Monthly Archives: July 2014

The Tangled Path Before Us: A Review of Matthew Dickerson’s “The Rood and the Torc”

Posted on July 30, 2014 by Brenton Dickieson

When I walk into a bookstore and scan the historical fiction section, I am inevitably met with dozens of book jackets featuring Amish women in bent grass landscapes or mysterious looking Elizabethan courtiers ready to be betrayed (or to do … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged Beowulf, C.S. Lewis, Frederick Buechner, Inklings, J.R.R. Tolkien, literature, Matthew Dickerson, medieval, Old English, The Mind and the Machine, The Rood and the Torc, theology, Theology of Culture, vocation | 7 Comments

Till We Have Confusing Book Titles: Guest Post by William O’Flaherty

Posted on July 28, 2014 by Brenton Dickieson

William O’Flaherty is like a digital C.S. Lewis handshake. He is a technological rainmaker, drawing together Lewis resources through his various posts, blogs, podcasts, interviews, and news items at Essential C.S. Lewis, a feature site of the Middle Earth Network. … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections | Tagged C.S. Lewis, God in the Dock, Mere Christianity, Miracles, publishing, That Hideous Strength, Walter Hooper, Weight of Glory, William O'Flaherty, writing | 17 Comments

The Sea a Sham Born of Uniformity: On Subverting the Normal with Gene Wolfe (#WritingWednesdays)

Posted on July 23, 2014 by Brenton Dickieson

Classic SciFi authors will cringe when I admit this, but I am reading Gene Wolfe for the first time. It just hasn’t come across my path until I found a dozen Ursula K. LeGuin and Gene Wolfe books at a … Continue reading →

Posted in Fictional Worlds, On Writing | Tagged books, fantasy, Gene Wolfe, literature, myth, Science Fiction, The Shadow of The Torturer, ursula le guin, writing, Writing Wednesdays | 10 Comments

The Sorrows of Young Goethe

Posted on July 21, 2014 by Brenton Dickieson

Let me tell you a story. In the summer of 1772, 245 years ago, a young Johann Wolfgang von Goethe took a position articling in Wetzlar, Germany. He wasn’t a very good lawyer, however, and spent most of his time … Continue reading →

Posted in Thoughtful Essays | Tagged canon, epistolary fiction, European Literature, Faust, German Literature, Goethe, love, Napoleon, Reading, Romance, Romanticism, suicide, the Romantic Movement, The Sorrows of Young Werther, Werther Fever, writing | 2 Comments

“The Myth of Empty Space” by Dallas Willard

Posted on July 21, 2014 by Brenton Dickieson

I was at my extended family’s house yesterday and saw Dallas Willard’s The Divine Conspiracy on a side table. It is a bookish home, and I’m a bookish person, so I’m often flipping over books and picking up where people … Continue reading →