Virginia Church’s Harry Potter Vacation Bible School a Wow!
I spoke at the Church of the Holy Comforter (EC-USA) in Vienna, Virginia, last year where I met Leslie Barnhart, with whom I had been corresponding since she read How Harry Cast His Spell. Her big idea was a Vacation Bible School that turned on the Christian Content of the Hogwarts Saga. I knew that the Rev. Debbie Hough at Derry Presbyterian Church in Hershey, Pennsylvania, had tried to do much the same thing (with great success) but Mrs. Barnhart was talking about an entirely different scale and length of program. She let me see the curriculum for this five day event with 155 campers (!) when we met again at Leaky Con last month and I was astonished at the breadth and depth of what she had planned.
And it worked.
Please read below (after the jump) both her short overview and her detailed account of a VBS program I suspect parishes around the country will be running for years to come. Congratulations, Leslie, on a super job, conception to execution!
Guest Post: The Connection of Ring Composition and Literary Alchemy in the Layout of the Seven Book Harry Potter Series
The Granger family has almost settled its home into a new house (new to us; it’s a bungalow closer to 100, I’m guessing, than 75 years old) in Oklahoma City. I’ve started a new job — reading Kidnapped and learning Latin fundamentals with nine young friends — and have hopes of one day returning to writing here more than once a month. Right now, still spinning in the learning curve and re-location maelstrom, those seem to be vain hopes, but we’ll see what God and my commitments here allow. Building and putting up a yurt is pretty time intensive, I’m learning.
Fortunately, I have an email inbox full of Guest Posts that serious readers from around fandom have been sending me, all of which are better than anything I might be writing in the distracted state I am in. I will be sharing these over the next two weeks for your comment and consideration.
The first is from William Sprague and touches on two subjects close to HogPro All-Pro hearts, namely, Ring Composition and Literary Alchemy. Mr. Sprague makes the argument that the front and back of the series ring is a set of parallel analogies with the front being a reverse alchemical process (i.e., rubedo, albedo, nigredo) to match the return trip’s proper order. I confess to being intrigued by the idea — and delighted by his exposition. I trust you will be as well. Take it away, Mr. Sprague!
What do they teach them in these schools? College courses in Harry Potter and Reading Selections we Actually Enjoy
Last week, I worked late registration at my college, helping students as they tried to get everything sorted out for their semester. Although I think our classes are plenty fun, some of the larger institutions obviously are way ahead of the game with classes that, at least in title, connect to Harry Potter. Even in non-Harry-themed courses in colleges, universities, high schools, junior high, and elementary schools across the country, students this fall will be reading some of the books we discuss here. In my own Expository Writing classes, my students will be reading The Hunger Games, which I began implementing a year ago. Join me after the jump to see a list of Fifteen Fascinating College Course for the Ultimate Potter Scholar (as posted on the Best Colleges Online website) and for some conversation about the books teachers are assigning this fall. [Read more…]
New Essay Collection Examines Religious Experience in Tolkien’s Work
Light Beyond All Shadow: Religious Experience in Tolkien’s Work Fairleigh
Dickinson University Press, 2011)is a new collection, edited by Paul E. Kerry and Sandra Miesel, friend of this blog, and looks at the ways in which Tolkien depicts religious experience throughout his work. This exciting new book has work from contributors hailing from Romania, Poland, Germany, and the United Kingdom as well as the United States and promises to be quite interesting. For more details and the table of contents, follow me after the jump! [Read more…]
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