Tag Archives: autoethnography

“A Sense of the Season”: C.S. Lewis’ Birthday Pivot and the Cambridge Inaugural Address (Updated 2022)

Posted on November 29, 2022 by Brenton Dickieson

In the autumn of 1954 at the age of 56, C.S. Lewis was at the height of his academic career. With a chance to speak to the academic community at Cambridge and the listening world on the BBC, Lewis used … Continue reading →

Posted in Lewis Biography, Original Research, Thoughtful Essays | Tagged Abigail Santamaria, anthropology, autoethnography, BBC Talks, C.S. Lewis, De Descriptione Temporum, English Literature in the Sixteenth Century, F.R. Leavis, I.A. Richards, J.R.R. Tolkien, Joy Davidman, literature, Mere Christianity, Narnia, OHEL, Reflections on the Psalms, Surprised by Joy, The Discarded Image, theology, WWI | 6 Comments

An Author Who Has Changed My Life, Frederick Buechner, Has Died (1926-2022)

Posted on August 17, 2022 by Brenton Dickieson

On Saturday, just as I was waiting to go onto a church platform to officiate a wedding, I heard that Frederick Buechner had passed away. At 96 years old, the news did not come as a surprise. And though he … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections, Reviews | Tagged Anne Lamott, Annie Dillard, autoethnography, Bebb, Frederick Buechner, Life Writing, Madeleine L'Engle, Marilynne Robinson, Memoir, Rachel Held Evans, research, spirituality, The Book of Bebb, The Remarkable Ordinary, The Sacred Journey | 9 Comments

“A Sense of the Season”: C.S. Lewis’ Birthday Pivot and the Cambridge Inaugural Address (Updated 2021)

Posted on November 29, 2021 by Brenton Dickieson

Posted in Lewis Biography, Original Research, Thoughtful Essays | Tagged anthropology, autoethnography, BBC Talks, C.S. Lewis, De Descriptione Temporum, English Literature in the Sixteenth Century, F.R. Leavis, I.A. Richards, J.R.R. Tolkien, literature, Mere Christianity, Narnia, OHEL, Reflections on the Psalms, Surprised by Joy, The Discarded Image, theology, WWI | 6 Comments

“The Personal Heresy” and C.S. Lewis’ Autoethnographic Instinct: An Invitation to Intimacy in Literature and Theology

Posted on June 3, 2021 by Brenton Dickieson

Canada’s annual Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences (Congress2021) is now winding down. I missed being live on the ground, stumbling with weary feet and droopy eyes from one brilliant intellectual session to another, discovering great local craft brewpubs … Continue reading →

Posted in Original Research | Tagged An Experiment in Criticism, Autobiography, autoethnography, C.S. Lewis, Congress2021, De Descriptione Temporum, Heather Walton, Literary Theory, new criticism, Surprised by Joy, The Personal Heresy, theology and literature | 9 Comments

“The Personal Heresy” and C.S. Lewis’ Autoethnographic Instinct: An Invitation to Intimacy in Literature and Theology (Congress2021 Paper)

Posted on May 28, 2021 by Brenton Dickieson

As I noted yesterday, this week is Canada’s annual Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, Congress2021. In the same morning, I am presenting twice, at two different societies–at the Canadian-American Theological Association with a paper on C.S. Lewis’ spiritual theology, … Continue reading →

“A Sense of the Season”: C.S. Lewis’ Birthday Pivot and the Cambridge Inaugural Address (Updated)

Posted on November 29, 2020 by Brenton Dickieson

In the autumn of 1954 at the age of 56, C.S. Lewis was at the height of his academic career. After nearly two decades of research and writing English Literature in the Sixteenth Century, Excluding Drama, this magnum opus intensified … Continue reading →

“A Sense of the Season”: C.S. Lewis’ Birthday Pivot and the Cambridge Inaugural Address

Posted on November 28, 2019 by Brenton Dickieson

The First Cut is the Deepest: Thoughts about Editing, the Morning After #writingwednesdays

Posted on April 10, 2019 by Brenton Dickieson

I have just come out of a marathon editing session. I am a fairly prolific writer. This is my 890th post on A Pilgrim in Narnia, which is conservatively around 500,000 words, perhaps as much as 750,000. When I am … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections | Tagged Atlas Shrugged, autoethnography, Ayn Rand, David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest, J.R.R. Tolkien, On Writing, Stephen King, The Lord of the Rings, The Stand, writing | 28 Comments

On Listening to Your Life in Frederick Buechner’s “The Sacred Journey”

Posted on October 3, 2017 by Brenton Dickieson

One of the series of books that I read every couple of years is Frederick Buechner’s set of four memoirs written over 20 years or so. It helps that I use three of these books in my teaching at Regent … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections | Tagged Anne Lamott, Annie Dillard, autoethnography, Bebb, Frederick Buechner, Life Writing, Madeleine L'Engle, Marilynne Robinson, Memoir, Rachel Held Evans, research, spirituality, The Sacred Journey | 13 Comments

New Approaches to Academic Writing: An Unusual Marking Note for a Good Student

Posted on December 8, 2016 by Brenton Dickieson

I am at that time of year when the marking pile on my desk is higher than my laptop screen. Like a fool, each year, I go into the marking expecting great things. So far, I have never had a … Continue reading →