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 2005
Lament for Art, Mike Vanden Bosch
Made Ya Look!, Bob De Smith
Need, Bob De Smith
On Gathering, Bill Elgersma
Parade, Lorna Van Gilst
Poems I Found on My Way to Work: February 16--Clear and Bright, David Schelhaas
Poems I Found on My Way to Work: February 28--Gray with a Few Snowflakes in the Air, 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 31--Icy, the Temperature Just at Freezing, David Schelhaas
Sisters: A Tribute, Mary Dengler
Spider Webs, Skies, and Seas: A Eulogy, Mary Dengler
"Whither?" Some Thoughts on the Genre of Literature in an Electronic Age, James C. Schaap
Submissions from 2004
At Peace in the Tumult of the World, David Schelhaas
Called Up, Mike Vanden Bosch
Edwards for Our Time: A Review Essay, James C. Schaap
Harvest, Bill Elgersma
Her Grip, David Schelhaas
Little Big Girls, Bill Elgersma
Mantle: A Meditation, Mary Dengler
On Avenida 4, Lorna Van Gilst
Pool Day, Mary Dengler
Rollover, Mike Vanden Bosch
Sanctified, Sarah Den Boer
She, Sioux Center, Sarah Den Boer
Untitled, Sarah Den Boer
Watching the Government at Work, Sarah Den Boer
Books from 2003
Angling in the English Stream: 100 Ordinary English Words: Caught, Filleted, and Served Up in Tasty Little Essays, David Schelhaas
Baby Steps in Prairie Grass, James C. Schaap
Cinco de Mayo in Iowa, Lorna Van Gilst
Corte el Pasto/Cut the Grass, Lorna Van Gilst
Credo, Jeri Schelhaas
Gravity, Mike Vanden Bosch
In Good Taste, Lorna Van Gilst
Jose, Mary Dengler
Last Sun, Bill Elgersma
Like Grass, John Van Rys
Sometimes I Think I'm All Right, Bob De Smith
Sons of our Father, Bill Elgersma
Steele Prairie Dawn, James C. Schaap
Theology, Jeri Schelhaas
Toward Home, David Schelhaas
Van De Stroets of Settlers Township, James C. Schaap
Waiting, John Van Rys
Walk Up, Mary Dengler
Submissions from 2002
All Nature Sings, David Schelhaas
Animal Rites, Mike Vanden Bosch
At the Tia Nicota, Lorna Van Gilst
Buddies, Mike Vanden Bosch
Children's Dreams, Mary Dengler
Jocund Day, Mike Vanden Bosch
Late July, Jeri Schelhaas
Lessons in Second Language, Lorna Van Gilst
Mother, Lorna Van Gilst
Old Girls, Mary Dengler
One O'clock Waltz, Bill Elgersma
On Your Birthday, Dave, Bob De Smith
Picnic, Jeri Schelhaas
St. Jacobs, Bill Elgersma
Wasicu at Chankpe Opi: A While Man at Wounded Knee, James C. Schaap
Wasps' Nest, Bob De Smith
When a Spider is Only a Spider, James C. Schaap
Submissions from 2001
Cycles of Grace, Mary Dengler
Cyclone, Mary Dengler
Eclipsed, Lorna Van Gilst
First Bride, James C. Schaap
Hate Crime, David Schelhaas
"Here are the Fire and Wood", Bob De Smith
Holidays, Mike Vanden Bosch
How to Welcome, Mike Vanden Bosch
Thank You Note, David Schelhaas
Veiled, Lorna Van Gilst
Visit, Mary Dengler
Visitant, Mike Vanden Bosch
Zoned Residential, Lorna Van Gilst
Submissions from 2000
Because the Unseen May Vanish, David Schelhaas
Boy in the Wind, Mike Vanden Bosch
Home in Alfalfa (Book Review), John Van Rys
Jane Austen's Falling Women, Mary Dengler
Narene, Mike Vanden Bosch
Once, They Had Been Friends, James C. Schaap
Reading at Dusk, David Schelhaas
Regimes of Truth and the Rhetoric of Deceit -- From a Literary Perspective, John Van Rys
Sacrament of Grace, Mary Dengler
Sherwood Anderson: Back Home to Winesburg, James C. Schaap
Stones for Bread, Lorna Van Gilst
To My Tibia, Lorna Van Gilst
Total Immersion, Lorna Van Gilst
Submissions from 1999
Bedeviled, Mike Vanden Bosch
Chapter 11, EXODUS, James C. Schaap
Feeling the Subtext, Mike Vanden Bosch
Good Friday, Mike Vanden Bosch
Justice for All, Lorna Van Gilst
One Piano, Two Sisters, Four Hands, Lorna Van Gilst
On the Deck, David Schelhaas
Pro Tem, Mike Vanden Bosch
Recycled, Lorna Van Gilst
Right Hand, Bob De Smith
Walking On, Lorna Van Gilst
Submissions from 1998
At Dusk, David Schelhaas
Disconnected, Lorna Van Gilst