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I love interviewing artists and having conversations about the arts not just because I love the arts but know, despite opinions by some to the contrary, that the arts are vehicles of truth and provide the means of insights and understanding about reality, ethics, faith, worldview, beauty, the quest for meaning, and all manner of other important issues and questions. The arts have been and are an integral part of every people group and civilization I know. Of course, as a Christian, I am especially interested in the way the Christian faith and the arts interweave.

To approach a conversation about all of these kinds of questions about and interests in the arts, I could think of no one better to interview than Terry Roberts!

Terry is many things, but there are three dimensions of Terry’s life that apply to this interview. First, Terry is an educator. Specifically, Terry is the Director of The National Paideia Center–an organization whose purpose is to promote critical and creative thinking. Second, Terry is a novelist. Having a Ph.D. in American Literature, Terry not only has studied writing and literature deeply, but is a practitioner of the art. Third, Terry is a Christian. So, questions of the relationship between faith, art, and larger ideas that matter intermingle for Terry, in his life, thinking, and his craftsmanship as an artist.

Terry is the author of four novels. He has just released the fourth novel, My Mistress’ Eyes are Raven Black. You can learn more about Terry and his novels for his website, terryrobertsauthor.com.

The 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.

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One might think that an interview with a couple of editors of a music publishing company might be an episode targeted only to a select audience, but, to the contrary, decisions made by such publishers can be worthy of national news. In my interview with the deans of three theological schools, when I asked what is going on in theological education presently, Dr. Karen Massey described the situation as a reckoning. There are several causes of that reckoning, but one of the significant causes is the need to confront and address the centuries long legacy and impact of colonial imperialism and white male supremacy. Another, closely related reckoning, is the issue of abuse in some way by those leading lights in a specific field. These reckonings are about power and politics because something like colonial imperialism or the abuses by dominant power brokers are by nature brought about by power and politics. Therefore any decisions made to confront and correct such legacies require political judgments. When those decisions are made, they can draw the attention of some news source. This was the experience of GIA Publications.

This interview occurred on Thursday, June 17. The day before, on Wednesday, June 16, Fox News ran a segment about how GIA Music and one the composers they publish had ended their relationship. So, when the interview occurred, my guests and GIA Music were still in the maelstrom of that event.

Publishers make choices about who and what will be published. That requires a judgment that cannot be separated from questions of theology, philosophy, ideology, ethics, and power.

To help us understand what is happening in Christian music these days and the challenges faced by Christian music publishers are my guests, Kate Williams and Michael Silhavey.