David Russell Mosley Ordinary Time 4 February 2015 The Edge of Elfland Hudson, New Hampshire Dear Friends and Family, As I was looking over my feed reader today, I saw a post from the Center for Theology and Philosophy noting a sale on Conor Cunningham’s excellent Darwin’s Pious Idea. It can now be purchased for $7.98. This is an excellent deal and you should definitely jump on it. In honour of this great deal here are some of my letters... Read more
David Russell Mosley Epiphanytide Candlemas 2 February 2015 The Edge of Elfland Hudson, New Hampshire Dear Friends and Family, Well, we’re experiencing yet another snow storm here in New England, and while not a blizzard this time it is still keeping me and my family inside. Snow and ice are beautiful but perilous. I think it no coincidence that we tend to associate snow with Faërie. But more on that another day. I wanted to write to you about what... Read more
David Russell Mosley Epiphanytide St Thomas Aquinas 27 January 2015 The Edge of Elfland Hudson, New Hampshire Dear Friends and Family, Today is the feast day of St Thomas Aquinas. St Thomas was a Dominican Friar from Italy who taught at the University of Paris. The good doctor has increasingly become an important part of my life. Not only has his theological acumen enhanced my own, meager as it may be; but I have lately been equally influenced by his... Read more
David Russell Mosley Epiphanytide 22 January 2015 The Edge of Elfland Hudson, New Hampshire Dear Friends and Family, George MacDonald’s fairy tale, ‘The Light Princess’ is one of my favourites amongst his fairy tales. In many ways, it is a retelling of Sleeping Beauty. Let me explain. The story begins, very similarly with a king and queen who cannot have, but want, a baby. They are much sillier than the king and queen in sleeping beauty, but they are generally... Read more
David Russell Mosley Christmastide Twelfth Night 5 January 2015 The Edge of Elfland Hudson, New Hampshire Dear Friends and Family, Today I want to look at the fairy tale we most commonly call Sleeping Beauty. In truth, this tale has several titles, or variations, anyway. In French it is ‘La belle au bois dormant’, the Grimm’s called it ‘Little Briar Rose’, and there is an Italian story very similar to it called Sun, Moon, and Talia. I will be focusing... Read more
David Russell Mosley Christmastide Tolkien’s Birthday 3 January 2014 The Edge of Elfland Hudson, New Hampshire Dear Friends and Family, Today is the birthday for one of my favourite authors, J. R. R. Tolkien. He was born on this day in 1892 in Bloemfontein, South Africa. His works have been guiding lights for most of my life. I have done numerous posts about Tolkien and his works on this blog. Today, I want to look at one of his letters... Read more
David Russell Mosley Christmastide St Basil and St Gregory of Nazianzus 2 January 2015 The Edge of Elfland Hudson, New Hampshire Dear Friends and Family, The first fairy godmother I want to look at is Cinderella’s. The first thing to note is that she does not appear in the Grimm’s version of the tale. I could speculate what that might say about early nineteenth century Germany and the nature of protestantism, or why it is in the more Catholic French... Read more
David Russell Mosley Christmastide 30 December 2014 The Edge of Elfland Hudson, New Hampshire Dear Friends and Family, I’ve been thinking about godparenthood lately. My own boys don’t yet have godparents, the Restoration Movement having no real place for this in its liturgical or ecclesiological practices. Nevertheless, I am drawn to this practice. There is a beauty to it, this notion that your children have other parents, not merely to raise them should something happen to their natural parents, but... Read more
David Russell Mosley Advent Third Sunday of Advent 14 December 2014 The Edge of Elfland Hudson, New Hampshire Dear Friends and Family, Depending on when you want to place the end of one year and the start of another, I’m either several weeks late to the end/beginning of the year, or several weeks early. Still, I thought I would do a brief post reviewing this last year on Letters from the Edge of Elfland. Top Posts: The number one most viewed... Read more
David Russell Mosley Advent 10 December 2014 The Edge of Elfland Hudson, New Hampshire Dear Friends and Family, Last year I wrote a post responding to a new professor at my alma mater on Father Christmas. The problem, according to Dr Samples, is that Father Christmas/Santa Claus has become a source for perpetuating economic disparities. As I noted in the post, a friend of mine once told me that she discovered Santa wasn’t real because the rich(er) kids down the... Read more
Letters from the Edge of Elfland
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