Last week with Written on Their Hearts: Writing, Worship, and Spiritual Formation in the Life of the Mind, Dr. Royce Francis began a new series on writing with a new format for the ESN blog, i.e., Masterclass. Like a Masterclass in music or performance, it provides the opportunity to learn skills from an expert, as well as exercises designed by that expert to help you deepen those skills in your own academic life. In this series, which will run for the length of the spring semester, he will weave together theological … [Read more...] about Writing Starts With Reading (Masterclass in Writing, Part 2)
reading
Book Review: Reading for the Common Good, by C. Christopher Smith
Reading for the Common Good: How Books Help Our Churches and Neighborhoods Flourish, C. Christopher Smith. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2016. Summary: Explores how the communal practice of reading in congregations fosters a learning community and shared social imagination the results in clearer congregational identity, sense of mission in one's setting, and wider engagement with the environment, economics, and political order. … [Read more...] about Book Review: Reading for the Common Good, by C. Christopher Smith
Journalism Notes: Spiritual Growth Through Reading and Writing News
One of the biggest challenges I face as a journalism professor is just getting students to read the news. Even those majoring in journalism often spend little time staying abreast of current events. … [Read more...] about Journalism Notes: Spiritual Growth Through Reading and Writing News
Book Review: The Edge of the Precipice
The Edge of the Precipice: Why Read Literature in the Digital Age? By Paul Socken My rating: 4 of 5 stars What will become of reading? In particular, what will become of reading and engaging what have been considered the great works of literature from various cultures (no canon arguments here!)? With the advent of digital media with writing that comes to us in blog posts, tweets, and laced with visual content, what will happen to sitting down to read a long work like Don Quixote or War and Peace? With the … [Read more...] about Book Review: The Edge of the Precipice
Book Review: Why Read?
Why Read? by Mark Edmundson Bloomsbury USA, originally published in 2004 My rating: 3 of 5 stars English departments are under attack in higher education. To be precise, courses that involve reading literature are under attack. Some people still prize being able to express oneself well in writing – maybe what we'll have down the road is simply “Writing Departments.” Not if Mark Edmundson has his way. Why Read? is an extended essay on the value of reading, an expansion of a widely circulated Harpers … [Read more...] about Book Review: Why Read?