Joe Carlson

Joe Carlson (MA Humanities) lives in the DFW metroplex with his wife and son. He received his BA from New St Andrews College, and his MA from the University of Dallas, where he is currently completing his PhD in Literature. His specific focus is the doxological pedagogy embedded in the poetry and philosophy of Dante Alighieri. He has managed a chain of coffee shops, published (micro) epic poetry, co-pastored a church, helped create and staff a university campus ministry, written for the Salvo Magazine blog, and taught many kinds of classes over the years. Most recently he has published an original translation of Dante’s Comedy as well as a comprehensive curriculum aimed at helping high school students (and their teachers) work through the Comedy from an unashamedly Christian perspective. His work can be found at dantepoem.com.

2024 Speaker Topic

Teaching with Eyes on the Sun: The Doxological Pedagogy of Dante’s Paradiso

Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever; the chief end of education must be to equip students to do just that. The classroom’s primary purpose therefore is to train students to worship God in all things and strengthen their allegiance to Christ through the subjects they learn and the lessons they receive. This workshop will focus on several key passages from Dante’s Paradiso to unpack what I call a doxological pedagogy as well as to give educators a practical model to imitate.