Rigney mentions social media early in his book, acknowledging that such technologies “amplify and reinforce our spiritual and social sickness.” But the problem, he says, “runs deeper than Twitter, Facebook, and cable news.” He’s right that social media is not the source of our problems. Delete your account and you will still wrestle with sin. But practically speaking, using Twitter and other social media eats away at the qualities that make a person a good leader. The more time you spend on Twitter, the less sober-minded, or differentiated, you become.
Well, I have joined the herd and started a podcast.
Of Knights and Pilgrims is an audio commentary on Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene. If you read this blog, you probably already know that I’m a big fan of the book. Unfortunately for the world of podcast listeners, one of my coworkers is also a big fan, and lo! unto you a podcast was born.
Episodes will be posted every Wednesday starting next week (Feb. 5). The first two are introductions to the poem, and the rest will be our summary and analysis of each of the twelve cantos in Book I. If we’re feeling especially spry, we may sally forth into Book II this summer and publish new episodes in the fall.
If you’re new to Spenser, we highly recommend starting at the shallow end. Roy Maynard has a very accessible modernized version here, and Thomas Copeland’s audio recording is fantastic. With great works of literature, there are no such things as spoilers, so you might even try dipping your toes into a children’s version. (Project Gutenberg has some for free. Personally, I’m excited about this new prose edition, assuming it ever actually comes out.)
One last thing: podcasting is a cheap hobby, but it isn’t free. If you’d like to sponsor a future episode, drop some coins in my Ko-fi coffer.
Ear, Hand, Foot had a good first week. I’ve fulfilled over a hundred orders in the last six days.
Don’t wait to order! We only ordered 500 copies for our first printing and almost half of them are sold. And the Christmas shopping season has only just started. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a big fat “Out of Stock” message on the website soon.
This is this week’s edition of Time’s Corner, my bi-weekly newsletter. Sign up here.
Behold! My friend Brian Moats and I have started a publishing company! It’s called Little Word. We create children’s books that teach Biblical symbols and patterns, particularly typological motifs. Read more on our website. (If you click on only one link today, make it this one.)
Years ago, I saw this posted on Twitter:
At the time, I had already toyed with the idea of creating a “Through New Eyes for Kids” book series, and when I saw this tweet, I realized a series like that would have an audience. I opened a notebook and started scribbling down ideas.
Later that same year, I happened upon Anne-Margot Ramstein’s picture book Before/After. There are no words in the book, nor any story. Instead, each page spread has two pictures side by side and you’re invited to figure out the connection between them. Despite the fact that there’s nothing to read or fiddle with, it’s one of the most interactive books I’ve ever read.
One of the most common connections between the two pictures is time—hence the name: Before/After. A beehive becomes honey. A jungle becomes a city. Sometimes, Ramstein highlights time’s cyclical nature. Day, night. Summer, winter. High tide, low tide. My favorite pages are where one object remains fixed while everything around it changes. Time acts more slowly on some things than others.
This struck me as powerful way to depict typology. Take Samson. Arms outstretched, one hand on each pillar, positioned in exactly the same way that Jesus was on the cross. Put Samson and Jesus on two facing pages and invite the reader to make connections between them. Even a child could do it—especially a child.
Aedan Peterson actually did something like this in Ken Padgett’s The Story of God Our King. Three sequential pages show Jesus in the same posture, arms oustretched, while the scene changes around him.
Pretty cool.
Meanwhile, in his home office, Brian had been editing hours upon hours of footage of Jim Jordan, Peter Leithart, Alastair Roberts, and Jeff Meyers talking about Biblical typology. He had taught youth Sunday school classes on Through New Eyes and The Lord’s Service and found his students extremely receptive to the ideas in those books. It was just a matter of time before Brian decided to adapt Jordan and Meyers for kids. He approached me about the idea and lo! Little Word was born.
I’ll keep you updated on our progress here at Time’s Corner, but the best way to stay informed is to follow Little Word on all the socials. Click for the ‘gram, the Tweetster, the Facity-Face, etc.
Christian Leithart 