Student Stories: Letting Go

Exodus 365 is something I would have never imagined doing in college, but here I am. At first, I saw it as a challenge. If I complete each discipline every week, I will be all set. In my eyes, this would be the ultimate level of discipline for self-improvement.

However, as I grew in my faith and talked with others who were sacrificing the same things, I learned that it wasn’t supposed to be looked at as some checklist challenge. My heart took a turn. The purpose of Exodus is really to sacrifice some of the things I enjoy doing and give them to the Lord. I also learned to give up "my time” and fill it by spending time with the Lord. Don’t get me wrong, this is a challenge, but my intention and pursuit are different from when I started.

Exodus put in perspective how worldly I am, and this scared me. But I needed this reality check. Right off the bat, I was struggling with giving up sweets, social media, and frivolous internet. However, it was necessary for my growth, considering that I would like to be able to lay down my life for my faith. It is crazy to think that I should be able to give up my whole life, but I struggle with making time for only twenty minutes of prayer each day.

Many people believe that to be a follower of Christ you must hold on for dear life because it will be tough living for him. But I say that being a follower of Christ is more like letting go for dear life, leaving all our desires behind to go serve him. We must let go of the things on this earth and keep our focus on the things above. This fueled my purpose, and this is what Exodus 365 taught me. I am forever changed.

Dan Campbell is a sophomore from Brighton, MI. He is studying Physical Education and Health. Dan runs on the cross-country team as well as the track team at Hope College. He loves nature, going on hikes, and exploring.

Genres, Tropes, and Satisfying Stories (Photos and Video)

By Piper Daleiden, a Junior at Hope College

Photos: Haniah Kring, a Senior at Hope College

Almost every reader has experienced the disappointment of reaching the end of a book just to feel dissatisfied with the conclusion. But what causes these novels to be unfulfilling? Why do they fail to meet our expectations?

On Thursday, October 21, 2021, Eleanor Bourg Nicholson and Rhonda Ortiz examined this topic in their presentation “Werewolves and Fainting Damsels: The Genius and Challenges of Genre Fiction,” hosted by the Saint Benedict Institute. Nicholson is an editor, educator, and the author of the Gothic novels A Bloody Habit and Brother Wolf. Ortiz is the author of the historical romance novel In Pieces. She is also a nonfiction writer and the founding editor of Chrism Press.

Ortiz began by defining the terms that she and Nicholson would return to throughout their presentation. “Genre” refers to a story’s content and overall form, and “genre conventions” are elements of a specific genre that are necessary to tell the story well. “Tropes” are characters, settings, premises, and plot devices that occur often in a genre but are not mandatory. Ortiz emphasized that it is impossible to write or find a story without tropes. However, although tropes and conventions might be common, they are not necessarily bad. “Conventions and obligatory scenes are form, not formulas, and tropes are tools, not clichés,” explained Ortiz. These components of a genre become well known for a reason: they reflect universal truths about the human story. For example, the “Who done it?” trope in detective fiction points to man’s natural inclination to search for truth. Overall, tropes allow readers to tap into something greater than themselves.

Nicholson held a magnifying glass over the progression of tropes and conventions in mystery and detective fiction. This genre relies on conventions so the reader will be satisfied at the conclusion of the story. Ronald Knox, a Catholic priest and author, summarized these conventions in his “Ten Commandments of Detective Fiction.” One of his rules is that the criminal needs to be mentioned in the early part of the story. However, Knox’s “Ten Commandments” proved to be controversial when other prominent authors, including Agatha Christie, formed the Detection Club with the goal of breaking Knox’s rules. While some of the Detection Club’s stories were successful, others struggled to please the readers without Knox’s conventions. Nicholson concluded that tropes in detective fiction should be tastefully used so that the reader is surprised but not incredulous about the identity of the culprit.

Ortiz flipped to a new chapter to explore tropes in romance fiction. The love story is extremely popular, even in genres outside of romance. Ortiz attributed this popularity to humanity’s natural desire to love and be loved, which stems from the romance between God and man. Within romance fiction, the conventions and obligatory scenes also find their roots in man’s relationship with God. For example, the trope of a damsel in distress reveals humanity’s deep need for a savior. Ortiz also discussed the challenges of writing with these tropes. In her recently released novel, she had to find a balance between using the damsel in distress trope and respecting the historical setting, characters, and plot. For Ortiz, this meant allowing her protagonist to be saved in a way that both followed the conventions of the romance genre and gave her protagonist independence.

Nicholson introduced the gothic genre, beginning with its historical context. This genre was a reaction to the Age of Reason, and even today, it encourages readers to consider what is beyond logic and empirical science. Gothic literature comes with its own set of tropes and conventions, and Nicholson stressed that there needs to be a sense that good can triumph in the end. Despite this genre’s darker themes and supernatural aspects, its tropes still reveal universal truths about man, especially by exposing the protagonist’s inner corruption and need for grace. Nicholson added that historically, gothic fiction has been grounded in anti-Catholicism. This can be seen in some of its tropes, such as “scary papists.” As a Catholic author in this genre, Nicholson balances these conventions by using tropes to “torture” her characters. In her novels, this might look like self-growth in the protagonist after having to rely on Catholic figures for help.

While stories of vampires and werewolves might be very different from an early American romance, Nicholson and Ortiz agreed that tropes and conventions can be artfully used to convey human universals and lead to a fulfilling conclusion, regardless of genre. Overall, they encouraged authors and readers alike to “unknot” a genre to explore the components of a satisfying story.

This event was co-sponsored by the Hope College Religion department and the Corpus Christi Foundation.

Student Stories: Praying in Song

When I was fourteen, I began playing at Mass once a month at my home parish, Holy Rosary in Cedar, MI. My older sister, Kirsten, who is also a Church musician, taught me how to plan music that was both appropriate for the liturgical season and fitting for the day's particular set of readings. A year later, Kirsten went off to study at the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music (PIMS) in Rome. This left me as the primary organist at Holy Rosary, a position I held until I graduated from high school in 2019. During that time, I planned music for both the Ordinary and the Extraordinary Forms of the Mass.

In June of 2018 I visited Kirsten in Rome. While I was there, the choir from PIMS went to the island of San Giulio in Northern Italy to sing a concert of Gregorian chant. Professor Prassl, the choir director, said that I could rehearse with them. After the first rehearsal, he invited me to sing the concert with the choir. I gladly accepted. Singing with the PIMS choir opened my eyes to a world of chant I had never been exposed to before. They sang the chant according to semiology, which means that each note gets a distinct value instead of each note being of equal value. It was on that trip that I realized I wanted to study Gregorian chant and its history on a deeper level.

There is such a wide variety of music for the liturgy, including chants, hymns, choral music, propers, Mass settings, and even instrumental music that, when used wisely, can elevate the Mass as a whole. My goal when planning music for the liturgy is to choose music that the congregation can participate in while directing their thoughts and prayers to God.

Leading a church full of people in worship in the liturgy, which is the source and summit of our faith, is something that I’m grateful to be a part of. My favorite part of playing for Mass is when the organ is blaring and everyone in the church is singing their hearts out. I enjoy playing for the on-campus Mass as a way to give back to the community that has given me so many of the parts of life that matter, like real friendships, a deeper relationship with the Lord, and my faith as a whole.

Kelli Trudeau is a junior from Suttons Bay, MI. She is studying Organ Performance and Classical Studies. Kelli works as the organist and music director at a parish near her hometown. At Hope College, she sings in the Chapel Choir. Kelli spent the summer working on a cherry farm.

Before You Were Born

October 27, 7 p.m. in Schaap Auditorim in the Bultman Student Center

Students Cherishing Life is hosting a talk by Dr. Donna J. Harrison, the CEO of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Dr. Harrison will deliver an address titled “Before You Were Born: The Beginning Stages of Pregnancy and Life According to Science.” The Saint Benedict Institute is co-sponsoring the talk.

RSVP is encouraged via QR code.

This event is free and open to the public. Due to Hope College’s COVID precautions, masks are required indoors on campus for all individuals who are vaccinated or unvaccinated.

Dr. Donna J. Harrison

Dr. Donna Harrison is a physician, board-certified in obstetrics and gynecology. She completed an Honors Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and Chemistry at Michigan State University and an M.D. from University of Michigan. She completed her residency training in obstetrics and gynecology from St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, an affiliate of University of Michigan. She was in private practice for 10 years.

She serves as CEO of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, AAPLOG, and has been active with the organization since 1996. AAPLOG is the largest non-sectarian pro-life physician organization in the world, with over 7,000 members across the U.S., and international members on every continent. 

Student Stories: Welcome Back!

These first few weeks at Hope have made me feel like I've begun freshman year all over again. I didn't realize how much I missed this last year until it was given back to me. Sunday Mass on campus, for example, has been such a blessing to return to. There is something so special that I can't quite articulate about having our own little parish community at Hope, something that was largely lost last year. Yes, we still gathered—in small groups, at St. Francis, in class—but it was all very aloof and unfriendly in many ways. In class, we may have been together, but we were asked to face forward and have minimal movement, putting a damper on socialization.

St. Francis was amazingly welcoming to all students as we became regular parishioners, but that small, tight-knit community was hard to come by in such a large space with distancing regulations. These all became the norm, however, and I think many of us began to forget that this isn't how it's supposed to be. I don't think I fully realized it until my first Sunday Mass back on campus, the first I've attended in Winants in eighteen months. We were all back again! The seats were full of students excited to see one another as the new school year began. We gathered together and worshipped and became one through the Body of Christ, all together on our campus, in our space. Welcome back, Hope College! The Lord has great plans in store for us.

Grace Brown is a junior from Grand Rapids, MI. She is studying public accounting. Grace is president of the pro-life group on campus, Students Cherishing Life. Grace and her mom started a podcast this summer called “Thanks Mom.”

The Gender Paradigm and the Genesis Paradigm (Photos and Video)

By Karlie Platz, a Junior at Hope College

Photos: Haniah Kring, a Senior at Hope College

What is a man? What is a woman? And why have these questions become so hard to answer? On Thursday, September 30, 2021, the Saint Benedict Institute was pleased to host Dr. Abigail Favale, whose lecture titled “The Genesis of Gender” explored these very questions. Favale is the Dean of Humanities at George Fox University in Newberg, Oregon. An evangelical convert to Catholicism, she outlined her conversion story in her memoir Into the Deep. Her scholarly work exploring the Christian understanding of reality, human identity, and sexual difference has been featured in several literary and academic journals.

The topics of sexuality, gender, and the body are undeniably controversial in our current culture, and Dr. Favale did not ignore the tension surrounding her lecture. Having previously identified herself as a postmodern feminist, Favale understands the perspective of those who oppose her and believes their views ultimately come from a place of goodwill. Nevertheless, she is steadfast in her belief that the only way to approach such a challenging and divisive topic is to “hold it up to the light of divine revelation.”

Favale opened by providing a brief overview of the history of gender. Up until the 1950s, she explained, gender was a binary category equated with sex. Males were men and females were women. However, things quickly became more complicated, in part due to the work of the French writer Simone de Beauvoir and New Zealand psychologist John Money. Both Beauvoir and Money believed that gender was a malleable social construct that we are taught at a young age. Money even tried to test this theory by prescribing gender reassignment to a boy named David Reimer after a failed circumcision. David rebelled against this reassignment and tragically committed suicide in his thirties, but Money’s social construct idea of gender had already been widely accepted by then.

This idea went one step further in the 1990s and early 2000s when philosophers such as Judith Butler began to propose that sex, in addition to gender, was a social construct. Butler argued that “nothing is real,” including sex. This resulted in a complete reversal of the roles of sex and gender. Rather than biological sex determining gender, the gender that one felt most aligned with was supposed to determine their sex. This isn’t problematic if sex “isn’t real,” as Butler claims, but Favale argues that the physical reality of our bodies invalidates that argument. In her eyes, this new concept of gender has “driven a wedge between body and identity” and created a new “gender paradigm” that is fundamentally at odds with our origin, identity, and purpose. Her solution? To replace the gender paradigm with what she calls the “genesis paradigm.”

The gender and genesis paradigms provide two different worldviews through which to understand ourselves, our bodies, and our purpose. They ultimately disagree on six main points, which Favale discussed in order: creation, reality, body, sexual difference, language, and freedom. Favale explained how the gender paradigm implies that we ourselves are the creator, free to choose our own identity at will. Conversely, the genesis paradigm identifies God as the creator. We “do not come from something” but “from someone,” and our first and most important identity is that of an image-bearer of the one from whom we came. Since we are not the creator, reality is not a malleable construct that we can grasp and recreate to our liking, but a gift we must receive and tend to.

Furthermore, as image-bearers, our bodies are not meaningless objects but sacraments, or visible signs of an invisible reality. Favale explained that sexual difference further communicates this invisible reality. Rather than being an “illusion,” as the gender paradigm would suggest, sexual difference is a revelation of God’s love. The physical complementarity of the two sexes that enables them to become “one flesh” (Genesis 2:24) allows our love to be a complete gift of self. This is a symbol on earth of Jesus’s love for us and the absolute, perfect union he desires to have with each of us in eternity.

One big problem with the gender paradigm’s view of sexual difference as “not real,” Favale argues, is that it attempts to assign reality using human speech. On the contrary, the genesis paradigm asserts that “divine speech makes reality, human speech identifies reality.” Favale believes that sexual difference was spoken into being by the Word of God when he made them “male and female” (Genesis 10:6), and therefore our language can only recognize and proclaim this reality rather than create a new one.

The final aspect of the two paradigms that Favale touched on was freedom. Ultimately, the gender paradigm views freedom as transgression: permissiveness, pushing the boundaries, and making our own meaning. The genesis paradigm views freedom as belonging and becoming who we are as God’s beloved creation.

After outlining the irreconcilable differences between the gender paradigm and the genesis paradigm, Favale offered a somber but important piece of wisdom: if we don’t make a conscious decision about which paradigm we inhabit, it will be made for us. Favale believes that our ultimate purpose is to give and receive love, but in order to do that, we must accept our bodies and the identity they give us as a gift from the Father. Therefore, she asserts that the genesis paradigm provides the best lens through which to understand our sexual difference. Man and woman must be defined by embodiment because it is the physical sign of our bodies that reveals our purpose: to bear God’s image and unite ourselves to him through self-giving love.

Jared Ortiz on "Outside the Walls"

Dr. Jared Ortiz, the Executive Director and Co-Founder of the Saint Benedict Institute, was recently interviewed on the “Outside the Walls” podcast. He discussed the work that SBI does with Catholic and non-Catholic students at Hope College and how it thrives in an ecumenical space.

One Child Nation: Film Screening and Discussion

Monday, October 25, 7:00 p.m. in Winants Auditorium

China’s one-child policy, the extreme population control measure that made it illegal for couples to have more than one child, may have ended in 2015, but the process of dealing with the trauma of its brutal enforcement is only just beginning. From award-winning documentarian Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang, One Child Nation explores the ripple effects of this devastating social experiment, uncovering one shocking human rights violation after another — from abandoned newborns (almost always girls), to forced sterilizations and abortions to government abductions. Learn more about the documentary by clicking here.

The film screening will be followed by a discussion with Dr. Dennis Feaster, Associate Professor of Social Work, and Dr. Gloria Tseng, Associate Professor of History.

This event is free and open to the public. Due to Hope College’s COVID precautions, masks are required indoors on campus for all individuals who are vaccinated or unvaccinated.

This event is co-sponsored by Markets and Morality.

Dr. Dennis Feaster

Dennis Feaster joined the sociology and social work department in fall 2013 as an assistant professor of social work. He primarily teaches Human Behavior in the Social Environment, Social Policy, Social Interventions 2, and Social Work Field Placement.

Dr. Gloria Tseng

Professor Tseng came to Hope in 2003 from the University of Oregon Honors College. She teaches Interdisciplinary Studies 171 and a series of upper-level history courses, including Modern China, Twentieth-century Europe, and World War II: Collaboration and Resistance.

Werewolves and Fainting Damsels: The Genius and Challenges of Genre Fiction

Click Here for Photos, Video, and a Student Reflection

Thursday, October 21, 7:00 p.m. in Winants Auditorium

When we first encounter a book, its genre raises certain expectations for what we, as readers, will find within the pages. In this talk, two authors pull back the creative curtain to show how novelists negotiate the complicated network of tropes and conventions that operate within the realm of popular genre fiction. Hear from two practitioners—Eleanor Bourg Nicholson, author of the Gothic novels A Bloody Habit and Brother Wolf, and Rhonda Ortiz, author of the historical romance novel In Pieces and founding editor of Chrism Press—what rules are to be observed, what rules are to be broken, and how genre and imagination combine to create a vivid narrative.

Books will be available for purchase at the event, and (barring an unexpected fainting fit) the authors will be available for book signing.

This event is free and open to the public. Due to Hope College’s COVID precautions, masks are required indoors on campus for all individuals who are vaccinated or unvaccinated.

This event is co-sponsored by the Religion department and the Corpus Christi Foundation.

Eleanor Bourg Nicholson

In addition to scholarly pursuits, Eleanor Bourg Nicholson occasionally strays into fiction, including her epistolary novella, The Letters of Magdalen Montague, and her Gothic novels, A Bloody Habit and Brother Wolf. Eleanor is the resident Victorian literature instructor at Homeschool Connections and with her husband homeschools their children. By night, she reads, writes, and cares for feral offspring. Visit her at eleanorbourgnicholson.com.

Rhonda Ortiz

Rhonda Franklin Ortiz is a Lay Dominican, novelist, nonfiction writer, and founding editor of Chrism Press. In Pieces, the first novel of her Molly Chase series, was the recipient of two awards, including the competitive ACFW Genesis Award. A native Oregonian, she attended St. John’s College in historic Annapolis, Maryland and now lives in Michigan with her husband and children. Find her online at rhondaortiz.com.

An Uncomfortable Conversation Worth Having (Photos and Video)

Conversations on race are uncomfortable, said President Matthew Scogin, who served as moderator for “Race, Racism, and Antiracism: A Dialogue on How Christians Should Think About Race.” However, we desperately need models of healthy, civil dialogue on this important issue, even if this conversation would only feature two perspectives out of many. Dialogue is not the same as action, but both are necessary, and Hope is striving to do both.

Dr. Kevin Kambo

With that introduction, President Scogin asked the two panelists to introduce themselves. Dr. Kevin Kambo, assistant professor of philosophy, hails from Kenya. He shared that he never had to confront the issue of race until he arrived in the United States. In fact, it was only when he came to the U.S. that he realized he was Black. He said that he would bring this unusual perspective, as well as his work in ancient philosophy, to bear on the modern problem of racism.

Dr. Matt Jantzen, director of the Emmaus Scholars Program and visiting assistant professor of ministry studies, brought a theological and activist perspective to the conversation. Moving from Vermont, one of the whitest states in the union, to North Carolina for graduate studies, he was forced to confront racial issues and became a community organizer in the fight for justice.

President Scogin got the conversation going with a foundational question: What is race, and what is racism? According to Dr. Kambo, racism is the application of an unjust double standard based on race or ancestry. Race itself is a lie, an idol that blinds us to injustice. It deafens us to the suffering of others, and it makes us dumb—both in the sense of preventing us from speaking when we should, and causing us to say dumb things.

Dr. Matt Jantzen

Dr. Jantzen agreed that race is a lie and elaborated further, identifying it as a social construct originating with European Christians in the early modern period. To justify their rule of other peoples, they constructed an idea that made themselves, rather than Christ, the center and ruler of creation. Whiteness is an idol, a profoundly anti-Christian worldview that is broader than individual acts or even systems.

When asked about antiracism, Dr. Jantzen said that it is in flux. Antiracism is increasingly popular, but much of what is being done is superficial, performative, and hypocritical. Truly useful antiracism will involve costly conversion leading to meaningful actions on the personal and cultural levels.

Dr. Kambo proposed that since racism is a rationalization for oppression, antiracism must be an effort to foster unity by dismantling oppression. Our enemies, he stressed, are principalities and powers, not other individuals or races.

President Matthew Scogin

President Scogin outlined the scriptural narrative of God reconciling the nations to himself from Babel to the New Jerusalem and asked whether antiracism is congruent with Christ’s work of breaking down the dividing wall of enmity between peoples. Dr. Jantzen talked about how whiteness is a rejection of the biblical story of the Gentiles being grafted onto God’s people Israel. White people instead identify themselves as the chosen race, thereby rejecting the Jews and other ethnic groups.

Dr. Kambo reflected on the difficulty of precisely defining “whiteness” and the need to smash the idol of racism.  Instead, the focus should be on the icon—each and every human being, regardless of ethnicity, who is made in the image of God.

The panelists answered questions from members of the audience.

 While answering questions from the audience, both panelists further articulated their thoughts on race. Dr. Kambo asserted that policing blackness and defining white culture are both impossible tasks, and that it would be better to acknowledge and embrace the diversity within racial groups. Dr. Jantzen stressed that we must deal with the history of racism before we can achieve unity, and that we cannot jump over this step and arrive at cheap and easy reconciliation. He also emphasized that skin color is not a natural and neutral category; there was a time before race, and we can look forward to a time after race. Dr. Kambo further sharpened his definition of race by saying that it is a social construct that introduces a destructive disorder into society.

Dr. Kambo and Dr. Jantzen shook hands at the end of the dialogue.

Finally, President Scogin asked both professors to identify what members of the Hope College community can do about the issue of racism. Dr. Kambo advised us to seek the truth, to purify ourselves through prayer and fasting, and to face other people as individuals rather than representatives of a race. Dr. Jantzen was emphatic that progress will only come when large numbers of ordinary people organize and force those in power to act. He told students to be active citizens and community organizers.

To conclude, the president reminded everyone that we are united in Christ, even (or perhaps especially) when we are having difficult conversations. May Christ keep us united as members of his Body as we seek to confront injustice in our community.

The Christological Structure of Spiritual Growth in the Thought of St. Bernard

Sunday, September 26, 2021

8:30 PM 9:30 PM

REGISTER HERE

Free and open to the public. This event will be held online through Zoom (registration required) and live-streamed to YouTube. This event is part of a summer webinar series on Monastic Wisdom.

Speaker: Father Roch Kereszty, O. Cist., Our Lady of Dallas Cistercian Abbey

Wisdom from the Heart of the Cistercian Tradition

Join us once per month, June through September, for four Sunday evening sessions featuring monks from Our Lady of Dallas Monastery who will lead us through a series of reflections examining the contours of the monastic intellectual tradition. At the foundations of the Cistercian order is the reform movement of St. Bernard of Clairvaux. In faithfulness to their founder, these webinars invite participants to see how the monastic approach to Scripture, theology, and the common life might reform our own understanding and endeavors in the labors of daily Christianity. 

This series is co-presented with Our Lady of Dallas Cistercian Abbey, and co-sponsored by the Harvard Catholic Forum, the Nova Forum, the Saint Benedict Institute, and Studies in Catholic Faith and Culture at the University of Dallas.

The Genesis of Gender: Christian and Feminist Perspectives on Sex and Gender (Video)

Click Here for Photos, Video, and a Student Reflection

What is gender, and how has that word come to take on so many conflicting and controversial meanings in our contemporary moment? In this lecture, Dr. Abigail Favale will trace the development of the concept of gender, analyze the worldview behind it, and compare that worldview with a Christian understanding of reality, human identity, and sexual difference.

Abigail Favale, Ph.D., is Dean of Humanities and Professor of English at George Fox University. Her award-winning work has appeared in The Atlantic, First Things, Church Life, and various literary and academic journals. Her memoir, Into the Deep: An Unlikely Catholic Conversion, was published in 2018, and her latest book, The Genesis of Gender, will be released by Ignatius Press in early 2022. Abigail lives in Oregon with her husband and four children.

This event is free and open to the public. Due to Hope College’s COVID precautions, masks are required indoors on campus for all individuals who are vaccinated or unvaccinated. A video recording of the event will be made available online afterward.

This event is co-sponsored by the Hope College departments of Women's and Gender Studies, History, Political Science, Sociology and Social Work, Philosophy, and Religion, Markets and Morality, the Center for Ministry Studies, and the Cultural Affairs Committee, as well as the student organization Hope Catholics.