BiblioFiles: A CenterForLit Podcast about Great Books, Great Ideas, and the Great Conversation

Darkness in children's literature is a pretty hot topic these days, and it concerns us greatly as parents and educators who wish to shield our students from inappropriate influences and protect their childhood and innocence. The complication is, however, that darkness can encompass everything from the profane to the slightest conflict, and we think a story without a conflict is not a true story at all. Where is the balance? How much evil, fear, or violence is too much? We won't give any pat answers because we believe this is a decision each family must make on its own, but in this episode the CenterForLit team sits down to talk through the important issues that must influence our decisions concerning what books we give to our children. 

Referenced Works:

–Macbeth by William Shakespeare

–The Lorax by Dr. Seuss

–Watership Down by Richard Adams

–"The Dog of Pompeii" by Louis Untermeyer

–Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

–Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

–Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo

–Orbiting Jupiter by Gary Schmidt

–"On Fairy Stories" by J.R.R. Tolkien

–Gary Schmidt BiblioFiles Episode: https://www.centerforlit.com/podcasts/2016/11/18/bibliofiles-episode-19-an-interview-with-author-gary-d-schmidt

–Many Waters by Madeleine D'Engle

We love hearing your questions and comments! You can contact us by emailing [email protected], or you can visit our website www.centerforlit.com to find even more ways to participate in the conversation. 

Who is God? What is He like if He exists? And if He is good and all-powerful, why does he allow evil in His creation? The great authors have been asking these questions, searching for purpose and order in the world, just as often as they have pondered the identity and nature of man. In the literary world, a work that takes up this search is called a "theodicy." Atheists as well as authors from all kinds of religious backgrounds have taken up this project, so in this episode we sit down and try to define the term as well as look through the various angles from which it has been approached.

Works Referenced: 

–The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

–Orbiting Jupiter by Gary Schmidt

–At the Back of the North Wind by George MacDonald

–The Heart of the Matter by Graham Green

–That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis

–Paradise Lost by John Milton

–Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry

–Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

–The Door in the Way by Marguerite de Angeli

–Moby Dick by Herman Melville

We love hearing your questions and comments! You can contact us by emailing [email protected], or you can visit our website www.centerforlit.com to find even more ways to participate in the conversation. 

After a wild travel season where we had the joy of meeting so many of our wonderful listeners...BiblioFiles is back! This time Adam and Ian sit down for a more intimate conversation about one of Ian's great passions, Anglo-Saxon literature. A request from one of our listeners, we bring the origins of English storytelling to the BiblioFiles table. What heritage does our language pass down to us? What traditions spring from our English literary roots? Buckle your seatbelts, the Andrews are back in town!

Referenced Works:

–Beowulf

Seamus Heaney translation

J.R.R. Tolkien translation

Frederick Rebsamen translation

–"The Dream of the Rood"

We love hearing your questions and comments! You can contact us by emailing [email protected], or you can visit our website www.centerforlit.com to find even more ways to participate in the conversation. 

This is a weighty topic. Not only is the Bible a major foundational text for the Western tradition, but for those who see it as the inspired Word of God, so much more is riding on understanding this text than on others. However, God chose to communicate to us through language, even telling us that his Son is the Logos or Word himself. Therefore there might be something to be gained by understanding the literary elements that the inspired authors used to communicate their message. We were asked to talk about this subject by a BiblioFiles listener, and we hope to begin a conversation that does it justice.

Referenced Works:

–Reflections on the Psalms by C.S. Lewis

–The Literary Study Bible edited by Leland Ryken

–The Book of Ruth, ESV translation

–The David Story, The Five Books of Moses, The Book of Psalms, The Book of Genesis, and The Wisdom Books: Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes ranslations with commentary by Robert Alter

We love hearing your questions and comments! You can contact us by emailing [email protected], or you can visit our website www.centerforlit.com to find even more ways to participate in the conversation.