Happy New Year from a Happy New CenterForLit!
by Adam Andrews
Thanks for stopping by! I am thrilled to welcome you to our online community for Lit Lovers. Every nook and cranny of the CenterForLit website has been redesigned and expanded to serve you better.
Inside, you’ll find a dozen ways to participate in the Great Conversation – a conversation about books and ideas, about homeschooling and parenting, about sin and grace and redemption. And don’t worry: we still offer all the curriculum materials and classes you depend on. In fact, we’re making more all the time!
CenterForLit’s number one priority is putting tools in the teacher’s hand. Everything we’ve ever printed has been aimed squarely at the grown-up in the trenches. Now, we’re set up to serve on a much more powerful scale. In addition to our blog, The Hovel, where we’ll be posting regularly on topics related to Literature, homeschooling and the like, we have also launched a podcast network, a new series of our popular Teacher Guides, a library of original audio books, and a member forum where you can chat in real time with CenterForLit teachers and other parents.
Most exciting of all, however, is the Pelican Society – our brand new membership program that makes the best of CenterForLit more accessible than ever.
Wondering About Our New Logo?
The new CenterForLit logo features a pelican on the nest, feeding her chicks and shielding them with her outstretched wings.
In the Middle Ages, the pelican was thought to nourish her young in times of famine by plucking the feathers from her breast and feeding her starving chicks with her own heart’s blood. The pelican thus became a popular symbol to medieval Christians of the grace of God in Christ, whose sacrifice provides nourishment and protection for His people.
We also think it’s a pretty good symbol of the sacrifice, love, and nourishment that homeschool parents provide their children on a daily basis.
Though the image can be seen on stained glass windows and coats of arms throughout Christian Europe, we find a literary occurrence in Dante’s Divine Comedy, where the poet speaks of Jesus as “our Pelican.” The pages of this Western classic appear in our logo as the pelican’s nest, as well as her outstretched wings.
The image of the nesting pelican represents everything we stand for at CenterForLit: A deep love of all things literary, a firm commitment to the work of homeschool parents, and a joyful dependence on the free grace of God.
I hope you enjoy the new CenterForLit – see you inside!
