Podcast Class: Seminarians Traveling Through the Gilead Quartet

In this fourteenth and final episode Renee reflect on what they’ve learned about themselves after a semester of reading, discussion, and podcasting. We unpack “Looking inward and not away.” We examine how strangers can love another. And we conclude with a look at themes of “wonder” and “hope” in the Gilead quartet before putting this podcast class to rest.

Spoiler alert. This episode concludes our two-week look at Jack. We discuss the questions we thought would be answered (but weren’t). We also wade into the waters of race, religion, marriage, and society by looking at Jack’s interactions with two different Black ministers. The episode wraps up with a discussion of Robinson’s two closing metaphors for Jack and Della’s relationship. Are they thieves or conspirators?

In this episode we delve into the Rural Cemetery Movement, listen in on two people who are locked in a cemetery together overnight, and pay attention to the beautiful power of darkness.

Spoiler alert. In this episode we talk about the life of a knife in Lila. We also take up the ethically ambiguous question Lila brings up when she contemplates stealing a child, which prompts us to consider the place of children in the novels we’ve read thus far.

Coming back from Spring Break, we turn our attention once again to the pull towards “home.” We also tackle salting babies in Ezekiel and Lila’s return to the shack.