Season 11: Episode 4 | Malcolm Guite | What if Creativity Could Kindle the Imagination for Christ?

Listen to Malcolm Guite, an English poet, singer-songwriter, Anglican priest and academic, being interviewed by Rev. Dr. Andrew Stirling. In this episode, Malcolm leads us on a journey of how he discovered faith through the influence of poetry and Scripture. And how finding his purpose in life was by using his gift and love of literature, poetry and Scripture, to help kindle people’s imagination for Christ.

In this interview, Malcolm and Andrew discuss:

• Malcolm's early life growing up in Nigeria and then him moving to Canada with his family, where his formative years were shaped as the son of a minister.
• His teenage years and how he was impacted by the John Keats poem, Ode to a Nightingale which helped direct his path toward God and literature.
• How an encounter with the presence of God in college while reading the Psalms aloud had a profound impact on Malcolm’s life.
• The way Malcolm’s sonnets skillfully integrate Scripture and poetic work, exploring God in a deeper way.
• Malcolm’s purpose as a poet and minister to kindle people’s imagination for Christ through his love of poetry, language, and Scripture.

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Malcolm Guite is an English poet, singer-songwriter, Anglican priest, and academic. Guite earned degrees from Cambridge and Durham universities. His research interests include the intersection of religion and the arts, and the examination of the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and Owen Barfield, and British poets such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge. He was a Bye-Fellow and chaplain of Girton College, Cambridge and associate chaplain of St. Edward King and Martyr, Cambridge.  On several occasions, he has taught as visiting faculty at several colleges and universities in England and North America.

Guite is the author of five books of poetry, including two chapter books and three full-length collections, as well as several books on Christian faith and theology. Guite has a decisively simple, formalist style in poems, many of which are sonnets, and he stated that his aim is to “be profound without ceasing to be beautiful”. Guite performs as a singer and guitarist fronting the Cambridgeshire-based blues, rhythm and blues, and rock band Mystery Train. He also has a YouTube channel where he shares his passions and musings with his viewers.

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