Leland Ryken Photo

Leland Ryken

Leland Ryken served as professor of English at Wheaton College for nearly fifty years. He has authored or edited over fifty books, including The Word of God in English and A Complete Handbook of Literary Forms in the Bible.

A Little Poetry Improves a Life: How Verse Awakens Wonder

A Little Poetry Improves a Life

How Verse Awakens Wonder

Poetry is not for those hidden away in ivory towers, but for those who walk out their front door and miss the wonders all around them.

Paradise Lost: A Reader’s Guide to a Christian Classic

Paradise Lost

A Reader’s Guide to a Christian Classic

‘Paradise Lost’ is one of the few poems worth reading for a lifetime. Leland Ryken, who has spent fifty years in the masterpiece, shows new readers where to begin.

In Defense of Fiction: Christian Love for Great Literature

In Defense of Fiction

Christian Love for Great Literature

The purpose of reading fiction is not to escape reality, but to encounter it. The best fiction tells the truth in ways nonfiction never could.

Learning the Lyrics of God: How to Read the Bible’s Poetry

Learning the Lyrics of God

How to Read the Bible’s Poetry

A third of the Bible is poetry, and the rest is filled with poetic language. How do we faithfully read and teach the hundreds of poems we find in Scripture?

The Pilgrim’s Progress

The Pilgrim’s Progress

John Bunyan’s classic allegory traces the journey of Christian, who travels through dangers and temptations on his way to the Celestial City.

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