Truth and beauty in the Bible and theology, truth and beauty in literature, truth and beauty in history and culture (and movies are a crucial part of our culture) these will be the themes to … Welcome to Bill Isley’s Blog!Read more
Psalm 1 Raises a Universal Question
What is the meaning of life? What could be a bigger question than that? This post is the first in a series of brief reflections on the biblical book called “The Psalms.” So often the … Psalm 1 Raises a Universal QuestionRead more
Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South
Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South[i While conversing with a colleague about the great English novelist, Jane Austen, she asked what I thought of Elizabeth Gaskell. I told her that I knew the name but … Elizabeth Gaskell, North and SouthRead more
The Likeness of Sinful Flesh
CHAPTER 1 Evil is an uncommonly difficult problem. The mistake of the intellectuals is to despise the efforts of the common people to deal with it. They fancy themselves as standing aloof like a god … The Likeness of Sinful FleshRead more
Jane Austen’s Persuasion
Persuasion is the last novel completed by Jane Austen and was published posthumously. Its main character, Anne Elliot, is twenty-seven years old, the oldest of Austen’s chief female protagonists. She also seems to be the … Jane Austen’s PersuasionRead more
A Haunting in Venice
As a reader, I feel that film adaptations of novels can be good but are often inferior to the written works for two reasons. First, given the film’s shorter length, the novel must be … A Haunting in VeniceRead more