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The Gospel in Literature Class
Lent 2018
Cormac McCarthy with Drew Rollins
February 18, 2018
Drew Rollins introduces this series with musings on why narrative is more powerful than exhortation. He will offer several passages from Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men. Starting with a drug deal gone awry in the Texas back country, McCarthy takes his brave reader on a disturbing exploration of violence, death, and evil. Is there any hope against such forces? “Good Lord, deliver us!”
Bob Dylan with Bob Jacobsen
February 25, 2018
Bob Jacobsen on Bob Dylan’s Albums from 1963 to 1975. Through more than a dozen collections, the modern-day psalmist—recognized in 2016 with the Nobel Prize for Literature—shared his own maturing struggle with the warning that “he not busy being born is busy dying.” Bob will lead a discussion about Dylan’s acute and often surrealistic exploration of the God-shaped hole. A song list will be posted on the St. Alban’s Chapel web page.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1xrV4uywoSRS1WRYB2NpGhbE0vtOTLP2-
Alice Walker with Andrea Bodron
March 4, 2018
Andrea Bodron on Alice Walker’s short story Everyday Use. Have you ever witnessed a “tiff” over a family heirloom? Have you ever been jealous because a sibling seemed to receive more attention? Or maybe you do wonder what happened to Aunt Matilda’s “Royal Doulton with the hand-painted periwinkles.” We will explore the relationship of two sisters to see if we find a small glimpse of ourselves in her characters and narrative.
Children's Literature with Jessica Stroope
March 11, 2018
Jessica Stroope on the Gospel in children’s literature. Christ exhorts us to enter the kingdom as little children. Children's Literature is a good a place to practice this as any. In Katherine Applegate's The One and Only Ivan, we see those around us for who they are and struggle to become what we were made to be. As we ride to the Last Stop on Market Street (by Matt de la Peña), we become better witnesses of what is beautiful.
Kazuo Ishiguro with Jeanie Rollins
March 18, 2018
Jeanie Rollins on Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day. Searing loneliness gnaws away at millions of us. Kazuo Ishiguro’s butler in The Remains of the Day has buried himself in his meticulously cultivated professional identify. Like the butler, we can go to great lengths to avoid the truth, and at great cost. What does Ishiguro’s novel have to tell us about living with the wounds of past and present?
Graham Greene with Andy King
March 25, 2018
Andy King concludes our series with Graham Greene's novel A Burnt-Out Case, the story of a celebrated Christian architect who loses his faith and his ability to create churches in Europe. He flees to an African leper colony to find solace but the greater his isolation the more others suspect his simple escape is a high call to serve the wretched.