by Dr. Jessica Ann Hughes | Apr 11, 2013 | Reading Well, The Bible, Victorian Studies
Between 1846 and 1849 Charles Dickens wrote The Life of Our Lord, a simplified version of Jesus’ life for his children, who ranged in age from newborn to 11 years-old at the time of its completion. The work was never intended for publication—it was a family text,...
by Dr. Jessica Ann Hughes | Nov 29, 2012 | Living the Liturgical Year
The Christian year begins on Sunday, December 2nd this year, with the beginning of Advent—so for western Christians, now is the time to take stock of the year past and to make resolutions for the future as we once again begin to communally join ourselves to the story...
by Dr. Jessica Ann Hughes | Jul 11, 2012 | Fostering Faith, Raising Christian Kids
Thinking of getting circumcised? Probably not….but how about getting your baby circumcised? A recent court decision may be relevant. A German court in Cologne ruled that circumcising boys is “grievous bodily harm” and should not be performed on a child until he...
by Dr. Jessica Ann Hughes | Jun 8, 2012 | Fostering Faith, Raising Christian Kids
Did you hear Lolo Jones is a virgin? Scanning news headlines a couple weeks ago, I was surprised and somewhat bemused by the sudden obsession with Lolo Jones. Apparently she told Bryant Gumbel on HBO’s Real Sports that staying a virgin is more difficult than training...
by Dr. Jessica Ann Hughes | May 4, 2012 | Reading Well, Victorian Studies
Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations details the maturation of Pip, a young man specially selected by an unknown benefactor to become a “gentleman.” It is easy to read the tale as a rags-to-riches story, with Pip moving from his apprenticeship to his brother-in-law,...
by Dr. Jessica Ann Hughes | Mar 7, 2012 | The Christian Imagination, Victorian Studies
Victorian Britain—especially from 1859-1901—it is often described in terms of a “crisis of doubt.” Today we assume that this crisis in Christian thinking developed because of Darwin but, as Owen Chadwick argues in his very long and frequently cited history of the...
by Dr. Jessica Ann Hughes | Dec 2, 2011 | Living the Liturgical Year
Black Friday—the traditional American shopping day that occurs the day after American Thanksgiving or the final Friday in November—has long been a tradition in the United States. For those who don’t know about it, it is the day that many retailers “go into the black”...
by Dr. Jessica Ann Hughes | Nov 4, 2011 | Raising Christian Kids
Helicopter Parenting. Free-Range Parenting. Attachment Parenting. Natural Parenting. Feminist Parenting. I could list may more but the point in each is the same: each offers a way, a method for producing the perfect child…and if not the perfect child, at...
by Dr. Jessica Ann Hughes | Sep 9, 2011 | Reading Well
James Joyce’s only play The Exiles is little performed because, well, it isn’t really very good. If it hadn’t been written by Joyce (who begged Ezra Pound to help him get it staged), the play would have probably never had a single staging, let alone the repeated (and...
by Dr. Jessica Ann Hughes | Jul 15, 2011 | Fostering Faith
Recently, I’ve begun thinking that I may be too tired to be a Christian. Trying to juggle my PhD program, my husband’s home-based business start-up, a ten-month old who doesn’t like taking naps or sleeping generally, a Great Dane puppy, renovation work on our house...
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