Tiffany Eberle Kriner, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of English | Wheaton College
Wheaton, IL, UNITED STATES
Literary scholar with special interest in the intersections between race, place, theology, and literature.
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Biography
I believe that texts have a place and a future in the Kingdom of God. In my scholarly book The Future of the Word: An Eschatology of Literature, I look at the intricate ways God makes meaning-full futures for literary texts toward the community of the new creation in the Kingdom of God—and how God welcomes us to take part in the building of the texts and the community.
My work at Wheaton is to participate in the Kingdom of God through by serving texts and people in this way. I particularly focus on intersections of theology, place, and race within literature. In the classroom and on campus more broadly, I seek to create a space in which the interpretations of texts cultivate community among readers toward that community of the new creation in the love of the Trinity.
This scholarly and classroom goal has, in recent years, spilled over into work co-coordinating the Core Book program at Wheaton, which brings together communities associated with Wheaton (staff, students, faculty, administration, alumni, community members, etc.) around a single book such at Shusaku Endo’s Silence or Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead.
When I’m not at Wheaton, I’m farming 60 acres of woods and fields with my husband and two children at Root and Sky Farm.
Education (4)
University of Wisconsin-Madison: PhD, English Literature 2005
Area of Concentration: 20th-Century American Literature, Minor: Religious Philosophy. Dissertation title: “A Future and a Hope: The Eschatology of the Other in Twentieth-Century American Literature by Women”
University of Wisconsin-Madison: MA 1999
Messiah College: BA (summa cum laude), English 1998
Minor: Theatre; Honors project: Scripture in Anne Brontë's novels and poetry
Erasmus Institute, University of Notre Dame: Carey Research Fellow 2006
Areas of Expertise and Research Interests (5)
Twentieth Century American Literature
Literary Theory
Liturature and Environment
Theology and literature
African-American Literature
Links (2)
Presentations and Event Appearances (10)
This Land Was Made for You and Me: Farming, Theology, Literature
Co-presented with Joshua Mabie, UW-Whitewater Culture, Criticism, and the Christian Mind Conference, Dordt College, Sioux Center, IA, November 2017
Sacred Space/Time: Narrative Theology in Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead Trilogy
Western Regional Meeting of the Conference on Christianity and Literature Abilene Christian Univeristy, Dallas TX, October 2017
"Sing Dumb." Poetry.
Music for SATB choir and percussion by Shawn E. Okpebholo In Human Moments, recital of compositions by Shawn E. Okpebholo. Edman Chapel, Wheaton College
2016-11-14
Stepping Into Silence. Spiritual pilgrimage guide and Art/Artifact Exhibition materials
Co-writer with Miho Nonaka and Sarah Miglio, and exhibition co-designer with Rule29. Exhibition of fumi-e and artifacts related to Shusaku Endo’s Silence September 2016, Billy Graham Center, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL; October 2016, Sheen Center, New York City, NY; January 2017, Regent University, Virginia Beach, VA; February 2017, Fuller Seminary, Pasadena, CA
Thine Be the Canon: The Eschatology of Reading
Western Regional Meeting of the Conference on Christianity and Literature Westmont College, Santa Barbara, CA, May 2014
Past and Future Perfect: The Translation of Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84
Midwestern Regional Meeting of the Conference on Christianity and Literature Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL, March 2014
Love and Knowledge: A Certain Problem with Worldview
Invited Presentation Trinity Christian College, Palos Heights, IL, April 2013
The Eschatology of Texts
Humanities Colloquium Wheaton College, January 2013
For the Future of the Word: Jesus' Becoming and the Becoming of Literature
Southwest Regional Meeting of the Conference on Christianity and Literature Oklahoma Christian University. Oklahoma City, OK, October 2012
’lines of living light’: Frances Ellen Watkins Harper’s Popular and Political Poetry
Midwest Regional Meeting of the Conference on Christianity and Literature Calvin College. Grand Rapids, MI, April 2012
Academics and Published Research (2)
Courses Taught
- Composition and Research [EngW 103,104] - Topical Seminar: Reading Theologically [Engl 225] - Advanced Integrative Seminar: Art and Literature of Native America [AIS 309 (with Matthew Milliner)] - Advanced Integrative Seminar: Black Bodies in Theology and Literature [AIS 324 (with Beth Felker Jones)] - Women Writers [Engl 375] - American Literature: Beginnings to 1865 [Engl 341] - American Literature: Realism to Modernism [Engl 342] - American Literature: Modernism and Beyond [Engl 343] - Women Writers - African American Literature [Engl 379] - American Authors: Herman Melville [Engl 382] - American Authors: Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes [Engl 382] - American Authors: David Foster Wallace [Engl 393] - American Authors: Marilynne Robinson [Engl 383] - Senior Seminar [Engl 494]
Research
In my research, I particularly focus on intersections of theology, place, and race within literature. In a series of essays, I have considered the creation and maintenance of eschatological hope in the formal experiments of American writers such as Lucille Clifton, Denise Levertov, and Fanny Howe. The processes and forms of these writers pushed me to more fundamental questions about the theoretical and theological foundations for hopeful reading in the discipline of literary studies. Along these lines, “Hopeful Reading,” works to offer a methodology for reading hopefully as a literary scholar. My book, The Future of the Word: An Eschatology of Reading, argues that books have futures in the kingdom of God and that reading allows us to participate in those futures toward the community of the new creation in the love of the Trinity. My most recent work considers space and time in literary works as avenues toward particular theological truths.
Select Articles, Chapters, Reviews, and Other Publications (2)
Wary Grammar: Fanny Howe’s Narrative Bewilderment
Arizona Quarterly
Kriner, T.E.
2012
Review of Life on Mars by Tracy K. Smith
Books and Culture
Kriner, T.E.
2012
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