Philosophical

Episode 147 – Take Two Stories and See Me in the Morning

It’s nearly Christmas. Among other things, this means it’s time to rest from the chaos of Christmas preparations; it’s time to spend some with the people you love most; it’s time to ponder peace on earth and goodwill toward man. It’s time to reevaluate the year that’s past and look forward to the year to…

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Episode 145 – A Shadow on the Soul

Nearly everyone has a story about that one cartoon or movie they watched as a child that gave them nightmares, whether it was an “Elephants on Parade” acid trip or a “Why’d I’d watch this when I was seven?” childhood trauma. But even as adults, there are stories that lodge deep in the psyche, that…

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Episode 143 – The Moral is Simple

All stories teach a lesson of some sort. Some lessons are very obvious and simple: Tell the truth. Kindness is best. True beauty comes from within. But what makes these morals resonate in a story? Why do they come off as maudlin and sappy in some stories and profound and deep in others? Hosts Timothy…

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Episode 141 – Looking Into Story’s Mirror

It is true that the stories we consume can affect the sort of people we are. In this episode, however, hosts Timothy Deal and Nick Hayden examine the truth of the reverse. Do a culture’s stories reflect the sort of people we already are–both our virtues and our vices? In a wide-ranging discussion, they attempt…

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Episode 134 – Playing With Death

Hosts Timothy Deal and Nick Hayden tackle light use of dark subjects in stories, Halloween puns, and fictional ghosts.

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Episode 131 – What’s a Storyteller Worth?

Imagine you’re part of a hunter-gatherer tribe. Who do you value most? That awesome hunter dude who brings home the boar bacon? The guy with the big muscles who tore apart a lion with his bare hands? Or is it the storyteller who tells the myths of your people? This episode, hosts Timothy Deal and…

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Episode 122 – The God-Shaped Plot Hole

If it’s the end of the world, or the end of a way of life, or even just the end of a really bad day, mightn’t a person turn toward God? But that option doesn’t present itself in most modern stories. Hosts Timothy Deal and Nick Hayden examine the unconscio

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Episode 116 – The Lie

“Did God really say…?” From the beginning, lies have been a central feature of the drama of mankind. Not surprisingly, they also fuel many of our stories. Hosts Timothy Deal and Nick Hayden dig into layers of deceit to determine why and how best to use

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Epiosde 105 – The Greatest Stories Ever Told

Merry Christmas! ‘Tis the season for nativities and stories of the Nativity, which put Tim and Nick in the mood to discuss Biblical adaptations. How do you adapt a Bible story, and what makes it different from a normal adaptation? Then, for this month’s W

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Episode 95 – Tempted at Story’s Altar

Story is good. We’ve said that before. But story can also take an out-sized and even, shall we say, idolatrous place in our media-soaked lives. Nick and Tim discuss the dangers of story for the creator and consuming in this episode’s Story School. Then it

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