The Habit

Jamie Quatro's Two-Step Devil

30 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Jamie Quatro is the author of Two Step Devil, a southern Gothic novel very much in the tradition of Flannery O’Connor. The Booklist review of Tw...

Joy Clarkson Thinks You Are a Tree (from the archives)

23 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Joy Clarkson is the author of Aggressively Happy and host of the podcast, Speaking with Joy. She is the books editor for Plou...

Timothy Jones is Fully Beloved

16 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Timothy Jones is a pastor and author known for helping people uncover greater warmth and depth in their relationship with God. His new book is Fully B...

Bethaney Wilkinson's More Beautiful Way to Live

09 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Bethaney B. Wilkinson is a writer, spiritual director, podcaster, and facilitator who is passionate about slow, sustainable, and soul-nourishing livin...

Wesley Vander Lugt Breathes Beauty (from the Archives)

02 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Wesley Vander Lugt  is a pastor, theologian, writer, teacher, nonprofit leader, and arts advocate with a passion for beauty, slowness, cultivatio...

Becca Jordan Adds Glory to the World

23 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Becca Jordan has referred to herself as a wandering songbird. She’s a singer-songwriter, a writer of essays, and a worship leader in Nashville. ...

Curt Thompson Goes to the Deepest Place (from the Archives)

16 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Curt Thompson is a psychiatrist, a speaker, and the author of several books–most recently, The Deepest Place: Suffering and the Formation of Hop...

Andrew Roycroft's Calling Hasn't Changed.

09 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Andrew Roycroft is a freelance editor and writer. He has published poetry in a number of Irish and British literary journals, has produced work for BB...

Marsh Moyle Spreads Rumours of a Better Country

02 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Marsh Moyle is an interesting man. He’s an Englishman but he grew up in Malta. He and his wife Tuula lived for 17 years in Vienna when the Iron ...

Leif Enger on I Cheerfully Refuse (from the archives)

19 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

This week's episode is an old favorite from 2024. Leif Enger writes novels about good people living through bad times. His new book, I Cheerfully...

Joyce McPherson Writes Books 45 Minutes at a Time

12 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Joyce McPherson has written ten biographies–as well as several middle-grade novels–in 45 minute increments snatched from a busy life as a ...

Winfield Bevins Thinks Beauty Will Save the World

05 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Winfield Bevins is an author, a visual artist, and the founding director of Creo Arts, a non-profit that exists to bring beauty, goodness, and truth t...

Daniel Nayeri on The Teacher of Nomad Land

15 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Daniel Nayeri’s latest novel—The Teacher of Nomad Land: A World War II Story—recently received the National Book Award for Young Peo...

Sally Lloyd-Jones on Delight

08 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

You probably know Sally Lloyd-Jones as the author of the Jesus Storybook Bible, a book that has been around for almost twenty years. She has also publ...

Malcolm Guite and Junius Johnson Take Up the Tale

01 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Galahad and the Grail is Book 1 of Merlin’s Isle, Malcolm Guite’s retelling of the King Arthur legends in ballad form. It releases in Marc...

Joel Miller's Idea Machine

24 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Besides being the proprietor of the much-loved Substack, Miller's Book Review, Joel Miller is the author of a new book that has made its way into the ...

Mischa Willett Is Equipping a New Generation of Writers.

17 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Mischa Willett is a poet and writing professor. He is the Director of the Whitworth Writers' Workshop MFA in Creative Writing at Whitworth University ...

Rachel Donahue and Emily J. Person Have a Bad Case of Poetry.

10 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In her role as poet, Rachel Donahue has a track record of gathering other poets, encouraging them in their work, and giving them space to shine. In he...

Rabbit Room Press Presents: Ben Palpant and Scott Cairns

27 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Rabbit Room Press has started a new podcast called Rabbit Room Press Presents, serialized audiobooks of favorite Rabbit Room Press titles. The first s...

Katherine Ladny Mitchell Writes Mystery.

20 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Katherine Ladny Mitchell is a mystery-writer. Not To Be is the first in her Pen and Paintbrush mystery series, in which a writer and a painter, two si...

Grace Hamman on Virtues and Vices

13 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Dr. Grace Hamman is a writer and independent scholar of late medieval poetry and contemplative writing. Her work has been published by academic and po...

Karen Walrond Is a Total Amateur.

06 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Karen Walrond is the author of The Lightmaker’ Manifesto and Radiant Rebellion. She and her work have been featured on Brené Brown’...

Kate Gaston Is Generous. And Hospitable.

29 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Kate Gaston’s essays are usually hilarious and always wise. She is the proprietor of the Substack That Middle Distance and a regular at the Rabb...

Louis Markos Contemplates

22 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Dr. Louis Markos is Professor of English at Houston Christian University. He’s an authority on C. S. Lewis, apologetics, and ancient Greece and ...

Carey Wallace on The Discipline of Inspiration

15 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Carey Wallace is an author and speaker who has devoted much of her professional life to equipping and encouraging other writers and artists. Her most ...

Vicki Courtney Knows That Motherhood Isn't Your Highest Calling

08 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Speaker and author Vicki Courtney has been writing books for women since the late 90s. Her new book is Motherhood Is Not Your Highest Calling: The Gra...

David Taylor and Steve Guthrie on Naming the Spirit

01 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

W. David O. Taylor is Associate Professor of Theology & Culture at Fuller Theological Seminary, as well as the director of various initiatives in ...

Jason M. Baxter Knows Why Literature Still Matters.

25 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jason M. Baxter is a speaker, college professor, and author of eight books, including the best-selling Medieval Mind of C.S. Lewis, A Beginner's Guide...

Father Damian Ference on The Hillbilly Thomist.

18 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Father Damian Ference is a priest of the diocese of Cleveland.  He serves at Borromeo Seminary in Wickliffe, Ohio as Director of Human Formation ...

Heidi White Has a Divided Soul. (So Do You.)

11 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Heidi White is a teacher, a podcaster, a speaker, and an author. In her speaking and writing she explores literature, education, and the Christian ima...

Karen Swallow Prior Has Her Doubts About Your Passion.

04 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Karen Swallow Prior is a public intellectual— a writer, speaker, and literature teacher. Her work centers on the intersection of faith, narrativ...

Mitali Perkins on Just Making

28 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Mitali Perkins (mitaliperkins.com) has written many books for young readers, including You Bring the Distant Near (nominated for a National Book Award...

Carolyn Weber on Memoir

21 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Carolyn Weber was our special guest at The Habit Summer Writers’ Weekend this past June. Carolyn is the author of Surprised by Oxford and Sex an...

Wendell Kimbrough Thinks You Belong. [From the Archives]

14 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Songwriter Wendell Kimbrough has been writing, recording, and performing songs based on the Psalms for the last few years. His most recent record is c...

Daniel McInerny on Beauty and Imitation

07 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Daniel McInerny is associate professor and chair of the philosophy department at Christendom College in Virginia. He is also a novelist and dramatist....

Kevan Chandler and Tommy Shelton on The Hospitality of Need

30 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A degenerative muscle disease has made Kevan Chandler altogether reliant on others for his daily care. So he has invited friends into his life—d...

Meredith Davis Is a Friend to Other Writers

23 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Besides being a stalwart of The Habit Membership for Writers, Meredith Davis is the founder of the Austin Texas chapter of The Society of Children&rsq...

Miroslav Volf on The Cost of Ambition

16 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Judith McQuoid on CS Lewis's Irish Childhood

02 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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, ...

Warren Kinghorn Doesn't Think You're a Machine.

26 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Dr. Warren Kinghorn is a psychiatrist and theologian at Duke University, where he holds joint appointments at Duke Divinity School and the Duke Univer...

Andrew Peterson and Dave Bruno Tell The Rabbit Room's Story

19 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Will Parker Anderson Talks Publishing

12 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Will Parker Anderson is a senior editor at Waterbrook-Multnomah, a division of Random House Publishing. He’s also the proprietor of a Substack c...

Amy Baik Lee Has a Homeward Ache (from the Archives)

05 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Daniel Schwabauer on The God of Story

28 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Besides creating the One Year Adventure Novel and Cover Story writing curricula for students, Daniel Schwabauer has also written fiction and nonfictio...

Mark Meynell on Art in the Immanent Frame

21 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Mark Meynell is a freelance writer and speaker based in the UK. He’s the author of Life After Life and A Wilderness of Mirrors. He’s a co-...

Matthew Clark on the Love that Outlives Death

14 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 stor...

Allen Levi is a Good Talker.

07 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, Allen Levi and Jonathan Rogers discuss this connections between writerly voice and the voice with which the writer speaks every day. ...

Tish Harrison Warren and Doug McKelvey on The Liturgy of the Ordinary (from the Archives)

31 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This archive episode of The Habit Podcast, from the first season, features a three-way conversation between Tish Harrison Warren, Doug McKelvey, and J...

Flannery O'Connor Turns 100

24 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Ben Palpant Talks to Poets

10 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 enj...

Love, Happiness, and Creativity: An Essay

03 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 Leo...

Kelly Kapic Doesn't Think Too Highly of Himself (from the Archives)

24 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 G...

Charlie Peacock's Roots and Rhythm

17 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Charlie Peacock is a legendary musician, producer, and songwriter. His impact on the music industry spans decades. A Grammy-winning producer and a vis...

Andrew Osenga Live at The Habit Winter Writers' Weekend

10 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Nikki Grimes on Glory, Too

03 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Nikki Grimes is an award-winning poet, author, and artist celebrated for her works that highlight African American experiences and address themes of i...

Kori Morgan Dyed Her Hair Purple.

27 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Kori Morgan’s writing has been featured in such publications as Shenandoah, SN Review, Blanket Sea, Agape Review, Switchback, Rubbertop Review, ...

Maria Bowler Collaborates with Reality.

20 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Maria Bowler is a writer, coach, and retreat leader. She describes her work as “nourishing imaginative souls so they can make new worlds.”...

Quina Aragon Feels Unqualified but Compelled.

13 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Sarah Clarkson Gets Quiet.

06 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

S.D. and J.C. Smith make a great father-son writing team.

09 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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-a...

Pete Peterson and Matt Logan: God Bless Us, Every One!

02 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Leslie Thompson talks turkey.

25 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Leslie Eiler Thompson is a podcast producer and writer. Her work has been featured on Apple Podcasts, The Guardian, Nashville Public Radio, Christiani...

Bonus Episode: Willie Pearl is your new favorite band.

21 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Willie Pearl is an Americana/Southern rock band from Nashville, Tennessee. Their new album is called Willie Pearl. In this special bonus episode, sing...

Caroline Cobb Is in Exile.

18 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Caroline Cobb is a singer-songwriter known for her deep engagement with Scripture. Her first foray into book-writing is Advent for Exiles: 25 Devotion...

Lanier Ivester Wants You to Rest this Holiday Season

11 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 qu...

Kathleen Norris watches movies.

04 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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:...

Randall Goodgame and Kyle Schonewill on The Scripture Hymnal

28 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 wri...

Russ Ramsey on Van Gogh and Friends

21 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 Th...

Stephanie Duncan Smith Takes Risks.

14 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Stephanie Duncan Smith is a senior editor for HarperOne. She has spent her career developing award-winning and bestselling authors. She is the creator...

Steven James Loves Appalachia. (So Does Rebecca Reynolds.)

07 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Carolyn Leiloglou on Between Flowers and Bones

30 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Carolyn Leiloglou is the author of the middle grade fantasy series The Restorationists. Book Two of that series, Between Flowers and Bones, has been r...

John Hendrix on the Fellowship of Tolkien and Lewis

23 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

John Hendrix is a New York Times bestselling author and illustrator of many books. His award-winning illustrations have also appeared on book jackets...

Daniel Silliman on Nixon's Spiritual Life

16 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Daniel Silliman is senior news editor for Christianity Today. He earned a doctorate in American studies from Heidelberg University in Germany and has ...

Rachel Griffis and Rachel De Smith Roberts Read Deeply.

09 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this back-to-school episode Jonathan Rogers speaks with Rachel Griffis and Rachel De Smith Roberts about their book, Deep Reading: Practices to Sub...

Jared Wilson's Storied Life

02 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 Preachin...

Joe Hox and Jonathan Rogers Talk Swampy.

26 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

As of last week, all three books of Jonathan Rogers's Wilderking Trilogy, 20th Anniversary Deluxe Hardback edition, have been released into the wild. ...

Lee Camp On The Good Life

19 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Besides being an award-winning teacher and professor of theology & ethics at Lipscomb University, Lee Camp hosts No Small Endeavor, a podcast that...

Lanta Davis Beholds

12 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Joel Miller Gets a Lot Done.

05 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Shirley Mullen Claims the Courageous Middle.

29 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 Wor...

Junius Johnson asks who invented the dragon.

22 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Dr. Junius Johnson is an independent scholar and teacher and a public intellectual who devotes his time to thinking and writing about whatever is nobl...

Karen Stiller on Holiness Here

15 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Karen Stiller writes about  the intersections between faith and the world, social issues, matters of justice and doing better. Her most recent book i...

Doug McKelvey Didn't Say No.

08 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Elizabeth Oldfield Wants to be Fully Alive

01 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Elizabeth Oldfield hosts The Sacred, a podcast about our deepest values, the stories that shape us, and how we can build empathy and understanding bet...

Bonus Episode: Audio Excerpt from The Bark of the Bog Owl

25 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 illustrat...

Sarah MacKenzie Gets Swampy

24 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Wesley Vander Lugt Breathes Beauty

17 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Wesley Vander Lugt  is a pastor, theologian, writer, teacher, nonprofit leader, and arts advocate with a passion for beauty, slowness, cultivation, a...

Julie Lane-Gay Loves the Book of Common Prayer

10 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Julie Lane-Gay is a horticulturalist and a writer. Her work has appeared in a range of publications including Reader's Digest, Fine Gardening, Faith T...

Eric Schumacher is weak (and he thinks it's a gift).

03 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Weakness doesn’t feel like a gift. But author, podcaster, and songwriter Eric Schumacher believes that it is. His new book is The Good Gift of Weakn...

Rebecca Gomez and Rachel Donahue Talk Novels in Verse

27 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Poet Rebecca Gomez is the author and also the illustrator of Mari in the Margins, a middle-grade novel in verse. Her editor, also a poet, is Rachel Do...

Lore Wilbert on the Life that Grows Out of Death

20 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Lore Ferguson Wilbert writes about spiritual formation, faith, culture, and theology in life. She is the proprietor of an excellent Substack called Sa...

Sarah MacKenzie Tells the Story of Hope

13 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

As host of the Read-Aloud Revival Podcast and the Read-Aloud Revival Online Community, Sarah MacKenzie has brought untold joy to bookish families. Bes...

Malcolm Guite apprehends more than reason comprehends. (Rebroadcast)

06 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Malcolm Guite is a poet-priest. Jeremy Begbie has called him "one of the most important Christian poets of our time." In this episode, Malcolm and Jon...

Courtney Ellis Is Looking Up

29 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Besides being a bird enthusiast, Courtney Ellis is a pastor in Southern California, the author of several books, and the host of a podcast called The ...

Leif Enger on I Cheerfully Refuse

22 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Leif Enger writes novels about good people living through bad times. His new book, I Cheerfully Refuse, epitomizes what the Los Angeles Tines calls E...

Emily P. Freeman On How to Walk Into a Room

15 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Emily P. Freeman spends a lot of time thinking, talking, and writing about discernment and decision-making–doing the next right thing. She hosts The...

Faith Chang Is a Perfectionist.

08 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Faith Chang struggles with perfectionism. Nevertheless, she pushed through and finished a book–about perfectionism. It’s called Peace Over Perfect...

Kenneth Padgett and Shay Gregorie on Visual Storytelling

01 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Kenneth Padgett and Shay Gregorie are the founders of Wolfbane Books. They are also co-authors of the Story of God trilogy of picture books, beautiful...

Brian Zahnd on Poetic Theology

25 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When pastor Brian Zahnd was walking five hundred miles across Spain on the Camino de Santiago, he contemplated hundreds of crosses and crucifixes. He ...

Sarah Arthur is a spy for hope.

18 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Sarah Arthur has written and published a dozen books over the last twenty years or so, but her new book, Once a Queen, is her first foray into fiction...