Computer Revolutions

Posted on July 17, 2026 by Kerry

It’s been a delight to select materials and write the labels for Computer Revolutions, an exhibit in Bizzell Memorial Library, University of Oklahoma. We expect to have installation completed before the first home football game in early September. It should remain available through February on both the Main Floor and in Special Research Collections on the 5th floor.

I’m working with Dr. James Burnes, Director of Exhibits for the library, who wears all the hats of graphic design, layout planning, production, installation, and coordination of communication. James is a pop culture aficionado in addition to a historian of science with a deep and comprehensive scope. James is a co-curator of this exhibit rather than merely working in a supporting role.

Here’s the overall introduction:

50 years ago, Steve Wozniak designed the first Apple personal computer. Over the last half-century, computers have changed every aspect of our lives. In antiquity, computus referred to calculating dates on the calendar. In the 19th century, computers were skilled mathematicians, often women, who performed scientific calculations. In the middle of the 20th century, a computer occupied a room all to its own, operated by experts at elite institutions. By the end of the century, personal computers could be found in many homes and the emergence of the World Wide Web was transforming ordinary life. Today the most common computers fit in our pockets.

How did this happen? What is the story of the personal computer? What revolutions have computers wrought? What lies ahead?

In this exhibit, explore these questions with items from the personal computer collection of the History of Science Collections, University of Oklahoma Libraries. A particular strength of the collection is its holdings of Apple computers, although a mix of different PC makers are also represented here. Additional items, including rare materials related to the exhibit, are on display in the Special Research Collections, 5th floor.

— Kerry Magruder and James Burnes, curators.

Here are the major sections of the exhibit, with brief intros:

1. From Calculators to Computers

Calculators and other mathematical instruments provided a sophisticated and impressive foundation for the eventual development of computers. It becomes difficult to define a historical dividing line between calculators and computers. Imagine the excitement of Ada Lovelace as she created a computer program before any computer actually existed.

Typewriters provided a manual input device for varied settings in the office, the home, and even on the go. As form became melded with function, the aesthetics of their design mattered.

Even when a mainframe computer took over a building or a large room, from its early stages of development visionaries foresaw the future of the computer as a personal assistant. We wonder what Vannevar Bush would say today about his dream of a “memex” machine.

Display areas in this section: early calculators, typewriters, mainframe artifacts.

2. The Rise of the Personal Computer

Early personal computers came with a great variety of chips, operating systems, programming languages, and killer software applications. They integrated innovations in technology, business, and design. Some were modular, offloading components or apps and inviting third parties to contribute to a shared platform. Others focused on incorporating proprietary code into logic boards and built-in memory. With some, the screen was custom-designed and built-in; others required an external monitor supporting a specific video format; and some could even output to a regular TV. Some computers came as kits for hobbyists to assemble; others came ready to use out of the box. Some focused on affordability, others on portability. Some entrepreneurs tried to go it alone, perhaps as a labor of love, while others sought market success through collaboration or corporate backing. Around them all hovered a hum of excited activity exuding a sense that almost anyone at any time might reveal the shape of the future.

Display areas in this section: Cromemco, Intel chip, Osborne, Atari, Commodore, Amiga, Texas Instruments, Timex Sinclair, Radio Shack, Apple, DOS, Windows 95.

3. Research and Creativity on the PC

Transformations in the graphical user interface led to an explosion of PC-based productivity in research and creative activity outside of computer science per se. As one example, Osamu Fujimura’s investigations into the languages of the world affected developments in medicine, linguistics, acoustics, and artificial intelligence. Personal computer pioneers like Fujimura advocated for greater roles for women in every field and for a democratization of knowledge through open access. The PC revolution created the phenomenon of desktop publishing and graphic design. It transformed culture in every medium from Super Bowl advertising to industrial design, and radically altered the dynamics of audio and video production. The world we now take for granted arose in many steps and phases alongside the PC.

Display areas in this section: Lisa manual, Macintosh, desktop publishing, Osamu Fujimura, Think Different, iMac, audio and video production.

4. The Internet and the PC

The Cuckoo’s Egg, by Cliff Stohl, reflects the constant human longing for connectivity and security. Yet with increasing connectivity comes increasing vulnerability. Upholding privacy protections and intellectual property rights along with the ideals of sharing and collaboration is a balancing act, one made far more precarious in view of aggressive actions of other agents we may collectively call Big Brother.

Hyperlinks offered educators and other creators the power to create digital works connecting with others in dynamic, non-linear ways. The Internet widened possibilities of collaboration. With the World Wide Web, connectivity and communication, and exciting possibilities for co-creation of knowledge and meaning, seemed unlimited.

Others worked to preserve the security without which surveillance and disinformation might usher in a brave new world. From our vantage point today, the hyperlink and the Internet are woven into the seamless fabric of a post-literate culture in which potential distractions are unlimited and attention spans diminished. As you read The Cuckoo’s Egg and explore this section, ponder all that Computer Revolutions have wrought.

Display areas in this section: Security, Connectivity (Hyperlinks, Internet, World Wide Web).

5. On the Go

Throughout history, technologists have sought portability at a premium. Smaller is better, even at a higher price. Handheld sundials, pocket globes, mobile astrolabes, and miniature books show that humans have always been on the go.

The PC is a “bicycle for the mind” in part because our tools give us a boost. Yet we are altered in unforeseen ways by the tools we use.

The early laptops displayed in this section illustrate how obstacles to true portability, from power to design to durability, were gradually overcome. When it comes to objects on the go, design is first not how it looks but how it works, although eventually the two go hand-in-hand.

Display areas in this section: Analog, Early PC laptops, Early Apple laptops.

6. The PC as a Digital Hub

From our perspective today, the convergence of telephones and personal computers seems inevitable, but it was not necessarily so. A series of handheld devices from cell phones to music players to cameras and video camcorders first carried out their functions without needing to connect to personal computers. The PC became a digital hub when it began to add essential value to each of these devices, integrating them into a digital lifestyle.

Our story ends with the digital hub, before the coming of the cloud. When handheld phones and tablets and other devices achieved parity with the PC, no longer did they need to connect by cables and wires. With the coming of the cloud, the era of the centrality of the personal computer closes. Its loss of identity as the “digital hub” does not imply the end of the PC, only a new beginning.

As the revolutions computers have wrought continue to ripple far out into the future, have we learned any lessons that might guide us?

Display areas in this section: Cell phones, Mobile computing, Music players, Digital Hub.

Featured items:

We recommend these for reading groups:

  • Cliff Stoll, The Cuckoo’s Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage (New York: Doubleday, 1989).
  • Vannevar Bush, “As We May Think,” The Atlantic Monthly, July, 176 (1945): 101-108.

Other recommended books:

  • Vannevar Bush, Science, the Endless Frontier: A Report to the President (Office of Scientific Research and Development, 1945). Reprinted with introduction by Rush Holt (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2021). 75th anniversary edition reissued by the National Science Foundation, https://nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/2023-04/EndlessFrontier75th_w.pdf.
  • Kent C. Redmond and Thomas M. Smith, From Whirlwind to MITRE: The R&D Story of the SAGE Air Defense Computer (Boston: MIT Press, 2000).
  • Paul Freiberger and Michael Swaine, Fire in the Valley: The Making of the Personal Computer, Collector’s Edition (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2000).
  • David Weinberger, Small Pieces Loosely Joined: A Unified Theory Of The Web (Basic Books, 2003).
  • Doug Menuez, Fearless Genius: The Digital Revolution in Silicon Valley 1985-2000 (Atria Books, 2014).
  • Laine Nooney, The Apple II Age: How the Computer Became Personal (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2023).
  • David Pogue, Apple: The First 50 Years (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2026).
  • Nicholas Carr, The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains, Updated with a New Afterword (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2020).
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George MacDonald and the Scientific Imagination

Posted on June 21, 2026 by Kerry


“George MacDonald & the Scientific Imagination”

  • Coming out with Winged Lion press, September 2026.
  • Yale version: Slides PDF. December, 2024. Abbreviated version. 20 mins.
  • Inkling Folk Fellowship version: Slides PDF. May 2, 2025. 50 mins. To watch a video recording, email info@inklingfolk.org.

The essay’s first page:

Do science and the imagination have anything in common? Do scientists appreciate music, admire landscapes, and enjoy poetry? Do the arts matter for their science? Do we need to cultivate a scientific imagination? What did George MacDonald (1824-1905) mean by “poetry includes science”? Come with me on a journey to explore these questions.

Reflection upon the imagination leads us straight to the heart of two perennial questions for science:
1) Where do creative ideas come from?
2) With each new discovery, how does wonder deepen?

These two questions lead to a third:
3) Through the imagination, do we make contact with reality?

While some adopt the idea that science and the creative arts are two separate cultures, associating science with facts and imagination with fantasy, historical perspectives show that science and the imagination are interrelated. It is not just that connections between the arts and sciences have been deep and profound. More than that, the imagination lies at the heart of the natural sciences themselves. Within science, creative leaps of the imagination underlie unexpected discoveries. The imagination peers into the as-yet unknown and unseen to discern where the next discovery might be waiting. The imagination discloses the blind spots that hinder discovery. And an imagination that transforms the tedium and monotony of repetitive practices keeps wonder alive. This imaginative realism, as we shall call it, means that, rather than indulging an inward retreat from objective reality, a generative imagination makes contact with reality holistically, in multiple dimensions. These manifestations of the imagination — making discoveries in new dimensions and sustaining wonder — characterize creative activity not only in literature and the fine arts but also in the natural sciences.

In the 20th century the Inklings and their friends — C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Owen Barfield, Dorothy L. Sayers, and their kindred forebear G. K. Chesterton, among others — expressed a profound imaginative realism that resoundingly affirmed the truth-bearing character of the imagination. More recently, the writings of Malcolm Guite in literature, Jeremy Begbie in music, and Makoto Fujimura in art, illumine how the imagination apprehends reality. In the same spirit this essay explores, with the help of MacDonald, how in the natural sciences we make contact with reality through the imagination.

Abstract: George MacDonald’s embrace of the imagination as an instrument for apprehending reality heals a deep-seated cultural split between science and wonder. That split is characterized by two opposing kinds of realism: on one hand, a positivist realism which reduces reality to nothing but what is evident to sensory perception, and, on the other hand, an imaginative realism which apprehends the as-yet unseen, unknown, and unfinished in-depth realities which lie beyond and beneath the surface appearances of things. With special attention to MacDonald’s novel Thomas Wingfold, Curate and 19th-century geology, this interpretative essay explores how MacDonald’s holistic integration of reality, given the perceptive and creative role of the imagination, applies to the natural sciences as well as to literature and the fine arts. The imagination is then given legitimate scope to play as the source not only of wonder but also of creative discovery within the very fabric of natural science. Without imagination, the sciences perish.

Table of Contents

GEORGE MACDONALD & THE SCIENTIFIC IMAGINATION

  • Author’s Invitation
  1. Intellectual Context
    1. Aristotle vs. Reductionism: The Wonder of Birds
    2. Charles Darwin: Functional Reductionism
    3. George MacDonald: Imaginative Realism
  2. Setting the scene: Thomas Wingfold, Curate
    1. The Unknown
    2. The Unseen and Unfinished
  3. The Imagination in 19th-century Geology
    1. The Unknown: Mary Anning
    2. The Unseen: James Hutton
    3. The Unfinished: Hugh Miller
  4. The Imagination in Science and Faith
    1. The Imagination in Science
    2. The Imagination in Faith

SUPPLEMENTARY ESSAYS

  1. Isaac Newton: Tensions became Dualisms
  2. “Poetry includes science”
  3. “Storytelling includes science”
  4. “Music includes science”

APPENDIX

  • Reading MacDonald

END MATTER

  • Discussion Questions
  • Acknowledgments
  • About the Author
  • Bibliography
  • Name Index
  • Notes

This magisterial survey not only places MacDonald in the context of the developing science of the nineteenth century, but also shows him as a person in and through whom the necessary conversation between Science, the Arts, and Christianity was taking place. In a world in which the three great forces of Science, Art, and Religion seem fearful of one another, even hostile, we need to hear that conversation now even more than the Victorians needed it then. This is not just an historical survey, it’s a vital contribution to a current debate. Magruder draws fresh insights from MacDonald, insights about the role of the Imagination in all three spheres, the kind of imagination that does not lead us away from reality but rather takes us deeper into the heart of things. I strongly commend this book to anyone who longs for integration and hope in a world of disintegration and despair.

— Malcolm Guite, Life Fellow, Girton College, Cambridge; poet and author of Lifting the Veil, Mariner, Galahad and the Grail.

“As a son of a scientist and as an artist, a work that connects science and imagination is a portal of creative refreshment for me. Kerry’s George MacDonald and the Scientific Imagination proved to be a treasure-filled map. This is a monumental work of integration, a deep well of resources for scientists and artists, historians and teachers alike. Kerry beautifully lays out MacDonald’s vast and soaring realms of imaginative realism to open our eyes and hearts toward the vista of wonderment.”

— Makoto Fujimura, artist and author of Art Is: A Journey into the Light.

“Like awakening in the night to the scent of life-giving rain on a dry and weary land, the major theme of this book — poetry includes science — strikes the reader with unexpected hope. For far too long, we have lived as though scientific inquiry must be stripped of art, poetry, music, and story, as if imagination were an intruder rather than a companion to truth.

Dr. Kerry Magruder reminds us that this was neither always so — nor need it remain so. Drawing on a remarkably wide historical vision, he brings into conversation figures as diverse as George MacDonald, C. S. Lewis, and J. R. R. Tolkien alongside Copernicus, Kepler, Darwin, and Einstein. The result is not a forced synthesis, but a lively exchange across disciplines often presumed incompatible: poetry and physics, theology and philosophy, geology and narrative.

From Plato and Aristotle to Augustine and Newton, among many others, this book traces a long tradition in which imagination and reason were convivial fellow discoverers. What has science to do with imagination? In this engaging and accessible work, Dr. Magruder — under the guidance of that great master of imagination, George MacDonald — offers a compelling answer: everything.”

— Glenn Horn, philosopher, author L’histoire des idées à Paris.

“This book invites us to consider afresh the role of wonder in the pursuit of knowledge and the extent to which we already use imagination to move beyond what we see or otherwise sense — what we call facts — in our attempt to attain deeper levels of understanding. A timely and thought-provoking exploration of how we come to know the world, it encourages us to approach that task with curiosity, humility, and both scientific and theological reflection.”

— Marc Foggin, author “Thinking Like a Mountain: Exploring the Potential of Relational Approaches for Transformative Nature Conservation”; Honorary Research Associate, School of Geography and the Environment, Oxford University; International Director, Plateau Perspectives.

“Written with infectious joy, this book was like water for a part of me I didn’t even know was thirsty. My work is chiefly in finance, yet MacDonald’s vision of a world richer than the reductionism into which many of us have been baptized helped me see that imagination is not an escape from reality but a deeper way of apprehending it. By the final page, I found myself extending MacDonald’s insight: poetry includes finance, too. This is a book I will be sharing with friends for years to come.”

— Travis Lowe, financial services executive; ordained minister; cofounder of HopeWords.

“With this collection of thought-provoking essays, Kerry Magruder invites us into the world of 19th century intellect and author George MacDonald — a world where science and art, faith and curiosity, and acumen and awe can coexist in harmony. A consummate storyteller himself, Magruder weaves seemingly disparate subjects into a cohesive whole, proving himself a worthy guide and adept translator of MacDonald’s legacy for today. So that in the end, George MacDonald and the Scientific Imagination is not simply another book that tells readers what to think but one that offers a profound and beautiful example of how to think.”

— Hannah S. Anderson, author of All That’s Good: Recovering the Lost Art of Discernment; host of Painters, Prophets, Poets; www.sometimesalight.com.

“In our disenchanted age, it can be hard to imagine an age when a generative spirit of inquiry opened endless possibilities to the aspiring scientist. Yet the spark of magic that we associate with imaginative literature shares the same intellectual lineage as the history of science. Dr. Magruder has thrown back the curtains, and reopened the windows for a new age of scientific inquiry and wonder.”

— Father Nathan Carr, Headmaster, Academy of Classical Christian Studies, Oklahoma City; Vicar, St. John’s Episcopal Church, Oklahoma City; author Festive School: Restoring Joy, Liturgy, and Celebration in Christian Education.

“At its heart, science is a desire to know reality as it truly is, and this requires a creative imagination. Through George MacDonald and the Scientific Imagination we taste what science was like, and might become again, when robustly integrated with the same imagination that we see everywhere expressed in poetry, music, and the creative arts. Science educators will benefit immensely.”

— Jason K. Brogden, Dean of Science Instruction and Director of Lynx Science Academy, Founders Classical Academies

“As a long-time reader of MacDonald, I still found Dr. Magruder introducing me to new aspects of MacDonald’s works and sometimes to works hitherto unknown to me! As a molecular biologist I was pleased to find how approachable Magruder made the tales of discoveries in other scientific fields, like geology, astronomy, and paleontology. Whether you have only dabbled in MacDonald or science or are an expert in both, you will find many rich things to explore. Magruder helpfully has extracted and distilled the scientific concepts that pulse throughout MacDonald’s writings and provided them with ample context to help us not only understand, but actually see how throughout history the imagination and scientific inquiry have been inextricably related. Though the primary essay itself is full of rich historical asides and wonderful quotes, the reader is invited to delve deep with the aid of supplementary essays and copious endnotes. The spectacular illustrations reflect Magruder’s long experience as Curator of the History of Science Collections of the University of Oklahoma Libraries.”

— Baronger Bieger, Assistant Professor of Biology, John Brown University

“Through George MacDonald’s integrative lens, Magruder recovers an understanding of science in which the imagination gives vision, direction, and meaning to scientific inquiry. His argument is buttressed by carefully curated period artwork, and extensive endnotes provide a trove of resources for further study. Magruder’s expertise and passion for the history of science make this essay a compelling read for scholars and general readers alike.”

— Michael Wayne Wilhelm, George MacDonald scholar and Chaplain, Cal Farley Boys Ranch, Texas.

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Three songs of faith and science

Posted on May 30, 2026 by Kerry

So write your code and preach your creed.
You’re closer than you might concede.
No need to keep the camps in separation.
The Word made flesh. The cancer healed.
Both hint at something now revealed —
a larger truth than all imagination.


Francis Collins, N. T. Wright, Bethan Willis, and Jim Stump at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, May 2026.

I am always inspired when Francis Collins and N. T. Wright get together. Last week at the Oxford Natural History Museum, in an event sponsored by BioLogos, Premier Unbelievable, and the Oxford Pastorate, they spoke about science and faith and their own personal journeys. The event was hosted by Bethan Willis, Oxford Pastorate Chaplain. Watch on YouTube or listen on the Premier Unbelievable podcast. At YouTube there is a general description and links to the different segments of the event.

In the finale — with Jim Stump on string bass — Francis and Tom sing three beloved folk songs updated with new lyrics:

  • “Genesis,” to the tune of “Yesterday” by the Beatles (01:09:54)
  • “Where is Wisdom found?” to the tune of “Leaving on a Jet Plane” by Peter, Paul, and Mary (01:13:32)
  • “Hallelujah,” to the tune of “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen (01:18:49)

Lyrics below. Download audio (songs only).

Genesis

Genesis,
Earth and heaven in a cosmic kiss.
Evolution must have been like this.
Oh, I believe in Genesis

DNA
shaping creatures from the dust and clay.
Double helix in the Milky Way.
Oh, Genesis meant DNA.

How he made it all
14 billion years ago
Wisdom, grace, and love,

For he spoke and it was so.

Genesis,
Eve and Adam in a world of bliss
in the paradise we all now miss.
Oh, I believe in Genesis

In a trice, didn’t listen to divine advice.
Einstein wondered whether God plays dice
We’re trapped within a world of vice

Why they had to fall,
I don’t know, It doesn’t say.
they did something wrong.
And we long for God’s New Day.

Genesis,
Royal priesthood in a holy bliss.
New Jerusalem will be like this.
Oh, I believe in Genesis.

Where is Wisdom found?

Now the lab is closed. Experiments done.
Discovered the gene. Had lots of fun.
But now we face the questions that remain.
Can we see the light behind the Sun?
Tell why the world was first begun?
Forever grasp the truth and make it plain?

So tell me, where is wisdom found?
Up in the sky or down in the ground?
Tell me ’cause I really want to know.
Is it in my head or in my heart?
I need you, Lord, to make a start.
Help me, Lord. I really want to know.

Now, the teaching’s done. We’ve read the text.
The students are wondering what’s coming next.
But there’s just one big question still in place.
Did it really happen like the old book said?
Did he walk here among us? Did he rise from the dead?
Did wisdom really wear a human face?

So tell me, where is wisdom found?
Is it up in the sky or down in the ground?
Tell me ’cause I really want to know.
Is it in my head or in my heart?
I need you, Lord, to make a start.
Help me, Lord. I really want to know.

So, how can the truth be both low and wild?
Can the how and the why be reconciled?
This question now should haunt us all our days.
With a pipette here and a Bible there,
We’ll find all truth is ours to share,
and all our quests resolve in songs of praise.

Oh, tell me, where is wisdom found?
Is it up in the sky or down in the ground?
Tell me ’cause I really want to know.
Is it in my head or in my heart?
I need you, Lord, to make a start.
Help me, Lord. I really want to know.

Hallelujah

I heard there was a secret chord.
The cosmos sang. It pleased the Lord.
But you prefer a clean equation, do ya?
You map the stars. You read the genes
defining truth and what that means.
But still you hum a gentle Hallelujah.

Hallelujah…

Now Thomas wanted peer review. He said,
“I’ll need some proof from you.
The kind that leaves a mark you can be sure of.”
He got the proof, but not the kind
that fits inside a tidy mind.
Well, look, the idols we must all be cured of.

Hallelujah…

You chase the Higgs, the cures are nigh.
You ask the how, ignore the why,
but both keep showing up to haunt your data.
and maybe truth’s a marriage vow
where “I don’t know” is still allowed
and faith not less it’s just a little braver

Hallelujah…

So write your code and preach your creed.
You’re closer than you might concede.
No need to keep the camps in separation.
The Word made flesh. The cancer healed.
Both hint at something now revealed —
a larger truth than all imagination.

Hallelujah…

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Of Code and Chord: Sonifying Genomes

Posted on May 5, 2026 by Kerry

“They must be pictured in the mind and in memory. They must be known with affection by heart, so that in seeing or remembering them, the heart may be said to sing, to make music peculiar to its recognition of each particular place or creature that it knows well. To know imaginatively is to know intimately, particularly, precisely, gratefully, reverently, and with affection.” — Wendell Berry, “Life is a miracle”

Narrated by Jason Brogden.

“Since the genome of any organism is far too long to fully appreciate in a sequential approach and DNA is a new source of meta data, this project is … unifying this data into an experience of genetics that is non-linear and educational. Does life echo throughout the Earth? Can students learn to hear it?”

Coming August 2026!

More about the project:

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Guite and Galahad

Posted on April 28, 2026 by Kerry

Malcolm Guite, Galahad and the GrailThe first volume of Malcolm Guite’s Merlin’s Isle: An Arthuriad, has now appeared: Galahad and the Grail, illustrated Stephen Crotts (Nashville, Tennessee: Rabbit Room Press, 2026).

Do you have Galahad and the Grail or are you thinking about reading it?

Here are a few pointers I would share that might help you get more out of it.

First, get a printed copy from Rabbit Room Press. You’ll be glad you did. This is an heirloom work, a masterpiece of the imagination which you’ll turn to again and again in decades to come. You’ll want the visual page memory as you recall favorite lines, the space for many layers of your own marks and notes, and the convenient random access of the printed codex. It’s not the kind of book one reads quickly through on screen. The illustrations of Stephen Crotts and the material feel of the paper and embossed cover (if you choose the slipcase version) call out for the full tactile experience of the physical format.

Next, get the audio version, read by Malcolm himself. Ballads are made for reading aloud. We are listening to Malcolm read it to us while following along in our own printed copies. (We purchased it via Apple Books but it’s available from Oasis Audio wherever you get audio books.)

Plunge in. Don’t wait.

Then… after you get started…

Malcolm has granted many interviews about Galahad and the Grail. They are not the same; there are so many facets to this work that all are worthwhile and bring out different perspectives on the project. In particular, I recommend listening to his conversations with Russell Moore on The Russell Moore podcast (April 15, 2026), with Jonathan Rogers on The Habit podcast (Dec 1, 2025), with Rachel Mann on the Church Times podcast (March 27, 2026), Malcolm’s Spell in the Library episode with Martin Shaw (Feb 3, 2025), Malcolm’s presentation at a Trinity Forum event, October 13, 2025, in Nashville, An Epic for Our Times (with Q&A); and The Literary Life (#327, May 5, 2026). Pick one. Update: Malcolm appeared on The Habit Podcast again, May 18, 2026.

Any reader will wonder whether the appendices contain spoilers. Should I wait to read them until I have finished the volume? There are bound to be differences of opinion on this, but I would say, “read all three appendices.” Whatever spoilers they may contain are no more than someone would already have from prior exposure to other versions of the Arthurian stories. The appendices, to me, offer helpful orientation for the reader who wishes to proceed deliberately and intentionally through the ballad.

I wholeheartedly believe that this magisterial epic, Merlin’s Isle: An Arthuriad, will be seen decades hence as the great literary work of the century. It will be read in centuries to come. It is also the literary work we need now.

Think of Galahad and the Grail as a “way in” to reading the works of Malcolm, the Inklings, and their forebears. In the 20th century the Inklings and their friends — C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Owen Barfield, Dorothy L. Sayers, and their kindred forebears G. K. Chesterton and George MacDonald, among others — resoundingly affirmed and profoundly explored the truth-bearing character of the imagination. No one has carried this central theme of these writers further than Malcolm Guite in his previous works Lifting the Veil: Imagination and the Kingdom of God (2021); Faith, Hope and Poetry: Theology and the Poetic Imagination (2010); and Mariner: A Theological Voyage with Samuel Taylor Coleridge (2018).

Galahad and the Grail embodies the central concern through all of these, that through the imagination we make contact with reality in a deep and holistic mode. On pp. 349-350, Guite points especially to Book III, Stave VII, “The Wasteland,” which powerfully exemplifies the ballad’s way of “healing this split in our ways of knowing and restoring a more mutual and participative knowledge of nature….”

For background on Arthur, consider having on hand Sørina Higgins, ed., The Inklings and King Arthur: J. R. R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, C. S. Lewis, & Owen Barfield on the Matter of Britain (Apocryphile Press, 2017).

Finally, dwell on the “Prelude.” It is ideal preparation for the pages that follow. (And will reappear at the beginning of each of the four volumes.)

Malcolm Guite, Prelude, p. 1

Malcolm Guite, Prelude, p. 3

“And so the tale came down the years
in every land and tongue.
And old folk told it through their tears
and gave it to the young.

And even I, in these dark days,
have heard and found it true.
So I have taken up the tale
and passed it on to you.” (p. 314)

Update 6/6/26: Malcolm’s latest “Spell in the Library” discusses Galahad and the Grail in light of his little book, Lifting the Veil, which is a pure distillation of his theme that the imagination apprehends reality:

The response of my friend, Travis Lowe, is my own as well, and shared by many who read Galahad and the Grail:

“I want my life to so sing that it helps to awaken something in this wasteland.”

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Roaring brooks, cherry trees

Posted on April 22, 2026 by Kerry


Thank you, Ken Mick, for this recording. Rehearsal at Lipscomb University, arranged by Dr. Gary Wilson for a choral performance.

I just love The Arcadian Wild. Here’s a reel of “Man in Room 39,” a song from their first album. “Man in Room 39” is a quietly rousing and subversively liberating song in the best folk tradition. I feel emboldened on behalf of every young person I know, not to mention myself, every time I hear it.

The Arcadian Wild CD cover art, 2015

Windowless room, number 39
Holds an honest man with a thirsty mind
But there are no rivers inside these walls
And so he sings

Roaring brooks and cherry trees
This is the place my heart longs to be
The blossoms in the water are calling me

His glossy shoes only hold him down
They were never meant to cover ground
So he slips them off and frees his soul
Then he goes to

Roaring brooks and cherry trees
This is the place my heart longs to be
The blossoms in the water are calling me

Remember a mountaintop has no roof
And a home in the wild needs no window
Leave your cage, break your chains
Roar your name
And sing

Roaring brooks and cherry trees
This is the place my heart longs to be
The blossoms in the water are calling me

Roaring brooks and cherry trees (yeah)
This is the place my heart longs to be
The blossoms in the water are calling me

Written by: Everett Davis, Lincoln Mick, Sarah Jane Wood.

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Friends in old places

Posted on April 19, 2026 by Kerry

Just found this… love those horses! And my Aristotle and Boethius….

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Teaching Science in Elementary Schools

Posted on April 14, 2026 by Kerry

Welcome, elementary educators!

Note: Bring hammers and scissors

“Why did not somebody teach me the constellations, and make me at home in the starry heavens, which are always overhead, and which I don’t half-know to this day?” — Thomas Carlyle

Old books offer us the opportunity to recover meaning in what we do. The night sky is filled with hundreds of stories which remind us that a knowledge of the heavens has always been part of what makes us human.

What memories do you have of watching the stars? What stories do you like to tell about the night sky?

The stars are a great example of using rare books in teaching. They enchant us with wonder, and fit in with an interdisciplinary, unit studies approach.

We will be in two spaces: Murphy and Gaylord. We will examine rare books in Gaylord and do activities in Murphy.

PART I — 1:30-2:30

Foyer: Cuneiform brick, Choga Zanbil (ca. 1300 BCE).

Gaylord

  1. Peter Apian, Cosmographicum (1540).
  2. Camille Flammarion, L’Atmosphere (Paris, 1888). Flat-Earth woodcut.
  3. Anonymous, Urania’s Mirror (London, 1824). Constellation cards. Distinguish star patterns from constellation figures.
  4. Friedrich Braun, Himmels Atlas in Transparenten Karten (1860). Constellation cards.
  5. Ptolemy, Almagest, in Opera (“Works”; Basel, 1541). Johann Honter drew constellation figures after the manner of Albrecht Dürer. At Sky Tonight.
  6. Johann Bayer, Uranometria (“Measuring the Heavens”; Ulm, 1661), bound with Johann Bayer, Explicatio characterum (Ulm, 1697). 1st “Golden atlas.”
  7. Johann Kepler, De stella nova in pede Serpentarii (Prague, 1606)
  8. William Schickard, Astroscopium (1698).
  9. Hevelius star atlas. 2nd “Golden Atlas.” Includes three books, usually published separately: (1) Uranographia, or Firmamentum Sobiescianum sive Uranographia (“The Firmament of King Sobiesci, or Map of the Heavens”; Gdansk, 1690); bound with (2) Prodromus Astronomiae (“Preliminary Discourse for Astronomy”; Gdansk, 1690); bound with (3) Catalogus stellarum fixarum (“Catalog of the Fixed Stars”; Gdansk, 1687). Can you find the title pages and frontispieces for each of these three books?
  10. Vincenzo Coronelli, celestial globe gores (Paris, 1693; reprint ca. 1800).
  11. Johann Bode, Uranographia (“Map of the Heavens”; Berlin, 1801). 4th “Golden Atlas.”
  12. Planisphere: Maier, Drehbar Sternkarte (c. 1890).
  13. Catherine Whitwell, An Astronomical Catechism (London, 1818).

PART II — 2:45-4:10

Murphy

Storytelling

Coloring pages: Flammarion, Urania’s Mirror, Bode.

Six Constellations.

Constellation tubes:

  • Packing tape
  • *Scissors
  • Nails, wood base
  • *Hammers

Celestial Globes

Constellations intro and activities.

Go to Ogilvie: astrolabes, orrery, pocket globe, sundials, cosmonaut doll.

Time of night: planispheres as star clocks

Seasons

Music

Art

Hold a star party

Supplemental resources:

University web pages:

Become a researcher at the OU History of Science Collections:

You are welcome to come back as a researcher. You do not need to be an academic scholar. There is a registration process. After that, the books will be brought to you in the Reading Room. It’s good to request the books in advance so they can be pulled and waiting for you. All this is explained on the web page for the History of Science Collections. Go to the University of Oklahoma Libraries website (libraries.ou.edu) and navigate to the page for the History of Science Collections. There you can register online, request the books you want to see ahead of time, and ask any questions you have for Collections staff. And then come and sit with the books.

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Easter Sunday 2026

Posted on April 5, 2026 by Kerry

He meets her there
In the garden
Where death had reigned unhindered
Where tears beyond count have fallen
The ache of loss unassuaged by the toil of hands
Longing to recreate the garden lost

He meets her there
Where all harms have begun to unravel
Where tender flesh exhales with fresh breath
And the once broken heart beats strong and sure
A long descent has become ascent
Bringing all up with him

He meets her there
Speaks her name
She is seen and heard
     Known
And she knows beyond hope
That he has come back
     For her
She has not been left behind

He meets us there
Speaks our names with a tenderness
That says
     Look up
I know you
Your story is mine
And now my story is yours

Come with me
Together we will grow
A new garden

by Candace Magruder

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IUGS Episodes issue on Women in Geology

Posted on March 6, 2026 by Kerry

Episodes issue 49

The current issue of Episodes: Journal of International Geoscience, sponsored by the International Union of Geological Scientists (IUGS), is devoted to “Women in Geoscience.”

Contents of Episodes 49(2026):

  1. Heejung Kim, Dolores Pereira, Kathleen Histon, and Martina Kölbl-Ebert, “Empowerment of Women in Geoscience toward the Achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 5 (Gender Equality)” Episodes 2026; 49(1): 1-5.
  2. Minha Lee, Heejung Kim, and Dolores Pereira, “East to West collaboration for a gender equality in STEM” Episodes 2026; 49(1): 7-15.
  3. Martina Kölbl-Ebert, “Women in Geology: An Historical Review” Episodes 2026; 49(1): 17-24.
  4. Susan Turner, “IUGS: How did women fare?” Episodes 2026; 49(1): 25-31.
  5. Aja B. Tolman and Kerry V. Magruder, “Silvia Fernanda de Mendonça Figueirôa: Brazilian Historian of Geology and First Woman President of the International Commission on the History of Geological Sciences (INHIGEO)” Episodes 2026; 49(1): 33-40.
  6. Zdeňka Petáková and Gabriela Langhammerová, “Survey of Twenty-Five Women Geoscientists in the Czech Republic: How to Become a Geologist − Motivating the Next Generation” Episodes 2026; 49(1): 41-45.
  7. Cynthia V. Burek and Bettie Higgs, “An investigation into the public awareness of famous women geoscientists” Episodes 2026; 49(1): 47-56.

Episodes is open access and all articles are now available for download. My thanks to Silvia Figueirôa, my co-author Aja Tolman, our anonymous reviewers, and Kathleen Histon as editor for her help with our article.

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Wardrobes and Rings

Posted on February 27, 2026 by Kerry

Wardrobes and Rings

Julia Golding, Malcolm Guite, Simon Horobin, Wardrobes and Rings: Through Lenten Lands with the Inklings (Norwich: Canterbury Press, 2025). (Amazon)

Drawing on the work of some of the Inklings’ most well-known members, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, as well as friends of the Inklings such as Dorothy Sayers and T.S. Eliot, Wardrobes and Rings explores through their eyes a faith which is tinged with seriousness, creativity and joy. This devotional draws on their writings – fiction, poetry, and essays – offering daily readings and reflections that illuminate the path to the cross and resurrection. Weekly themes such as temptation, time, nature and creativity guide the way. Written by Julia Golding, Malcolm Guite and Simon Horobin: a novelist, a poet-priest, and an Oxford professor all deeply immersed in the Inklings’ world and wisdom, Wardrobes and Rings invites you to rediscover Lent through the lens of imagination-infused faith.

This is not your average book about the Inklings. Rather, I know I will find it worth turning to again and again. Nor is it your average Lenten devotional. I will want to reach for it throughout the year.

Candace and I have added it to our morning prayer, reading one daily meditation after the psalm. The short format prompts each writer to distill their thoughts into free flowing, conversational prose, packed with insight and hope appropriate to the transfigurations of Lent, as we turn from winter into spring, waiting for Easter.

Links:

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No Ordinary People

Posted on February 27, 2026 by Kerry

The C. S. Lewis Center of Sterling College (Kansas) is hosting a conference, “No Ordinary People,” March 26-27, 2026. It kicks off with an evening presentation by Dan Hamilton Thursday evening, and features a keynote by Nathan King on Friday morning. Papers will be presented through the day on Friday, culminating in an evening performance by the Ghost Light Players. Rare items from the C. S. Lewis Center will be available for viewing.

Sterling College, C. S. Lewis conference

Schedule of Events

  • Thursday, March 26th, 7:00 P.M., Mabee Library Lewis Center. Dan Hamilton. “Beyond the Text.” Join literary historian Dan Hamilton as he uncovers the fascinating detective work and unexpected insights discovered in books written by C.S. Lewis and the Inklings.
  • Friday, March 27th, 10:00 A.M., Culbertson Auditorium. Dr. Nathan L King. “Good Minds for a Good God: Discipleship, Education, and Virtues of the Mind.”
  • Friday, March 27th, Mabee Library. Paper Presentations will be happening throughout the day. Selected papers written by students, faculty, and Lewis scholars in response to the conference theme.
  • Friday, March 27th, 12:00 P.M., Cornerstone. Lunch at the Sterling College Cafeteria. Registrants may purchase lunch at the Sterling College Cafeteria for a discounted price ($8.99) when they show their conference name badge.
  • Friday, March 27th, 6:00 P.M., Culbertson Auditorium. Worship Service with the GhostLight Players. A culminating worship service featuring an artistic response to the conference theme from GhostLight Players, Sterling College’s theatre outreach team.

Links:

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