The Eastern Regional Meeting of the Conference on Christianity and Literature and Third Annual meeting of the Holy Moot Featuring Daniel McInerny, philosopher of art, novelist, and dramatist
“Dis-graced he may be, yet is not dethroned, and keeps the rags of lordship once he owned, his world-dominion by creative act.” – Tolkien, “Mythopoeia”
Humans pursue creative work in remarkably unpropitious times. Sometimes these difficulties are private: Boethius wrote Consolations while in prison awaiting his death. Sometimes they are public: Tolkien and other Inklings wrote fairy-stories while industrial war and nuclear weapons threatened human civilization. Sometimes personal conflicts dramatize public ills: Irina Ratushinskaya wrote poems on bars of soap while detained in a Soviet prison camp for human rights advocacy. History’s most significant writers are animated by the conviction that literary creation holds promise for restoration, that it may be allied to our collective recovery from evil. Yet today, as ecological apocalypse or machine intelligence threaten our sense of meaningful action, many have lost confidence in the value of human creativity. In response, our CWC theme for 2027 is “Restoring Creativity”; our gathering will host a conversation about how human creativity might participate in God’s restoration of all things.
We invite submissions that speak to our theme from multiple angles:
We prioritize papers on writing and literature, but we also welcome papers from neighboring disciplines (e.g. philosophy, theology, music, visual art).
Proposals for panels (three or four papers speaking to a common theme) are also welcome.
The third annual Holy Moot (conference on Tolkien and theology) is taking place during the Christian Writers Conference. The theme for the Holy Moot this year is “Re-Sacralizing the World.” Papers, presentations, and performances related to Tolkien or other Inkling-inspired happenings are warmly invited. All are welcome: scholar, fan, believer, non-believer.
Undergraduate students must submit their entire conference-length paper for consideration; eligible undergraduate papers will be entered into the national CCL Undergraduate Writing Contest for a cash prize. Graduate students are encouraged to apply for the CCL Travel Grants for Conferences. For more details on these undergraduate and graduate opportunities, visit www.christianityandliterature.com/awards.
This call for papers closes on Jan. 11, 2027. Conference registration details will be available in the Fall.
Daniel McInerny is a philosopher, novelist, and dramatist. As both a theorist and creator of literature, McInerny brings a combination of technical precision and down-to-earth relevance to Christian conversations about literary art.
As philosopher of the arts at Christendom College, he is foremost interested in reactivating an Aristotelian understanding of art as mimesis or imitation. His 2024 book on the arts, "Beauty and Imitation," was described by one reviewer as "literally the best book on beauty that I have ever read: the most convincing, clear, and comprehensive; the most eye-opening and satisfying; the most insightful and delightful." McInerny’s sequel to this, on the philosophy of creativity, will be published soon.
McInerny's novel "The Good Death of Kate Montclair" (2023) depicts a brave woman in midlife struggling to come to terms with a terminal diagnosis by joining an apparently innocent death discussion group. Hailed by writer Maya Sinha as “an instant classic of 21st-century Catholic fiction,” it deals with one of our culture's most hotly contested issues, euthanasia, as well as with the themes of conscience as an argument for God’s existence, and bespoke spirituality and ritual in our contemporary world. McInerny has also authored a play, "The Actor," about the subversive wartime theatrical activities of the young Karol Wojtyla, the man who would become Saint John Paul II.
Daniel also writes the Substack newsletter "The Comic Muse," a review of culture and the arts.
A native of South Bend, Ind., Daniel is the youngest child of the late Ralph McInerny, revered philosopher at the University of Notre Dame for over 50 years, and best known by many as the author of the beloved Father Dowling series of mystery novels. Daniel and his wife Amy have three grown children and three preternaturally adorable grandsons and live in the beautiful Piedmont Valley of central Virginia.