Sterling College

Why I do what I do

According to Genesis, God spoke the world into being. According to the Gospel of John, Christ is the Word made flesh. I conclude from these texts that language is foundational to our Christian belief. Because I am a Christian who proclaims Jesus as Lord, Christ lives and works through everything I do, including reading, teaching, and writing. While I don't begin every class with prayer, a devotion, or a scripture reading, I believe that what we do, what we say, and what we write in class naturally reflect our Christian faith. Our faith cannot be anything but integrated into our study of words. Some of the work we read, discuss, and write about will seem to many to be "non-Christian," but I believe we can still study such works to gain valuable insight into human nature and culture and to grow in our faith and vision for our community, the church, and the world.

Publications

“The Word and the Flesh in A Place to Come To: The Postmodern Exile and Alienation from Community.” Studies in the Literary Imagination: Southern Fiction and Poetry. Consulting Editor, Ernest Suarez. Spring 2002 (35:1): 87-103.

“David Henry Hwang.” Dictionary of Literary Biography: Volume 228: Twentieth-Century American Dramatists. Second Series. Ed. Christopher Wheatley. (Fall 2000): 128-143.

“Networked Computers and Community Building in the Composition Classroom: The Students Speak Out.” With Beth Hewett. CEAMAGazine. 8 (Fall 1995): 15-25.

Conference Presentations

“The Liminality of Doubt: Robert Penn Warren and Faith in Rumor Verified: Poems 1979-1980.” Carried to the Heart: Faith and Doubt in Contemporary Southern Art and Literature -- The Seventh Annual Image Conference. November 13, 1999. Millsaps College, Jackson, MS.

“‘Nobody never claimed it’: Heroism in Cormac McCarthy’s The Orchard Keeper.” Cormac McCarthy: Shaking the Masculine Soul (Roundtable). Northeast Modern Language Association Annual Conference. April 17, 1999. Pittsburgh, PA.

“Fugal Patterns in The Cave: Individual Voices and Community Identity.” Robert Penn Warren Circle Meeting. April 25, 1998. Austin Peay State University, Clarksville,TN.

“Band of Angels and the Antagonistic Community: The Plantation and Racial Identity.” Robert Penn Warren Circle Meeting. April 26, 1997. Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY.

“War and Katherine Anne Porter: A Re-reading of “Pale Horse, Pale Fire.”” College English Association -- Mid-Atlantic Group Spring Conference. April 6, 1996. Howard University, Washington DC.

Personal Link *Does not neccesarily reflect an official "Sterling College" page.