What’s coming up Saturday? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.
Fairy tales. Many of us think about these stories that we read as children and have no relevance to us today, but could it be deeper than that? Could fairy tales be some of the most shaping tells of reality? Even more amazing, could they tell us something about Christianity? Our atheist friends like to say that Christianity is a fairy tale, but while that claim is false, can we better understand our Christianity by reading fairy tales?
The fact that we have so many Christian classics like Narnia and The Lord of the Rings should show us that Christians can make use of this genre, but what about even non-Christian fairy tales? Could we learn something from His Dark Materials for instance? Do we include Harry Potter in the list and if so, what can we learn from that series?
To discuss this, I have a guest on who co-wrote a book on the genre of fairy tales. It’s called From Homer To Harry Potter. His name is Matthew Dickerson and he’ll be here to answer questions about fairy tales. Who is he?
Matthew Dickerson is a professor of Computer Science at MIddlebury College in Vermont. He holds a PhD from Cornell University. He is the author of several works of fiction and non-fiction in a variety of genres. This fall he published both a new fantasy novel titled The Betrayed and a new work of Christian apologetics titled The Mind and the Machine: what it means to be human and why it matters. His other recent creative works include: a medieval historical novel titled The Rood and the Torc; a three-volume fantasy novel beginning with The Gifted; and a pair narrative non-fiction books on nature, ecology, trout, and fly-fishing titled Trout in the Desert: on Fly Fishing Human Habits, and the Cold Waters of the Arid Southwest and Downstream: Reflections on Brook Trout, Fly Fishing, and the Waters of Appalachia (co-authored with David O’Hara.) Dickerson is also an well-known scholar of fantasy literature. He is the author or co-author of several books, chapters, and essays on the writings of J.R.R.Tolkien and C.S.Lewis and the co-author of From Homer to Harry Potter: a Handbook of Myth and Fantasy. You can learn more about Matthew Dickerson and his writing at www.matthewdickerson.net and www.facebook.com/MatthewDickersonBooks.
(Matthew Dickerson also wants you to know about his new book that can be found here.)
We’ll be talking about fairy tales? How should Christians handle the realm of fantasy? What about the idea of magic in a story? Is magic truly opposed to Christianity? What are some of the great classics to read beyond Lord of the Rings and Narnia?
We’ve been getting to update the show a lot more lately so hopefully we’ll be right in schedule soon. I hope you’ve been enjoying the Deeper Waters Podcast and will continue to do so. Please go on ITunes as well and leave a positive review of the Deeper Waters Podcast.
In Christ,
Nick Peters