Author: Glen

Flannery O’Connor on writing Christian fiction

Take heed, all you budding novelists — Flannery O’Connor has shown the way! Read all about it in O’Connor v. the Antichrist.

A few quotes from O’Connor taken from the essay:

“If you live today you breathe in nihilism. In or out of the Church, it’s the gas you breathe. If I hadn’t had the Church to fight it with or to tell me the necessity of fighting it, I would be the stinkingest logical positivist you ever saw right now.”

In her most famous statement about her work, she explained that “to the hard of hearing you shout, and for the almost-blind you draw large and startling figures.”

“All my stories,” she wrote, “are about the action of grace on a character who is not very willing to support it.”

O’Connor once wrote that “more than ever now it seems that the kingdom of heaven has to be taken by violence, or not at all. You have to push as hard as the age that pushes against you.”

Check out the essay (or at least check out some of O’Connor’s books).

Happy New Year

Paula and I got back from our holiday travels yesterday. We’ve been busy little bees.

We visited San Diego with Brian and Cecilee Orme (they lead Chi Alpha in Salt Lake City) and had a blast! We were actually working (inspecting potential conference sites), but it was a lot of fun.

Then we got home, finished our Christmas shopping, and hopped on a plane to New Orleans Christmas Eve. We had a great time with our families (and they had a good time examining Paula’s pregnant belly), and then turned around and came home.

If you’ve emailed me in the last two weeks, rest assured that I’ll get back to you. I have a few hundred messages to plow through, so it may take a little while.

Happy New Year!

Artificial Cowardice

Tolkien fans might be interested in this news story about the complex simulation program that created the climactic battle scene in the Return of the King.

“For the first two years, the biggest problem we had was soldiers fleeing the field of battle,” Taylor said.

“We could not make their computers stupid enough to not run away.”

Now that’s artificial intelligence!

Christian Professors Help Out In Afghanistan

Rebuilding Afghanistan U is a fascinating story of how well-educated Christians can make a difference.

It talks about how the International Institute for Christian Studies sent professors to Afghanistan after the war against the Taliban to rebuild their higher-education infrastructure.

The group is very picky about its candidates’ credentials (a graduate degree is a must), experience, and Christian witness. Only one of 10 applicants gets accepted. When Communist countries ask CEO Daryl McCarthy for teachers, he says something like this:

“You want experienced, hard-working, ethical professionals? We’ll get them for you. In fact, IICS is so particular that we make sure that every one of them is a Christian.” Says McCarthy: “It’s fun to hear the foreign officials say, ‘Ah, yes, very good. That’s what we need.’ ”

The article is fascinating and well worth a read.

Dick Staub Interviews Mary Poplin

I just ran across a transcript of an interview with Mary Poplin.

Dr. Poplin is the Dean of the School of Educational Studies at Claremont Graduate University and she’s currently writing a book (title unknown) about integrating faith and academia. (see her faculty bio page)

You should really read the interview on Dick Staub’s website, but I’ve excerpted the most fascinating bits…
Continue reading “Dick Staub Interviews Mary Poplin”