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A Tear for Bois Sauvage: A Review of Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
It’s not often that the ending of a book makes me moist-eyed. And I can’t ever recall when the acknowledgements did that. But there it was in the final sentences on page 289 of Sing, Unburied, Sing, the 2017 National Book Award-winning novel by Jesmyn Ward: “In closing, I’d like to thank everyone in my… →
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Security in An Age of Gun Violence
The recent shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas got our attention because of its grisly violence and its location – a church in the midst of Sunday worship. It was a church like many of ours on the Eastern Shore. A video of the church’s service the week before the shooting made the rounds on the… →
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The Consolations of the Curveball – A Review of Off Speed
The season is over. The World Series is receding to a mischievous gleam in Jose Altuve’s eyes. Carlos Correa proposed to his girlfriend on the field as the confetti was still falling. Verlander married Kate Upton. It’s time to wish them well and sit by the hot stove and set baseball aside until pitchers… →
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How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Learned to Love the Reformation(s)
For many years, I taught Reformation history as part of the Course of Study School at Perkins School of Theology in Dallas. I didn’t want the course. My interests were medieval and contemporary, not the stodgy theological arguments of Luther and Calvin. But there was a year when the regular faculty member couldn’t teach it. … →
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This Verbal Tic is Driving Us Crazy, Right?
There are a couple of verbal tics that are reaching peak annoyance right now. At the low end of the scale, (which runs from “What did he say?” to “Nails-on-a-chalkboard”), is the dulling of the simple preposition ‘to.’ In spoken English the word is gradually losing its “ooo” vowel sound and being replaced with the… →
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The Myth of the Cosmic Skybox
It has finally happened. I seriously had the thought that I would not attend an event just because I knew that, two days later, I would receive the dreaded email evaluation. “It will only take 5-10 minutes of your time,” the email will say. Great. I’ll get to it right after the questionnaires related to… →
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A God’s-Eye View: The Heartlands Interview with Katherine James, 3 of 3
A town named Trinity is bound to have some things to say about God. In this final segment of my interview with debut novelist Katherine James, (whose book, Can You See Anything Now?, was published in October), we dig into the the book and find a Christian vision. For previous segments, click here. One of the… →
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Free to Use Dangling Participles: The Heartlands Interview with Katherine James, 2 of 3
Let’s not put Katherine James’s debut novel, Can You See Anything Now?, (recently reviewed here on Heartlands), into a box called Christian fiction. She is a Christian and there are strong Christian themes in the book, but this is not an Amish romance. James tackles difficult themes like suicide, cutting, and substance abuse with vivid,… →
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Writing and Painting Through Pain: The Heartlands Interview with Katherine James, 1 of 3
How can we see the world in new ways? In her debut novel, Can You See Anything Now?, (recently reviewed here on Heartlands), Katherine James uses her background in painting and the difficult passages in her life to weave a story of a healing town named Trinity and the people who live in it. It’s… →
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Shhh! Do You Taste This in Prayer?
I understand the desire to lift up our neighbors in their difficulties in prayer. In fact, it’s what we’re told to do. Paul tells the Philippian church to do just this at the close of his letter: ”Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be… →
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