CULTURE | Texts that Hurt You
Abigail Favale
66.16
12 October 2021
25 November 2025
In this episode, our host, Dr. Abigail Favale, welcomes English Professor Bill Jolliff into a discussion about difficult texts. How do we engage with literature that may cause us emotional distress? Can unsettling books be instrumental in shaping our worldviews in a positive way?
Dr. Bill Jolliff: https://www.georgefox.edu/academics/undergrad/departments/writing_lit/FacultyPages/William_Jolliff.html
Professor Abigail Favale completed her doctorate at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, where she was a recipient of the competitive Overseas Research Award. In 2011, her dissertation was granted the Samuel Rutherford Prize for the most distinguished thesis in English literature.
(https://www.georgefox.edu/academics/undergrad/departments/writing_lit/FacultyPages/Abigail_Favale.html)
Table of Contents
00:00 - Intro
2:15 - Bill Jolliff "Soul CV'
4:40 - Books that shaped Prof. Jolliff
7:42 - There's no such thing as a Bad Book
10:00 - Articulation of a Book
11:40 - Preparation of Reading
13:58 - Presence in the Text
16:40 - Self Awareness
17:33 - Teens Articulating a Worldview
19:00 - Everyone’s got a Worldview
22:16 - The text of the Worldview
25:24 - Undergraduate vs Graduate Experience of Worldview
29:30 - Influential Book - The Universe Next Door, James Sire
31:00 - Entering an Understanding of Agonist or Atheist
35:06 - Being Grounded of the Text of a Worldview
37:50 - Introducing Text to Students
40:56 - Formulation of Worldview in Students
43:23 - Moral Spiritual Danger
45:39 - Engaging in Different Worldview
48:42 - The toughest book: Sections of Old Testaments
50:21 - Consistency of Christian Understanding
51:56 - Narrative Demonstration
53:30 - Presence of the Text
54:16 - The depiction of Life and The Influence of Religion
56:03 - Supernatural Aspect of Understanding
57:57 - The Wound a Book
1:00:27 - The Wound Effect
1:03:46 - The Relationship with Yourself and The Text
1:05:45 - Outro
To connect with Dr. Favale's work, visit https://abigailfavale.wixsite.com/home
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