The Christian Imagination
A Six-Week Journey
The Christian Imagination
A Six-Week Journey
Discover the theological foundations behind everything you love about the great stories.
Think about those moments at our gatherings or on our podcasts when a story suddenly illuminated eternity. When ordinary food became sacramental. When faith and imagination danced together perfectly. You know Christianity is "bigger on the inside"—you've tasted it.
But here's what you might not know: there's a reason Anselm gatherings feel different. A rich theological tradition stretching back centuries that explains why beauty matters, why stories form us, why feasting is spiritual practice–and why you’ve been so parched looking for it all.
What if you could live this way every day?
This course reveals the "why" behind what drew you to our community—and gives you the tools to make it a way of life, not just something you experience when we gather together.
We are in the final stages of developing this course—click above to help us shape it!
What You'll Gain:
✅ Theological foundations for the things you love most
✅ Language to articulate why beauty and story matter to your faith
✅ Daily practices that sustain this vision beyond our gatherings
✅ Connection between your work, your life, and God's kingdom story
✅ A personal vision for how to build beauty, truth, and goodness around you
Six Weeks to Transform Your Vision
Six Weeks to Transform Your Vision
From Augustine to Lewis, from medieval mystics to contemporary theologians, you'll discover the deep wells that have nourished the Church's imagination for centuries—and most importantly, how it all fits together.
Week 1
Why Do Stories Make You Weep?
You've felt it—that ache when Frodo sails to the Grey Havens, when Lucy discovers it's always winter in Narnia. Why do fictional worlds sometimes feel more real than your daily life? What if that longing is trying to tell you something about who you were made to be?
Week 2
Why Does Beauty Hurt?
A sunset stops you in your tracks. A hymn brings tears you can't explain. Your favorite painting feels like it's reaching through time to grab your soul. Why does beauty pierce us this way? And what does it reveal about the nature of everything around you—including that cup of coffee in your hand right now?
Week 3
Who Are You?
You create things. You make choices that matter. You sense you were meant for something... significant. But modern life makes you feel small, replaceable, ordinary. What if the truth about your identity is far stranger and more wonderful than you've been told?
Week 4
Why Does Life Feel So Fragmented?
One moment you're deeply present—at a feast, in worship, reading with your child. The next you're drowning in notifications and to-do lists, wondering where the meaning went. Is there a way to live where every moment connects to eternity? Where time itself becomes sacred?
Week 5
Where Do We Learn to Live This Way?
You've experienced these moments of integration at our gatherings. But how did the Church do this for centuries? What rhythms and practices sustained this vision when it was normal, not exceptional? And how do we recover what's been lost?
Week 6
How Do You Bring Heaven to Your Corner of Earth?
You can't join a monastery. You have a job, responsibilities, maybe a family. But you also have a front door, a table, a patch of ground (literal or metaphorical) where you have agency. What would it look like to make your life—with all its limitations—an outpost of the kingdom?
What Participants Say:
"I learned to move my faith from my head to my heart; it was no longer only intellectual, but something deeply good and beautiful as well."
"Anselm has changed me, grown me, challenged my thinking, deepened my spirituality. I like me better now. I see a wider world. I love the church more."
"I learned how to feel the love of God in my very lungs.”
Details
Details
Course Details
Format: Six weekly sessions, 2 hours each
When: Winter 2026
Where: In Colorado Springs or online
Community: Limited to 20 participants
Includes:
Six teaching sessions with discussion
Curated readings from great Christian voices
Interactive exercises rooted in historic practice
Continued connection with participants
Recording access
What You'll Read
Each week includes carefully curated excerpts from the masters—short enough to read in a busy life, deep enough to transform how you see. You'll encounter voices across the centuries who've shaped Christian imagination, made accessible and applicable to your daily life. We are in the process of making final decisions on what to include on the reading list, so please fill out the survey and tell us what you’d like to learn!
Typically 10-15 pages a week with an option for further reading if desired.
Your Guide
Brian Brown, founder and executive director of The Anselm Society, has been helping Christians discover the sacramental nature of reality for over a decade. He studied political theology at Princeton University and the John Jay Institute, and has been discipled and trained by several world-class professors and theologians.
But this course isn't just Brian's insights—it's an interactive encounter with the great tradition itself. You'll study the voices who have shaped Christian imagination across the centuries: not just the writers you already love but the writers who shaped them.
If you've been moved by the ideas that animate the Anselm Society, this course introduces you to the giants whose shoulders we stand on.
Ready to Live What You Love?
Ready to Live What You Love?
You've tasted this fuller Christianity. You've experienced moments when everything connected. Now learn the theological foundations that make those moments possible—and discover how to live this vision every single day.
Space intentionally limited for rich discussion
Questions? Contact us.