Daniel H. Strait, Ph.D.
Associate Dean, College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences
Professor of English
Department: English
Office: Morrison Hall 300C
Phone Extension: (859) 858-3511, x2454
Contact Daniel H. StraitBiographical Information
Daniel H. Strait is professor of English and Associate Dean of the College of Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities at Asbury University, where he has taught for 25 years. His research interests include exploring the intersections of literature, philosophy, and religion, especially in Shakespearean drama and Renaissance poetry (especially George Herbert). His doctoral research focused on the limits of religious language in George Herbert and Emily Dickinson.
Dr. Strait is a member of the Renaissance Society of America (RSA) and the George Herbert Society.
Education
- Ph.D., English, Literature and Criticism, Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP)
- Areas: Early modern literature, Shakespeare and Renaissance lyric poetry; Nineteenth-century American literature, Dickinson; Philosophy and literature.
- M.A., English, Florida Atlantic University
- B.A., English, Houghton College
Experience:
2011-present. Professor of English and Associate Dean, College of Arts & Sciences, Asbury University, Wilmore, Kentucky.
spring, 2017. Interim Chair, Department of English, Asbury University, Wilmore, Kentucky.
2005-present. Professor of English, Asbury University, Wilmore, Kentucky.
1998-2005. Associate Professor of English. Asbury University, Wilmore, Kentucky.
1996-1998. Assistant Professor of English/Assistant to the Dean for Humanities Faculty. Palm Beach Atlantic University, West Palm Beach, Florida.
1995-1996. Instructor of English/Assistant to the Dean for the Rhetoric and Communication Faculty. Palm Beach Atlantic University, West Palm Beach, Florida.
1992-1995. Instructor of English. Palm Beach Atlantic University, West Palm Beach, Florida.
Teaching Awards:
Frances White Ewbank Excellence in Teaching Award, 2023 (Asbury University)
Frances White Ewbank Excellence in Teaching Award, 2012 (Asbury University)
Frances White Ewbank Excellence in Teaching Award (Inaugural year), 2002 (Asbury University)
Awards, Scholarships and Fellowships:
2024–“Refractions: Interdisciplinary Studies in Light”–Lilly Foundation Small Grant ($3000.00) (With Drs. Julianne Burnett and Wilson Shafer).
2021–“Boundaries and Horizons: Engaging Faith, Science, and the Humanities”–Lilly Foundation Small Grant. ($3,000). (With Dr. Ben Brammell).
2019-2021–Lilly Faculty Fellow in the Humanities and the Arts (Valparaiso University) (awarded 2019)
2014 NEH Summer Seminar: “George Herbert and Emily Dickinson.” University of Chicago. Director: Dr. Richard Strier, Frank L. Sulzberger Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus Department of English and Divinity School. (July 7-August 9, 2014)
A.S.K. Grant ($2500.00) Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning: Models in Innovation. Western Kentucky University. Awarded August 2012.
2005 NEH Summer Seminar: “Religious Experience and English Poetry, 1633-1985.” University of Notre Dame. Director: Dr. Kevin Hart, Notre Dame Professor of English and Concurrent Professor of Philosophy.
Lilly Scholars Fellowship, Asbury University, 2003-2005.
Faculty Research Grant, 2000.
Publications:
Articles:
““’Who took eyes that I might you finde’”: Embodiment and Perception in George Herbert’s “The Altar” and “The Sacrifice” George Herbert Journal, 2024. (Forthcoming).
“‘Sudden Passing’: Herbert’s Poetics of the Moment.” George Herbert Journal 38.1-2 (Fall 2014/ Spring 2015): 54-65.
“’I Build My Bellowing Ark’: Wounded Speech in the Poetry of George Herbert and Dylan Thomas.” George Herbert Journal 37.1-2 (Fall 2013/Spring 2014): 193-206. (Rpt. in Dylan Thomas. Ed. Harold Bloom. Bloom’s Modern Critical Views (ebook). New York: Chelsea House-Infobase Learning, 2016: 110-141. (ISBN 978-1-4381-7021-3)
“Chesterton, the Bible, and the Story of Redemption.” The Chesterton Review 38.1-2 (spring/summer 2012): 55-68.
“’Making Room’ at McSorley’s Wonderful Saloon.” The Chesterton Review. 33.3-4 (Fall/Winter 2007): 641-652.
“Chesterton, Borges, and Allegory.” The Chesterton Review. 30.1-2 (2004): 67-69.
“G. K. Chesterton’s ‘Great Conversation’: The Art of Biography in an Inhuman Age.” The Chesterton Review 29.4 (2004): 499-509.
“’Fighting Friends’: The Chesterton-Shaw Debates.” SHAW: The Annual of Bernard Shaw Studies Vol. 23 The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2003. 47-57.
“Emily Dickinson and the ‘Balsam Word.’” In Emily Dickinson at Home. Ed. Gunther M. Grabher and Martina Antretter. Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier, 2001. 143-150.
Conference Presentations:
2022 George Herbert and Eloquence, The Sixth Triennial Conference, Cambridge University, Cambridge, England. June, 2022. ’Who took eyes that I might you finde’”: Body and Word in Herbert’s ‘The Sacrifice.’”
2018 Reading the Natural World: Perceptions of the Natural World and Ecology in the Global Middle Ages and Renaissance. (Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Arizona State University). “‘For what account can thy ill steward make?’: Embodied Perception and the Natural World in the Poetry of George Herbert.”
2014 George Herbert Society. “Fourth Triennial Conference: ‘Choice Observations’ on Herbert.” “’Sudden Passing’: Herbert’s Poetics of the Moment.” (The Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, October 16-18, 2014)
2014 “The Judicious Reader and the Perilous ‘Middle Way’ in Robert Browning’s The Ring and the Book.” Association for the Study of Law, Culture, and the Humanities (ASLCH). University of Virginia Law School. March 10-11, 2014.
2013 George Herbert Symposium. “Herbert, Liturgy, and the Structures of Perception.” Charleston, South Carolina. March 8, 2013.
2012 Renaissance Society of America (RSA): Panel: Cavell, Shakespeare, and the Renaissance. Washington, DC, March 2012. “’Routes of Initiation’: Cavell, Shakespeare, and the Renaissance.”
2011 Locating George Herbert: Family, Place, and Traditions. Gregynog Conference Center, Newtown, Powys, Wales. (October 13-16, 2011). “Voice and Anguish in the Poetry of George Herbert and Dylan Thomas.”
2011 Renaissance Society of America (RSA): Panel: New Work in Early Modern Literature. Montreal, Canada. (March 24-26, 2011). “’Upon the cross of a Welsh hook’: Hal (Prince of Wales) and the Making of Tomorrow.”
2010 Renaissance Society of America (RSA): Panel: New Directions in Early Modern Literature. (April 8-10, 2010). “Following Falstaff: Ethics, Morality, and the Literary Imagination.” Venice, Italy.
2008 George Herbert’s Travels: International Print and Cultural Legacies University of North Carolina at Greensboro. (October 9-11, 2008). An International, Interdisciplinary Conference. “’Counterexperience’ in the Poetry of George Herbert and Emily Dickinson.”
2007 Pacific Northwest Renaissance Society 50th Anniversary Conference. St. Mary’s University College. Calgary, Alberta, Canada. (April 26-28, 2007) “’Counterexperience’ in George Herbert’s Poetry.”
2006 Joseph Mitchell and the Free Life. Seton Hall University. (May 13, 2006). “’Making Room’ at McSorley’s Wonderful Saloon.”
2004 Conference on Christianity and Literature. University of Notre Dame. (September 16-18, 2004). “’A strong regard and awe’: George Herbert and the Limits of Language.”
2003 South Atlantic Modern Language Association (SAMLA). Atlanta, GA. (November 14-16, 2003). “G. K. Chesterton’s Great Conversation: The Art of Biography in an Inhuman Age.”
2003 “Of Wonder and Welcome”: G. K. Chesterton, the Eucharist, and the Liberal Arts. Asbury University. (April 4-6, 2003) (Conference Organizer).
2001 International Bernard Shaw Conference. Shaw’s Brave New World. Marquette University. “’Colossal Genius’: The Chesterton-Shaw Debates.” (April 18-22, 2001).
1999 International Emily Dickinson Society. Mt. Holyoke College. “Emily Dickinson and the ‘Balsam’ Word.” (August 14-17, 1999).
1999 Twentieth-Century Literature Conference. University of Louisville. “‘Has Anybody Seen My Father?’ The Problem of Female Community in the Convent in the Novels of Edna O’Brien, Kate O’Brien, and Julia O’Faolain.” (February 24-27, 1999)
1998 The Role and Responsibility of the Christian Professor in the Academy. University of Memphis. “Out of the Silent Language: C. S. Lewis as a Christian Writer.” (March 27, 1998)
1997 United Poets Laureate International: 15th World Congress of Poets. Buckinghamshire College, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. “Thomas Gray: Democracy of the Dead.” (Summer 1997)
1997 Florida College English Association. Panel Presentation: Another Experiment in Criticism: Reading Christian Fiction. “The ‘Few’ and the ‘Many’: (Re)reading Books in the Christian Community.” (February 1997)
Other Invited Lectures, Notes, Short Essays, Literary Journalism:
2018 Faculty Workshop. Plenary Speaker (Invited). Ohio Christian University. August 10, 2018. “Conversations with Dr. Johnson.”
2015 Faculty Workshop. Plenary Speaker (Invited). Huntington University. August 25, 2015. “The New Wonder.”
“On the Moral Imagination.” The Chesterton Review 35.3-4 (Fall/Winter 2009): 821-825.
“Chesterton and the Economic Crisis.” The Chesterton Review 34.3-4 (Fall/Winter 2008): 606-608
“Chesterton and Dr. Johnson.” The Chesterton Review 29.4 (Winter 2004): 623-4.
“Mr. Chesterton Meets Mr. Orwell.” The Chesterton Review 29.3 (Fall 2003): 450-452.
“On Wonder and Welcome.” The Chesterton Review 29.1-2 (Spring/Summer 2003): 288-9.
“Out of the Book and Into the Life.” Asbury College Ambassador Fall 2002. 13-16.
“Foreward.” In Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice. 3rd Ed. By Charles E. Bressler. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2003. ix-xi.
“Chesterton’s Cervantic Smile.” The Chesterton Review 27.3 (August 2001): 426-427.
“Clouds, Curtains, and the Clear Light of Day.” The Chesterton Review 27.1-2 (Feb/May 2001): 108-112.
“Immortality and Mr. Shaw” (Submitted Chesterton Letter) The Chesterton Review 26.4 (Nov.) 2000: 444.
“A Note on the Light Within.” The Chesterton Review 26.3 (Aug.) 2000: 423-424.
“Foreward.” In Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Literary Criticism and Practice. 2nd Ed. By Charles E. Bressler. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1999. vii-ix.
Selected Published Book Reviews:
Book Review. Strait, Daniel H. “Shakespeare and the Play Scripts of Private Prayer. Ceri Sullivan. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020. Xvi 248 Pp. $80.” Renaissance Quarterly, vol. 76, no. 1, 2023, pp. 356-357., doi: 10.101017/rqx.2023.195.
Book Review. Knight of the Holy Ghost: A Short History of G. K. Chesterton and My Name is Lazarus, by Dale Ahlquist. The Chesterton Review 45.3-4 (Fall/Winter, 2019): 391-394.
Book Review. Shakespeare the Thinker, by A. D. Nuttall. New Haven: Yale UP, 2007. The Chesterton Review. The Chesterton Review 34.1-2 (Spring/Summer): 226-231.
Book Review. Chesterton and Evil, by Mark Knight. New York: Fordham UP, 2004. The Chesterton Review 32.3-4 (Fall/Winter 2006): 433-437.
Book Review. Rallying the Really Human Things, by Vigen Guroian. ISI Books The Chesterton Review 31.3-4 (Fall/Winter 2005): 241-244.
Book Review. Shakespeare After All, by Marjorie Garber. New York: Pantheon, 2004. The Chesterton Review 31.1-2 (Spring/Summer 2005): 165-169.
Book Review. Schall on Chesterton, by James V. Schall, SJ; Washington, DC: Catholic University Press, 2000; The Universe and Mr. Chesterton’s Universe by Randall Paine, Sherwood and Sugden, 1999. Seven: An Anglo-American Review 18 (2001): 93-96.
Book Review. Hamlet in Purgatory, by Stephen Greenblatt. Princeton: Princeton UP, 2001. The Chesterton Review 27.3 (August 2001): 349-353
Memberships and Professional Service:
Editorial Board Member, The Chesterton Review
Renaissance Society of America (Current)
George Herbert Society (Current)
Phi Kappa Phi, 1997. Indiana University of Pennsylvania. (Inactive)