About Hieropraxis
Hieropraxis is the blog of Dr Holly Ordway, writer, speaker, teacher, and Christian apologist. She explores the intersection of literature and faith, and of reason and imagination.
In addition, a number of guest writers contribute pieces on a regular basis, helping to make Hieropraxis into a true community of writers (and readers!).
“Hieropraxis” combines the words “hieros” (meaning “sacred” in Greek) and “praxis” (meaning “practice” or “action”). Hieropraxis is thus a place to explore the practice of living a holy life, a life lived in the light of the knowledge of God revealed to us in the person of Jesus Christ. A new word formed from two ancient ones, Hieropraxis reminds us that the faith once delivered to the saints can indeed be lived out, in all its richness and truth, in the present day.
Dr. Holly Ordway
Dr Holly Ordway. Photo copyright: Lancia Smith, www.lanciaesmith.com
Dr. Holly Ordway has a doctorate in English Literature from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, an MA in English Literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and an MA in Christian Apologetics from Biola University.
Dr. Ordway’s book Not God’s Type: A Rational Academic Finds a Radical Faith (Moody Publishers, 2010) chronicles her intellectual and emotional journey from atheism to faith in Christ as her Lord and Savior.
She speaks and writes regularly on literature, especially fantasy literature and poetry, and literary apologetics.
She is a professor of composition and literature at MiraCosta College in North County San Diego, and is a member of the teaching ministry at St. Michael’s by-the-Sea in Carlsbad, CA.
Her favorite authors are C.S. Lewis and Gerard Manley Hopkins, and she considers a really good cup of coffee to be one of life’s simple pleasures.
Contact Information
Email: hollyordway (at) gmail.com
Guest Contributors
Margie Donaldson
Margie Donaldson enjoys nature and loves the way God communicates with her intimately and uniquely through His beautiful creation. She began journaling about these intimate encounters with God shortly after moving to begin a new work as the Innkeeper at Moore Cottage, the Inn located on the campus of the future C.S. Lewis College.
Margie and Eric, her husband of nearly 20 years, along with their two teenaged boys, Zachary and Cody, devote their days in service to Christ in Northfield, MA.
Fr. Ivor Kraft
Father Kraft was ordained on the Feast of St. Barnabas the Apostle, 1972, and served parishes in Pittsburgh and San Diego. He holds degrees in music, theology and psychology as well as a certificate in spiritual direction from the Roman Catholic (RC) Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
Father Kraft served from 1995 until 2005 as an adjunct faculty member for Talbot School of Theology at BIOLA University and since 1993, has taught homiletics for the Office for the Permanent Diaconate of the RC Diocese of San Diego.
Father Kraft retired at the end of 2004 from full time parish ministry. Since January 2007, he has served as an associate priest at St. Michael’s by-the-Sea. He and his wife Dorothy have two children and one grandchild.
Ken Mann
Ken Mann is a graduate student in Biola’s Science and Religion program. A software engineer by way of vocation, a physicist by way of education, and a devout follower of Jesus Christ, in his words, by necessity, Ken sees the most powerful argument for Christianity as its relevance to every facet of human existence. Studying theology, apologetics, and philosophy of science is the latest expression of that belief in his life. After Biola, Ken hopes to encourage other believers with the powerful evidence for God’s providence and presence in creation.
Ken is married to Susan and they have a teenage daughter Sarah.
Fr. Doran Stambaugh, S.S.C.
The Rev. Doran Stambaugh is the priest in charge of St Michael’s by-the-Sea, an Episcopal church in the Anglo-Catholic tradition.
He graduated from Wheaton College with a degree in Communications, and graduated cum laude with a Master of Divinity from Nashotah House Theological Seminary in the Spring of 2005.
He was ordained to the priesthood by The Rt. Rev. Keith L. Ackerman, SSC, on The Feast of the Transfiguration, 2005 at St. Michael’s-by-the-Sea. Fr Doran is also a member of the Society of the Holy Cross (SSC).
Fr. Doran and his wife Therese have three children.
Melissa Travis
Melissa Travis describes herself as “a Daughter of the King seeking His will in all of life.” She is a graduate student at Biola University, studying for my Master’s in Science and Religion (a Christian Apologetics degree). She is wife to Jonathan (12 years and counting) and a homeschool mom to two boys, Corban (7) and Cayden (3). She is an obsessive reader, her favorites being books on apologetics, the works of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, and Christian historical fiction. Melissa writes for her own blog, Hard-Core Christianity: Apologetics, Worldview, and the Kingdom Mindset, and is the director of the Woodlands Chapter of Reasonable Faith.
