A Slice of Calvinism and Friendship

Last week I attended two presentations that were part of BYU's English Symposium. I attended the "Calvinism in 17th Century British Literature," followed by the "English Reading Series: Allie Condie."

The first presentation had three students reading their research papers on various topics. Hannah DeTavis opened with her research on Margaret Fell Fox and and Fox's fight for the right for women to speak during church. Jeremy Loutensock followed Hannah with his research on Lucy Hutchinson's On the Principles of the Christian Religion. One of the main points that stuck out to me was Hutchinson's belief in predestination, and that she believed that recognizing one's sins and mistakes could indicate that they are one of God's elect instead of it being an indication that they were created to fail. Olivia L. Moskot went last and read her research on George Herbert. Like Jeremy's research, Olivia chose to focus on predestination. She mentioned some of George Herbert's poems and used a few metaphors to describe our relationship with God.

The second presentation was a book reading by Allie Condie. She opened by reading two reviews she received on her books. One was her very first book review, and it was brutal. The second had a more positive tone to it. Condie wanted the audience to know not to give up after their first try, even if it's terrible. After a while, Condie started reading her novel, Summerlost. It is a book about a young girl who lost her father and one of her brother's in a car accident. Her family moved to a small town with a festival. Condie let us know that the town was based off of Cedar City and the festival was not unlike the Shakespeare Festival. Ultimately, Condie said Summerlost was a story about "friendship," which is a different kind of love than what she usually writes about.