices to Subvert the Vices of Our Distracted, Hostile, and Consumeristic Age. Dr. Griffis is a professor of English at Spring Arbor University in Michigan, and Dr. Roberts is an associate professor of English at North Greenville University in South Carolina. In this episode, they talk about “Deep Reading” as a corrective to the vices of Distraction, Hostility, and Consumerism. 

Jared C. Wilson is an author of over twenty books and a popular speaker at churches and conferences around the world. He serves as Pastor for Preaching and the Director of the Pastoral Training Center at Liberty Baptist Church in Liberty, Missouri. He is also an Assistant Professor of Pastoral Ministry and Author in Residence at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri. His new book is The Storied Life: Christian Writing as Art and Worship. In this episode, Jared and Jonathan Rogers talk about the multi-faceted calling of a writer, and the ways that writing a means of transformation for the writer as much as a means of communication to a reader. 

As of last week, all three books of Jonathan Rogers's Wilderking Trilogy, 20th Anniversary Deluxe Hardback edition, have been released into the wild. The Bark of the Bog Owl released in June. And now The Secret of the Swamp King and The Way of the Wilderking are available wherever you buy books. These new editions have gorgeous new covers by Stephen Crotts and exceedingly swampy new interior illustrations by Joe Hox. Joe Hox is Jonathan's guest on this episode of The Habit Podcast. Get the books here. Get the audiobooks (read by the author) here.

Besides being an award-winning teacher and professor of theology & ethics at Lipscomb University, Lee Camp hosts No Small Endeavor, a podcast that asks What does it mean to live a good life? What is true happiness? What are the habits, practices, and dispositions that facilitate human flourishing? Lee Camp explores these and similar questions with some of the most influential authors, scientists, artists, psychologists, philosophers, and theologians. In this episode, Dr. Camp and Jonathan Rogers talk about ethics, virtue theory, and writerly habits.

Lanta Davis is a professor of humanities and literature in the John Wesley Honors College at Indiana Wesleyan University. Her new book is Becoming by Beholding: The Power of the Imagination in Spiritual Formation. In this episode, Dr. Davis and Jonathan Rogers talk about the perhaps counterintuitive truth that neglecting to engage our imagination makes us more susceptible to imaginative influences that we don’t choose. They also talk about the difference between an idol and an icon, and they talk about the role of weirdness in spiritual formation. They also talk about raccoons and unicorns.

Joel Miller has been an editor, a publisher, and an author. He is currently working on a book on the history of the book. He also writes an excellent twice-a-week Substack newsletter called Miller’s Book Review. In this episode, Joel and Jonathan Rogers discuss Joel's journey toward publication—and how Joel gets so much reading and writing done while holding down a full-time job an raising a family.

Dr. Shirley Mullen is President Emerita of Houghton College in New York State and the author of Claiming the Courageous Middle: Daring to Live and Work Together for a More Hopeful Future. In this episode, Dr. Mullen and Jonathan Rogers discuss the idea that, in an era of such dangerous polarization, the “courageous middle” is not a place of bland averaging, moral cowardice, indecisiveness, or indifference, but a place where thoughtful people work with urgency to foster attentive listening–listening even to those with whom they disagree–in pursuit of what is true and good and beautiful.

Dr. Junius Johnson is an independent scholar and teacher and a public intellectual who devotes his time to thinking and writing about whatever is noble and excellent, and how to bring those things to bear to nurture meaningful lives. You can find out more about his classes at JuniusJohnson.com. In this episode, Junius and Jonathan Rogers talk about receiving wonder and adding to the stock of the world’s wonders. And Junius asks, Who invented dragons?

Karen Stiller writes about  the intersections between faith and the world, social issues, matters of justice and doing better. Her most recent book is Holiness Here: Searching for God in the Ordinary Events of Everyday Life. In this episode, Karen and Jonathan Rogers talk about holiness as a matter of loving people well as opposed to telling them how they have fallen short–and what that holiness has to do with the writing life. They also talk about writing in the midst of grief. Read Karen's essay, "Why Keep Writing in the Midst of Grief?"

In this interview, recorded in front of a live audience at The Habit Summer Writers Weekend in June 2024, Doug McKelvey discusses the ups and downs of a muti-faceted writing career. Doug is the author of the Every Moment Holy books.

Elizabeth Oldfield hosts The Sacred, a podcast about our deepest values, the stories that shape us, and how we can build empathy and understanding between people who are very different. She has a regular column for UnHerd and has appeared on BBC One, Radio 5Live, Radio 4, and The World Service. Her work has appeared in The Financial Times, Prospect, The Times, CNN, The Guardian, and beyond. She is also a contributing editor at Comment magazine, a guest lecturer at the University of Birmingham, and former director and now senior fellow at Theos, the UK's leading religion and society think tank. Her new book is Fully Alive: Tending to the Soul in Turbulent Times. 

The 20th-Anniversary Deluxe Hardback Edition of The Bark of the Bog Owl is now available. It has a new cover by Stephen Crotts, new interior illustrations by Joe Hox, and bonus material (poems, songs, riddles) by Jonathan Rogers. To celebrate the Bog Owl's twentieth birthday, Jonathan reads an excerpt in this bonus episode.  You can get your own copy of The Bark of the Bog Owl at the Rabbit Room store or wherever you buy books. The audiobook, narrated by the author, is available at Audible.com.

In this episode of The Habit Podcast, Read Aloud Revival's Sarah MacKenzie sits in the host's chair to interview Jonathan Rogers about The Bark of the Bog Owl, 20th Anniversary Edition, which releases this week. 

Wesley Vander Lugt  is a pastor, theologian, writer, teacher, nonprofit leader, and arts advocate with a passion for beauty, slowness, cultivation, and kinship. He currently works as the Acting Director of the Leighton Ford Center for Theology, the Arts, and Gospel Witness and is Adjunct Professor of Theology at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Charlotte. He is also the Co-Founder of Kinship Plot, a community of learning and practice imagining and embodying resonant relationships of every kind. His new book is Beauty Is Oxygen: Finding a Faith that Breathes. In this episode, Wes and Jonathan Rogers discuss just how necessary beauty is.