A Publication of Humanities Tennessee

From Libya to the Academy of American Poets—By Way of Tennessee

By Margaret Renkl

January 17, 2014 Poet and translator Khlaled Mattawa left Libya when when he was fourteen, the year after Muammar Gaddafi’s forces began hanging “traitors” in the public square of Benghazi, Mattawa’s home city. Mattawa settled in Chattanooga, where he later graduated from UTC before going on to study creative writing at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. In the years since, his commitment to both his homeland and to poetry has not waned.

Like Taking a Writer’s Yearbook Picture

By Margaret Renkl

January 13, 2014 It’s not easy to find a silver lining in the decline of local literary coverage across the country, but if there must be only a handful of full-time book critics working today, it’s good news, at least, that one of them is Dwight Garner, who writes for the daily New York Times. Prior to his appearance at Vanderbilt University in Nashville on January 16, 2014, at 7 p.m. in Buttrick Hall, Room 101, Garner answered questions from Chapter 16. The event is free and open to the public.

Mystery Unveiled: The Crisis of the Trinity In Early Modern England

Paul Lim

Oxford University Press
512 pages
$74

“Since the Reformation, mystery has always been difficult for Protestants. Paul Lim’s erudite book demonstrates just how challenging it was when, during the English seventeenth century, Christianity’s central mystery of the Trinity moved to the center of political, cultural, and religious controversies. With enormous theological and scriptural learning, Lim lets us see these controversies from the inside. In doing so, he decisively shows the threat that anti-Trinitarianism and (more surprisingly) the defense of Christian orthodoxy together posed to both throne and altar.”

–Jonathan Sheehan, University of California, Berkeley

Mystery Unveiled: The Crisis of the Trinity In Early Modern England

Calling All Friends of Chapter 16

By Margaret Renkl

December 23, 2013 At Chapter 16, our mission is to help readers find the books that will change their lives.

Free to a Good Bookshelf

By Margaret Renkl

December 6, 2013 Madison Smartt Bell’s new book, a collection of short stories called Zig Zag Wanderer, sounds like vintage MSB: “Stretching from New York to Haiti and beyond, these luminous stories reveal Bell’s sharp eye and deep empathy for his characters—punks, hustlers, mixed figures, and lost souls of all ages, backgrounds, and denominations,” according to the book’s publisher, Concord Free Press.

Remembering John

By Margaret Renkl

December 5, 2013 As soon as news spread of John Egerton’s death, people who loved and admired him began to share recollections of his lasting impact on the world. In advance of a public celebration of Egerton’s life that will be held at the Nashville Public Library on December 8 at 2:30 p.m., we have gathered together some reminiscences from friends and colleagues in Nashville, as well as excerpts from the many obituaries and essays about John in the national media that have appeared during the last two weeks.

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