The Mythos Of Gender In Till We Have Faces,
2026
George Fox University
The Mythos Of Gender In Till We Have Faces, Annie Crawford
Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal
"In Till We Have Faces, C. S. Lewis draws from the mythic imagery of Cupid and Psyche to offer a potent meditation on the symbolism of gender. Through the recurring imagery of mountain, temple, and womb, Lewis reinterprets classical archetypes within a Christian imagination to reveal gender not as a social construct or biological accident but as a spiritual polarity woven into the fabric of creation. In this symbolic cosmos, mas- culinity and femininity signify the dynamic interplay of divine initiative and creaturely receptivity—the eternal rhythm of giving and receiving that structures both nature and grace. Read in this light, …
C. S. Lewis, The Expert Communicator,
2026
George Fox University
C. S. Lewis, The Expert Communicator, Steven A. Beebe
Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal
"What evidence supports the claim that Lewis is an expert communicator? He remains a popular author, one of the most read authors of all time. He was a professional communicator; he earned his living communicating: teaching, writing, and speaking. And, as this essay has documented, he was a professor of communication. He made insightful observations about the role, nature, and function of communication throughout the corpus of his work. Although his planned book with J. R. R. Tolkien, “Language and Human Nature,” was never published, his initial ideas found in the draft of the partial opening chapter, coupled with a …
Screwtape In Wartime,
2026
George Fox University
Screwtape In Wartime, Joe Ricke
Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal
"This essay looks closely at the connections between Lewis’s wartime message to his listeners in his now famous, but then unlikely, sermon, “Learning in Wartime,” on 22 October 1939 and his wartime novel, The Screwtape Letters. It will range widely from biography to history to literary influences and to close reading of the texts to help reflect on its place not only in Lewis’s oeuvre but in his life and the lives of all those who, then and now, attend to the distinction between what Lewis (and, surprisingly, Screwtape) makes between the local wars of time and space and the …
Signifying Nothing? Narnia, Inanity, And A. L. Rowse,
2026
University of Oxford
Signifying Nothing? Narnia, Inanity, And A. L. Rowse, Michael Ward
Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal
"This essay explores the origins of the word Narnia, the name that Lewis gave to the fictional kingdom in which his seven Chronicles of Narnia are mostly set. How did he come by it? What, if anything, does the word mean?...I will be pursuing two lines of enquiry and two sets of intriguing connections that strike me as potentially illuminating. What follows is more of a theory for consideration than a hard-and-fast conclusion for acceptance. But though I write with a degree of tentativeness, I hope, nonetheless, to shed some light upon Lewis’s statements about his naming
of Narnia and …
"Expressing The Great Myths": Hugo Dyson And Shakespeare In C. S. Lewis's Conversion Narrative,
2026
George Fox University
"Expressing The Great Myths": Hugo Dyson And Shakespeare In C. S. Lewis's Conversion Narrative, Sarah R. A. Waters
Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal
"The conversations that took place on the night of 19 September 1931 in Addison’s Walk might, as David Downing has put it, “be considered the defining moment in Jack’s life.” And Lewis’s letters to Greeves are recognized to be a key source in this narrative, with Alister McGrath noting, for instance that these letters “explain the events of the night and their significance for his reflections on religious faith.” Often ignored in accounts of these conversations, however, is the importance of Dyson in the story, and often ignored in these letters are Lewis’s reflections on his current reading matter, including …
"Lewis Dodged": T. S. Eliot's Silence, C. S. Lewis's Critique (1931 - 1947),
2026
George Fox University
"Lewis Dodged": T. S. Eliot's Silence, C. S. Lewis's Critique (1931 - 1947), Hannah F. Roux
Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal
"Most agree that Lewis’s critique of Eliot’s work is important to his literary scholarship—whether they think that critique changes or not. There is no academic book of Lewis’s from the 1930s and 1940s in which he does not at some point engage with Eliot by name. The opposite question—whether Lewis’s work was important to Eliot—is comparatively neglected. This paper investigates this neglected question."
What Did Tolkien Really Think About Narnia?,
2026
George Fox University
What Did Tolkien Really Think About Narnia?, Holly Ordway
Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal
"We are presented with two questions: “what did Tolkien really think about Narnia?” and “how did the idea that Tolkien hated Narnia become accepted as common knowledge?” In this essay, I will address both questions and conclude by suggesting why they matter for Inklings scholarship. At the outset, I will merely observe that since Tolkien and Lewis are two of the greatest fantasy writers of the twentieth century, it is worth knowing what one of them thought of the other’s work. …I have drawn my primary evidence from Tolkien’s published Letters (in the Revised and Expanded Edition), unpublished letters, and …
Frontmatter (Volume 19 Issue 2),
2026
George Fox University
Frontmatter (Volume 19 Issue 2), Bruce R. Johnson
Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal
No abstract provided.
A More Perfect Union: An Examination Of The Film, Salt Of The Earth, And The American Labor Movement,
2026
Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School
A More Perfect Union: An Examination Of The Film, Salt Of The Earth, And The American Labor Movement, Amber Montgomery
Say Something Theological: The Student Journal of Theological Studies
This paper examines the film, Salt of the Earth, which is based on the actual events of the Mine-Mill strike that took place in Hanover, New Mexico, in 1949. The strike was organized by Mexican workers with the help of their wives. The fight was over workers’ rights, as well as their dignity. At the same time, another fight was taking place. The wives of these miners were also seeking equality within their marriages, serving as a parallel narrative to the strike. To understand the environment at this time, this paper will also analyze American politics during this period, …
Proxy End-Of-Life Decision-Making: Ethical, Religious And Existential Dimensions,
2026
Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School
Proxy End-Of-Life Decision-Making: Ethical, Religious And Existential Dimensions, Deborah Kaufman Giordano
Say Something Theological: The Student Journal of Theological Studies
End-of-life decision-making conducted by medical proxies on behalf of incapacitated loved ones presents profound theological, ethical, and existential challenges. In the qualitative study “Influence of Culture and Spiritual Tradition on Support for Families of Children Dying in Intensive Care Units” (Journal of Pediatric Nursing), Ju et al found that the most painful moment for parents and proxies was not the death itself, but the agonizing decision to withdraw life-sustaining treatment. As a hospital chaplain, I have witnessed these moments where faith, culture, and medical ethics collide. This paper argues that proxy decision-making cannot be understood solely through the lens of …
Ukrainian Theology, War, And Human Transformation: Reflections On The International Conference ‘Transfiguration: Tradition And Eschatology,
2026
Volyn Orthodox Theological Academy, Lutsk, Ukraine
Ukrainian Theology, War, And Human Transformation: Reflections On The International Conference ‘Transfiguration: Tradition And Eschatology, Vladyslav Fulmes
Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe
On June 11, 2026, the Volyn Orthodox Theological Academy (Lutsk, Ukraine) hosted the international theological conference “Transfiguration: Tradition and Eschatology”, bringing together scholars, clergy, philosophers, chaplains, psychologists, and researchers from several countries. This report examines the conference’s principal theological and interdisciplinary themes, including deification, eschatology, ecclesiology, ecological responsibility, pastoral care, military and medical chaplaincy, digital technologies, and the Church’s response to war and post-war reconstruction.
When Everything Falls Apart: On Core Values, Religion, And What Holds Societies Together,
2026
Study on Religions, University of Szeged
When Everything Falls Apart: On Core Values, Religion, And What Holds Societies Together, András Máté-Tóth
Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe
Right now my region, like much of the world, is living through upheavals that reach both nature and politics at their foundations. When I look around and take the political crises seriously — the mass protests in Serbia, the long erosion of checks and balances in Hungary, the bitter fight over the courts and the rule of law in Poland — one question keeps surfacing: are we witnessing genuinely fundamental change, or only a reshuffling on the surface of power? That question is exactly what makes the problem of core values so urgent, and so current.
Volume 9 (2026) Climate And Responsibility,
2026
James Madison University
Volume 9 (2026) Climate And Responsibility
International Journal on Responsibility
This issue focuses on the various ways responsibility affects environmental justice. Specifically, this volume urges us to think about how societal and individual (in)action influences ecological crises and what informs this behavior, with a specific focus on religious and Indigenous beliefs and values.
Whose Jesus? Which Christlikeness? On The Prospects Of Protestant Spiritual Formation,
2026
Calvin College
Whose Jesus? Which Christlikeness? On The Prospects Of Protestant Spiritual Formation, James K.A. Smith
University Faculty Publications and Creative Works
This article recounts the author’s path into the Protestant Spiritual Formation Movement (PSFM) as both a scholar and practitioner. The article then considers current challenges for Protestant Spiritual Formation, including environmental factors (political assimilation, pervasive distraction, and the couplet of anti-intellectualism and disinformation) and institutional challenges (the individualism of much of North American Protestantism and fragile educational networks). Given these contemporary challenges, the article proposes a strategic emphasis for the future of the PSFM: to articulate the criteria for Christian maturity (“Christlikeness”).
Earthly Alienization And Galactic Othering: How Star Wars Holistically Reimagines American History And Constructs A Pipeline To Christian-Imperial Humanitarianism,
2026
Yale Divinity School
Earthly Alienization And Galactic Othering: How Star Wars Holistically Reimagines American History And Constructs A Pipeline To Christian-Imperial Humanitarianism, Taylor Valci
Effervescence: Yale Divinity School's Student Journal of Religion
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, the future of religion looks remarkably familiar. This essay argues that Star Wars offers a holistic reimagining of American racial formation in a speculative interstellar setting, translating historical practices of othering and alienization into the galaxy’s social and religious order. Across the Skywalker Saga (1977–2019), the Jedi Order functions as a galactic priesthood whose moral universalism authorizes intervention, governance, and salvation across the cosmos. Drawing on American religious history, critical race theory, migration studies, humanitarianism, and imperial studies, I show how alien species, racialized language, colorblind representation, and sacred bloodlines …
Theologians, Political Influencers, Organizers, Founding Mothers, White Feminists: Evangelicalism Recast As Revolution, Through The Life Works Of Hannah More And Phyllis Schlafly,
2026
Yale Divinity School
Theologians, Political Influencers, Organizers, Founding Mothers, White Feminists: Evangelicalism Recast As Revolution, Through The Life Works Of Hannah More And Phyllis Schlafly, Taylor Valci
Effervescence: Yale Divinity School's Student Journal of Religion
Nearly two hundred years and an ocean apart, Hannah More and Phyllis Schlafly occupied the same impossible set of roles: theologians, political influencers, organizers, founding mothers, and white feminists. What they shared most deeply, however, was evangelicalism. This essay argues that their life works require evangelicalism to be recast not as a stable denominational throughline, but as a reactionary religious revolution: a recurring form of conservative Christian mobilization that emerges when national security and Christian order are perceived as threatened by secularization, women’s expanding public authority, revolution, or global disorder. Read comparatively, More and Schlafly reveal how evangelical women turned …
Strengthening The Holy Athlete: Lay Ascesis And Athletics In The Works Of John Chrysostom,
2026
Yale Divinity School and Institute of Sacred Music
Strengthening The Holy Athlete: Lay Ascesis And Athletics In The Works Of John Chrysostom, Stephanie R. Roston
Effervescence: Yale Divinity School's Student Journal of Religion
Contemporary fitness influencers often compel their audiences by appealing to the felt connection between physical and moral-spiritual conditioning, but this was also true for John Chrysostom and his attending congregations in late antiquity. Chrysostom believed that body and soul might be brought into healthy, transparent alignment through the cultivation of embodied training grounds for virtue, and he repeatedly utilized athletic imagery in his homilies and baptismal liturgy to emphasize that the cognitive attention necessary for such work is strengthened over time through repeated physical regimens such as fasting and vigils. Warning against hypocrisy, he looked to athletes and ascetics for …
Extraordinary Senses And Dreamscapes In Medieval Japanese Ōjōden Narratives: Reading Yoshishige No Yasutane’S Nihon Ōjōgokuraku-Ki,
2026
Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Extraordinary Senses And Dreamscapes In Medieval Japanese Ōjōden Narratives: Reading Yoshishige No Yasutane’S Nihon Ōjōgokuraku-Ki, Qingxuan Wang
Effervescence: Yale Divinity School's Student Journal of Religion
This paper examines the affective and multi-sensorial narratives in Yoshishige no Yasutane’s Nihon Ōjōgokuraku-ki, the foundational collection of medieval Japanese Pure Land Buddhist rebirth tales (ōjōden). Composed at the threshold of a dark age in which Buddhist salvation through ordinary practice was believed to be impossible, the collection spoke directly to a faith community haunted by worldly suffering and their own spiritual inadequacy. Engaging with sensory studies and narratology, this paper challenges the binary divide between doctrinal expositions and didactic narratives in the study of Buddhism. Rather than treating the Nihon Ōjōgokuraku-ki as secondary supplements to scholar-monks’ …
Past The Watchful Dragons: How C. S. Lewis’S Fiction Humanizes The Analytical Framework Of The Problem Of Pain,
2026
Liberty University
Past The Watchful Dragons: How C. S. Lewis’S Fiction Humanizes The Analytical Framework Of The Problem Of Pain, Charlotte L. Hambrick
Masters Theses
C. S. Lewis was one of the 20th century’s greatest Christian apologists. Writing across multiple genres—from academic literary criticism to lay sermons, and from philosophical and theological analysis to several kinds of fiction—his impact on Christian thought remains profound. This thesis analyzes Lewis’s approach to the intellectual problem of evil in The Problem of Pain and demonstrates how he makes those starkly cold, prickly concepts more warm, human, and relatable in several of his works of fiction. It will first consider Lewis’s personal history with death, abuse, war, and grief, showing how his lived experiences with pain shaped his thinking …
Co-Dominion: The Changing Nature Of The Adamic Covenant In An Age Of Artificial Intelligence,
2026
Liberty University
Co-Dominion: The Changing Nature Of The Adamic Covenant In An Age Of Artificial Intelligence, Corey Hastings
Masters Theses
Theologians and religious bodies attest to the rising influence of artificial intelligence (AI) in governments, the economy, and the lives of the people of God. Through the covenant with Adam, God gave humans the blessing of dominion and capabilities unique to creation to till the earth. Today, humans retain the image of God but AI increasingly displaces human functions with coordinated agency. Using Hebrew language exegesis of passages from Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus, this study compares capabilities gifted to humans with the scope of current and near future AI models. It incorporates direct artifact analysis of a large-language model as …
