Joy Marie Clarkson's Blog

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Reading with Joy — Chapter Nine

If anybody invited you to go to a newly discovered galaxy, would you go? I would. It’s a wonderful way to meet new and exciting people.

— Madeleine L'Engle

Friends, welcome to chapter nine of my Wrinkle in Time book club! Searching through the sinister halls of Central Central Intelligence, our heroes have finally encountered Mr. Murry—and found that, trapped in a glass prison, he is as blind to their presence as the possessed Charles Wallace is blind to love.

I was delighted to have lifelong Wrinkle enthusiast Dr. Matthew Rothaus Moser join me this week, reminding us of the difference between a fully realized human existence where the mind, heart, and imagination work together and a disembodied, purely rationalistic way of living. The deepest, truest things we can know are discovered with our loves, not with our minds.

It’s not too late to join in!

This is how the book club works: I’ll post an episode per chapter each week on Monday, which you can listen to in preparation for discussion. Then, I’ll post discussion questions on this website, my instagram, my twitter, and my Facebook. (full disclosure: I think discussion tends to go best on Instagram and Facebook). Post your thoughts, comments, questions on these threads as a way to engage the text. I also encourage you to discuss the book in real life (or over Facetime, given our weird times!) with a real friend… it’s so much more fun! In that spirit, each week I’ll have a different guest discussing each chapter with me.

A Wrinkle in Time (Time Quintet)

By Madeleine L'Engle

Buy on Amazon

Today’s Guest: Dr. Matthew Rothaus Moser

Matthew Rothaus Moser received a PhD in theology from Baylor University. After teaching at Loyola University Maryland as lecturer in Theology since 2013, he is excited to begin as Assistant Professor of Theology in the Honors College at Azusa Pacific University in Fall of 2020. He is the author of Love Itself is Understanding: Hans Urs von Balthasar’s Theology of the Saints and of the forthcoming Dante and the Poetic Practice of Theology. He tweets at @M_Rothaus_Moser.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:What is the significance of Mrs. Who’s glasses? What do you think they symbolize?How has seeing the world through eyes of love helped you be a truer friend? What books or other works of art have challenged you to listen to the conclusions of love alongside those of the mind?