Gratitude and the Happiness Machine
What if there was a happiness machine? Leo Auffmann, a central character in Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine, is convinced that he can build it. After being challenged by the men […]
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Author: Zak Schmoll
Zachary D. Schmoll (PhD in Humanities, Faulkner University) is an adjunct faculty member at Houston Christian University and Southeastern University. He is the author of Disability and the Problem of Evil (Public Philosophy Press, 2020) and was the Founding Editor of An Unexpected Journal. When he is not reading or writing, you can find Zachary playing power soccer, a four on four sport played by power wheelchair users on a basketball court with an oversized soccer ball.
The Voyage of the Titan
“It could never happen here.” Thomas was aghast. Although he was typically quite restrained, his face betrayed his frustration as he continued expressing his opposition to Julian’s almost unbelievable proposal. […]
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Rest and Reemergence: Rivendell As a Sanctuary
As Bilbo Baggins and company arrive in Rivendell in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, the reader is met with an almost heavenly description of Elrond’s sanctuary. “His house was perfect, whether […]
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Gandalf, The Prophetic Mentor
Near the beginning of the Third Age of Middle-earth, the Valar commissioned the Istari as representatives from the Maiar to resist Sauron’s rise. Of the five chosen, only Olórin, better […]
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Pius Samwise: Roman Heroism in The Lord of the Rings
J.R.R. Tolkien received early training in the classics under Robert Cary Gilson when he studied at King Edward’s, an independent secondary school in Birmingham. According to Tolkien’s official biographer, Humphrey […]
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Ninety-Five Theses for a New Reformation: A Road Map for Post-Evangelical Christianity
Donald T. Williams. Ninety-Five Theses for a New Reformation: A Road Map for Post-Evangelical Christianity. Toccoa Falls, GA: Semper Reformanda Publications, 2021. 485 pp. In 1517, Martin Luther nailed a […]
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A Silent Genocide: Disability and the Ongoing Consequences of Social Darwinism
Disability is a term that is difficult to define, but much like G.K. Chesterton said of the term eugenics, “I know that it means very different things to different people; […]
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To Save a Life
“I didn’t want to kill them all. I didn’t want to kill anybody! I’m not a killer!”[1] Ender Wiggin could not believe what he had done. While fighting what he […]
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Materialism and Midichlorians: Pantheism, Naturalism, and Hope in Star Wars
Many people have complaints about the storyline and acting, but it has not prevented the Star Wars movies from becoming embedded in our hearts. George Lucas’s universe of Jedi Knights […]
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Book Review: An Encouraging Thought: The Christian Worldview in the Writings of J. R. R. Tolkien
Much has been written about the influence of J. R. R. Tolkien’s Christian faith on The Lord of the Rings and the entire canon of Middle-earth literature, so it may […]
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