
Christians Reading Classics The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne with Jeff Bilbro | American 250
Nadya Williams and Jeff Bilbro discuss Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter — its Puritan setting, Hawthorne's fraught ancestry, and the novel's three responses to sin: moralistic judgment, escapist relativism, and Hester's redemptive middle path. They also touch on Hawthorne's friendships with the Transcendentalists, the dangers of cancel culture, and Jeff's forthcoming book on AI and creaturely intelligence.
——
Get the free ebook Spiritual Formation for the Family at http://mereorthodoxy.com/family.
Christians Reading Classics is a podcast from Mere Orthodoxy and is listener-supported. If you would like to support this work, become a Mere Orthodoxy Member today at http://mereorthodoxy.com/membership.
Apply for fall 2026 admission to Beeson Divinity School's MDiv (or M.Div., your choice) and be considered for a full-tuition scholarship.: https://bit.ly/OurRisenLord
—
- 00:00 - Introduction & What Is a Classic?
- 05:10 - American Classics & the Year 250
- 07:15 - Short Books vs. Long Books
- 09:33 - Hawthorne: Life & Context
- 14:11 - The Plot: Hester, Dimmesdale, Chillingworth, Pearl
- 17:23 - Three Responses to Sin
- 25:08 - Dimmesdale & Self-Deception
- 29:10 - Pearl & Spiritual Formation
- 33:43 - Chillingworth: Truth-Hunting for Power
- 36:17 - What Christians Should Notice
- 42:16 - Creaturely Intelligence (Jeff's Forthcoming Book)
- 47:31 - What Classic Would You Have Written?
