Dear Parents,
Here is some great information that relates DIRECTLY to our Literature assignment: A Wrinkle in Time.
The author of A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L'Engle, is a loosey goosey Episcopalian but there is much to be gleaned from the story that is moral truth. It is also a strong example of good conquering evil.
This link will take you to the original article by Maclin Horton. It is worth the full read.
What follows are a few of the comments that I thought were especially pertinent to our class (& the age of our students):
1) It would have meant little to me in my thirties. But at the age of nine I had never heard that love could defeat evil.
2) I'd had my share of bland "God is love" catechism and I was deeply moved by Meg's love being an action, and a hugely effective one at that. I can't imagine what it must have been like for someone new to the idea that love can conquer evil.
3) I think it's notable that those who read the book as children liked it better than those who read it as adults.
4) "I read all the good children’s literature of the 1960s. I read many better books, including John Tremaine, Harriet the Spy and The Long Secret. But this book is most certainly the one which lit the flame in my mind which led me to the Trinitarian God of love."
5) The scene where Calvin quizzes Meg made me laugh as a kid. She aces all the math and
science questions, but when asked the capital of NY state, answers, "New York City, of course!" Now it makes me think, "Needs to be homeschooled!"
6) Oh, how prophetic that decades before we did our work on computers, she called the enemy IT.
6a) I was slightly startled by "IT." Pretty funny that it's become the real-world shorthand for soulless technology by a perfectly reasonable and non-ironic route.
7) I was a bit surprised by that 'Jesus and Buddha and Einstein' phrase when I re-read the book, but when I first read it, a non-Christian person from a non-Christian home, it would have helped me to get into it. Like I said above, there's a road in and a road out, and it can be the same road. If you don't know anything about Jesus, hearing that he's a great light like Buddha and Einstein is a promising start.
7a) I find it horrifying when Catholics speak of Jesus as one revelation amongst others. It appals me when they speak like that, relativizing Jesus to one of many saviours.
But to a non-Christian, and I can speak from experience, to learn that the great men of history are not just famous guys, but lights shining in the darkness and fighting evil, well, that came to me as a thrilling revelation.
That's why I began by saying that L'Engle is a loosey goosey Episcopalian. It was not to criticize her so much as to say that, from that position, she was able to perform an evangelical task which no one else is quite qualified to do. If you or I wrote like that, we would be being dishonest.
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NOTE FROM MRS. CORTEZ:
I hope you will read the whole article plus comments. I just could not resist choosing the pertinent comments and recording them here.
