Ordinary Time 16 September 2018 The Edge of Elfland Concord, NH Dearest Readers, It seems lately all I do is apologize for how long it has been between letters. As you know, just over a month ago a cascade of scandal fell upon the Church. I gave my own brief response to it and stopped writing. I didn’t know how to keep on writing. My faith has not been shaken, but I couldn’t figure out how to keep writing about... Read more
Ordinary Time Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist The Edge of Elfland Manchester, NH Dearest Readers, Here is the latest episode of my podcast, To Wonder and to Wander. In it I rehearse the claims made by Dr. Michael Ward in his groundbreaking book Planet Narnia, and consider what it could mean to read the Chronicles of Narnia in the order of the medieval planets. Give it a listen below or subscribe on iTunes. Sincerely, David Read more
Ordinary Time Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary The Edge of Elfland Concord, NH Dearest Readers, I cried today. Tears and I have a complicated relationship. I will often well up at a sentimental movie or even advertisement, at moving scenes in books, but in real life, tears are often absent. I don’t know why this is, why I am so willing to weep at things more remote than those closer to home. And this is not... Read more
Ordinary Time 10 August 2018 The Edge of Elfland Concord, NH Dearest Readers, As I have mentioned in my letters before, I often find it necessary to get out and walk in nature. I do not particularly care for mountain hiking, though I do love the views at the top, but I often find in myself a need to be out amongst the trees, to get as far away as I can from the road, and listen to and breathe... Read more
Ordinary Time 31 July 2018 The Edge of Elfland Concord, New Hampshire Dearest Readers, When I first started writing these letters, long before becoming Catholic was even on the horizon, I saw that Church universal, at least in the UK (where I was then living and this was called Letters from Nottingham) and the US had a geography problem. With the rise of the car and the interstate highway (or motorways in the UK) people no longer needed to attend... Read more
Ordinary Time 18 July 2018 The Edge of Elfland Concord, New Hampshire Dearest Readers, The other day I came across a facebook post by the inimitable Malcolm Guite. I can’t recall the exact circumstances of it, but in it he briefly mentioned the beginning of Wendell Berry’s “How to Be a Poet (to remind myself),” “Make a place to sit down.” I have to admit that as much as I am told I will love Wendell Berry, I have read... Read more
Ordinary Time 15 July 2018 The Edge of Elfland Concord, New Hampshire Dearest Readers, First, let me apologize for the radio silence over the last month. I’ve been spending a lot of good quality time with my family and that means less time for writing. But there are other things that have been distracting me from these letters that I thought I would let you know about. First of all, while writing for the blog has dropped off, that doesn’t... Read more
Ordinary Time 6 June 2018 The Edge of Elfland Concord, New Hampshire Dearest Readers, As I continue to think about the green man this week, it dawned me that there is something unusual about his inclusion in churches: he is never green. The green men are always carved out of stone. This got me to thinking about Tolkien’s ents. Let me explain what I mean. In The Two Towers as Treebeard, the ents, and Merry and Pippin begin their march... Read more
Ordinary Time 5 June 2018 The Edge of Elfland Concord, New Hampshire Dearest Readers, Recently, I have been slowly re-watching Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy II: The Golden Army. And first, let me just say what a travesty it is that del Toro will never get to film the third and final chapter of his planned Hellboy films. One of the things I love about Hellboy II is how much closer to home del Toro bring Faërie. The Troll Market, for... Read more
Ordinary Time 4 June 2018 The Edge of Elfland Concord, New Hampshire Dearest Readers, A few years ago in the church of St. Eustace in Paris, France a stag was filmed walking around inside. This has been bouncing around my newsfeed again, lately, so I thought I would look into it. I am a little disappointed to say that it turns out the stag was not wild, but a trained deer named Chambord and he was being filmed for an... Read more
Letters from the Edge of Elfland
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