I am pleased to say that my newest article has just appeared in the latest issue of Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal—the only academic journal devoted exclusively to the life and work of C. S. Lewis. My article is on C. S. Lewis’ (arguably) greatest work of fiction, Till We Have Faces, and looks at the potential influence of the biblical book of Esther on the novel. Below is the title and the abstract...
I love discovering a new author that captures my intellect and imagination at the same time. Lars Walker’s book, “The Year of the Warrior,” did that for me. The book is brutal, real, historically rich, occassionally laugh-out-loud funny, and at times so painfully dark it reads like a head to head battle with the authentic problem of evil as posed by many moderns. How can a good God allow so much suffering and horror in...
Preface and Part 1 can be found here. II. “The guy you all are doing this party for is a writer.” Freddie opened the door of the stairwell of the apartment building for me. “Sterling Johnson’s his name. He’s set to have a novel come out this spring.” We entered the hallway from the stairwell. It was dark and narrow. Freddie walked in front of me. “Till then, he needs us to help make...
“We are the people who leap in the dark, we are the people on the knees of the gods. In our very flesh, (r)evolution works out the clash of cultures. It makes us crazy constantly, but if the center holds, we’ve made some kind of evolutionary step forward.” ...
Major Spoilers Ahead. Do not read if you haven’t watched the Season 3 Finale. I have written before about my love for television watching, which is mostly due to the profession I have chosen. Currently I am working with patients who experience a traumatic physical event (car accident, fall, gun shot wound, etc.) from beginning to end. Unfortunately, a good portion of these patient’s do not survive, and often I am faced with the challenge...
Sound hermeneutics requires an understanding of how communication works. The Bible, after all, is God’s authoritative communication to us. There are three components of communication: words, genre, and message. “Words” refers to what we say; “genre” to the way we say it; and “message” to the reason for saying it.[1] When we decide to communicate, we first determine the point we want to make (message), then the way we want to say it (genre), and...
This Thursday and Friday (May 17 and 18) the School of English at the University of St Andrews will be hosting an international conference on Harry Potter called, “A Brand of Fictional Magic: Reading Harry Potter as Literature.” Today I am leaving Las Vegas to return to Scotland for this event. I’ve been excited for this conference since before I was even accepted to study at St Andrews. Initially I just thought I’d attend, but...
In light of Nathaniel Warne’s recent post on Harry Potter, I thought I’d supplement his excellent post with additional issues related to Harry Potter’s much needed vindication among conservative Christians. Growing up everyone told me that Harry Potter was evil so I never read the books. Although to be honest, even if people had told me that they were amazing I probably wouldn’t have read them either since I didn’t care for reading until my...
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