David Russell Mosley Ordinary Time Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary The Edge of Elfland Hudson, New Hampshire Dear Friends and Family, I’ve finally started reading Chesterton’s The Outline of Sanity in earnest and wanted to share this quotation, a day late for Labor Day, but perhaps not inappropriate for the feast of the birth of Mary: “About fifteen years ago a few of us began to preach, in the old New Age and New Witness, a policy of small... Read more
David Russell Mosley Ordinary Time 7 September 2015 The Edge of Elfland Hudson, New Hampshire Dear Friends and Family, “I am the ill intent.” So says Wilson Fisk in the season finalé of Marvel’s Daredevil. I’ve finally finished watching this magnificent show. It is perhaps one of the most Catholic shows I’ve seen. It follows the attempts of Matthew Murdock, Daredevil, a Roman Catholic son of a boxer born and raised in Hell’s Kitchen and of Wilson Fisk as each... Read more
David Russell Mosley Ordinary Time 4 September 2015 The Edge of Elfland Hudson, New Hampshire Dear Friends and Family, It is surprising to me that I haven’t written to you on this topic. After all, this blog is called, Letters from the Edge of Elfland. One would think that I would have written about the act of writing letters before now on here, but I haven’t. Therefore, it is time to rectify that. We live in a time of unparalleled... Read more
David Russell Mosley Ordinary Time 4 September 2015 The Edge of Elfland Hudson, New Hampshire Dear Friends and Family, Sometimes I see visions. I’ve written to you about them before, but I find myself returning to the visionary and mystical aspects of Christianity again and again. Now, I want to be clear, I make no claims to have prophetic visions or to be a prophet. My visions are likely only meant for me. I seriously worry sometimes about whether or... Read more
David Russell Mosley Ordinary Time 13th Sunday after Trinity The Edge of Elfland Hudson, New Hampshire Dear Friends and Family, As many of you know I have, over the last few years, become particularly interested in things like Catholic Social Teaching, localism, agrarianism, some aspects of the artisan movement (at least insofar as it represents a return to making things ourselves and usually by hand or using less mechanized means of production), etc., in short that I have become interested... Read more
David Russell Mosley Ordinary Time 21 August 2015 The Edge of Elfland Hudson, New Hampshire Dear Friends and Family, As I announced on my personal Facebook page and both twitter accounts yesterday, I have had my faërie romance, On the Edges of Elfland (still just a working title) accepted for publication with Wipf and Stock Publishers under their Resource Publications imprint. While more well known for their theological books, they’ve also published several works of fiction as well as one... Read more
David Russell Mosley Ordinary Time Feast of St Bernard The Edge of Elfland Hudson, New Hampshire Dear Friends and Family, Several things have aligned in my life to bring me to this letter. The first is my annual re-read of C. S. Lewis’s Cosmic Trilogy (Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength). I’m currently in the beginning of Perelandra. The second is what re-reading this always leads me to, this interview with John Milbank, here’s a textual... Read more
David Russell Mosley Ordinary Time 11th Sunday after Trinity The Edge of Elfland Hudson, New Hampshire Dear Friends and Family, A few weeks ago at my church we had a sermon on fasting. It was a good sermon, largely compiled from Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline, but a good sermon. It, as I have not yet told the one preaching it (who blogs here), inspired me to try to take up the ancient Christian practice of fasting, at least partially,... Read more
David Russell Mosley Ordinary Time 12 August 2015 The Edge of Elfland Hudson, New Hampshire Dear Friends and Family, In honour of Hans Urs von Balthasar’s birthday today, I give you a meaningful passage from the final volume in his Theo-Drama, The Last Act: What is certain is that our earthly existence, though refined and transfigured in God’s fire, will enter into heaven; the new world will remain our world. In heaven, the life we have led on earth will... Read more
David Russell Mosley Ordinary Time Margaret of Antioch 20 July 2015 The Edge of Elfland Beeston, Nottingham Dear Friends and Family, While I provided an update on my earlier post, I thought I’d write again to let you know how things went. When entered my viva today (what the British call their thesis defenses) there were five possible outcomes: 1. Abject failure. I walk in and they tell me, “Nope, sorry.” 2. Referral, this is not technically a pass but... Read more
Letters from the Edge of Elfland
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