I recently discovered a remarkable network of Christian homeschool mothers across the country who have created home libraries, encouraging one another with their collections of books that teach children our history and our faith through classics past and present. They are seeding a literary Renaissance of reading and art in our land. To begin the journey with them, visit Plumfield Moms and see where the path takes you. They offer book reviews, podcasts, and a newsletter called Shelf Notes.
Indeed, in this first week of Eastertide, I have been thinking about renewal, rebirth, resurrection. Every minute we live our lives on this good Earth, we breathe in resurrection, for life itself is a kind of miraculous renewal. There is also a dying, to be sure, the cells aging, the skin sagging, the hair graying. But within, we prepare for new life upon death, so that we will recognize Our Lord at the gates of the New Jerusalem. But more importantly, we desire Him to recognize us, to see us as His own.
My novel-in-submission (currently with Histria Books), The Music of the Mountain, touches on these themes, a moving through time into greater time, from the mortal to the immortal, from life to death to life. As Christians, we believe our life on Earth is a growing, renewing work of our Creator’s grace upon us. All we need do is say yes. All we need do is reflect on our hours and days and confess our failings, to be changed with Christ’s forgiveness and be reborn.
This is how we grow our souls, and the classical canon of literature, augmented by some modern works, teaches the difference between virtue and vice. We must learn this important difference, and so the Church gives us lists of the goods to embrace and the evils to shun. Indeed, in our baptisms, where we begin our journey, we are grafted onto and into the Body of Christ. We vow to renounce evil and choose good. From this moment, we will spend our lifetimes being reborn, regenerated, resurrected.
And so it was with great joy that my little novel-manuscript received another endorsement this last week, this week of resurrection, this one from Kimberly Begg of the Clare Boothe Luce Center, whose work I greatly admire:
“Christine Sunderland’s The Music of the Mountain is a haunting and intriguing novel about freedom, friendship, and faith—that is as much a warning as it is a harbinger of hope. Set in an alternate world burdened by 21st century government overreach, the story is a stirring reminder that truth, courage, and love can endure even in the darkest times—and Western Civilization is worth saving.”
– Kimberly Begg, president of the Clare Boothe Luce Center for Conservative Women
Yes, Western Civilization is worth saving. We live in times that question this obvious truth, a time of illiteracy, short attention spans, and moral chaos. We can redeem the time. Western Civilization, birthed by our Judeo-Christian ethos and kept alive by Irish monks scribbling in candlelight on parchment, preserved our world of freedom. This fusion of Jerusalem, Athens, and Rome, teaches us how to live with one another, so that we might grow in grace as a nation under God.
America is the cornerstone of this cherished civilization, nurtured since her founding 250 years ago. In honor of this anniversary, I am offering a Goodreads Giveaway, ten copies of The Fire Trail, my novel of freedom and faith that considers the border between barbarism and civilization.
And so seeds are sown – through words on the pages of good books. Our country, our culture, will see a literary renaissance. She will rise from the ashes, reborn, resurrected, just as each one of us will rise too.
Christine Sunderland
Christine Sunderland 