Long before the Gospels, storytellers were already working through sacrifice, reversal, and redemption. In his new book, The Eternal Poet and the Cosmic Drama, out September 26th, Jonathan Jackson follows those patterns from Greek tragedy through Scripture, making the case that Christ is the story every other story has been reaching toward.
In this conversation, we talk about what separates good art from bad, why beauty carries spiritual weight, and how creativity, storytelling, and faith are more connected than they seem.
About the Author
Jonathan Jackson is a six-time Daytime Emmy Award-winning actor, musician, and author, best known for his role as Lucky Spencer on General Hospital and as Avery Barkley on ABC’s Nashville, and as the frontman of the rock band Enation. His journey to Orthodox Christianity began in 2007 when, while filming in Romania, he encountered a crowd of faithful walking through the streets with lit candles on Pascha — an experience he has described as planting the first seeds. After years of study and what he calls “constant wrestling,” he, his wife Lisa, and their three children were baptized into the Orthodox Church on Holy Saturday 2012. He has since spoken and written extensively about how Orthodoxy shapes every dimension of his life and creative work, describing his conversion not as choosing a new religion but as coming home to a place he had always known.
