Faith, Reason, and Fiction | Amy E. MacKinnon

The Pattern of Three in Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" and Other Stories

Amy MacKinnon

Dec 13, 20245 min read

The Pattern of Three in Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" and Other Stories

Do you know what all of these stories have in common? Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card The...

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Amy MacKinnon

Sep 6, 20248 min read

Why Is Alice in Wonderland So Weird?

Alice in Wonderland with the potion that changes Alice's size, the white rabbit, Cheshire cat at the tea party with lots of tea and tea cups

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Amy MacKinnon

Aug 1, 20247 min read

Angels and Humans: What Do We Know?

People don't think like angels, but some of the ways that ideas are taught don't take into account the way that we learn

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How Do Detectives Solve their Cases in Best-Selling Fictional Stories?

Amy MacKinnon

Sep 21, 20234 min read

How Do Detectives Solve their Cases in Best-Selling Fictional Stories?

They have an advantage: there is a method in their madness! If you read or watch enough detective stories, you know that there are...

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Amy MacKinnon

Apr 4, 20235 min read

Why is Lent Always 40 Days Long?

Why is Lent only 40 days instead of 46 days? If we counted all the days between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday, there would be 46 days.

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What is Wrong with Catholics Who Actually Read the Bible Literally?

Amy MacKinnon

May 17, 20224 min read

What is Wrong with Catholics Who Actually Read the Bible Literally?

Is there a way to read the Bible literally and still make sense of what's written in the scriptures?

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9 Famous Fictional Characters Who Are Actually Devils in Disguise

Amy MacKinnon

Mar 23, 202215 min read

9 Famous Fictional Characters Who Are Actually Devils in Disguise

Using a real demon as a character in a fictional story creates an incredibly boring story. The solution? Use a devil in disguise!

1,614 views0 comments

How to Teach the Eucharist, Part 2: Sacred Tradition

Amy MacKinnon

Oct 12, 20218 min read

How to Teach the Eucharist, Part 2: Sacred Tradition

How do you explain turning bread and wine into Jesus in the Eucharist so that it makes sense? Read this blog post to see how

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How to Teach the Eucharist Part 1: The Bible

Amy MacKinnon

Aug 16, 20218 min read

How to Teach the Eucharist Part 1: The Bible

If you’ve ever tried to teach anyone about the Eucharist then you know that it can be difficult, especially the first time you teach it!

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Amy MacKinnon

May 11, 20216 min read

How Do Good Stories Teach Virtue?

If you’re going to teach anyone about virtue, teach them the definitions. If you want them to internalize virtue, then read good stories.

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Beginner’s Guide to Finding the Christianity Hidden in Fairy Tales and Fiction

Amy MacKinnon

Dec 15, 202014 min read

Beginner’s Guide to Finding the Christianity Hidden in Fairy Tales and Fiction

Beginner's Guide to Finding the Christianity hidden in fairy tales and fiction shows you the Christianity hiding in plain sight in stories

2,192 views0 comments

Amy MacKinnon

Oct 30, 20207 min read

The Trouble with Trelawney

In the Harry Potter series, Sybil Trelawney can be difficult character to defend for Christians. I'll show you how to do that in this post

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How to Gently Teach Critical Thinking Skills

Amy MacKinnon

Sep 7, 20206 min read

How to Gently Teach Critical Thinking Skills

I will show you how to start teaching critical thinking skills using any story, and engage in creative thinking at the same time.

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What is the Point of a Classical Education?

Amy MacKinnon

Aug 10, 20206 min read

What is the Point of a Classical Education?

There’s a lot of talk about what a classical education actually is, but what is its goal? And why is it associated with wonder?

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Amy MacKinnon

Jul 5, 20205 min read

How Do You Teach Wonder?

I haven’t seen very many good explanations of what wonder actually is in the recent materials that I’ve read, which is really odd. Why would

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Why Teaching Beginnings, Middles, and Ends is a Problem

Amy MacKinnon

Jun 28, 20207 min read

Why Teaching Beginnings, Middles, and Ends is a Problem

This unfortunately popular way to teach children about stories is actually a big problem. I’ll explain why and show you a better way

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Amy MacKinnon

May 2, 20205 min read

Sacrament of Confirmation

The sacrament of confirmation is probably the hardest sacrament to teach. If you ask most Catholics what it is, they’ll likely tell you that

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The Little Mermaid: A Christian Fairy Tale

Amy MacKinnon

Apr 12, 20206 min read

The Little Mermaid: A Christian Fairy Tale

The Little Mermaid by Disney was based on the story by Hans Christian Anderson. The original was built on a Christian framework

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Amy MacKinnon

Apr 4, 20204 min read

Disney and Fairy Tales

The Disney fairy tales are based on older versions of the stories by Mother Goose, the Grimms, and Andersen. Is that a good or a bad thing?

578 views0 comments

Amy MacKinnon

Mar 27, 20204 min read

Why Cinderella Wears Glass Slippers

Why Does Cinderella Wear Glass Slippers? That was a question a student asked me once when I was teaching high school literature. We’d...

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Finding Faith Everywhere.

Finding Faith Everywhere.

Finding Faith Everywhere