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Why would a Christian author immerse her stories in darkness? Why would she use violent imagery that directly relates to Christianity, race, class, disability, and illness? And how can this darkness guide us toward the importance of love in the flesh, of personal connection and vulnerability? In this conversation, Dr. Jessica Hooten Wilson, author of Flannery O’Connor’s Why Do the Heathen Rage? A Behind-the-Scenes Look at a Work in Progress, and Amy Julia Becker explore:

• Flannery O'Connor's unique perspective on faith and darkness
• The portrayal of disability in O’Connor’s stories
• Love in the abstract versus love in the flesh
• Challenges of publishing an unfinished manuscript
• How the prophetic imagination in O'Connor's work confronts the dominant culture's illusions about the good life

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Guest Bio:

Jessica Hooten Wilson (PhD, Baylor University) is the Fletcher Jones Endowed Chair of Great Books at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. She is the author or editor of eight books, including Flannery O’Connor’s Why Do the Heathen Rage? A Behind-the-Scenes Look at a Work in Progress, Reading for the Love of God, The Scandal of Holiness (winner of a Christianity Today 2023 Award of Merit), and Giving the Devil His Due: Demonic Authority in the Fiction of Flannery O’Connor and Fyodor Dostoevsky (winner of a 2018 Christianity Today Book of the Year Award). Wilson speaks around the world on topics as varied as Russian novelists, Catholic thinkers, and Christian ways of reading.
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Connect Online:

• Website: https://jessicahootenwilson.com/
• Instagram: @drjessicahootenwilson
• Facebook: @JessicaHootenWilson
• Twitter: @HootenWilson

On the Podcast:

• Flannery O’Connor’s Why Do the Heathen Rage? A Behind-the-Scenes Look at a Work in Progress
• Register for the Festival of Faith & Writing

TRANSCRIPT: amyjuliabecker.com/jessica-hooten-wilson

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Let’s Reimagine the Good Life together through the lens of disability, faith, and culture. Find out more at amyjuliabecker.com.

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Thanks for listening!