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Literary Apologetics Course Descriptions
Jan 23rd
8 out of the 16 courses required for completion of the literary apologetics certificate are regular offerings by the apologetics academy. The other 8 courses are designed with literary apologetics in mind and are listed below. This list is subject to revision.
Required Courses:
Principles of Literary Apologetics
Suitable for both Christian writers and Christian apologists, this course delves deeper into 20th century Christian authors that remain influential today because of their nonfiction and fiction. Just why do these authors have an enduring impact? What was their secret?
The course participant will grapple with what the following authors thought about ‘literary apologetics’: C. S. Lewis, Dorothy Sayers, G. K. Chesterton, and Flannery O’Connor. Each week will explore that particular author’s thinking and an example of their fiction where that thinking was manifested.
The course will put forward this challenge to both writers and apologists: given the effectiveness and enduring impact of these authors, shouldn’t we more deliberately consider adopting their vision, perspective, and approach?
The fiction of Sayers, and Chesterton, and Williams
This course focuses on the novels of Dorothy Sayers, GK Chesterton, and Charles Williams. The emphasis is on examining the way in which these authors used ‘realistic’ settings and characters to explore important themes and present Christian truth without explicitly Christian elements in the novels. Core texts will include Sayers’ The Nine Tailors, Chesterton’s The Man Who Was Thursday, and Williams’ Descent into Hell.
Studies in Myth (Lewis, Tolkien, MacDonald)
This course focuses on the novels of CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien, and George MacDonald. The emphasis is on the way in which these authors used ‘myth’ and fantasy to present Christian truth. We will explore the idea of myth as truth, and examine the way that these authors used fantasy to present Christian ideas. Core texts will include Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Till We Have Faces, JRR Tolkien’s “Leaf by Niggle” and/or The Lord of the Rings, and George MacDonald’s Phantastes.
Studies in Poetry (Shakespeare, Marlowe’s Faustus, Donne, Herbert, Eliot)
This course focuses on classic poetry and poetic drama, looking at earlier authors to challenge our assumptions and habits about what it means to write literary apologetics. We will look at the way William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe use poetic drama to directly confront issues of sin and damnation, in Macbeth and Faustus, respectively. We will then look at the way the poets John Donne and George Herbert explore the Christian life from within, with poetry that touches on conversion, repentance, doubt, and faith. Finally, we will conclude with a 20th century poet who moved from atheism to Christian faith as an adult, with specific attention to Four Quartets and selected other poems. The core text will be Malcolm Guite’s Faith, Hope and Poetry: Theology and the Poetic Imagination (forthcoming in paperback).
Wordsmithing
What does it take to make a story or poem truly engaging? What makes the work of great storytellers like CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien, and GK Chesterton so captivating? They all had a deep mastery of language and style on top of all their other storytelling gifts. In this class, we will do hands-on work on “wordsmithing”: attending to the fine details of sentence crafting and word choice to take your work to the next level.
Participants will learn strategies for choosing exactly the right word; for trimming unnecessary verbiage to allow the beauty of the idea to shine through clearly; and for shaping sentences to create “flow” to draw the reader into a sustained reading experience. We will study the prose style of CS Lewis and others, and apply those insights to work in progress: this is a writing workshop style class and is a core requirement for the Literary Apologetics Certificate.
Writing for Publication
You’ve got a manuscript, now how do you get it published? This course is in part a ‘cap stone’ project that will work with the participant to learn how to prepare a manuscript for publication, understand opportunities and limitations to various publishing avenues, and other practical and pragmatic aspects involved in turning theoretical cultural impact into a reality. This course is subject to revision.
Electives:
Emulating the Greats
Description forthcoming
More Electives forthcoming
Literary Apologetics Certificate Program
Jan 23rd
This apologetics academy is hosted by Athanatos Christian Ministries. This ministry has a unique approach to apologetics: it believes that the culture itself has a tremendous impact on what one believes and that the culture in turn is heavily influenced by the arts. Christianity is often undermined by cultural undercurrents, but historically Christians themselves have been highly involved in contributing to the cultural conversation. ACM hopes to help renew that involvement by encouraging Christians to enter the public sphere in a knowledgeable fashion. Criticism has rightly been levied against the ‘Christian ghetto,’ but that doesn’t mean we should dilute- or worse, jettison- our Christian faith in a quest to be accepted by non-Christians. Rather, our goal should be to understand that there is a relationship between the culture, arts, and one’s worldview, whether we like it or not. Hence, it is necessary at all times to understand how our own faith impacts our creations while being sensitive to the realities that exist in our largely unbelieving culture.
ACM’s Literary Apologetics Certificate Program is designed to ensure that our artists are theologically informed, alert to modern challenges to the faith, and understand that having a genuine Christian faith is no substitute for the need for excellence in our writing, music, etc.
At this time, ACM’s emphasis is on literature. In due time, other artistic forms may be added.
Program Director
ACM is pleased to announce a partnership with Hieropraxis, led by Dr. Holly Ordway, who has agreed to be ACM’s Literary Apologetics Program Director.
Dr. Ordway has a doctorate in English Literature from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, an MA in English Literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and an MA in Christian Apologetics from Biola University. Dr. Ordway’s book Not God’s Type: A Rational Academic Finds a Radical Faith (Moody Publishers, 2010) chronicles her intellectual and emotional journey from atheism to faith in Christ as her Lord and Savior.
Dr. Ordway understands on both a personal and academic level the power and impact of great art on the human soul and has the expertise to guide artists in their quest to hone their craft. She understands the objections that the world has to Christ. She is well suited to show how the arts and belief tie together, either to the benefit, or harm, of individuals in our society. She looks forward to bringing her expertise and experiences to our academy participants, especially those who are accepted into ACM’s Literary Apologetics Certificate Program.
For more information about Dr. Ordway’s vision for ‘literary apologetics’ please read this essay. More information about ACM’s other literary apologetics activities, please visit their website: www.athanatosministries.org
Use the form below to Contact Dr. Ordway.
Program Requirements
In order to successfully obtain the Lit. Apol. Certificate, one must complete four courses in four different areas for a total of sixteen courses. What follows is subject to revision.
The four areas are:
General Theology
General Apologetics
Literary Apologetics
Writing and the Arts
General Theology:
- New Testament: The Gospels
- New Testament: The Epistles
- Survey of the Old Testament Part 1 (Genesis-Deuteronomy)
- Christ Promised in the Old Testament
General Apologetics:
- Accessible Apologetics (or equivalent survey course)
- Apologetics related Elective
- Apologetics related Elective
- General Theology/Apologetics related Elective
Literary Apologetics:
- Principles of Literary Apologetics
- The Fiction of Dorothy Sayers, GK Chesterton, and Charles Williams
- Studies in Myth (CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien, George MacDonald)
- Studies in Poetry (Shakespeare, Marlowe, Donne, Herbert, Eliot)
Writing and the Arts:
- Writing related Elective
- Writing related Elective
- Wordsmithing
- Writing for Publication
Course Descriptions
[You can take these courses without being enrolled in our certificate program]
Click here for course descriptions related specifically to the literary apologetics program.
Cost and Payment Plan
- $2,000 if a single payment is made (must be paid prior to beginning the program).
- $2,300 if 2 payments are made (must be paid within 15 month time frame).
- $2,500 if 4 payments are made (must be paid within 24 month time frame).
Application Process
Not all applicants will be accepted. Please fill out the contact form below to begin the process. Your inquiry will be directed to Dr. Ordway and other academy staffers.
General requirements for applicants include:
- An orthodox Christian faith.
- A willingness to learn.
- The ability (eg, the applicant has the necessary time available) to complete the program.
