I love to talk about literature, writing, modernism, the Inklings, faith & the arts, and more. You can hire me to speak at your event or to coach you in public speaking yourself. Here are the titles of talks I’ve given, a few of which are online.

  • “Cruel and Cold: Tolkien’s The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm’s Son and Modern Drama.”
  • “The Holy Grail from the Gospels to the Vault of the Adepti.”
  • “Real Magic from Tolkien’s Time: Academic Approaches to Magic in the Inklings’ Milieu.”
  • “The Inklings Among Other Arthurs.”
  • “Real Modernisms: Revising (Meta)Fictional Modernist Narratives.”
  • “Charles Williams and Friendship sub specie Arthuriana.”
  • “Tolkien and Williams as World-Builders.”
  • “Magical Theatrics: Remaking Ancient Ritual on the Modern Stage.”
  • “How to Present at Conferences.”
  • “Religious Drama: Does It Work?”
  • “Treading the Board(er)s: Mysticism and Magic in Irish Occult Theatrical Networks.”
  • “Sister of my Soul: Coercion and Control in Occult Theatrical Networks.”
  • “They Have the Cathedral in Common: T. S. Eliot and Charles Williams as Canterbury Playwrights.”
  • “Sympathizing with the Dead: A Christmas Carol as Hospitable Medium.”
  • “‘The dread forbidden wine’: Yeats’s Early Occult Dramas.”
  • “[Re]Cycled Fragments: The End of Sweeney Agonistes.”
  • “The Red Side of the Green Ground: W. B. Yeats on Conflict and Creation Care.”
  • “Little Loosed Dragons: Intertextuality in Beowulf and the Inklings.”
  • “The Future of Inklings Studies.”
  • “Barfieldiana: Owen Barfield and the Matter of Britain.”
  • “Spirits on Stage: Rosicrucian Magic in The Countess Cathleen.”
  • “Collaboration in Community: An Application of Diana Glyer’s Theories of Influence to Higher Education.”
  • “The Inklings and King Arthur”
  • “How to Handle the Hallows: Editing a 100-year-old Play for the Twenty-First Century.”
  • “Fantasy and Faith.”
  • “Arthurian Geographies in Tolkien, Williams and Lewis.”
  • “King Arthur Was an Elf? An Imaginary, Composite, Inklings Arthuriad.”
  • “‘Between Two Strange Hearts’: Spiritual Desolation in the Later Poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins and Charles Williams.”
  • “Checking Out and Hooking Up: Reading Eugenides through the National Study of Youth and Religion.” “Hallows Within and Without: Grail Relics in the Mythos of Charles Williams and J.K. Rowling.”
  • “Double Affirmation: Medieval Chronology, Geography, and Devotion in the Arthuriad of Charles Williams.” “Charles Williams’s War in Heaven as a Generic Case Study.”
  • “Cosmic Longing in Lewis’s Dantean Universe.”
  • “The Development of Lewis’s Sehnsucht in his Correspondence and Cultural Context.”shorten podcast text

1619 & 1776 Podcast

1619 & 1776 is a podcast exploring the common ground between American Christians on the left and the right. In each episode, I listen to pastors, priests, ministers, and preachers talk about what they see as the core of our faith, what the last few years have been like for them, and how we can come together in unity throughout the church today. Every now and then, I’ll jump in and do a solo episode in which I reflect on what I’ve observed so far.

Let’s build bridges across the geological fault lines that divide us.

American Christianity is falling apart. In this first episode, Sørina Higgins talks about the terrible schisms in the church today, what approach she’ll be taking to interviewing pastors about Christian re-unification, why she’s the one doing this project, what the title means, and more. Join her to build bridges across the chasms that divide us.

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The Rev. Dr. Malcolm Foley is one of the pastors at Mosaic Waco in Texas. He finished his PhD in Religion at Baylor University in December 2021; his dissertation is on African-American responses to lynching. Here, he talks about current events, based on his fundamental belief in the Kingship of Jesus Christ.

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In the second interview in this series, Rev. Dr. Jeff Hatton of Redeemer Waco in Texas emphasizes that the Gospel is good news, not good advice, and that it informs every aspect of our lives. He expresses concern over the ways that discourse is shaped and controlled these days.

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The Rev. Dr. Bruce Johnson of Scottsdale, Arizona, starts with the foundational importance of unity with Christ. From there, he builds his case that Christians must pursue unity with one another.

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Rev. Barshinger encourages Christians to remember that we should be better equipped than anyone else to understand each other and bridge some divisions. He urges us to avoid extremes and to reaffirm the social and culture importance of church.

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Rev. Thompson presents rigorous theological foundations for serving one another, supporting vulnerable members, and being a force for practical good in our communities and political environments.

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Here, my Producer Christopher Bartlet turns the tables, interviewing me about what I’ve observed so far. Listen in to hear what I’ve noticed about common ground, irreconcilable differences, practical steps, and more.

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Rev. Adam Tyler serves a Baptist church in Virginia. He has an important perspective on getting along with rural folks and dealing with racial issues in the South.

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Rev. Aaron Williams serves at a Presbyterian church in Seattle, where his (predominantly white) congregation enjoys a special partnership called “Kindred” with an African American church and a Chinese church.

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Rev. Brad Schmidt serves in southern Florida, where he works to invite in people of different backgrounds. We enjoyed a conversation about intellectual hospitality and “visiting” or “welcoming” other viewpoints than our own.

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Aaron Zimmerman
Tom Bridgman
Charis Weathers