Lisa Deboer is an art historian who, since 1999 has been teaching at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California. She is the author of The Visual Arts in the Worshiping Church — something sending us into far-reaching conversations about the use of the arts in different denominations.

Scott Cairns — poet, educator, and just a supremely wise dude, talks with Peter about how poetry works. But also about how the poetic can function throughout spoken and written communication.

James Jordan: The Musician’s Spirit. One of the most influential, innovative, and inspired choral conductors and educators in the world, James Jordan has so much to tell us about the sacred relationship between conductor and singer, and more than that: about the human being with the other.

Shawn Wallace is many things - a master of the jazz idiom, a pedagogue, a social commentator, and a man of deep faith. Finding himself an Orthodox Christian, he has brought the rich and beautiful musical legacy of black gospel music with him, showing us all how big the tent can be. We talk about that project, and learn much about his origin story - including the origin of “Thunder.”

Richard Viladesau is one of the contemporary masters of the field of theological aesthetics. Longtime member of the faculty at Fordham University, he talks with Peter about what aesthetics is (it’s much bigger than you think) and how one can speak of “beauty” across cultures.

On a special episode of Luminous, we feature a six-way discussion on the experience of African American Orthodox Christians and the encounter with existing musical traditions in the Orthodox Church.

Krista West: The Sacred Art of the Vestment. Deeply gifted in the art of sewing and embroidery, also articulate in reflecting on her craft, Krista adds immeasurably to the conversation on sacred arts.

One of the world’s greatest living bass players, and a person of deep faith, John and Peter have a lot to talk about, such as the inspiration behind John’s composed and improvised music.

Grant White teaches and studies liturgy - which means, arts, ritual, faith - everything that propels us in our Luminous conversations. A learned and very finely-attuned person, Grant takes us down some wonderful conversational paths.

Jeremy Begbie is one of the most incisive commentators on the relationship between arts and theology. We visit many fascinating destinations in this episode of Luminous.

Pageau is both an artist and a commentator about art and symbolism, and on what many within contemporary culture are searching for from the world of art and tradition.

Peter talks with distinguished professor Annemarie Weyl Carr about the meaning of “sacred,” “holy,” and “spiritual,” as well as about the images, notably in Cyprus, that she has been studying and writing about for decades.

A leading contemporary artist, a major cultural figure, and arts advocate, Makoto Fujimura talks with Peter about silence and suffering, and their impact on art.

Long-time professor of Liturgy and Music History, at Yale and Notre Dame, Margot talks with Peter about her work on Hildegard of Bingen - 12th-century mystic, poet, musician, theologian - and how music, text, and cosmology can all come together in a harmonious whole.

Junius Johnson is one of the most exciting scholars of Christian thought working today. Also a musician and sci-fi/fantasy author, he is a writer and speaker with expertise in historical and systematic theology. And he has much to tell us about beauty.

Musician, philosopher, professor David Rothenberg is author of Nightingales in Berlin, also the subject of a feature-length documentary. His work recording birdsong, and interacting musically with it, leads to conversations on the sacred and luminous, in human and non-human life.