Letters from the Edge of Elfland
Creation is not just what we see with our senses as secular modernity has taught us to do, but that there are deeper truths behind created reality. Read more
Creation is not just what we see with our senses as secular modernity has taught us to do, but that there are deeper truths behind created reality. Read more
David Russell Mosley Ordinary Time 3 July 2017 The Edge of Elfland Manchester, New Hampshire Dearest Readers, I am, once again, in the midst of my annual read of the Harry Potter series. I’ve reached Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (which I wrote about last year here). Every time I read this book I struck, rather uncomfortably, by certain similarities between myself and boy-Voldemort. When Dumbledore shows Harry his memory of first meeting ten-year-old Tom Riddle we see not... Read more
David Russell Mosley Ordinary Time 29 June 2017 The Edge of Elfland Manchester, New Hampshire Dearest Readers, I feel rather remiss, but I have something to tell you. Not long ago I had an essay appear in a new literary journal called Convivium. The first issue was titled Root and Twig and looked at issues of inheritance and the bearing of literary fruit. It is edited by fellow Patheos Catholic writer Rebecca Bratten Weiss, and is wonderful. I cannot recommend... Read more
David Russell Mosley Ordinary Time 27 June 2017 The Edge of Elfland Manchester, New Hampshire Dear Readers, I am so happy to tell you that not only my panel but, I believe, every or nearly every panel and keynote that was recorded has been posted, FOR FREE, on SoundCloud. Our panel was called, Rendering the World Strange: Folk Piety and Imagination. Jess, Kevin, and I got together some months ago to create this panel. We saw a need to talk... Read more
I'm not sure I've ever stayed up later, laughed more, or generally been happier at a conference than I was at the "Trying to Say 'God'" conference. Read more
David Russell Mosley Ordinary Time 21 June 2017 The Edge of Elfland Manchester, New Hampshire Dear Readers, Very briefly, a quick update on my life. As many of you know I started working back in April at a Catholic liberal arts high school. Well, apparently I’ve done some good work because today it was officially announced that I have been promoted to Dean of Humanities. Now that that’s out of the way, I want to tell you about this conference... Read more
David Russell Mosley Ordinary Time 14 June 2017 The Edge of Elfland Manchester, New Hampshire Dear Readers, One of my recent letters, “I Am Not a Convert,” earned an unusual amount of comment for one of my posts. Many people took umbrage with my use of the term, particularly as I used it in a somewhat totalizing way. There were some few, some happy few, who agreed with me. So I wanted to dig into this question a little further... Read more
David Russell Mosley Ordinary Time 10 June 2017 The Edge of Elfland Hudson, New Hampshire Dear Readers, Today is my one year anniversary with Patheos Catholic. I can’t believe the ways writing for Patheos have honestly changed my life. Moving Letters from the Edge of Elfland here have allowed me to interact with new and wonderful people and has caused me to write more and more consistently (at least until I started my new job a few weeks ago). Without... Read more
David Russell Mosley Eastertide 9 June 2017 The Edge of Elfland Hudson, New Hampshire Dear Readers, Two nights ago, after a long and hard day, I sat outside with my pipe and my computer under the stars. I’ve been slowly doing some work on Medieval cosmology, which will hopefully pick up if my paper proposal is accepted. Because of this, my night under the stars took on a different flare. Lewis in The Discarded Image recommends that one must take... Read more
Becoming Catholic certainly hasn't made me perfect. But I finally feel at peace, at home. But there's one phrase, one description of myself that I truly dislike, that I cannot get on board with: I am not a Catholic convert. Read more
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