Participating in a Webinar Entitled “Animals, Arts, & Archenland”

As part of my work with Classical Academic Press, I will be participating on a panel for a live webinar entitled “Animals, Arts, & Archenland” on April 29, 2025 at 8:00 PM (Eastern time). You can sign up here to attend and to receive a recording of the webinar:

I hope to mention a little about the various understandings of animals in the Christian tradition as conscious persons (a minority idea but certainly present) as well as creatures who manifest the lives of angels either individually or collectively (a widespread concept in medieval Christian thought). This would all be closely related to my recent “Chapter 4: God’s Sparrows and Our Resurrection: Animals in the Restoration of All Things” that I contributed to this book that is now on sale.

What all we end up talking about, however, will remain to be seen. I suspect that C. S. Lewis, talking animals, Lady Nature, modern science, and a good bit about the theology of creation could all be likely topics. Below is a little about our webinar host and my two fellow panelists.

Dr. Joylynn Blake is the host for this webinar. She obtained her BA in philosophy and a Master’s degree in theology from Regent College, in Vancouver, Canada. The Blake family of six served for eight years in Asia before returning to Dallas where Joylynn earned her doctoral degree in Educational Leadership. She was awarded the Outstanding Treatise award in 2019 for her study of urban classical schools. Joylynn has worked in both charter and private schools in various capacities, including as teacher, Director of Curriculum, and Head of School. She is passionate that classical education be accessible to all students, and she is delighted to further the mission and vision of Scholé Academy and its Houses of Studies.

Chris Hall, Lead Science Instructor at Scholé Academy, has a BA in philosophy from Gettysburg College and an MAT in elementary education from Towson University. He has been a classroom educator and administrator for 25 years, having served in public, independent, and classical schools. In that time, he has served as a classroom teacher in grades K-12, primarily as a science educator, PK-8 Science Department Chair, and a Lower School Academic Dean. Along with his professional pedigree, he is a lifelong practitioner of several of the common arts profiled in his book Common Arts Education: Renewing the Classical Tradition of Training the Head, Hands, and Heart, and the founder of Always Learning Education, an organization dedicated to teaching, learning, and propagating the common arts. He lives on a small, homesteaded farm in central Virginia with his wife and three homeschooled sons.

Father Nathan Dickinson is the incoming Chair of the Canterbury House of Studies at Scholé Academy, holds a M.Div. from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and currently serves as the planting priest of Church of the Good Shepherd in Summersville, West Virginia. He is a West Virginia native who has had approximately a decade of teaching experiences in local churches and missionary settings. He has taught the Bible in Kenya, Zambia, Myanmar, and Jamaica, and has taught English (among other things) to students in the Christian school setting. He loves helping students see the beauty of God in Holy Scripture and helping students learn to engage in meaningful dialogue. His two boys (Barnabas and Martin) keep his home life interesting and full of adventure! When he is not adventuring with his wife and boys, he is looking for a good cup of coffee, a good book, and a good conversation.