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 1999
Walking On, Lorna Van Gilst
Submissions from 1998
At Dusk, David Schelhaas
Disconnected, Lorna Van Gilst
Elder Brother, Mike Vanden Bosch
For Jill who died on March 1, 1998, Jeri Schelhaas
Lament for Bert, Mike Vanden Bosch
Naked Ladies, David Schelhaas
Our Family Album: The Unfinished Story of the Christian Reformed Church, James C. Schaap
Submission, Lorna Van Gilst
To Robinson Jeffers, Mike Vanden Bosch
Treasures I Should Not Have, Lorna Van Gilst
War Games, Mike Vanden Bosch
What He Needed to Say, James C. Schaap
Worldview, Lorna Van Gilst
Submissions from 1997
Being Towed Along, Bob De Smith
Bird-watch, Mike Vanden Bosch
Entrepreneur, Lorna Van Gilst
False Alarm, James C. Schaap
Glimpses of an Andean City, Lorna Van Gilst
Going Back to A Thousand Acres, James C. Schaap
Just a Thought, Bob De Smith
Keeping the Record, Lorna Van Gilst
None Dare Ask, Mike Vanden Bosch
Robertson Davies: At War With Orthodoxies, John Van Rys
To Love, Mike Vanden Bosch
Valiant, Mike Vanden Bosch
Wendell Berry's Beloved Community, David Schelhaas
Wind, My Dad, and I, Jeri Schelhaas
Submissions from 1996
Backyard in Midsummer, Bob De Smith
Cave Living, John Van Rys
Cricket Ball, David Schelhaas
Crossword, Bob De Smith
Dancing After Hours (Book Review), James C. Schaap
Family Tree, John Van Rys
Fiesta de Cumpleanos en Los Haticos, Lorna Van Gilst
Foot-Fizz, Bob De Smith
North of Hope (Book Review), David Schelhaas
Pony Passage, Mike Vanden Bosch
Santa Lucia, Maracaibo, 29 de diciembre, Lorna Van Gilst
Self-Justification, John Van Rys
Special Music: Cook County Jail, 1982, David Schelhaas
Spirit Led, Jeri Schelhaas
Success, Mike Vanden Bosch
Wester Home Place, James C. Schaap
Worship, Mike Vanden Bosch
Submissions from 1995
Cocoon, Lorna Van Gilst
Doing Justice, Mike Vanden Bosch
Human Nature, Mike Vanden Bosch
January Heat, John Van Rys
My Life as a Boy Soprano, David Schelhaas
Nesting, Lorna Van Gilst
On Being Beaten by the Beat, John Van Rys
Out of the Depths, John Van Rys
Polonius Syndrome, John Van Rys
Space, James C. Schaap
Take This Bread, Jeri Schelhaas
Ukranian Root Cellar, Lorna Van Gilst
Who Neighbor?, Mike Vanden Bosch
Working With Wood, John Van Rys
Submissions from 1994
Body Language, Lorna Van Gilst
Coca Cola, Martin Luther King, and the American Dream, David Schelhaas
Contemporary Literary Theory: A Christian Appraisal (Book Review), John Van Rys
Fellow Creature Comfort--Night Music, John Van Rys
Fighting Spirit, Mike Vanden Bosch
God Talk: The Triteness and Truth in Christian Cliches (Book Review), James C. Schaap
Have Mercy, John Van Rys
Home, Mike Vanden Bosch
Inside Out, John Van Rys
Kharkov Park, Lorna Van Gilst
Nether Regions, John Van Rys
Night Walking, John Van Rys
November 8, 1993: Snow Again, Bob De Smith
Paralysis, John Van Rys
Putting the Sioux in Center: The Games We Play, Bob De Smith
Road, John Van Rys
Shot Lady, Lorna Van Gilst
Silent Passengers (Book Review), David Schelhaas
Sisyphus at Home, Bob De Smith
Still Life, James C. Schaap
To Arnold S., the man who sees things, Mike Vanden Bosch
Traveling Mercies, Mike Vanden Bosch
Wood, John Van Rys
Submissions from 1993
Debits and Credits, John Van Rys
Half-Hearted Semi-Vegetarian Meditates on Bread, John Van Rys
Hangin' in There (For My Father), Bob De Smith
Happily Ever After: The Last Chapter of the Best Story, David Schelhaas
Hewer, Bob De Smith
How to Praise, Mike Vanden Bosch
In Green Pastures, Mike Vanden Bosch
Love Poem for a Woman Who Knows Me Too Well, John Van Rys
Making Hay, Mike Vanden Bosch
March Fog: Siouxland, John Van Rys
Marigold I, John Van Rys
Mind Games, Jeri Schelhaas
nonresident alien, John Van Rys
Old Man Facing Death, David Schelhaas
Other Worlds, Lorna Van Gilst
Pearls Before Swine, Lorna Van Gilst
Port Huron Entry Point, John Van Rys
Quincy, David Schelhaas