Volume 5

 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

Greedy, wicked, vengeful, powerful. Dragons occupy a powerful position in cultural imaginations across the world and across the years. From C.S. Lewis's boy who almost deserved to be named Eustace Clarence Scrubb to the Hydra of Greek mythology, these creatures 

Contributors:

"Dragonish Thoughts in Our Hearts: Dragons as Mirrors of the Human": Junius Johnson on Our Internal Tension

"Desolation": Donald Catchings on Joining the Fight and "Violence of Fire," a short story on a coming conflict.

Excerpt from The Chaos Spiral: Adam Brackin on Dragons in the Bible

"Wangerin and Wyrm": Christine Norvell on a Great and Cosmic Evil

"A Tale of Two Dragons: Reflections on Corruption, Conviction, Grace, and Sacrament": Melissa Cain Travis on a Restoration of Humanity

"The Cardinal": Jacqueline Wilson with a poem on a Loss of Humanity

"Grathugar": George Scondras with a short story on a Glory-Seeking Knight

"St George and the Dragon: Inspiration and Identity": W.H.G. Kingston on the Heroic Knight

"Lewis’s Dragons and Materialism: A Reflection on Eustace Scrubb and Other Dragons": Clark Weidner on the Need for Imagination

"Hercules and the Hydra": Alex Markos on a Christian Retelling

"Dragons, Snakes and Demons: A Medieval and Biblical Bestiary for Modern Minds": Ted W. Wright on Dragons of History.

"Job and His Dragon": Carla Alvarez on the Problem of Evil

"The Forbidden Fountain": A short story by Azalea Dabill on a Dragon’s Poison 

"Nella Sua Voluntade": Elizabeth Martin on Challenging Dragonish Archetypes 

"Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Buried Giant: The Dragon of False Memory": Tracey Leary on Reconciliation 

An Excerpt from Dragonslayer: Beginnings: Carey Green on Courage

"The Dragon’s Demise: Experiencing Apocalypse": Jesse W. Baker on the Relevance of Revelation

.Cover Art

Our cover illustration was created by Chilean artist, apologist, and physician Virginia de la Lastra. 

Summer 2022

Volume 5, Issue 2

2r0 pages

In a world chasing happiness, how does one find true joy? In a faith that promises joy as one of its benefits (Galatians 5:22), Christians should have the market cornered on joy, but do we? What is the original meaning of joy and what is the use of it? In this issue, contributors share examples of joy, some hard-won and at the end of a trial. We hope these pieces will help you find the definition of joy in your own life. 

Contributors

“Review of What is Heaven Like? By Richard Eng”: Jasmin Biggs on the theological truths found in a children’s book.

“Again I Say: An Excerpt From In Their Mother's Arms”: a novel excerpt by Donald W. Catchings, Jr. on a post-apocalyptic dystopia. 

“Joy and the Mind of the Reader”: Annie Crawford on why we should read.

“Meticulous Mycologist: How Beatrix Potter Inspired C.S. Lewis”: Carrie Eben on joy in Beatrix Potter. 

Poems “Broken Blessings” and “Jubilee”: Joshua S. Fullman on God’s gifts.

Poems “Home at Last” and “Song of Songs”: Ann Gauger on longing and love.

“Joy - Brief”: Soujourna Howard on joy through pain.

“The Shoes”: a short story by Kim Jacobson on finding spiritual joy.

“Joy, Hedonism, and Scientific Utopia”: Jason Monroe on a truly good life.

“Joy as Life’s Fuel”: Seth Myers the pursuit of joy.

“Joy in the Mystery”: Annie Nardone on joy and donegality.

“Review: Mere Evangelism”: Josiah Peterson on a new work on C.S. Lewis. 

“The Crown Because of the Cross: The Inseparability of Suffering and Joy in the Thought of C.S. Lewis”: Megan Joy Rials on suffering and joy and “A Review of A Green and Ancient Light by Frederic S. Durbin” on a worthy successor to C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien.

 “Gratitude and the Happiness Machine”: Zak Schmoll on the root of joy.

“Father Stu: A Story of Faith and Flaws, of Dreams and Determination”: John P. Tuttle on an authentic biopic.

Poems “Joy's Arrival” and “Hidden in the Boughs”: Sarah Waters on coming together. 

“Joy (And Truth and Love): Some Johannine and Pastoral Reflections”: Donald Williams on a Johannine look at joy.

Photography contributions by Tommy Darin Liskey

.Cover Art

Our cover illustration was created by Chilean artist, apologist, and physician Virginia de la Lastra. 

Fall 2022

Volume 5, Issue 3

240 pages

Reading Shakespeare through a Christian Lens

Not only huge English literature fans or apologetics aficionados will be delighted by this special Advent issue of An Unexpected Journal. The aim is to interest the scholar, yes, but also the general reader who has no special knowledge of English literature, Shakespeare, or apologetics.

The defense of the Christian faith believes that no domain of human experience. All areas, including the history of ideas political, philosophical, scientific, and social, are fair game for apologetic research and discussion.

All that we express in literature (especially the dramatic arts) deals with our experience, and experience is tied to the One who Makes, Redeems, and Sanctifies experience.

With features from guest editors:

Joe Ricke: "A Guide to Reading this Volume," "Introduction," "Against Pessimism: As You Like It (or Not)"

Sarah R.A. Waters: "Lewis, Lear, and The Four Loves"

As well as contributions from Shakespearean Scholars:

Jem Bloomfield: "Disclosures of Form"

John D. Cox: "Paradoxia Shakespeareana"

Jack Heller: "Dogberry’s Inscrutable Grace in Much Ado about Nothing"

Laura Higgins: "Shakespeare’s Hidden Ghosts"

Crystal Hurd: "Ophelia"

Corey Latta: "Hamlet’s Father" and "Othello"

Tony Lawton and Editors: "Shakespeare and Cultural Apologetics"

Tracy Manning and Editors: "An Interview with Tracy Manning"

Louis Markos: "Letters From Shakespeare: Love" and "Letters From Shakespeare: Fools"

D.S. Martin: "A Poem Emerging From An Epigraph Concerning Hamlet’s Indirection"

G. Connor Salter: "Adaptation and Cultural Apologetics"

John Stanifer: "Authorship: A Poetic Meditation"

Jennifer Woodruff Tait: "Scripture" and "Jaques Tells His Story"

Grace Tiffany: “Who is’t can read a woman?”

Gary L. Tandy: “O, I have ta’en too little care of this”

Including excerpts from the works of William Shakespeare:

"Sonnet 55"

"Cordelia To Lear"

"Isabella’s Speech (On Mercy)"

"Bottom’s Dream + Biblical Source"

"On Mercy and Prejudice"

"Sonnet 116"   

And commentary from classic authors:

"On Shakespeare" by George MacDonald

"On MacBeth" by G.K. Chesterton

Erasmus  On Fools

"On Shakespeare" by John Milton   

250 pages

Volume 5, Issue 4 (Advent 2022)