Essay / Education

Do You Believe in Jinn? (Torrey Convocation 2022)

by Todd Thompson on

I believe questions can be gracious gifts. Last time I gave a convocation talk, I spoke about themost important question any professor ever asked me. Tonight, I want to speak about the firstquestion I ever received from a student. I…

"Faculty Favorites Outside Our Curriculum"

by Fred Sanders on

Here's a fun list from some profs in the Torrey Honors College: Books we love so much we would each include them in our regular curriculum (if we could all agree on them and on what to cut to make…

Essay / Literature

The Architecture of George Herbert's Poetry

by Greg Peters on

Introduction George Herbert was born on April 3, 1593, one of ten children. Though his father died when he was only three years old, Herbert’s mother, Magdalen, took responsibility for the education of her children. Moreover, she was decently well-connected,…

Essay / Literature

Raisin in the Sun: Text and Film

by Fred Sanders on

Not long ago, the Torrey Honors College added Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun to our regular curriculum. Any time you drop a twentieth-century text into a Great Books curriculum, you're taking a gamble: No matter how well the…

Essay / Literature

The Monastic and Intellectual Ethos of Gerard Manley Hopkins

by Greg Peters on

Gerard Manley Hopkins was born on July 28, 1844 in Stratford, England into what we could consider a middle-class family. Perhaps not surprising given the shape of his poetry, Hopkins had a sensitive nature compared with his father’s demanding nature.…

Essay / Education

Speak Again (Torrey Convocation 2021)

by Diane Vincent on

In these first weeks together, we have experienced the joys and sometimes the challenges of building and renewing our community of friends with a common love and a common way of life together: reading, talking, and writing. That life has…

Essay / Literature

The Gates of Linden Hills

by Fred Sanders on

(Linden Hills: A Novel, by Gloria Naylor. Three covers) A pilgrim and his poet-guide, side by side, gaze up at the gates and read the weather-beaten inscription: I am the way out of the city of woeI am the way…

Essay / Literature

Iliad: Why the Lattimore Translation

by Fred Sanders on

The curriculum of Torrey Honors College starts out with Homer's Iliad. This means the book has a special place in the life of our program: students we have admitted into the program but haven't met in person yet mostly read…

Essay / Theology

Seismic Retrofit Apologia

by Fred Sanders on

"When the people in the pew ask the pastor to explain the Trinity, they do not want clever analogies or carefully worded creeds. They want to know what Scripture says about the Trinity." Carl Beckwith says this in his book…

Essay / Theology

The Joy of the Lord

by Fred Sanders on

Luke 3:21-22, the baptism of Christ: “the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove…” Brothers and sisters, we are reading here about the Holy Spirit, so what is there for me…

Essay / Theology

Jesus Was Also Baptized

by Fred Sanders on

Luke 3:21: "Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying…" Picture the scene: There was a big crowd at the river, and people were getting dunked in the water by John,…

Essay / Theology

Webster's "Courses Charted but Not Taken"

by Fred Sanders on

A Companion to the Theology of John Webster is a great collection of essays on the development of Webster's theology, and on major doctrines important in his work. The epilogue is unique, though: it's a very helpful report and analysis…