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 2014
Reframing Spiritual Memoir, Howard Schaap
Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis (Book Review), James C. Schaap
Signs, Bill Elgersma
Small-Town Dreams: Stories of Midwestern Boys Who Shaped America (Book Review), James C. Schaap
Tender Executioner, Rose Postma
Theme and Variation: Prayer, Enstrom's Grace, and Calvin, Howard Schaap
Ties that Bind: A Review Essay, James C. Schaap
Tomato Soup, Luke Hawley
Up the Hill, James C. Schaap
Walt Whitman's Vision of the Inferno, or Dante in Drum-Taps, Joshua Matthews
Submissions from 2013
Best of “The Reformed Journal” (Book Review), David Schelhaas
Brother's Dying, Mary Dengler
Comforts, James C. Schaap
Divine Comedy as an American Civil War Epic, Joshua Matthews
Fall of Alice K (Book Review), James C. Schaap
Heron Lake (Book Review), Bill Elgersma
I Recognized the Mitten, David Schelhaas
Just Phatic, Joshua Matthews
Just Plains Crazy, Howard Schaap
Loaf-Shapes in Tucson, Jeri Schelhaas
Long Jog, Joshua Matthews
Making It Through, Jeri Schelhaas
Me Before You (Book Review), James C. Schaap
Morning Shower, Bob De Smith
Mourning Hours (Book Review), James C. Schaap
Northwoods Hymnal, Luke Hawley
Ordinary Time, Leah A. Zuidema
Poem on the Occasion of Pastor Herm Van Niejenhuis’s Retirement, David Schelhaas
Poetry, Bob De Smith
Professional Writing in the English Classroom: Designing a High School or Middle School Course (or Unit) in Professional Writing, Jonathan Bush and Leah A. Zuidema
Professional Writing in the English Classroom: Professional Collaborative Writing: Teaching, Writing, and Learning -- Together, Jonathan Bush and Leah A. Zuidema
Reading Homer's Iliad, Mary Dengler
Receiving the John Calvin Award, Mary Dengler
Rootrol, Joshua Matthews
Swimming Lessons, Bill Elgersma
Thanksgiving Day, Mike Vanden Bosch
Time Travel (Book Review), Joshua Matthews
Submissions from 2012
Angry Birds, Joshua Matthews
Barack Obama: The Story (Book Review), James C. Schaap
Deliverance, James C. Schaap
Doubt Denied, David Schelhaas
Egret, Mary Dengler
Fallible, Bob De Smith
First Love, Bill Elgersma
F Word, Joshua Matthews
Grammar Workshop: Systematic Language Study in Reading and Writing Contexts, Leah A. Zuidema
Holy Writ and Human Writ, James C. Schaap
Illuminated Manuscript, David Schelhaas
Infallible, Bob De Smith
Making Space for Informal Inquiry: Inquiry as Stance in an Online Induction Network, Leah A. Zuidema
North Wind is an Old Friend, Howard Schaap
Not Sure (Book Review), James C. Schaap
Professional Writing in the English Classroom: Are You a Writing Bully? Considerations for Teachers and Students, Jonathan Bush and Leah A. Zuidema
Professional Writing in the English Classroom: Let's Get Real: Using Usability to Connect Writers, Readers, and Texts, Jonathan Bush and Leah A. Zuidema
Professional Writing in the English Classroom: Literature-Based Professional Writing: An Oxymoron Whose Time Has Come, Jonathan Bush, Leah A. Zuidema, Kelley R. Newhouse, Michele L. Propper, Ruth M. Riedel, and Barbara S. Teitelzweig
Quakes Beneath the Sea, Mary Dengler
Rising Early, Howard Schaap
Taking My Dad Fishing, Howard Schaap
Upon Learning that April is Genocide Prevention Month, David Schelhaas
Wheel of Fortune, Joshua Matthews
White Linen, Mary Dengler
Books from 2011
Acquainted with the Light, Mike Vanden Bosch
Ananias Walks Home, Bob De Smith
Bruised Reeds, James C. Schaap
Contentious Conversations, Leah A. Zuidema
Eaarth (Book Review), David Schelhaas
"Emptiness About the Heart of Life": A Reformed Approach to Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway and Michael Cunningham's The Hours, Mary Dengler
Jonathan Swift at Work, Bob De Smith
Leaves in the Wind, David Schelhaas
Music and Politics: U2 and the Country of Adolescence, Howard Schaap
Of No Fixed Address, Bill Elgersma
On the Death of a Church Musician, Mike Vanden Bosch
Paul Simon's Memento Mori: A Review Essay, James C. Schaap
Professional Writing in the English Classroom: Beyond Language: The Grammar of Document Design, Jonathan Bush and Leah A. Zuidema
Professional Writing in the English Classroom: Good Writing: The Problem of Ethics, Jonathan Bush and Leah A. Zuidema
Professional Writing in the English Classroom: Student Writers as Problem Solvers in Literature Classrooms, Jonathan Bush, Leah A. Zuidema, Dawn Reed, and Katie Greene
Rather Enjoying Myself, Thanks, Bob De Smith
Richard III, Mary Dengler
Ring-necked Pheasant, Howard Schaap
Scratch Tickets, Howard Schaap
Single-Heartedness, David Schelhaas
Sixth Street Symphony, Leah A. Zuidema
Stubbornness, James C. Schaap
Tee Ball, Howard Schaap
Warriors, Shades, and Nymph, Mary Dengler
Submissions from 2010
After Getting the Mail, Howard Schaap
City of Tranquil Light (Book Review), James C. Schaap
Devil Reads Derrida (and Other Essays on the University, the Church, Politics, and the Arts) (Book Review), David Schelhaas
Eating at Neruda's Table, Bob De Smith
Emily Dickinson, Peter De Vries, and the Strangely Unshakeable Calvinist Character, James C. Schaap
Emotion Recollected in Tranquility, Howard Schaap
Eviction, Mary Dengler
Faith in Fiction? Solzhenitsyn's One Day as a Practical Defense of Fiction, Bob De Smith
Family Reunion, Howard Schaap
Holding Steady, Bill Elgersma
January 26: 28 Degrees and a Bright Red Sunshine, David Schelhaas
November 5 Cold and Clear, David Schelhaas
Phantom Braking, Bob De Smith
Presumptions, Mary Dengler
Professional Writing in the English Classroom: Professional Writing: What You Already Know, Jonathan Bush and Leah A. Zuidema