Participation Type
Performance
Presentation #1 Title
McClung's Book of Sermon Illustrations for the Itinerant Evangelist
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
McClung's Book of Sermon Illustrations for the Itinerant Evangelist is a sonnet sequence in the voice of an imagined traveling evangelist. McClung, through telling the story of salvation, tells his own story of being raised in a rural Appalachian family, leaving to see “the world,” only to return home in time for his father’s death and his own call to the ministry. While McClung interprets the scriptures for his congregations, he discovers his faith for himself. These poems seek to disarm the reader whether they are Christian or not by revisiting and dwelling on Christian images like sacrifice, rebirth, and homelessness. Kierkegaard says the Gospel only exists on the basis of an “opportunity for offense,” and these poems seek to explore that possibility in the voice of an often ridiculed and marginalized voice, the evangelist. He compares the risen Christ to a smoked hog and our own eventual resurrection to a taxidermized deer. These poems seek to stand between caricature and documentary, between credulity and skepticism in order to jettison the reader from complacency into a crisis of faith and doubt.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Joshua Jones, originally from the Shenandoah Valley, is a third year candidate for the MFA at UMass Boston. Some of his poems appear in Fourteen Hills, The Mayo Review, and The Sow’s Ear Poetry Review.
McClung's Book of Sermon Illustrations for the Itinerant Evangelist
McClung's Book of Sermon Illustrations for the Itinerant Evangelist is a sonnet sequence in the voice of an imagined traveling evangelist. McClung, through telling the story of salvation, tells his own story of being raised in a rural Appalachian family, leaving to see “the world,” only to return home in time for his father’s death and his own call to the ministry. While McClung interprets the scriptures for his congregations, he discovers his faith for himself. These poems seek to disarm the reader whether they are Christian or not by revisiting and dwelling on Christian images like sacrifice, rebirth, and homelessness. Kierkegaard says the Gospel only exists on the basis of an “opportunity for offense,” and these poems seek to explore that possibility in the voice of an often ridiculed and marginalized voice, the evangelist. He compares the risen Christ to a smoked hog and our own eventual resurrection to a taxidermized deer. These poems seek to stand between caricature and documentary, between credulity and skepticism in order to jettison the reader from complacency into a crisis of faith and doubt.
