The English Department of Dordt University believes that "nothing matters but the kingdom of God, but because of the kingdom, everything, literally everything, matters." (Gordon Spykman, Dordt College commencement 1988, "Kingdoms in Conflict")
From that perspective, we teach students how to read poems, stories, plays, and essays. Such reading requires examining how an author uses language to create imagined worlds and to communicate meaning. It also requires that the reader examine how literature from a variety of time periods and cultures challenges or affirms our values and enriches our lives. We aim to foster life-long reading in all our students.
We also demand that students respond to specific selections they read as well as to the broader world in which they live. Thus we teach our students to write poems, stories, essays, and research papers, all of which may help them articulate their Christian understanding of literature and life.
Because we expect all of our graduates will write for publication, we aim to teach them to write clearly, concisely, and forcefully so that the ideas they express and the causes they represent will be advanced.
Submissions from 2009
Arriving, Bill Elgersma
Calvinist Foibles on Massachusetts Bay: Review Essay, James C. Schaap
Fallen Pride, Mary Dengler
Finding Christmas: Stories of Startling Joy and Perfect Peace, James C. Schaap
Geese Leave Summit Lake, Howard Schaap
Home (Book Review), David Schelhaas
Interracial Marriage, Howard Schaap
January Thaw, David Schelhaas
My Best Hour of the Week, Bob De Smith
Nightmare of Christmas, James C. Schaap
No Truth But in Things, Howard Schaap
Oh, Brother, Mary Dengler
Paradise in Wal-Mart, Mary Dengler
Reaping, Mike Vanden Bosch
Retired, David Schelhaas
Reverence, Mystery, and Christian Education, James C. Schaap
Seeing Literature Through Students’ Eyes: The Text Preview, Leah A. Zuidema
Six Hundred Sermons: A Closer Look at One Pastor's Writing Practices, Leah A. Zuidema
Space, James C, Schaap
What Will You Name It? Dordt College Commencement Address, May 9, 2008, Jeri Schelhaas
Word Made Flesh, David Schelhaas
Worship Words: Discipling Language for Faithful Ministry (Book Review), Leah A. Zuidema and Todd M. Zuidema
Submissions from 2008
Amsterdam Diaries, Mike Vanden Bosch
Crossing Barbwire Fences, Howard Schaap
Dog Days, Mike Vanden Bosch
Earth Blood, Howard Schaap
Family Farm, Howard Schaap
Finding Mother in Busan, Mary Dengler
First Day of Summer, Leah A. Zuidema
Flippant Joke Reveals Callous Mindset, Luke DeKoster
Go Ahead, Take My Freedom - I'm not a Terrorist, Luke DeKoster
Guard, Bob De Smith
Hearing Things, Bob De Smith
His Holy Temples, David Schelhaas
Lincoln County, Bill Elgersma
Me and My Tribe, James C. Schaap
Mother's Day, Mike Vanden Bosch
Near Unto God, James C. Schaap and Abraham Kuyper
Nonrockaboatus, Bill Elgersma
November Rock, Bill Elgersma
Simple Breath, Howard Schaap
Sixty at Sixty: A Boomer Reflects on the Psalms, James C. Schaap
So Here We Two are at 50, Bob De Smith
West Meets East in Grace Beyond Belief, Mary Dengler
Submissions from 2007
Aguacero, Lorna Van Gilst
Always, James C. Schaap
Apprentices, Bill Elgersma
Aujourd'hui, Bill Elgersma
Canto, Mary Dengler
Crossed Sticks, Mike Vanden Bosch
Divided by a Common Heritage: The Christian Reformed Church and the Reformed Church in America at the Beginning of the New Millennium (Book Review), James C. Schaap
Forever, James C. Schaap
Fresh Harbor, Mary Dengler
Frost Like Ashes: Review Essay of Cormac McCarthy's The Road, James C. Schaap
God of Material Things, David Schelhaas
Gone Gentle, Mike Vanden Bosch
Hair, 1956, David Schelhaas
Lorna, Mary Dengler
Mixed Blood, Mike Vanden Bosch
Mortality, Leah A. Zuidema
Old Country, Bill Elgersma
Old Glory, Mary Dengler
On Planning a Daily Poetry Class Schedule for the Last Third of the Semester, David Schelhaas
Reformed Defense of Literature: An Apology for Literature's Place in Christian Higher Education, Mary Dengler
Still Waters, James C. Schaap
What About a Bicentennial? Mr. and Mrs. CRC, James C. Schaap
What People Say, James C. Schaap
Books from 2006
Crossing Over: Stories of Asian Refugee Christians, James C. Schaap
Death Promises, Mike Vanden Bosch
English Rose, Lorna Van Gilst
Garden a Tire, Lorna Van Gilst
Heavenly Preaching, James C. Schaap
Lament for Floyd, Mike Vanden Bosch
My Prayers, Bob De Smith
New Earth, Mike Vanden Bosch
Not Jealous Lovers, Bill Elgersma
Not Yet Home, Luke DeKoster
Peanut Butter Sandwich, Bob De Smith
Poems I Found on My Way to Work: December 2--Dawn, After Six Inches of Snow, David Schelhaas
Poems I Found on My Way to Work: February 9--Ash Wednesday, David Schelhaas
Poems I Found on My Way to Work: January 20--Clear and Bright, David Schelhaas
Poems I Found on My Way to Work: November 15--First Snowfall, David Schelhaas
Rancor, Mike Vanden Bosch
Rock, Bill Elgersma
Still Dancing, Mary Dengler
Storms, James C. Schaap
Summer Spoils, Mary Dengler
Tending, Bill Elgersma
Transformation, James C. Schaap
Westward Ho, Jeri Schelhaas
What the Sky Says, James C. Schaap
Submissions from 2005
Alien Species, Lorna Van Gilst
Consumation, Mike Vanden Bosch
Deadline, Mike Vanden Bosch
Examining the Skills, Attitudes, and Perceptions of Developmental Writing Students at a Midwestern Private College, William P. Elgersma
Finding Something, James C. Schaap
Girls' Club, Bill Elgersma
Grounded, Bill Elgersma
Hurricane Litter: A Eulogy, Mary Dengler
La Lluvia in la Selva, Lorna Van Gilst