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My guests for this episode are the creators and editors of and some of the artists who participate with Foundling House. Foundling House is a website, journal, and resource, birthed in Knoxville, TN, dedicated to exploring the human truths of the Kingdom of Christ through story, art, and music.
It has been the tendency of conservative Christianity to desire and often demand answers that are certain and unquestionable. Consequently, complicated questions, hard, troubling questions are often ignored, handled superficially and inadequately, discouraged, and sometimes even rebuked. But all faiths, and especially the Christian faith, have questions, frequently troubling.
Art has always been a source of exposing troubling questions. Progressive Christian thinkers have as well. What is wonderful about the Foundling House folks is that they bring together the questioning person of faith and questioning art, doing their work, as they say they do, at the intersection of faith and art. You can learn about and enjoy the art of these folks on their website: foundlinghouse.com and their facebook page: facebook.com/foundlinghouse/
My guests for this episode are:
Adam Whipple (to whom, if you have been listening to this podcast, you have already been introduced in PGE14):
Adam is a skilled multi-instrumentalist, arranger, composer, studio musician, photographer, writer, and founder and primary editor of Foundling House. You can learn more about Adam at adamwhipple.com and have access to his albums, poetry, prose, and visual art.
Janna Barbar:
Janna is a teller of stories, a writer of poems, and a lifelong member of the tribe of humanity. The grownup daughter of a Baptist preacher and his Southern belle wife, she now lives in Knoxville, TN, with her pastor husband, two teenagers, and three pets. She is the author of Hidden in Shadow: Tales of Grief, Lamentation, and Faith. You can learn more about Janna at jannabarber.com.
Jeanine Joyner:
Jeanine is a native Texan transplanted into Middle Tennessee. A mother of five, she somehow carved out the time to write her debut novel Paper Dolls: Trust Your Instincts between homeschooling and hosting house concerts. She now lives in a home surrounded by rolling hills and farmlands, appropriately named Arundelle Green, after a character who captured her imagination in the Andrew Peterson book, The Warden and the Wolf King. You can learn more about Jeanine at arundellegreen.com.
Stephen and Rachel Mosley:
Rachel and Stephen Mosley met in a freshman year high school geography class sometime late last century. Married for twenty years, they’ve just recently begun to write and perform their own earthy, soft brand of folk, and to share it beyond their own front porch. Their music is heavily influenced by whatever they’re reading – Flannery O’Connor, Wendell Berry, and G.K. Chesterton are favorites – as well by their five wild and unruly red-headed children. You can learn more about Stephen and Rachel at themosleysmusic.com. Their song heard on this episode, ‘Eiderdown,’ comes from their album, Ordinary Time and is used by permission.
Rachel, Inspired by her artistic, book-loving family, discovered her love of children’s illustration and was delighted to find that she has a real knack for it. She uses a combination of hand drawing and digital illustration in her work, and loves to experiment with new and unique printing processes. As the proud mom of five little citizens of the world, her work is particularly inspired by travel, nature and classic children’s literature. You can learn more about Rachel’s work at rachelmosley.com.
Chris Yokel:
Chris is an Associate Professor of English at Bristol Community College in Massachusetts, and is an arts and culture writer whose works have appeared in publications such as, Tweetspeak Poetry, The Curator, The Molehill, and currently on The Rabbit Room. Chris is also the author of several books of poetry, including his latest collection Autumn Poems. In 2018 he helped co-found The Poetry Pub, an online community for poets. He enjoys walking in the woods, visiting coffee shops, and poking through used bookstores with his wife Jen. You can read some of Chris’ poems at chrisyokel.com.
This episode is divided into three segments. In Segment 1 Adam, Janna, and Jeanine talk about the origin and work of Foundling House. In Segment 2 I talk with Stephen and Rachel. We listen to and discuss their song, ‘Eiderdown,’ and Rachel reads and we discuss her poem, ‘Small Birds.’ In Segment 3 I talk with Chris and Janna. Chris reads and we discuss his poem, ‘On the Problem of Evil,’ and then Janna reads and we discuss her poem, ‘Hesed.’
The intro and outro music for this episode is from a clip of a song called ‘Father Let Your Kingdom Come’ which is found on The Porter’s Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter’s Gate Worship Project. You can learn more about the album and the Worship Project at theportersgate.com.