An Unexpected Journal: Saints and Sanctuaries: Celebrating the Living Witness of People and Places of the Christian Faith
About this ebook
Saints and sanctuaries are critical parts of the Christian experience. We learn from those who have gone before or walk alongside us. When the mission becomes exhausting, we search for havens where we can recover and find the encouragement we need to continue. This issue seeks to celebrate the Christian journey; it considers many people who have traveled in ways we can learn from and the places that supported them as they carried on.
Contributors
"Prelude"" Sharon Jones on a Moment of Brightness
"Saints, Suffering, and Sanctuaries from Around the World: Japan, Korea, and China"" Seth Myers on Christian Heroes in Asia
"Cathedral Cosmos: A Glance Heavenward into the Medieval Model": Jason Monroe on Avoiding Chronological Snobbery
"From Jokers to Fools: The Fire of Notre Dame as a Call to Holiness": Megan Joy Rials on Modernity, Architecture, and Hope
"Mission San José y San Miguel de Aguayo": Donald Catchings on Experiencing Sanctuary
"The Holy Dead: Saints as Sanctuaries": Joe Ricke on Physicality and Spirituality
"Sestina for Miracle-Seekers" Mary Lou Cornish on Overcoming False Piety
"Shelter in the Vine: An Unexpected Sanctuary": Charlotte Thomason on a Spiritual Haven
"Sanctuaries for the Suffering: Trauma and Imagination in Apologetics": Jesse Childress on Psychological Elements That Influence Worldviews
"Fire and Water: Three Kwansabas": Theresa Pihl on Memories of Ugandan Martyrs
"Adventure & Faith: Lessons from the Life of St. Brendan the Navigator and Bilbo Baggins": Ted Wright on Voyages and Ventures
"Rest and Reemergence: Rivendell As a Sanctuary": Zak Schmoll on Healing and Pressing on
"Unforsaken: Fantasy, Providence, and the Silence of God": Clayton R. Conder on Finding Clarity through the Strange
"Ode to Francis": John Tuttle on a Saint to Study
"But It’s Not Fair": Annie Nardone on Lessons from Boethius
"The Offering of St. Ignatius": Annie Crawford on Enduring Pain for God’s Glory
"The Kingdom of Kings and Queens: A Parable": Jesse Baker on a Transformational Encounter
"The Voyage of the Titan": Zak Schmoll on Wanting Something Better
Cover Art
Our cover illustration was created by Chilean artist, apologist, and physician Virginia de la Lastra. The stained glass panel illustrates the beginning of the Great Struggle with the Fall and the saints which led the charge when the tide began to turn in the Great Reversal: Joseph, Mary, and John the Baptist.
Spring 2022
Volume 5, Issue 1
270 pages
About the author
Zachary D. Schmoll earned his Ph.D. in Humanities at Faulkner University and his M.A. in Apologetics from Houston Baptist University. He serves as the Managing Editor of An Unexpected Journal, a quarterly publication of cultural and imaginative apologetics. His academic work has been published in Christianity & Literature, Mythlore, Cistercian Studies Quarterly, the Journal of Faith and the Academy, and Fourth World Journal. His essays have also been featured at Public Discourse, Front Porch Republic, and The Federalist.
Jesse Childress has a deep appreciation for good food, philosophy, theology, and literature. Jesse has an MA in cultural Apologetics from Houston Baptist University. He writes for Summit Ministries’ worldview blog Reflect, and has spent a term studying at Francis Schaeffer’s L’Abri Fellowship in Switzerland.
Clayton R. Conder is currently working towards his Master of Arts in Cultural Apologetics at Houston Baptist University. He earned his Master of Letters in Medieval Studies from the University of St. Andrews and works as an Adjunct Professor of History at his undergraduate alma mater, Thomas More University. Alongside teaching, he moonlights as a server/bartender, and spends much of his free time writing fiction.
Mary Lou Cornish is a retired journalist and teacher of journalism who writes a bit of poetry now and then. She is currently two-thirds of the way through the Master of Arts in Apologetics program at the Houston Baptist University
Sharon Jones lives in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, and lectures at Stranmillis University College, Belfast. She studied Modern and Medieval Languages at the University of Cambridge, and later wrote her doctoral thesis on Spanish literature and theology. Sharon enjoys music and is a member of New Irish Arts https://www.newirisharts.
Theresa Pihl holds a BA and MA in history, teaches at Blue Mountain Community College, farms with her husband and homeschools their children in rural eastern Oregon. She is a member of the Word on Fire Institute and Our Lady of Angels Parish.
Joe Ricke is a scholar, poet, actor, songwriter, and organizer. He was formerly Professor of English and Director of the Center for the Study of C.S. Lewis & Friends at Taylor University. He has edited three books of Inkling-related material, published chapters and articles on Shakespeare, early drama, Tolkien, Lewis, Academic Freedom, and other topics. His poems have appeared in numerous journals and in the book New Crops from Old Fields: Eight Medievalist Poets. He is the founder and director of the Inkling Folk Fellowship which has met (almost) every Friday at 4 p.m. via Zoom since the pandemic began. He is a member of Our Lady of Guadalupe parish in Seguin, Texas, serving in the church’s food bank ministry.
John Tuttle is a Catholic author, journalist, and creative. Together with his brother Joseph, he co-edited and co-authored the book Tolkien & Faith: Essays on Christian Truth in Middle-Earth (2021) from Voyage Comics & Publishing. His writing has been published by The Hill, Tablet Magazine, Franciscan Media, Catholic World Report, The Christian Post, University Bookman, and others.
Ted is independent scholar, writer, and founder of EpicArchaeology.org. For over a decade, Ted has been a speaker on Christian apologetics as well as Biblical Archaeology across North America & internationally. In addition to public speaking, Ted was the former Executive and Teaching Director of CrossExamined.org. Ted has also appeared on numerous television and radio programs including the History Channel’s TV miniseries – “Mankind: The Story of All of Us,” as well as CNN’s documentary on the historical resurrection of Jesus, “Jesus: Faith. Fact. Forgery.” Ted has also served as adjunct professor of apologetics at Southern Evangelical Seminary as well as Charlotte Christian College and Theological Seminary, where he has taught for over a decade.
Jesse W. Baker is a United Methodist pastor in North Carolina. He holds a Master of Divinity from Duke Divinity School and is (much too slowly) taking classes at Houston Baptist University, pursuing a Master of Arts in Apologetics (cultural track). Traveling with family, reading C.S. Lewis, preaching, and teaching are among his greatest joys in life.
Donald W. Catchings, Jr. is co-founder of publishing company, Inkwell and Pen, LLC. Also, Donald holds a Master of Arts in Apologetics from Houston Baptist University. Donald regularly contributes to “An Unexpected Journal” and has numerous published works, including Joy Through a Wardrobe — a poetic companion to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
Annie Crawford is a cultural apologist, classical educator, and homeschooling mom who helped to launch An Unexpected Journal in 2017. With a Masters of Arts in Cultural Apologetics from Houston Baptist University, Annie teaches apologetics and humanities courses for Manna Classical Academy and Wilson Hill Academy and is co-founder of The Society for Women of Letters where she serves as Senior Fellow.
Jason holds a B.A. from York College in York, NE, where he studied English and Psychology. He also has his M.A. in Christian Apologetics from Houston Baptist University. Jason's hometown is Rapid City, SD, in the beautiful Black Hills. He works as the Liturgy and Music Director at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church and his primary research interests are Inklings Studies, Philosophy of Science, and Catholic Theology. Some of his favorite activities are cantoring, drumming, teaching RCIA, and hiking.
Seth Myers completed his MA in Cultural Apologetics from Houston Baptist University in 2017. As a power systems engineer, he has been involved with transformer diagnostics and rural electrification projects by partnering with NGOs in West Africa. A volunteer with international students through local churches, he enjoys conversations with friends from all cultures. He considers himself rich in friendships across time and space, including but not limited to C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Bede the Venerable, Augustine, Ravi Zacharias & friends, and many student friends (chess-playing when possible, but not required) typically from throughout Asia. He has recently begun taking online courses in Faulkner University’s Doctor of Humanities program.
Annie Nardone is a two-year C.S. Lewis Institute Fellow who is currently reading for her Master of Arts in Apologetics, Cultural Apologetics Emphasis, from Houston Baptist University. Annie researched, photographed, and wrote an historically accurate cookbook covering the time between A.D. 64 through the medieval age for Bright Ideas Press. She contributes and edits for the apologetics magazine An Unexpected Journal at www.anunexpectedjournal.com (also available through Amazon). Her sonnets and stories have appeared on www.literarylife.org, Literary Life Book Club on Facebook, and www.ThePerennialGen.com. Her sincere belief is in the significance and reintegration of the arts and humanities with theology and the Christian imagination. Annie’s current project, entitled Reclaiming Beauty, is a leader-directed art appreciation program intended for older teens and adults who want to develop their spirituality by training their eyes and minds to see beauty and holiness in everyday life. Annie resides in Florida with her Middle Earth/Narnia/Hogwarts-loving family, piles of books, and a large assemblage of cats who read with her daily, but don't give a tick about her ramblings regarding any of it. She can be contacted at: the.annie.nardone@gmail.com.
Megan Joy Rials holds her Juris Doctor and Graduate Diploma in Comparative Law from the Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center and works as a research attorney in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She is currently working toward an online Master of Arts in Apologetics (cultural track) from Houston Baptist University. Her work has previously been published in An Unexpected Journal and the Louisiana Law Review, where she served as Production Editor for Volume 77. She attends Jefferson Baptist Church with her family, and her main apologetics interests lie in the imago Dei, storytelling of all mediums, fantasy literature, the apologetic power of language, the theology of suffering, the function of memory in spiritual formation, and the work of the Inklings, particularly C. S. Lewis and Dorothy Sayers.
With a Master of Science in Social Work, a Master of Arts in Cultural Apologetics, over 30 years of experience in social work, and as a survivor of childhood trauma, Charlotte Thomason has seen, both professionally and personally, the devastation created by child abuse. She wants to use her experience to bring hope to those who feel lost and hopeless due to childhood trauma and bring encouragement to those who help them. Charlotte is retired and resides in a small community near Houston, TX where she enjoys writing, drawing, and spending time with her family who live near-by.
