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Dennis Kinlaw

Associate Professor of English

B.A., Harvard University; M.Litt, University of St. Andrews; Ph.D. University of St. Andrews

Profile

Dennis Kinlaw is Associate Professor of English at Erskine College, where he teaches courses on Modern and Postmodern literature. He received his Ph.D. from the University of St. Andrews.

Research and Projects

Kinlaw’s research focuses on literature and religion, with a particular interest in narrative engagements with religious experience and secularism in 20th and 21st century literature. Recent scholarly publications focus on religion in contemporary American literature and the work of David Foster Wallace. Kinlaw has written for popular publications, including Transpositions and Church Life Journal, and previously served as book reviews editor for the Journal of Inkling Studies. His research has been supported by fellowships from the National Endowment of the Humanities, the Saltire Foundation, and the Institute for Theology, Imagination, and the Arts in Scotland.

Funded by a grant from the Templeton Religion Trust, Kinlaw is currently working on a project investigating the spiritual dimensions of literary reception. Entitled “Truth in Fiction: A Cognitivist Approach to Literature as a Source of Spiritual Understanding,” this project offers an empirically aimed exploration of the narrative and experiential variables by which literary texts—poems, short stories, and novels—elicit spiritual responses within the lives of readers.

Telephone: 864-379-8837
Email: kinlaw@erskine.edu
Location: Belk Hall: 234

Interested in Erskine?

Erskine College admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.

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