Dr. Mark Jones

Professor of English; Department Co-Chair

Education

Ph.D., Saint Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri, 2004
M.A., Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, 1989
B.A., Covenant College, Lookout Mountain, Georgia, 1988

Associated Academic Programs

Literature and Languages

“Literature and linguistics are disciplines central to the humanities and are uniquely focused on human communication, both literary and otherwise. Their study is invaluable for community building.”

Dr. Mark Jones was drawn to study and teach Shakespeare and the literature of the English Renaissance for many reasons. “But in large measure, the late 16th and early 17th centuries were a period of enormous linguistic creativity and literary exploration.  Moreover, there are many ways in which the preoccupations of this period in literary history resonate with those of our own.”

Jones hopes that his students learn a sense of wonder at the power and potential of human language, expressed creatively in literature as well as in ordinary human interactions. “Graduates from our program may move on to careers in a wide range of fields, but they can count on having at their disposal a practiced attentiveness to language and a deep capacity for empathy.”

What drew him to Trinity:

Jones came to Trinity because he was excited to have an opportunity to join a community of Christian scholars. “Trinity’s mission, location, and vision were all motivating factors.”

Research interests:

His research spans medieval and Renaissance literature to Japanese manga and anime. “My most recent academic project is a study of the figure of Arthur in Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene,  one of the most influential poetic works of all time. To this day, the work remains a deeply relevant inquiry into what it means to act as a Christian in an increasingly secular world.”

When he’s not teaching:

Jones enjoys reading, cooking, running, and playing jazz piano.

Courses

Advanced Writing
The Arthurian Tradition
College English: Composition
College English: Introduction to Literature
English Drama: Shakespeare

Postcolonial Literature
Renaissance Literatures

Papers Published and/or Presented

The Life of St. Eustace: A Saint’s Legend from Lambeth Palace MS 306.” ANQ 20 (2007): 13-24.

“The King of Spain is Mad Againe; or, The Agency of the Letter in The Spanish Tragedy.” Pacific Northwest Renaissance Conference. Banff, Alberta. May 2005.

“Salerio, Solanio, and ‘all the boys in Venice.’” Exploring the Renaissance 2005: An International Conference. Malibu, California. March 2005.

“The Voice of Lancelot Andrewes in Eliot’s Ash-Wednesday.”  Renascence: Essays on Values in Literature 58 (2005): 153-63.

“Lay Women and Sarum Ritual: A Nuptial Prayer from Morgan MS M. 861.” The Chaucer Review 37 (2003): 265-74.

“National Imagining in Shakespeare’s Songs of Hiems and Ver.”  Exploring the Renaissance 2007: An International Conference. San Antonio, Texas, 9 March 2007.

“The Life of St. Eustace: A Saint’s Legend from Lambeth Palace MS 306.” Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies Conference. Tempe, Arizona, 15 February 2007.

“Shakespeare’s Armado.” Rocky Mountain Medieval and Renaissance Association. Rexburg, Idaho. June 2006.

“The Artificial Jew of Malta.” Exploring the Renaissance 2006: An International Conference. Houston, Texas. March 2006.

Love’s Labour’s Lost and the Garden of State.”  Exploring the Renaissance 2002: An International Conference.  St. Louis, Missouri, 5 April 2002.

“Welandes Geweorc in Beowulf.” 35th International Congress on Medieval Studies.  Kalamazoo, Michigan, 5 May 2000.

“A Nuptial Prayer from Morgan MS. 861.”  26th Saint Louis Conference on Manuscript Studies.  Saint Louis, Missouri, 8 October 1999.

“A Passage from, Whatsitsname, India; or The Art of Rereading History and Midnight’s Children.” British Commonwealth and Postcolonial Studies Conference. Statesboro, Georgia, 19 April 1996.

“Spiritual Jewry and the Idea of Otherness in Malta.” Joint Meeting of the Regional Central and South Central Renaissance Conferences.  St. Louis, Missouri, 22 March 1996.

Professional Society Memberships

Midwest Modern Language Association
Queen Elizabeth the First Society
South-Central Renaissance Conference

+ Expertise

Dr. Mark Jones was drawn to study and teach Shakespeare and the literature of the English Renaissance for many reasons. “But in large measure, the late 16th and early 17th centuries were a period of enormous linguistic creativity and literary exploration.  Moreover, there are many ways in which the preoccupations of this period in literary history resonate with those of our own.”

Jones hopes that his students learn a sense of wonder at the power and potential of human language, expressed creatively in literature as well as in ordinary human interactions. “Graduates from our program may move on to careers in a wide range of fields, but they can count on having at their disposal a practiced attentiveness to language and a deep capacity for empathy.”

What drew him to Trinity:

Jones came to Trinity because he was excited to have an opportunity to join a community of Christian scholars. “Trinity’s mission, location, and vision were all motivating factors.”

Research interests:

His research spans medieval and Renaissance literature to Japanese manga and anime. “My most recent academic project is a study of the figure of Arthur in Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene,  one of the most influential poetic works of all time. To this day, the work remains a deeply relevant inquiry into what it means to act as a Christian in an increasingly secular world.”

When he’s not teaching:

Jones enjoys reading, cooking, running, and playing jazz piano.

+ Courses, Publications & Research

Courses

Advanced Writing
The Arthurian Tradition
College English: Composition
College English: Introduction to Literature
English Drama: Shakespeare

Postcolonial Literature
Renaissance Literatures

Papers Published and/or Presented

The Life of St. Eustace: A Saint’s Legend from Lambeth Palace MS 306.” ANQ 20 (2007): 13-24.

“The King of Spain is Mad Againe; or, The Agency of the Letter in The Spanish Tragedy.” Pacific Northwest Renaissance Conference. Banff, Alberta. May 2005.

“Salerio, Solanio, and ‘all the boys in Venice.’” Exploring the Renaissance 2005: An International Conference. Malibu, California. March 2005.

“The Voice of Lancelot Andrewes in Eliot’s Ash-Wednesday.”  Renascence: Essays on Values in Literature 58 (2005): 153-63.

“Lay Women and Sarum Ritual: A Nuptial Prayer from Morgan MS M. 861.” The Chaucer Review 37 (2003): 265-74.

“National Imagining in Shakespeare’s Songs of Hiems and Ver.”  Exploring the Renaissance 2007: An International Conference. San Antonio, Texas, 9 March 2007.

“The Life of St. Eustace: A Saint’s Legend from Lambeth Palace MS 306.” Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies Conference. Tempe, Arizona, 15 February 2007.

“Shakespeare’s Armado.” Rocky Mountain Medieval and Renaissance Association. Rexburg, Idaho. June 2006.

“The Artificial Jew of Malta.” Exploring the Renaissance 2006: An International Conference. Houston, Texas. March 2006.

Love’s Labour’s Lost and the Garden of State.”  Exploring the Renaissance 2002: An International Conference.  St. Louis, Missouri, 5 April 2002.

“Welandes Geweorc in Beowulf.” 35th International Congress on Medieval Studies.  Kalamazoo, Michigan, 5 May 2000.

“A Nuptial Prayer from Morgan MS. 861.”  26th Saint Louis Conference on Manuscript Studies.  Saint Louis, Missouri, 8 October 1999.

“A Passage from, Whatsitsname, India; or The Art of Rereading History and Midnight’s Children.” British Commonwealth and Postcolonial Studies Conference. Statesboro, Georgia, 19 April 1996.

“Spiritual Jewry and the Idea of Otherness in Malta.” Joint Meeting of the Regional Central and South Central Renaissance Conferences.  St. Louis, Missouri, 22 March 1996.

+ Awards & Memberships

Professional Society Memberships

Midwest Modern Language Association
Queen Elizabeth the First Society
South-Central Renaissance Conference