Martha Eads

Martha Greene Eads grew up in North Carolina’s Appalachian mountains and studied literature and theology at Wake Forest University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the University of Durham (UK). Before coming to EMU, she taught at the North Carolina Correctional Center for Women and at Valparaiso University in Indiana, where she held a Lilly Fellowship in Humanities and the Arts from 2001-2003. Her research and teaching interests include twentieth- and twenty-first-century drama, English modernism, and contemporary Southern fiction, and her articles on those topics have appeared in The Carolina Quarterly, Christianity and Literature, The Cresset, Modern Drama, and Theology.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Ph.D. in English
M.A. in English

Wake Forest University
M.A. in Religion
B.A. in English

The University of Durham (England)
Coursework in theology and literature

Articles and Book Chapters

• “The Work of Love in Robert Morgan’s Gap Creek.” The Robert Morgan Companion. Ed. Robert West. West Jefferson, NC: McFarland P (forthcoming).

• “Feminist Forgiveness in Robert Morgan’s ‘The Trace’.” The Southern Quarterly: A Journal of the Arts in the South 47:3 (Spring 2010): 151-61.

• “Mrs. Dalloway Goes to Prison.” Approaches to Teaching Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway. Eds. Eileen Barrett and Ruth Saxton. New York: MLA, 2009.

• “Pointing Toward Peace.” The Cresset 70:5 (Trinity 2007): 55-57.

• “Prosaic Grace in Doris Betts’s Souls Raised From the Dead.” The Gift of Story: Narrating Hope in Film and Literature. Eds. Mark Eaton and Emily Greisinger. Waco: Baylor U P, 2006. 103-116.

• “Conversion Tactics in Terrence McNally’s and Paul Rudnick’s Gay Gospels.” Modern Drama 68:1 (Spring 2005): 163-185. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vol. 252 (Gale/Cengage), 2009.

• “Money, Sex, and Food as Spiritual Signposts in Doris Betts’s Sharp Teeth of Love.” Christianity and Literature 54:1 (Autumn 2004):31-49. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary
  Criticism, Vol. 275 (Gale/Cengage), 2009.

• “The Mystery of Vocation.” Christian Reflection 11 (Spring 2004): 59-67.

• “Dorothy L. Sayers’s Working-Class Voices.” The Cresset 66:2 (Christmas 2002): 6-11.

• “Unwitting Redemption in Margaret Edson’s Wit.” Christianity and Literature 51:2 (Winter 2002): 241-254.

• “The Anti-Romantic Comedies of Dorothy L. Sayers.” Modern Drama 44:2 (Summer 2001): 214-231.

• Interview with Doris Betts. The Carolina Quarterly 52:2 (Spring 2000): 59-73.

• “H.D.’s Challenge to the Institution in ‘The Flowering of the Rod’.” Theology 97 (September/ October 1994): 344-52.

Book Reviews

• Review of Creed Without Chaos: Exploring Theology in the Writings of Dorothy L. Sayers, by Laura Simmons. The Dorothy L. Sayers Society Bulletin 183 (January 2006): 6-7.

• Review of Walker in the Fog, by Jeff Gundy. Brethren in Christ History and Life 28:3 (December 2005): 575-7.

• Review of Literature in Christian Perspective: Becoming Faithful Readers, by Bridget Nichols. Christianity and Literature 50:2 (Winter 2001): 341-3.

Reference Guide Entries

• “Biblical Drama in Britain and North America.” Western Drama Through the Ages. Ed. Kimball King. Westport, CT: Greenwood P, 2007. 314-331.

• “Margaret Edson.” Dictionary of Literary Biography. Twentieth-Century American Dramatists: Fourth Series. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2002. 75-78.

• “Paul Rudnick.” Dictionary of Literary Biography. Twentieth-Century American Dramatists: Fourth Series. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2002. 245-254.

• “Ridgely Torrence.” Dictionary of Literary Biography. Twentieth-Century American Dramatists: Third Series. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2002. 338-344.

• “Progressive Politics or Reactionary Nostalgia?: John Patrick Shanley’s Mixed Message in Doubt.” Performyth: Tenth National Symposium of Theater in Academe/ First International Theater Festival. Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA. November 11-14, 2009.
• “The Professor in the Parish.” The Lilly Fellows in Humanities and the Arts Reunion Conference. Indianapolis, Indiana. June 8-10, 2007.
• “Suffering Unto Salvation in Wendell Berry’s Jayber Crow.” The Conference on Christianity and Literature. Trinity Western University, Langley, Canada. May 10-12, 2007.
• “Lives and Liberties: Case Studies in Contemporary Fiction.” The World and Christian Imagination: The Sixth Annual Lilly Fellows Program National Research Conference. Baylor University, Waco, TX; November 9-11, 2006.
• “Book-Learnin’, Life-Learnin’: A Service-Learning Literature Class Heads for the Hills.” (With EMU student Kelly Cullers.) Faith Traditions, Spirituality and Service-Learning Conference, Messiah College, Grantham, PA; June 1-3, 2006.
• “The Work of Love: Vocation in Contemporary Southern Literature.” Faith, Hope, and Work Symposium, Point Loma Nazarene University, San Diego, CA; February 9-11, 2006.
• “Teaching Literature with a Lab: The Work of Love.” Spirituality, Justice, and Pedagogy Conference, Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI; September 22-24, 2005.
• “‘You Stand With Whoever’s Getting Their Head Bashed In’: Denise Giardina’s Literary-Political Vocation.” Christianity and Human Rights: The Fourth Annual Lilly Fellows Program National Research Conference. Samford University, Birmingham, AL; November 11-14, 2004.
• “West Virginia Vocatio in Denise Giardina’s Saints and Villains.” Society for the Study of Southern Literature. UNC-Chapel Hill, NC; March 25-28, 2004.
• “Prosaic Grace in Doris Betts’s Sharp Teeth of Love.” The Image/Lilly Fellows Program Research Conference, Seattle Pacific University, Seattle, WA; November 6-9, 2003.
• “‘In League Together’: Taking Mrs. Dalloway Into A Women’s Prison.” Thirteenth Annual Conference on Virginia Woolf, Smith College, Northampton, MA; June 5-8, 2003.

• Christ the King Episcopal Church
• Lilly Graduate Fellows National Selection Committee, 2009-2010

• Council for Christian Colleges and Universities Summer Seminar, “Professing Literature: Christian Engagement with Contemporary Literary Studies,” Calvin College, 2009
• Eastern Mennonite University Lilly Foundation Theological Exploration of Vocation Mini-Grant, Spring 2009
• Kuyers Institute for Christian Teaching and Learning Summer Seminar, “Faith in the Classroom: Christian Perspectives on Teaching and Learning,” Calvin College, 2006
• Eastern Mennonite University Lilly Foundation Faculty Mini-Grants, Fall 2006, Spring 2006, Spring 2005, and Spring 2004
• Eastern Mennonite University Research Grant, Summer 2006
• Lilly Fellows Program in Humanities and the Arts Faculty Mentoring Grant, 2005-2006
• Eastern Mennonite University Research Course Release (six hours), Fall 2004
• National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute, “Regional Study and the Liberal Arts: Appalachia Up Close,” Ferrum College, 2004
• Lilly Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Arts and Humanities, Valparaiso University, 2001-2003
• Pew Younger Scholars Mentoring Program, 2000-2003
• Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship to the University of Durham, England, 1991-1992
• Phi Beta Kappa

• The Conference on Christianity and Literature
• The Dorothy L. Sayers Society
• Modern Language Association
• Society for the Study of Southern Literature

• Lilly Fellows in Humanities and the Arts National Conference, Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI. October 2-4, 2009.

• Lilly Fellows in Humanities and the Arts National Conference, Seattle Pacific University, Seattle, WA. October 10-12, 2008.

• Global Literatures III (Spring 2010)
• What Do Women Want? (Spring 2010; revised to include more international texts and a community-learning component)
• Advanced College Writing for Transitions (Fall 2009)

• Residence Hall Prayer Partner, 2009-2010
• Honors Mentor, 2007-2010
• Member, Faculty Status Committee, 2007-2010
• Faculty Representative, Lilly Fellows in Humanities and the Arts Network, 2003-2010
• Member, Provost Search Committee, 2007-2008
• Chair, Department of Language and Literature, 2004-2007
• Coordinator, New Faculty Mentoring Program, 2005-2007
• Member, Academic Council, 2004-2007
• Member, Strategic Planning Committee, 2004-2007
• Member, Fall Faculty-Staff Conference Planning Committee, 2006-2007