The Gatekeepers of Culture: Gregory Wolfe on Literature, Faith, and the Books That Last
Gregory Wolfe has spent 40 years hunting for something most men assume doesn't exist anymore: serious, beautiful, Catholic literature written by people still alive. As the founder of Image journal and now publisher of Slant Books, he's found it—and he's here to make the case that the Church's artistic tradition isn't in a museum. It's being written right now by people you've never heard of. That's on us to fix.
What We Cover
- Why newness is not the enemy of tradition and never has been
- Why Waugh, Greene, and O'Connor were condemned by Catholics before they were celebrated by them
- How T.S. Eliot's conversion to the Church of England unlocked a new way of reading modernist poetry
- Why Michelangelo's Pietà caused riots in Rome — and what that tells us about art today
- The Catholic writers most Catholics have never heard of — and why that's a problem
Chapters
- 00:00: Who Is Gregory Wolfe?
- 04:29: From Mimeograph to Magazine: A Life in Publishing
- 10:23: The Church of What's Happening Now
- 14:21: Why Newness Matters in Art
- 19:46: T.S. Eliot and the Living Tradition
- 25:32: The Shock of the New (Even Michelangelo's Pietà)
- 31:24: Waugh, Greene, and O'Connor Were Condemned—Then Celebrated
- 39:01: The Still Small Voice: What Contemporary Fiction Whispers
- 44:36: Catholic Writers You've Never Heard Of (But Should Know)
- 49:51: Tell It Slant: The Mission of Slant Books
Resources Mentioned
- Slant Books
- Child of These Tears by Molly McNett
- We Shall Not All Sleep by Tony Woodlief
- Redeployment by Phil Klay
- Image Journal
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