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This class is geared towards students of Old English looking for a fascinating new poem to translate. The Old English "Phoenix" has an intriguing history as a work of poetry, adapting an older Latin poem, mixing it in with scripture, and meditating upon a Christianized meaning taken from an older source. As a study in both language and Medieval history, it is a treasure trove of a resource and a delightful adaptation of a mythic tradition. *Note: There will be a substantial amount of translation in-class, which will take a lot of time if students are preparing it all outside of class. Students do not have to come with the translation complete - it is more important to simply be there. Class 1: Introduction, "Phoenix" lines 1-47 Class 2: Lines 47-137 Class 3: Lines 137-227 Class 4: Lines 227-317 Class 5: Lines 317-407 Class 6: Lines 407-497 Class 7: Lines 497-587 Class 8: Lines 587-677 [show less]

This module is about having a deeper understanding of the origins, modes, and possibilities of the fantasy genre. It is a means for writers, readers, and fans to more deeply interact with the stories they love. Class One: What is a Fantasy World? (Tolkien and the Secondary World). Exploring Tolkien's idea of subcreation and what makes fantasy world feel real. Class Two: How world are built. How setting, history, and internal logic shape immersive fantasy worlds. Class Three: Different Ways Fantasy Worlds Work. Exploring how fantasy can operate in different modes and structures. Class Four: Fantasy and Reality. How Fantasy Relates to the real world and what it reveals about it. Class Five: Why fantasy matters. The cognitive and imaginative value of fantasy and why we engage with it. Class Six: Case study- The Fifth Season: Examining how modern fantasy builds complex and original worlds. Class Seven: Case study- The Golden Compass: Looking at world building across literature and adaptation. Class Eight: Case Study- The Lord of the Rings. Examining generational story telling through myth, fantasy, and multimedia adaptation. [show less]

With book sales exceeding 200 million copies, a billion-dollar film industry, and a bookshelf of critical, philosophical, and popular works, C.S. Lewis is at once the beloved author of The Chronicles of Narnia and a leading public figure. While Narnia is sometimes miscategorized as Narnia or Lewis caricatured as just an apologist, this Oxford don thought that meaning was bound up in the reading experience. Given the distortions of his public image, it is hard to see how the same Lewis could be a literary scholar, voice of faith on the BBC, and creator of Narnia. In The Spiritual Imagination of C.S. Lewis (2026), Brenton Dickieson uncovers a secret thread woven into Lewis’s spiritual tapestry. This Signum SPACE class follows this thread by focusing primarily on Narnia and his personal writings. Together, we will discover that the shape of Lewis’s imagination invites a hopeful, transformative invitation to spiritual life. Key topics covered in this module include: 1. The Secret Thread and the Lost Manuscript 2. Standing on the Shoulders of Giants and Mice: Tool-shed Cracks, Seeing Like Lucy, and Uncle Andrew’s Lesson in Epistemology 3. Mental Maps and the Cartography of the Soul 4. “Slow-paced I come, Yielding by inches”: Lewis’s Conversion in His Spiritual Imagination 5. The Shape of the Cross: Heaven’s Front Lawn, Love that is not Love, and the Undragoning of Eustace 6. Eucatastrophe and the Fairy-Tale Form 7. A Brief Study in Black and Scarlet 8. The Upsidedownedness of Childlike Wonder, or What We Learn from Absurdly Solemn Literary Puritans 9. “As High as My Spirit, As Small as My Stature”: C.S. Lewis’s Theology of the Small (The Voyage of the Dawn Treader) 10. Sacred Paradoxes in Lewis’s Spiritual Imagination 11. Going Out Beyond the Edges: How Lewis Embiggens our Spiritual Imaginations [show less]

Something Left Out is a deep dive into the sources and inspirations for the creation of Tolkien's most enigmatic character. This class will explore the history and development of the character as well as the most significant interpretations of his character over the years: first from the text of the story, then in the personal writings of Tolkien, and finally in the wealth of secondary sources musing over the same questions of Bombadil's nature. Class 1: Introduction, Scope of the project Class 2: Tom in the Lord of the Rings Class 3: Bombadil Goes Boating: Tom from 1925-1937 Class 4: Tom in the drafting stages: 1937-1954 Class 5: Tom after publication: 1954-73 Class 6: Interpretations of Tom: The External Class 7: Interpretations of Tom: The Internal Class 8: Something Left Out: The Overlooked Source [show less]