Make Your Home In This Luminous Dark: Contemporary Art and The Path of the Mystics with James K. A. Smith

In this episode, I sit down with philosopher and author James K. A. Smith (Jamie) to explore the mystical tradition as a living pathway into deeper faith, creativity, and presence.

Jamie shares how his journey into mysticism began not through abstract theology, but through personal crisis, an experience of depression that exposed the limits of intellect and certainty. From there, voices like St. John of the Cross and Thomas Merton opened up a new way of understanding faith, not as mastery, but as surrender; not as knowing, but as unknowing.

Together, we explore what it means to “make your home in the luminous dark,” to embrace mystery as a space of transformation rather than failure. We also dive deeply into the surprising role of art, especially contemporary and “difficult” art, as a powerful and often overlooked gateway into contemplation. Rather than delivering clear messages, great art invites us into encounter, disorientation, and wonder, forming in us the very capacities needed for a mystical life.

This conversation is an invitation to let go of control, to trust the deeper currents of love beneath reality, and to discover how both mysticism and art can open us to the presence of God in ways that certainty never could.

JOIN US FOR BOOK CLUB! Every Tuesday at 8 pm EST in June 2026, we will be reading James's book online in our Patreon community! We'd love to have you with us. Visit patreon.com/makersandmystics to RSVP.

S14 E06: Learning To See with Paul J. Pastor

When we think of wonder or beauty, we might be inclined to think in terms of an external appearance, a scene of nature or an attractive person. But what if wonder is something that grows from the inside out? What if wonder is way of seeing? And what if wonder is an interior force, one that begins in the hidden recesses of our perceptions?

Today, on the show I’m talking with Oregon-based, poet, writer and critic, Paul J Pastor. Paul serves HarperCollins as senior acquisitions editor for their Zondervan imprint, and also serves as a contributing editor for Ekstasis magazine. He's the author of several books, including Bower Lodge: Poems, and two forthcoming titles: The Locust Years and The Fire Cantos.

In our conversation, Paul and I discuss the importance of learning to see as a means of engaging wonder. Drawing from the work of William Blake, Flannery O’ Connor and stories from the Gospels, this episode takes us on a journey into our perceptions and invites us to reconsider beauty as more than an aesthetic experience.

Author, Faith and Art, Philosophy, Reclaiming Wonder, theologyStephen RoachSeptember 4, 2024Paul J Pastor, Literature, poet, philosophy

S7 E03: Ritual Making & Performance Art with Heather Stringer

Heather Stringer is a therapist, artist, and ritual maker. She is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in Seattle, WA and a Fellow with the Allender Center. She completed her M.A. in Counseling Psychology at The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology and the Externship Program at The Allender Center. Heather has a practice of creating narrative informed trauma therapy as well as creating rituals for people marking a significant event in their life.

Heather believes that when we are intentional about engaging the particularities of our bodies, memories, and stories, an opening for healing and change are possible.

In this episode, Stephen Roach talks with Heather about her niche of combining ritual making with performance art in ways that foster healing and inspire a more creative approach to everyday life.

Artist Profile Series 13: Teilhard de Chardin

Teilhard de Chardin was a French Catholic priest, philosopher, paleontologist, geologist and World War I veteran who earned the Legion of Honor citation. He wrote extensively on science, on his scientific discoveries, and on his most intimate thoughts of Christ as the consummate culmination of spiritual and material realities.

Artist Profile Series 04: Nikolai Berdyaev

Nicholas Berdyaev was a Russian philosopher who believed our mission as human beings is to be collaborators with God in His continuing creation of the world. In this episode, Stephen highlights a passage from Berdyaev's book, The Meaning of The Creative Act on creativity and redemption.

Philosophy, theologyStephen RoachAugust 15, 2018Nicholas Berdyaev, philosophy, theology, art and faith, creativity, redemption