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Webinar Replay · July 13, 2021

Formational Fiction Round-Up

Stories That Shape Our Souls
Karen Swallow Prior Patricia Raybon Terry Glaspey Justine Olawsky
With Karen Swallow Prior, Patricia Raybon, Terry Glaspey, Justine Olawsky, Carolyn Arends

Here are some resources mentioned in the Formational Fiction Round-Up: Stories That Shape Our Souls webcast conversation between Karen Swallow Prior, Patricia Raybon, Terry Glaspey, Justine Olawsky, and Carolyn Arends.

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Resources Recommended by Karen Swallow Prior

Resources recommended by Patricia Raybon

  • Resources and additional recommended fiction:

    • Robert McKee: Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting

      • Quote: ​“Master storytellers give us the double-edged encounter we crave. First, the discovery of a world we do not know…Second, once inside this alien world, we find ourselves. Deep within these characters and their conflicts, we discover our own humanity. We go to the movies to enter a new, fascinating world, to inhabit vicariously another human being who at first seems so unlike us and yet at heart is like us, to live in a fictional reality that illuminates our daily reality. We do not wish to escape life but to find life, to use our minds in fresh, experimental ways, to flex our emotions, to enjoy, to learn, to add depth to our days. Story was written to foster films of archetypal power and beauty that will give the world this dual pleasure.” – Robert McKee, ​“Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting”

    • Kenneth Burke: Equipment for Living: The Literary Reviews of Kenneth Burke

    • Flannery O’Connor: A Prayer Journal

    • Victor Hugo: Les Miserables

    • Upton Sinclair: The Jungle

    • Willa Cather: My Antonia

    • Sandra Cisneros: Caramelo

    • Books by Ernest J Gaines

    • Books by Alice Walker

  • Patricia’s Website

  • Patricia on Social Media: Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook

Resources recommended by Terry Glaspey

Resources mentioned by Justine Olawsky

Recommended Fiction:

Resources and additional recommended fiction:

Justine Olawsky on Goodreads

Other Resources Mentioned in the Webinar and Chat:

The resources mentioned below have not been reviewed or endorsed by Renovaré. 

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Karen Swallow Prior
About the Panelist
Karen Swallow Prior

Karen Swallow Prior, Ph. D., is a Research Professor of English and Christianity and Culture at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. She is the author of Booked: Literature in the Soul of Me (T. S. Poetry Press, 2012), Fierce Convictions: The Extraordinary Life of Hannah More — Poet, Reformer, Abolitionist (Thomas Nelson, 2014), and On Reading Well: Finding the Good Life through Great Books (Brazos, 2018). She is co-editor of Cultural Engagement: A Crash Course in Contemporary Issues (Zondervan 2019) and has contributed to numerous other books. Her writing has appeared at Christianity Today, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, First Things, Vox, Relevant, Think Christian, The Gospel Coalition, Religion News Service, Books and Culture, and other places.

Patricia Raybon
About the Panelist
Patricia Raybon


A writer of faith by day and mystery by night, Patricia Raybon is an award-winning Colorado author, essayist, and novelist who writes top-rated books at the intersection of faith and race.

Her first fiction is a 1920s mystery series about a prim, clever Black female theologian — a fan of Sherlock Holmes — who solves murder and crime in Colorado’s dangerous Klan era. The series’ first book, All That Is Secret, is set to release Oct. 5, 2021, from Tyndale House.

A former Sunday Magazine editor at The Denver Post and former associate professor of journalism at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Patricia is a regular contributor to Our Daily Bread Ministries and the DaySpring (in)courage blog. Her award-winning books include My First White Friend, on racial forgiveness, and I Told the Mountain to Move, on her struggle to learn to pray. A mother of two and grandmother of five, she and husband Dan live in Colorado where they enjoy movies, popcorn, cozy mysteries, and soapy PBS dramas. 

Terry Glaspey
About the Panelist
Terry Glaspey

Terry Glaspey is the award-winning author of over a dozen books, including Discovering God Through the Arts, 75 Masterpieces Every Christian Should Know, Not a Tame Lion: the Spiritual Legacy of C.S. Lewis, and The Prayers of Jane Austen. Terry teaches at Northwind Seminary and has been a speaker at various colleges, conferences, and churches throughout the United States and Canada, as well as Oxford, Cambridge, and Taiwan. Terry has an M.A. in history from the University of Oregon and is currently completing a doctoral program.

Justine Olawsky
About the Panelist
Justine Olawsky

Justine came onboard in 2015 and currently serves as the Education Program Coordinator. She has a special fondness for the Renovaré Book Club (being a voracious and catholic reader herself) and dotes upon the Renovaré Institute students. She lives with her husband and cats in Sioux Falls, SD, where she also serves in Youth Faith Formation at Saint Mary Parish. She and G.K. Chesterton have been good friends for many, many years.

Carolyn Arends
About the Panelist
Carolyn Arends

Carolyn Arends oversees the Renovaré Institute for Christian Spiritual Formation as well as several other Renovaré initiatives, including the Book Club. She is also a recording artist, speaker, author, and college instructor. She lives near Vancouver, BC, with her husband Mark and their two children.

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