Lucas Nossaman, PhD

“I can only answer the question, ‘What am I to do?’ if I can answer the prior question, ‘Of what story or stories do I find myself a part?’” –Alasdair MacIntyre

• Teaching & Education

  I teach general education courses in writing and literature, and upper-level English courses in nineteenth-century American literature and Southern literature.

  • PhD, English, The University of Tennessee
  • MA, English, Literature concentration, North Carolina State University
  • BA, English, Harding University
• Professional Experience

  Before entering my doctoral program, I taught middle school English and high school Bible at a private Christian school for one year, then taught AP Literature and Composition at a public high school for two years.

• Articles Published

  Peer-Reviewed Articles

  • “Writing a Wondrous Earth: Susan Fenimore Cooper’s Episcopalian Ecology.” Forthcoming in J19: The Society of Nineteenth-Century Americanists.
  • “‘Forest Christian,’ a Poet of the River Lands: Wendell Berry in Appalachia.” Forthcoming in collection of ecocritical essays on Appalachian literature, edited by Jessica Cory and Laura Wright.
  • “The Wisdom of ‘The Farm’: Sabbath Theology and Wendell Berry’s Pastoralism.” Renascence 70.1 (Winter 2018): 3-22. https://doi.org/10.5840/renascence20187012.
  • “Agriculture and Biblical Tradition in Jewett’s ‘A Dunnet Shepherdess.’” Christianity and Literature 64.4 (Sept. 2015): 400-413. http://muse.jhu.edu/article/738736.

  Book Reviews

  • Review of Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain, Volume 1 and 2: A Critical Edition, by Alexander von Humboldt, edited by Vera M. Kutzinski and Ottmar Ette. Forthcoming in Early American Literature.
  • Review of When I Came to Die: Process and Prophecy in Thoreau’s Vision of Dying, by Audrey Raden. Nineteenth-Century Prose 46.2 (Fall 2019): 241-246.
  • Review of Approaching Jonathan Edwards: The Evolution of a Persona, by Carol Ball. Christianity and Literature 68.4 (Sept. 2019): 694-697. muse.jhu.edu/article/735200.
  • Review of Henry David Thoreau: A Life, by Laura Dassow Walls. Christianity and Literature 67.3 (June 2018): 583-586. muse.jhu.edu/article/735886.
  • Review of Loving God’s Wildness: The Christian Roots of Ecological Ethics in American Literature, by Jeffrey Bilbro. Christianity and Literature 65.3 (June 2016): 378-381. muse.jhu.edu/article/738620.

  Public Writing

  • “Rise Up, O Saints, and Plant Gardens [rev. of In Search of the Common Good: Christian Fidelity in a Fractured World, by Jake Meador].” Front Porch Republic, June 26, 2019. https://www.frontporchrepublic.com/2019/06/rise-up-o-saints-and-plant-gardens/.
  • “Chesterton and Belloc are not Enough.” Front Porch Republic, Aug. 16, 2018. https://www.frontporchrepublic.com/2018/08/chesterton-and-belloc-are-not-enough/.
• Awards Received
  • 2020-2021, The University of Tennessee Humanities Center, Resident Graduate Fellow
  • 2020 Thoreau County Conservation Association Graduate Student Fellowship ($1000 awarded for Thoreau-related research in greater Boston area)
  • 2019-2020, Percy Adams Research Assistantship, UTK English department
  • 2016-2020, The University of Tennessee Chancellor’s Fellowship
• My Network

  I am involved with several literary studies societies, including Christianity and Literature, the Thoreau Society, and C19: The Society of Nineteenth-Century Americanists.

• My Story

  In my teaching and writing, I strive to be faithful to the theological, historical, and aesthetic contexts of literature. In this work I often find myself questioning broad assumptions about literature and secularization. I am particularly interested in the ways that writers of various religious backgrounds can reflect Christian truth.

• Related Links

  lucasnossaman.wordpress.com