Kayle Curley

About Kayle Curley

Kayle and her husband, Richard, hail from sunny SoCal and currently sojourn in New England. Kayle graduated Biola University in 2016 earning her B.A. in Biblical/Theological Studies and becoming a perpetual member of the Torrey Honors Institute. She is currently a student at Yale Divinity School where she is studying Religion and Literature with a special interest in poetry/poetics and medieval theology and literature. She is an avid reader, practicing writer, and an artist in her spare time.

Sanctifying Art: Dante’s Pilgrim on the Terrace of Pride

Nov 13, 2017

Having emerged from the bowels of Hell, Dante and his guide find themselves upon the shores of the fresh and uncharted territory of Purgatory, a mountain surrounded by sea and pure air free from the stench and darkness of the Inferno. From the opening lines of Purgatorio, the poet distinguishes this place as God-graced: the dawn spreading the “sweet color of eastern sapphire”—the color associated with the Virgin—across the skies welcomes the pilgrim to journey...

John of Damascus on Divine Images

Oct 18, 2017

St. John of Damascus penned the Treatises on the Divine Images in response to iconoclasm which swept across the Byzantine Empire under Emperor Leo III. Throughout his three treatise, St. John of Damascus works to distinguish veneration from worship, and he justifies icons imaging Jesus and the saints. As a modern reader the distinction between veneration (characterized as honor) and worship appeared— at least by verbal distinctions— quite clear, and I’ve never really taken issue...

Weighing Words: The Metaphor of Gravity

Sep 18, 2017

As a student devoted to the intersection of theology and literature I’m always assessing ways in which literature accomplishes theological work and how theological thought appears in literary form. Most often these points of conversion occur by means of metaphor. To refresh your memory, metaphor is a kind of comparison in which one thing is described as another. Metaphor can be as colloquial as “love is war” or lengthy and complex underpinning an entire narrative....

Practicing “Lively Hope”: Providence and Possibility in Dante’s Paradise

Aug 23, 2017

Our imaginings of the afterlife often include getting answers to questions the knowledge and experience of the world couldn’t answer. Likewise, the pilgrim of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy seeks out heavenly wisdom to satisfy his own burning question: How is God just if people who never received knowledge of Christ’s salvation or the opportunity for baptism are condemned? In Canto 20, the souls represented in the heavenly sphere of Jupiter direct the pilgrim’s attention to...

Concerns for a Vision-Driven Church

Aug 13, 2015

My folks have been consistently involved in a small local church in Orange County for decades. Last year, the pastor gave notice of his retirement and so the elder board, associate pastor, and a few others came together to begin forming a “Search Committee.” As a small group they would assess the needs of the church, review candidates applying for senior pastor, and assist in the transition. However, as the project has wore on deeper...

Obedience and Trust in Times of Transition

Jul 30, 2015

Over the last few weeks I’ve had some time to reflect over the year. Its incredible how much everything has changed. Within the span of 365 days I’ve experienced moments of joy and celebration as well as grief and disappointment. Some transitions have been emotionally disruptive while others have been methodical and tedious. Some have occurred overnight while others are still reaching full maturity. Change is inevitable. We change. The people around us change. Our...

Practical Wisdom for the Modern Christian from a Crime-Solving Priest

Jul 2, 2015

Father Brown, a delightful gift of G. K. Chesterton’s imagination (and not to be mistaken with the clever Encyclopedia Brown), is an unassuming genius in a clerical collar with an old ordinary umbrella who at one point in his life was able to summarize any page of St. Thomas’ Summa Theologica. Although Father Brown is (by merit of his consistent appearance in each episode and the fact that the series is named after him), the...

Days of Dross and Deeper Poetry

Jun 18, 2015

There are so many weddings in June. The arrival of the long-expected day and the celebration of unity contains, in part, a kind of poetic enchantment that lingers like the small flames of tea lights on the banquet tables. I taste, if just for an evening, a sip of greater beauty. Then I drive home, change laundry, and decide to wait on the dishes sitting in the sink shabbily dressed with the grotesque remains of dried...

Jesus the Seeker

Jun 4, 2015

I was six years old. It was “fellowship time” at church after the morning service before Sunday school. The kids congregated out on the lawn with a somewhat flat and worn rubber ball for the weekly game of kickball. I was never particularly fond of games, but my older cousin was especially good at kickball and if she was playing I also wanted to participate. When it was my turn, I approached the home plate...

About Kayle Curley

Sanctifying Art: Dante’s Pilgrim on the Terrace of Pride

John of Damascus on Divine Images

Weighing Words: The Metaphor of Gravity

Practicing “Lively Hope”: Providence and Possibility in Dante’s Paradise

Concerns for a Vision-Driven Church

Obedience and Trust in Times of Transition

Practical Wisdom for the Modern Christian from a Crime-Solving Priest

Days of Dross and Deeper Poetry

Jesus the Seeker

Subscribe: The Two Cities Podcast

Facebook

Recent Comments

Search

Blog Categories

About Kayle Curley

Subscribe: The Two Cities Podcast

Facebook

Recent Comments

Search

Blog Categories

Tags