Westmont College in Santa Barbara, CA hosted this year’s Western Regional Conference on Christianity and Literature. As a Westmont alumnae and general fan of beautiful beaches, Spanish architecture, and sunshine, I knew that this would be a great conference to present at and attend. The conference (and Santa Barbara) did not disappoint.
Using Mary Augusta Ward’s Robert Elsmere, my presentation focused on the way in which atonement theology is typically narrated, arguing that the emphasis put on the individual’s consciousness is, in itself, a force for secularism. Other papers on the panel also considered atonement theology in narrative, with a general push for new ways of thinking and talking about atonement across three of the four papers. The panel on Victorian literature, featuring Cheri Larsen Hoeckley, Laurie Camp Hatch and Maria Su Wang, was particularly interesting, with Cheri giving a fascinating defense of Jane Eyre’s St. John. Laurie’s work on Daniel Deronda’s implicit critique of cosmopolitanism is already proving to be helpful in my own work on Robert Elsmere. Keynote speakers Marilyn McEntyre, Gregory Orfalea, and Vincent Pecora were engaging and insightful, modeling scholarly excellence and generosity in their academic and literary presentations.
I thoroughly enjoyed the conference and conversations arising from the presentations and look forward to being involved with the CCL in the future—it is an encouraging and inspiring body of academics!
Westmont College in Santa Barbara, CA hosted this year’s Western Regional Conference on Christianity and Literature. As a Westmont alumnae and general fan of beautiful beaches, Spanish architecture, and sunshine, I knew that this would be a great conference to present at and attend. The conference (and Santa Barbara) did not disappoint.
Using Mary Augusta Ward’s Robert Elsmere, my presentation focused on the way in which atonement theology is typically narrated, arguing that the emphasis put on the individual’s consciousness is, in itself, a force for secularism. Other papers on the panel also considered atonement theology in narrative, with a general push for new ways of thinking and talking about atonement across three of the four papers. The panel on Victorian literature, featuring Cheri Larsen Hoeckley, Laurie Camp Hatch and Maria Su Wang, was particularly interesting, with Cheri giving a fascinating defense of Jane Eyre’s St. John. Laurie’s work on Daniel Deronda’s implicit critique of cosmopolitanism is already proving to be helpful in my own work on Robert Elsmere. Keynote speakers Marilyn McEntyre, Gregory Orfalea, and Vincent Pecora were engaging and insightful, modeling scholarly excellence and generosity in their academic and literary presentations.
I thoroughly enjoyed the conference and conversations arising from the presentations and look forward to being involved with the CCL in the future—it is an encouraging and inspiring body of academics!