THIS PAPER REFLECTS on a visit by Christian poet John Terpstra to the final class session (on a Maundy Thursday) of my Literature and Environment course, to read his poetry suite on making a cross for his church out of a fruit-tree in an orchard being ploughed under for construction. Terpstra plays on the Stations of the Cross by interweaving the story of his own cross-making with the narrative of Jesus' crucifixion. The quasi-liturgical event of this reading created a profound stillness in the classroom, generated an animated discussion following, and raised important issues about the relationship of liturgy to classroom and of affective to cognitive learning.
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