Three Honors students from the Anderson University College of Arts and Sciences presented their original research at the Southeast Regional Conference of Christianity and Literature in October 22-24 in Birmingham, Alabama.
The title of the conference was “Transformative Language: Literacies of Mind, Body, and Soul.”
Presenting their research were Ella Rose Becker, Keely Resso, and Austin Hooker.
According to Dr. Katherine Wyma of the Anderson University Honors College and the English Department of the College of Arts and Sciences, the students were selected in a highly competitive process. While scholars seeking to present scholarly research at a conference normally submit an abstract of their work, Dr. Wyma points out that the students are required to submit their entire paper a few months in advance.
“I’m really proud of them for getting it done in advance,” Dr. Wyma said, adding that presenting at the conference opens doors to the students not otherwise possible. “You have the opportunity to network with people in your topic, but also, it gives them the opportunity to share their ideas that they’re researching. It gives you an opportunity to speak to an audience who knows what you’re talking about, and not just vaguely interested.”
Becker presented her paper titled “True and False Gospels in Anne of Green Gables: The Lost Development of Moral Literacy Through Classic Children’s Literature.” Her paper challenges various assumptions Christians make about the beloved classic novel.
“People think of it as a Christian story,” Becker said, suggesting that many of the characters use false gospels. “Marilla presents more of a moralistic worldview. Children don’t notice what she says but how she acts. I was talking about how children need books showing them people acting in accordance with the gospel.”
Becker, who says she was an avid reader of Anne of Green Gables and other books when she was a youngster, also addressed a decline in children’s reading for fun and its relationship to their behavior and morality, evidenced by violent outbursts, increased use of profanity and in some cases committing criminal acts.
“Perhaps in the decline of textual literacy,” she writes, “today’s children have also been afflicted with a decline in moral literacy.”.
Becker describes being able to present before academics and others at the conference as “an absolute privilege.”
“It was such an incredible experience to be able to have conversations with other academics about topics that I’m passionate about and to learn from them,” Becker said.
Another outlet for Becker’s passion for writing was publishing her book titled Gentle Shepherd. She plans to release more of her books in the future.
Resso presented her paper titled “Myth, Parable, and Brainrot: The Formative Power of Shared Cultural Stories.” Observing a lack of shared cultural stories in contemporary American society inspired her to pursue this topic.
“A lot of Eastern cultures or African cultures have these shared cultural stories that the West has kind of forgotten and lost in the past 100 years or so,” Resso said, adding that in another presentation that day, a student spoke of need for individualism, noting in social media there’s a tendency for people to try to be like others they interact with.
“My paper was kind of the inverse of that, of needing to have shared cultural stories and not solely focus on individualism,” Resso said.” One of the questions we were asked was, ‘how can with your individual topic you see the other side of that?’ For my paper, ‘how is individualism necessary even in the midst of losing shared cultural stories?’”
Resso continued, “That was a great question that really made me think about ‘how are those things compatible, and how did our two papers work together in pursuing a common goal?’ which was something I hadn’t thought about and wouldn’t have thought about if I hadn’t been asked that question.”
Hooker presented his paper titled “Prone to Wander: Medieval Eardstapa and Modern Flaneur as Roads to Faith.”
The theme of Hooker’s paper explored the spiritual idea of wandering, drawing from the writings of the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard and Old English poetry (two of Hooker’s biggest inspirations). His paper explores various philosophies on wandering, drawing insights from written works ranging from Twilight to The Lord of The Rings.
As Tolkein writes “Not all who wander are lost,” Hooker’s paper explores the human act of wandering. And while wandering is often associated with aimlessness, isolation and loneliness, Hooker suggests that, by God’s Grace, it’s possible for a wanderer to “find happy surprises along the way.”
“It was really awesome to hear the really thoughtful questions that they had,” said Hooker, who also gave a presentation in 2025 when Anderson University hosted the conference. “You read through your papers and at the end they have a question and answer. To have my ideas and things that I had come up with thoughtfully engaged with was really cool. It felt very empowering.”
Of his experience with the Honors College, Hooker said, “I think it’s just preparing me as a human more than anything… I’ve grown a lot of question asking skills in honors, but I think it’s more about being challenged.”
The Conference on Christianity and Literature
The Conference on Christianity and Literature is an interdisciplinary society dedicated to exploring the relationships between Christianity and literature. Organized formally in 1956, CCL is dedicated to both scholarly excellence and collegial exchange and includes hundreds of members from a variety of academic institutions and religious traditions from the United States, Canada, and more than a dozen other countries.
Anderson University Honors College
Bringing together high-achieving students, outstanding professors, and a tailored curriculum, the Honors College creates an immersive, engaging learning environment that offers a unique college experience and allows students to contribute constructively to the most important issues in a society.