What’s something that some Milligan professors do in the sparse free time they have? Publish books, of course. This year Milligan professors, Jim Dahlman and Nancy Williams and Emmanuel professor Dr. Gary Selby released books.
Prof. Dahlman is a communications professor, Stampede advisor and area chair of visual, performing and communicative arts at Milligan. Dahlman’s book was released in March 2019. “A Familiar Wilderness” traces his 275-mile hike from Sycamore Shoals (near Elizabethton, TN) to Fort Boonesborough, KY. In this memoir, Dahlman recounts conversations and profiles of those he meets and also includes the history of the places he travels through.
“A lot of the time I was focused on not getting hit by a truck while hiking along the road,” Dahlman said. “I also tried to pay very close attention to what I was seeing, hearing, sensing while looking for opportunities to talk to people I came across.”
Two months after Dahlman’s book was released, Nancy Williams, a communications professor at Milligan released “A Crocus in the Desert” in May 2019. This book is a devotional book intended to offer hope and encouragement to women who are overwhelmed with emotions as they cope with infertility.
Williams drew inspiration from Isaiah 35. “When I first read that passage it spoke to me because it is the promise of hope in the middle of a desert,” Williams said. The word crocus translates to “rose,” and “crocus” only appears in the Bible twice.
“The only other time it is in the Bible is in Song of Solomon and the speaker is saying, “I am the rose of Sharon” and that is another name for Jesus Christ,” Williams said. “The crocus is a symbol of Jesus being with us in the desert.”
Williams is currently working on a companion book to her publication that will include 40 days worth of prayer as a four-week discussion guide.
Dr. Gary Selby is a professor of ministerial formation at Emmanuel. “Pursuing an Earthy Spirituality” by Selby was also published in May 2019. Selby’s book considers themes like human embodiment, a sense of awareness and the role of human agency. The book also engages the writings of C.S. Lewis to demonstrate that earthy spirituality can be a robust spirituality.
Selby was influenced by the impact Lewis had on his life. “Lewis made sense—what he said about God and about the world all rang true in my own experience,” Selby said. “What he said about everything from prayer and worship, to temptation, to how to write well—it all seemed to work for the book.”
Dahlman and Selby’s books are available in the bookstore, and all of these featured faculty books can be purchased on amazon.com.
Headline photo: Nancy Williams with “A Crocus in the Desert” and Jim Dahlman with “A Familiar Wilderness.”