Scholars@Duke

• Background
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  Education, Training, & Certifications

  • Ph.D., The University of Chicago 1965
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  Previous Appointments & Affiliations

  • Professor with Tenure, Religious Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 1977 - 2014
  • Chairman, Department of Religion, Religious Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2002 - 2006
  • Associate Professor with Tenure, Religious Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 1970 - 1977
  • Acting Assistant Provost and Associate Dean, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, Duke University 1973 - 1974
  • Acting Assistant Dean, Graduate School, Duke University 1970 - 1971
  • Assistant Professor, Religious Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 1967 - 1970
  • Visiting Assistant Professor, Religious Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 1966 - 1967
  • Instructor, University, Religious Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 1965 - 1966
• Recognition
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  Awards & Honors

  • Trinity College Distinguished Teaching Award. Trinity College. January 2009
• Publications & Artistic Works
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  Selected Publications

  • Books

    • Kort, W. A. C. S. Lewis: A Commentary. New York and London: Oxford University Press, 2016.
    • Kort, W. A. Textual intimacy: autobiography and religious identities, 2012.
    • Kort, W. A. Place and Space in Modern Fiction. University of Florida Press, 2004.
    • Kort, W. A. C. S. Lewis Then and Now. Oxford University Press, 2001.
    • Kort, W. "Take, Read": Scripture, Textuality and Cultural Practice. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1996.
    • Kort, W. Bound to Differ: The Dynamics of Theological Discourses. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1992.
    • Kort, W. Story, Text, and Scripture: Literary Interests in Biblical Narrative. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1989.
    • Kort, W. Modern Fiction and Human Time: A Study in Narrative and Belief. Tampa: University of South Florida Press, 1985.
    • Kort, W. Moral Fiber: Character and Belief in Recent American Fiction. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1982.
    • Kort, W. Narrative Elements and Religious Meaning. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1975.
    • Kort, W. Shriven Selves: Religious Problems in Recent American Fiction. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1972.

  • Academic Articles

    • Kort, W. A. “Between Conrad's London and sacred space.” Religion and Literature 42, no. 3 (September 1, 2010): 27–41.
    • Kort, W. A. “What, after all, is "religion and literature"?” Religion and Literature 41, no. 2 (June 1, 2009): 105–11.
    • Kort, Wesley A. “The Oxford Companion of English Literature and Theology.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 77, no. 1 (March 2009): 151–54. https://doi.org/10.1093/jaarel/lfp101.
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    • Kort, W. “Styron’s Corpus and Sophie’s Choice.” Christianity and Literature XXX (2008): 64–71.
    • Kort, W. “Styron’s Corpus and Sophie’s Choice.” Contemporary Literary Criticism 244 (2008): 199–202.
    • Kort, W. “Christianity, Literature, and Cultural Conflict in America.” Christianity and Literature 56 (2007): 463–79.
    • Kort, Wesley A. “What and Where is “Religion and Literature” Now?” Theology Today 62, no. 3 (October 2005): 400–406. https://doi.org/10.1177/004057360506200310.
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    • Kort, W. A. “The Sacred Desert: Religion, Literature, Art, and Culture By David Jasper: Oxford, Blackwell, 2004. 208 pp. $19.95.” Theology Today 62, no. 1 (April 1, 2005): 116–20. https://doi.org/10.1177/004057360506200124.
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    • Kort, W. A. “Houses of Interpretation: Reading Scripture, Reading Culture By David Lyle Jeffrey Waco, Baylor University Press, 2003. 288 pp. $39.95.” Theology Today 61, no. 3 (October 1, 2004): 386–89. https://doi.org/10.1177/004057360406100321.
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    • Kort, Wesley A. “Tolkien and C. S. Lewis: The Gift of Friendship. By Colin Duriez. Mahwah, N.J.: Hidden Spring, 2003. xii + 244 pp. $15.00 paper.” Church History 73, no. 1 (March 2004): 217–18. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0009640700098036.
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    • Kort, W. A. “Narrative, religion and science: Fundamentalism versus irony 1700-1999.” Church History 72, no. 4 (December 2003): 922–24.
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    • Cunningham, David S. “Reading is Believing.” Theology Today 60 (July 2003): 245–46.
    • Kort, Wesley A. “Reading Is Believing: The Christian Faith through Literature and Film By David S. Cunningham Grand Rapids, Baker, 2002. 237 pp. $18.99.” Theology Today 60, no. 2 (July 2003): 245–46. https://doi.org/10.1177/004057360306000214.
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    • Kort, W. A. “Faith and narrative.” Religion & Literature 34, no. 2 (2002): 111–15.
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    • Kort, W. “African Americans Reading Scripture: Freeing/Revealing/Creating.” Christianity and Literature 51 (2002): 263–74.
    • Kort, W. A. “Nourishing faith through fiction: Reflections of the 'Apostle's Creed' in literature and film.” Religion & Literature 34, no. 2 (2002): 111–15.
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    • May, John R. “Nourishing Faith Through Fiction.” Religion and Literature 34 (2002): 111–15.
    • Kort, W. A. “Redeeming laughter: The comic dimension of human experience.” Theology Today 56, no. 1 (April 1999): 134–36. https://doi.org/10.1177/004057369905600121.
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    • Kort, W. A. “People of the Book: Christian identity and literary culture.” Church History 67, no. 3 (September 1998): 623–25. https://doi.org/10.2307/3171000.
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    • Kort, W. A. “Shelley and sculpture: The interpreting angel - Shelley,B.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 64, no. 3 (1996): 710–12.
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    • Kort, Wesley A. “Book Review: The Passion of Interpretation.” Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology 48, no. 3 (July 1994): 306–7. https://doi.org/10.1177/002096439404800323.
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    • Edgerton, W Dow. “The Passion of Interpretation.” Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology XLVIII (July 1994): 306–7.
    • Banion, John D. O. “Reorienting Rhetoric: The Dialectic of List and Story.” Literature and Theology XIII (June 1994): 223–24.
    • Bernstein, J. M. “The Fate of Art: Aesthetic Alienation from Kant to Derrida and Adorno.” Literature and Theology VIII (June 1994): 224–25.
    • Hirsch, David H. “The Deconstruction of Literature: Criticism after Auschwitz.” Literature and Theology VII (September 1993): 317–18.
    • Levinson, Henry Samuel. “Santayana, Pragmatism, and the Spiritual Life.” The Christian Century 110 (March 1993): 301–2.
    • DeConcini, Barbara. “Narrative Remembering.” The Journal of Religion 72 (July 1992): 480–81.
    • Kort, Wesley A. “Narrative Remembering. Barbara DeConcini.” The Journal of Religion 72, no. 3 (July 1992): 480–81. https://doi.org/10.1086/488968.
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    • Frye, Northrop. “Words with Power: Being a Second Study of the Bible and Literature.” America 164 (April 1991): 382–84.
    • Kort, W. “Religion and Literature: Some Methodological Questions.” Christianity and Literature XXIX (1991): 45–49.
    • Randisi, Jennifer Lynn. “On Her Way Rejoicing: The Fiction of Muriel Spark.” Christianity and Literature 41 (1991): 97–98.
    • Kort, W. A. “"Religion and literature" in postmodernist contexts.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 58, no. 4 (December 1, 1990): 575–88. https://doi.org/10.1093/jaarel/LVIII.4.575.
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    • Booth, Wayne C. “The Company We Keep: An Ethics of Fiction.” Literature and Theology 4 (November 1990): 361–64.
    • Mott, Wesley T. “The Strains of Eloquence: Emerson and His Sermons.” The Christian Century 107 (May 1990): 504–5.
    • Cutsinger, James. “The Form of Transformed Vision: Coleridge and the Knowledge of God.” Modern Theology 5 (July 1989): 401–3.
    • KORT, W. A. “GOD THE ARTIST - AMERICAN NOVELISTS IN A POSTREALIST AGE - GORAK,J.” Christianity & Literature 37, no. 2 (1988): 64–65.
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    • Gunn, Giles. “The Culture of Criticism and the Criticism of Culture.” The Christian Century 104 (July 1987): 600–601.
    • Kort, W. “Narrative and Theology.” Literature and Theology 1 (March 1987): 27–38.
    • Kort, W. “Literature und Theologie.” Stimmen Der Zeit, February 1987, 93–104.
    • Kort, W. “Beliefs Americans Share.” The Journal of General Education 39 (1987): 85–97.
    • ed, Frank McConnell. “The Bible and Narrative Tradition.” Criticism: A Quarterly for Literature and the Arts XXIX (1987): 245–57.
    • Miller, David C. “Three Faces of God: Traces of the Trinity in Literature and Life.” The Christian Century 103 (September 1986): 817–18.
    • Kort, W. A. “Kierkegaard and Literature: Irony, Repetition, and Criticism.” Edited by Ronald Schlecter and Robert Markley. Christianity and Literature XXXV (1986): 49–50.
    • Barbour, John D. “Tragedy as a Critique of Virtue.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion III (1985): 474–76.
    • Edwards, Michael. “Towards a Christian Poetics.” Theology Today XLII (1985): 106–10.
    • Ricoeur, Paul. “Time and Narrative.” Books and Religion 13 (1985): 9–9.
    • KORT, W. A. “HUMAN TIME IN HEMINGWAY FICTION.” Modern Fiction Studies 26, no. 4 (1981): 579–96.
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    • Kort, W. “Social Time in Faulkner’s Fiction.” Arizona Quarterly 37 (1981): 101–15.
    • Kort, Wesley A. “Review: The Genesis of Secrecy: On the Interpretation of Narrative.” Christianity &Amp; Literature 29, no. 1 (December 1979): 53–55. https://doi.org/10.1177/014833317902900111.
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    • Kort, W. “Paul Ricoeur and the Hermeneutics of Metaphor.” Christianity and Literature XXVIII (1979): 49–51.
    • Kort, Wesley A. “Images for Self-Recognition: The Christian as Player, Sufferer and Vandal. David Baily Harned.” The Journal of Religion 58, no. 3 (July 1978): 330–32. https://doi.org/10.1086/486646.
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    • Herbert, T Walter. “Moby-Dick and Calvinism: A World Dismantled.” Journal of Presbyterian History LVI (1978): 169–70.
    • Kort, W. A. “Religion and Modern Literature: Essays in Theory and Criticism.” Edited by G. B. Tennyson and Jr Edward Ericson. International Journal for Philosophy and Religion IX (1978): 62–63.
    • Kort, Wesley A. “Review: Mankind in Barbary: The Individual and Society in the Novels of Norman Mailer.” Christianity &Amp; Literature 26, no. 4 (September 1977): 27–27. https://doi.org/10.1177/014833317702600408.
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    • Cheever, John. “Falconer.” The Christian Century, July 1977, 633–34.
    • Wilder, Amos N. “Theopoetic: Theology and the Religious Imagination.” The Christian Century, April 1977, 363–64.
    • KORT, W. A. “HORIZONS OF CRITICISM - ASSESSMENT OF RELIGIOUS-LITERARY OPTIONS - RULAND,V.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 45, no. 4 (January 1, 1977): 542–45.
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    • Kunkel, Frances L. “Passion and the Passion: Sex and Religion in Modern Literature.” Reformed Journal, October 1976, 25–26.
    • Langer, Lawrence L. “The Holocaust and the Literary Imagination.” The Review of Books and Religion, February 1976, 5–5.
    • Kort, W. A. “Religion as Story.” Edited by James B. Wiggins. Religion in Life, 1976, 255–56.
    • Dean, William D. “Coming To: A Theology of Beauty.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion, December 1974, 784–85.
    • Vernon, John. “The Garden and the Map: Schizophrenia in Twentieth Century Literature and Culture.” Christianity and Literature, 1973, 31–33.
    • Gunn, Giles B. “Literature and Religion.” The Christian Century, January 1972, 69–69.
    • Rupp, Richard H. “Celebration in Postwar American Fiction.” The Christian Century, August 1971, 1007–8.
    • Kellog, Gene. “The Vital Tradition: Catholic Novel in a Period of Convergence.” The Christian Century, March 1971, 354–55.
    • Alice, Gene, and Kenneth Hamilton. “The Elements of John Updike.” Christian Scholar’S Review, 1971, 283–85.
    • Seib, Kenneth. “James Agee: Promise and Fulfillment.” Journal of Modern Literature I (1971): 712–13.
    • ed, Robert Fitzgerald. “The Collected Short Prose of James Agee.” Journal of Modern Literature I (1971): 712–13.
    • Kort, W. “John Updike’s Fiction: Cross and Grace in Beruf.” Anglican Theological Review LII (1970): 151–67.
    • Fairchild, Hoxie Neale. “Religious Trends in English Poetry, Vol. VI, 1920-1965: Valley of Dry Bones.” Newsletter of the Conference on Christianity and Literature, 1970, 11–13.
    • Kort, W. “The Obsession of Graham Greene.” Thought XLV (1970): 20–44.
    • Kort, W. “Christianity and the Arts: The Question of Either/Or.” Newsletter of the Conference of Christianity and Literature XVIII (1969): 13–17.
    • Kort, W. “The Silence on That Side of Tock.” Renascence XXI (1969): 207–9.
    • Updike, John. “Couples.” The Christian Century, October 1968, 1340–42.
    • Kaam, Adrian van, and Kathleen Healy. “The Demon and the Dove: Personality Growth Through Literature.” The Christian Century, March 1968, 400–400.
    • Kort, W. “A Department of Religion in a Non-Confessional Setting.” The Bulletin of the American Academy of Religion V (1968): 15–20.
    • Kort, W. “The Groundless Glory of Golding’s Spire.” Renascence XX (1968): 75–78.
    • Via, Dan O. “The Parables: Their Literary and Existential Dimension.” The Christian Century, June 1967, 753–54.
    • Kort, W. “Recent Fiction and the Christian Reader.” The Reformed Journal XVI (1966): 17–19.
    • Kort, W. “Recent Fiction and Its Religious Implications.” Comparative Literature Studies III (1966): 223–34.
    • Lawler, Justin. “The Christian Image: Studies in Religious Art and Poetry.” Una Sancta XXIII (1966): 127–28.
    • Updike, John. “Of the Farm.” The Christian Century, January 1966, 82–82.
    • Kort, W. “"Religion and Literature" in Postmodernist Contexts.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion LVIII (n.d.): 575–88.
    • Kort, W. “Doing "Religion and Literature" in a Postmodernist Mode.” Christianity and Literature 39 (n.d.): 193–98.
    • Kort, Wesley A. “The Community of Interpreters.” International Studies in Philosophy 23, no. 1 (n.d.): 106–7. https://doi.org/10.5840/intstudphil199123114.
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    • Mueller, William R. “The Prophetic Voice in Modern Fiction.” Una Sancta, n.d., 120–22.
    • Shelly, Bryan. “Shelly and Scripture: The Interpreting Angel.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion LXIV (n.d.): 710–12.

  • Book Sections

    • Kort, W. A. “Scripture as ground and idea.” In Refractions of the Scriptural: Critical Orientation as Transgression, 27–33, 2016. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315629285.
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    • Kort, W. A. “"’Landscape’ as a Kind of Place-Relation".” In The Place of Landscape, edited by Jeff Malpas, 27–44. The MIT Press, 2011.
    • Kort, W. “Reading Places/Reading Scriptures.” In Theorizing Scriptures: New Critical Orientations to a Cultural Phenomenon, Rutgers University Press, 220–76, 2008.
    • Kort, W. “Sacred/Profane and an Adequate Theory of Human Place-Relations.” In Constructions of Space: Theory, Geography, and Narrative, T&T Clark, 32–50, 2007.
    • Kort, W. “The Chronicles of Narnia: Where to Start.” In Revisiting Narnia: Fantasy, Myth and Religion in C. S. Lewis’ Chronicles, edited by Shanna Caughey, 103–13. Dallas: Benbella Books, Inc., 2005.
    • Kort, W. “Learning to Die: Work as Religious Discipline in Updike’s Fiction.” In John Updike and Religion: The Sense of the Sacred and the Motions of Grace, edited by James Yerkes, 180–91. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1999.
    • Kort, W. “Thomas Hardy and the Limits of Modernism.” In Morphologies of Faith: Essays in Religion and Culture, edited by Mary Gerhart and Anthony C. Yu, 69–84. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1990.
    • Kort, W. “Exodus and its Biblical Paradigm.” In Exodus–A Lasting Paradigm, edited by Bas van Iersel and Auton Weiler, 72–83. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark Ltd., 1987.
    • Kort, W. “Human Time in Hemingway’s Fiction.” In American Fiction 1914-1945, edited by Harold Bloom, 315–31. New York, New Haven, Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 1986.
    • Kort, W. “The End of Time in Kermode and Derrida.” In Immortality and Human Destiny, edited by Geddes MacGregor, 62–72. New York: Paragon House, 1985.
• Scholarly, Clinical, & Service Activities
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  Presentations & Appearances

  • Modernity and the Authority of "Second Scriptures". January 5, 2009  2009
  • Nathan A. Scott: A Tribute. Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion. American Academy of Religion. January 5, 2009  2009
  • Religious Identity. January 5, 2009  2009

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