Contributors
Dr. Holly Ordway
Dr Holly Ordway. Photo copyright: Lancia Smith, www.lanciaesmith.com
Dr Holly Ordway is a poet, academic, and Christian apologist. She is the Chair of the Department of Apologetics at Houston Baptist University and the director of HBU’s MA in Apologetics program, which focuses on cultural apologetics. She 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 speaks and writes regularly on literature and the role of imagination in apologetics, with special attention to the work of CS Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Charles Williams.
She is the author of Not God’s Type: A Rational Academic Finds a Radical Faith (Moody Publishers, 2010) and is currently working on a book on literary apologetics.
Dr. Ordway was received into the Roman Catholic Church in Michaelmas 2012. She believes that ‘mere Christianity’ provides an excellent framework for Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox brothers and sisters in Christ to work together for the Kingdom, and is very happy to be putting that belief into practice in her work at Houston Baptist University.
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 great pleasures.
You can become a friend on Facebook, ‘like’ the Hieropraxis Facebook page, and follow on Twitter: @HollyOrdway
(I’m also on Google+ but I don’t do much there.)
Hieropraxis Writers
(in alphabetical order)
Mario Alejandre
Mario Alejandre lives in Salt Lake City, UT. He holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of Utah in philosophy and an M.A. in Christian Apologetics at Biola University. In the past, he has been involved in the National Student Dialogue, an event designed to promote civil and gracious dialogue between Evangelicals and Latter-Day Saints. Currently, he leads a weekly class called Christianity Explored, a look at what it means to be a human in the midst of God’s story. He is also co-director of Athanatos Christian Ministries‘ Literary Apologetics Certificate Program.
You can follow him on Twitter at @u2gospel.
Kelly Belmonte
Kelly Belmonte is a program designer and facilitator of structured settings for the making of beauty, connection, and meaning. Wife, mother, blogger, published poet, and puttering gardener, Kelly has set down roots in her “discovered country” of New England after emigrating from upstate New York over half a lifetime ago.
Her own blog is All Nine. She writes: ‘The “nine” of All Nine is a reference to the nine sister muses of Greek mythology. These inspirational sisters represent multiple domains of creativity and intelligence, from epic poetry to science. For any vision to move from the inside of one person’s eyelids to the physical world where it can make a positive impact, I believe it takes a collaborative effort across multiple disciplines and an openness to many sources of inspiration. Hence, all nine.’
Let’s tweet: @kdbelmonte
Kevin Belmonte
Kevin Belmonte is an award-winning author/historian. For six years, he was the lead historical/script consultant for the motion picture Amazing Grace. Belmonte received the 2003 John Pollock Award for Christian Biography for his book William Wilberforce: A Hero for Humanity. Belmonte has also served as a script consultant for the BBC, and a documentary film developed for PBS. He has been featured in interviews for both networks.
Belmonte is the author of six books for Thomas Nelson Publishers, including the literary biography Defiant Joy: The Remarkable Life and Impact of G.K. Chesterton, The Quotable Chesterton, and studies of John Bunyan and D.L. Moody. Forthcoming is A Year with G.K. Chesterton, and Miraculous: A Fascinating Study of God’s Signs and Wonders. For five years, his biography of Wilberforce has been required reading at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government for classes on leadership and character formation.
Kevin writes a regular series for Hieropraxis called “Red Booth Notes.”
Garret Johnson
Garret Johnson teaches creative writing and composition at the University of Houston-Downtown and Houston Baptist University. He earned an MFA in Fiction from the University of Houston and is currently putting the finishing touches on his first novel. He has also taught for Writers in the Schools (WITS) and has work forthcoming in Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature and Fine Arts.
Aside from being a lifelong fan of both the creative and critical works of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, he also reads widely in contemporary literature and has had a long and abiding interest in both theological and philosophical study, both of which often intersect with his literary studies and his own creative work.
You can follow him on Twitter @GarretDJohnson and find him on Facebook.
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 the Chapter Director of Ratio Christi at the University of Colorado, Boulder. You can also connect with Ratio Christi at CU on Facebook and follow him on Twitter at @gadgetmann.
Other Guest Contributors
We are grateful for several other talented writers who contribute on an occasional basis:
Fr. Doran Stambaugh, S.S.C. is the priest in charge of St Michael’s by-the-Sea, an Episcopal church in the Anglo-Catholic tradition.
Andrew Lazo is an English teacher and writer, with particular emphasis on poetry and the work of C.S. Lewis. His web page is www.andrewlazo.com, and you can connect with him on Twitter: @andrewlazo.
Melissa Travis is a speaker and writer on issues related to science and religion, and writes for her own blog, Hard-Core Christianity: Apologetics, Worldview, and the Kingdom Mindset. She is also the director of the Woodlands Chapter of Reasonable Faith.
Fr. Ivor Kraft is an associate priest at St Michael’s by-the-Sea, Carlsbad CA. He has contributed a number of excellent sermons to Hieropraxis.
Note
All the Hieropraxis writers share a commitment to the orthodox Christian faith as expressed in the Nicene Creed and Apostles Creed. Apart from that, we come from a variety of Christian traditions, and we may nor may not agree on other points of doctrine (or on any other topics for that matter!). Each writer’s viewpoint is his or her own, and does not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of other writers, or of Hieropraxis as a whole.
